A newly-discovered coal measures marine band in billinge beacon quarry,lancashire, and its stratigraphical significance

A thin band yielding conodonts and Foraminifera and therefore demonstrably marine, has been found in mudstone lying immediately above the uppermost coal horizon in Billinge Beacon Quarry. The existence of this newly recognized horizon, which is very likely to be the Langley Marine Band at the top of the Lenisulcata Chronozone, much strengthens the correlation of the Billinge Beacon sandstones with the regionally developed Crutchman Sandstone. An alternative correlation of the Billinge Beacon sandstones with the Dyneley Knoll Flags of Burnley, which was recently proposed by F. M. Broadhurst, is not supported by the new evidence, nor by the evidence of boreholes, since it appears that the Dyneley Knoll Flags die out some distance to the north of Billinge.