A railroad cut exposes several narrow coal seams in Tertiary sedimentary beds which are overlain by basalt. The coal formation consists of shales, some sandstone and thin bands of lignite separated by shale-partings of varying thickness. Lignite bands vary from a few centimetres up to about 60 centimetres but in places there is 1.2 to 1.5 metre thicknesses of coal and shale bands bedded together. The coal is a lignite and of generally poor quality. The host form- ation is of limited extent.