Considering the great importance of the coal and lead mines, and of the quarries of Northumberland and Durham, and the opportunities which they offer to geological research, it is rather singular that no history of the physical structure of these counties has yet been laid before the public. It is however well known that much interesting information on these subjects has long been accumulating and is widely diffused among the professional conductors of the mines. I have endeavoured in the following paper to combine some of these scattered materials with the substance of my own observations, and to give a general outline of the several formations that compose our district. I have added short descriptions of the principal rocky strata belonging to these formations, and catalogues of such of their metallic ores, crystallized minerals, and organic remains, as have come under my notice. I. Red Marl or Sandstone In the south-eastern part of the county of Durham a series of strata occurs, among which a fine grained sandstone of a brick-red colour, effervescing with acids, predominates. This rock may be seen in the bed of the Tees at the distance of more than a mile west of Croft bridge; thence it follows the course of the river to the sea, and may be traced at some little distance from its northern bank through Hurworth, Nesham, Sockburn, &c. beyond the town of Stockton, forming rocks on the sea shore between Seaton and Hartle-pool. Opposite Sockburn, Mr. Allen of Grange, lately bored
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