3. ..>\.Sacuate een) eo On
“ bottom of Niagara, = 2 Sane ee eee
«.top:of Clinton, 2» s-,.4 245) ieee eee wee el Ineo ee
* —top.of red Meédinas="".), =:.-2 So kaa ee on omer.
«bottom: of red’ Medina; “220 ¢) aac eee tI eee
Shale to top of gas sand; =< S23. = p= =. cee ele JO yan
To bottom-of gasisand, --* 2-2. 2s cea) eeu eele oto em
Depth:.of; well: :.°) G32 ce flee eee ee oom
Well on Anthony Groell farm, West Seneca township. (Drilled
September to October, 1898, by Stearns & Leopold; completed October 23,
1893.)*
Drive pipe,= i) Scie) Gackeh oe eens, aera eee 19 feet.
Casing, 01: 5 Sa Sco! AR So Bete ee ea
HWhint, 5“. <« ae oo) ae oe ev eee eS Or
Through flint, 532.) Gee Peete GS od 0iy 42
Top of Niagara; .°- <3. 6+, ao. cele ce eC
Sulphur gas,. 2° 2 bys Phage a st ove Ee
Through Niagara, |.".. 2. 0) 6. a eee
Bisuop—GroLocy or Erte Counry. 369
Slate to Clinton, - | hr a he ee at 1,070 feet.
HN et ST ee oo 2 ea a a Ct Os
ESeSN GL. . 7 eR er Ga ea Poa sls Sten ese
Minough: SisccaGes ee) edn ww 61,900
Bocuoniror well so. ONS i Sey i 1 20 Dian
Well on George Leichert farm, West Seneca township. (A. W. Curtis,
driller; completed January, 1894.)*
JOG Oe, RD aaa een 18 feet.
Cacia ee ee a. 110°
TOIT. co gt Lo ALE 0 SU heen a) re) 9
(iirouteiumang et Oe le ere es ae aro Out
Nea aS ale ee ie MOOS
SM EMEetd eee eos a ew oe ee = 9BO V4
Miirouch sulphur ast re a Ee leOGOs ©
ool hy Sa ee a Poe Melee Dam 6°
Gh filet be OS sn sale yer ao, PaO ese
iitmomonevedina, Se Soe. kG ee QOKe
Cece, SIC NE ce SE hie J AO),
Through gas Tari Cl Sie Cr aa a ae, S19 9.9 #8
Drenmomingin Welle oa ey ey Os SEO oo en
Well on Henry Hisenhart farm, West Seneca township. (Completed
February, 1895. Production in twenty-four hours, 800,000. feet).*
Mincktiesssor top sand, 1. Ae 8 80 feet,
MiiGknessor bottom Sand, 9°, 9.8.0. Ao le. og oi
Miiiekatersorespocket, aS fe Sy Bia ye
De rinomeamel ap sa tery et ea Oe. ty. 1,848., “
Roth Homestead Well No. 1. Reserve. (Thomas Argue, driller.)*
Drilled to 1,221 feet June, 1894.
Well No. 6 on Shoop farm. (Drilled by H. W. Curtis. )*
Dae DIPS ne amereee e s AG feet.
C2 eee eee. «oe B05.
RomarcommOneNIOmittee Getto 2. cw gl | TO
Cian ee ee eee lw. kl, to 1,045...
Medina, Sy rota ee As PST a i ten At, at OeOme
UO SC INGE el SS US Oe ee 0) 156, 23“
DUE CUM BaP MepeaNOy am ne a hk OBE: uM
[CUNEO UNUGE, » LOGS eS ae AP eer fe eae? sd
24
370 Report oF THE Svatre GEOLOGIST.
John Roth Homestead farm, Reserve, Well No. 1. (W. HH. Curtis,
driller.)*
Dirive- pipe; “aes 2 eee 56. feet. Dries) eee 56 feet.
Casing, 5 aed AO) OP Sinan ger tener eel
Niagara limestone,. . . at 750 “ + Cornif. and Salma, 554 \“
Through Niagaralimestone “ 980 “ Niagara,. . . . 230 “
Shales to(Gimnton, 2. 3.421.052) aSinalieg ay eer hears
Medima;' \o<.- 0.) oe oe ee 1072. = (Olio a eeene eee OMe
Through,Medina; .. >. >. —.1,160., “ (Medina. == 2 seo ome
) L168 “: AWhitesMedmar Sines
Bottomig: 0) 0s oe A ST Sed falnallen (7) ite ae aeons
Gas Sandee ics. o> 70 eG
1,181 feet.
Well No. 2 on WLS. Roth farm. (October 1894; Thomas Argue, driller.)*
Top ot @astsand:. - 2-517. he ie o--- gee tee ts
Bottom of gas sand - (4-. eee S eee L2AGs oe
Pocketee. ui. Se Ee) ee ol. ee
Total depth: Osc) 0) Sees See clezs ences
Well No. 4 on the Will Roth farm, near Reserve. (H. W. Curtis,
driller. Struck gas October 15, 1889.)*
Drivespypey 0a Sk, Sle, os Beet 0. ie OOmeer:
Casi gett 200g ony RE ee amen: 5 Te, el
Bhimnge) CSS Se cae ae at SsvnK
Flint fo 27-2 See Se Ss Se ton oom
@
Niagara, 2° Sse eho oo ee OER
Phrovgh “Niagara, <= =.) 4. iy 4 os Were eee Oommen
Slate ~70-feetto»Clintom;2 >. ee Oa F cee armel a ies
Medimay: |) 055" Sneetenhie 5k oie eek eis ~ yee aes pentane me OO ea
Ac litle asi tcc ope ua pee one aie eee ae US es eo
‘Through Medinay =) 0 tae aces ere (a VARs, nee
Gassand= 435%, aos he ot eee eee te Oneacs
Through eas sands) nese ei ee ae mit! Gn ea
‘Bottomvot- hole. <6 -3> ee eee eee ey UA ees
Schudt Well, Reserve, West Seneca township. (Drilled in October,
1894, by R. W. Argue. 200,000 cubic feet per day.)*
Top ofdiinte "5 7 0 pee eae ene at 232 feet.
Bottom of ditmt.-. fe Ga ee ear Ge mi (VG i | AY
BisHop
Top of Clinton, .
Top of Medina, .
Bottom of Medina,
Shale to top of gas sand,
Bottom of gas sand,
Pocket, .
Total depth, .
GroLtocy or Erie County.
at 1,100 feet.
“ 11380
1,210
“ 1,995
“ 1,988
60
1,298
“
“
“
4
“
“
Schneider Well, on Lot 175, West Seneca township, near Lbenezer.*
240 feet.
To top of flint,
“ bottom of flint, .
“ top of Niagara, .
“ bottom of Niagara,
“ top of Clinton,
“ top of Medina,
“ bottom of Medina, .
“ top of gas sand,
“ bottom of gas sand,
Total depth,
Goodker Well No. 1.
Top of gas sand,
Bottom of gas sand,
Pocket, .
Total depth,
Schraubh Well.
Top of gas sand,
Bottom of gas sand,
Pocket,
Total depth,
William Shaefer Well No. 1, West Seneca township.
1894.)*
To top of sand,
“bottom of sand, .
Pocket, .
Depth of well,
425
800
. 1,040
pelt)
. 1,148
. 1,228
. 1,288
1,247
. 1,802
(Drilled November, 1894.)*
“ce
“c
“
“
“
“
“a
“
“
at 1,357 feet,
“ 1370
44
ml, 414
(November, 1894.)*
“
“
“
at 1,149 feet.
1,160
: 6
. 1,166
“
cc
“
(Drilled April,
. 1,226 feet.
. 1,239
wy 1269
“
“
“
~]
bo
Report oF THE Stare GEOLOGIST.
Well No. 2, Robert Hwald farm, Ebenezer, West Seneca township.
(Completed May, 1894; 150,000 cubic feet in twenty-four hours. )*
To top.of sand,.°. 2-32 55 29 2.0 oeoS ee eer
bottom of sand.) =. fn 0” ieee eee
Pockets’) "3 02 2a eee 2 a eee Baaew
Depthtof swell, 5 (es. )s 3° at ei
Hart Well, Seneca plank road, Hast Hamburg township. (Record
from Mr. G. C. Shaffer.)
Soili tc. (eS eee er 20 feet.
Shale; -.-ueeeece ee
Bling,2 Rae. ec, ale eT CO
Liamestone(@)y8). 2. 7 Se ee eee
Slatesriic tae Sa A)
limestone,@), =<". SP h> Soa te ee ee Ome
Shale. "sar So Ge thoe oe cae eee ee A 60% 2
Red: Medina." 5a) Sei eee Sn mee
Gas Barid) 22252 ee 20S Se eee eee RYO mont
McCarthy Well No. 4, Hast Hamburg township. (Completed June,
1894.)*
To top of sand;-<\ % ¢.%~, < eeeke, 5 Sete eae Oiseau:
To bottom of Sand;.. . (.> 6 aieter a ace te ee
Pocket, eM REN Rt! ity sy eS ay Ris
Depth of well, 2° 5 a> 2 i5 (a ee eee
Brsuop—Grotocy or Erie Counry. S19
Berg Well, Hast Hamburg township. (Completed December, 1894.
1,300,000 cubic feet per diem.)*
epeGemculcande syne shar es x) 5. at 1,804 feet,
oneonnor rede Sande Pelee ae Saat CL oooes:
Shale 34 feet to top of white sand, . . . . Cleon outs
Bouwonmeor white Sand. 2.8 P)areees Ye A se LOB ine
Pocket, AR, er Bare ae De, Pye zi AAs SE
Ame U ne awl Neer ings ors cnke yeh ay ne 1,091. “
Shorr Well, Kast Hamburg township, one-half mile west of Websters
Corners. (A “6 dry hole,’?)*
DomtopeGmeagsanG. we Goh e. es gn nc {. 1,458 feet.
¢ '
ficsbouomeonerig sands =. 9.0. 2 ow. we LATE OM
Dr SHaOUCHMNOI ye yer. sie ee we ee LATS.
Well on Miles P. Briggs farm, Duels Corners, Hast Hamburg town-
ship. (Completed April 15, 1894; Thomas Argue, driller. “A rank
duster.”)*
Gye GEG InN aay oe Soa re at 650 feet.
Momo ediias:” I~ k yore ice eas Pl De layexoyee ue
PISO MICOS <. Se Peete fe ae je "Sy yy nb 623),
C1 OLE FE 10 ah ri ng re re Seu) orc’
Bottom of gas sand and well, . . ... . . se InG ious
Well on F. Boldt farm, Kast Hamburg township. (Completed April,
1894: H. W. Curtis, driller.)*
LENE s JO] VE SG SI a ig a 13 feet.
Se rie eee fk ey 3. 100:
it eee es os... Cat | 849
PMOL eee Mel. BS a ee
Niagara, tahoe geile ys EASE Sie hat co ee oN O25. 2
WASTRET > geen GW Rh ota en ae i a ea rc CEO Olu
PIO UW yaneI see ct CPS On Ae
ISLC CUO OMRON IIMGON, Seto. kw cei OA (ine
eCeNbeWnASHNG@te ee oe ee ene) penne
STRESS ie alt yaaa
(HO SENG oe ae ea rr aes tale ey wc
imonieicetasand et ke aegis e he
Prem mmormvaeliterr oe te OP eas Boe Flach 7 Oae
374 Report oF THE State GEOLOGIST.
Well on Kleis Farm, near Windom, Hamburg township. (Ma. Mook,
driller; sunk in August, 1895. Well gives about 75,000 cubic feet per day.)*
Soul: 26:6 0 dik ee ee ee ice hee ee 28 feet.
Shade. os. big eo te ep eS Ee |e) Steen
FPlimty 05 Pe ea ee
Limestones and shale to Niagara (?),. . . >. . = 640 “
Niagara ();° — 0 Ati ier 0 -. e Hl Tew et
Clinton 4.027 Adee tee os... = a eee ee
Red. Medimay=5 08 i... - pee ee
Shale: 3. 25 fee ce Se ee
White sand, Sate (0 -. . a eee ee
W. P. Roth, Well No. 1, Lot 298, West Seneca township, (H. W.
Curtis, driller; completed October 15, 1892. Gas found at 1,079 feet.)*
Casing, We Se Dal tb oe ee eh ee meets
Flint, . Seth > + hig” Re ee PWre ee licyy
Chroughsilamt icy ..) 1: ... =e ae Si) Osa
Through limestone (?), a hard rock here, .. aril kOe
Well drilled Swe... ee tonlea00 25
Some gas was found near the bottom of the well. At present the hole
is full of water and gives very little gas.
Mr. J. R. Newton of Angola has a well 450 feet deep on his premises.
It is said to furnish sufficient gas to heat his house.
Well at Kenton, near Brant. (Drilled in 1890 and 1891.) The original
record of this well is lost. The following facts are furnished by Mr. Clarence
M. Fenton, who had charge of the work of drilling the well.
Soulrand, quicksand) ts iia Si eer 80. feet.
Hard ‘blue rock; 7) a5) Ra ee oe ee Ome aa
Vein-ot waiter =. 2 tact Ae Ce eee at; 1.300;-%
Red sand with good flow of gas, .. tt OO One
Drilled o's AER yp ce ET ne eae so ane toeleae
The well was torpedoed with 100 quarts of nitro-glycerine and filled with
packer and two-inch piping. When confined the gas pressure runs up to
1,000 pounds to the square inch. When blown off, the well furnishes only
vas enough to fill a three-quarter inch pipe, or about 10,000 feet per day.
This is used to run the cappers of the Erie County Preserving Co.’s cannery
at Fenton, and supplies also two or three stoves. At present the well is
three-fourths full of water heavily charged with salt.
While drilling was in progress a greasy rock was found at 1,200 feet,
from which there was a flow of gas sufficient to make a flame two feet above
the top of the well. At the same time the cable was smeared with a dirty
mixture of tar and yaseline, smelling of petroleum.
Wells at Zoar.
Kelley Well, three-quarters of a mile west of Town line. (Completed
January 10, 1888; record from Mr. Michael McIntyre, driller.)
Drive pipes: ni. "Us. ek wie Pee eee 60 feet.
Gagne oo 8 wo wT ge Se ASR Ne eal i ea ee ee (
Top of Corniferous limestone, 4) +.) eee Ons
Bishop—Grorocy oF Erte County. 379
Hirstoulcareem) and gas: 9. 720. A Oe >... 1,725 feet.
Second oil (amber), with salt water, .
]
homme ruonie) eee ee ee 1,825). -
Kerr Well. (Begun August, 1888; record from M. McIntyre. )
Drivwenpipe.( Chroust) 5s. Ve + 879) feet.
ret cmeehs Oe IC nok kee eS GBR
Toy OT ACCTING, SE ke ee es ie OY G25 a
Gas, eo ee Pea se 88h“
Depchroimwmelvammmrpee a ce Te eR ele 2,150“
This is the largest producing gas well yet found in the county, and
probably in the state. Gas was struck on October 27th. There was, at the
time, in the well, the string of tools sixty-five feet long, together with more
than 1,800 feet of rope, the whole weighing probably two tons. The escaping
gas forced everything out of the well and at least 150 feet into the air, The
drill, in descending, struck upon its end and penetrated the soil to the depth
of fifteen or twenty feet, bending the stem lke a wire. The noise made by
the gas escaping through a five-inch hole could be distinctly heard at Spring-
ville, nearly six miles away. It was ten days before the pressure decreased
enough to permit the resumption of drilling, and Mr. McIntyre estimates that
during this time the daily flow could not have been less than twenty-five or
thirty million cubic feet. The well is now owned by the Buffalo Natural
Gas Fuel Co., and is known as the “ Freak.” Ordinarily it is held in reserve,
the pressure gradually rising to about 600 pounds. When an unusual
amount of gas is needed, this gas is turned on to the line, and the well furnishes
a million feet a day for a period of two or three weeks. By this time the
pressure has fallen to about 300 pounds, and the well is shut off and allowed
to “rest.” In the course of two or three weeks the pressure rises again to 600
pounds, and the well is re-opened.
The horizon in which this gas occurs is probably the upper part of the
water-lime, the rock immediately below the Corniferous limestone.
Along the northern outcrop of this rock in Erie county, there is a layer,
locally known as “ bull-head,” which is filled with cavities from the size of a
pea up to several inches in diameter. This rock also contains cavernous
seams through which subterranean waters flow and appear at the outcrop in
copious springs.
The immense volume of gas from the Kerr well indicates that the gas
accumulates in a cavity so large that it cannot readily empty itself when
opened,
380 Report oF THE STavTeE GEOLOGIST.
Richardson Well, near Mortons Corners; Lot 92, Collins township.
(Begun March 5, 1889; M. McIntyre, driller.)
Drift, 5 'C:, lorie eg eee cP aa 80 feet.
Casimgy 2°02) CAST ein A ec ee oh ieee
Top. of :Corniferous.” “=>... eee eee
b]
Smallishow: ob-casies ete 7 "0 oe ee (eNO eee
Salt “water te y aeeen bd en re Ar 2eO Ou wee
Salt water, chocolate-colored sand, . . . . OS oir
Through limestone and shale, . . . .. . Pee Oil eae
Red: Median 20). eee ee ee CONDE yy mee
ThrovghoMedina,. (5 in) ee een ee CDDEO 3 yn ae
Limestone and shale to white Medina, . . . HD iy ies us
Throughswhite: Medinaus (Sitti tpane eee al: LODO Mma
Redeshialle.:\- -. Seer ee eee leo Onn
Hirst gas.) 15 sae Se aie SE ees Ona
Second sos. y) 600) m0 Ges eee eee ee OO OM ms
Depth of well, <2). f:0.u.°) Soa nat uke ete eg
Bisoorp-—GroLocy or Erie Counry. 381
Frye Well, Zour. (Record by Mr. M. McIntyre; 100,000 cubic feet daily.)
iniceipe mmr in i se reeay ie ee ae >. 165 feet.
at ee eee eee) er ks £65
WOnMnreh OMe meee 5 a eee enir. Alt A BS hs cab 1.570, «4
ADRESS esata’: SMe et Ge tre, Seale apy
Mecondnomse(WESU) 5 Sj ymumale: 4 fe- 6 ale ts elkopo.
lire acer ot eh Me oe aN es ara)
De Viineet ace Pee nD OO)
White Well, No.2, Zoar flats. (Record by Mr. M. McIntyre. Top of
well 20 feet lower than Well No. 1, which is 1,400 feet away.)
Dri neem oo, Se or - LGD: feet.
Cant RP re Sa oy eee ecw. OBO
iopror Cormmerous, 6 Be ke aAuaieoGO 2%
sat Jimmie ts 5. | Ss Si aa ge GOO) t
VitiGhrsaliawaheR mere 5 =. 2, ato Se ks oO.
EMORMGUOMCH, MMC i ae OOO
Parkinson Well, top of hill, Zoar. (Record by Mr. M. McIntyre.)
This well furnishes about 25,000 cubic feet of gas daily.
Dreamer. «. Sees is Oo ws | BOB feet.
Cae ie ren ee a ee te es cytes) ABR, -&
Memo ornilerous, sewe( iy. ey oS. oy Hat 1,720.“
DOME OmORS: 0: Re gue wn S| ey Paleade. 1
inGueommOimmelly "= Malena, le ae 2.001. «
The last well sunk at Zoar, September—October, 1895, is situated about
2,000 feet south of the Parkinson well. It had—
Dritteeeemrnte tc ret 4. ee | 60 feet.
CqenicroUss meee ses ta ee at 1 445 OC
Plein. ers. ea net i to 1809 «
Well on the south side of Cattaraugus creck, opposite Zoar. (Record from
Mr. M. McIntyre; no gas worth piping.)
Pie ee Set ye ts. 80. feet.
er eer erent ire ce, a fiw iini ce. 2. APO. &
NOprOlC GPMMLGrOUS N Pagcce ee oc). ke aonb (OOspas
BOM OMONeaMOVCHS tees of 865, =
Wemulegumwellpea wer er ees. ew ao te oe L,950-
382 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
A part of the gas from the Zoar field is piped into Springville, where
it supplies about 120 families. The company controlling it is called the
Springville Natural Gas Co., of which the officers are: Dr. Brooks, president ;
H. Leland, treasurer; F. D. Smith, secretary. There is also a board of
directors, of which Mr. M. McIntyre is a member.
The Springville Well. (From Mr. Mook, driller; well contains twenty-
five feet of rock salt.)
Blue sandstone and shales, . . . . . =. - .~. 1,800 feet.
Jatestomes. <3. Qa es, eee tie ee ere
Salts cubs cae 1, Cees oo" 2) a a at 1252574
Well ibored. 2 see ea" 5.) 2. 2 See eee ee bow? boUN IE
At Gowanda, on the Cattaraugus county side of the creek, a well was
sunk, in the eighties, by Mr. Silas Vinton, who gave to me the following
record :
*Sonle hae se eo, ee 6 feet.
Shale, — -ee a. “6 Aa ee en Ot
Sand; withvoull’and: gas) c=.) es ee :
Shale to “second sand,” where more oil and gas
were found. 22. ~~ (a5 SS Gee ee ee eee
Shale. -32c3-<65° see ee ee ee eo ee
Hard rock (Corniferous and water-lime), . . . . 400 “
1,700 feet.
Mr. Charles 8. Howland informs me that this well was deepened in
February, 1889. The Corniferous limestone was reached at 1,390 feet.
Drilling was continued to 2,251 feet, where salt water and mud were found
and the well abandoned. The well, when cleaned of water, gives gas
enough to fill a two-nch pipe with a light pressure. This well is located
near the creek, about 200 yards east of the station.
Another well was drilled over thirty years ago on the Erie county side
of the creek within the village limits. Locally it is known as the “Trunk
Well.” Gas was found at about 860 feet, and the well was drilled about
forty feet deeper. This furnished gas for a house for several years, but is now
“filled up with a substance resembling glass and nearly as hard.”
* Vide Report State Geologist 1885.
BrsHorp—Groniocy or Erie Coun'ry. 883
Maps.
The location of gas wells and gas territory is shown upon the general
map accompanying this report. Where the scale was too small to show
details accurately, enlargements of the more important districts have been
given. The map of the South Buffalo field was constructed mainly from data
furnished by Messrs. E..M. Cobb, President, and C. T. Sloan, Vice-President
of the South Buffalo Natural Gas Co.. who have allowed me the free use of
their maps and the original records of wells drilled under their direction. In
this map, wells known to furnish little or no gas are marked (*). Those
which were bemg drilled at the time the information was being collected are
marked (+). Wells marked ({) are either good producing wells now or were
at some time. The names, location by lot number, and the character of the
wells are shown on the following table designed to accompany the map.
Name of Well. Lot. Township.
Samuel Wasson. 28... .). = . . 85° West Seneca.
ecley sc ee Pe. LOD is a #
OAV anispeKomnme AF 2 ies > geo 12 « fs f
Brel hveas, ok a> pe OR Rese os, oy, SLED ee “ %
idee eerie MOUremmR Re oe er oa A : “ 4
Mee chnerderNnt ne 5 lu a ari g LA Ms ig t
iieenezer Station, §/.00) 2. <0...) o. °189 “ a +
Olly, Ser Se eee ey en Sa #
Pa nemwnAnkeren sted. o. os) oY ce . 288 a ; t
INGE. | Re ana RS eee a ee Tf E ‘ af
eWepplem Nor. Gh ws oa. ij) 296 c ss if
Soe No ? . 840 « ee :
Cree Pichia us, Ln As, sa +. 898 a fe t
OMe nwaler moPn tse &.e ey ci: s; 2. 329 a g t
Johan scmudte. Bk ys x 3. 880 a ef ds
Gepo@lamicnn te sieette Vo. :.. .864. ‘ és t
PEM CREO CARA Py es sa. ke gue, OOS a“ as "i
384 Report OF THE State GEOLOGIST.
Name of Well. Lot. Township.
C.Schudt, .°'.. . 78 Sie ee OTS essence nee
Herman. Metzler". =. 4 eee oe z a
J. Nagel tus |. oo eens ee on ea) “ r ;
George-Reichert,. = S22 ge os | Sac eee E fF
H. Grotke, 3° 493 Se aaa ose ae * +
J. Timmerman. pee ee. see es : t
439-4 é
G. Reichert: (vient 2c eed < f He
William Schaefer, ee | Orie ee eS at a t
EH, ‘Hisenivarts elves ee. 5 eee oo oe fe se
J; Picks Roepe: 335: 7) eee eles co ¢ d:
W ilhame CsGrotke. <5. a eee el o cs t
9Q3 “ “ %*
IQA “ “ t
370 “ “ if
168 “ ce i
Blogsome i. 300s bt ee ee ee ae *
Biions: Vala (Sates! tr Ae epee OO 3 t
Elma Station, . Shes OD Me AN
Springbrook (Albert Moore), . . . 81 A it
Bi Rottw oR ee eee 91 f eS
G:Schimalz:- =)": Set Ler ke e
448 East Hamburg. *
400 « «“ +
CO. Spawer, f) 25) bei eee On € és +
J. Sehwartz, ch >*:- eA ee ee F gf t
Oarl, Betas 26 SUR ae ee a is if
Timothy McCarthy, . . GN Ss s t
Duell’s Corners (M. P. Briggs), . . —— # a
F. Boldt; ~ 4°. 277oier Sia eee oS us t
G. Seitz, 2 krete ete 460 ge es if
463 a S ai
Alfred Moore, =5y ti Dalia ate ell bee EO sf t
Bassett,... . 6. =p AS ae ee z =
W..K, Saville;siicic ete eee 2 . af
John Johnson, ol Sees? col ate ce ewes 17 ‘ S *
Henry J; Hart a... gta’ cla ee eee i at t
Brshorp—Gro.tocy or Erte County. 385
Name of Well. Lot. Township.
Meatthas Senor) fo. |. . 2; . & 21, Hast Hamburg.
Eee ria pton, So Meee conse ee 1d e bs
Pedal dl. DOnZIe!: vt ce ex ese) 26 s iy
Ruin H-holmwoode. -. -. :.- 64. ~“ i
ler ost... teen a, 3D: + Hambure. t
inom. an. Ss em Ses) 2 yt D2 t
12 Shere end RR” 7 a a i AE ae t
Wells Outside of Erie County.
The following well records are interesting in connection with the
preceding :
Well No. 1, Philip Zavitz farm, located on Lot 35, third concession
from lake Erie, township of Bertie, near the town line of Humberston,
Ontario, Can. (Record from Mr. E. Coste.)
plete we Teen Sw fe 7 feet.
SoLnnerous 0-7: > Wil Aa Uomieet erie” yolk Se *
Onondaga shale, gypsum
dolomites (Salina pd.),to . 415 feet, . . . 390
Guelph and Niagara, . . 415-655 “ ee eel f
Wimetare-shale- 3. . ..,. 655-705. “ i ae
Clinton limestone, . . . 705-735 “ tat ome rel) ne.
Medina sand and red shale, 735-846 “ =f ee a
Gas in white Medina, . . . at 836 “ esang.. «13. “* thick
At Point Abino gas was found at 500 and 575 feet below the surface, or
193 feet below the bottom of the Niagara limestone.
Well No. 1, Corfu, Genesee county, N. Y.; north of the village. (From
Mr. J. W. Stearns.)
Marcchussisle: 2) wee nt wee eS | O80 feet.
SMC wera ee) oar tack eee ee | | 180
inestoveraniustialcms. 02. ean fe S.C. (488
PePeMesEONem eo ee... Cw 250
ee tea eee eee ae se! TO
Clinton, a te AE 0 al 10
*Medina, Par eee cos A L100“
inedepmale co potromofiwel,... . . . . - . + 20 *
* Notes say ‘‘ white Medina.”
25
386 Reporr oF THE STare GEOLOGIS?.
Well No. 1 on the Bradshaw farm, near Coomer P. O., District 13, Lot 36,
town of Newfane, Niagara county, N. Y. (Record from Mr. E. Coste.)
Well begun in red shales of the Medina group.
Trenton; '.-? .9 2 pabell4eb eet:
Continued? 5 3 to GQ aldara 3! aes eee Cr
Caleiferous sandrodlke to .2sL25 = “(7 a. 2 eee ee eh (oe
Laurentian: Vee. aie 105
Drilled: into: Laurentian 21. 6 See ee a)
Depth of well, . .~ ~s 234 feet.
Well No 2 (drilled January 4, 1892; started on the red Medina. Record
from Mr. E. Coste.)
Drive Pipe, :22 see es eg ee eee ele
ted Medina, dark Hudson river and Utica
shales," 0s “SBP ome O00 cleets
Trenton, “2.0 a Se 0S OO Sees wih Obama
Calciferous;. --~<.° ~ eo 1980s eo te ame
Hydromica and dark green schists of the Archean,
from. 2225 Age LO s0S98 0) teet. sneer oN Ore
No Potsdam sandstone was recognized. This well had a little gas, from
1,912 to 1,918 feet. Cased to 243 feet, and was dry after that.
Record of Well at Fulton, N. Y. (Mr. J. W. Stearns, driller.)
Drrtts 38) See ee ee ee 43 feet.
ned. sand, — 48, 2k eC oe rae eee Ree CeO Oram
(A little gas at 320 and 370 feet.)
Oswego grey limestone, 72." 578. strom 690i ton 150 710
Sand and limestone, Eee OO Maae
Limestone’and: shale. <4) 3. 0. = eee SEU NO ae
Black -shalé,+ >, * 2. -.5= ipego> is) Soe ee el toa iet
Lop: of Trenton, 3.8 ate ene eee come Omar
Gass. eos we FES ee ee ee Sl eae ho cles
Gras, . os uacind ees ce ee Om
Gras, cathy OMe aa es a
Gas, aul. ht Gt Se ee eee ‘POO aes aly
Drilled’: sf 5° cis cle pa Saat ee ani eso q
A well in the village of Canandaigua, N. Y., has fifty-one feet of rock
salt, according to Mr. James Woodring, of Buffalo, who sunk the well.
A well was also put down on the Indian Reservation at Versailles, N. Y.,
to the depth of 216 feet. No gas was found, but good water was obtained.
BrsHop—Gerotocy oF Erte Country. 387
Surface Gas.
Small quantities of gas escape from crevices in the rocks in many places
within the county. The most abundant supply comes from the Portage rocks
in the horizon of the lowest sandstones along a line connecting roughly
Wales Centre, East Aurora, North Boston and North Collins, and extending
eight or ten miles southeasterly. The lower Portage shales also furnish
supplies from rock crevices and water wells, and the Hamilton and Marcellus
some from similar sources.
A few of the points at which gas has been noticed are at Highteen-Mile
creek, near the lake; between Wales Centre and East Aurora, where the
town-line road crosses a brook; near Holland; in Cazenovia creek, between
East Aurora and Griftin’s Mills; on Pipe creek, near West Falls; in many
places in the town of Boston; in the ravine between Shirley and North
Collins and near Lawton’s station.
Gas Horizons.
In the wells which have penetrated the Trenton limestone in Erie
county, no gas has been found. The Bradshaw well, No. 2, in Niagara
county, however, furnished a little in that rock. The Depew well. No. 2,
struck a paying streak of gas in the red shale, a little less than 1,700 feet
below the top of the Corniferous limestone. Nearly all the gas obtained
within the limits of Erie county comes from the “ white Medina” sandstone,
although some is found in the higher “red Medina,” and occasionally in the
Clinton. The gas obtained from these sources 1s comparatively free from
sulphur and makes excellent fuel and a fair illuminant.
The upper part of the Niagara group furnishes a variable amount of gas
in many of the wells throughout the field. The most characteristic con-
stituent of this gas is sulphuretted hydrogen (HS), commonly known
as “sulphur gas.” Water in contact with the gas dissolves out the U,S,
becoming “sulphur water.” Hence sulphur gas and sulphur water may occur
either together or separately, and the presence of either in the same formation
may determine the gas horizon. In ten wells it was found at depths varying
from 25 to 172 feet below the top of the Niagara, two having it at about
fifty feet and three at 130 feet. In six wells the average distance was 130
feet, which may be assumed as the horizon where we would be most likely to
find it.
Wells No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, at the Buffalo Cement Works, struck gas
at 450 to 460 feet, or about 400 to 410 feet below the Water-lime. Allowing
388 Report oF THE Strate GEOLOGIST.
386 feet for the Salina shales, this gas horizon would be fourteen to twenty-
four feet below the top of the Niagara. Getzville well No. 17 struck some gas
at 265 feet, which was unquestionably in the Salina shales; but the greater
part was found at 474-481 feet. The record indicates Niagara at 361 feet
or 292 feet from the surface of bed rock. The gas horizon was 113 feet
lower and was undoubtedly in the Niagara.
In connection with this it is interesting to examine the record of the
Boston well. Rock-salt was found here 575 feet below the top of the
Corniferous or a probable distance of 407 feet below the water-lime. At
783 feet below the top of the Corniferous, or 615 feet below the water-lime, a
vein of water was found, evidently sulphur water, which was very offensive
and colored the drill and cables black. As the Salina shales are thickest
in the trough containing the deposit of rock-salt, it is apparent that the
drill in this well had penetrated some distance into the Niagara lime-
stone. The Corniferous limestone and water-lime appear to act as the
reservoir for gas in the Zoar field. In three wells quite a show of gas was
found within ten feet below the top of the Corniferous, one had gas at forty-
five feet, and two others at seventy and eighty-five feet respectively. Three
had gas between 100 and 130 feet, and the famous Kerr well found it at 160
feet below the top of the Corniferous. Although a cavity was undoubtedly
the reservoir in the last imstance, the porous “bull-head” of the water-lime
is the most probable receptacle for gas within the formations named.
A pocket of gas with a flow sufficiently strong to throw the tools out of
the well was found in one of the wells at Alden. The reservoir was in the
Marcellus and was quickly exhausted. Shallow wells in the Portage rocks
furnish small quantities of gas in a few instances which are elsewhere noted.
Natural Gas Reservoirs.
The geologic conditions controlling the accumulation of natural gas are
not sufficiently understood to furnish reliable data by which a gas well
may be located. There are no surface indications of anticlines or other results
of deep-seated disturbances which might act to accumulate and hold large
quantities of gas. In the Medina sandstone, which is here the principal
reservoir, the gas is found where the rock is soft and porous, but is not found
where the rock is hard. Whether this difference in hardness is due to flexure
of strata or to some inherent quality of the rock itself, 1s still to be deter-
mined. Good wells are found close by poor ones, and several “dry” wells
Bishop—GeroLocy oF Eri County. 889
may almost encircle a good one. The most experienced and intelligent men
in the gas business frankly say that the drill is the only means of ascertaining
whether gas exists in the earth or not. And after a careful study of the
conditions existing in Western New York, I am free to express the opinion
that the presence of gas in any locality in Erie county can not be predicted as
securely as, for instance, a salt-well might be located in Wyoming or Living:
ston counties. In localities already tested, the chances may be two out of
three that a new well will find a paying quantity of gas. In a new district
the first well might get it, or it might not be found by sinking five or six.
The wells put down during the past year, however, go to show that natural
gas is much more widely distributed than was at first supposed, and that it is
destined to wider use, both for fuel and lights. The greater part of the best
wells are located along the Marcellus outcrop or on the Hamilton shales, just
south of it; but it is extremely doubtful whether proximity to the outcrop
has anything to do with the production of the gas.
It has been shown that surface gas exists in considerable quantities in
the Portage shales. Although the supply from this source may not be suffi-
cient to pipe to a distance, it appears to me that this might be utilized for
local consumption. A well from 100 to 500 feet deep, if properly located,
might furnish fuel for several houses; and it is by no means impossible that
the time will come when a gas well in that region will be considered as
necessary as a water well.
A General Geologic Section of Western New York, from Lake Ontario
to Cattaraugus Creek.
By using the well-records from Niagara county, in connection with those
from Erie county, the approximate thickness of the several formations is
shown from the Archean, up to near the top of the Portage group. Since
the measurements have been obtained from drillers’ records, lithologic
characteristics, such as hardness, color and material have in most cases
furnished the data by which the formations are distinguished.
The Portage Group, m the Boston well was 938 feet thick ;
in the Zoar wells 1,346, 1,895, 1,490; and in the Richardson well, 1,541 feet.
The Genesee shale, at Eighteen-Mile creek, was seventeen
feet thick, but is thicker eastward. At Windom it is estimated,
Wwitnoeut-actualmenasurement,to be wc. 2 fk 25 feet.
390 Report oF THE STaTE GEOLOGIST.
The Hamilton and Marcellus shales in the well at Eighteen-
Mile creek are, together, 287 feet thick. In the Heiser well at
Woodlawn, one and one-half miles north of the edge of the
Hamilton, the Marcellus is 125 feet thick, and is probably not
less than 140 feet in all, making the Hamilton shales,
and the Marcellus shales,
The Corniferous limestone, Onondaga limestone and
Water-lime, all being hard, are classed together by drillers as
“flint.” The well at the Snow Steam Pump Works, near the
southern edge of the Corniferous, in Buffalo, had 140 feet of this
flint. The Sherman-North street well had 150 feet. An examin-
ation of twelve other wells gives an average of 168 feet. The
wells at the Bennett cement quarries, Buffalo, begun below the
Onondaga, had, with the cement and “ bull-head” lying above the
mouth of the well, sixty-two feet of water-lime. The Fogelsonger
well on the same horizon had sixty-two feet of hard water-lime,
thus giving of
Corniferous and Onondaga limestone, —.
Water-lime, .
The Salina shales, from the bottom of the flint to the hard
rock known to drillers as Niagara limestone (but eae includ-
ing some Salina), averaged in ten wells,
Making the Salina and Water-lime together 446 er ae
The Niagara includes an upper limestone and a shale below,
the latter averaging seventy-two feet in thickness. The whole in
ten wells averaged .
The Clinton was from twenty-three to forty feet thick, and
averaged in nine wells,
The Medina, mcluding (@) a hard red sandstone, the “red
Medina;” (4) a shale of varying thickness, sometimes absent
entirely, and (¢) an almost white siliceous sandstone, known as
“white Medina.” These collectively ran from 83 to 140 feet in
thickness, the white band being from four to thirty feet, but
usually ten to fifteen feet thick.
Nineteen wells gave, of the whole, an average of
147 feet.
140 feet.
108 feet.
60 feet.
386 feet.
319 feet.
27 feet.
109 feet.
Bispop—-GroLtocy or Erie Counry. 391
From bottom of white Medina to the top of the Trenton lime-
stone, the Albert Moore well gave 1,635 feet; the South Park
moleee00 feceucand the Depew well 2... . 2. . . .. » 1,869 feet.
The Trenton limestone in the Bradshaw well, near lake
Ontario, was 680 feet; in Well No. 2, 710 feet, and in the Depew
lr Ue wk eC. C20 feet.
The Calciferous, resting on the Laurentian gneiss, was in the
Bradshaw well, No. 1, ten feet; in No. 2, twenty feet; in the
Depew well, 11¢ feet.
Without reaching the Archean, total thickness of above section, 5,561 feet.
The deep Richardson well at Zoar, which has been quoted
above, passed through the white Medina at . . . .. . . . 2,910 feet.
Adding from the Depew well, the shales below, . . . . . . 1,869 “
reid: hes mentees fy tases Scie bois alias cee « 720
Wicich) Calciememnmmrning Gera i toil iiah Warsieujd thse eerie ace oe . 110 &
Nea werumEmneOh en ett ee ws ts 5,609 feet.
A difference of only forty-eight feet in the results, as shown by the two
computations, shows that the estimates are approximately correct. It will be
noted, however, that the Calciferous was not fully penetrated in the Depew
well, and that the Richardson well 1s not situated upon the highest land in
that part of the county; so that the total thickness 1s probably from 100 to
200 feet more than the result given above.
