In transcribing the following passage from Smith’s text, I have begun with the rough OCR material provided by the Internet Archive and then collated it with the Internet Archive’s page images. If you spot any errors, please notify the webmaster. — George P. Landow
The mass of strata usually called coal-measures, is known to be deprived of much of the superficial space which it would occupy by the overlapping of the red earth. When this unconformability of the red earth shall be more generally known, and its irregular thicknesses more correctly proved, it is highly probable that much more coal may be discovered, and the coal-measures be found as regularly connected as other strata. This opinion is confirmed by the great obscurity of coal-measure outcrops, in many of the districts where coals are now working; and it may be further remarked, in confirmation of this opinion, that those coal districts which are near to or surrounded by red, show less of the superficial character common to those strata, than any other parts of their extensive course. The Warwickshire, Leicestershire,, Staffordshire, and low part of the Lancashire and Cheshire works may be enumerated.
In the higher situations to which these strata ascend, in South Wales, the Forest of Dean, Shropshire, Derbyshire, and thence norths ward to Berwick on Tweed, the surface of the coal-measures is much alike, and such as cannot be mistaken.
Particular parts of this series of strata give particular features to the places they occupy, which cannot be noticed in this concise description, which is intended only to explain the different parts of the map. These strata, like the red earth before described, seem to bend over the summit of drainage into Lancashire and other districts. [49]
Related material
- A County-by-County Geological Description of England’s Counties
- Smith’s Explanation of His Map of Geological Strata in England and Wales
- The History of the Idea of Geological Strata before William Smith’s Formulation and Map
Bibliography
Smith, William. A Memoir to the Map and Delineation of Strata of England and Wales. London: John Cary, 1815.
Created 11 September 2018