FOSSIL PLANTS AND NON-MARINE LAMELLIBRANCHS FROM THE NEWHILL MINE, WATH-ON-DEARNE, YORKSHIRE

Abstract

( Read, February , 1947). Part I. Introduction and Stratigraphy by W. R. BARKER. During 1943, the Wathwood or Meltonfield Coal was worked by the opencast method about a quarter of a mile south of the village of Newhill, Wath-on-Dearne, near Rotherham, Yorkshire. Wath Wood, from which this seam of coal takes its name, is situated about half a mile southeast of the opencast. The seam averaged 3½ ft. in thickness, and was a somewhat weathered, friable house coal. Occasional lenticular patches of iron pyrites occurred throughout. The overburden, in ascending order, was as follows :—black shale, about 5 ft.; black shale and clod, about 1 ft.; pale blue shale with bands of ironstone nodules, 15 ft. to 20 ft.; yellow clay and surface soil, 2 ft. to 3 ft. The 5 ft. of black shale contained only a few shells of Anthracosia and Anthracosphaerium. 1 In the lower part of the shale they were small and immature, but higher up, showed a marked increase in size. In the 1 ft. of black shale and clod there was an abundance of uncrushed shells, the majority being mature specimens. Anthracosia and Anthracosphaerium amounted to 99 per cent., the remainder being large forms of Anthraconaia. Not a single specimen of Naiadites was found. About 1,100 shells were collected, and the majority of these were easily detached from the matrix. A few specimens were embedded in ironstone nodules. Nearly all the shells were found lying with the plane of their valves parallel to that of ...