Rock-Salt.
The borings in Erie county have added materially to our knowledge of
the extent of the Western New York salt-field. Thick beds of rock-salt are
known to occur at Boston Corners and at Springville, while the northern
edge of the same deposit was pierced in the old well southwest of East
Aurora. At Gowanda and Zoar the drill passed through the Salina shales,
finding brine, but no salt, in the rock-salt horizon. The limit, north and west
of which rock-salt has not been found in the county, and is not likely to be
found, is a line drawn from East Aurora to Patchen, curving westward near
Boston Corners and thence southward, crossing Cattaraugus creek about
three miles west of Springville. It is, therefore, probable that a well sunk to
392 Report oF THE STaTE GEOLOGIST.
the Niagara limestone at Wales, South Wales, Elmwood, or at any point
within five miles southeast of these places, would pass through a good bed of
rock salt.
Water-Power.
Although there are several large streams in the county, they are not well
adapted to furnish much water-power. In their lower courses, where the
volume of water is large, they either flow across a plain having very little fall,
or, as in the case of Eighteen-Mile creek, lie at the bottom of deep gorges,
where they are practically inaccessible. In the hill region, where there is
plenty of fall, the volume of water is small. Ellicott and Murder creeks
furnish good, but not continuous water-power where they break over the
limestone terrace, and the two branches of Cazenovia creek are capable of
furnishing much more power than is now used. At present it is principally
utilized for local grinding, sawing, ete. At Falkirk some of the power is used
in one or two of the cement and flour mills and, at Holland, in a large tannery.
Beyond these interests, water-power contributes very little toward the manu-
facture of products designed for outside use.
While in most instances I have given the source of information furnished
for this report, I wish especially to acknowledge my obligation to the officers
of the South Buffalo Natural Gas Co. and to Mr. Michael McIntyre, for the
use of maps and records of wells in the South Buffalo and Zoar fields, and to
Mr. J. W. Stearns and Mr. Mook, who have furnished me records of wells
drilled under their supervision. Also to Professor Franklin Barrows, who
has turned over to me original material regarding natural gas, which he
collected several years ago, and which has not heretofore been published.
Note to Page 326.
While the work of deepening the Erie canal was in progress in_ the
spring of 1897, the canal-bottom was exposed all the way from Ferry street
to the harbor. From Ferry street to the railroad bridge, well-defined glacial
markings were found wherever the bottom was covered by clay or boulders.
This portion seems to have been a part of the river bottom when the canal
was made. From the railroad bridge to the harbor the canal-bottom was
glaciated almost continuously. Excellent areas of grooving and_ polishing
were noticed just above the Porter avenue bridge, and again near the New
York Central railroad bridge across the canal near the Terrace.
FIGURE 1
ILewisTon
Salina
GRAND ISLAND
FADS,
Z Ga
Y ‘ ' | } Corniferous
NAWA Si 7a
: ee Bh Newstead |
Nae ee ee See
\ = Mill Grove = ‘
Crittend S+Stofford L
Te Wage HEtion |
2 5 Morcellus
are y Ee ey a
Alden Center, S~ Sot | 3
e | let 5
Town Line tate A OAlden
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ECONOMIC ann GEOLOGIC MAP \
OF « | |
TN yee
ERIE CO..N.Y. \ +: ee
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Sprin A ; | Wales Centge
IRVING P.BisHop, ® EF : lest atl im | ey
(SSS SS t J P| oe H BURG \ waAL EVs
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ina =! ee === =|
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FIGURE 2 rs = _
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BUFFALO EAM ATLL,
LH.
Stony Point
MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF BORINGS FOR NATURAL GAS IN THE CITY OF BUFFALO.
The Alinshouse and Buffalo Cement Company's wells are the only ones now productive.
“i
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FIGURE 3
GROUP OF GAS WELLS NEAR THE MAIN STREET CROSSING OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL BELT LINE, BUFFALO,
Productive wells are represented by stars; unproductive wells by double stars.
“sTfP CATJONpoOId-uON = Iv4s eTqnog ‘se3 Suronpoad Mou eave 10 Peupoid oavq Gory sTToA\ —= Iv4g
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FIGURE 5
MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF GAS WELLS NEAR JEFFERSON STREET, BUFFALO,
Wells at one time productive are represented by stars; unproductive wells by dotted crosses
siova a2 3A | |e
OL RAUE NUMA AOPABZVIAL HACK ALIGW 242 YO VOITADO THT DYTWORE TAM
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_——_s GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
re et ee La rates (GEOLOGICAL MAP.)
GEOLOGY OF ORANGE COUNTY.
L HEINRICH RIKS, Ph. D.
chai State Geologist. Assistant.
1895.
‘
t
preps a ries i“
Ten Pon Se |
Veep ets
*
LEGEND
GEoLocic Map
, OF
On ance County \.)
HENRICH RIES,
1895
al CHEMUNG
ie | HAMILTON INCLUDING MARCELLUS
eal Ononnaca
real} ORISKANY & ESoPUS
= HELDERBERG LIMESTONES
= MEDINA INCLUDING ONEIDA
yo Hudson River
| TRENTON
ar POST CANBRIAN GRANITE
— WHITE \ Ca BRIAN LIMESTONE
Blue |
a PRE CANBRIAN GNEISS
ba
/
Colde jaan
Montgomery ofBerea 6 devia;
OK\Coldenham
N ew Win iy 4
gilsGaley
rwall\ Canterybury )
scaeeeh
ae
ae
WYNKOOP. HALLENBECK.CRAWFORD CO. NEW YORK & ALBANY.
Report on the Geology of Orange County.
By Herricu Ries, Pu. D.
Contents. Physical Geography, p. 395; Literature, p. 397. Stratigraphic Geology; Pre-
Cambrian, p. 399; Cambrian, p. 400; Trenton, p, 400; Hudson River, p. 401; Melina, p. 401; Helder-
berg, p. 401; Oriskany, p. 402; Esopus, p. 402; Onondaga, p. 405; Hamilton, p. 403; Chemung, p. 404,
Pleistocene, p. 405. Areal Geology: The Warwick Cambrian Limestones and the Granites, p. 405;
The Region along Bellvale Mouutain, p. 410; Area along Skunnemunk Mountain, p. 415; Relations
along the northwest of Skunnemunk Mountain, p. 418; The Region to the east and southeast of
Skunnemunk Mountain, p. 424; Area west of Cornwall, p. 426; Geology of Deer Park Township,
p. 428; Hudson River Shales and Sandstones, p. 489; The Neelytown Limestones, p. 442; Geology of
Newburgh and New Windsor Townships, p. 443; The Highland Area, p. 446; Dike Rocks, p. 457;
Pleistocene Deposits, p. 462.
The following report is principally based on the results of three months’
work in the field during the summer of 1895, and to it is added such
additional information on the geology as has been published by others.
Orange county is situated in southeastern New York, and extends from
the Hudson river on the east to a short distance beyond the Shawangunk
mountain on the west. The county has an area of 838 square miles, with an
east and west width of forty-five miles, and a north and south length of thirty-
five miles. On the east it is bounded by the Hudson river, on the north by
Ulster and Sullivan counties, on the west by Sullivan and Delaware counties,
and on the south by Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The county is well
known on account of its scenery, mineral localities and dairy products.
Topography. In the eastern portion of Orange county, and bordering on
the Hudson river, are the Highlands, a range of parallel hills, nearly all of
them over 1,000 feet in altitude, and separated by shallow valleys. The more
prominent elevations of this region are: Crow’s Nest, 1,418; Butler hill,
1,524; Bear mountain, 1,350 feet A. T.
The Highlands cover about 140 square miles.
West of the Highlands, and separated from them by a fault valley, is the
Bellvale-Skunnemunk ridge, extending in a northeasterly direction from the
state line, on the northwest side of Greenwood lake, to Cornwall. At
Monroe, the ridge is interrupted by a broad, transverse valley, and northeast
of Monroe it has a double crest with steep cliffs.
The fertile rolling country to the northwest has a topography of little
variety, except to the south, the land gradually rising until it merges into the
395
396 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
eastern slope of the Shawangunk mountain. This mountain enters the county
from the north, and crosses it in a northeast to southwest direction, passing
into the Blue mountain, in New Jersey. It does not present the steep slopes
and precipitous cliffs in Orange county that it does in Ulster, but is a rounded
ridge whose cultivated eastern slope changes abruptly at the summit to a
wooded one of deep descent on the western side overlooking the Neversink
valley and the intermediate Helderberg ridge. The crest of Shawangunk
mountain varies, within Orange county, from 1,200 to 1,400 feet A. T., being
highest at the northern end.
To the west of the Shawangunk mountain, the Hamilton and Chemung
formations give rise to an elevated plateau, with few longitudinal valleys, but
several transverse ones,
The valleys of Orange county are largely dependent on the geologic
structure, and follow the axis of the folds or the lines of faulting, and are in
general, therefore, parallel to the strike of the rocks. These valleys also form
important lines of drainage.
The Wallkill, which is the largest river of the county, enters it from the
south, and, flowing northward through a broad, shallow valley whose width
increases to the north, passes into Ulster county, finally emptying its waters
into the Hudson at Rondout. Except in the southern portion of the county,
all but one of its tributaries come from the west and northwest. In Warwick
township, the river 1s bordered for twelve miles by a swampy tract, the
Drowned Lands.
The Neversink river, which crosses the eastern side of Deer Park town-
ship, follows the western base of the Helderberg ridge, and empties into the
Delaware river at Carpenter’s Point. It draims the western slope of Shawan-
gunk mountain and the greater portion of the township to the west of it.
The eastern side of the Shawangunk ridge is drained by the Shawangunk
kill, whose water-shed borders that of the Wallkall.
The Ramapo river has its origin in Round pond, south of Monroe, and,
flowing southeastward through the fault-valley in the Highlands, receives
most of the drainage of Monroe and 'Tuxedo townships. In the northeastern
part of the county, the Moodna river and Quassaic creek are important
streams.
Orange county abounds in lakes, especially in the Highland area, and a
few of them are utilized for water supply. Of these, Little pond, near New.
burgh; Little Long pond, near West Point; Mt. Basha lake and Long pond,
south of Monroe, and Greenwood lake, are of importance. The last-named
Rirrs—GerEoLocy oF ORANGE County. 397
lake is the largest in the county, being six miles long and three-quarters of
a mile wide, but only half of it hes within the state.
Many of the lakes are disappearing, on account of swamp-growth
extending from their inlets, or the cutting down of their outlets, and the beds
of former ponds are an important agricultural feature of the county.
The geologic formations occurrmg in the county range in age from the
Pre-Cambrian to the upper Devonian. Nearly two-thirds of the county is
underlaid by the Hudson river slates, as will be seen from the accompanying
geologic map, and the crystalline rocks of the southeastern portion also cover
a considerable area. The other formations occur in irregularly shaped areas
of variable size, but there is a tendency in them all to extend in a northeast
and southwest direction.
Folding and faulting have produced numerous and local complications,
especially along the line of Bellvale and Skunnemunk mountains.
The following bibliography indicates what has already been published
on the geology of Orange county :
Barrett, S. T., 1876: Notes on Lower Helderberg rocks of Port Jervis, N. Y.,
and descriptions of a new Pteropod. Ann. N.Y. Lyc. Nat. Hist, Vol.
XI_, p. 290.
Barrett, 8. T.. 1877: The Lower Helderberg rocks of Port Jervis, N. Y.
Abe ws.9(0), SLIT, p. 385.
Barrett, S. T., 1878: The Coralline or Niagara Limestone of the Appalachian
Syeremie ee J: S. (3), XV... p. 370.
Barrett, S. T., 1878: Descriptions of new species of Fossils from the Upper
Silurian rocks at Port Jervis, N. Y., with notes on the occurrence of the
Coralline Limestone at that locality. dan. NV. Y. Acad. Sci, 1, p. 121,
Darton, N. H., 1884: Preliminary Notes on Fossils in the Hudson River
Slates of the southern part of Orange county, N. Y. A.J. S (38), ”
XXX., p. 452.
Darton, N. H., 1886: On an area of upper Silurian rocks near Cornwall,
eastern central Orange county, N. Y. A.J. S. (3), XXXL, p. 209.
Darton, N. H., 1885: Gives review of geologic relations from Green pond to
Skunnemunk mountains. Sez. Amer. Sup., X1X., p. 7,877.
Darton, N. H., 1885: The geologic relations from Green pond, N. J., to
Skunnemunk mountain, N. Y. Lu//. Geol. Soc. Amer., V., p. 367.
Dwight, W. B., 1880: Calciferous as well as Trenton Fossils in the Wap-
pinger Limestone at Rochdale, and a Trenton locality at Newburgh,
Ni ¥ees.(8), XIX, p.-50.
398 Report or THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
Dwight, W. B., 1880: Description of a new discinoid Brachiopod from the
Trenton at Newburgh, N. Y. A. J. S. (8), XIX., p. 451.
Dwight, W. B.: An interesting geological locality at Cornwall, Orange
county, N.Y. Zrans. Vassar Bros. Inst., I., p. 74.
Dwight, W. B.: The peculiar structure of Clark’s clay beds near Newburgh.
Trans. Vassar Bros. Inst., U1., p. 86.
Dwight, W. B., 1884: Recent investigations and palaeontological discoveries
in the Wappinger Limestones of Dutchess and neighboring counties,
New York state. Proc. A. A. A. S, XXI., p. 384; Nat. Lets. Hour
and Mus. Bull. No. 18, May, 1884, p. 4.
Hunt, T. 8., 1886: Reference to discovery of fossil plants in the Skunnemunk
mountain belt. Min. Phys. and Physiog., p. 591.
Kemp, J. F., 1888: A Diorite Dike at the Forest-of-Dean, Orange county.
A cd S38) KX IVE pe.
Kemp, J. F., 1888: The Drkes of the Hudson River Highlands. Amer. Nat.,
XX Ce:
Kemp, J. F., and Hollick, A., 1893: The Granite at Mounts Adam and Eve
and its contact phenomena. Ann. N. Y., Acad. Sci. VIL. p. 638. ®
Martin, D. 8., 1871: The Coal of. Orange County, N. Y. Proc. Lye. Nat.
Hist. lp. 209:
Mather, W. W., 1842: Report on Geol., Ist Dist. N. Y. Various references.
Merrill, F. J. H., 1886: Ref. On the age of the Green Pond, Bearfort and
Skunnemunk mountain rocks. VV. J. Geol. Surv., 1886, p. 118.
Prosser, C. 8., 1892: Notes on the Geology of Skunnemunk Mt., Orange Co.,
N. Y. Zrans., N. Y., Acad. Sei., X1., June, 1892,
Prosser, C. 8., 1894: The Devonian System of Eastern Pennsylvania and
New York. Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv., 120.
Ries, H., 1891: The Clays of the Hudson River Valley. Trans. N: Y. Acad.
Sci., Nov., 1891.
Ries, H., 1895: The Clay Industries of New York. Ball. N. Y. State
Museum, Vol. IIL, No. 12.
Smock, J. C., 1889: The Iron Ores of New York. Bull. N. Y. State Museum,
Vol. Ti Nori
Smock, J. C., 1889: The Building Stones of New York. Budi. N. Y. State
Museum, Vol. II., No. 10.
Smock, J. C., 1884: Ref., Ann. Rept. N. J. State Geologist, pp. 29, 46 and 51.
Van Hise, C. R., 1892: Ref., Orange Co., p. 415. Bull. U.S. G. S,, No. 86.
Rires—Gronocy oF ORANGE County. 399
White, I. C., 1882: Various references to Orange Co. in Rep. G6, Penn.
Geol. Surv.
Whitfield, R. P., 1879: Discovery of specimens of Maclurea magna of the
Chazy, near Newburgh, N.Y. A.J. S. (3), XVIII, p. 227.
Williams, G. H.: On some remarkable crystals of pyroxene from Orange
Co. “Ne
Ward, L. F., Notes occurrence of plants at Woodbury Falls. st Ann. Rep.,
UO \SPGaiszepcoo 2:
Of the above list of papers the more important are those of Prof. Kemp
and Mr. Hollick, Prof. Prosser and Mr. Darton.
The following is a list of the formations occurring in Orange county,
together with their character and approximate thickness :
Pre-Cambrian, Gueisses, granites and limestones, ——-
Olenellus, ? Limestones, usually impure, 90’ +
Cambrian, Limestones, 200 +
Trenton, Limestones, —
Hudson river, Shales, slates and sandstones, 2,000 +?
Medina (incl. Oneida), Sandstones and conglomerates, 150’—750'
Lower Helderberg, — Limestones and shaly limestones, 25-500’
Oriskany, Impure limestones, sandstones,
quartzite and conglomerate, 50’-150'
Esopus, Slates and sandstones, (50'S
Onondaga, Cherty limestones, 250’
Marcellus, Arenaceous shales and shaly sandstones, 800’
Hamilton, Shales, sandstones, flagstones and
conglomerates, 1,200—1,800'
Chemung, Arenaceous shales and sandstones, 2,250!
_ Pleistocene, Clays, sand, gravel and boulders,
Pre-Camprian. This formation consists of a great mass of gneisses,
gneissic rocks, and some limestones. At times the gneissic rocks are massive
and resemble a true granite. At other localities they present a schistose
facies. ‘These rocks form the Highland region, the northwestern side of
Bellvale mountain, and a series of rounded knob-like Ills extending from
Sugar Loaf village to Newburgh.
The gneiss is usually a mixture of quartz, biotite and feldspar, the latter
often plagioclase. Hornblende sometimes predominates, as in the gneiss of
Bellvale mountain and Tuxedo township. Pyroxene gneisses also occur. The
400 Report oF THE STatE GEOLOGIST.
gneiss forming Sugar Loaf mountain, and the areas to the northeast, is a
granulite gneiss with little or no mica or hornblende.
Bodies of iron-ore are not uncommon and are not confined to any par-
ticular area or belt, although future detailed study of these rocks may show
that they belong to definite horizons. The ore-bodies are generally of small
size, and lens or pod-shaped, and the ore is, in most instances, lean. The two
important ore-bodies are those of Forest-of-Dean and Sterling.
Limestones occur interbedded with the gneiss, but are rare. One bed is
found at Popolopen pond, and another at Fort Montgomery.
The crystalline rocks of this region often appear folded and sometimes
faulted; the thin sections do not, however, afford as much evidence of dynamic
metamorphism as one might expect, The folds of these Pre-Cambrian rocks
frequently pitch to the northeast. Dikes are not infrequent!y met with.
In view of the limited extent of our present knowledge. these rocks can
only be classed as Pre-Cambrian. This is also suggested by Van Hise.
(Bulletin United States Geological Survey, No. 86, p. 415.)
Camprrtan. The rocks of this age are light-colored, generally massively
bedded magnesian limestones. No fossils have been found in them, but their
age is based on: (1) the similarity of character of the several areas; (2) on
their relations to the overlying formations, and (38) on the occurrence of
Cambrian fossils in the limestone of northern New Jersey*, of which they
are undoubtedly a continuation. Their greatest development is in the western
part of Warwick township, and in Lookout mountain, south of Goshen. The
limestones are normally light blue and finely crystalline, but sometimes
become coarsely granular, shaly or even brecciated, as east of Goose pond
mountain and south of Neelytown. Around Edenville they have been
changed by granite intrusions to a coarsely crystalline white limestone.
In Bellvale and Skunnemunk mountains, the limestones underlie uncon-
formably the younger formations, while north of Greenwood lake and east of
Pine hill they are faulted against the gneisses, and the same relations hold
true at Snake hill southwest of Newburgh. In the northeastern part of the
county they are faulted against the Hudson river slates.
The thickness of the Cambrian limestones in Orange county can not be
determined with accuracy, but it is probably not less than 500 feet. In
Lookout mountain, south of Goshen, they have a thickness of about 200 feet.
Trenton Livestonr. There is a small, highly fossiliferous area of this
rock on the River road, about two and three-quarters miles north of Newburgh
* A. F, Foerste.— American Journal of Science, December 1893, p. 435.
‘Ll GNNOYY SLNSWSves
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Rres—GEKoLoGY oF ORANGE CouNTY. 401
ferry. In the single exposure known, this rock is a dark blue-grey, shaly
limestone, containing abundant crinoid stems and several Trenton species.
The rock strikes N. 385° E. and dips 40° E.
Hupson Rrver Suares. Two-thirds of Orange county is underlaid by
the members of this formation, which cover nearly the entire area of the
townships of Mt. Hope, Crawford, Montgomery, Goshen, Wallkill, Wawa-
yanda, Chester, Newburgh and Cornwall.
In the western portion of the county, the formation is represented by
interbedded shales, and red, brown or grey sandstones, while in the central
part the slates and shales only appear. The sandstone beds again come in
towards the northeast. Conglomerates are occasionally seen in the north-
eastern part of the county. The slates are black, grey or brown, and often
very fissile. The sandstone layers are often several feet in thickness.
Fossils are rare, but have been found at several localities, notably Sugar
Loaf, Rock Tavern, Greycourt and Goshen. They show a mixed Hudson
river-Trenton fauna.
The country underlaid by the Hudson river formation is a fertile one,
and the outcrops are comparatively few, forming rounded hills and ridges.
These rocks rest unconformably on the Cambrian limestones and gneisses, and
underlie the younger rocks in the same manner. Their thickness in this
county is probably not less than 2,000 feet.
Meprina Sanpstonr. The members of this formation are fine-grained
quartzites, conglomerates, shales and sandstones. The formation has its
greatest development in Deer Park township, where it forms the western
half of Shawangunk mountain. There it consists of a quartzose conglomerate
40-50 feet thick, which passes upward into 700 feet of Shawangunk grit.
This latter is a hard, evenly bedded quartzite, dipping to the west under the
red Medina sandstone, which grades upward into greenish grey shales of the
same age. Another area of Medina age forms Pine hill, east of Skunnemunk
mountain. Here are 60-70 feet of Oneida conglomerate, dipping to the west
over the Cambrian limestones, and passing upward into tlie Longwood red
shales and shaly sandstones, of which there are about seventy feet in
Pine hill.
Their upper members are greenish shales and quartzites, which crop out
south of Cornwall station. They underlie unconformably the Helderberg
limestones.
Hetpersere Lirvestones. There is considerable variation in the distri-
bution and thickness of the members of this formation in Orange county.
26
402 REPORT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
Small patches occur west of Stone Bridge, northeast of Bellvale, northwest of
Monroe and northeast of Highland Mills. The two important areas are the
one west of Cornwall station, and the belt along the western side of Shawan-
gunk mountain, In the latter belt are recognized the Tentaculite, Lower
Pentamerus, Shaly and Upper Pentamerus members. In the Cornwall area,
the Shaly, Pentamerus and Tentaculite are met with. The Scutella limestone
is not found in the county. As the characters of these beds are so
different at the various localities. they are best described in the paragraphs
treating of these regions.
Oriskany Sanpstonge. The two belts of Oriskany which occur within
the county present widely different characters. The western belt forms the
western part of the Helderberg ridge, which extends up the Neversink valley
from Port Jervis. It consists of fime-grained shaly sandstones and impure
limestones, the latter often containing many fossils. The limestones weather
to a soft red rock, from which the fossils may often be dug with a knife. The
beds dip to the westward under the Esopus slates and Pleistocene deposits of
the Neversink valley, but the bedding is almost everywhere obscured, and
there is present a pronounced cleavage, which causes the rock to split into
very thin layers. The cleavage generally dips steeply to the east. There are
also often present cherty bands containing fossils. The Oriskany forms
narrow ridges, and the thickness of the formation is about 125 feet.
The second Oriskany area is along the western side of Bellvale and
Skunnemunk mountains, where it affords a fine-grained red or gray quartzite,
which changes locally to a conglomerate. It is underlaid by the Helderberg
limestone in places, and in turn dips conformably under the Monroe shales.
About one hundred feet are exposed. The grey limestone is everywhere
traversed by innumerable cracks, which produce an extensive and character-
istic pile of debris around each outcrop. The red quartzite does not
contain these slit-like cavities, which are probably joint cracks. The
conglomerate appears im association with the gneiss knobs northwest of
Skunnemunk.
Esopus Stare. This formation consists of black or bluish grey shaly
sandstones, grits and black slates. It occurs only in the eastern part of Deer
Park township, on the western side of the Helderberg ridge, where it rests
on the Oriskany sandstone. The formation gives rise to small narrow ridges,
which may possibly represent step-faults. The probable thickness is about
700 feet, if there are no faults as above mentioned. All the members have a
strong easterly dipping cleavage, which makes a sharp angle with the usually
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obscure bedding. No fossils have been found in these rocks in Deer Park
township.
Excellent exposures of the black Esopus slate are to be seen in the
railroad cut of the New York, Lake Erie & Western railroad, about a mile
and one-half northeast of Port Jervis. The formation crosses the Neversink
river above Port Jervis and disappears under the drift of the valley.
OnonpaGa (Cornirerous) Limestone. The beds of this age are repre-
sented by a dark grey limestone in layers one to ten inches thick, and
containing numerous black chert nodules of an irregularly elliptical shape,
whose longer diameter is sometimes a foot. The limestone forms Carpenter's
Point, near Port Jervis, in the southeastern part of Deer Park township, and
also outcrops in a small area farther up the valley, near Port Orange.
Weathering dissolves the lime carbonate, and often leaves the masses
of chert projecting several inches above the surface. The nodules sometimes
contain fossils (I. C. White, Pennsylvania Geological Survey, G. 6). The
Corniferous limestone dips gently to the west. The thickness can not be
determined from the exposures at Carpenter’s Point, but White estimates it
at 250 feet.
Hammron Group. ‘This is an important formation in Orange county.
The lower member, the Marcellus shale, consists of a series of dark colored,
bluish black or brown, arenaceous shales, which crop out along the western
side of the Neversink valley. They are fossiliferous at several localities,
notably at Port Jervis and Rose Point, eight miles northeast of it. They
have a low western dip and a steep easterly dipping cleavage. Their thick-
ness, which is in part buried by the drift of Neversink valley, has been
estimated by White* and also by Prosser at 800 feet, which seems very
probable.
The upper member, or Hamilton proper, overlies the Marcellus, but is
not separated from it by any sharp line of demarkation. It forms a series
of arenaceous shales and shaly sandstones in its lower beds, while the upper
ones are thinly laminated sandstones. The lower members contain abundant
fossils. The total thickness in Deer Park township is about 1,800 feet.
The second area of Hamilton rocks forms the greater portion of Bellvale
and Skunnemunk mountains, and has been divided by Darton+ into three
members, viz.: the Monroe shales, Bellvale flags and Skunnemunk con-
. +
glomerate. f
* Report G 6, Pennsylvania Geological Survey.
t The Devonian of Eastern New York and Pennsylvania. Bulletin United States Geological Survey, No. 120.
t Bulletin Geological Society of America, V., p. 367.
404 Report oF THE STate GEOLOGIST.
Monroe shales. hese are dark grey or black slaty shales and slates,
which are usually fossiliferous. They extend around the base of Skunne-
munk mountain, and along the eastern base of Bellvale mountain.
Their thickness in the former ridge is probably not over 200 feet, but
their greatest development is in Pea hill, near Cornwall.
Bellvale flags. These overlie the Monroe shales, and are represented
by a series of thin-bedded sandstones with occasional shaly partings and con-
cretionary layers. ‘They pass into the underlying Monroe shales, and upward
into the conglomerate. Normally, the Bellvale flags are moderately fine-
grained sandstones of grey color. In their upper layers, near the transition
into the conglomerate, they become massive, quartzose and coarse. The
sandstones are also traversed by numerous thin veins of milky quartz. The
flags extend from the New Jersey state line to the north end of Skunnemunk
mountain, where they terminate somewhat abruptly. The thickness of the
Bellvale flags is about 1,000 feet.
Skunnemunk conglomerate. In its typical development this rock is
composed of an aggregate of quartz and some shale pebbles in a matrix of
reddish quartz and argillaceous material. The pebbles are generally one to
two inches in diameter, but sometimes attain a size of several inches. Local
layers of red slate occur interbedded with the conglomerate in the upper
portions and are well seen in the road over the mountain from Greenwood
lake to Warwick. The conglomerate passes downward through a pebbly
quartzite and red quartzitic sandstone into the Bellvale flags. It can not be
said that these intermediate beds of passage belong to one member more than
the other. The conglomerate caps Bellvale and Skunnemunk mountains and
gives rise to high cliffs and steep ledges. Professor Smock has estimated, and
probably correctly, the thickness of the Skunnemunk conglomerate as 300
feet, but in Bellvale mountain, to the south, it is much thicker, not far from 800 —
feet. Mr. Darton considers that the Skunnemunk conglomerate may possibly
represent the Oneonta formation, as the deposition of the latter in central
New York was characterized by an abrupt change in the nature of the sedi-
mentation, or it may represent the coarse Chemung beds of the southern
Catskills or, thirdly, may be a purely local feature.
CurmunGa Group. This formation is only present in the western portion
of Deer Park township. The beds are mostly unfossiliferous sandstones, with
some interbedded shales. The divisions oceurrmg within the limits of the
county are the Delaware flags, New Milford red shales, Starucca sandstone
and Chemung sandstones, of Prosser.
4
4
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Rizrs—Grorocy oF OrancEr County. 405
Pretstocenr. These deposits are represented by the usual accumulations
of gravel, sand and boulders. In the larger valleys, as those of the Neversink,
Shawangunk, and Wallkill rivers, the gravel and sand accumulations are of
great extent and depth. Those of the Neversink valley are in places known
to be over one hundred feet thick. Large boulders are restricted to New-
burgh, Cornwall and Tuxedo townships, in which they are quite abundant.
The alluvial deposits are represented by terraces along the Hudson river and
other streams and by numerous pleistocene lake beds which cover some
40,000 acres. The pleistocene deposits are mentioned in detail hereafter.
Geology of the Warwick Cambrian Limestones and the Granites.
In the south-central part of Orange county is a belt of blue and white
limestone which begins about two miles southwest of Goshen, in Goshen
township and, extending through the western part of Warwick township
with increasing width, passes on continuously for twenty miles into New
Jersey. To the east of the Drowned Lands, and opposite Black Walnut
Island, the belt is about two and one-half miles wide, and continues this width
to Amity, where it narrows to two miles. A branch of the blue limestone
extends from this point to the northeast, and will be described hereafter.
The limestones also extend under the Drowned Lands, and the blue limestone
is found again on the west side, where it passes under the Hudson river
slate. The white limestone occurs only in the main central belt, and is there
closely associated with the blue. The area occupied by each can best be
apprehended by an examination of the map. In Orange county no fossils
have been found in the limestone, but the contained remains found in New
Jersey prove it to be of Cambrian age. The white limestone surrounds two
areas of granite and gneissic rocks, and borders on a third, Pochuck moun-
tain. It is also penetrated by many granite dikes and masses containing
contact minerals.
Several opinions have been advanced regarding the age of the blue and
the white limestones. Keating and Vanuxem (Jour. Phila. Acad. Sci., 1822,
p- 277); C. U. Shepard (4. J. S.i-XXL, p. 323) 5; Cook (1868, Geol. N. J,
p- 310); and Britton CV. J. Geol. Surv., 1886, p. 77-83), considered that the
white crystalline limestone was of Archean age, deposited on the gneisses and
granites, and metamorphosed. The blue limestone was considered Cambrian.
On the other hand, Nuttall (A. J. S.IV., p. 247), Rogers (WV. J. Geol.
Surv., 1840, p. 47-67), Nason (NV. J. Geol. Surv., 1890, p. 25-50), and Mather
consider that the blue and the white limestones are one and the same forma-
406 Report’ OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
tion, originally blue, but changed to white in those portions bordering on the
gneissic and granitic rocks. A third possible view is mentioned by Kemp
and Hollick, viz.: that the white limestone is Archean, but metamorphosed
along granitic intrusions, and thus charged with minerals, while the blue is of
later age. In this main belt no actual contact was found between the blue
and the white limestones, although outcrops were found within 200 feet of
each other on the road running due north from Edenville and northwest in
a general way, along the line of Professor Kemp’s section 3, The two are
considerably mixed together on the northeast slopes of Mount Eve. The
writer, however, found exposures east of the road and one and one-quarter
miles west-southwest of Pine Island station, which showed the passage of the
blue into the white. In the main belt the blue limestone becomes graphitic
and more crystalline towards the white. On the east side of Round hill, the
blue limestone is found quite close to the granite and assumes a_ highly
siliceous character, if not actually becoming a quartzite.
Two great knobs of granite, Mount Adam and Mount Eve, penetrate the
limestone. ‘The rock is a hornblende-granite, gneissic in places, and coarsely
crystalline, especially at the quarries, the anhedra forming the granite being
one-quarter to one-half inch diameter. More or less biotite is present, and
augite is common near the margins. The granite is a basic variety, and
plagioclase equals or exceeds the orthoclase. Quartz is often common, and
contains dusty inclusions. The orthoclase is generally microcline or micro-
perthite. The hornblende is black, and is transparent only in the thinnest
sections. It is then yellowish green parallel to a, black parallel to 4, deep
green parallel toc. Brown biotite is usually rare, but it is quite common on
Round hill. Allanite, a rare mineral, is abundant in the granite, and, together
with peematite veins, has spoiled much of the stone for quarrying. Small
zircons and titanite are not infrequent. The granite becomes quite gneissic
at the north end of Mount Eve, preserving the same mineralogic composition,
but the sections show evidences of dynamic metamorphism in the crushed
crystals of quartz, feldspar, etc. Sometimes the granite assumes a structure
resembling quartz-porphyry. Graphic granite was also found on a knob east
of Mount Eve.
The white limestone is coarsely crystalline, with scattered scales of
graphite and, less often, phlogopite. Chondrodite is also present and
increases near the contact of the limestone with the granite.
Contacts. The granite and the white limestone are found in actual
contact in several places, and only a few feet apart in others. Towards the
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Rizrs—GeroLocy oF OrancEe Counry. 407
contact, the granite becomes an aggregate of light green monoclinic pyroxene
and scapolite, or a granite-like zone of the two is present. itanite is a
constant associate.
Near the contact, great quantities of silicates appear in the limestone
either in bunches or scattered through it. They are brownish green horn-
blende, dark brown biotite or phlogopite, green pyroxene, titanite, pyrite,
calcite and some scapolite. Chondrodite is sometimes present in great
the
K
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White
FicukE 1. Section from southwest side of Mount Adam, northwest towards the Drowned Lands.
quantities. A good contact is to be seen on the prolongation of Mount Eve
on the farm of Mr. Onderdonk and on that of Mr. J. Hedges. On the
southwest side of Mount Adam is an excellent section across the granite,
limestone and contact zones. (Fig. 1.)* Next to Mount Adam is a very
swampy strip, following which there is a ledge of limestone with much
_red chondrodite. Beyond this comes the granite with the scapolite zone.
Unusually fine scapolite crystals were found here, with interlaced prismatic
pyroxene individuals. ‘Titanite was present in less quantity. The scapolite
zone 1s followed by coarse white limestone, and this, in turn, dips under the
gravel bordering the Drowned Lands.
About two miles west of Amity is Pochuck mountain, the greater
portion of which les within New Jersey. The eastern part of the
Granite
FIGURE 2. Section across the north end of Pocbuck Mountain.
mountain is composed of a coarse-grained granite, which is quarried for
building purposes. The eastern half of the mountain is a biotite gneiss
(508), which strikes N. 20° E.; dips 80° W. Dikes of the granite penetrate
* This section is copied from Prof. Kemp and Mr. Hollick’s paper, previously mentioned.
405 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
the gneiss, pyroxene being developed as a contact mineral between the two.
Small knobs of granite also crop out near the road (505) on the west side
of the Drowned Lands, and about one mile north of Pochuck mountain.
There is also a hill of gneiss just north of the cross-roads on the east side
of the road, and about one and one half miles west by south of Pine Island
station. A short distance northwest of this are several outcrops (504),
showing the transition of the blue limestone into the white. Up the short,
steep slope on the west side of the road, is a blue, fine-grained, hard limestone
(504a), with a low western dip.
The blue lmestone, with contact minerals, also crops out in the road.
Not more than six feet from it is a small mass of white limestone, with
eraphite scales. Next to this is a dark strip of rock, made up of contact
minerals. In the field opposite these outcrops, and about 150 feet distant
(504e) is a mass of blue limestone with cavities and calcite streaks. At
the north end of the same outcrop is white, coarsely crystalline limestone,
eradation between the blue and the
while the space between shows every g
white. A large outcrop of the white occurs on an adjoining knoll to the
north. Another outcrop of the blue and the white is in a corn-field about
one-third of a mile to the southeast (506).
The prolongation of the white limestone belt so far south from Mounts
Adam and Eve, without the appearance at the surface of any large igneous
masses, suggests that the Adam and Eve area and the Pochuck mountain
area are probably connected, and may be portions of the same intrusion.
Relations of the Limestones and Hudson River Slates. Two facts greatly
hinder a correct understanding of the relations of the limestones and the
associated Hudson river slates. The area underlaid by these formations in
Warwick township is a rich farming country, and outcrops are few, and,
rood strikes
ra)
again, the limestones in the main belt are often massive, and
and dips are not easily obtainable. On the western side of the Drowned
Lands, the limestone boundary extends from Unionville, northeast through
Gardinerville and, about two miles east of this place, swings around to the
northeast. Near Liberty Corners the blue limestone (502) strikes N. 70° W.,
and has a dip of 15° W. The layers are four to eight inches thick, with
shaly partings. Northeast of Gardinerville the limestone strikes N. 30° E.;
dip, 830° N. W. It is somewhat cherty and variable in color.
At Gardinerville, the slate is exposed under the dam in the bed of the
stream. The dip is west. Northeast cf Orange farm (89) the limestone is
well exposed in a quarry on the west side of the main road from Goshen to
i ~Bl
Agr
Wi
ack».
InuF
Hamilton
Conglomerate
Hamilton
Shales and
Sandstones
_ Oriskany
Helderberg
Limestone
Hudson River
Slates
=F
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Granite vy ee
Gambrian,white =
Limestone ===.
Cambrian,blue
Limestone
Pre-Cambrian
Gneisses
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Rizrs—GEoL0GY oF Orancr Counry. 415
mately parallel and form an,angle of 60 to 70° with the dip. Overlying the
9
Ss
Hudson river shales with a shght unconformity, is the Oriskany quartzite
which forms numerous ledges along the western face of this ridge. It isa
hard, fine-grained grey or brown quartzite, traversed by numerous cracks
which break the rock into angular fragments and surround each outcrop with
a characteristic pile of debris.
The rock is sometimes massive, at other times well bedded, giving a
strike of N. 25° E. and dipping 40° 8. HE. At such points it contains slaty
or shaly layers, which, however, seem to be rather the result of shearing
action than sedimentation. On the eastern side of this ridge the quartzite is
hard, fine-grained, massive, and of a light red color, traversed by numerous
milk-white streaks of quartz. There are about 100 feet of the quartzite in
this ridge.
On the western side of the ridge, the relations of the quartzites to the
Hudson river shales are probably, as previously mentioned by Darton, those
of an overthrust, since the Helderberg limestone, which underlies the
quartzite at several localities in this belt, is missing, and the outcrops of
the quartzite and shales are so close together that there is no room for the
limestones.
To the west, the Oriskany passes conformably under the Monroe shales,
the two being separated by only a narrow valley.
The Monroe shales are well exposed along the road from the valley
of Seely’s brook to Monroe, and along the “dug road,” crossing the hill
west of Long pond, which is south of Monroe. They are not infrequently
fossiliferous, and at times resemble in appearance the Hudson river shales.
Geologic Relations of the Area along Skunnemunk Mountain.
