Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1871-11-25
Formation Of a Bed of Coal.

FORMATION OF fbeu or Coal.
We can comprehend the formation
of bed of coal in the oldcn time.
Let us suppose that certain bed of
coal has been completed by the
growth ofluxuriant plants over low.
lying tract subject to foundations
from the sea. Rising ground of
granite or schistosc rocks in the dis
tance defines the boundaries of a
continent from which the scdimen.a-
~ materials of the coal strata are
derived. The growth of vegetation
marks a period of rest ; but now q low
subsistence of the whole tract com
mcnces. The blackish waters of the
estuary and the salt waters from the
ocean invaded the Jungle, carrying
dark mud in suspension, with float
ing stems of trees and fronds of
ferns. Presently, the mud subsidies,
and covers In one uniform sheet the
accumulated vegetation of centuries.
The process of subsistence goes on,
while the sea currents aud rivers
pour into the estuary fine sand and
mud, in which branches and stems
from the uplands are inclined.
This process continues until the
sinking Of the ocean bed altogether
ceases, or is counter balanced by
the rapidity with which the sediment
is deposited. The basin becomes
gradually shallower, and plants be-
gin to appear, commencing perhaps
at the coast, and creeping seward,
until the whole basin is again over
spread by forest of huge cryptic
Sas lc trees, arborescent ferns and
conitcrs, with dense underground
Of giant grasses. These, generation
after generation, flourish and die,
their leaves, branches and trunks
are falling around and gradually &C
cumulating, till the pulpy mass at
tains a thickness of twenty, fifty or a
hundred feet. The process compile
ted, the basin again begins to sub
side, the waters run and bury the
mass of thousands of centuries, stra-
tum after stratum accumulates, till
the vegetation pulp is subjected to
the pressure of, it may be, thou
sands of feet of solid matter.
Meanwhile chemical as we'll as
mechanical changes ensue, and in
process of time what was once a tor
rent is changed into a bed of coal.
BY a repetition OF this process with
local variations, we may conceive
the formation of any number Of coal
seams, frequently amounting, in
some districts, to fifty or sixty, en-
braced within vertical thickness of
several thousand feet of sllales and
sandstone. Ages roll on, the strata
are removed from their foundations
upleaved from the sea bottom, the
breakers and currents sweep away
a portion of the covering, and the
mineral treasures are brought within
the seach of mining industry.
TnE CoMISG ECILpsE.-Ihe astron-
"mcrs are pcculiarl y favored by the
recurrence of three total cclipses of
the sun i'll three successive years
that which was visible in America in
August. 1869, that which was OBJ
served by scvera, scientific parties
on the 22i of December, 1870, in the
south of Spain. the Island of Sicily,
and tho north of Africa, and that
which is yet to come on the llth of
December next. The last will be
visible only in the eastern hemis-
pherc, the track of totally passing
in = southeast by east direction
cross llindostan, the Islands of Cey.
Ion. Sumatra, and Java, and the
northern part of Australia The
shadow will be about seventy miles
wide. and the total observation will
last from two and quarter minutes
i'll India to above four minutes in
Australia.