On the Geology of the Beaufort and Ebbw Vale District of the South Wales Coal-Field

Abstract

In my former paper I endeavoured to describe the general appearance and characteristics of the limestone, millstone grit, and Pennant rocks of this coal-field, and shall now proceed to give a brief outline of the coal measures themselves and their fossil contents. As I stated before, the character of the coal is materially different in different parts of the basin; for instance, if a line be drawn from Merthyr to the sea in a south-western direction, it will divide the basin into two unequal portions, the eastern one containing bituminous coal, and the western the anthracite. I do not mean to say that there is an exact line of demarcation between the two kinds of coal, but merely that such a boundary will seem to show pretty well where the two qualities pass into one another. Curiously enough, too, in the western or anthracite portion the seams are anthracitic in the northern bassets, while the southern outcrops of the same veins are bituminous. The anthracite is now in very great demand; but, formerly, people would have nothing to do with it, and there was even a law passed to prevent its being burned in London, on account of its supposed noxious qualities, and the idea that it was detrimental to health. It differs from the bituminous coal principally in containing more carbon, less bituminous matter, and less ashes; and, as a consequence, is a much cleaner-burning coal. We may, however, dismiss the anthracite, as this portion of the field is destitute of it.