From Monroe northeastward, the great synclinal fold of Devonian rocks
extends as a high ridge nearly to Cornwall, where it ends somewhat abruptly.
The southwestern end of the mountain is a gentle syncline, while the north-
east end is similar, except that on the eastern side of the mountain the strata
curve over and downward, forming an overthrown anticline.
The crest of the mountain is formed of the Skunnemunk conglomerate,
the characters of which have been already noted. It begins near the Seven
Springs Mountain house, on the ledges a little to the northeast of it, and
extends along the two crests of the mountain, giving rise to steep cliffs and
rocky slopes. A considerable depression lies between the two crests, and its
northern end is occupied by Barton swamp. The conglomerate is about 300
416 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST
feet thick, as previously noted by Smock, and later corroborated by Darton.
It passes into the underlying Bellvale flags, the intermediate beds being a
grey quartzitic sandstone; the transition beds are, however, of less thickness
than in Bellvale mountain, The lower beds of the conglomerate are to be
seen behind the Seven Springs Mountain house, where they are interbedded
with grey laminated sandstones.
The Bellvale flags extend the entire length of the mountain, cropping out
at numerous points on both slopes. They are thin-bedded, flazey sandstones,
which, in their lower members, have numerous shaly and concretionary layers.
Aside from the outcrops on both sides of the mountain, the sandstones
are exposed along the road leading from the main road west of Skunnemunk,
up to the Seven Springs Mountain house (236). About one-quarter mile west
of the Mountain house are the Davidson quarries at the cross-roads. Several
openings have here been made, and a poor quality of flagging obtained.
Some plant-remains occur in the quarry, northeast of the cross-road, and shaly
layers appear in the southern lower part of the quarry face. The quarry is
about 750 feet A.'T. Professor Prosser records the finding of the following
specimens of plants: Psilophyton princeps, Calamites, and aerial rootlets (2)
of the latter.
A short distance to the northeast of Davidson’s quarry, is Davidson’s
coal-mine. This point is about one and one-half miles north of Monroe.
The greyish flagstones of the quarry contain an abundance of carbonaceous
matter, which led the inhabitants to believe that there was coal present.
Remains of Ps/ophyton are numerous in the quarry. The species thus far
recorded from here are, as already observed: Psilophyton princeps, Lepido-
dendron gaspianum, Calamites transitionis and, according to Newberry,
Dadoxylon ; Dawson, however, thinks the last to be Calamites radiatus.
About one and one-half miles northwest of Monroe, on the southwest
base of the mountain, and 300 feet lower than the Davidson quarries, are
several small quarries on the land of O. H. Cooley. The rock is a thin-
bedded sandstone, with shaly layers, which have been polished to a high
degree by shearing. Concretions occur in the shaly layers and also in the
coarse sandstone ledge to the northeast of Cooley’s largest opening. The
shales contain abundant remains of plants, commonest among which is
Psilophyton. Several of the others were submitted to Prof. Knowlton, but
they were too fragmentary for identification. Prosser notes the finding of
Cllulorylon primavum, as identified by Knowlton. The specimen found
by Prosser represented the end of a stem protruding from the sandstones of
Rirs—Geotocy oF ORANGE Counry. A417
Cooley’s quarry. At the time of the writer’s visit in September, 1895, Mr.
Cooley had uncovered the specimen to a length of twenty-nine feet. The
“fossil tree” has a diameter of fourteen inches at the upper end and eight
inches at the lower end. To this point it dips about thirty degrees along
the bedding; the stem then makes a sharp turn, and can be seen extending
downward several feet more at an angle of about seventy degrees. The dip
of the sandstones is about thirty-five degrees to the east.
Most of the rocks on the steep eastern side of Skunnemunk mountain
are grey sandstones, which, in the second railroad cut north of Woodbury
falls, contain plant remains, chiefly Ps7/ophyton.
The hills to the southeast of Skunnemunk mountain, between it and
Hazard pond, or Cromwell lake as it is more commonly called, are probably
underlaid by the Bellvale flags, but outcrops are very scarce, owing to the
heavy mantle of drift. Several outcrops of sandstone were seen about
three-quarters of a mile due north of Hazard pond, and to the north of
this are some arenaceous shales, in which imperfect specimens of Chonctes
were found.
The Monroe shales underlie Skunnemunk mountain throughout its whole
extent, but are best developed along its western and northwestern base.
They are grey to black, fissile to slaty shales, and are not uncommonly
fossiliferous. They crop out along the road south of Baggs clove (242) and
on the eastern side of Skunnemunk mountain, are to be seen at the base of
the mill dam at Woodbury falls, where the dip is nearly vertical. Their
greatest development is in Péa hill, near Cornwall. There they crop out in
great abundance, especially on the southwest side of the hill, where it rises
steeply from Moodna creek (486),
The shale also appears on the eastern side of Pea hill, near the obser-
vation tower on the summit. On the south slope in the middle of a
field about half-way up the hill, is an inconspicuous outcrop of a very
hard, fine-grained red and grey sandstone (484), containing great quantities of
fossils. The rock is strongly cemented together with iron. The red sand-
stone predominates. The following much distorted fossils were observed :
Spirifer, sp.2 Tentaculites, sp. Meristella, sp.¢ Orthis, sp.? Theca, sp.?
Chonetes, sp.? Pehynchonella, sp. ?
Along Moodna river, near the south end of Pea hill, is a cliff of hard
sandstone traversed by numerous joints (485). Only one fossil was found in
it, viz.: Pentamerella avata. Extending up the centre of the cliff is a strip
of fine-grained, black, nodular rock, which is so hard as to break with
27
415 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
difficulty. The nodules have a shell which resembles the sandstones into
which the nodular rock shades. A section of this nodular rock shows it to
be a portion of the sandstone which is firmly cemented with iron.
The structure of Pea hill is probably that of a synclinal fold. The
Monroe shales are underlaid by the Oriskany quartzite which, in Pea hill, is a
coarse pebbly quartzite, massively bedded and very hard. There are good
exposures of it along the road at the northeast side of Pea hill, where these
fossils were found :
Anoplia nucleata,
Stropheodonta, sp.?
Leptena rhomboidalis,
Leptoc lia flabellites.
The Hudson river slates no doubt form the bottom of this synclinal
fold, but outcrops are lacking in the immediate vicinity.
The general structure of Skunnemunk mountain is that of a much more
open synclinal than Bellvale mountain to the southwest. But at the northern
end, the flags and sandstones of the eastern limb turn over and downwards
on to the limestones of the Helderberg and Cambrian, as already shown by
Darton.
The Relations along the Northwest Side of Skunnemunk Mountain.
The Oriskany quartzite, which forms the ridge along the west side of
Seely’s brook, southwest of Oxford, turns to the east, cropping out in the
field below the road, half a mile south of Oxford station (144). At this
locality, it is both coarse-grained and finely granular, The next outcrops are
in a field about one mile due east of Oxford and west of the high-road. There
are three small outcrops, which are hard reddish quartzite with white seams
of quartz. Farther east, on Bull hill, are two small areas of the same for-
mation of a more conglomeratic nature, and which rest on the Hudson river
slates. They strike N. 40° W., and dip 55° N. E. This locality east of Bull
hill is of considerable importance as affording an explanation of the strati-
eraphic relations of the rocks in this region. ‘The quartzite area (439) is
underlaid by a thin-bedded, shaly, dark grey limestone striking N. 60° E.,
dipping 35° S. E. In the limestones are numerous fragmentary remains of
bryozoans, crinoid stems and corals, all of them too poorly preserved for
identification. On examination of the specimens Professor Hall pronounced
them to be lower Tentaculite limestone. Some years ago, N. H. Darton
submitted some specimens from the same locality to Professors Hall and
“ZOUNO|Y SO LSSAMHLYON
‘SNOLSSWIN SY43SYS0ISH GNVY SLIZLYVNO ANVYSIYO N3SSM1Lae ALINYOSNOON() 'G SYynNDd!I4
Reo astoae Na 11VH dOOMNAM
Y ‘
;
Pal
ain
i mgiite
Rrrs—GeEoLtocy of ORANGE Country. 419
Whitfield, who identified them as upper Silurian, and recognized the species
Spiriter cyclopterus, Spirifer macropleurus and Orthis oblata.
An actual contact of the limestone and quartzite 1s not visible, but the
former passes unconformably under the latter. The relations of these two are
probably those of an overthrust or overlap, as explained by Darton.*
The Helderberg limestone overlies the Cambrian limestone unconform-
ably. The latter outcrops along a cross-road (440) just east of Bull hill, and
a few hundred feet to the northeast of the Helderberg exposures. It is in
thin shaly layers, which are seamed by numerous hair-like calcite veins. The
rock is also full of cavities containing powdery limonite. In places the lime-
stone is porous and nearly as light as wood, owing to the leaching out of the
lime. It also, at times, presents a brecciated structure. The strike is
N. 80° E., and the dip 30° 8. The Cambrian limestone appears again at the
eastern base of Bull hill, near the southeast end, in the railroad cut at the
south end of the ridge, on its western slope, and on the northwestern side. It
presents variable dips and strikes, and overlies the gneiss of Bull hill uncon-
formably, at least on the eastern and southern side of the ridge, but on the
western slope the limestone is overlapped by the Hudson river slates, which
rest unconformably on the western slope of the gneiss. The relations of the
rocks of the small area are shown in figure 6.
~ The Oriskany quartzite seen east of Bull hill, probably extends to the
north, but is obscured by the heavy covering of drift to a point about one-
half mile south of Round hill, where there is a small area resting on the
gneiss. It next appears in the eastern slope and summit of a ridge between
Round hill and Woodcock hill, again exhibitmg the conglomerate facies,
with an occasional layer of coarse sandy quartzite. The strike on the crest of
the ridge (242) is N. 60° E., dip 30 to 40° S. The Hudson river slates form
the western half of this ridge, extending to and along the southern base of
Woodcock hill, where the stream has cut a deep gorge through them (245),
A short distance southeast of this point, and along the road crossing the south
end of Woodcock hill (246), the Cambrian limestone appears. It is light
blue, finely crystalline, and contains many calcite veins. It strikes N. 50° W.,
and dips 30° N. E. .
The quartzite is again seen at the edge of a small wood, south of the
same road (247). It is here a coarse conglomerate, with a strike of N. 40° E.,,
and a dip of 50° 8. E. The limestone is seen just west of it, and underlies it
with a shght unconformity, dipping 60° 8. E. The limestone also appears at
* Bulletin Geological Society of America, V , p. 367.
420 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
the base of the slope in a wood lot west of the previous exposure and south
of the road. but the dip at this point is low to the west. Northeast of the
y by
ASI
Ay
YM
Gneiss Cambrian Hudson Heldeberq Oriskany Hamilton
imestone River Limestone Quartzite Sandstone
lates
FiauRE 6. Geologic map of the area around Bull Hill.
road, at the upper end of a small field, and at the edge of the woods, the
Hudson river slates crop out at the foot of the slope (260), dipping under
the quartzite and conglomerate, and forming the ridge between it and the
‘j f
i be
‘NIVLNNOW LNONOO] SO 30VS NYSLSSAMHLNOS JO LINWAS YVSN SNOLSSWIN NI AYYVNO
WA JLvId
Rres—Gerotogy oF ORANGE Counry. 491
school house to the southeast. To the west of the shale, in the woods, are
large outcrops of massive cherty limestone. It is not well bedded, but an
anticlinal structure is clearly apparent.
My — aan@ . 2 "6h e
Tentaculiteslimestone:: oi es 2 eee eee
The next good series of Helderberg exposures is four miles southwest of
Otisville, and one mile slightly northeast from Rose Point. The greyish blue
Helderberg limestone forms a series of low ledges at the southern end of a
large ridge. These ledges are in a field west of the road, opposite a large
pond. About fifty feet of cherty limestone of Lower Pentamerus age, are
here exposed. Fossils are abundant, and nearly all of them are silicified.
These layers are also probably near the transition from the Lower Pentamerus
to the Catskill shaly limestones.
The following species were determined : Spirifer macropleurus (common
in the upper layers), Ovthis planoconvexa, Trematospira formosa, Orthis
biloba (common), Cyrtina Dalmani, Leptena rhomboidalis, Dalmanites
micrurus, Spiriter arrectus, Pentamerus galeatus, Spirifer perlamellosus,
Strophcodonta, sp.. Bryozoans on Loxonema, Lichenalia, sp., Lehynchonella,
b)
sp., Zauphrentis, Havosites, Orthothetes, sp. Lingula, sp., Aulopora, sp.,
1 |
Cladopora, Sp.
“ONNOYDAYOS SHI NI
NMOHS 113M SI SNOLSSWIT SLIKM SHI
WX JLW1d
‘HLNOS SHL WOYS 3AZ LNNOW SO MIA
<7
HoTEouhyED MOSENSAVH dOOMNAM
Rres—GrEoLoGy oF ORANGE CounrTy. 433
The same beds are much better exposed in an old fime quarry in the
woods (76) a few hundred feet to the north.
The Pentamerus limestone is there well exposed with a thickness of
about thirty feet. The beds strike N. 40° E., and dip 45° W. Fossils are
abundant in the upper half of the section, the recognizable ones being:
Pentamerus galeatus, Spirifer perlamellosus, Spirifer cyclopterus, Leptana
rhomboidalis, Anastrophia Verneuili, Astylospongia inornata, Lehynchonella
equivalvis, Atrypa reticularis, Zaphrentis, sp., Havosites, sp.
Stromatopora concentrica is very abundant near the base of the section,
the lower layers of which may represent the upper part of the Tentaculite
limestone.
About half-way between 39 and 76, and a few feet farther to the east,
is a small quarry by an old limekiln (13). The beds exposed here are
much sheared, dark grey Tentaculite limestone, containing abundant remains
of Meristina, Leperditia, Spirifer Vanuxemi and Stropheodonta varistriata.
From this exposure to the Shawangunk grit exposures at the base of the
mountain to the east, is not less than 600 feet; there are, however, no out-
crops. Just what formations underlie this interval is uncertain. The red
Medina sandstones probably underlie a portion of it, and they crop out in
the same valley about two miles farther south. The Coralline limestone may
also be here, but if so, is concealed by the drift.
On the slope of the field bordering the river, and about fifty feet east
of outcrop 39, there are several outcrops of grey and blue-grey, shaly and
arenaceous limestones of Oriskany age. Their total thickness is probably not
over fifty to seventy-five feet. A prominent easterly dipping cleavage exists,
but the dip could not be determined (40). Fossils are not uncommon, and
are abundant in the calcareous layers, especially in the outcrops near the foot
of the slope. The list of species collected is as follows: Avicula, sp., Penss-
dlaeria, sp., Chonostrophia complanata, Leptocelia flabellites, Tentaculites
clongatus, Platyostoma depressum, Strophostylus ?, Discina grandis ?, Spirifer
arrectus, Merista lata, Pterinea, sp., Tentaculites, sp. Stictopora, sp., Edrio-
crinus sacculus, Leptocelia dichotoma, Lingula, sp., Hatonia peculiaris.
The Oriskany forms a series of ledges on the west slope of the hill, on
which the limestone ledges 39 and 76 occur. The most southern outcrop
on the ridge is just west of 39, where there are small ledges (40) of arena-
ceous and shaly limestones, Fossils are not uncommon in the more calcareous
layers, and the following species were found at this point: Sp/rifer arrectus,
Bryozoa, Stictopora, sp.. Edriocrinus sacculus, Leptocelia dichatoma, Platyo-
28
434 Report oF THE Srare GEOLOGIST.
stoma depressum, Lingula, sp., Hatonia peculiaris, Meristella, sp., Discina,
sp., Zentaculites, sp. Thickness here fifty to seventy-five feet.
From this point the Oriskany extends northward along the base and
western slopes of the Helderberg ridges. It consists of shales and impure
shaly limestones, which at times are very arenaceous. ‘The usual strike is
N. 30° E., and there is a pronounced cleavage.
From locality 40, the Oriskany extends southwestward to Port Jervis,
forming the western face of the Helderberg ‘ridge. The formation preserves
the same characters that it exhibits east of Cuddebackville, but there is an
apparent increase in thickness, and east of Carpenter’s Point the Oriskany
must be 100 to 125 feet thick.
The Exopus slate (= Cauda-galli grit) is first seen east of Huguenot, along
the Neversink river. It increases rapidly to the southeastward, being no less
c H.R
FIGURE 12. Section across the Neversink valley at Cuddebackville.
H. R., Hudson river shales; M., Medina; P., Helderberg limestone; O., Oriskany; D., Drift;
H., Hamilton; C., Chemung.
than 700 feet thick east of Port Jervis. The formation consists of black, fine-
grained slates, passing upward into grey grits. The members have a marked
easterly dipping cleavage, and the true bedding is rarely visible. The black
slaty members are finely exposed in the railroad cut of the Erie railroad, one
and one-half miles northeast of Port Jervis, while the grits appear along the
Neversink river, especially southeast of Huguenot.
The Esopus formation gives rise to narrow, rough ridges, which at times
suggest the presence of possible step-faults, but this fact is not certain. To
the north, the Esopus slate passes under the alluvium of Neversink valley,
north of Huguenot.
The Helderberg formations reach their greatest development in the
region just north and south of the boundary line between New York and
‘SIVYENIW LOVINOD HLIM Q39YVHO SNOLSSINIT SLIHM ONILVYLSNSd (YSIWWVH AG GANYVW) SLINVYD JO 3xIG
pase
AIX 311d
N3JAVH dOOMNAM
a
Rizrs—Gronocy oF OrAnGE County. 435
New Jersey, and their thickness is considerable. The following section is
shown in Bennett’s quarry (Barrett, 1878) :
Metitacmire limestone fens et). s+ ss «80. feet.
PavOSie MMeCStON@we eS Sunless. 2 Ato 6 A
Wowemeentamenis hmestone.s ....0). 5... . 50
Delthynethalyelimestone; ys). 4. ss. 2 175
Upper Pentamericrimestone. .. °°. 2. .,. . 250 “
Cis nyeeanestONe we ew) a | eC. 100
Peonucnsl temerity eetee. |... 500 to 800 “
This entire section is not exposed in the face of the quarry, but is
included in the ridges to the west, between the quarry and the railroad. The
fossils are abundant in nearly all the layers, and a full list has been given by
Barrett. The upper portion of the Upper Pentamerus is noteworthy on
account of being crowded with trilobite remains. The relation of these beds
to the Oriskany has been suggested by Barrett and demonstrated by
Beecher.* They form the crest of the ridge known as the Trilobite ridge,
in whose southeastern face the quarry lies.+
Between Bennett’s quarry and that east of Cuddebackville, there are
few outcrops of the Helderberg limestone. There is a good exposure of the
shaly limestone at a point just south of the intersection of the roads from
Shin hollow and Huguenot (77). It strikes N. 40° E., and dips 60° W. (540
feet A.'T.) Fossils are not uncommon, especially Spirifer macropleurus,
Latonia medialis, Leptostrophia Becki, Orthostrophia, Colospira imbricata,
Orthothetes Woolworthana, O. punctulifera, O. radiata.
e No exposures of the Clinton or Niagara were found, though they occur
in Nearpass’s quarry, south of the state line.
The Oriskany sandstones and impure limestones and the Esopus slates
and grits dip westward under the gravelly dip of the Neversink valley, and
the middle and upper Devonian formations rise from the valley on its western
and northwestern edge.
The Onondaga limestone unconformably overlies the Esopus slate at
Carpenter’s Point (83). It forms Carpenter’s Point and crops out along the
road opposite the cemetery entrance. It is a grey limestone, in layers a few
inches thick, and contains numerous elliptical flint nodules, from one inch
to a foot long. The weathering of the limestone give it a rough surface,
caused by the irregular projecting chert nodules. ‘These nodules sometimes
* Amer. Jour. Sci., Vol. 45, p. 410, 1892.
+ Mr. Gilbert van Ingen has given the writer considerable information concerning the region east of Port Jervis.
436 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
contain fossils* The Corniferous limestone sometimes has a dip of 20° to the
west. It extends northwestward up the Neversink valley, but is buried by
drift. A small outcrop occurs north of Port Orange, in the rear of C, Norris’s
house, with a strike of N. 50° E. and a dip of 70° W. Some of the layers at
this locality are quite shaly. The thickness of the Corniferous limestone at
Port Jervis is given by White* and Prosser as 200 feet, and this seems ¢
very reasonable estimate.
The Marcellus begins as a ledge of hard grey slate at the bend of the
Delaware river, with a cleavage dipping steeply to the southeast, and extends
up the Neversink valley, the lower members being buried under the drift,
the upper ones dipping under the Hamilton shales. At the north end of
Port Jervis, the Marcellus is exposed at the base of a steep hill, and here
consists of bluish black, fine-grained shales, which dip under the Hamilton
rocks that are exposed farther up the hill. The dark arenaceous Marcellus
shales also outcrop at the base of the ridge along the western side of the
Neversink valley. Those at the base of the hill along the railroad, at Rose
Point are, according to Prosser,} probably near the boundary between the
Marcellus and the Hamilton.
The total thickness of the Marcellus shales in the Neversink valley is
about 800 feet. The Hamilton rocks which overlie them have a thickness
of about 1,400 feet in Deer Park township. They consist of arenaceous
shales and shaly sandstones, passing upward through a calcareous zone
into argillaceous shales containing fossils.
C. S. Prosser has noted a number of Hamilton localities within the
township and a list of the fossils found at each. ‘They are, beginning at the
south, as follows:
Arenaceous shales and sandstones of lower Hamilton age forming ledges
of a high hill just north of Port Jervis (1,477 Al of C.S. P.).
One mile and one-half north of Port Jervis are coarse-grained ledges of
arenaceous shales and sandstones on the east side of the road (1,477 A2 of
O.S. P.). They contain Spirifer granulifer in great abundance.
A short distance farther up the road, are coarse, fossiliferous, arenaceous
shales, forming ledges on the hillside above the road (1,477 A8 of C.S. P.).
This zone, which was called Genesee by I. C. White, contains numerous fossils.
On the east side of the road, a quarter of a mile south of Sparrowbush,
occurs another ledge consisting of coarse arenaceous shales, which carry
* Pennsylvania Geological Survey Report, G. 6.
+ Bulletin United States Geological Survey, No. 120.
¢ Tbhid., p. 45
“A1lWIS YSAIY NOSGNH 3O SI GNNOYSSHOS AHL NI 3dO1S SHL !31WV1S YaAIY NOSONH ONY SNOLSSWIT NVIYSWVD Ad GaldNDDO S$! NSBSM1LEE
ASTIWA SHL ONY ‘SLIZLYVNO ANYYSINO SI 1357 SHL NO TIIH BSH] ‘LHDSIY SHL NO NMOHS ‘NIVLNNOW GNOd-3SOO5 GYYMOL HLNOS DNIMOOT M3A\A
7
‘OO ONOI MYO WOABNATIVH dOOMNAM
AX 4LW1d
Ris—GeroLtoey oF ORANGE County. 437
abundant remains in certain layers. The rock dips N. 25° W. 10°, and
shows cleavage planes dipping at a high angle to the southeast (1,477 A8
of @,1S. P-.).
Farther up the Neversink valley, a short distance north of Rose Point,
along the west side of the railroad, are coarse blue arenaceous shales, with
sandstones one foot or more in thickness. The dip is 45° W. and the strike
N. 30° H. Fossils are common (1,478 Al of C.S. P.).
Prosser’s most northerly station of Hamilton rocks in the township is
northwest of Cuddebackville and one mile northeast of Rose Point, where
the black argillaceous and arenaceous shales crop out at the base of the
hill. The ledges farther up the hill contain abundant Hamilton fossils (1,478
Bi of C.S. Bo): |
Following the road westward from Huguenot over the hills to Hones:
ville, the following beds were observed.
A short distance west of Huguenot (66) were black indurated shales and
sandstones of Hamilton age, in layers about one inch thick. They strike
N. 40° E. and dip 30° W.
About one mile farther (67), at 700 feet A. T., coarse sandstones, striking
N. 50° E. and dipping 30° ‘W. were met. They are thinly bedded and con-
tain numerous plant stems, as well as fair specimens of Lepidodendron
gaspianum., A mile and one half west of Huguenot, at a bend in the road (69),
and 710 feet A. T., with the strike and dip the same as before, are calcareous
sandstones with an abundance of fossils in certain layers.
The remains are closely packed together. Those determinable were:
Spirifer mucronatus (very common), Spiriter granulifer, Spirifer fimbriatus
(showing the dermal spines), Spirifer audaculus, Leptodesma Rogers, Chonetes,
a small form of © coronatu or syrtalis, Chonetes scitula, Nuculites triqueter
(small form), Spirifer mesastrialis, Leptodesma, sp., Microdon, sp., Trop?-
doleptus, sp.. Phacops rana, Goniophora, sp. Athyris sp. Tropidoleptus
carinatus, Leda diversa, Nuculites oblongatus, Grammysia sp. Lingula, sp.,
Leiorhynchus, sp., plant stems. The plant stems occur in the same layers
with the shells, and concretions are not uncommon. I regard this outcrop
as of Hamilton age.
At the summit of the ridge (70), 1,265 feet A. T., the bluish grey sand-
stones appear and, a little farther on, interbedded red shales which strike
nearly north and south, and dip 20° W. These red shales crop out along the
road through the woods to the west at several points. This region is an
elevated flat-topped ridge covered with a thick growth of scrub- ak,
438 Report OF THE SraTeE GEOLOGIST.
After passing the cross-roads at a small post-office, three miles north of
Sparrowbush, and turning down the valley to the south, there are abundant
exposures of the grey Chemung sandstones. They are well seen in Robert
Coulter’s quarry, north of Sparrowbush, where they strike N. 40° E. and
dip 10 to 20° W. The quarry face is thirty feet high. The rock is a grey
dagey sandstone, heavily bedded in the lower portions of the quarry. Jt
is traversed by numerous joints, whose faces are often lined with quartz
crystals.
The Chemung formation of Deer Park township consists for the most
part of greyish sandstones, which are sometimes thinly bedded. In the
southern portion of the township the boundary is such farther to the west,
and on account of the scarcity of fossils there is some difficulty in fixing
the exact eastern limits.
Prosser gives several Chemung localities in his bulletin on the Devonian
of Eastern New York and Pennsylvania. They are:
A mile east, up the road from Rose Point and below Mr. McCarron’s
house, are thin flaggy sandstones. of a greenish grey color, which contain
Chemung fossils (1,478 A2). Prosser lists several species, and the following
were found by the writer: Zropidoleptus carinatus, Chonetes, sp., Tentacu-
lites, sp.
Near the top of the hill, and north of the road, is Meyer’s quarry (47).
The rock is a bluish grey flagstone, with shaly partings. Fern stems occur
in some of the layers, which dip 18° N. W.
From McCarron’s house up to the school-house, along the same road, are
many outcrops of thin-bedded bluish grey sandstones, with occasional shaly
partings. They strike N. 30° E. and dip 380° W. (46).
About 500 feet north of the schoolhouse is Jackson’s quarry. The
rock is bluish grey Chemung sandstone, with joints running N. 30° E. and
N. 380° W. The layers strike N. 60° E. and dip 25° N. W. About fifteen
feet are exposed in the quarry. The lower beds are thicker and contain
fragmentary plant-remains.
Two miles west of north of Brookville and three miles northeast of
Cuddebackville, is the Ferris quarry, 1,220 feet A.T. The rock is a coarse
grey sandstone, with partings of greenish to olive argillaceous shale. It dips
18 to 20° and 40° W. of N. Prosser considers this to be the same horizon
as the Starucca sandstone.
Below is the section along the Delaware river, from Pond Eddy to Port
Jervis, as measured by White and modified by Prosser :
‘ATNMANSGOW OL GVO SHL NO ‘WOIMYVAA JO LSSM ALVIS YSAIHY NOSANH
IAX 3LV1d
PR ouek
ik? a ath
hi
ini ee
Rizrs—GEoLoGy of OrANGE County. 439
( Délawaret Wags, hy) oe oG 7 "~. 400 feet.
_. | New Milford red shale,. . . . LOO. ~
Chemung with | |
; 4 Starucea; Sandstome;'. 9. 2. 600. «
Portage,. . Cais meg
| Chemung sandstone,.. . .:. 1,150
| Genesee slate, white,. . . . . 200 -
f Fram pomemsraetee ee. 1,400 ©
Hamilton, . . a
WMarcelives 2.09 os 800 «
Upper Helder- ( Corniferous (Onondaga), . . . 200 “
Pau Esopus’. 92. = 2... 2502 «
5,100 feet.
Hupson River Sates anp Sanpstrones. The rocks of this formation
cover such a large portion of Orange county, probably two-thirds of its area,
that they deserve special mention.
In the western portion of the county, im Mount Hope and Greenville
townships, the shales and sandstones form the eastern slope of Shawangunk
mountain, previously mentioned. The beds here exposed are alternating
shales and sandstones, the former having a pronounced cleavage which is not
1
FIGURE 12a. Section across the south end of Sugar Loaf mountain, showing probable fault between
Cambrian limestone, C., and Pre-cambrian gneiss, G. The latter passes unconformably under the
Bellvale flags,
shared by the latter. In the railroad cut, west of Otisyille, the shales dip
40° W. Northeast of Otisville, along the road by Scudder’s house, the sand-
stone members are prominent and strike N. 60°. The region north of Otis-
ville has a heavy covering of stratified drift, but where outcrops occur the dip
is west, while on the southeast side of Shawangunk hill the dip is to the
southeast, indicating a probable anticlinal arch with its axis along the river,
The reddish sandstone and quartzitic members predominate in the region
around Howell’s station. In the cut just west of the station, the sandstones
show a low anticline, and the next cut to the west, exhibits a monoclinal fold.
440 Report oF THE Srare Groots.
Such local foldings are by no means uncommon, The southeast dip, in the
region southeast of Shawangunk hill, changes to a low western one in Mini-
sink and Wawayanda townships, where the slates overlie the Cambrian
limestones. The sandstone beds have disappeared, and the formation is rep-
resented by hard, black slates, with a pronounced cleavage. South of Denton,
the slates give rise to many steep ridges.
From the Wallkill river southeast to Belgrave mountain, there is only a
narrow, wedge-shaped area of slate, which begins west of Sugar Loaf moun-
tain, and extends south as far as Warwick. It rests unconformably on the
Cambrian limestones, and, while the bedding is often obscured by the marked
cleavage, it seems, in general, to be dipping to the west. Glenmere lake lies
just within this slate area.
North of Goshen the sandstone members again appear. and are occasion-
ally fossiliferous. A mile and one-half northeast of Goshen, and just after
crossing the railroad, the slaty members are prominent, striking N. 60° E.,
with a dip of 20° W. The dip is very variable, however, and about 500 feet
farther north it changes to 70° W. The layers here become more siliceous.
A little beyond locality 461, at 472, the sandstone layers have a low
western dip, and contain abundant remains of Ovthis testudinaria and
crinoid stems.
Southwest of Neelytown (464), the slate dips 40° N. W., while north-
east of it (478), the dip is northeast. In general, the slate dips away from
the limestone area at Neelytown.
At the north end of the iron bridge across the Wallkill river, at Mont-
gomery, and in the river bed, are abundant ledges of slate, with occasional
sandstone layers. They here strike east and west and dip 35° N. To the
southwest of Montgomery, however, the strike is generally northeast, with a
western dip.
An examination of these and the other strikes and dips plotted on the
map of this region, indicates that there must be numerous and probably
gentle flexures.
The Wallkill river at Walden flows over a ledge of slate and sandstone
twenty-six feet high, and then through a gorge sixty feet deep, affording fine
exposures of the westwardly dipping shales and sandstones.
Southeast and east of Goshen, the Hudson river slates extend to the
range of gneissic knobs northwest of Skunnemunk mountain, where they
rest unconformably on the gneiss. Their relations have been mentioned in
another part of this report.
‘NB0uy LY Au¥YuYNO ANOLSSINIT
. oe ey
IWAX SLW1d
Rirs—GroLocy oF OrAnGE Counry. 44]
From Walden, the slates and sandstones reach eastward to New Windsor
and Newburgh townships, to the Hudson river. Along the northern border
of the county, the sandstone beds are especially abundant, and conglomerate
layers also appear.
The thickness of the Hudson river formation is difficult to determine on
account of the many folds and the heavy drift covering in that part of the
county where the formation is found. It is probably not less than 1,800 or
2.000 feet. Where it comes in contact with other formations the relations
are invariably those of unconformity, faulting or overthrust. These various
relations are noted in detail elsewhere, and need not be repeated here.
Organic remains. ‘The exact age of these slates has been a matter of
considerable discussion, owing to the apparent scarcity of fossils, Mather*
mentions a locality near Sugar Loaf village, west of the station, and at
Bulmer’s quarry, and states that a few specimens of “testacea” were found
(p. 369). He also mentions another locality near Walden.
In 1885, Darton collected the following species from Bulmer’s quarry :
Orthis pectinella.
Orthis testudinaria.
Orthis plicatella.
Leptwena sericea.
Camarella hemiplicata.
Strophomena alternata.
Streptorhynchus planumbona ov S. filitexta.
Trinucleus concentricus.
Those at Walden are found at the junction of beds of sandstone and
slate below the bridge. The species found were :
Lepteena sericea.
Orthis testudinaria.
Orthis pectinella.
Conularia Trentonensis (? ).
Darton also mentions a new locality in the shales of the railroad cut at
Rock Tavern, where the rocks are bent into an overturned synclinal. The
fossils occur in the lower members, and are not included in the crumple.
The species found were :
Leptwena sericea.
Orthis testudinaria.
= = — Sc jjceo[—_]=
* Geology of New York, Part I., 1843, p. 369.
442 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
More recently Professor Prosset has recorded a fossiliferous locality in
the blue-black shales at a cut of the Lehigh and Hudson railroad, one-
quarter of a mile southwest of Greycourt station.
The species found by the writer at the Sugar Loaf locality were :
Orthis testudinaria.
Orthis pectinella.
Leptaena sericea.
Strophomena alternata.
Crinoid stems.
A number of specimens of Orthis testudinaria were found in the shales
about two miles southwest of Oxford (203), and in the Hudson river sand-
stones a mile and one-half northeast of Goshen (472).
Mr. J. N. Weed, of Newburgh, informs me that fossils are abundant in
the sandstones of the point at the south end of Orange lake, and in nearly
all the outcrops of the same members north of Middle Hope.
The fossils found at all these localities indicate a Trenton-Hudson fauna,
as previously stated by C. D. Walcott (Lb. G. S. A., I, 1890, p. 344).
Tue Neetyrown Linestonr. Neelytown is in Hamptonburgh township,
four miles south of Montgomery, and in the woods south of Neelytown station
is a small area of light blue, granular limestone, which is sometimes brecciated
in its upper layers. The limestone first crops out in the cross-road, a few
hundred feet east of Neelytown station (477). A short distance to the south,
on the west side of the road, in a field, is a small limestone quarry (475).
The rock is massive and irregularly bedded, with a brecciated structure, and
very indistinct traces of fossils in its upper layers. Chert nodules are very
abundant. The strike is east and west, the dip north. There are a number
of small outcrops of limestone in the picnic-grove to the southwest, and at
the end of the lane leading into it is a low cliff of the limestone, with the
layers dipping gently to the northeast. In texture, the limestone resembles
closely the upper layers of Lookout mountain, south of Goshen, and is pro-
visionally mapped as of the same age. ‘There is no good evidence that
the limestone was brought up by a fault, and it is probably the crest of a low
anticlinal fold, from which the overlying slates have been eroded.
A careful search was made for other outcrops of limestone between Neely-
town and Walden, but none were found which were clearly in place.
Three small outcrops contaiming Helderberg fossils were found. The first
was southwest of Neelytown (465), another east of Montgomery (474), and
STUW GNVIHSIH 30 1Sv3 'SSIVHS G3Y¥ GOOMONO7T NI ANYYAO
aU JMyyo NoaaNa1WHdOOWNAM,
26
XIX 3LW1d
Rres—GroLocy ofr Oranck Counry. 443
a third just east of Walden (480). They are probably deeply buried
erratics. The strike and dip of the Hudson river formation surrounding the
Neelytown limestone is given on the map.
Geology of Newburgh and New Windsor Townships.
The relations around the northeastern end of Skunnemunk mountain and
Pea hill have already been alluded to. In Newburgh and New Windsor
townships the areal geology is briefly thus: A belt of Cambrian limestone
in the northeastern corner of Newburgh township, with another belt of the
same limestone with some Chazy limestone, west of Newburgh. To the north-
west and southeast of this area are two small gneiss knobs. The rest of the
territory is of Hudson river shale. The Hudson river shales and sandstones,
which cover the western and central portions of Newburgh township, are
faulted against the Cambrian limestone in the northeastern corner of the
township. This fault line crosses the Hudson from Dutchess county, and,
entering Ulster county south of Marlborough, passes southward, entering
Orange county one mile west of the Hudson river. The limestone has a
low western dip, and presents numerous outcrops which form small, rough
ridges.. Owing to the massive character of the rock, the strike and dip are
not always distinct. The line of fault is indicated by a narrow valley, which
extends southwest as far as Middle Hope where the stream occupying the
valley turns abruptly westward. The western boundary of the limestone
extends down to Balmville, and then curves around to the river. The slates
appear to the south of the limestone, but the drift conceals their exact
relations.
There is a small area of Trenton along the river road, between Newburgh
and Roseton, about two and three-quarters miles north of the Newburgh
ferry, and at the point where the road comes in sight of the river. The
Trenton limestone forms a ledge about 300 feet long and twenty to thirty
feet high, on the west side of the road (879). The dark crystalline limestone
has a strike of N. 35° E. and dips 40° E. The ledge is about 135 feet above
the river. The limestone contains a mass of small encrinal columns and
small Cheetetes. The crinoid present in especial abundance is Cleiocrinus
magnificus, a® species which had only been previously found in Canada
until its discovery by Professor W. B. Dwight at this locality.* There
are also several other species of Trenton age, viz.: Platystrophia lyna,
Plectambonites, ete.
* A. J.S. (3), XTX., p. 50.
444 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
One-half mile to the north is an outcrop of shale along the roadside by
an old barn. It occupies a small triangular area. Above it on the hill the
Cambrian limestone appears, as well as to the north of it in a quarry by Mr.
Rose’s house. At this latter locality the dip is to the southeast. The exact
relations are here again obscured by the drift, but the Trenton may rest on
the Cambrian, and the Hudson river shales may rest either on the buried
Trenton or directly on the Cambrian, by thinning out of the Trenton or by
faulting.
To the southwest of Balmville, which is on the northern edge of
Newburgh, the limestone again begins and extends, as an elliptical area of
four miles in length, in a southwest direction to Washington lake. The
width of the area is about one mile and a quarter. To the northwest it rests
on the Olenellus quartzite, and this in turn on the gneiss of Cronomer’s hill.
The rest of the distance it is overlaid by the Hudson river slates. On the
southeast, the limestone dips in part under the slates, and is faulted against
the steep northwestern side of Snake hill. The dip of the limestone is
generally southeast. There is doubt whether all of the limestone of this area
is of the same age. Over the larger portion of the area it is a crystalline,
cherty limestone, very much resembling that of the other Cambrian areas,
but in the southeastern part, in Miller’s quarry, the rock is more evenly bedded,
and less massive.
Some years ago Professor R. P. Whitfield published the discovery of
probable Maclureas in parts of the limestone. This indicates the Chazy age
of a portion of the limestone, the greater part of which is probably Potsdam,
accordiug to an opinion expressed to the writer by Professor Dwight (See
also, A. JS, iii, XVIIL, 327, 1879). The specimens were fragmentary, and
none have since been found. Professor W. B. Dwight informs the writer
that he has found a few ill-defined Calciferous fossils in the limestone of
this area northeast of Washington lake.
