On the Variations in Thickness and Character of the Silkstone and Barnsley Coal-seams in the Southern part of the Yorkshire Coal-field, and the probable manner in which these and similar changes have been produced

Abstract

Over the southern part of the Yorkshire Coal-field, as far north as the village of Cawthorne, the Silkstone coal maintains, in spite of local variations, a fairly constant character. It consists of two beds of coal, each averaging some 2 feet 6 inches in thickness, separated by a band of dirt. Over a very great part of the area where the coal is known, the dirt parting is very thin; here and there, however, it swells out to a very considerable thickness, and in one place it even reaches a thickness of ten yards. In the neighbourhood of Cawthorne a very important change conies over the seam, additional dirt partings come in and it breaks up into several beds of coal. Following it to the north-west the beds of coal decrease in thickness, whilst the dirt partings swell out, and there can be little doubt that if it were possible to trace the seam still further in this direction, it would be found that the coal thins away altogether, and that the seam is replaced entirely by stone and shale. On this point, however, it is impossible to speak with certainty, for after passing Cawthorne the seam becomes so much deteriorated that no attempts have been made to work it, and to the north-west of that village there is a belt of country some two or three miles broad which is totally unexplored. After passing this problematical ground, however, a tract is again reached yielding workable seams, and among these ...