The occurrence of a seam of torbanite in Fife

Abstract

The material forming the subject of these notes was found as a seam associated with a series of coals known as the Boglochty Thick Group in the Boglochty Coalfield of Fife. The coalfield lies within One-Inch Sheet 40 and is situated about one mile west of Kinglassie. It is composed of rocks of Coal Measures age which occur in the general form of a syncline orientated along an axial line running north-east and south-west. The structure is truncated by the Ochil Fault, which forms its northern boundary and throws the Coal Measures against rocks of Calciferous Sandstone and Carboniferous Limestone ages. Elsewhere the coalfield is bordered by rocks of Millstone Grit age (1). The area is remarkable for its isolation from the main basin of Coal Measures of East Fife and also for the large number of coal-beds found along its western outcrop. It has been estimated that not less than 1000 feet of Coal Measures are present (2), excluding some strata assigned to the Barren Red Measures. The section given below (See Fig. 1) has been compiled from recent work in the area and illustrates the several types of strata which are present in the lower part of the Productive Coal Measures on the western side of the basin. It also shows the top beds of the Millstone Grit, amounting to some 30 feet of strata overlying lavas. Several of the coals represented in the section have been mined in times past, while the Westfield Shale at the base