Southeast of Washington square, the Hudson river slates extend around
the south end of the lmestone area and rest uncomformably against the
gneiss at the south end of Snake hill. The slate crops out along the road at
the southern end of the hill (407a), and extends along the east side of it,
appearing at several points, and especially on Mr, Hasbrouck’s race-track,
where it has a strike of N. 40° E. and dips west. Farther south along the
road, the dip is east. The slate is also seen at the north end of Snake hill,
at 215 feet A. T., along the road leading to the pavilion on the summit, and
along the road by the ice-house at the northwest base of Snake hill. The
‘ATMASILO SO LSSM LAND avouTivy NI S3LVIS Y3SAId NOSGNH GNV BLVYSWOIDNOD VAOISBNO NS3SML3S ALINYOSNOON()
XX SLW1d
e . ,
* ‘ *
. Ly : «
bad , e 7
‘ | “ ¢
; I
1 ce
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Ries—Gurowiocy. oF ORANGE County. AAD
limestone crops out on the same road to the south of the slate, as well as
on the opposite side of the ice pond. The fault between the gneiss and
limestone on the west side of the hill seems to pass to the north between
the latter and the slate, or may die out.
The gneiss of both Cronomer’s hill and Snake hill is a granular mixture
of quartz and feldspar, with little or no mica. In a small gneiss area south
of Snake hill the rock is often graphitic.
The Hudson river slates extend to the foot of the mountain between
Mountainville and Cornwall, and are possibly faulted against the gneisses of
the Highlands. ‘The two can be seen close together at several points about
one mile and a half south by east of Canterbury, the slate apparently dipping
under the gneisses (420). The gneiss strikes N. 30° E., and dips southeast.
One-half mile south of Cornwall (421) is an old road-metal quarry in
limestone. It is a dark grey, finely crystalline rock, striking N. 80° E., and
dippmg 45° $8. There are interbedded grey brown, siliceous layers, and
numerous black patches of carbonaceous matter along the bedding planes.
The limestone passes under the slates and probably belongs to the
Olenellus quartzite, certain members of which it resembles very closely.
About twenty-five feet of limestone are exposed (422). The dipping of the
quartzite against the Pre-cambrian gneiss would at first suggest a fault,
but it may be the southern side of a fold caused by the quartzite being thrust
against the gneiss. This, Professor Dwight informs me, is sometimes the case
in Dutchess county. The slate and gneiss are seen almost in contact a few
feet east of the quarry.
The writer mentioned this limestone quarry to Professor Dwight, who
has done much field work in the neighboring counties, and he has written in
reply: “In 1883, I found that there is a thin stratum of impure, hard lime-
stone overlying the gneiss, and underlying the Hudson river shale along
the northern and northeastern base of Storm King and south of Cornwall.
“This occurs, as I then ascertained and noted, on the estate of Mr. S. B.
Young, whose house is at the northeastern base of the mountain, south of
Cornwall. This stratum of limestone was encountered in making excavations
for the cellar of his house, and for his ice-house. Blocks of the excavated
limestone lie around, and some of them were built into the walls forming the
approach to the ice-house.”
Further on in his letter, Professor Dwight says, in referring to the
quarry: “I take the limestone in question at Cornwall to be the Lower
Cambrian limestone (Olenellus horizon).”
446 Report oF THE State GEOLOGIST.
Tue Higuranp Arra or Gyetsstc Rocks. The following notes on the
Highland region are to be considered as merely preliminary and in the nature
of a reconnaissance. The crystalline rocks of this region present a most
interesting field for study, and it is hoped that opportunity will be afforded for
a further and more detailed consideration of their relations. Such detailed
work requires a most careful examination of all the outcrops and careful petro-
graphic examination with the microscope. Considerable has been published
hereupon in the report of Mather,* and certain portions of his work will be
referred to further on. Britton and Merrill also refer frequently to these
rocks in connection with their work on the Highland area in New Jersey.+
Excluding the areas of gneiss forming the western half of Pochuck
mountain and another strip along the northwestern side of Bellvale mountain,
the gneissic rocks cover all of the townships of Tuxedo and Highland, and
about one-half each of those of Monroe, Woodbury and Cornwall.
Tuxrepo Townsuip. The gneiss rises steeply along the eastern side of
Greenwood lake with a dip of 60° E. It is often massive, and sometimes
much shattered by joints at right angles to the stratification. These joints
not uncommonly represent fault planes. The gneiss is a mixture of quartz,
red orthoclase and hornblende. Specimens of this same gneiss, collected
from a point on the New York and New Jersey state line, were examined by
Professor Kemp in 1885 (NV. -/. Geol. Surv., 1886, p. 102), and the orthoclase
found to be full of curious little inclusions.
Northeast of Greenwood lake, the gneiss is strongly laminated and is com-
posed of biotite, feldspar and much quartz. The region between Greenwood
and Sterling lakes is heavily wooded and has not yet been examined. On
its eastern edge the rock along the shore of Sterling lake (346) is a dark-
colored, fine-grained basic gneiss. A section of the fine-grained portion of
this gneiss, from half way up the west side of the lake, shows it to consist of
plagioclase, hypersthene and magnetite. The plagioclase is in large plates,
fresh, and full of beautiful apatite crystals. The hypersthene is strongly
pleochroic and the magnetite grains associated with it are large and rounded.
The dark, massive gneiss, one and one-half miles north of Sterling lake, may
be a continuation of this area (801). Sections of it afford much microperthite
and some quartz.
The dark hornblendic gneiss surrounds most of Sterling lake and contains
oD
the ore-bodies at the southeastern end of the lake. At this point are two
* Geology of New York, First District, 1842.
+ Geological Survey of New Jersey, 1885.
‘SNIW TISNO WOYS ! SLILANODVI HLIM BLIOIWD “€| BYNOI4
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44
County.
ORANGE
1
(FEOLOGY OF
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448 Report oF THE SrateE GEOLOGIST.
beds of magnetite, the Sterling and the Lake. They are evidently portions
of the same bed cut in two by a pinch. The direction of their longer axes
is about northwest and southeast, and this strike carries the Lake ore-body
beneath Sterling lake. The length of the Sterling ore-body at the surface is
500 feet, and 230 feet at the bottom of the workings. The length along the
slope, which runs obliquely down the dip, is 1,000 feet. The pinch is about
250 feet long and is succeeded by the Lake ore-bed, whose outcrop is of the
same length, but its depth is not known, as it has never been fully exploited.
The slope is 1,100 feet long.
The ore-bed varies in width from five to twelve feet and is sharply
defined. The ore formerly extended up the surface of the hill at whose base
the entrance to the present workings is situated, and quarrying methods were
therefore employed for operating this upper portion of the ore-bed. In a few
places on the face of the hill where the hanging wall remained, as in the
Clark mine, chamber-working was followed. The Clark ore-body dips to the
northeast, and swells and pinches in a remarkable manner. At one place
in the footwall, two narrow anticlines have been produced, as shown in
Figure 15.
The wall rock is a basic gneiss, with much hornblende, and the roof
of the chamber-working is a very coarse-grained mixture of plagioclase feld-
spar and hornblende. Just above the ore at the northwest end of the open
working is a feldspar vein, twelve inches thick, which extends for about
twelve feet and then suddenly pinches out. Veins of epidote and milky
quartz crystals occur in the wall rock and frequently cut across the strike.
The gneiss around the ore-body contains less hornblende than that farther
down the hill towards the Lake mine.
The Lake mine has afforded quite a variety of minerals which occur on
the edge of the magnetite bed. The commonest are pyroxene and amphibole
either in distinct crystals or forming granular aggregates with the magnetite.
At other times there is present in these granular mixtures both white and red
feldspar, the former surrounding the latter. Clusters of small epidote crystals
are seen, usually in association with pyroxene. Some beautiful pegmatitic
intergrowths of quartz and tourmaline are found in the Lake mine, but in
just what part of it, the writer was unable to ascertain. Sometimes this
intergrowth is surrounded by red feldspar, and the latter encircled by mag-
netite. On the hill and along the highroad about 500 feet northeast of the
Lake mine, are several small lenses of magnetite in the gneiss. The stringer
is lens-shaped and near the outer margins contains some granular quartz.
ro)
*ISSMHLYON SHL OL SdIQ YOON SHI ‘STINASILO SO LSSM AXYVNO NI LIND YNNONVYMVHS
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IXX SLW1d
Rizrs—GEOLOGY OF URANGE Counry. 449
The wall rock is feldspathic and has no hornblende, as indicated by the light
color which it has in the figure.
From the Sterling mine the basic gneiss continues northeastward towards
the Augusta mine which is also on the property of the Sterling Iron and
Railway Co, The strike of the gneiss at this mine is N. 40° E. and the dip
50° KE. The rock is made up of alternating bands of feldspar and hornblende
and the ore seems to favor the latter, dipping with the rocks. According to
the sections drawn from a survey made several years ago, the ore-body is long
and flat. There is a notable fault exposed in the hanging wall at the
entrance to the.mine. The layers of the gneiss have been drawn down by
100'
FIGURE 15. Diz ic view ark mi Sterli i
URE 15. Diagrammatic view of Clark mine, at Sterling; showing swelling and pinching of the
ore-bed. The section is N. W. and S. E. Cisavein of feldspar and hornblende, one foot thick
which is pinched out. Bisa N. E. and S. W. section of foot-wall at A. é
the shearing action of the faulting. The foot-wall of the Augusta mine
contains much granular dark green pyroxene. ‘There are many coarsely
crystalline veins of quartz and feldspar which cut the gneiss in the walls
; er a ; ;
of the Augusta mine. They not uncommonly cut directly across the strike
and are often branched.
rity . . . ry .
The Mountain mine is about three-quarters of a mile north of the fore-
going, and consists of several long narrow parallel beds. At the Scott mine,
the gneiss is more acid and contains little or no hornblende, not even in
29
450 Report or THE Svrare GEOLOGIST.
the walls of the ore-body. Orthoclase feldspar abounds. The rocks around
the ore-bed have been much sheared and strained, but no actual faults were
found on the surface. One of the specimens showed a breccia of feldspar
and magnetite. One mile northeast of the Oregon mine, the grey gneiss
again appears, being a mixture of quartz, feldspar and biotite. It dips 40° E.
Along the road leading from Greenwood lake to Tuxedo and in the area
due north of Sterling lake, the gneiss is, at times, very massive, with red
feldspar, and resembles granite. Just northeast of the cross-roads, on the
road to Southfield (305), the rock is a massive, red, feldspathic gneiss with
some quartz and much garnet. It strikes N. 20° E. and, dips 70° 8S. E.
Little or no mica is present.
This may be only a local variation, for about a mile and one-half farther
to the north the common grey gneiss again appears, striking N, 25° KE. and
dipping 40° EK. The strike is, however, very variable.
From Southfield Works to Helmsburg, south of Mount Basha lake, the
gneiss preserves a remarkably constant character. It is fine-grained, light
erey, strongly laminated and composed of quartz, orthoclase feldspar and
biotite. Some plagioclase is present, and hornblende is not uncommon. The
strike near Southfield Works is N. 40° E., dip 60° S. E. Farther to the east,
along the road, it is N. 20° E., dip 60° S. EH. At this point the gneiss
sometimes contains dark bands of more basic rock, which in appearance
resembles the gneiss around Sterling lake.
Much of the gneiss m Tuxedo park is fine-grained and very basic, that at
the southern end of the park, especially, containing considerable quantities of
pyroxene, with strong basal parting. The dip is nearly always to the east.
Along the Switchback road, near the summit of the hill and at a point about
330 feet higher than Tuxedo station, there are numerous veins of a coarse red
granite identical with that found near Stockbridge’s hotel, east of Central
Valley.
On the cireuit road within Tuxedo park there are many exposures of a
well banded grey gneiss with alternating light bands of quartz and feldspar
and dark ones of hornblende, with some biotite. The gneiss strikes N. 40°
E. and dips 50° 8. E.
One mile before reaching the north gate and on the circuit road, are
large outcrops of an extremely coarse dioritic rock, similar to one southeast of
oo
g
Southfield. It is much coarser, however, and contains some quartz. In close
association with it is a fine-grained granular gneiss and stringers of the diorite
often penetrate Life
‘ONITHSLS YVAN ‘SSIBND NI SLILANOVW 4SO SNA] '9) SYNSDI4
GEOLOGY OF ORANGE CouNTY. 451
Ries
Mather refers to a cliff of limestone one-quarter of a mile southwest of
Tuxedo lake, and states that it is traversed by a faulted dike. A search was
made for this outcrop at the point indicated by Mather, but the writer was
unable to find it. Quartzose gneiss forms a steep and possible fault cliff in
the road-metal quarry south of Southfield, striking N. 40° E. and dip 70° E.
One mile south of Southfield, along the road through the woods, 1s an
area of very coarse diorite. The rock is a coarse mixture of labradorite and
hornblende, and shows well the crushing which it has undergone. This same
rock also crops out in the field along the upper side of the road, until the
latter begins to curve around the hill, when it is succeeded by a massive
gneiss, with quartz orthoclase and biotite. This gneiss becomes very coarse
in places, when the biotite is replaced by hornblende. It continues with
somewhat variable character to Little Long pond, with a strike that varies
from N. 20 to 50° E. and a prevailing steep eastern dip. At the west end of
this pond, the gneiss strikes N. 20° E. and dips 30° E., while at the east end it
dips 80 to 90° EK. Along the road leading up the hill west of the pond, is a
pegmatite vein cutting the gneiss, and this latter is cut by five camptonite
dikes in a space of 200 feet. They may be possibly branches of the same
dike. They vary im width from two inches to one foot.
Monror Townsuie. The gneisses cover nearly one-half of the township,
their western border being along the eastern side of the valley, extending
from Greenwood lake to Monroe.
East and northeast of Long pond, which is two and one-half miles south
of Monroe, the normal grey gneiss is composed of orthoclase, quartz and
biotite, with subordinate hornblende. The rock sometimes becomes coarsely
crystalline, with an increase of the hornblende, and this passes into the
normal facies again. Southeast of Long pond, and on the crest of the ridge,
the strike is N. 20° E., dip 70° W. A common form of the gneiss in this
region is a red rock consisting of quartz, orthoclase, plagioclase and some
biotite. The plagioclase frequently exceeds the orthoclase in amount. The
quartz commonly has a zonal structure and contains apatite and zircon as
inclusions.
In the region south of the Clove mine the grey gneiss is generally
quartzose, with few variations. On the eastern side of Mount Basha lake it
becomes garnetiferous.
The O'Neil mine is three miles southeast of Monroe. It is a large
opening about 200 feet west of the road, and below it. The pit is about fifty
feet deep and 600 feet long, extending northeast and southwest. The wall
452 ReEpoRT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
rock is a coarse feldspathic gneiss, that on the north wall being somewhat
more quartzose. The rock strikes N. 30° E. Near the west end of the main
cut is an olivine camptonite dike six feet wide, which cuts across the ore-
body. The ore was mined out around it and the dike has been left standing
like a wall. Another dike of the same rock, or a branch of the first one, is
found in the next pit, about 200 feet to the southwest. Just west of the first
dike, and next to it, is a coarsely crystalline rock of granitic structure (shown
in upper left hand portion of the adjoining figure), and consisting of feldspar
and serpentine; the latter, however, is evidently an alteration product
of either pyroxene or hornblende, perhaps the latter, as Mather records a
syenite rock penetrating the ore-body.
Next to the ore, the wall rock becomes very basic, and contains a mixture
of magnetite and pyroxene, or hornblende. In places, the latter has changed
almost completely to serpentine, as in the northwest wall just east of the
dike. In the pit where the second dike occurs, the rock, on the north side is
an altered syenite, but next to this second dike the rock is a mixture of
calcite, with hornblende or magnetite. Lying in the pit are several masses of
calcite, filled with a reticulation of magnetite streaks. Just what part of the
mine this came from could not be determined, but the occurrence of it in this
large quantity is somewhat suggestive of a possible sedimentary origin.
The wall rock is traversed by many joints, and the great masses of rock
which have fallen into the pit obscure the relations considerably. Two
chambers have been driven at the eastern end of the pit. The mine has not
been worked for sixteen years. Probably no locality in the county except
Edenville has afforded so many minerals. The most abundant are beautiful
little octahedral crystals of magnetite. Pyroxene and amphibole crystals
have also been found.
A list of the minerals which this mine has afforded is given in Mather’s
report on the Geology of New York, First District.
The Forshee mines are on a neighboring hill about one-half mile south-
west of the O'Neil mine. The main working is an open pit, about 400 feet
long, fifty feet wide and fifty feet deep. The country rock is a feldspathic
gneiss striking N. 20° E., and dipping 40° S. E. The ore is very lean and
associated with a peculiar pyroxenic rock with a bronze lustre. It very
strongly resembles enstatite, but sections of it give an inclined extinction.
The rock is very hard and rather coarse-grained. It is traversed in places
by quartz veins. The rock at and around the base of the hill is the
ordinary grey gneiss.
ONIWHYSLS YVAN ‘SOVNYNSA AYYNOILNIOASY A190 ‘LI B3yundl4
-09.G404MV¥YH9O XOS8N371VH DOOWNAM
Rirs—Gronocy oF ORANGE County. 453
The Clove mine is about a mile and one-half south of Monroe. The
workings are full of water and little of their relations can be made out.
According to Mather* the ore occurs in several parallel veins. This may be
due to faulting. The walls of the mine are a hornblendic gneiss which, at
times, becomes very schistose, and the ore has much hornblende and a
silvery mica mixed with it. Pyrite is occasionally present. The nearest
gneiss exposure to the east of the mine is very quartzose and does not
represent the normal rock. On the west are several outcrops of a feldspathic
granitic gneiss. The ore-body is evidently cut by a dike, judging from the
numerous angular fragments of it which were found on the dump heap. The
dike is a fine-grained black rock, cut by numerous thread-like streaks of
pyrrhotite.
Woopsury Townsuir. The gneissic rocks cover about five-eighths of
the area of the township. The line of faulting which has given rise to the
Ramapo valley south of Turners, passes northward along the base of the
gneiss ridge east of Turners and Central Valley, and then along the narrow
valley east of Pine hill, at whose north end the fault-line probably passes into
the Highlands. Up to the point east of the north end of Pine hill, the fault
line is between the gneiss and the Cambrian limestone. A contact of the two
is well exposed in the limestone quarry a mile and one-half northeast of
Arden.
a/
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PLATE XXXVI
TUXEDO LAKE, LOOKING NORTH.
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MAP OF ORANGE COUNTY, ILLUSTRATING ITS ECONOMIC GEOLOGY,
PLATE XLI
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Shown in the preceding plate.
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GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
(GEOLOGICAL MAP.)
REPORT
ON THE CRYSTALLINE ROCKS OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.
JAMES HALL, | Cae Shy PES diz.
State Geologist. Assistant.
1895.
J sh Haun, State Geologist.
| ‘Sir :—Herewith I submit a report on the crystalline rocks of St.
_ Lawrence county.
Respectfully yours,
Cr ONO. or:
~ Hamivron Conecr, Crinton, N. Y., Jan. 1, 1896.
479
Report on the Crystalline Rocks of St. Lawrence County.
By C. H. Smyru, Jr.
The field work done in St. Lawrence county during the summer of 1895,
consisted in a continuation of the reconnaissance of the crystalline rocks of
the region, begun some time since, and carried on in part privately, and in
part under the direction of the State Geologist. This reconnaissance has now
been extended over about two-thirds of the crystalline area of St. Lawrence
county, and also considerable tracts in Jefferson and Lewis counties, the total
area covered approximating 2,000 square miles.
The present report is particularly concerned with results obtained in a
new territory comprising the towns of De Peyster, De Kalb, Hermon,
Edwards, Canton, Russell, Potsdam, Pierrepont and Parishville; together
with points re-examined in the towns of Gouverneur, Rossie and Fowler,
which were covered in the examination made during 1893. Certain facts
observed during 1894, in the towns of Pitcairn, Fine, Clifton, and Diana,
Lewis county, which have been already described in part,* may prove of
value in this connection.
In making this reconnaissance, the main object was to learn the distribu-
tion of the crystalline limestone formation, for which the name Osweyatchie
series was suggested in a previous report.f A special effort was also made
to ascertain as many facts as possible bearing upon the question of the origin
of the great areas of gneisses, and the relation existing between these rocks
and the limestones.
Distribution of Crystalline Limestones. As a wider territory was covered,
the distribution of limestones was found to conform to the same order as in the
case of the more limited areas previously described. They form belts, many
square miles in extent, stretching in a northeast and southwest direction ;
and, in addition to these, small scattered patches, irregularly distributed, and
varying greatly in size. By far the largest limestone belt is that which is
traversed longitudinally by the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg railroad
from Antwerp to a pomt some two miles east of De Kalb junction. The belt
begins at the former village, but extends some miles northeast of the latter,
* Bulletin Geological Society of America, VI , pp. 263-284.
+ Report of State Geologist for 1893, pp. 493-515.
8 ] 481
482 Reporr oF THE Stare GEOLOGIST.
the railroad leaving it at the point stated. Scarcity of outerops prevents a
precise location of the limit in this direction, but it is probably cut off by
gneiss about two miles south of Canton village. It may possibly, however,
be connected with an area of limestone in the southwest corner of Potsdam,
although the latter appears to be entirely surrounded by gneiss.
The linear extent of this belt from Antwerp to its probable end in
Canton, is about thirty-five miles. Its width in a northwest-southeast
direction is extremely variable. Beginning in Antwerp with an average
width of about two miles, it expands rather suddenly to six or eight miles in
Gouverneur, narrowing again as it passes out of this township to the north-
east. Along the northern boundary of Gouverneur, gneiss appears im long,
harrow strips, whose precise extent 1s uncertain; so that it is not clear
whether or not the Gouverneur limestone belt is separated entirely from a
large area which extends from Theresa, across Rossie and Macomb, and
disappears under the Potsdam, in De Peyster. If distinct, these two belts can
have only a very narrow strip of gneiss between them to the west, and the
indications are that this disappears entirely in the vicinity of Yellow lake, in
Rossie. Eastward, in De Peyster and De Kalb, a large area of gneiss comes
in between the two limestone belts. The southern edge of the Gouverneur
belt is more clearly defined, and an extensive area of gneiss separates it
from the next belt to the south. The latter, which may be called the
Edwards belt, begins in Fowler, crosses Edwards, and seems to run out in the
western part of Russell. Its area is much less than that of the Gouverneur
belt, but it is of economic importance on account of its tale deposits. This
belt is quite sharply defined, although along its southern edge there is a
rather confused mingling of limestone and gneiss, of much interest and
deserving careful investigation. Another wide stretch of gneiss separates the
Edwards belt from the Diana belt, which crosses the towns of Diana and Pitcairn
with a width of about two miles. Directly southeast of this belt, that is,
normal to the trend of the belts, the country has been examimed for only a
few miles, but to the south it has been traversed some thirty miles or more
without the finding of any limestone. However, it is not certain that other
belts may not exist in the forested region to the southeast, although facts to
be stated below indicate that this is probably not the case.
These four belts, or, if the Macomb and Gouverneur belts be considered
one, three belts, comprise a large proportion of the crystalline limestone of
the region examined, The remainder is found in the scattered patches to
Which reference has been made. These occur both near, and at considerable
Smytu—CrystaLuingE Rocks or St. LAwRENcE County. 4838
distance from, the large belts, and range from less than a mile to several
square miles in area. There is nothing to distinguish them from the larger
belts except their limited dimensions, and they must be regarded as
constituting a portion of the limestone series.
As to the character of the limestone in the various areas, it is scarcely
necessary to speak here, descriptions having already been given in the papers
above cited.* It is always highly crystalline, ranges in color from white to
dark bluish grey, and often contains disseminated and aggregated silicates.
Of these, the most important are serpentine, forming ophicalcite, and
tremolite. The latter renders the rock more resistant to weathering, and
sometimes is so abundant as to constitute a tremolite schist. The limestone
contains a variety of gneissoid rocks, some of which are doubtless interbedded,
while others are probably altered intrusives. ‘These gneisses often show
a great amount of contortion and crushing, as a result of the application of
intense pressure. The limestone itself, on the other hand, presents a massive
undisturbed appearance, with no indication of its subjection to pressure
beyond the development of polysynthetic twinning—$R. Owing to the
difference in the nature of the rocks they have been affected very differently
by pressure, the gneiss having yielded by folding and fracture, the limestone
by flow. It is quite possible, however, that a considerable amount of
fracturing actually occurred in the limestone, but this has been obliterated by
subsequent recrystallization.
In considering the small patches of limestone, a point which should not
be overlooked is that, owing to the easy weathering of the rock, outcrops are
more generally wanting than in the case of the surrounding resistant gneiss.
For this reason, the real extent of these areas is probably often greater than
it appears, while there are, doubtless, many such patches that have been
entirely overlooked.
When the distribution of the limestones is viewed in a broad way, it
becomes apparent that these rocks have their greatest development in the north-
western part of the region, decreasing as the eastern and southern parts of the
county are approached. In the former district lie all of the extensive belts,
while in the latter only scattered patches of limestone occur, gneiss being the
prevailing rock. This relation is very marked and is probably persistent
throughout this portion of the Adirondack region. There can be little doubt
that the combined Macomb and Gouverneur belts constitute the most extensive
484 Reporr oF THE Strate GEOLOGIST.
southeastward into the heart of the region. Nevertheless, no fixed limit has
been found in this section beyond which the limestone can be said not to
extend. It does not disappear, but simply decreases, occurring in smaller and
more scattered areas. If it were regarded as a distinct formation (a point to
be considered later), it could not be mapped as constituting a clearly defined
and continuous area, but would necessarily be represented in detached
portions ; and facts now at hand indicate that such portions occur scattered
all through the Adirondacks. Hence the distribution of the limestone forma-
tion is, in a sense, co-extensive with that of the entire series of crystalline rocks
comprised in the Adirondack region; and the task of mapping the limestone
formation, be it called Huronian, as has been suggested, or, as preferred by the
writer, by the local term Oswegatchie, involves the entire problem of the
Adirondack geology. For to map the limestone formation, its geologic
limits must be first ascertained, and this necessitates the determination of
its relations to the associated rocks. In the case of the anorthosites and
gabbros, this has been done, as well as for some minor developments
of granite, etc. But the origin of the gneisses which cover the greater
part of the western Adirondack region, and their relation to the lime-
stone are, as yet, unsettled, and constitute a problem requiring careful study
for its solution. If, from such study, it should appear that the lime-
stones and gneisses together constitute a single series, it would make up
the whole of the area comprised within this report, except where
certain intrusive rocks occur, and would, indeed, with this latter exception,
probably make up the entire Adirondack region. On the other hand, should
the limestone and gneiss prove to belong to entirely distinct formations, it
would be a simple matter to trace their boundaries. But, finally, should it be
learned that some portions of the gneiss belong with the limestone in one
formation, while other portions belonged in another formation, then, judging
from experience in the field, it would become a very difficult matter to trace
the boundaries of the formations, on account of the perfect gradations
generally shown between different varieties of gneiss. The foregoing points
were, in part, touched upon in a previous report, but 1t seems worth while to
refer to them here, bearing, as they do, upon the whole question of aims,
methods and results of geologic investigation in the Adirondack region. One
fact may be safely premised, namely, that the different crystalline rocks of the
region are so related to one another that the study of one involves, to a greater
or less extent, the study of all, and the history of one portion can not be clearly
stated without reference to other portions. This is, of course, meant to apply
Smytu—CrysTALLinE Rocks or St. LAWRENCE County. 485
to the broader problems, and of these, one is certainly the distribution of the
limestones and their relation to the other rocks.
The mere facts of distribution have been given above, their bearing upon
the question of relation to other rocks will be considered in dealing with the
relations of the limestones to the gneisses. This question requires, however,
for its discussion, a previous consideration of the probable origin of the
oneisses,
Origin of the Gneisses. From the foregoing it is evident that the
eneisses afford the chief problem of the region. This problem is twofold,
involving both the origin of the gneisses and their relation to the limestones.
While these two questions are intimately connected, and facts bearing on one
are often equally important in their relation to the other, it may be more
convenient to consider them separately.
In the outset it should be stated that neither question is regarded as
finally settled. It is often very difficult to procure data which bear definitely
upon these questions, and as the rocks involved cover a great area, it is
dangerous to generalize upon a basis of facts gathered in a small portion of
the area. This difficulty has been somewhat reduced by the agreement of
phenomena occurring at widely separated points, but it is, nevertheless, a real
difficulty. In many cases, perhaps in most, no direct evidence is at hand, and
it is necessary to reach conclusions by analogy. For these reasons, particu-
larly on account of the limited amount of study as compared with the
extent of the region, it is not deemed wise to state any very broad final
conclusions, but merely to present such facts as seem to be of importance
in their bearing upon the major problems of the region. What this bearing
is, and to what conclusions the facts in hand seem to lead, must, of course,
be stated; but the endeavor will be made neither to exaggerate the
importance of the data, nor to deal with them dogmatically.
Without going into the history of opinion on the subject, it may be
stated that the gneisses have generally been regarded as metamorphosed
¢
sediments, such parallel structures as they possess being considered as result-
ing from original bedding.
The term gneiss is here used in a very broad sense, embracing rocks
having a wide variation in structure and composition. The chief value of the
term, when used without any qualifying word, lies in its breadth, and this
value largely disappears if the term is restricted to a rock having the compo-
sition of granite. Such a broad term is essential in the present discussion,
not only on account of the lack of detailed investigation, but chiefly because
486 Report oF THE Stare GEOLOGIST.
the different varieties of rock included under it, so constantly shade into
each other, or are so intimately associated as to render their precise differen-
tiation difficult or impossible.
In composition, the rocks range from acidic, like granite, to basic, like
gabbro. In structure they range from fine to very coarse, and from distinctly
gneissoid, or even schistose, to entirely massive. The prevailing type, in the
region here covered, is a fairly acid, light-colored rock, of medium or fine
grain, and rather obscure foliation. It often looks as though its fine grain
had resulted from a crushing of larger constituents. Other important
varieties are: a coarse augen-gneiss and a porphyritic gneiss often extremely
coarse, and nearly or quite massive. The dark-colored basic varieties seem to
be much more limited in extent, the only large area noted being in South
Russell. Brief accounts of some of these varieties have been given elsewhere,
and need not be repeated, as such details as are necessary will be brought out
in discussing the origin of the rocks.
When this latter question is considered, three possible explanations
present themselves as being worthy of careful consideration. According to
one of these, the gneisses are metamorphosed sediments; according to the
second they are of ingneous origin; while the third comprises both of the
others, regarding the gneisses as in part sedimentary and in part igneous.
Dealing with the internal evidence alone, the parallel structures of the
gneiss afford the only support for the hypothesis of metamorphosed sediments.
And when the evidence is examined it appears very weak, for, as a rule, there
is only a foliation which could not be regarded as in any way connected with
original bedding, but is clearly a secondary structure, and often very incon-
spicuous. Distinct banding that might represent original stratification is rare,
and such bands as do occur are generally widely scattered and of limited
extent, demanding, as shown below, a different explanation. Indeed, rather
than showing pronounced banding, the rocks are very uniform in texture and
composition over wide areas, and where they change, do so gradually. It
may be safely stated that there is nothing in the structure of the gneiss as a
whole, which demands, or even suggests, that it should be regarded as derived
from a sedimentary formation. On the contrary, the complete absence of
clastic structure, the lack of any trace of stratification, and the uniformity over
wide areas are all opposed to such a view.
The chief support for this hypothesis is found in the limestone associated
with the gneiss. This is doubtless a metamorphosed sedimentary rock and its
presence in long belts, whose trend is parallel to the foliation of the gneiss,
Smyru—CrystaLLInE Rocks or St. LAwRENcE County. 487
suggests that they may be parts of one great series. This idea is strengthened
by the fact that on the borders of the gneissic areas, as the limestone is
approached, the gneiss is often finely laminated and quite similar to narrow
bands of gneiss which seem to be interbedded with the limestone. But these
laminated gneisses between the massive gneiss and limestone have been found
to be the exception, not the rule, as was formerly thought, and hence, are of
little importance in this connection. As to the parallelism of the foliation
of the gneiss with the strike of the limestone, it is a necessary result if the
foliation is a secondary structure resulting from the same pressure that folded
the limestone.
The alternation of broad belts of limestone and of gneiss, In the north-
western portion of the region, is suggestive of a sedimentary series, in spite of
some peculiarities of distribution, difficult to explaim; but the scattered
patches of limestone occurring in wide areas of gneiss to the south and east,
are difficult to harmonize with this view. It has been thought probable that
the limestone was confined to the region of the extended belts, and that the
associated gneiss might be distinct from that of the southern and eastern parts
of the county. But, as shown above, the limestone has no such limitation,
and there is nothing to distinguish the gneisses of the northern townships
from those of the southern. They must be considered together, at least for
the present, as one great formation, with the limitations and conditions cited
below. It seems clear that if the gneisses of the northern towns belong to the
limestone series, those of the southern towns do as well. On the other hand,
if the latter do not, neither do the former. The reasons, so far as the relations
of the two are concerned, for regarding the gneisses as part of the limestone
series having been stated, it must be admitted that they are extremely inade-
quate. On the other hand, the gneisses themselves, with the exception of
limited areas, lack every characteristic of a sedimentary series. Thus, both
lines of evidence fail almost completely to establish the sedimentary origin of
the gneisses. Nevertheless, the mere absence of proof that they are
sedimentary cannot be taken as proving that they have not this origin. For
it is entirely possible that the absence of proof results from extreme. meta-
morphism, and the evidence sought for might be found at any time, provided
that some other origin can not be established. This latter condition leads to
the consideration of the second hypothesis named above: that of derivation of
the gneisses from igneous rocks,
Taking up first, as before, the internal evidence bearing upon the
question, there are certain characteristics of the gneisses that are of import-
488 Reporr oF THE STatE GEOLOGIST.
ance. They form wide areas between belts of sedimentary rocks, but
themselves, as above stated, showing no trace of sedimentary origin. On the
contrary, they show the uniformity of character that might be looked for in
plutonic rocks, together with the gradual variation so common in rocks of this
class... Such parallel structures as appear in the gneisses have been shown to
have nothing in common with the bedding of a sedimentary series, while they
are precisely such structures as appear in plutonic rocks as a result of
pressure, or of flow before solidification.
Sections of the widespread, fine, light-colored gneiss show it to consist of
orthoclase, plagioclase, and quartz, with mica, hornblende or pyroxene. Either
feldspar may predominate, and microperthite is nearly always present. As a
rule, the ferro-magnesian minerals are in small amounts. With the exception of
the quartz, the constituents are in grains, which often appear to have resulted
from the granulation of larger grains, that is, the structure is cataclastic and
the original rock must have been a coarse, holocrystalline aggregate, such as is
typically afforded in the class of plutonics. Such a rock under pressure
gneisses, and at many points the latter pass by insensible
would yield the g
gradation into such a rock. That they have been derived from it by pressure
is clearly indicated. In some cases this massive core is a coarse, evenly
granular aggregate, in others it is more or less distinctly porphyritic. The
latter 1s perhaps the most common type, forming considerable and widely
distributed areas. The case is analogous to that of certain gneisses of
Canada, in which, as shown by Adams,* the cataclastic structure is usually
accompanied by other indications of an igneous origin; while, in the same
region, gneisses lacking this structure are thought to be derived from
sediments. The fact that a gneiss is formed by crushing of a coarse
holocrystalline aggregate does not prove its igneous origin, as this aggregate
may have been formed by crystallization of sediment. But in the absence
of distinct proof of the latter supposition, the probabilities favor the former ;
and if all other kinds of evidence lead in the same direction, the cataclastic
structure may be regarded as an important indication of igneous origin.
The role of the quartz in the gneisses requires some special consideration,
being, as above indicated, somewhat exceptional. Quite often the mineral
shows the effect of crushing less than do the other constituents. While they
are in small rounded grains, the quartz is often in large masses or long spindles.
As the quartz could hardly flow while the feldspar fractured, the conclusion
is obvious, and seems to be well grounded, that, in the case of the quartz, there
* American Journal of Science ; (IIL) L., pp. 58 to 69.
Smyru—CrystaLtuinE Rocks or Str. LAwrence County. 489
has been crystallization after the production of cataclastic structure in the
rock. While in many cases the quartz was probably an original constituent
and has recrystallized; in others, it is doubtless secondary, the gneiss being
more acid than the parent rock. The microscopic details upon which these
conclusions are based need not be stated here.
Where the cataclastic structure is lacking, the gneisses have the holo-
crystalline granular structure of plutonic rocks, the grain) varying con-
siderably, and, in the coarse varieties, porphyritic structure being particularly
common. Rapid variations of grain are often shown by the coarse porphy-
ritic varieties, fine phases coming in quite irregularly, forming bands and
masses with the aspect of the common, fine gneiss. They lack, however,
the crushed aspect, and appear to be primary variations. The micro-
scopic study necessary to determine this point has not yet been under-
taken. The same localities often show the passage from the massive
into the finely laminated crushed gneisses, the transition sometimes
occurring within a few feet. It often happens that the passage from a
coarse, massive, to a fine, well laminated gneiss is attended by a darkening
of the color.
But in other cases, where the coarse, light-colored gneiss occurs with a
fine dark-colored variety, there is good reason for believing that a different
relation exists between the two. In instances of the latter kind, the fine gneiss
is usually cut by abundant granitic veins, which wander irregularly through
the rock, with a tendency to follow the foliation if it is at all marked. At the
same time, the acid gneiss contains masses of dark rock of great variety
of form and size, and, in every respect like inclusions in an igneous rock.
That such they really are scarcely admits of a doubt, and all uncertainty is
removed where, as has happened in several instances, an irruptive contact is
found between the light and the dark gneiss. Such phenomena point to two
conclusions: first, all parts of the gneiss are not of the same age; and
secondly, the massive, porphyritic gneisses are certainly in part, probably
entirely, of igneous origin, being younger than, and intrusive in the fine, dark,
eneisses. These facts, however, shed no light upon the origin of the latter
variety.
The inference above drawn, as to the true nature of the porphyritic
eneisses, becomes important in its bearing upon the general question in hand,
when it is remembered that these rocks themselves make up a not inconsider-
able part of the gneissic areas, and, moreover, that much of the finer gneiss
is probably derived from them.
490 Reporr or tHe Srare GEonoaist.
As regards these finer gneisses, there is a series of facts analogous to
those described in the coarser rocks, so far as the inclusions are concerned.
At many widely separated points, the fine pink and grey gneisses have been
found to contain masses of very dark, rather fine rock. As it seemed probable
that these masses might have some bearing on the problem in hand they were
examined with care, and in many cases were sketched, or photographed. —They
may, for convenience of discussion, be divided into two groups: long narrow
bands, and irregular masses.
The bands vary in width from a few inches up to two feet or more, and
may be some rods in length. They are seldom, however, continuous for any
such distance, being divided into segments, evidently at one time continuous
but now separated by masses of gneiss, from a fraction of an inch to several
feet in width. To form these segments the bands have been broken squarely
across, so that the blocks have a nearly rectangular or a rhomboidal outline.
The dark rock of the bands is usually imperfectly gneissoid, with foliation
parallel to the sides of the bands. Sometimes little fractures or gashes extend
into the bands from either margin, and are filled with the material of the
surrounding gneiss. Often several of these bands occur close together, when
they are usually parallel with each other, as they nearly always are with the
fohation of the gneiss. The filling of narrow cracks and veinlets im the bands
is often coarser than the surrounding gneiss, but as these become broader,
and adjacent blocks are more widely removed from each other the filling
material becomes identical with the normal gneiss.
