The Brora Coalfield is a
coalfield
A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological. A coalfield often groups the seams of ...
on the east coast of
Sutherland in northern
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. The 'Brora Main' is a 1m to 1.5m thick seam which has been mined in the
Brora area. It is unusual amongst British coalfields in being of
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...
age rather than
Carboniferous. The first seams to be worked were those exposed along the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
coast though inland mining began in the early nineteenth century. Mining continued until the 1970s; its principal market being the nearby brickworks.
[Trewin NH (ed) 2002, ''The Geology of Scotland'' (4th edn), The Geological Society, London (p454)]
References
External links
Coal Mining in the British Isles - The Brora Coalfield (Northern Mine Research Society)
Coal mining regions in Scotland
Geography of Highland (council area)
Sutherland
Brora
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