My principal object in this paper is to bring forward evidence in opposition to the view now generally accepted that coal-seams were formed from vegetation which grew on the spot.
It seems to me that the
growth-in-situ
theory has been, or is still, held by the majority of those who have considered or written upon the question to be the right one, partly because the accumulation of the vegetable matter of coal-beds by driftage appears to be totally beyond our comprehension, and partly (probably chiefly) because we have been told and led to believe that the underclays of coal-seams contain the
Stigmariæ
which were the very roots of the trees the remains of which constitute the bulk of the coal.
During an extensive experience in the midland district in connexion not only with coal-mining, but also with the working of the underbeds, the fireclays, both underground and in opencast workings, I have had unusual opportunities of studying the relationship of the coal-seams to the underbeds, their fossil contents, &c.
The various points for consideration may be taken as under:—
a
.
The relation of the fireclays to the coal-seams.
b
.
Mode of occurrence of
Stigmaria
in underbeds.
c
.
Erect fossil tree-stems with attached roots.
d
.
Lamination of coal-beds.
e
.
The presence of boulders &c. in the underclays.
f
.
The foreign bodies in coal-beds.
g
.
Marine fossils associated with coal-seams, brine, &c.
a. It must not be concluded, because almost every coal-seam
In Decade III. Vol. II. of the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, for 1885, at page 283, an abstract of a paper on “ Cone-in-Cone ” by Mr. John Young, F.G.S., of Glasgow, was given. The author of this interesting paper has kindly presented the writer with a copy of it, to which, since it was readinGlasgow last year, has been added some additional remarks, together with two very beautiful plates, by ‘ photogravure,’inillustration of some of his typical Scottish specimens.
In 1883 a scattered group of five boulders was met with in the workings of the Coleorton Colliery in the “Lount Nether” coal, at a depth from the surface of about 375 feet. They were all entirely enveloped in the coal, and occurred about 20 inches from the top of the seam. Four of them were found within a space of 20 yards of one another, but no two of them very near together, and the fifth occurred some 500 yards S.W. of the others. The coal-seam was of its normal thickness—namely, about 4½ feet. This is the seam marked “Lount 4” upon the Geol. Survey Sheet No. 46 of Horizontal Sections, and it is the lowest but one worked in the district.
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