The geology of Beadnell in the county of Northumberland, with a description of some annelids of the Carboniferous formation

section along the coast from Ebbs Nook to Annstead Bay, of nearly one and a half miles in length, exhibits a fine series of rocks belonging to the Mountain Limestone Formation. Thick sandstones and limestones, shales with ironstone, and coal-seams are intercalated with each other; and these strata are traversed by a lead-vein and a basaltic dyke. As we wander along the shore, we meet with evidences of sea-deposits in the limestones and calcareous shales, wherein are embedded many corals and mollusks; the sandstones, shales, and coal afford relics of the vegetation of the Carboniferous Era; some slaty sandstones give distinct indications of ancient shallow seas and coast-lines, whereon the waves broke gently and over which worms crawled; while the basaltic dyke tells of the play of internal forces, rending asunder the vast mass of stratified rocks, and pouring molten lava into the fissures.