Several explanations may be suggested for the presence of these bands,
and these may be briefly considered. In the first place, they may be regarded
as indications of bedding in the gneissic series, in which sense they were
alluded to above. But their limited and irregular occurrence, as well as their
slight extent and sudden termination along the strike oppose this view.
Other objections will appear in speaking of the next supposition. According
to the latter, the bands are dikes intruded in parallel groups, and broken up
by subsequent pressure. At first sight this is a very plausible view, but it
seems to be completely negatived by the peculiar separation of the bands into
distinet blocks. Such blocks might result from faulting, but, in this case, no
faulting has occurred ; while, if the dikes had been separated by stretching,
the resultant blocks would have a tapering, elliptical shape, totally different
from that they show. It is impossible to believe that under pressure the
dikes would break into blocks, which would retain a rectangular outline,
while the surrounding. solid gneiss, under the same pressure, flowed around ~
SmytH—COrysTALLInE Rocks or St. LAwrRENCE Country. 49]
them. This happens, as shown above, in the case of limestone and gneissic
layers, but in the present case the rocks involved are too much alike to permit
the acceptance of such an explanation. This objection holds good against the
first supposition—that of interbedded layers.
The possibility of the black bands being segregations in an igneous rock
is, for the typical cases, excluded by their form, although it may be applicable
to some occurrences. There remains the supposition that the black bands are
fragments of an older gneiss, included in a gneiss of igneous origin. ‘This
explanation is the only one that appears to be in harmony with the facts, and
free from serious objection. According to it, the bands owe their shape to
their breaking from the parent mass, as they would, in the direction of
least resistance. Their occurrence in groups is just what would naturally
follow from such an origin, and the same is true of the irregular scattering of
these groups. The parallel arrangement of the neighboring bands doubtless
results from currents in the molten magma, which would tend to produce such
a result. It is probable that the breaking into blocks resulted, in part,
from strains applied after the magma was in a pasty and partially crystallized
state. The blocks were more or less widely separated, and the intervening
space was filled by the magma, which flowed around the blocks without
destroying their angular contour, and, at the same time, often produced an
obscure flow-struecture in the eneiss, parallel to the sides of the inclusions.
The fine fissures and cracks were filled with the more acid portions of the
magma, which were last to crystallize, and were strained into these cracks,
producing the coarser pegmatitic veins. These minor details, are not, of
course, im the least essential to the explanation, although suggested by the
phenomena observed in the field. The supposition as a whole accounts for
the facts stated, and has, as yet, no strong evidence against it.
The irregular black masses occur in much the same way as do the bands,
differing only in form and size. They are sometimes nearly circular, or
elliptical, but more often extremely irregular, with an outline marked by pro-
jections, and deep embayments. They often attain dimensions much greater
than those of the bands. The foliation is often pronounced, quite commonly
more so than in the surrounding gneiss. The two foliations, that of the black
masses and of the gneiss, range from parallel with, to perpendicular to
each other. Where the included mass is decidedly elongated in one direc-
tion, this is usually parallel to the fohlation of the surrounding gneiss. The
foliation, of the gneiss sometimes follows the sides of the black masses, as
though it had flowed around them, and not infrequently, narrow, irregular
492 Report oF THE StTaTE GEOLOGIST.
embayments in the blocks are. filled with gneiss showing this structure
parallel to the sides.
To account for the masses as anything but inclusions in an igneous rock,
is even more difficult than in the case of the bands. All of the phenomena point
to this origin, while they present great difficulties in the way of any other
explanation. It would seem, then, that at many widely separated points the
gneiss contains masses that can hardly be explained as anything other than
inclusions of some older formation taken up by the gneiss when it was in a
molten state. At some points the evidence is much more decisive than
at others, and while in the more obscure occurrences other explanations
might suffice, in the typical cases the one offered seems to be demanded.
From the foregoing it is apparent that the gneiss affords considerable
internal evidence bearing upon the question of its origin, and all of the
evidence points in one direction. To sum up briefly: there is the negative
evidence of the absence of all structures pointing to sedimentary origin ;
there is the uniformity of composition and structure over wide areas, with
changes by gradual transition; there is the common occurrence of massive
cores, In every way identical with plutonic rocks, and the presence of
structures in the gneiss that would result from the application of pressure
to such rocks; there is the existence of irruptive contacts between the
abundant light-colored gneiss and the less common, and older, dark gneiss,
together with the widespread instances of inclusions of the dark gneiss
in the hight.
While no one of these lines of evidence might be regarded as conclusive,
it is believed that, leading as they all do in one direction, their cumulative
force is great.
There still remams the external evidence bearing upon the problem;
and as this involves the relationship between the gneiss and the lime-
stone, this latter problem must of necessity be considered.
The absence of any sufficient reason for regarding the gneiss and the
limestone as portions of one series has been already pointed out. If
distinct, the gneiss is either older or younger; and in the former case the
relations of the two formations would shed no light upon the origin of
the gneiss, while in the latter they might afford important evidence.
No facts are at hand which prove conclusively that any part of the gneiss
belongs to a series older than the limestone, but this mere absence of evidence
can not be regarded as excluding the possibility of the presence of such an
older gneiss series, for, in the nature of the case, positive eyidence is —
Smytu—CrysraLLiInE Rocks or Str. LAwrencre Country. 493
difficult to secure. As already reiterated, there is also no evidence that any
considerable part of the gneiss is of the same age as the limestone; while
many facts are opposed to this supposition. As to the third supposition, that
the gneiss is, at least in part, younger than the limestone, there is positive
evidence, and of such a nature as to give, at the same time, abundant proof as
to the origin of these portions of the gneiss.
An example of this kind in Pitcairn and Diana has been previously
described, and need be only briefly referred to here. A large area of plutonic
rock, in some parts gabbroitic, in others syenitic or granitic, forms the southern
boundary of the limestone belt between Natural Bridge and Harrisville. The
igneous nature of the rock is shown not only by its composition and
structure, but also by the fact that it is clearly intrusive in the limestone,
cutting it along a very irregular line with the production of well defined
contact zones containing & variety of minerals.
The plutonic rock is often shghtly gneissoid and in thin sections generally
shows more or less cataclastic structure. Passing south and west from its
boundaries these features rapidly increase and the rock becomes a reddish
gneiss of medium grain. In itself there is no important feature to distinguish
this gneiss from other gneisses, its only exceptional feature being its evident
identity with the large area of plutonic rock intrusive in the limestone. Here
then, is an important area of gneiss, for which the two chief problems are
solved ; it is a modified plutonic rock, and is younger than, and intrusive in
the limestone. No other instance has been found where the phenomena are
exhibited on so extensive a scale, but facts similar in kind have been noted
at several points.
In the paper just referred to, it was stated that the southern border of
the gneiss area between the Edwards and Pitcairn limestone belts, was com-
posed chiefly of rocks undoubtedly igneous and intrusive in the limestone.
An effort has been made to ascertain the relations on the northern edge, and
in the one contact found between the two formations similar phenomena were
observed. The locality is about three-fourths of a mile south of the village of
Edwards. Here the gneiss is of the ordinary, rather fine type, which is so
widespread. Its relation to the limestone is clearly shown, and it is seen to
break through the latter formation with a most irregular irruptive contact.
As in the case of the Pitcairn rocks, there is pronounced contact-metamorphism
resulting in a formation of zones composed largely of coccolite, together with
feldspar, scapolite, etc. This locality differs from the first described, in that
it is the gneiss itself, and not the parent plutonic rock, which is in contact with
494 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
the limestone. About two miles south from this locality, towards the centre
of the gneiss area, the road crosses a small patch of limestone only a few rods
square, entirely enclosed in gneiss. It would be difficult to account for this
as anytuing but an inclusion in an igneous rock, and that it is such, is further
indicated by the fact that it is filled with contact minerals. Thus, the gneiss
area between the Edwards and the Pitcairn limestone belts shows evidence on
both its northern and southern boundaries, as well as towards the centre, that
it is in part of igneous origin and intrusive in the limestone. The character
of the gneiss throughout the area is such as to render it highly probable that
this is true of the greater part of the rock.
About two miles east of the village of Colton, near the town line of
Colton and Parishville, the gneiss and limestone are shown almost, but not
quite, in absolute contact. The structural relations are not such as to suggest
conformity but rather the reverse, while near the c&ntact the limestone is cut
through and through by a pegmatitic intrusion. A characteristic contact zone
is present, showing coccolite with titanite, tremolite, etc., and the pegmatite
contains irregular masses of the same composition, doubtless inclusions of
altered limestone. The position of the pegmatite is such as to suggest that it
may be a secretion of a plutonic magma represented by the adjacent gneiss,
and this idea is greatly strengthened by the fact that the gneiss itself contains
coccolite masses precisely like those in the pegmatite, and very difficult to
explain as anything but inclusions of altered limestone. The phenomena here
are not conclusive but have value in connection with the facts shown at other
localities. Within a mile north of this point there are several recurrences of
structural relations suggesting intrusions, but showing no contacts. At one
point, however, which must be almost, if not exactly, on the contact, limestone
is shown with abundant large crystals of altered pyroxene, with other
products characteristic of contact action. An analogous case is shown in
Hermon, where, though no actual contact is shown, there is, Just on the line
where the gneiss and limestone should meet, a mass of scapolite, pyroxene
and other contact minerals.
The gneiss area north of Gouverneur village shows phenomena somewhat
similar to those near Colton. No contact is shown, but the limestone in the
neighborhood of the gneiss 1s often broken through by pegmatite. In this
case the limestone shows little or no alteration, but the pegmatite itself
becomes rich in titanite near the contact. The gneiss of this area also shows
abundant examples of the black inclusions, and of passage into wholly massive
phases,
Smyti—CrystaLLinE Rocks or St. LAwreNcE Counry. 495
The absence of any marked metamorphism of the limestone at its contact
with the pegmatite, is a feature observed at a number of localities in the case
of granites, and is of importance as showing that the mere absence of contact
products can not be taken as proving an absence of igneous intrusions. An
instance of importance is afforded in northern Rossie, where an area of rather
massive gneiss is clearly intrusive in the limestone, while the latter shows no
change, unless, perhaps, a slightly coarser grain than usual. The gneiss, how.
ever, is, like the pegmatite of Gouverneur, rich in titanite near the contact.
In the same vicinity, some two miles north of Rossie village, a rather dark,
fine rock, in part massive and in part a gneiss, breaks through the limestone
with an irregular irruptive Contact. At some points along the line of contact,
the metamorphism is confined to a zone not more than an inch wide, while at
other points great masses of pyroxene, scapolite, apatite, mica, etc., are found,
constituting an important mineral locality. The great variation in the amount
of metamorphism at different points does not seem to depend upon any
corresponding variation in the nature of the rocks involved. A probable
cause may be suggested as afforded by an uneven distribution of moisture,
the great masses of contact products being formed along channels affording
a favorable transmission for heated solutions, and, in some cases, doubtless
for gases as well.
~The two localities just described not only illustrate the variability in
the degrees of metamorphism but also afford further examples of gneiss,
igneous in origin and younger than the limestone. The development of
large masses of minerals in the last case naturally suggests the possibility
that other mineral localities of the region may show similar relations. As a
matter of fact, the association of minerals at many of these localities is such as
to lead to the inference that they have been formed by contact metamorphism.
In the case of the well-known localities east of Natural Bridge this was found
geested, although
ok
to be true, and at many other points similar relations are su
the structure is not so clear.
Numerous pits from which minerals have been collected in quantity have
been visited, and in nearly every case they have been found to be opened on,
or close to, the contact between gneiss and limestone. Pyroxene, amphibole,
scapolite, feldspar and titanite are the common minerals, an association which,
taken with their mode of occurrence, is highly suggestive of contact meta’
morphism. In most cases examined the gneiss is not part of an extensive
area, but is rather limited and more like a sheet. For this reason it often has
the appearance of being interbedded, thus making the structural relations
496 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
doubtful. But, as bearing upon this, it should be said that it is a very
general rule in the region that intrusions of limited extent tend to assume a
form decidedly elongated in the direction of the strike, and, as a result, often
have the appearance of being interbedded, even where the facts clearly show
their intrusive nature.
The relations between the gneiss and the granite intrusive in the lime.
stone must be considered in connection with the question under discussion.
In the previous report 1t was stated that the granite often becomes very
Ley
fo)
gneissoid, so much so that in some cases it can be distinguished only by its
relation to the limestone. On this account no effort was made to separate
granite from gneiss in the large areas of the latter. As the gneiss has been
more carefully studied, the fact has appeared that much of it is quite as
massive as the granite, and decidedly more so than the gneissoid phases of
the latter. No petrographic distinction can be made between the massive
gneisses and the granite, a fact of much importance in the present connection,
for 1t at once leads.to the inference that the granites may be offshoots of
the gneiss, affording another indication of the origin and age of the latter.
The existence of granitic areas in the gneiss was not doubted in the previous
report, but it was felt that they might be of minor extent and importance, and
so it was stated that the explanation of the great gneissic areas as intrusive
must be employed with caution.
In addition to the facts enumerated above, many cases have been observed
where the structural relations of the gneiss and limestone are highly indicative
of the intrusion of the former, although the outcrops do not suffice to prove
conclusively such a relation.
The data presented in the foregoing necessitate the following conclusions :
All parts of the gneiss are not of the same age; some portions, of large
extent, are of igneous origin; of these igneous gneisses part, at least, are
younger than the limestone. These conclusions are merely the statement of
what is clearly and definitely proved ; but, with the facts in hand, some more
general inferences seem to be entirely Justified. Indeed, in the case of
extensive areas of the gneisses, positive evidence as to their origin and relation
to other rocks will probably never be found, and the problems can be
solved only by inference and analogy. Keeping in view what has been
stated in regard to the rocks, their uniformity, gradual transitions, massive
phases, inclusions, irruptive contacts, ete., scattered over widely separated
areas, it would seem that the following inferences may be drawn as, at least,
extremely probable :
Smytru—CrystauLuinE Rocks oF St. LAwrence County. 497
The gneisses constitute a complex series of rocks, differing somewhat
in age, and largely, if not almost wholly, of igneous origin; parts of this
series are clearly younger than the limestones, and while other parts may be
older than the latter formation, there is nothing as yet to prove that such is
the case. An exception to the latter statement is probably afforded by
certain laminated gneisses of limited extent, which appear to underlie the
limestone, perhaps marking the base of the series. This relationship, is,
however, inferred rather than proved.
If these inferences are correct,.-the task of mapping involves the
tracing of the limestones together with such minor portions of gneiss as
belong with them ; and, so far as possible, the differentiation of the gneisses
upon a chronological and petrological basis. As regards this latter part of the
work, it is questionable whether, in many cases, any very sharp distinctions
‘an. be made out, or definite lines of demarkation laid down, as the nature of
the rocks seems to be such as to preclude anything but rather broad
generalizations. It may be, however, that under careful study the present
difficulties will become less, and greater accuracy be attained than now
seems probable. Much that is now obscure will, without doubt, become
entirely clear when the whole area is studied with all possible care and detail.
Such a general reconnaissance as has been made serves only to prepare the
way for this more detailed study, indicating the problems involved, and
sometimes pointing to their probable solutions. The region is certainly
deserving of such careful examination as will lead to the preparation of an
accurate geologic map.
32
ae Bee
¥.,
<
c WY
3 «GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
(GEOLOGICAL MAP.)
REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF CLINTON COUNTY.
, ae JAMES HALL, H. P. CUSHING,
Bee ? State Geologist. | Assistant.
3 : ae 1895;
=
tS aues Hant, State Geologist,
> Smr:—Herewith I submit a report upon geologic investigations prose-
cuted by me in Clinton county.
Respectfully yours,
Hee CUSHING:
Western Reserve Universrry, May 15, 1896.
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MILES.
MAP OF CLINTON COUNTY; SHOWING THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE CAMBRIAN AND PRECAMBRIAN FORMATIONS
Report on the Geology of Clinton County.
By. H.. P. Cusnine:
Conrents. Introduction, p. 503. Topography, p. 504. General Geologic Relations, p. 506:
I. Gneissic Series, p.506; II. Limestone Series, p. 508; HI. Gabbro Series, p. 508; IV. Paleozoic Series,
p. 510; Potsdam Sandstone, p. 510; Calciferous Sandrock, p. 512; Chazy Limestone, p. 513; Black
River Limestone, p. 514; Trenton Limestone, p. 514; Utica Slate, p. 515; V. Dike Series, p. 515;
VI. Pleistocene Deposits, p. 527. Metamorphism of the Pre-Cambrian Rocks, p. 529. Post-Ordovician
Disturbances, p. 5380; VYownship Geology, p. 581: Clinton Township, p. 532; Mooers Township, p. 532;
Ellenburgh Township, p. 533; Dannemora Township, p. 535; Saranac Township, p. 538; Black
Brook Township, p. 541 ; Ausable Township, p. 545; Peru Township, p. 549; Schuyler Falls Town-
ship, p. 552; Plattsburgh Township, p. 553; Beekmantown Township, p. 559; Altona Township,
p- 562 ; Chazy Township, p. 562 ; Champlain Township. p. 571.
The field work the general results of which are presented in this
report, was done during the tield seasons of 1893—94—95, about four weeks
during each being devoted to the work. On the last two occasions, Mr. M.
L. McBride, of Cleveland, at his own expense, accompanied the writer as
assistant and rendered valuable service. During 1895, a week was spent with
Messrs. Gilbert van Ingen and 'T. G. White, of Columbia College, in inspecting
the best exposures of the Ordovician limestones in the county, and Mr. van
Ingen’s palaeontologic ability was of great service in making clear some
perplexing points in the stratigraphy.
The entire county has been traversed and mapped, but only in a general
way, the desideratum being the acquisition of a good general knowledge of
the district before attempting the detailed work which will be necessary for
the proper elucidation of the perplexing problems which have arisen.
Furthermore, no good, or even fair maps exist of the greater part of the
county, so that, until such are available, it is useless to attempt closer work.
A beginning has, however, been made in the detailed mapping of the
palaeozoic rocks along lake Champlain, which is necessary in order to fully
bring out the structural features, and it is the present expectation to con-
tinue this as opportunity offers.
Since the report of Professor Emmons, over fifty years ago, practically
nothing has been published on the geology of the county except the
beautiful bits of mapping and sectioning done by President Brainard and
503
504 Revorr oF THE SratreE Growoatst.
Professor Seely. In addition to what they have published, President Brainard
writes me that they have mapped the lake shore southward from Plattsburgh.
It is hoped that this map will soon be published.*
ToroGRapny.
Clinton is the extreme northeast county of the state of New York, lake
Champlain forming the eastern, and the Dominion of Canada the northern
boundary. Its area is approximately 1,098 square miles. It lies entirely
within the St. Lawrence drainage basin, sloping for the most part to the
northeast. Close to the Franklin county line, and nearly parallel with it,
ranging northward from Upper Chateaugay lake is a pronounced watershed,
west of which the drainage is into the Chateaugay river and thence north-
ward, while east of it the streams flow to the northeast and east. Of the
larger streams emerging from the northern Adirondacks, the Saranac and
Great Chazy rivers flow clear across the county, while the Ausable forms part
of its southern boundary.
Topographically the county is separable into three well marked
divisions :
1. A hilly or somewhat mountainous southwestern portion, occupying
something over one-third of the county, constituting a part of the north-
eastern Adirondacks and characterized by their conformation; in other words
composed of massive ridges trending northeast and southwest, with inter-
vening steep-sided valleys of very variable width. Occasionally the ridges
trend east and west. They commonly have a rather gentle slope on the north
side, which is deeply drift-covered and heavily timbered, the rocks seldom
protruding above the surface ; while on the south the slopes are steeper and
often precipitous, exhibiting frequent vertical cliffs of considerable height.
The highest elevations in the county are Lyon mountain, 3,809 feet, and
Catamount mountain, 3,168 feet. The valleys are for the most part heavily
drift-filled, with rock exposures only along the larger streams. They some-
times expand into quite wide parks and are not infrequently occupied by
lakes, of which Chazy and Upper Chateaugay Jakes in Dannemora, and Silver
lake in Black Brook, are the most noteworthy.
2. A high-level plain, beneath which the knobs of the older rocks are
submerged, and which extends into embayments between their outlying
ridges. It has a maximum elevation of about 1,500 feet along its boundary
* Since the above was written the map and description have appeared. See Bulletin American Museum Natural History,
Vol. VIIL, 1896, pp. 305-310. The results agree with those obtained by the writer.
Cusutnec—GroLtocy or Crirnron Country. 50D
with the hilly tract, and slopes thence gently northward to the brink of the
St. Lawrence valley. The surface rock throughout in this county is the
Potsdam sandstone which les nearly horizontal, having but a_ slight
northerly dip, so that its descent is not greatly in excess of the average surface
fall. The covering of glacial material is widespread but mostly confined
to the depressions, and the numerous, often large, marshy tracts testify to its
irregularity.
The streams draining northward across the plain have for the most part
not channelled it very deeply since the close of the glacial period, on account
of the horizontal attitude of the rocks and their resistant character. During
the late Tertiary, the plain was much dissected by the drainage, but even
then the valleys were relatively narrow, the present summits of the plain
consisting of comparatively wide table lands of sandstone instead of narrow
ridges and mounds, ‘The new maps cover a portion of this plain in Mooers
and Altona and indicate that these summits represent portions of an earlier
base level, now tilted to the north.
3. A low strip along the lake, ranging from the lake level to an altitude
of 800 feet on its western border, and increasing in breadth going north.
From the 800 foot to the 500 foot level, the rise is quite abrupt, especially in
Chazy township, and the topography strongly suggests a fault, raising the
Potsdam on the west some hundreds of feet above that on the east, and
marking the boundary between the low strip and the high plain. Further to
the south, the heavy Pleistocene deposits largely obliterate this contrast.
This low strip is greatly dissected by faults, and to their presence its
minor topographic features are largely due. The fault lines are occu-
pied by marshes or small streams, while between them ledges of rock
project at all angles in a seemingly haphazard and at first, quite bewildering
fashion.
Throughout this low strip the main streams quite generally follow their
pre-glacial channels. The Saranac and Great Chazy rivers have channelled
out considerable valleys in the drift and are now widening them. The Great
Chazy river is in its pre-glacial channel throughout the low strip, exposing
nothing but drift in its banks. At Mooers village it leaves the old channel
for a short distance, and thence up-stream this frequently happens, but this
channel belongs topographically to the high plain. The Saranac is out of its
old course at the pulp mill, two miles above Plattsburgh, thence keeps to its
old valley till Cadyville is reached. Here a considerable gorge has been cut
in the Potsdam, but this is beyond the contines of the low strip.
506 Report or THE STare GEOLOGIST,
The smaller streams, the Little Chazy, Salmon and Little Ausable rivers
are wholly or mainly in post-glacial channels, and give little clue to the minor
pre-glacial dramage. Such part of the county as is most suitable for agricul-
tural purposes is mainly confined to this strip, and on it are many fine farms.
GENERAL GEOLOGIC RELATIONS.
Professor J. F. Kemp has recently published a resumé of the schemes of
classification which have been proposed for the rocks of the Adirondack
region, to which he has added a tentative one of his own.*
This, which comprises :
(1.) A basal gneissic series.
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Cusuinc—GroLocy or Crinron County. 527
Series VI. There has not been sufficient time at my command to
bestow on the Pleistocene deposits the attention they deserve. They are
widespread throughout the county, often in sufficient force to completely
obscure the underlying geology over considerable areas. They were, in part,
formed by glaciers and the streams to which they gave rise; in part, in the
body of standing water which occupied the Champlain valley just after the
retreat of the ice, and which had, at first, a level much above that of the
present lake, when it was probably fresh water, while later it was an arm of
the sea.
Glacial deposits. Away from the lake, the county is covered with a
heavy deposit of till. Over the high plain it is widely extended and largely
masks the irregularity of its pre-glacial surface. In the hilly tract it is mainly
confined to the valleys, though often prominent on the gentle northern slopes
of the ridges. Sections show it to be mostly very stony and very sandy, as
might be expected from the wide expanse of Potsdam country over which the
ice moved.
Moraines have been noted at various points, but any attempt at mapping
them would be premature. Much of the surface of the high plain is insuf-
ficiently drained, abounding in swamps, some of very large extent. Rough,
jagged boulders, mainly of Potsdam sandstone, are widespread over the
surface, often forming veritable trains, and being exceedingly numerous.
Some of these Potsdam boulder trains extend well into the gneiss country.
Glacial striae have been observed at many points. They are commonly —
well preserved on the palaeozoic rocks, but none have been noted on the older
rocks, although these are often well polished and smoothed. Along the lake
their direction is approximately that of its trend, those observed varying from
S. 15° E. to 8. 15° W. and those on the high plain have the same general
direction. As the hills are neared and entered, however, the general direction
is to the southwest, corresponding to the general trend of the ridges and
valleys.
A magnificent, long, esker-like ridge, which well merits description,*
occurs in the county. It is found in the low strip, only two or three miles
back from the lake, and forms a topographic feature of sufficient prominence
to be clearly brought out by the twenty-foot contours of the new maps. First
recognizable in Beekmantown township about two miles south of Ingraham
post office, it runs north in a curve to that point, then bears to the west
of north through Chazy. In the central part of that township its course is
*Mr. S. P. Baldwin has noted the presence of this ridge. American Geologist, March, 1894, p. 177.
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Report oF THE STaTE GEOLOGIST.
interrupted by a wide marsh; and by protruding ledges of rock, but after an
interval of a mile it again appears and runs north to the Chazy-Champlain
line, finally disappearing one-half mile beyond that line. It rises, in general,
about thirty feet above the ordinary level and the base has a width of a
quarter of a mile. Its surface is 120 feet above the level of lake Champlain.
It does not exhibit its entire mass, as its base is buried in Champlain clay.
Assuming that the disconnected portions are parts of a single ridge, as seems
highly probable, its entire length is ten miles. No good sections are exposed.
A three-foot cut in it, two and one-third miles southwest of Chazy village,
frequently shows somewhat rounded boulders mostly of Potsdam sandstone, a
few of which reached one foot in diameter, embedded in a matrix of coarse,
brown sand, No signs of stratification were visible, but the opening was not
a very recent one.
Champlain deposits. The term “ Champlain,” as here used, merely serves
to discriminate the deposits formed under water in the Champlain basin, from
those formed upon the land. During and after the retreat of the ice, the
glacial deposits on the low strip were covered by deposits laid down in the
marginal portions of the body of water that occupied the basin at that time,
the present lake beg its shrunken remnant. The mountain streams brought
down vast quantities of sand, building up large deltas at their mouths, and of
mud, which was deposited farther out and also along shore between the
deltas. As the water level fell from time to time, the sand deposits were
pushed farther out and formed at lower levels, covering up the clays of
the preceding stages. During much of this time the Champlain basin was
occupied by an arm of the sea, and the marie clays and sands are fossiliferous.
The fossils can be collected in abundance at several points in the county. The
sand delta deposits formed by the Saranac, Ausable, Little Ausable and
Salmon rivers are very widespread in the eastern part of the county. At the
higher levels they are confined to their respective valleys, but lower down
they become confluent. Much of the eastern portions of Ausable, Peru,
Schuyler Falls and Plattsburgh townships is covered by a wide, dreary
expanse of sand, often bare, sometimes with a sparse covering of coarse grass
with huckleberries and stunted pines, and which is dreary and monotonous in
the extreme. Dunes are quite frequent, especially where the sand has been
trenched by the present streams.
Some of the evidence collected mdicates that at first the water level
was at a greater altitude than has heretofore been recognized. Both in
the Saranac and Ausable valleys, the sands have been found to run up to -
CusHING
GEOLOGY OF CLINTON CounNTYy. 529
the height of 1,000 feet, and some of them are in such situations that they
‘an not possibly be regarded as river gravels and sands. This matter needs
further investigation.
METAMORPHISM OF THE Pre-CAmMBRIAN Rocks.
After the intrusion of the gabbro, and prior to the commencement of
Potsdam deposition, the region was subjected to intense dynamic meta-
morphism. The precise results produced would vary with the physical and
chemical properties of the rocks concerned, but, broadly speaking, they con-
sisted in the foliation of the rocks and the granulation of their contents, with or
without subsequent recrystallization. The gneisses were granulated and sub-
jected to a stretching process, by means of which the foliation and some,
at least, of the banding was produced; rocks like the gabbro dikes being
drawn out like the rest, and made to appear like an integral part of the series.
While some of the gneiss is characterized by a cataclastic structure, other
portions of it seem to have been completely recrystallized, and the different
minerals seem for the most part to have formed at the same time, few, if
any of them, showing idiomorphic boundaries against the rest. That this
recrystallization was not the final result of the metamorphism, is shown by
the ‘frequent pronounced undulatory extinction shown by the component
minerals of such rocks.
The anorthosites and gabbros were granulated and stretched in the same
manner as the gneisses, though apparently being more resistant to the latter
process. In the less feldspathic anorthosites, foliation was thus produced,
giving them their gneissoid aspect, and in them more or less recrystallization
took place with the formation of minerals foreign to the parent rock, by the
reactions of the various constituents on one another, much garnet, hornblende
and biotite thereby resulting. The stages of the process of granulation can
be studied to as great advantage in the Clinton county anorthosites as in
the Canadian examples so exhaustively described by Dr. F. D. Adams.
The basic gabbros seem to have been characterized originally by an
ophitic structure, but as a rule they are more thoroughly and finely granulated
than the anorthosites. They are often of such fine grain, and their boundaries
against the enclosing rocks are so sharp that the resemblance to dikes is very
striking. Reaction rims are a prominent feature in these rocks. They almost
always contain hypersthene, which is not common in the anorthosites and less
basic gabbros. In many cases the rock seems to have undergone complete
B4
530 Revporr of THE SvareE GEOLOGIST,
recrystallization, and when this is the case a considerable amount of
untwinned feldspar is present.
These basic gabbros vary in grain down to very finely granular varieties,
which are identical in character with the “shear-zone” rock from Avalanche
lake, described by Kemp.* A regular series can be made out from rocks
with ophitic structure down to these finely granular varieties. It seems to
the writer that these shear-zone rocks must have been originally of the basic,
ophitic type, and then they are often found in this much granulated condition
because less resistant than the massive anorthosites to the forces acting
on the rock. Where such bands are present they would represent lines of
weakness. But their different mineralogic composition is not regarded as
resulting from such action, but as largely a primary difference.
These gabbros may be regarded as basic segregations from the anortho-
site magma, or they may represent a period of igneous activity subsequent to
the anorthosites. They certainly have a much wider distribution. So far as
the writer is aware, data are lacking at present by means of which either of
these propositions may be demonstrated at the expense of the other. Later
observations by both Professor Kemp and the writer, clearly show that these
ophitic gabbros are younger than the anorthosites.
If the writer is correct in his belief that the diabases are of Pre-Cambrian
age, they must have followed the metamorphism of the rocks, as they are not
affected by it.
Post-Orpovician DtsturRBANCE.
After the deposition of the Palaeozoic rocks, came the period of the
Green mountain uplift in Vermont, and its effects were felt on the western
side of lake Champlain. Though but a comparatively few miles west of the
district in western Vermont characterized by sharp folds and thrust faults,
the effects shown here are apparently limited to normal faulting, accompanied
by a very trivial amount of folding. The dip of the Palaeozoic rocks is but
slight, seldom reaching ten degrees, and more commonly not over five degrees,
and is prevailingly to the north. Wigher dips do occur, but are invariably
local and in almost every observed instance can be demonstrated to be due to
proximity to a fault. Very low folds are often to be made out, but can
hardly be considered as constituting a prominent structural feature. Further-
more, there seems to be no system in their presence or arangement. They
trend and pitch in various directions. Faults however abound, ranging from
* American Journal of Science, Vol. XLIV., pp. 109-114.
PLATE IV
WYNKOOP HALLENBECK CRAWFORD.CO. .
ANORTHOSITE ON HALLECK’S HILL; SHOWING THE WELL GLACIATED SURFACE,
PLATE V
WYNKOOP HALLENBECK CRAWFORD GO...
NEARER VIEW OF THE SAME.
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72
CusHING—GroLoGy oF Crinton Counry. 531
insignificant breaks, to great dislocations which have a throw of 2,000 feet,
and possibly more, and which can be traced for several miles. The possibility
of the presence of thrust faults has been constantly borne in mind, but the
evidence for their existence has not been forthcoming. In the majority of
cases the hade of the fault is not to be made out, but it 1s at least high. Some
can be demonstrated to be normal faults. By them the palaeozoic rocks are
chopped up into a series of small blocks, and they are so prevalent that
whenever the rocks are concealed much uncertainty necessarily prevails as to
what is beneath. It may, however, be laid down as a general proposition
that, in passing eastward from the Pre-Cambrian rocks toward the lake,
progressively younger rocks are met with. The exceptions to this in the
county are but few. The greater breaks have a northeast and southwest, or
a north and south trend, while the smaller ones range at some angle to these,
and so far as observed do not pass across them.
The Pre-Cambrian rocks have necessarily suffered also from the distur-
bances of this period, but in them the fractures are often difficult to locate,
nor is it possible to definitely distinguish them from possible earlier faults.
The topography often implies faults of great magnitude, but is wholly silent
as to their date. Kemp has written of the frequent faulting of the ore-beds.
Along contacts, too, decisive evidence of faulting is often forthcoming. ‘The
dikes are often faulted, the shift at the surface varying from a few inches only
up to the complete disappearance of the dike on one side of the break.
These faulted dikes give us the only evidence of faults which can, with
certainty, be ascribed to the later period.
Townsuipe Gronoey.
The more prominent features of the local geology in the various town-
ships will now be considered. The townships, in alphabetical order, are as
follows:
Altona,i7- ... . Page562. Dannemora, . . Page 535
pousalle tas! os 1% “545. Elienburgh, . .. 238
Beekmantown,. . iy (ON GaMGoersy =. Fis ioe Gino oe
Black Brook, . . Sto Ahiay erage 2+ wily” “ 549
Champlain,. . . 9 Seles) Blattsburghy ').:). feb58
@haziysiins ant tee Geo bo URSaTanae Ab si. | “5538
linuons ore tts “ 532 Schuyler Falls, . fC 42552
Reporr OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
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linton.
The geology of this township is of no special interest. The Potsdam
sandstone is the surface rock throughout, and the exposures are few and
meagre. ‘The eastern half of the township is swampy and heavily wooded.
The central and western parts are higher and quite largely cleared of timber,
but are deeply covered with till.
Mooers.
In this township, also, the Potsdam is everywhere the surface rock, but
the exposures are better, more frequent, and somewhat more varied in char-
acter than in Clinton. Both townships form part of the high plaim which
slopes north from the Adirondack foot-hills. The dips are chiefly to the
northwest, but the presence of slight folds is indicated by the occasional ocecur-
rence of southeasterly dips. North of Mooers village occurs a series cf inter-
esting passage beds to the Calciferous, with a breadth of outcrop at the
Canada line of nearly three miles. They are cut off sharply on the west,
their place bemg taken by ordinary Potsdam, thus indicating a fault as they
dip to the northwest. They consist of rapidly alternating layers of white or
buff, well indurated sandstone, and dark bluish grey dolomites, which are often
sandy, the sandstones predominating. The dolomite layers, when forming the
surface, have a peculiar habit of weathering, which may also be frequently
observed in the dolomites of the Calciferous. Solution takes place rapidly
along two sets of planes, approximately at right angles, until the entire thick-
ness of the bed is eaten through (these dolomitic layers here have no great
thickness, seldom more than a foot), so that it is converted into a regular
series of disconnected blocks, of rounded outline, which project aboye the
meagre soil and present a yery curious and striking appearance.
If the Potsdam sandstone runs across the township without haying its
apparent thickness increased by faulting, the minimum thickness that can be
assigned to it is 1,500 feet, with the summit not reached, and the base not
even closely approached.
The township is quite heavily drift-covered. Along the streams in its
eastern half, considerable sand is exposed, but nothing at all comparable to
the great accumulations of the Saranac and the Ausable rivers. At Thorn’s
Corners, two miles west of Mooers village, the Great Chazy river shows
Potsdam sandstone in the stream bed, and over it on the bank an excellent
section, twenty-five feet in height, the upper ten feet consisting of coarse,
cross-bedded gravels, overlying a stony and rather sandy till.
CusHing—GroLocy oF Criintron County. 533
Ellenburgh.
Series I. The gneisses enter Ellenburgh from the south as three north-
easterly trending ridges. Ellenburgh mountain on the east, Panther mountain
in the centre, and on the west the less conspicuous ridge which forms San-
born’s hill and West hill. The ridges are separated by wide drift-filled
valleys, in which occasional rounded and glaciated knobs of gneiss protrude
above the surface. The Ellenburgh mountain gneiss, and that in the valley
to the west of it, is the ordinary red, microperthitic gneiss of the Adirondacks,
very acidic, poorly foliated, and cut by numerous veins of coarse pegmatit>
neiss Potsdam
and quartz. The pronounced red color of much of the rock is found to be
due to the infiltration of hematite between the grains and into the cleavage
cracks of the feldspar,
The gneiss of Panther mountain and West hill is highly acidie and much
of it looks like a red granite, and contains nothing besides microperthitic
orthoclase and quartz. In the more gneissoid exposures a monoclinic
pyroxene of strong green color creeps in. Very basic bands are not very
numerous and are, so far as observed, hornblende-plagioclase gneisses,
generally having this same green pyroxene in addition. The magnetite grains
534 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
which occur in these gneisses are often surrounded by rims of titantite,
indicating that they are titaniferous, and this is frequently the case in these
gneisses throughout the whole region.
The facility with which gabbro grades into diorite has been shown by
several observers. These hornblende gneisses of the Adirondacks seem alsc
to grade into gabbro-gneisses whose igneous origin and relationship with the
greater gabbro masses are regarded as certain, and it is quite probable that the
hornblende-gneisses will prove to be merely a phase of them.
Series If and L/f are not known to occur in the township, though it is
quite likely that basic gabbros may be found in the gneisses.
Series [V. All the northeastern half of the township is oceupied by
the Potsdam sandstone, with prevailing dips of from 5° to 10° to the N. W.
The striking feature of the Ellenburgh Potsdam is its coarseness, even at
considerable distances from the gneiss, so that heavy conglomerates here
range through a thickness of 200 feet or more. A quarter of a mile west of
Star post office, and 200 yards south of the road, the Potsdam is found within
fifteen yards of the gneiss, a slight depression with no rocks exposed lying
between. The Potsdam is not as coarse as might be expected so close to the
contact, no coarser in fact than is the larger part of the formation in the town-
ship. This, together with the somewhat abnormal dip of the sandstone at
this place, gives rise to the suspicion of a north and south fault here (the
Potsdam hes to the east of the gneiss), and such a fault would explain the
sudden shoot to the north which the gneiss takes along this line.
In addition to the prevailing coarseness, much of the rock is very feld-
spathic, as is the case throughout the county in the basal Potsdam. The
less coarse, rapidly disintegrating, hematitic beds which frequently accompany
the conglomerates make, however, little show in this township. But there is
often a rapid alternation of coarse and finer beds, giving a thin-bedded
character to much of the coarse rock.
In the extreme northeast the conglomerates are left behind, and the rock
consists almost wholly of quartz sand. Yet even here certain horizons are
very pebbly. A very interesting exposure of the sort occurs in the bed of the
{nglish river at Ellenburgh depot. The dip here is slight and the surface of
a single layer is exposed over many square yards. The rock is a coarse, even-
grained grit but is set with numerous pebbles of white quartz, sometimes
over two inches in diameter. The horizon is well above the base and affords a
good instance of the coarse character which the rock holds throughout. In
addition to the quartz pebbles three larger rounded masses of sandstone, from
Cusutne—GroLoagy or Crrnron Counry. 535
four to six inches in diameter, were also observed embedded in the layer, as
well as two smaller pebbles of the same character. .
