Seatearth is a British coal mining term, which is used in the
geological literature. As noted by Jackson (1997), a seatearth is the layer of sedimentary rock underlying a
coal seam. Seatearths have also been called "seat earth", "seat rock", or "seat stone" in the geologic literature. Depending on its physical characteristics, a number of different names, i.e. "underclay", "fireclay", "flint clay", and "ganister" can be applied to a specific seatearth.
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