Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 4.djvu/11

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I. Observations on the Geology of Northumberland and Durham.
By N. J. WINCH, Esq.
honorary member of the geological society.

Read March 18th, 1814.[1]

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.

  1. This paper was read at the meetings of the Society six months before the publication of the sketch of the same district by Dr. Thomson. See Annals of Philosophy, for November and December, 1814
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