Series V. Of the eleven dikes found in the township only throe call
for any comment. Two miles from Webster’s mill, on the road west, an
enormous bostonite dike is exposed just north of the road. It is fully thirty
feet in width, has a dark reddish hue, and contains much porphyritic ortho-
clase, the crystals ranging up to one inch in length. Besides furnishing a
magnificent example of these dikes, it 1s also of interest for its indication of
the wide distribution of the bostonites. Just south of this dike, by the road-
side, is a dike of diabase (No. 96), two feet wide, which furnishes quite fresh
material, and is noteworthy for the strong pleochroism of its porphyritic
augite. One-fourth of a mile southwest of Star post office is a diabase dike
(No. 102), which furnishes the largest feldspar phenocrysts observed in any
diabase in the county. They are numerous, occur up to an inch in length,
breaking with lustrous cleavage faces which beautifully show the twinning
and complicated intergrowths of the crystals. The feldspar is close to
labradorite.
Series VI. The township hes beyond the reach of the Champlain
deposits. It has the usual heavy glacial deposits filling the valleys. A long,
massive, esker-like ridge forms a conspicuous feature near Ellenburgh depot.
It lies right athwart the valley of the English river and has saved the railroad
company the trouble of constructing a trestle, or embankment across the
valley. It has thrown the river out of its pre-glacial course and must have
dammed the valley for a brief time. The river has cut but a narrow trench
through it at its north end down to the level of the Potsdam in the stream
bed. The summit of the esker rises nearly to the level of the valley walls,
the valley being here quite wide and the sides of gentle slope. The length
of the esker is not known, but its width is fully one-quarter of a mile. No
good sections were seen, but a small cut at the base showed a coarse sand
matrix in which pebbles were set, these being somewhat rounded and _reach-
ing no great s1ze.
Dannemora.
This township has a more typical Adirondack character than any other
in the county, with the exception of Black Brook. The massive ridge of
Lyon mountain hes largely in it, though the summit is just over the border
in Saranac. The two largest lakes in the county, Chazy and Upper Chateau-
536 Reporr or tHe Srare GEoLoGIstT.
gay lakes, he, the former wholly, and the latter mainly, within its borders, and
the latter is, furthermore, a quite typical Adirondack lake.
Series I. The gneisses constitute the larger part of the township, the
massive ridge of Dannemora mountain occupying the eastern portion, Mount
Lyon in the centre, and the range of hills which extends into Ellenburgh as
Ellenburgh mountain on the west. Much of the gneiss is of the ordinary
acid, microperthitic variety, with the ever present bands of basic hornblende
gneiss. On Dannemora mountain, along with the red gneiss, is a white gneiss
streaked with black, which contains a quite pleochroic green monoclinic
pyroxene and much titanite. At Lyon mountain village, the ore-bearing
SL
Potsdam .
eneisses are also pyroxenic. They are well foliated, red gneisses, made up of
quartz, orthoclase, plagioclase, green pyroxene, deep orange titanite, a little
hornblende and magnetite. The pyroxene is strongly pleochroic, like that at
Dannemora, a being greenish-yellow, & and ¢ green. The presence of so much
titanite in the rocks enclosing the magnetite deposits is interesting. It never
appears as rims round the magnetite, as it does in some of the hornblende
onelsses.
Series II, Not present in the township so far as known.
Series ITI, A single small knoll of basic gabbro occurs nearly a mile
east of the lower end of Chazy lake, with gneiss in close proximity on the
west, and Potsdam on the east, while the gneiss of Dannemora mountain is
only two miles away eastward, so that this gabbro is undoubtedly to be
classed with the smaller masses which occur interbanded with the gneisses,
The rock is somewhat gneissoid, but readily identifiable in the field as gabbro.,
It is not completely granulated, but of the ophitic type, showing large
individuals of labradorite and nearly colorless monoclinic pyroxene of
Cusntnc—GroLocy oF Crinton County. 537
diallagic habit, both crammed full of intrusions. The interspaces are of
eranular structure, containing plagioclase and some unstriated feldspar,
neither with inclusions; augite, also without inclusions, hypersthene, horn-
blende, biotite and magnetite. This granular portion has evidently not
resulted from the mere granulation of the original rock, but is almost wholly
due to recrystallization. Reaction rims of biotite and hornblende around
magnetite are excellently shown. Garnet seems to be absent. Throughout
the county it is not so characteristic of the basic gabbros as of the
anorthosites, though frequently present in them. Aside from this exposure
no rocks of this series have been seen in the township.
Serves TV. A tongue of Potsdam sandstone runs into Dannemora,
occupying the depression between Dannemora and Ellenburgh mountains,
and traceable to Chazy lake, at the Chazy Lake House. Though hemmed in
between the gneisses, no coarse conglomerate has been seen, and most of the
rock is the red, hematitic, easily decomposing arkose. The best exposures
are in Steep Bank brook, two miles north of Dannemora village, and here
at an altitude of 1,500° feet, the greatest elevation known to be reached by
this rock in the county.
Series V. Forty-one dikes have been found in Dannemora township.
Kemp has noted eleven which cut the ore-body in the Chateaugay mine at
Lyon mountain, and five more have been described by Eakle from Upper
Chateaugay lake. The remainder have been found by the writer. Along the
west shore of Upper Chateaugay lake, and along the road north from
Dannemora over the mountain, are notable exhibitions of dikes. Four of
them are of bostonite, the rest are diabases. Only two of them need further
notice here.
Dike No. 46, west of the lower end of Chazy lake is of the bostonite
type, but abnormal. It is dark brown to black in color, non-porphyritic, and
rather coarse for this rock, with the trachytic structure not well marked. It
is almost wholly made up of rather large orthoclases, which are packed full of
inclusions of green hornblende and biotite. The two minerals have precisely
the same color, so that in many cases it is Impossible to distinguish them from
one another, but both are present. There are also some larger, irregularly
bounded green hornblendes which seem secondary after a nearly colorless
monoclinic pyroxene, two cores of which remain in the slide surrounded by
the hornblende, which is of the uralite type. It is a curious rock, and if
classed with the bostonites, must run very low in silica for that type. Just
what was its original condition, is not clear.
538 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
Dike No. 66, from Upper Chateaugay lake, is a typical olivine diabase,
in which even the olivine is surprismgly fresh. The pyroxene is of
lilac color, with quite strong -pleochroism, a yellow, b and ¢ lilac. — Its
phenocrysts are full of inclusions and markedly zonal. In the ground-mass
is considerable brown hornblende and some biotite, so that the rock grades
toward the camptonites.
Series VI, The Chazy lake valley has some features which suggest a
fault valley, but the lake is held in place by heavy drift deposits at both ends.
There are also heavy drift deposits at the upper end of Upper Chateaugay
lake. Bradley pond is but a remnant of a somewhat larger body of water in
a wide valley where the drift is unusually heavy, and whose surface is strewn
with multitudinous loose blocks of Potsdam. Three miles north of the pond,
in Ellenburgh, a watershed is formed by an accumulation of hills of modified
drift, sand and gravel with surface blocks of Potsdam, which stretches across
the valley from side to side.
Saranac.
Series I, Except for the southeastern portion, known locally as
Hardscrabble, the entire township is occupied by the gneissic series. The
most accessible exposures are those found along the Saranac river, from
Saranac hollow westward, the most notable being the section in the gorge
below the High falls. Excellent and repeated exposures are also found
along True brook. The gneisses in the township are for the most part of the
ordinary red, microperthitic variety, with the usual variations im the amount
of ferro-magnesian silicates present, and also with the customary bands of
basic gneisses, both the hornblende gneisses and the gabbroic gneisses
occurring. Along the North Branch of the Saranac, from Petersburgh west-
ward to Cold brook, are microcline and plagioclase gneisses which closely
resemble those in Black Brook township already described.
Just east of Russia, north of the road, is a strip of brecciated gneiss,
like that described by Kemp from Hammondville and elsewhere in Essex
county,* the gneiss being in angular fragments of varying size cemented
together by a mixture of chloritic and other decomposition products. The
breccia has no great lateral extent and is cut by dike No. 33.
Along True brook, in Lot 35, just above the old mill dams, are scanty
exposures of the only rock at all resembling quartzite which has been seen
in the county. Unfortunately the exposures are isolated, no others haying
* Report of New York State Geologist for 1893, Vol. I., p. 456.
Cusuinc—GroLoay or Crirnron County. 539
been noted within half a mile to the east, while westward from this point the
valley expands, and all rocks are heavily buried in drift. Gneissic ridges are
within a mile both to the north and the south, but the rocks accompanying
the quartzites in the valley are nowhere exposed. Megascopically, much of
the rock is white and granular, with occasional small red garnets showing,
and, but for the latter, looking quite like some parts of the Potsdam. Other
portions are coarser, showing both quartz and orthoclase, the latter predom-
inating, and with an arrangement of the quartz in leaves, resembling, in that
respect, the Canadian rocks which Dr. Adams ¢éalls “leaf gneisses, ””*
Under the microscope, the rock is seen to be mainly composed of
microcline and quartz, with some orthoclase, a little plagioclase, and occa-
ees
Clayburgh. y
Tayburg i
Anorthosite
sional garnets, the whole with a rather finely granular structure. A few
larger individuals give the impression that the rock has been granulated,
but 1t 1s not certain. In one of the two slides made, are found occasional
individuals of a nearly colorless mineral, whose parallel extinction, high
interference colors, smal] axial angle, and positive character are indicative
of silimanite, though it is irregularly bounded and somewhat broken and
crushed. Its presence is of interest, as the mineral is quite characteristic
of certain schists closely associated with the limestones, and may perhaps
indicate the presence of the limestone series here concealed by the drift in
the valley.
* American Journal of Science, Vol. L., p. 62.
540 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
Series ITI. At Petersburgh, showing well just north of the road, is
one of the largest of the basic gabbro bands that has been met with in the
county. Measured across the strike the exposure is fifty yards wide, and
the full width is not shown, but within a few yards distance, on both sides,
ordinary red gneiss comes in. A few yards south of the river at Petersburgh
bridge, is a smal] exposure of similar gabbro, and half way between Russia
and Redford, is another with red gneiss close at hand. On the True brook
road, just before reaching the fourth bridge (the road crosses the Brook
several times), is still another, which looks lke an enormous dike ten yards
wide, enclosed in the gneiss.
These four gabbros are all alike in mineralogic composition, being made
up of augite, hypersthene, hornblende, biotite, magnetite, plagioclase (some
untwinned) and apatite. Unlike most of the gabbro of the region, they
totally lack garnet. The gabbro south of the river at Petersburgh has the
ophitic structure, with the large characteristic feldspars and augites, which
always occur when that structure is preserved. The others are all granular,
and have suffered recrystallization ; that between Russia and Redford having
the very finely granular structure of the “shear-zone” rocks. The Peters-
burgh exposures are readily recognizable in the field as gabbros, while that
on True brook more resembles the hornblende gneisses.
Series IV. The Hardscrabble district, a rather elevated plain between
the Saranac and Salmon rivers, which les partly in southeastern Saranac,
is occupied by the Potsdam sandstone, but the heavy drift renders it impos-
sible to accurately map its southern, western and northern boundaries. The
exposures seldom show more than the upper surface. The rock is thin-bedded
for the most part, commonly buff, but with some red layers; is coarse and
gritty, but seldom pebbly, and most of it disintegrates quite rapidly, few
well indurated layers showing.
Series V. Thirteen dikes have been found in the township, most of
which are decomposed diabases. No, 41, just west of the third bridge over
True brook, is a typical olivine diabase, with large olivine and augite pheno-
erysts, the latter of a light rose color and shght pleochroism. The rock is
quite fresh, much of the olivine being perfectly sound.
No. 82 1s the only bostonite met with. It cuts the gneiss Just east of
Saranac village, and is a non-porphyritic, dark red rock, which contains a
considerable amount of green biotite and of magnetite.
Series VI. The sand deposits of the Saranac valley run up the river
to beyond Redford, and are very conspicuous at that point, where they have -
CusHING—GEOLOGY oF CLINTON CouNTY. 541
an altitude of about 1,000 feet. One mile southwest of Dannemora, at about
the same elevation, is a considerable accumulation of sand with streaks of
gravel, perched on the valiey side about 400 feet above the river, and sand
at about the same level shows at several points between. Both here and in
the Ausable valley, these delta deposits of the old lake seem to run higher
than heretofore recognized.
Black Brook.
This is the largest township in the county, and hes in the southwestern
corner, adjoining Franklin county on the west and Essex on the south. — Its
western half is wild, and much of it is quite imaccessible. The valleys are
wide with few exposures, and the ridges are difficult of access, forest clad,
and with their northern slopes heavily drift covered. Hence it is extremely
difficult to find outcrops in sufficient number to permit of accurate mapping.
Series I. With the exception of the extreme southwest, the entire
township is occupied by gneissic rocks which, for the present, must all be
classed together. There is comparatively little of the ordinary microperthitic
gneiss. Such is found on the northern border, and on Palmer hill at the
east. But even on Palmer hill and along the river at Ausable Forks there
is much microcline gneiss, and much of the gneiss contains abundant green
monoclinic pyroxene. This association of pyroxenic gneiss with the Palmer
hill magnetite deposits is of interest in view of the like association at Mine-
ville, as reported by Kemp.* The same also occurs at Lyon mountain. In
some of the Palmer hill gneisses there are titanite rims around the magnetites,
a curious circumstance considering their juxtaposition to the ore-bodies.
These gneisses are well shown along the railroad just east of Ausable Forks.
In these exposures is a sheared strip, three inches wide, in a coarse pegmatitic
band, which consists wholly of slickensided chloritic material. Just east of
the Forks is a heavy band of basic gneiss, which is hard and firm, and
contains, in addition to hornblende, plagioclase, biotite and magnetite, much
hypersthene but no monoclinic pyroxene. It is the only rock of the kind
seen in the county. The peculiar microcline gneisses, which haye been
described on a previous page, are widespread in the central part of the
township, and the ponderous east and west ridge known as Silver Lake
mountain, is wholly composed of them.
At Union Falls, the river drops twenty feet over gneiss and passes north
eastward in a gorge, exposing an excellent section in which the very variable
* Report New York State Geologist for 1°93, Tart I., p. 44!
542 Report oF THE Stare GEOLOGIST.
character of the gneiss, as exhibited in the township, is well shown. The
main “portion is a well foliated rock of microperthitic microcline and
orthoclase, with quartz and a variable, but mmonly considerable amount of
hornblende, biotite and magnetite. Much basic hornblende gneiss is
interbanded with it. A mile and a half a little east of north of the Falls, in
a field a few rods back from the road, is a considerable exposure of a brown
gneiss which contains an orthorhombic pyroxene of too slight pleochroism
and too weak double refraction for hypersthene, and which is probably
enstatite. It 1s the only occurrence of this mineral yet noted in the county.
Anerthosite.
za PX
FS
Loe
10
A short distance to the east is a well foliated microperthitic gneiss holding
numerous garnets, a mineral which, as a rule, is quite rare in the gneisses.
Gneiss is well exposed for several miles along the valley of Great Black
brook, the best exposures being at Black Brook village. This gneiss is, for
the most part, a well-foliated plagioclase gneiss, containing also orthoclase,
some quartz and a considerable amount of hornblende, biotite and magnetite.
The long ridge called Leggett mountain, which hes in the extreme south-
west and extends into Wilmington, Essex county, shows frequent exposures
of red and lilac-grey microcline gneiss at its northeastern extremity. Along
Cusutnc-——GroLoagy oF Cruinron County. 543
with these, is a small outcrop of basic gabbro of the type that occurs
interbanded with the gneisses. Exposures elsewhere on the ridge were very
ditticult of access and were not reached, but it was thought probable that the
whole was of gneiss. However, Professor Kemp reports gabbro from the
ridge just over the border in Wilmington, and the place where the gneiss
ceases and gives way to gabbro must be left for future determination.
Series IT. Not far from the Franklin line, in the valley between
Catamount and Leggett mountains through which Little Black brook
meanders, occur the only exposures of the limestone series which have been
found in the county. But three exposures were found, and the extent
eastward is uncertain, but the belt passes westward into Franklin county,
good exposures occurring around Franklin Falls.
About two miles east of the Franklin line, and lying close up against the
side of Catamount mountain, a massive limestone occurs in which a
considerable opening has been made and the rock burned for lime. The
limestone is coarsely crystallime and much of it quite pure, but other parts
contain much green pyroxene, sometimes in great bunches making up the
larger part of the rock, sometimes more evenly scattered through the mass.
In places graphite and phlogopite occur, but in no great quantity. Locally
there is considerable titanite, and there is one finely crystalline, narrow band
composed about equally of titanite, pyroxene and calcite. A few small,
slender green apatites were noted, but are not common. The breast in the
limestone is about twenty feet high and 150 feet long. Not far distant,
farther up the ridge, basic gabbro crops out.
By the roadside, some fifty rods south of the limestone, is a small outcrop
of a crumbling, rusty gneiss, consisting of a nearly colorless monoclinic
pyroxene and microperthitic orthoclase. In addition it contains some
sillimanite, titanite and magnetite, quite a little pyrite, and large scales of
graphite along the planes of foliation. Associated with it is a band of basic
hornblende-plagioclase gneiss. These gneisses are like those associated with
the limestone elsewhere and belong to this series. No other outcrop of such
gneiss has been seen in the county.
Series ITI. The massive, northeastwardly trending ridge of Catamount
mountain is composed of gabbro, and is probably a prolongation of the area
over the border which makes up the Whiteface mountain mass. The two are
separated by a wide, drift-filled depression which is probably occupied by the
limestone series. The Catamount ridge is suddenly cut off on the southwest,
at right angles to the trend ofj,the ridge, and presents in that direction a quite
544 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
precipitous face which looks like a fault scarp. Such faces are characteristic
of most of the ridges of the county and produce the same impression on the
observer as do those of Essex county, which Kemp regards as of the block-
tilted type.
The Catamount gabbro is of the anorthosite variety, and so thoroughly
granulated that large cleavage faces are seldom visible in the hand specimen.
Hence the prevailing color is white, the ferro-magnesian silicates not being in
large amount and always concentrated along planes, so that the rock is quite
eneissoid. Garnet is present, but not so prominent as in much of the
anorthosite. The thin section shows monoclinic pyroxene, hornblende and
magnetite.
Not far above the limestone quarry, basic gabbro outcrops, but 1s_ so
poorly shown that it is impossible to ascertain its extent. It is composed of
augite, hypersthene, hornblende, biotite, garnet, magnetite and labradorite.
It seems to have been originally of the ophitic type as it contains some of the
diallage like augite, full of inclusions, which characterize that type. None of
the original idiomorphic feldspar remains, however, and most of the rock
seems to have undergone recrystallization. None of the minerals have
idiomorphic boundaries except the biotite, which does not appear as reaction
rims round the magnetite, but in thin plates distributed through the rock,
In fact there is no sign of reaction rims of any kind in the rock. In addition
to the above the same gabbroic gneisses are found interbanded with the other
gneisses of Series I that are found so commonly in the other townships.
Series LV. No Palaeozoic rocks are to be found in the township although
the Potsdam sandstone almost reaches it on the north and east.
Series V. Thirteen dikes have been noted in the township, all of which
are diabases. Three of the very narrow ones approach augite-camptonite by
the augite of the ground-mass becoming idiomorphic. Nos. 84 and 86 are
very typical diabases, furnishing quite fresh material.
Series VI. The higher level of the sand deposits of the Ausable river
runs up the river some distance above Ausable Forks, at that point rising
some little distance above the river level. Just west of the Forks on the road
to Black Brook an excellent section, twelve feet im height, 1s exposed, which
is. as follows, from the top downward :
Lb. Soil.
2. Coarse yellow sand with a few boulders,. . .,. 2 feet
3. Fine white sand with no: boulders, ..-. «92> 3)“
t. Stiff, blue, jointed clay, weathermg whitey... . 1 “
CusHinc—GroLocy or Ciinton Counry. 545
5. Sandy, laminated clay, somewhat undulating, . . © feet 9 inches.
6. Laminated, clayey sand, much folded and contorted, 1 foot.
Tt
Alternating thin bands of sand and clay with occasional rounded
boulders, to the base of the section, with a six-inch clay seam in its upper
part, which unites with the upper jointed clay, No. 4, at the west end of the
section, but one hundred feet away is three feet below it. At the east end
everything is cut off by the sudden downward dip of the upper yellow sand.
The white sand, No. 3, contains thin streaks of fine gravel and occasional
small clay nodules, and becomes very gravelly at the east end of the cut,
The whole seems clearly a shore deposit in standing water.
Ausable.
This is the smallest of the townships, and lies in the southeast, with the
Ausable river forming its southern boundary except at the extreme east,
where a narrow strip of low sandy land belonging to the modern delta of the
river is included in the county.
Series I. The gneisses cross the river into the county at Clintonville
and continue thence northeastward about half-way across the township, when
they are overlapped and indented by the Potsdam, their line of outerop
swerving to the west and then to the northwest. The wide gneissic hill in
the western part of the township is known as Arnold hill, and is
topographically an extension of Palmer hill in Black Brook. The Little
Ausable river cuts through it in a narrow, steep-sided valley, apparently due
to a fault, with the gneiss showing grandly on the east side. At Clintonville
and northeastward from it, are also excellent exposures. Then follows a drift
filled depression a mile in width, beyond which the gneiss again crops out in
two low hills, round which the gabbro sweeps in a semi-circle.
The exposures are, for the most part, of ordinary microperthitic gneiss,
with some plagioclase gneiss toward the north, and with the usual bands of
hornblende gneiss. On Arnold hill are important ore-bodies. About one
mile southwest of Harkness station and near the railroad, is a strip of no great
width which resembles a dike and is probably a sheared strip. It is a finely
granular black rock, made up of plagioclase, orthoclase, hornblende, biotite
and magnetite, hence with the mineralogy of the hornblende gneisses.
Series ITI, Lying east of the gneisses, and forming the rather low
elevation known as Halleck’s hill, is an area of anorthosite. It has a breadth
30)
546 REPORT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
of one mile and a half where it crosses the river from Chesterfield, and
gradually decreases in width going north till the last of it runs under cover
two miles north of Keeseville.
The district furnishes the most typical anorthosite to be found in the
county. While the rock is much granulated, some of it wholly so, there is
still much of it that shows partially unbroken crystals of labradorite that
reach, on occasion, a very considerable size, being found up to three inches in
length. A considerable part of the rock is almost wholly feldspathic, the
ferro-magnesian minerals occurring only in very small amount. The less
feldspathic portions of the rock are the most completely granulated, and have
a prevailing gneissic habit. In these varieties garnet is very abundant, often
o% aXe
‘>
Ss
BG REE SSS
Gneiss Anorthosite Potsdam
imparting a reddish tint to the rock. In them reaction rims are also a feature,
and a considerable amount of recrystallization has taken place. Openings
have been made in the more feldspathic portions of the rock in the vicinity of
Keeseville, and some of it put on the market under the name of “ Keeseville
granite.” It makes a very handsome stone, the large, blue-grey labradorite
crystals surrounded by a lighter colored granulated zone giving a very pretty
effect ; but no tests of its crushing strength have been made, so far as the
writer is aware. It seems quite resistant to weathering.
In several places in this anorthosite area are found bands of basic
gabbro, When finely granular, as is commonly the case with the thinner
bands, they look like dikes. The larger masses are often less changed and
CusHinc—GroLogy oF Crinton County. 547
show the rude ophitic structure already described. The larger feldspars often
broken but
frequently bent. In one slide is a_ well-twinned crystal, about seven
show beautiful pressure effects, the crystals not only being
millimetres long, in which the gradual variation in extinction from one end of
the crystal to the other amounts to 25°, showing a bending to that amount,
yet with no apparent breakage of the crystal.
The contacts between these basic bands and the anorthosite are often as
sharp and clear as intrusive contacts, so that slides may readily be prepared
consisting half of one and half of the other.
As has been already stated, these basic gabbros are so absolutely like the
basic gabbroic bands found in the gneisses, that there can be no question as
to the identity of the two. Neither in the hand specimen nor in thin section
can they be distinguished from each other. Both the granular and the
ophitic phases occur in both situations. It would seem most probable that
they are to be regarded as basic segregations from the main anorthosite
intrusion, which have been stretched out into bands parallel with the foliation
of the enclosing rock as a result of dynamic metamorphism. Such
segregation would take place mostly toward the periphery of the mass, and
such portions as were squeezed out into cracks in the enclosing rocks would
be mainly of this type. But on the other hand the frequent sharp boundaries
between the basic gabbro and the anorthosite, with no sign of gradation into
each other, and the much wider distribution of the gabbro, can not but give
rise to the suspicion that, at least in part, the gabbro intrusion may have been
subsequent to that of the anorthosite.*
A massive band of basic gabbro which is found in the anorthosite at a
point a little over a mile west of Keeseyille, just north of the river road, is
interesting as showing a gradation toward diorite. Monoclinic pyroxene and
garnet are found in the rock but are very subordinate to the hornblende,
which shows great development, while hypersthene is absent. A hint of this
is given in the appearance of the rock, which is more schistose than the
normal gabbro. The main interest attaching to the occurrence is from its
possible bearing on the origin of the hornblende gneisses of the gneiss series,
which the rock much resembles.
Two miles west of Keeseville, on the river bank, is a knob of gabbro
which is interesting as indicating a transition to gneiss. It is of brown color,
finely granular, and contains quite a little quartz and microperthitic
*Later work by both Professor Kemp and the writer demonstrates that much, if not all of the basic gabbro is of later date
than the anorthosite, as indicated here at Keeseville.
548 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
orthoclase in addition to the ordinary gabbro minerals, plagioclase,
hornblende, augite, garnet and apatite. It 1s the most westerly of the gabbro
outcrops, but two miles of barren ground intervene between it and the
Clintonville gneisses.
Series IV. The only Palaeozoic rocks exposed in the township are of
Potsdam sandstone. The magnificent exhibition of this rock in the Ausable
chasm has been mentioned by many observers, and has been carefully
measured by Mr. Walcott.* Except for this river section, all the Potsdam
in the eastern part of the township is deeply buried by sand. The rock
exposed at Keeseville and in the chasm is quite homogeneous, of white, grey
or yellow brown color, and the fossils indicate that it is the upper portion
of the formation that is here shown. This, together with the lack of red beds
and conglomerates as the gabbro is approached, gives rise to the suspicion of
a fault contact. It is about on a line, also, with a fault which runs through
Peru and Plattsburgh, close to the lake shore.
A very interesting exposure of Potsdam on the west side of the supposed
fault is worthy of description. The locality is not quite a mile west of
Keeseville, not far west of the race track, and a few hundred yards southeast
ot School No. 5. Nestling in an indentation in the eastern face of the gabbro,
is a small mass of peculiar, very coarse conglomerate, capped by very red,
thin-bedded layers of feldspathic sandstone of the ordinary basal type.
The conglomerate carries very numerous, well-rounded quartz pebbles of a
reddish lilac tint, ranging in size up to two inches in diameter. With
these are occasional smaller fragments of orthoclase and afew dark colored
pebbles of decomposed rock, apparently of diabase. In streaks magnetite is
present in very large quantity, in well rounded grains. The coarsely granular
matrix looks black when fresh, but on weathering becomes mottled with
blotches of green chloritic material, which gives the predominant color to the
rock. In thin section, grains of quartz, microperthitic orthoclase, magnetite,
titanite and microcline, named in order of abundance, are seen to constitute
the matrix, and are set in a green chloritic-like cement, whose exact nature
is not clear. The coarseness of the conglomerate is astonishing when we
remember that it is composed entirely of gneissic debris, yet is in contact with
anorthosite, the nearest exposures of gneiss being one mile and a half away.
In the northern and western parts of the township considerable Potsdam
is exposed. It is, for the most part, a hard, flinty sandstone of buff color,
* Bulletin 81, United States Geological Survey, pp. 343-344. The boss of granite mentioned by Mr. Walcott, on the river
bank above Keegeyille, is of gabbro.
CusHING—GEOLOGY oF CLINTON CouNTY. 549
though on the north flank of Arnold hill, in the vicinity of the gneiss, coarse
conglomerates occur. In the central part of the town it runs down in a
curious way between two gneiss ridges. There is here a drift-filled valley, a
mile or more in width, which runs clear across the township, and was
apparently the track of a pre-glacial stream. Along the Ausable it intervenes
between the Clintonville gneiss and the gabbro to the eastward, but further
north, gneiss ridges form both walls. At the north end, the Potsdam-gneiss
contact is found near Mr. Harkness’s house. The well on the premises, close
by the house, penetrated hornblende gneiss at a depth of a few feet, while
only five rods to the northwest, flinty Potsdam was reached in a cistern. One
mile and a half to the southward, are two old openings in Potsdam sandstone,
known as Mace’s quarry. The rock is ordinary hard, massive, buff sandstone.
Less than a mile away on each side, are massive gneiss ridges, and we have
here apparently a pre-Potsdam as well as a pre-glacial valley. It is unfor-
tunate that the drift covering does not permit us to determine how far up
this valley the Potsdam runs, but there seems no reason why it may not run
clear to the Ausable river. It recalls the patches of Potsdam described by
Kemp from Essex county.*
Series VI, The northern slopes of Arnold hill are covered with till,
and the surface is plentifully besprinkled with boulders. The till covering
ranges throughout the gneissic area, but elsewhere in the township every-
thing of the sort is hidden from sight beneath the universal mantle of sand.
This surrounds Halleck hill on the east and north, running clear to the lake
shore and well into Peru. It extends up the Ausable valley beyond the
limits of the township, and at Clintonville and New Sweden is heavily banked
up against the gneisses, is bare and much drifted about by the winds. It
also extends throughout the yalley of the Little Ausable, even in its narrow
upper reaches, great drifts of it lying around and against the protruding
bosses of gneiss.
Peru.
The western third of Peru township is hilly, and occupied by the
eneisses. A plain of till, with a breadth of one mile and a half, borders the
hills on the east. Then there is a drop of fifty to one hundred feet, to the
level of a sand plain, which has a breadth of from three to four miles. For
the last three miles to the lake, rock ledges protrude frequently through the
* Report of New York State Geologist for 1893, Vol. I., pp. 454-458.
550 Report or THe Srare Groroatsr.
Champlain clays and sands, but from thence westward to the hills everything
is concealed by the drift and sand.
Series I. Three northeasterly trending gneissic ridges rise in the western -
third of the township. The most northerly of these is a narrow ridge known
as Burnt hill, which rises rather abruptly from the Salmon river valley, but
whose summit is only a little above the level of a plain of Potsdam sandstone,
which overlaps it on the north. In the central-west is the wide, massive
ridge of Terry mountain, and to the south is a somewhat disconnected ridge
coming in from Black Brook, the most easterly summit of which is called
Mt. Etna. The larger part of the gneiss is of the ordinary microperthitic
variety. A quite prominent gneiss on Mt. Etna is a quartz plagioclase gneiss,
with some microcline and orthoclase, and with hornblende, biotite and magne-
Gneiss
tite present in considerable amount, so that the rock is well foliated. The
Burnt hill gneiss contains much microcline, that mineral often constituting
more than fifty per cent. of the rock.
Series IT and ITT do not appear in the township.
Series IV. Potsdam sandstone. Though the Potsdam must occupy
much of the central part of the township, the exposures, with one exception,
are close to the gneiss, poor, and possess no special interest. At Lapham’s
mills the Little Ausable is in a new channel, and about thirty feet of Potsdam
is there exposed, all rather coarse, some of it red, but mostly buff or brown
in color. The dip is to the southwest, and rocks of Calciferous age surround
it on all sides. That in the river bed at Peru, one mile to the southwest, has
the same dip, while the exposures to the north and east dip to the north-
east, and a fault must lie between them and the Potsdam, this fault being
probably along the summit of a low fold.
CusHinc—GeroLocy or Curnron Counry. ddI
Caleiferous sandrock. Rocks of Calciferous age apparently form the
surface over most of the eastern third of the township, although no certainty
can be reached upon this point, due to the scarcity of exposures. The out-
crops are small and isolated, and generally give no clew to their horizon in
the Calciferous, being for the most part of the iron-grey dolomite which consti-
tutes such a large part of the formation. Just north of Lapham’s, are meagre
outcrops of very sandy dolomites, which weather to deep ferruginous, sandy,
brown crusts, and seem to belong to Division D, of Brainard and Seely.
Along the lake shore, both north and south of Valcour, rocks of this age
outcrop for a distance of a mile or more. The major part of the rock is a
hard grey dolomite, full of seams and balls of calcite, and in some layers quite
fossiliferous. Interstratified with them are thin bands of limestone, more
abundant toward the top. Here limestone is also found in irregular lenses,
which are full of fragmentary fossils, looking as if they had been worn on a
beach. An Ophileta-ke form also occurs, and is the only species found
entire. The rocks le in a series of low east and west folds, with a slight
fall of the whole toward the north. They are well toward the top of the
Calciferous, and are followed a short distance to the north, apparently
conformably, by the lower Chazy. The whole mass is penetrated by irregular
slaty seams.
* Chazy limestone. From Valcour northward along the lake shore, rocks
of Chazy age outcrop in a belt about half a mile wide, abruptly terminating
on the west along a fault line, the Bluff Point fault. The exposures are
rather infrequent, and the district needs detailed study, but everything seen
seems referable to the lower part of Division A, of the Chazy. On Mr. Day’s
land two quarries have been opened in the rock, one near his house and one
by the lake. In the upper quarry especially, the rock is quite fossiliferous,
and good collections can be made. A large Nauti/us is conspicuous among
the fossils. Mr. Day has an excellent Zetuites obtained from the quarry.
Trilobite fragments abound, mainly of J//@nus and Harpes, and several
species of brachiopods are present, Orthis costalis being the most common
form, ‘The locality is one of considerable palaeontologic interest.
Series V. Hight dikes have been found in Peru, of which six are
diabases, and call for no special mention. The other two cut the Chazy lime-
stone, near the lake shore, and are of interest on account of the rarity of dikes
in the county outside of the pre-Cambrian rocks.
No. 2, in the field just south of the Day quarry, is a typical camptonite,
the only one so far found in the county. It may be traced clear to the lake
552 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
shore, a distance of some 600 yards. Unfortunately it does not furnish very
fresh material.
No. 8 lies one-fourth of a mile south of the other, and is a beautiful
mouchiquite. Material may be obtained in which even the olivine is quite
fresh. The strike of this dike would carry it over to the southern part of
Valcour Island, and it may be the same dike as the one found there by
Brainard and Seely. As far as can be told from the description, the two
are quite similar. But in so disturbed a region such identifications are
extremely hazardous.
Schuyler Falls.
There is little of interest in the geology of this township. The extreme
eastern edge of the Burnt hill gneiss comes into the southwestern corner
from Peru. With this exception the only rock exposed in the township is
the Potsdam sandstone, though it is reasonably certain that the Caiciferous is
also present in the east, obscured by the heavy sand. The western part of
the township is occupied by Potsdam, lying at a tolerably high level, and
continuous on the west with the Hardscrabble Potsdam in Saranac. The
gorge of the Saranac river, at Cadyville, is cut in the eastern edge of this
plateau, and exposes an excellent section. The old channel of the river lies
to the northward and is filled to the brim with drift. Along the Salmon
river the rock is well exposed at Schuyler Falls village, and less well at
Norrisville. In the exposures is much red rock, and some that is tolerably
coarse, but whether low or high up in the formation does not appear.
Series VI. All the eastern half of the township is heavily covered with
sand, the level ranging from 300 to 4Q0 feet altitude. Occasional cuts show
the clay below. Further to the west the prevailing cover is still sand, though
at higher level, and becoming more and more confined to the vicinity of the
river. Along the Chateaugay railroad the sand shows grandly, much of it
being bare and forming dune-like ridges. Cuts in the river bank at Morrison.
ville show an esker-like deposit of coarse sand and gravel, with small some-
what rounded boulders. Its summit lacks a few feet of reaching the level of
the sand plain, so-that its presence would be unsuspected were it not for the
river channel.* A precisely similar section is shown along the Salmon river
just west of Schuyler Falls, which may represent a prolongation of the
same deposit.
* This esker (7) is noted by Mr. Baldwinin American Geologist, March, 1894, page 177.
GEOLOGY oF CrLInron Counry. 5b
CuSHING
Plattsburgh.
No pre-Cambrian rocks occur in Plattsburgh.
Series IV. Potsdam sandstone. Except for the river exposures at
Cadyville just alluded to, the Potsdam does not outcrop in the township. In
fact, with this exception there is not an outcrop of any kind in the western
three-fourths of Plattsburgh. This wide belt must be underlaid in part by
rocks of Potsdam, in part by those of Calciferous age; but where the
boundary between them may lie is purely a matter of assumption.
Calciferous sandrock. By the Salmon river, at the bridge two miles
above the mouth, several ledges of a hard, dark blue, somewhat calcareous
eva
unas
dolomite are exposed. By the road south of the river a erey dolomite, with
seams and spheroids of calcite, is shown. Though no fossils were found, the
lithology of these outerops puts them in the Calciferous, probably well
toward the top.
At the pulp mill on the Saranac, three and one-half miles southwest of
Plattsburgh, the river is out of its old channel for a short distance, and
exposes a vertical section of some fifty feet, showing heavy, dark blue-grey
dolomites, which hold spheroids of calcite, and weather to a yellow color,
interstratified with dark calcarous slates. No fossils were found, and no other
554 Report oF THE Strate GEOLOGIsT.
exposures are near, to aid in determining the horizon, which is regarded as
Calciferous, though with some hesitation, it being possible that the rock
belongs at the base of the Chazy.
Along the road to Beekmantown Corners, north of Plattsburgh, a long
ridge of rock of Calciferous age is exposed, mainly of a flinty, grey dolomite in
massive beds lying nearly horizontal. In the bed of Kennon brook, nearly
to the Beekmantown line is a considerable exposure, exhibiting some twenty
feet of rock, the lower part consisting of dark blue, sparkling dolomites
mingled with lighter colored, more sandy beds and thin layers of white, hard
sandstone, while above are massive iron-grey dolomites. These beds are well
down in the Calciferous, higher layers coming in above them in Beekmantown.
Chazy limestone. The Chazy is excellently exposed on, and southward
from Bluff Point, and also north of Plattsburgh, where it hes just to the east
of the Caleiferous exposures described above.
Brainard and Seeley have written briefly of the Bluff Point exposures.*
The point is a conspicuous topographic feature, rising sharply to an altitude
of 170 feet above the lake, and being the only high ground along the shore in
the entire county. It is a fault block with a resistant stratum at its summit.
Nearly the whole of the middle Chazy and about one hundred feet of the
lower division are well exposed. By following along the ridge southward
from the point, into Peru, nearly the whole lower division may be brought
into the section. The whole series is characteristically fossiliferous. Along
the lake shore at the boat landing, the beds shown aré well up in the
Maclurea division, are much jomted, and contain abundantly a_ large
strophomenoid form, much like 7. a/ternata, of the Trenton, for which it was
taken until the discovery of Maclurea threw doubt upon the identification.
Several other species may also be collected there.
Just south of Bluff Point is a large quarry, worked in a layer of the
lower division in which the crinoidal fragments have a red color. Much
stone has been, and is being taken out, which, when polished, makes a
beautiful and striking marble.
