On the Geology of the Barnsley Coal-Field

Abstract

Though I might occupy the time at our disposal with an account of the objects of geological interest in the immediate neighbourhood of Barnsley, and by no means exhaust the subject, I think I shall make this paper more interesting and instructive if I take rather a wider range, and show first of all the relation of the rocks we now stand upon to the general geology of England. If we draw a line from Nottingham, through Derby and Ashbourne, to near Trentham, then wind it up to Manchester, and thence to the estuary of the Mersey, this line will be the northern boundary of the New Red Sandstone plain of Central England. Another line running nearly due north from Nottingham to Tynemouth will mark the escarpment of the Magnesian Limestone. The country north of the first line and west of the second is, with the exception of the Lake district and the Vale of Eden, wholly occupied by rocks belonging to the great Carboniferous formation. We will first shortly describe its general structure, and then give some details respecting the district immediately around us. The Carboniferous rocks may be grouped for our purpose under three heads, namely :— 3. Coal-measures. 2. Millstone-grit and Yoredale Rocks. 1. Carboniferous or Mountain Limestone. The lowest, and, therefore, oldest of these, the Mountain Limestone, is a mass of pure limestone, of great but unknown thickness, with a few, but very few, thin layers of interbedded shale, and two or three beds of lava ...