The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 2 (of 2)Geikie, Archibald
Science
The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain, Volume 2 (of 2)
Geikie, Archibald
Volcanoes -- Great Britain
3. _Forest of Wyre Coal-field._--On both sides of this extensive tract
of Coal-measures, the strata near the base of the series are traversed
by sills or dykes of olivine-dolerite like that of the Clee Hills. The
sandstones in contact with the eruptive rock have been indurated. In
this district, also, the evidence shows that the sheets are intrusive,
and later than the portion of the Coal-measures there visible.[115]
[Footnote 115: This district is represented in Sheets 55 N.E. and 61 S.E.
of the Geological Survey. The microscopic structure of the larger mass
on the west side of the coal-field, and the variations in the minute
structure of the intrusion which forms a long ridge on the east side,
are described by Mr. Allport, _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._ xxx. pp. 550,
551.]
4. _Coalbrookdale Coal-field._--In this interesting district a sill of
rather finely crystalline olivine-dolerite, which is estimated to be
nearly 200 feet thick, is traceable from near Little Wenlock for three
miles to the north, intercalated between the Carboniferous Limestone
and the Silurian rocks underneath. It appears to underlie the western
part of the Coal-field, for it is exposed by denudation in several
valleys between Little Wenlock and Great Dawley. Owing to the thinning
out of the Carboniferous Limestone in an easterly direction, the sill
gradually comes to have the Millstone Grit on its upper surface, and at
one point is represented on the Geological Survey map as even intruded
into the Coal-measures. Here again we have an intrusive sheet of later
date than at least the earlier part of the Coal-measures, and no
evidence of any superficial outflow of volcanic material.[116]
[Footnote 116: The Coalbrookdale coal-field has been described by Sir
Joseph Prestwich, _Trans. Geol. Soc._ (2) v. p. 428; and Prof. E. Hull,
_Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc._ xxxiii. (1877), p. 629. The minute structure
of the sill at Little Wenlock is referred to by Mr. Allport, _op. cit._
p. 550. The ground is mapped on Sheet 61 N.E. of the Geological Survey,
and its structure is shown on Sheet 54 of the Horizontal Sections.]
5. _South Staffordshire Coal-field._--This district, in respect to its
igneous intercalations, has been much more fully examined and described
than any of the others. It forms the subject of an exceedingly able
memoir by Jukes, who carefully studied its geology and delineated it
on the maps and sections of the Geological Survey. Since his time
the rocks have been studied microscopically, but no material facts
regarding the stratigraphy have been obtained in addition to those
which he patiently collected and generalized upon.[117]
[Footnote 117: Jukes, "South Staffordshire Coal-field," _Mem. Geol.
Surv._ 2nd edit. (1859). The area is embraced in Sheet 62 N.W. and S.W.
of the Geological Survey, and is illustrated in Sheets 23, 24 and 25 of
the Horizontal Sections.]
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