The Chazy north of Plattsburgh is in a much faulted district, and has
been mapped in detail. At the normal school, beds of lower Chazy age are
exposed, which crop out again going north, and are then succeeded, just
(Op
oO
beyond the race track, by the lower Maclurea beds. These continue along the
road for a distance of nearly a mile, with a sinuous strike. They consist
mainly of massive, nearly black limestones, and are largely quarried. With
3ulletin Geological Society of America, Vol. II., p. 295.
Cusninc—GroLocy or Crinton County. 555
these are thin-bedded, rather shaly bands, with an abundant brachiopod
fauna. Just beyond the three corners, a little over a mile north of Platts-
burgh, is an east and west fault, bringing up again the upper beds of the
lower division on the north side. This is followed at once by the Maclurea
beds again, and thence northward the entire Maclurea division and a large
part of the upper Chazy appear within the space of a mile, the latter well
exposed and abundantly fossiliferous. The final exposures are less than half
a mile from the Beekmantown line, and are succeeded, in the direction of dip,
just across that line by massive dolomites of Calciferous age. If the section of
the Chazy here be combined with the Bluff Point section, a nearly complete
exhibit of that formation is obtained.
Trenton limestone. The best exposures of the Trenton to be found in
the county are in this township, but the base, the Black River limestone, is
nowhere exposed. Along the lake shore, just south of Bluff Point, and
extending for a third of a mile, are beds of Trenton age. They are separated
from the Bluff Point Chazy by an east and west fault, with a throw to the
north of about 200 feet. A small stream occupies the fault line. The section
exposes some 100 feet of the Trenton. At the south end the dip is steep, the
beds being tipped up along the fault. The rock is, for the most part, a black
slaty limestone with lighter colored limestone bands toward the base, which
contain the brachiopod fauna characterizing the lower 100 feet of the
Trenton in Chazy township. The upper two-thirds of the section is quite
barren of fossils, occasional trilobite fragments occurring. Similar beds
are found in the same position on Crab island, which lies one mile to
the eastward. The section there has already been briefly described. The
island is structurally a low anticlinal fold, pitching to the north about five
degrees. The upper 100 feet of rock exposed there, carrying a lamellibranch
fauna, is shown nowhere else in the county.
On Cumberland head, and thence northward into Beekmantown, are the
slaty exposures already described. They are younger than any of the Crab
island Trenton, and separated from that by an unknown vertical interval.
Just south of the breakwater at Plattsburgh, similar slates are exposed on the
shore, in which no fossils have been found, but in which thorough search
should be made, as they may be found to partially fill this gap. Litho-
logically they resemble the Cumberland head series much more than they
do the ordinary Trenton.
Faults in Series IV. The whole Palaeozoic series is greatly faulted.
Though much remains to be done in working out the faults, especially the
556 Report oF THE SraTe GEOLOGIST.
minor ones, the greater breaks stand out prominently, and deserve mention.
The Bluff Point Chazy is cut off sharply on the west by a north and south
ses
ae
Dx
WP
SaaS
[-Z
q
fault of considerable extent and magnitude. In southern Plattsburgh,
however, no rock shows to the west of the fault line. It may be traced to ~
Cusning—GroLocy or Crinton County. 557
the south into Peru, and well to the north also. We may call it the “ Platts-
burgh fault.” Just north of Bluff Point, the east and west fault, already
described, runs out to meet it. The throw of this, which may be called the
“Bluff Point fault,” is to the north, and an approximation to its amount may
be had. The entire upper division of the Chazy, 200 feet thick on Valcour
island, fifty to 100 feet of the middle division, and fifty to 150 feet of the
Trenton are missing, so that the vertical displacement is from 300 to 400 feet.
North of this fault, the Plattsburgh fault is not traceable for nearly four
miles, on account of the total lack of exposures, but north of Plattsburgh
city, on the prolongation of the fault line, is a displacement which is thought
to be the same. Here the Chazy exposures on the west side are sharply cut
off at an angle with their strike. To the east no rock is exposed for a
distance of one mile and a half, when the Cumberland head slates come in.
Though the fault line is strongly marked wherever shown, no data are
available for determining the amount of displacement. The throw is to the
east, and must be large.
Three-fourths of a mile to the west is another great fault, very well
shown, which brings up the Calciferous against the Chazy. The horizon in
the Calciferous has not been determined, but is apparently well down, so that
the entire lower division of the Chazy, over 300 feet thick, and probably a
much greater amount of the Calciferous, are faulted- out, the throw again
being to the east. This fault may be named the “ Beekmantown fault.”
It has a more easterly trend than the Plattsburgh fault, so that the two
appear to effect a junction on the Beekmantown line, shutting out the Chazy
altogether, and bringing the Calciferous and Cumberland head series into
contact in southern Beekmantown. The displacement here, therefore, must
be very great, as the entire Chazy, all the ordinary Trenton, and an unknown
amount of the Calciferous are missing, and 1,500 feet would be a very
moderate estimate of its amount.
These three, together with the cross-fault in the Chazy beds between the
Plattsburgh and Beekmantown faults, are the main faults in the township.
Small faults occur on Cumberland head, and the slaty cleavage there
developed in the whole series would probably be represented by a con-
siderable fault, were the beds more ngid. No doubt other faults occur,
but the paucity of outcrops renders their discovery and decipherment nearly
impossible.
Series V. Only two dikes have been found in the township, but they
are of interest as, together with the South Hero dikes described by Kemp,
558 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
they are the most northerly of the post-Utica basic dikes known along the
lake Champlain meridian.
Dike No. 1 is exposed by the roadside on the road south from Platts-
burgh, a few yards beyond the point where it rises from the sand plain on to
the Bluff Point limestone exposures. It is a quite typical monchiquite, with
very abundant olivine phenocrysts, often perfectly fresh, which speck the
dense black rock with white spots. Occasional small porphyritie augites
also occur. The dike being so narrow, the ground-mass is very dense
throughout, and consists of small, slender augites, magnetite and _ sparse
brown hornblendes set in an apparent glassy base, most, if not all of which
has a very weak double refraction, and thorough investigation may show the
presence of analcite.
Dike No. 4 cuts the Trenton north of Bluff Point, and is near the south
end of the section. It is largely made up of a nearly colorless augite, which
occurs in two generations, phenocrysts, however, being only occasional.
Olivine is present, but rare, and can not be regarded as an essential
constituent. Hornblende is absent except for a few green, uralitic crystals
of secondary origin. Magnetite is present in considerable amount, and
there is also a notable quantity of biotite in the ground-mass, some, of
which is certainly primary. The rock contains numerous round white spots,
giving it an amygdaloidal appearance. In the centre of the dike is a strip
six inches wide which is clearly marked off from the rest, runs the whole
length of the dike, and gives the impression of a second dike cutting the first.
The rock is of the same character, however, though the white spots are less
abundant than in the main dike. Under the microscope these white
spheroids are seen to be formed of a colorless, isotropic mineral, which by
means of a gypsum plate, is seen to be optically anomalous, in that it shows
faint double refraction. The mineral seems to be analcite. Some of the
spheroids contain also calcite crystals. Inclusions of biotite, apatite and
hornblende, of rather large size, occur in the analcite. The spheroids are not
sharply bounded, but grade into the rock. Considerable analcite is also
present in the ground-mass of the rock.*
Dike No. 19, from Crab island, is quite similar. It is made up of augite,
biotite and magnetite, with glassy base, but it lacks the analcite spheroids, and
instead is amygdaloidal, the cavities being filled with calcite and zeolites
other than analcite. It has numerous and large porphyritic augites.
* Since the above was transmitted for publication, the article published by Professor L. V. Pirsson ‘‘ On the Monchiquite or
Analcite Group of Igneous Rocks” has appeared (Journal of Geology, Vol IV., p. 679). Pirsson shows the presence of analcite
to be a feature of these rocks. The analcite in Dike No. 4 seems to be primary.
GroLogy or Crinton Counry. 559
YUSHING
Series VI. ‘The widespread sand deposits of the Saranac, form here, as
in Schuyler Falls, the most conspicuous feature of the Pleistocene deposits.
Away from the river in the northwestern part of the town, heavy morainic
deposits come in above the level of the sand plain.
Beekmantown.
Series I to III, The only Pre-Cambrian outcrop in Beekmantown is
found on Rand’s hill, a wide northeast and southwest ridge running from
western Beekmantown into southern Altona. On the east and south, a heavy
mantle of drift covers the flanks of the hill, concealing the extent of the rocks
in those directions. The ridge is made up, for the most part, of anorthosite
which is flanked on both sides by gneiss. On the east is a microperthitic
eneiss of brown color, which contains both green monoclinic pyroxene and
hornblende. On the west the only gneisses shown are basic, very schistose
hornblende gneisses, both with and without pyroxene.
The main interest attaching to the anorthosite here is due, in the first
place, to its distance from the main body of that rock; and, in the second
place, from the information it gives regarding the character of the surface on
which the Potsdam was deposited. At the present time the hill is entirely
surrounded by Potsdam, with the possible exception of a strip half a mile
wide: The summit has an elevation of 1,500 feet, while the Potsdam on the
west side runs up to 1,400 feet, and we are certainly justified in assuming
that at one time the whole hill must have been covered by the sandstone,
quite probably to a considerable depth.
The exposures of the anorthosite in Beekmantown are by no means
as good as in Altona, and the rock will be described in the report on that
township. Those in Beekmantown are of quite typical anorthosite, but the
rock is not fresh.
Series IV. Potsdam sandstone. The only outcrops of this rock seen
in the township are along the road over Rand hill, and closely adjoin the
anorthosite on the west. The exposures are tolerably frequent, but very
poor and the only rock seen is of the red, feldspathic, easily disintegrating
variety. Except for a gap one-half mile wide, occupied by hornblende
gneisses, the Potsdam exposures are practically continuous along the west
side of the anorthosites, and the road is reddened throughout the larger
part Of its length, by the degraded rock. No conglomerates were seen,
East of Rand hill, the very heavy drift-covering completely hides all
rock from view till the Calciferous exposures in the central part of the town
560 Report or tHe Srare Geroxoaist.
are reached. To the south, too, everything is concealed. Much of this
covered territory must be occupied by the Potsdam.
Calciferous sandrock, This formation is better shown as a whole in
Beekmantown than anywhere else in the county. In the central portion of
the town, within a radius of two miles from Beekmantown Corners, are many
exposures, the aggregate thickness of which must be very great. One mile
north of Beekmantown station, is the fossiliferous locality which has been
described by Professor Whitfield,* where beautiful Ophiletas may be obtained
in abundance. The other exposures are of very sandy grey dolomites, some-
times passing into nearly pure white sandstone. All the Calciferous here
seems to belong to Divisions C and D, of Brainard and Seely.+
Southward from Beekmantown village, a well marked ridge of Calcif.
erous dolomites runs southward, and is continuous with the Calciferous
° ry
ae 2
NS Oo) = dam emer
that lies west of the Beekmantown fault in Plattsburgh. The best exposures
are at the Poor-house. The fault passes into this township, but its course
has not been definitely traced.
uxposures along the Lake. Cumberland Head Series. The black slaty
limestones of this series extend into the township from Plattsburgh, and are
exposed along the shore of Treadwell bay and thence westward for a mile.
The exposures form a series of narrow, sharp ridges, the topography resulting
rather from the slaty cleavage than from the dip of the rocks. The fossils
are the same as on Cumberland head.
On the shore at Long point and to the northward, are similar rocks
They have so far furnished no fossils, and require further study, biet are
classed with the preceding provisionally, on account of the lithologie and
* Bulletin American Museum Natural History, Vol. IIT., /p. 2.
! Bulletin American Museum Natural History, Vol. IL, p. 48.
GroLocy oF Crirmron County. 561
CusHING
topographic similarity. They he well to the eastward of the Treadwell bay
exposures, as though shifted by a fault. If that be not the case, they are at
a higher horizon.
Rocks of Uncertain Age. Closely adjoming these Cumberland head
slates on the west, are hard, grey dolomites, which form occasional knolls
protruding above the general surface. In one of the exposures, limestone
bands occur, which are full of fossil fragments, and similar to the bands
described from the upper Calciferous in Peru, just north of Valcour. These
rocks would be unhesitatingly classed as Calciferous, were it not for their
position. It seems certain that they must belong to that group, and they are
so represented on the map. Yet they are separated from the main exposures
of the Calciferous in central Beekmantown by a wide valley in which no
gives no indication of a fault between
exposures occur, while the topography
them and rocks close at hand on the east, which he at least 1,500, and
probably 2,000 or more feet higher in the section. This may be the line of
the Beekmantown fault. It is at least certain that throughout this territory
the entire Chazy is faulted out.
Along the lake shore, from the extreme end of Point au Roches, south-
ward to the hghthouse, are pretty continuous exposures of blue and black
limestones, at times somewhat slaty, but ordinarily massive. They are very
barten of fossils, holding Leperditia in some layers but little else, so far as
found. The top layer at the Point is charged with marcasite and contains
Leperditia and a Holopea-like gasteropod, abundantly. The section has con-
siderable thickness; just how much, remains to be determined, but one hundred
feet is a very modest estimate. The writer is unable at present to indicate
the precise stratigraphic position of these rocks. Mr. Van Ingen writes that
the Leperditia layer at the Point recalls the basal bed of the Black River lime-
stone on Button Bay island, and is disposed to correlate it with that, and to
regard all the rest as of Chazy age. While this is quite probably the proper
interpretation, the entire lack (or apparent lack) of the fossils which elsewhere
in the county abound in most of the upper Chazy, is an objection to it. The
rock closely resembles some beds found in the upper Chazy, but they
nowhere exhibit anything like the thickness shown here. It is therefore
thought that we may here have beds of Trenton age not met with elsewhere
in the county, occupying a position either just above, or just below the
Cumberland head series, and they are provisionally indicated as such on the
map. If they are of Chazy age there must be a considerable fault between
them and the Trenton slaty limestones north of Long point.
36
pt
_~
or
bo
REPORT OF THE STATE GEOLOGIS?.
‘
Such indecisive results are presented very apologetically. The scarcity
of fossils and the lack of time for work of the detailed character necessary are
accountable therefor.
Series V. The eight dikes found in Beekmantown, are all on Rand
hill, cutting the Pre-Cambrian rocks. The proportion of bostonites is greater
than usual, six of the dikes bemg of that type. These show well the very
considerable variation which such rocks present. Dikes Nos. 28 and 29
are of dense, hard red rock of aphanitic, stony look, almost entirely devoid of
phenocrysts, and with very small content of ferro-magnesian silicates. Nos.
27 and 107 have a peculiar schistose appearance in the hand specimen, as if
they had been subjected to shear, but the appearance is entirely lost m the
thin section, which appears quite normal. ‘They contain a larger proportion
of dark silicates than the first two. No. 27 has also abundant orthoclase
phenocrysts of unusual purplish color, which is due to the filling of the
cleavage cracks by hematite.
Nos. 81 and 103-are nearly black rocks, likely to be taken for diabases
in the field unless carefully inspected, but in the slide are quite like the
others except for the presence of a much greater amount of hornblende and
biotite. These occur mainly as inclusions in the orthoclase, and the trachytic
structure is not well defined.
Series VIL Rand hill is so heavily banked with glacial deposits on the
east, south and west, that all rock is obscured by them for a distance of at
least two miles in these directions, and commonly for more. The surface is
everywhere strewn with loose irregular blocks of Potsdam sandstone. These
accumulations may be morainic in origin, as suggested by Mr. Baldwin,* but
no opportunity was afforded for closely investigating them.
Altona.
Series I, Gneiss of the ordinary microperthitic variety 1s exposed on
the eastern side of Rand hill. Its contact with the anorthosite is shown
along the turnpike (old military road) and exhibits a transition zone, a few
feet in width, of a rock of intermediate mineralogic constitution. This
transition rock has cataclastic structure and shows a dike-like dark band
which proves to be a sheared strip, consisting of a finely granular aggregate
of quartz, microperthitic orthoclase, augite, garnet, and a little plagioclase.
The garnet is certainly secondary, and much of the rock has undergone
recrystallization.
* American Geologist, Vol. XIII., p. 181.
CusHING
GEOLOGY oF CuINTON CouNTY. 568
The north end of the Dannemora mountain gneissic ridge projects into
the southwestern part of the township, the rock being the pyroxenic gneiss
usual on that ridge.
Serves IIT. Anorthosite forms the main part of Rand hill here, as in
Beekmantown. Excellent exposures may be seen along the turnpike and
thence southward up the hill. The surface rock is fresher than in Beekman-
town, probably due to the more energetic action of the ice-sheet on the
northern slopes of the hill.
As here shown, the rock is less completely granulated than the Keeseville
rock, in much of which no large fragments remain. Here none of it has
ee
-
ee
Pn FOES
iow aie
js
‘.
eS SS
—
northositfe . Potsdam. Pleistocene .
undergone complete granulation and much of it is quite coarse, so that
the large labradorites, instead of the granular portions, give the main color to
the rock.
Garnet is very abundant, much more so than in the Keeseville rock,
so that frequently the granular matrix which surrounds the labradorite
individuals has a very pronounced dark red tinge. Some portions of the
rock consist entirely of garnet and labradorite. Generally, however, augite
and magnetite are also present and hornblende is common. Hypersthene has
564 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
not been observed here, nor in any of the anorthosite in the county. As was
to be expected from the less complete granulation, but little of the rock is
fohated, the basic minerals occurring in clumps rather than in streaks.
A short distance up the hill from the turnpike, a well foliated gabbro
outcrops. Owing to the tangle of brush and the thin soil covering, its extent
could not be determined, but it is not great. It is less basic than the ophitic
gabbros, and lacks that structure; neither have the uncrushed labradorites
the abundant inclusions which characterize those of the ophitic gabbro,
Besides the labradorite the rock contains much garnet and magnetite, consid-
erable apatite, and what was probably augite now wholly passed into chlorite.
Granulation is not complete. The labradorite crystals which have partially
escaped this process, show beautiful polysynthetic twinning, and exlibit most
notably effects of the dynamic action other than the granulation. Not
only are they broken and the fragments displaced, but nearly all are bent,
the bending being most clearly brought out by means of the oft-repeated
twinning, as shown-in the accompanying figure drawn with the camera lucida.
Broken and bent labradorite crystal from gabbro on Rand hill, Altona. The surrounding granular
material ig almost wholly labradorite.
Series TV. With the exception of the small areas just noted, the Pots-
dam sandstone is the surface rock throughout the township. Moreover, here
is by far the most impressive display of this rock to be seen in the county,
if not in the state. Extending north from Rand lil] is a plateau of nearly
horizontal Potsdam sandstone, running up to heights of 1,100, 1,200, and
even 1,500 feet, and stretching away northward with an average fall in level
of from seventy-five to one hundred feet per mile. For the most part it is
very bare of debris, and on the steeper slopes the naked ledges of stone rise
in a series of gigantic steps, as if they had been swept bare of debris
by powerful currents. The district goes under the name of the “Flat
rocks.” It is rather deeply incised by the Great Chazy river but otherwise
is not deeply dissected by erosion, appearing as a base level of tolerably
recent elevation. Rand hill is a monadnock rising above this level.
CusHING—GEOLOGY oF CLINTON CouNTY. 565
It is very difficult to get any trustworthy conception of. the thickness of
the Potsdam as here exposed. The rock lies in a series of slight north and
south folds, with such a shght dip, that it is no easy matter to determine the
amount of pitch. The pitch is quite certainly to the north, and somewhat
in excess of the fall of the surface in the same direction. The floor on which
the rock was laid down also falls to the north, and at a greater rate than the
dip of the rock.
Heavy basal conglomerates, such as those in Ellenburgh, make but little
show in Altona, very possibly because of the lack of exposures in the vicinity
of the crystallines, though this can not be the whole reason. Several outcrops
of small extent, but occurring within a few yards of anorthosite or gneiss, are
found on Rand hill, and are all of red, feldspathic, easily degraded type, with
no sign of conglomerates. Away from the crystallines the rock presents its
usual variations in color, size of grain, and degree of induration.
Series V. The most impressive display of dikes to be seen in the county
is exhibited along the turnpike where it passes over the northeastern edge of
Rand hill. The anorthosite here is seamed with dikes, some of which are
very large and complex, branching repeatedly and covering considerable
territory. These vary so much from place to place that measurements five
yards apart would give wholly different results, but the complexity is well
illustrated by the following careful measurement of a portion of Dike No. 8,
made along the surface in a north and south direction. Commencing at the
south is
1. Anorthosite,
ee inser weer, eat ene eS ft. 1 im,
DEP NOLUNOSIEe Geter ewes - <<. 11. * 9 “
en De Ase we ener ere ete Li tae sy Ore Qe
De AMOVUNOSILC meet nase eaten weg a LG O°
| enclosing three small
pee iaaccoaneee ieee eee... 25-8." 4. horses of anortho-
| site.
[EP ANOrNOse ee ereGrec et. .. - « 91 “4
See a Desc nEnmere uate hen ete The LE 10-
OS) ut LNGLETLIVOISD USS 0 oe ot ney
IDS” Lose TASES eT eA ie an pcre a
He MOrenOStteme ct iag en tata. GL OOM
Ree icew remem a ror oie ee, A SOO
13. Anorthosite,
566 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
The sub-divisions of this dike bear in all directions, re-uniting and
forking again, so that several of the anorthosite members of the section
represent enormous horses in the diabase.
Fourteen dikes have been found here within an area of less than a square
mile, and if all the branches were counted separately this number would be
trebled. The heavy second-growth on Rand hill undoubtedly conceals many
more. The only two of these dikes that call for any especial mention are the
two bostonites.* No. 7 is of the red, aphanitic type, with numerous small
porphyritic orthoclases showing. It contains a little magnetite and chlorite,
and the flow structure of the ground-mass is well marked. No. 9 represents
the other extreme of these rocks. It is coarser, the whole appearing holo-
crystalline to the eye. It is much darker in shade, due to a large biotite con-
tent. Both orthoclase and biotite occur in two generations, the orthoclase
phenocrysts reaching a length of over one centimeter. The ground-mass is
quite coarse, and contains apatite and augite in addition to the orthoclase
and biotite. Quartz has not been recognized ; if present it is only sparingly
so. This is the only dike of this type so far noted in the region which has
phenocrysts of a ferro-magnesian mineral, and the great abundance of the
biotite in this dike is quite unusual.
Chazy.
No Pre-Cambrian rocks appear in Chazy township.
Series IV. Potsdam sandstone. ‘The Potsdam occupies the north-
western half of the township. That on the extreme west belongs to the high
plain and pertains to the basal part of the formation. That on the low
grounds, on the contrary, is toward the summit, the passage beds to the Cal-
ciferous appearing just over the border in Champlain township. "4. 22 eel ee ee
Massive grey limestone, largely made up of crinoidal remains,
having red spots in a stratum about ten feet from the top;
abounding with gasteropods near the middle, ... . . = . . 50 @
a KOE ns
Group B.
Thick-bedded, nodular, dark-colored limestone, — containing
Machurea- magna, oS Ee, Gee eee
Massive, pure limestone, grey, fine-grained, often odlitic, abounding
in crinoidal remains and Stenopora fibrosa,. . . . . . . . 20%
Massive, bluish-black, tolerably pure, nodular limestone,
containing Waclurea magna and masses of black chert, . . . 45 “
Similar to No. 3, but containing in addition to Maclurea, various
species of Orthoceras and large masses of Stromatocerium, . . 90
Less massive limestones, quite impure, and often disintegrating
into nodules as though shaly, 7: --0.5 2 = eee oa em
Group C.
Dark, iron-grey dolomite, weathering yellowish,. . . . . . . Ub a
Blue, compact, fine-grained, pure limestone, containing fine lines
of calerte, 2.0 455 Se eee
Dove-colored, compact, brittle, perfectly pure limestone, contain-
ing small nodules: of :calette,s:- ete ae ace eee eien cn ene Bae
Iron-crey dolomite, '*i/:) 5 > ,
ogee: aT A
. \ § v
~ ae. . f
i Se ff
YY
-
i,
“
i
— eee ee ee
ff
wR ae,
Map oF ESSEX COUNTY,
Preliminary Report on the Geology of Essex County.
By J. F. Keme.
(Continued from the Report of the State Geologist for the Year 1893, pp. 433-472.)
The field work for the accompanying report was done in September,
1894, and September, 1895. In the former month a trip was made from Port
Henry across North Hudson and Newcomb townships and into the old iron
mining settlement at lake Sandford at the expense of the Geological Depart-
ment of Columbia University. In September, 1895, the field expenses were
borne by the State. Almost indispensable aid has been afforded by the
topographic maps of the United States Geological Survey, so far as prepared
or available, but the western townships have not yet been mapped in this
way, or at least have been drawn only along their eastern borders, and the
lack of an accurate location of water courses and boundaries has been felt in
these districts. Acknowledgments are due to Mr. Herbert M. Wilson, of that
Survey, for his courteous and prompt supply of advance sheets.
The same series of signs and the same provisional nomenclature that was
used in my former report has been continued in this one, and to those intro-
ductory pages, 444-451, reference may be made for their full elucidation.
For the sake of clearness, however, a brief outline of the several divisions
is here repeated. The additional observations have corroborated these previ-
ously published generalities, but it is doubtful if a sharp stratigraphic
distinction can be drawn between Series I and II. It seems increasingly
probable that the crystalline limestones may prove to be but phases, perhaps
several times repeated of Series I, but they are lithologically distinct and
pecuhar. They are noticeably more abundant to the south and southwest.
In this connection results to be obtained in mapping Warren county are to
be awaited with interest.
Sertes J, Gneisses usually with both orthoclase and quartz. Varieties
with hornblende, biotite, pyroxene, and with almost no dark silicate. are met.
Plagioclase is usually present and may be the only feldspar. The exposures
vary in color from very light grey, almost white, to dark grey or even to red.
The lamination may be conspicuous or may almost fail.
579
580 Report oF THE SraTE GEOLOGIST.
Series II, Crystalline limestones, ophicalcites, black hornblendie-
pyroxenic schists and thinly laminated garnetiferous gneisses.
Series III, Rocks of the gabbro family, ranging from aggregates of
pure labradorite through varieties with increasing amounts of dark silicates
to basic olivine-gabbro. The varieties rich in feldspar are called anorthosites,
following the Canadian practice. They shade from perfectly massive varie-
ties into others strongly gneissoid.
Series IV. Palaeozoic sediments, viz., sandstone, limestone and _ shale,
of which the Potsdam of the Cambrian is the oldest and the Utica shale of
the lower Silurian is the latest.
Series V. Trap dikes and porphyries.
Series VI. The glacial and post-glacial gravels, sands and clays.
In the subsequent descriptions a topographic sketch is first given of the
town, and then the several series are taken up in the above order. The iron
ores or other economic products conclude the local notes. The townships are
described in general from north to south, as follows:
Chesterfield (revised), page 580 Schroon, 9° 3-2. pave aoe
Jays. Oke eer Osi Ticonderoga (revised), “ 600
Wilmington, . . . 1G SD Minérva, "ose “600
Sty Aumrands eer Paes Newcomb; os =: “604
) ?
North Hudson, . . 2H OO
Chesterfield.
In my previous report, a map and description of Chesterfield were given
on page 463. The map was based on the county atlas, as the Willsboro sheet
of the United States Geological Survey had not at that time appeared. I was
misled into thinking that the western line of the town lay just beyond the
valley in which is Trout pond, but the new maps, especially the Ausable
sheet of the United States Geological Survey, and field work along the border
from Jay, have shown that another valley and brook lie in the interval and
that the gneisses extend across this western boundary, as far to the east as
Clintonville, embracing on the south the little crystalline limestone area, and
projecting into Jay.
The rocks on the south are puzzling gneissoid types, but after a trip
across the southwestern corner of Chesterfield to Bluff mountain, in Lewis
township, and observations on the trend of the ranges, I am led to redraw
Chestertield as in the accompanying newer copy herewith submitted This
also has the drainage correctly drawn and in much greater detail.
PLATE I
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Kemp—GroLoGy or Essex Counry. ‘ 581
SS)
The western border of Chesterfield is a very wild, rough and mountainous
district, and needs more detailed study to make the delineations of the for-
mations of other than a general character.
Series I, On entering Chesterfield from Jay, the area of rich quartzose,
feldspathic gneiss that is extensively developed in the northwestern part of
the latter town, runs across the border. I went up over Bald mountain, and
collected specimens 11 and 12. In thin section they exhibit quartz and
microperthitic feldspar, with the dark silicates in No. 12 only represented by
decomposition products. The quartz is especially rich and is rolled out in
lenticular masses.
On the north side of Bald mountain, is the wild gulch called the “Gulf,”
and south, still further, and on the east side of Black mountain, is another
ravine scarcely inferior. Plumbago prospects are reported in the “Gulf,”
from which I saw samples that would suggest the probable presence of
crystalline limestones as well; but from pressure of time and the necessity of
traversing the southern side of the county to get the broader geologic
features of that section recorded, I was unable to fully explore the region.
The gneiss extends south from Chesterfield into Lewis township, and at .
No. 42 (of the Jay map) appears in the high, rough ridge of Bluff mountain,
and at No. 43 in the outlying spur of Jay mountain on the south. Both of
these specimens, in thin section, show much quartz, with which, in No. 42, is
strongly microperthitic untwinned feldspar, and a few shreds of nearly
opaque hornblende. In No. 48, quartz is in excess. With it occurs much
augite, some scapolite, and almost no plagioclase. Regarding the other series
of rocks, no new facts have been noted.
Jay.
Jay is a very irregularly shaped township, as the map indicates. Its
greatest length is about thirteen miles from north to south, and except in the
narrow extension into the wild mountainous country in the southeast, it
averages about six miles from east to west. The greater part of it lies in a
valley along the east branch of the Ausable river. The valley is open and
broad on the north, where the surrounding hills are two to three miles apart,
but on the south they close in decidedly and, at the line with Keene, the valley
is narrow. The altitude of the river varies from 550 feet A. T., at Ausable
Forks to about 700 at the Keene line. Except along the main stream of the
Ausable river on the northeast, the border line with Chesterfield is a very
582 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
wild and mountainous strip; Bald mountain is 2,139 feet A. T., but less than
a mile south of its summit the Gulf runs east and west like a gash, and at less
than 1,000 feet above sea level. The northerly spur of Black mountain, at a
short distance from the south side of the Gulf, is 2,100 feet. Without careful
study I regard this as one of the faulted valleys to which reference was made
in-my former report, p. 439. The main summit of Black mountain is 2,160 feet.
It is separated by another wild gorge from an unnamed peak southwest of it
that attains at its summit 2,632 feet of altitude. Still further south is Jay
mountain, 3,287 feet in the town itself, and 3,601 feet just across the line in
Lewis township. At the extreme south the northerly spurs of Hurricane
mountain reach an altitude of over 3,500 feet. About three miles southeast
of Ausable Forks, a knob-like hill called Haystack rises to an altitude of
1,338 feet. From the west its outline well justifies its name. The western
town line runs along near the summits of several rather large hills of
anorthosite which are separated by cross valleys. The northerly one, Clark
mountain, is 1,577 feet, the next one south called Hamlin mountain, is 2,122
feet, then follows Bassett at about 1,900 feet, and Ebenezer at about 2,000 feet.
Southwest of the town is the huge mass of the Sentinel range, and just inside
the southern line of the main portion of the town is Clements mountain, 2,540
feet. On the western side of the southern extension, the contours on the
slopes of Big Crow mountain range from 2,000 to 3,300 feet. It is evident
from this outline that the easily accessible portions of the valley quickiy rise
to the decidedly elevated and wild ranges of mountains, on the east and west,
which are from 1,500 to 3,000 feet above it. In scenic attractions the valley
is one of the loveliest in the mountains.
Series I, The gneisses constitute the northeastern corner for three
miles or more south of the Ausable river. Their strike as shown on the map
is variable, being north and south, northwest, northeast and even east and
west when corrected for magnetic variation. On the east, the rock is a very
coarsely laminated variety with very abundant lenticular masses of quartz up
to two or three inches long, that lie between corresponding lenses of red
feldspar.
In thin section the feldspar proves to be microperthitic orthoclase,
or microcline in largest part. Dark silicates are subordinate, with hornblende
the commonest one present, but biotite is also often seen. Nos. 5, 6, 9, 10, 11,
12 and 13 are of this character. Just across the bridge over the East Branch
at Ausable Forks, a dark green gneiss outcrops in the bank at Nos. 1 and 2.
It looks much like the rocks of Series III, but in thin section it is seen to
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The ridge of Wilmington mountain in the northerly portion has been
traversed at No. 43b. The rock is gneissoid with the usual minerals of the
gabbros. In the pass at No. 44, the gneissoid structure also holds, and in
thin section the rock shows labradorite, hypersthene, garnet and brown horn-
blende. At No. 46 it is chiefly labradorite.
The rock of Whiteface mountain is quite different from the usual types
elsewhere in the mountains. It is a markedly white rock through which are
distributed dark bunches of ferro-magnesian silicates up to half an inch or
more across. It looks like a light granite. It is not strongly gneissoid,
although faint lamination is distinctly visible. Under the microscope it
exhibits plagioclase, brown hornblende, pale lavender augite, magnetite,
presumably titaniferous, and titanite. Pegmatite veins, strongly quartzose
run through it at the summit. The rock on the way up from Wilmington, at
No. 47a, is strongly laminated, with a nearly north and south strike. On the
trail down to French’s, at No. 49, 1s a very gneissoid type, with a true strike
of N: 25° E.
The rock under the microscope is chiefly untwinned but very coarsely
microperthitic feldspar with an extinction on the cleavage, up to seven
degrees, so that it appears to be orthoclase. The inclusions are spindle-
shaped, but curve and are irregular. Their general alignment ranges up to
twenty-five degrees with the line of extinction of the enclosing feldspar. The
other minerals are diallage and a few shreds of quartz. The rock is very
puzzling, exhibiting as it does the characters of both the gneisses and gabbros.
Future and more thorough exploration may lead to the determination of some
of this great ridge on its northwesterly side as belonging to the series of
gneisses. It needs more exploration, but as it is a heavily wooded district and
remote from settlements, it is less accessible than many other districts. I
have provisionally colored it as belonging to Series III, as such is my
opinion from observations thus far made. The same rock that forms the
peak of Whiteface mountain extends well down to the shores of lake Placid,
and further along the ridge to the northeast in the pass, the rocks, as already
stated, have the mineralogy of the gabbros.
After leaving Station 49 no more actual outcrops were crossed by the
trail which passes down through thick woods. All the boulders that were
met, and some could not have been far from their parent ledges were gneissoid
rocks of the mineralogy of the gabbros. But soon after leaving No. 49, the
trail passed into St. Armand.
Series IV entirely fails in Wilmington.
588 Report oF THE STATE GrOLOGIST.
Series V. At the High Falls of the West Branch, near the North Elba
line, a trap dike of eight or nine feet in width becomes the directing agent of
the stream and explains the deep and narrow gorge by its easy decay and
erosion. Immediately associated with it is much coarser crystalline red
granite, precisely similar to the association of the dike and granite at the falls
and gorge near Keene Center, as described in my former report, p. 468. The
granite is older than the dike, for inclusions of its red aggregates of quartz
and orthoclase are frequent in the trap.
Series VI, 'The sands and gravels of the glacial and post-glacial times
are strongly developed in the northeastern corner. They lie well up the
valley of the West Branch. The most abundant by far are in the nature of
water-sorted materials, fine sands and gravel.
Mines and Quarries. There is an abandoned prospect for iron ore just
west of Wilmington, called the Weston mine. It was never a serious producer,
but attracted attention im connection with the bloomery that formerly was
operated in Wilmington village. The associations would indicate a
titaniferous ore. The existence of a pegmatitic development of anorthosite
with some pyrrhotite near the little post office of Hazleton, has been
mentioned under No, 20. The samples shown me were only of mineralogic
interest, although of course the general geologic relations in wall rocks of
the gabbro family, suggests the presence of nickel and cobalt, but experience
in the norian rocks of the Adirondacks and Canada to date has only developed
titaniferous magnetites as the ores present.
St. Armand.
In my previous report a short sketch of the northwestern corner of this
town was given and it was shown to be of the typical gneisses of Series L.
In September, 1895, I was able to gather some further details, and have
redrawn the old map so as to include them. Nevertheless, the lack of time
and means, the rainy weather and the pressure I felt upon me to make a
reconnaissance of the southern tier of towns of the county, prevented the trips
into the wilderness along the southern boundary of the town that I expected
to carry out. Since the field work of 18938, the lake Placid sheet of the United
States Geological Survey has appeared and has rendered available a map of
the eastern half. .
Zopography. St. Armand lies along the Saranac river, which cuts it on
the diagonal. The northeastern corner is covered with sand and gravel and
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Kemp-——Grotocy or Essex County. ; 589
is of mild relief. Along the east and south there are the spurs of Mount
Whiteface, and further west the ridge of Moose Pond mountain, all forming
a practically unbroken wilderness. The mapping of this section is tentative
and is based on the inference that the rocks in the edges of these ridges as
met in North Elba on the south and Whiteface on the east continue toward
the north, but where the line, if indeed it can be made out, between the rocks
of Series I and Series III is to be drawn, must be investigated later. A
high ridge bounds the Saranac river on the west, south of Bloomingdale,
and another appears north of the river and east of this town.
Series I. At No. 51a there is a red orthoclase gneiss. At Nos. 52a and
52 the gneiss is dark green, and is the same as No. 2 of the Jay map. Under
the microscope it exhibits microperthitic orthoclase, a little plagioclase, and
some almost opaque hornblende. Zircons are also not lacking. At the
bridge over the Saranac there is an excellent exposure (No, 52). Outside the
township, in Franklin county, the gneiss rocks continue beyond Franklin
Falls, and two miles down the river there is a goodly ledge of the familiar
white, crystalline limestone, charged with pyroxenes, titanites, bunches of
hornblende, pyroxene and quartz. The dark hornblendic schists that always
accompany the limestone, are also well developed. All these indicate that
the anorthosites and gabbros, so far as present, lie south of the Saranac river
in this town, although we know that they exist near St. Regis lake to the
west of the line of Essex county. The strike of the gneisses is mostly north-
east, but east and west and northwest strikes are known.
Series II is not met within the limits of the town, although, as stated
above under Series I, it does appear about three miles north of the line.
Series III. The area covered by these rocks is mapped on an inferential
basis from observations on the prolongation of the ridges south and southeast.
While actual study of the rocks ¢7 situ may modify this, I consider the
inference as worthy of confidence in the present state of our knowledge.
Series IV is entirely lacking.
Series V. No dikes were noted in the town itself, but just over the
border at Franklin Falls one appears in the side of the road near the hotel,
with a northeast strike. It is a dark trap, presumably diabase.
Series VI. The modified drift is widely spread in the less elevated
districts. In the northeastern corner it covers several square miles so that no
outcrops are available. Level meadows suggest at times former ponds or
lakes, and the extended one near Bloomingdale station, outside the county,
was referred to in my former report, page 472.
590 Report oF THE State GEOLOGIST.
North Hudson.
Topography. North Hudson is one of the largest townships in the
county. It les just south of the principal peaks of the Adirondacks, but its
line includes the summit of Mount Dix, 4,842 feet above tide, the sixth in
altitude of the high peaks. McComb mountain reaches 4,425 feet but the
others are all below 4,000, and only one approximates this. The ridges have a
marked trend, a little east of north, and all the valleys and larger watercourses
show the same characteristic. The town contains several large and fairly open
valleys. On the northeast it is marked by rather low hills, 500 feet or so
above the upper waters of Schroon river which, near Deadwater pond, are
about one thousand feet above tide. ‘The same character continues along the
east border. The Schroon river flows with a rather sluggish current
southwest across this portion, the total fall in twelve or fifteen miles being
about 200 feet. The valley is a fairly open one, is filled in with sand, and the
highway is nearly a dead level, often for long stretches. West of the Schroon
river the country is much more rugged and elevated and is practically
uninhabited except for the sparsely distributed houses along the road to
Newcomb.
Immediately west of the Schroon river, Saunders mountain, Old
Far and Little Far, Niagara mountain, Nippletop and Wyman hill make a
considerable rampart, that is broken where the “ Branch” comes in from the
west to the Schroon river, making thus one of the few east and west streams
of the region.
The next great ridge to the west containing Spotted mountain,
McComb and Dix, is separated from the ridge just mentioned, chiefly by
Niagara brook, which flows along the excessively steep westerly slope of
Niagara mountain, taking its water exclusively from the west side of
the valley. Further south comes in the “ Blue Ridge,” whose culmination is
Hoffman mountain, just over the line in Schroon. West of McComb
lies the valley of Elk lake, a wide and somewhat swampy one with the lake
in the middle. It forms the source of the “ Branch.” West of this lies Boreas
mountain, nearly 4,000 feet (8,815) at its culmination, which makes the
watershed between the tributaries of the Schroon and the Boreas rivers, and
between the Schroon river and the East Branch of the Ausable river. The
headwaters of the Ausable and Boreas rivers are in another broad northeast
and southwest valley that is marked by wet meadows and lakes. In the
northwest corner of the town are Cheney Cobble mountain, 3,673 feet, and the
slopes of Allen mountain, that culminate just over the border at 4,345 feet.
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The Boreas river passes out of the southwest corner of the town into
Minerva, with various minor tributaries heading in hills of moderate
elevation.
Geology. So far as I have explored North Hudson, only the rocks of
Series III have been met. I have crossed the northwestern corner, coming
down from Marcy to the Upper Ausable lake. All the rock visible was
anorthosite. In the northeast and east all the roads on the map have been
traversed and the anorthosites, related gneissoid types and gabbros have alone
been met, but it is quite possible that the gneisses of Series I may be present
in the northeast corner. No. 60, near Underwood, is crushed anorthosite; No.
61 is massive gabbro; No. 63 is also massive but is very finely crystalline ; No.
64, near Root’s hotel, is typical crushed anorthosite. All along the highway
that comes in at Chafey’s from the east, is Series III, an extension of the
ereat area that forms the prominent knob of Harris hill just over the border
in Moriah, and Moose Pond mountain in Crown Point. The road that comes
in to the main highway, just south of No. 64, from Johnson’s pond, traverses
anorthosite all the way. At No. 108a, where the highway along the Schroon
river crosses the town line, there is an outcrop of dark typical gabbro.
On the highway that crosses the southern half of the town from Root’s
hotel to Newcomb, the rocks are anorthosites and gabbros more or less
eneissoid. Gneissoid rocks of the same type are met on the town line where
the trail in the southwest corner crosses the town line. I have reached that
point coming up from the south in Schroon. The valleys in the interior
of the town have not been visited, but as anorthosites and their related rocks
are found on the north in Keene and to the northwest in Newcomb, it is
unlikely that any other series will be met.*
Series I and JT are lacking so far as we yet know.
Series IIT covers the town so far as our present knowledge goes. See
above under Geology.
Series IV is lacking, but it is extremely probable that it formerly
existed in the Schroon river valley, as a small outlier is still preserved at
Schroon Lake post office.+
Series V. No dikes were observed, but they doubtless exist.
Series VI. The usual sands and gravels are present all along the
Schroon river and at times form level stretches of noticeable extent. They
are even abundant enough to be quite seriously drifted by the winds in one
* They have since been thoroughly traversed, and only Series III has been found.
+ A small area of Potsdam sandstone has been found in subsequent field-work, about a mile north of Chafey’s,
592 Reporr or tHE Stare GEOL GIst.
or two localities. To what depth they fill the valley is uncertain, for the
Schroon river has not excavated them to bed rock. Lakes or estuaries must
have existed after or during the wane of the ice-sheet in order to have made
possible the abundant deltas.
Schroon.
Topography. Schroon is a township lying along the southern limit of the
high peaks and partaking both of their topography and of that of the more
open country further south. It contains the northern half of Schroon
lake and all of Paradox lake, the largest two in Essex county. The
town is cut into two nearly equal portions along a north and south line
by Schroon river and lake. The valley of Paradox lake, running east and
west, cuts off the northern third of the eastern half. It is a region of
moderate elevations formed by the outlying anorthosite spurs of the great
Moose mountain ridge of Crown Point and North Hudson. The highest
summits reach 1,700 feet. Paradox lake lies in an irregular east and west
valley, with its surface 820 feet A. T. To the south is a wilderness of
moderate hills with one very prominent peak, Pharaoh, 2,557 feet, that is the
chief land mark of all this region. Lakes and swampy valleys lie in among
the hills. Passing along the southern line the same topography continues to
Schroon lake, which is 807 feet A. T. The altitudes therefore of Paradox
and Schroon lakes differ but slightly, and in high water it is reported that
Schroon lake rises so much faster than Paradox that the drainage is temporarily
reversed—whence the name “ Paradox.” It is quite evident that they were
one continuous body of water in recent times and that the Schroon river has
built up an extensive sandy delta that has cut them apart. Its course over
sands and gravels for ten miles or more to the north has furnished it with
abundant sediment in the immediate geologic past. West of Schroon lake,
the southern line cuts Green hill, which reaches the respectable altitude of
2,227 feet. Passing along the zig-zag boundary to the north and west, deep
valleys and fairly high hills prevail. Near the northwest corner, Hayes
mountain just west of Bailey pond is 2,822 feet. The northern boundary
crosses a series of high ridges with a marked north and south trend and
with narrow valleys or notches between. Washburn ridge culminates at
2,938 feet, Texas ridge at 3,212 feet, and Hoffman mountain, the nucleus of
them all, at 8,715 feet, the highest in the township. This region extends as an
unbroken wilderness until the valley of the Schroon is again met. The
central part of the town is fairly open and quite generally settled. Beech hill
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Krmp—Grontocy or Essex County. 593
at 2,203 feet is the culminating point of the largest clump of hills, but
farms extend almost to its summit. The drainage of the western part of the
town is mainly through Trout brook into the Schroon river in Warren
county to the south. The exceptional interest that attaches to the topo-
graphic relations of the Schroon lake basin are later commented on.
Geology. The northern portion of the town is formed by Series III,
but almost all the remainder, except for outhers of gabbro, consists of the
eneisses and crystalline limestones of Series I and II. A small but
extremely significant remnant of Calciferous cherty limestone covers a few
acres at Schroon Lake post. office.
Series I. As shown by the map, the southern portion of the town to
the extent of more than half its area is formed in largest part of gneisses.
The gneisses vary somewhat among themselves, but a light colored, strongly-
laminated one, shown by the microscope to consist of quartz, microperthitic
orthoclase, prominent garnets and a little hornblende, is a very prominent
type. It is the principal rock around Schroon lake, and in the country to
the southeast around Mount Pharaoh and Pharaoh lake. Hornblendic
varieties also appear that are darker than this one, and still different varieties
as noted in the detailed itinerary that follows,
The valley of Paradox lake is bounded on the south by the limestones
of Series II, but on the eastern border of the town, at Nos. 100 and 101, is
the Schofield ore-body, whose walls are a massive gneiss, precisely like that
which contains the ore at Hammondville. It is little else than plagioclase
feldspar and quartz. A few magnetite grains appear, but the rock is a very
pure aggregate of the two minerals mentioned, right up to the ore. The hills
and ridges in this region are very generally gneiss, while the lower lying slopes
and depressions are limestone. Along the highway to Crane pond, No. 97 is
a coarse gneiss of interlaminated flat lenses of quartz and orthoclase, which
have evidently been rolled out under dynamic stresses. In the slides, strained
or crushed crystals are abundant. Very little hornblende is present. Along
the east shore of Schroon lake, the rock is a coarse quartzose gneiss, at times
with mica, again with hornblende, and often with garnets, while along the
highway which lies in part in Warren county, it is much the same, and is the
garnetiferous variety cited at the outset. The same rock makes up the mass
of Mt. Pharaoh. A fine illustration of a brecciated gneiss was met at No. 69
on Pharaoh lake. This light garnetiferous gneiss leaves a strong impression
on the observer that it is clastic in origin, although precise evidence is ditt-
cult to obtain.
38
594 Report or tHe Strate GEo.ocist.
The gneisses form the western lake shore, with intervals (Nos. 76a, 77).
No. 78 is a light grey vaniety like ‘that of the western shore, but No. 76 and 79
are darker, full of plagioclase, with brown hornblende, and in No. 76 diallage,
so that the mineralogy suggests an altered igneous rock. The gneisses
continue across the hills on the south. At No. 109, on the southwest,
quartz-hornblende-gneiss 1s met.
On the highway running west from Schroon lake post office, at No. 83,
is a quartz-hornblende-gneiss, and at No. 82 a basic hornblendic variety.
Outcrops are few along the road to the west, but the gneisses and limestones
occur just over the border in Minerva, along this general line. Particular
interest attaches to these relations because just to the north the spurs of
Hoffman mountain begin to rise and shade from gneissoid gabbros into the
massive anorthosites, so that the highway is not far from the boundary
between the two.
Series II. The crystalline limestones are quite widespread and of con-
siderable areal importance. As always, they favor the depressions. Along
the south side of Paradox lake they are strongly developed. At No. 98b, is a
high ledge with a good-sized cave extending into it. The limestones reach
up into the valley to the northeastern portion of the town, and are prolonged
into Crown Point, as shown on the map of that town already published. In
the valley of Alder brook, that is the outlet of Crane pond, the limestones are
abundant all along the highway, and with them are the usual black schists.
The limestones appear again at Nos. 76a and 77, on the west shore of Schroon
lake. They were not met elsewhere, although abundantly developed in
Minerva.
The limestones are white, coarsely crystalline and graphitic. They
seldom show any large cross-section, say twenty-five to fifty feet, without
bunches and knobs of dark silicates, or scattered irregular bits of pyrrhotite,
hornblende, pyroxene, flakes of phlogopite, ete.
Series ITT, The anorthosites and gabbros constitute the northern portion
of the town and rather more than one-third of its area, They are prevailingly
eneissoid, and as the areas of the gneisses of Series I are approached, they
become very strongly so, almost to the extent of schistosity. This tends to
decrease in the interior hills, and at No. 95 quite coarsely massive varieties
are attainable, All over the adjacent areas on the south are huge boulders,
often as large as a small house, of the Hght bluish anorthosite, that has
come from the inner hills. At or near No. 87a, I paced one that was roughly
oval, 30x 20 feet, and that projected six feet above the turf, with an unknown
ihe
Kemp—Groxiocy or Essex Counry. 595
extent below ground. Others often stand in full exposure, 10x20 feet
in dimensions. The district is the most prolific in them of any traversed
by me.
Aloug the highway in the northeast corner, gneissoid anorthosites are met
at No. 108 and alternating with gabbros (No. 104) they continue along that
road over to the valley of the Schroon. On the highway in the Schroon
valley, massive gabbro is met at No. 103a, and massive anorthosite at No. 105.
Gneissoid anorthosite forms the north shore of Paradox lake at No. 106a and
No. 106b, but quartz gneiss outcrops at No. 106. On the west side of the
road up the Schroon valley, the anorthosites are met in the hills and have
gneissoid laminations more or less distinctly developed. In the foothills to
the north of Rogers pond, thinly laminated basic gneisses, manifestly derived
from gabbros, are first traversed and only yield to the more massive forms in
the interior peaks. The region where Nos. 85, 86 and 86a appear is a very
difficult one to cross, as there are no trails and as it has been recently burned
over. On the northwest, gneissoid anorthosites again appear at No. 88, and
over to the north of Bailey’s pond, with varying accessions of dark silicates,
they continue to the North Hudson line.
The exposures and float masses of the rocks of Series III in this
town have given some of the most interesting data regarding the dynamic
metamorphism of these rocks that have been met in the mountains. Perfectly
massive varieties were collected, consisting of a coarse aggregate of green
labradorite, with perhaps a stray hypersthene, augite or hornblende crystal and
a garnet or two. Crushed rims around the crystals first manifest themselves
and increase gradually until the rock consists of nucleal fragments embedded
in a white pulp of comminuted feldspar. Such varieties I have called pulp
anorthosites. Apparently these have resulted largely from crushing strains
without much shearing. When the latter is superadded, the crushed materials
are dragged out ito the laminations of a gneiss, with the nucleal crystals left
as lenticular “eyes” around which the laminae pass. Abundance of dark
silicates accentuate the laminations, and the development of garnets makes
them much more prominent. The formation of this latter mineral is a
question deserving much careful study and chemical analysis. It is a
remarkably common and characteristic mineral all through the mountains and
is present in all the older rocks, but especially in those of Series III. It
seems to result from the pyroxenic constituent and also to develop in purely
feldspathic rocks, and in these it may be in fairly regular dodecahedra three-
fourths of an inch in diameter. It-is a deep rich red in the rocks of Series
596 Report oF THE Strate GEoLoGIst.
‘
III, but is notably paler in those of Series I and II. I expect to give the
subject of its formation detailed investigation in the future, as opportunities
occur.
In distinction from the more feldspathic members of Series III, of which
special mention has been given above, often under the name anorthosite,
attention should be directed to the dark basic gabbros and their meta-
morphism. Although the latter are best exhibited in Moriah township, on
lake Champlain, just north of Port Henry, they are also, to a less degree,
shown in Schroon. The dark gabbros often contain olivine, and are a
plutonic rock, rich in pyroxene, brown hornblende, titaniferous magnetite,
and a dark green plagioclase that tends to develop somewhat lath-shaped
crystals and, in many specimens, to suggest the diabase type of texture.
Excellent exposures occur along the highways on the northeast at Nos, 104
and 108a. The last named is a large ledge, perfectly fresh and extensively
blasted out on account of the passage of the road. In the extreme southeast,
on the shore of Pharaoh pond, is a dike twenty-five feet wide, of well-marked
gabbro, far out from any visible parent mass, and in walls of light grey
quartzose gneiss. Again, west of Schroon Lake post office, on the lane
leading out toward Rogers pond, at No. 84, is a fine outcrop of coarse dark
olivine gabbro.
These massive gabbros, when subjected to shearing stresses, develop
dark hornblendic schists, and this change can be shown even in the limited
exposure of the rather narrow dike on Pharaoh pond. The feldspar is
crushed, and the dark silicates are dragged out into thin laminae. Even the
massive types have seldom escaped the production of reaction rims_ of
garnets that mark the boundaries between the feldspars and the dark silicates
or ores, almost never allowing the former to come into actual contact with
the latter. Hypersthene, brown hornblende and biotite also enter into the
rims, especially where they surround magnetite, but garnet is much the
commonest and most noticeable of them all.
Series IV. Much the most interesting and significant of all the
exposures in Schroon township is that embracing a few acres of what I take
to be the Calciferous formation. The rock is a grey, cherty limestone or
dolomite. It extends along the shore on both sides of the steamboat dock at
Schroon Lake post office, and has a total outcrop of about 400 yards. Rogers
brook falls over a ledge of it and affords the best and most extended cross-
section. The strike is by the magnetic compass N. 60° E., and the dip is 25°
N. W.. Referred to the true meridian this would be 10 to 12° more to the
Kremp—Groitoey or Essex County. 597
eastward. Roughly but carefully measured, the total thickness exposed above
the lake water is about seventy-five feet. Streaks of chert run through the
ledge, and coaly or asphaltic material appears in the cracks. Calcite pockets
are not lacking but, although I searched carefully over the ledges, I was
unable to find definite remains of organisms. Thin sections of the chert
merely exhibit a brown, nearly isotropic base with numerous rhombohedra
of calcite or dolomite scattered through it. A few opaque ones are
apparently limonite residues after original siderite. This outcrop was noted
by Charles E. Hall in his report on the Laurentian Iron-Ore mines of the
Adirondacks (Thirty-second Annual Report New York State Cabinet, p. 139),
who speaks of it as Chazy and as containing fossils. Fossils sufficiently well
preserved would, of course, settle the stratigraphy at once, and I feel the
greatest hesitation in speaking of the ledges as Calciferous in opposition
to the earlier record. The resemblance is so close, however, to the
cherty magnesian limestones that are undoubtedly Calciferous and non-
fossiliferous on lake Champlain (as for stance just north of Port Henry, and
again just north of Crown Pomt on the Delaware and Hudson railway), and
the probability of Calciferous in this outlying district resting on Potsdam is
so great, that I leave the determination as stated, being ready to recall it if
the evidence of fossils should be against it.
The interest of the exposure lies in the fact that it is the remotest
outer yet found of the Palaeozoic sediments in the mountains. The
nearest outcrop is the little area of Potsdam sandstone, distant at least
ten miles in a direct line in the Putnam’s pond valley of Ticonderoga
which, however, drains north through Penfield’s pond in Crown Point
to lake Champlain, The actual divide at the head-waters is insignificant.
Down the Schroon and Hudson valleys the nearest exposure recorded is at
Hadley, about forty miles away. There is little doubt, however, that the
Hadley tongue formerly set back up the Hudson and Schroon valleys,
and that this little outlier is the only remnant, so far as we now know,
that is left. Hadley is given by the railway (see Macfarlane’s Geological
Railway Guide, Second Edition, p. 118) at 606 feet, and Schroon lake
has lately been determined by the United States Geological Survey at 807
feet, so that the rise is now about 200 feet. The interesting point is
whether these modern valleys were depressions and embayments up which
the oceans set in Cambrian and Ordovician time; or whether the early
Palaeozoic strata spread all across the crystallines and have only been
preserved in small in-faulted blocks, whose faulting is relatively modern.
598 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
The former has been the case with the lake Champlain basin and
apparently with its arm up through Crown Poimt and Penfield’s pond
into western Ticonderoga, along the easterly branch of Putnam’s brook (see
map of Ticonderoga, Report of the State Geologist of New York for 1893,
p. 452); with the lake George basin and its arm up through the Trout Brook .
valley in Ticonderoga (see last reference), and in the Hudson - Schroon
valley, we have doubtless still preserved for us the old Cambrian-Ordoyician
topography. It is furthermore a curious fact that the strike of all these out-
hers is northeast, and the dip 1s also low to the northwest. It is remarkable
that the same strike and dip hold good for the embayments of these rocks all
along the west shore of lake Champlain, in Essex county, and notwithstanding
the minor faulting we cannot well avoid inferring that there has been con-
siderable tilting in which the county to the east and southeast has risen.
The Green mountain upheaval may in part account for this, but the Schroon
outlier is a long way into the Adirondacks to have felt its effects, when it
produced such shght tilting along lake Champlain itself, only twenty miles
away from the principal elevation. If we assume anticlinal folds instead of
faults, it is extraordinary that the eastern limbs should be eroded while the
western remain. Tilting in blocks with fault lines approximately parallel
to the present valleys, is more likely to be the true explanation.*
It is also worthy of remark that the Schroon valley is a base-leveled one,
or nearly so, except as concerns side tributaries. The Schroon itself is a very
sluggish stream for a mountainous one, and the fall is very slight, as was
noted above under North Hudson, from its source to Schroon lake. Such
obstructions as 1t is now at work upon are chiefly glacial deposits. The great
geologic age of the valley no doubt accounts for this sluggishness and the
question may be raised if other slow streams, not evidently held in abeyance
by glacial deposits, may not be explained in the same way.
Series V. Several dikes have been noted. The point on Pharaoh pond,
where No. 70 is located, is well provided with them, as the accompanying
sketch (Figure 1) shows. The laminations of the gneiss run straight across
the strike of the dikes. The dikes have also proved an easier prey to the
weathering effects than has the gneiss and the retreat of the shore along their
lines has in part at least caused the points. The dikes cut pegmatite veins,
and in one case a small dike cuts a larger one. The occurrence of these little
scraps of igneous rock in doubly terminated fissures and running like veinlets
* Since the above was written, topographic maps of this area have been issued by the United States Geological Survey, and
based on these, the writer has discussed this question at greater length in the ‘‘ Bulletin of the Geological Society of America,”
Vol. VIII.. p. 408, Plate 51.
-_~
-_-~
—
GroLocy or Essex County. 5
Kemp
all through the gneiss is remarkable. We can only infer that the intrusion
of the larger ones extensively shattered the walls and that the molten trap
oozed into every notable crevice. The rock is a diabase. The presence of
the gabbro across the lake at No. 73 may be remarked, but I see no reason
to connect the two. A very similar group of little dikes was also met west
of Schroon Lake post office at No, 83. The accompanying sketch (Figure 2)
illustrates their relations. The exposure was only a small one, eight or ten
feet square, and the tiny dikes were faulted in an interesting way, as shown
in the figure. ‘The smallest of these was doubtless originally continuous.
PHARAOH
Ww
OD CALE 50FT.
ee ae |
FIGuRE 1,
Series VI. The glacial drift is very generally present, and, as already
remarked under Series III, enormous boulders are of great abundance just
south from the mountains. ‘The town, however, seems to have been in the
region of transportation rather than of deposition, and the hills of gravel,
moraines, etc., that we meet farther south are lacking. Water-sorted sands
of post-glacial times are present in the stream valleys. The hills are of rock
so far as observed, and the boulders noted were doubtless stranded in the
melting of the ice sheet while they were in transit. All the large boulders
are anorthosites,
600 Report oF THE Strate GEOLOGIST.
Mines There is only one ore-body in the township, so far as I learned,
and that is the Schofield vein on the extreme east, at the line with Ticonderoga.
There are two ore-beds in a ledge, fifty yards or so east of the highway, and
about thirty feet above it. The lower-and larger is about twenty inches
thick, and the upper, a few feet above, is from two to twenty inches.
Naturally this amount is not very serious, but in the earlier days of the
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SS
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FIGURE 2.
bloomeries the lower vein was somewhat mined, and excavations thirty or
forty feet down were made. The ore is probably much the same grade as
that at Hammondville, as the wall rock is the same.
In his Bulletin on the Iron Ores of New York, Professor Smock speaks
of another small mine on the north side of Paradox lake, but I learned
no particulars about it.
Ticonderoga.
In my previous report, p. 452, the map of Ticonderoga was left
incomplete as regards its western edge. The observations that were gathered
last season along the western line with Schroon, make it quite evident that
the gneisses of Series I, with perhaps some limestones as yet unlocated and
some minor intrusions of gabbro and trap dikes cover the area. The map has
therefore been filled in on this basis, and appears here in completed form.
Minerva.
Topography. Minerva is a very large township, which is still but
sparsely settled. While its elevations are of moderate character, no specially
notable one being within the town lines, they are, in instances, extremely
rugged and wild. Population is chiefly limited to the southeastern corner, -
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Kremp—Gronoay or Essex County. 601
where Olmsteadville is situated. Scattered houses extend for a few miles
along the highways, but to the north, after three or four miles, there are but a
half dozen until one reaches Newcomb. The same is true of the southwest.
On the northeast the Boreas river flows into and diagonally across the town.
Where it enters, the river is about 1,700 feet above tide and the surrounding
hills are 800 feet and less, higher. Passing southward along the eastern border,
the summits reach 2,000 to 2,500, and as a maximum 2,850 feet. Right at the
corner where the boundary bears away eastward, is Oliver hill, a very large
knob of 2,477 feet. Minerva stream flows southward on the west of it and
Trout brook on the east. A high ridge marks the southeastern boundary. The
valley of Minerva stream is somewhat open and level near Olmstead ville, but
along the southern boundary the hills are again of notable height, and rugged
in the extreme. The valley of the Hudson cuts the northern town line near
its middle point and is narrow, with steep, precipitous hills closing it in. The
town of North River is just over the lime in Warren county, and five miles
still further down is North Creek, the nearest railway terminus. Along the
highway to Blue Mountain lake for several miles after leaving the Hudson,
the ridges are rocky, bare and rugged, but on the extreme west they die away
m open and fairly level country where the lakes appear on the map. Along
the northern border around to the starting point the hills come in again, but
the country is a wilderness, broken only by the camp of the North Woods
Club.
(reology. So far as present observations go, the town is chiefly formed
by gneisses and crystalline limestones, of which the latter are especially
abundant as compared with the other towns studied. On the northeast,
gabbros and related gneissoid rocks appear, and the same are present along”
the eastern border, but the greater part of the town is south of the main
outcrops of the anorthosites.
Series I and JL. It is not feasible to sharply distinguish between these
two at present (even should it ever be so), as observations have not been
accumulated in sufficient amount. The valleys, naturally the places where
the highways are located have, almost without exception, been excavated in
the limestones. The intervening ridges are gneisses. So much of the town
is difficult of access that observations are not yet recorded in great detail.
On the central eastern border the gneisses are met at No. 116b, but south in
the same valley near Irishtown the limestones appear. Along the road at
No. 116c¢ on the west side of the creek, I noted a pile of sulphurous magnetite
said to have been derived from the hills to the westward. It reminded one
602 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
of the Lee ore near Port Henry and the Vineyard openings on Buck
mountain, in Ticonderoga. Near Olmsteadville and in the valleys to the
eastward, limestones and the characteristic schists and gneisses that accom-
pany them are frequent. The same statement holds true along the highway
that runs west and then southwest to North River. At No. 110 is a light
quartz gneiss, at No. 111 a white crystalline limestone, and in between are
dark hornblendic schists and thinly laminated gneisses such as usually
accompany the limestone. Quartz veins of inconspicuous character are often
seen. At No. 112, 1n the creek bottom and on the east bank, is a fine out-
crop of a thinly laminated, richly quartzose gneiss. Limestone appears near
the town of North River in the east bank of the Hudson, and further up
stream are cliffs of gneiss nearly 200 feet high. Along the highway to Blue
Mountain lake, alternating exposures of gneiss and limestone are met to the
town line, except just east of No. 115, where a gabbro excessively basic and
somewhat schistose and rich in magnetite appears. From No. 1138, for a mile
or more, a superb fault scarp is on the north side of the road, where the dip
and strike sign is located. It exposes a precipitous front of gneiss, and has
a small prospect hole for garnet well up on its sides.
Passing now along the highway in the eastern central part of the town
from Olmsteadville to Newcomb, the same alternations of gneisses and
limestone exposures are met as far as No. 123, which is a mile or less south
of Aiden Lair. Gneissoid rocks belonging to Series III then appear and
extend off to the northeast beyond Hewitt pond and no doubt connect
with the areas north of Bailey’s pond in Schroon. They are described
under the next series. At the crossing of the Boreas river, quartzose gneisses
‘again crop out at Nos. 125 and 126, but gabbro and black hornblendic
schists lie both south and north of them. Beyond Van de Whacker creek is
No, 128, a coarse quartz-orthoclase gneiss, with the two minerals in lenses
just as was noted for Schroon, No. 97, and Jay, No. 6, the latter from
Haystack mountain.
Along the road that branches off to the North Woods Club near the
middle of the town, black schists and gray gneisses are crossed as far as
the Boreas river. Beyond its bridge, limestone of the usual graphitic white
variety is the principal rock exposed. No. 141 was the last outcrop that I was
able to reach, so that a great area in Minerva and Newcomb to the north-
west remains unstudied, but I have little doubt, both from its abundant
lakes and moderate hills, that it will all prove to contain the usual asso-
ciation of limestones, schists and gneisses.
PLATE !X
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MnO, 8 | | |
Re,O,. 2 | 87260" EyOsye4|- wo ce Oe om|
1g ye enone 0.022
S i. eo. ee) One 0.028
Fe ... . .| 62.65 | 51.22 | 51.80 | 51.44 | 56.60 | 62.66 | 36.86
Experimental attempts to concentrate the ore with magnetic machines
were made some years ago in the hope that the richly titaniferous portions
could be separated from the non-titaniferous, on the assumption that the
latter variety was more highly magnetic than the former. All such experi- —
Kremp—Groitocy or Essex County. 613
ments are of course based on the supposition that titaniferous ores are
mechanical mixtures of normal magnetite with ilmenite, but there is little
reason to doubt that where the percentage of TiO, is considerable, say ten
and above, the mixture is either so intimate as not to be economically broken
up, or else it is actually a chemical combination in the nature of ilmenite or
some related mineral. Mere magnetism does not preclude titanium, for O. A.
Derby has found in Brazil, natural lode-stone with twenty per cent. Ti0,.
Indications of ore have been met across the divide to the east of the
Sanford ore-bed and in the watershed of the Opalescent river. I have not
visited the locality, as but little work has been expended on it and none in
fact since the early operations. :
About a mile west of lake Sanford is the Cheney ore-bed that presents
some differences both in composition and in wall rock from others. Professor
Emmons, on Plate III of his report, calls the wall rock “sienitic,” but it
really is a gneissoid variety of gabbro, having a laminated structure visibly
developed, while the minerals are those of the familiar gabbros of the
region. Dark silicates are much more abundant than in the anorthosites that
form the walls of the other veins. I did not personally visit the Cheney
exposure, but specimens of the ore and wall rock were obtained by Mr. James
MacNaughton and kindly furnished to me. I understand that forty or fifty
feet of ore are exposed without showing the walls. The following analyses
illustrate the composition. They were published by Mr. Rossi in the
Iron Age, February 6, 1896.
WILBUR. Rosst.
(RicH ORE.) (Poor ORE.)
SiO, Se fe)
TiO, 8.25 LEE
BLOne Told
CaO 8.89
MgO 3.00
Mn,0O,
Fe,O, BPS Fe achiaidh - sai) 86.53 55.64
S “re ate 74 1.00
Fe TENE Ble te ee Ack eM, Oe sce os 62.15 40.338
614 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
The ore runs higher in phosphorus and sulphur than any of the others
yet analyzed. Mr. Rossi has also noted in his experiments, indications of the
presence of vanadium, which has been recognized both in Scandinavia and in
New Jersey as one of the characteristic ingredients of titaniferous ores. The
high alumina in the second analysis, much above any aluminous silicate that
might be present, is worthy of note, and the same is true of the lime. Some at
least of the magnesia is combined with iron oxide and silica to yield hyper-
sthene ; some perhaps with lime and alumina for augite. Some of the lime
may be united with silica and titanic oxide to give titanite and some with
alumina and silica to form labradorite ; but in whatever way the combinations
are worked out, there remains an excess of alumina and lime, so that the
probability of spinel being present is heightened.
Professor Emmons mentions other ore-bodies whose presence was demon-
strated in his time, viz., a vein of “fine-grained ” ore about eighty rods east of
the works. It would be on the map at or near the southern prolongation of
the “ Black Ore” belt, but as he states (page 254) that it was 150 feet across
and 5,742 feet long, it must be distinct from this vein as mapped. He also
cites much float-ore along East river (now called Calamity brook). Since his
time float-ore has also been located to the northwest toward the Preston
ponds. The magnetic surveys of Mr. Sebenius have indicated strong attrac-
tion under the lake and on its shores south of the Sanford belt, and still
additional localities of attraction have been met near the Lower Works (now
called Tahawus post office) in the gneissoid rocks of that section. In fact,
the more one collates the accumulated data, the more one shares in Professor
Emmons’s impression of the large amount of ore that is present.
For the ore-bodies in the massive anorthosites, the only conception that
fits their mineralogic character and geologic associations is that they are
great bodies of titaniferous iron oxides, segregated from a vast plutonic magma,
through whose crystallized substance they are now distributed in broad and
somewhat roughly outlined belts. All gradations can be found from pure
metallic oxides to pure masses of labradorite.
As regards their future development, if brought about, it will be by
means of an extension of the Adirondack railroad up the valley of the
Hudson, along the route that can be easily traced on the maps of Minerva
and Newcomb. The grades are gentle and the engineering difficulties are
slight.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
SECTIONS AND THICKNESS OF THE LOWER SILURIAN
FORMATIONS ON WEST CANADA CREEK AND
IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY. |
COMMUNICATED BY
CHARLES S. PROSSER anp EDGAR R. CUMINGS.
James Harn, State Geologist.
Sir :—The accompanying paper gives a detailed account of the rock
sections at various localities in the West Canada creek and Mohawk river
valleys. The results obtained serve to show that the Calciferous sandrock
and Utica slate have a much greater thickness than that noted in previous
descriptions of these formations.
Respectfully yours,
CHARLES. S. PROSSER,
EDGAR R. CUMINGS.
Union Cottrecr, Scnenrctrapy, N. Y.
617
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Sections and Thickness of the Lower Silurian Formations on
West Canada Creek and in the Mohawk Valley.
By CuHarwes S. Prossrr ann Epear R. Cumries.
ContTEnTs: Introduction, p. 619. Trenton Falls, p. 620; Section of Trenton Falls gorge, p. 620.
The Newport Sections, p. 627; Section of the Newport railroad cut, p. 627; Section of the Moshier
quarry, p. 631. Little Falls, p. 632; Section northeast of Little Falls, p. 633; Section of the Cook
quarry, p. 686. Canajoharie and Palatine Bridge, p. 687; Shaper quarry, p. 637; Canajoharie creek
section, p. 688; The Mohawk Valley Stone Co. quarry, p. 640. Sprakers, p. 641; Flat creek section,
p- 641; West Shore railroad-cut section, p. 642; Section at Yosts, p. 648. Tribes Hill and Fort
Hunter, p. 644; North side of the Mohawk, p. 644; South side of the Mohawk, p. 646. The Amster-
dam-Hoffman Region, p. 647; Section along Morphy creek to the top of Adebahr hill, p. 647;
Minaville section, p. 649; The Eva’s kill section, p. 652; Section opposite Crane’s Village on the
south side of the Mohawk river, p. 653; Hoffman and Van Epps hill section, p. 655; Patterson-
ville section, p. 656.
INTRODUCTION.
A recent paper describing the geology of the vicinity of Trenton Falls
contains this statement: ‘The writer was unable to find a detailed tabula-
tion of the stratigraphy or local geological boundaries of the type section
[of the Trenton formation |.” *
In that paper its author has given a detailed account of the strati-
graphy and faunas of the various zones along the gorge of West Canada
creek, at Trenton Falls, based upon extensive collections of fossils from the
entire length of the gorge; these were carefully identified and assigned to the
various zones into which he divided the section. In a recent examination of
the gorge, made by the writers, some differences in the stratigraphic details
were noted, and in order that the description of this interesting formation at
its typical locality may be as accurate as possible, it is considered advisable
to publish the following section and, in addition, to give some account of the
formations in the vicinity of Newport on West Canada creek, which were
also described by Mr. White.
* The Faunas of the Upper Ordovician strata at Trenton Falls, Oneida Connty, New York ; by Theodore G. White. Trans.
actions New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. XV, April, 1896, p. 71.
619
620 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
Trenton FAtts.
The rock section begins near the southern end of the path on the western
side of the gorge and extends to the top of Prospect quarry, a distance of
about two miles. The path may be followed for a short distance below the
hotel stairs; but the lowest rocks, stratigraphically, are exposed in the
Narrows above this point. At the water level below the hotel stairs, is the
base of Mr. White’s section D of station No. 130, which also extended from
this locality up the gorge to the Prospect quarries. Section C, No. 130, on
the eastern side of the gorge below Section D, was studied by Mr. White,
but apparently no considerable thickness of lower rocks was found.
Section of Trenton Falls Gorge.*
A’. The lowest rocks exposed along the path on the western side ,f°*,,
of the gorge, are twenty-four feet thick at the Narrows, and on account
of the heavy dip down stream, show only the upper eleven feet at the
southern end of the path. The upper part is composed of thin layers, three
to five inches thick, which form a somewhat clearly defined band two and one-
half feet thick. This is Nos. 3 and 2 of White’s section. Below this band
are similar limestones with shaly fossiliferous partings. In the Narrows, the
lowest layers are compact bluish grey, thin-bedded limestones, interstratified
with coarser-grained layers containing numerous well-preserved specimens of
Monticulipora (Prasopora) lycoperdon. The more compact layers are
unfossiliferous. In the Narrows are shown Nos. 3, 2 and 1 of White, and
apparently about thirteen feet of lower rocks.
1. Monticulipora (Prasopora) lycoperdon, (Say). (aa)t
2. Orthis (Dalmanella) testudinaria, Dal. (7)
3. Plectambonites sericea, (Sowb.), Hall and Clarke. — (r)
4. Ceraurus pleurecanthemus, Green. (7)
Crinoid segments.
Or
A*, Heavy bed of compact, regular, thin-bedded, very dark blue ,f°%',,
limestone, from eight to ten feet thick, which separates into layers from three
to ten inches in thickness, divided by. shaly partings. This heavy bed is
prominently shown along both sides of the gorge from the southern end of
the path on the western side, to the upper part of Sherman fall. At the end
of the path, where the rods are placed, the base of this bed is about eleven
* Station No. 48, Section A. Union College Survey.
+ The relative abundance of the species is indicated in the following manner: a = abundant; aa = very abundant ; ¢ = com-
mon ; Tf =rare ; rr= very rare, when but one or two specimens have been found.
621
E.R.Cumings.
SECTION FROM
FOOT OF TRENTON FALLS GORGE
TO PROSPECT QUARRY
PRossER AND Cumines—Lowerr Sivurtan SECTIONS:
No.48,
- % " a ri rs .
~ DK ~N > ~ e b
Bilas qe ce eae ES 5
8g aR SS Pi K
ey Sor 4 = $
: 3 H cee tA ‘ & nea *
sx as U a ; & i Ca : a e 2 ! a! i !
= Gai CAAA HH A gue THA it Tn n Ae CHR manana: ngage TT i] , ~
ee a ou ae i ae Te iit i ae te eH He HN ia a i it a St ne : ne | tt ae
asa tie i oe Ht ita i en a ea Ue AH ia He =
iTS (HH] Y Foe ee a rie een Ot
Me COs os SCSI 3 2 See Ee ee ne eae ere la
100.95 per cent.
All of the limestone shown in the lower part of the Moshier quarry is
considered as belonging in the Birdseye, which gives the subformation at this
locality a thickness of at least twenty-two and three-quarters feet. Emmons
stated that the thickness of the Birdseye to the northwest in Jefferson
county, was “not far from thirty feet.”*
Litrné Fats.
Thirteen miles southeast of Newport in the Mohawk valley, is Little
Falls, a locality famous alike for its natural scenery and geologic structure.
The section is introduced here in order to give the thickness of the Caleif-
erous sandrock and to show the decrease in thickness of the Trenton
limestone as compared with that at Trenton Falls, only twenty-two miles
to the northwest. At this place is the upper gorge of the Mohawk river,
where the falls and the lower part of the cliffs are composed principally of
gneiss, which has generally been referred to the Laurentian system of the
Archaean. The gneiss is excellently exposed in the cliffs on the northern
side of the river along the tracks of the New York Central railroad, in the
eastern part of the city, as may be seen in Plate VI. Above the gneiss are
steep walls of Calciferous sandrock which are especially conspicuous on the
southern side of the river opposite the railway stations.
* Geology of New York, Part IT, 1842, p. 385.
"LSVa ONINMOOT '13auLS
3HL SAOSV ANOLSGNVS SNOYSSIOIVD JO 3dINO ! SSISND NVILNSYNY] HONOYHL ‘SIV4 SILLIT LV LNO Gvowtivey SYOHS 1Sa/\\
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Foo GuoIMvyo NaBeNa Iv dOON
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om
Prosser AnD Cuminas—Lower SILuRIAN SECTIONS. 633
Section Northeast of Little Falls.
The following section begins at the river level below the falls in the
eastern part of Little Falls and continues northerly for about two miles,
nearly to the summit of the general elevation for that region.
XLVII B. The Laurentian rocks composed principally of 96%%3
gneiss have a thickness of 203 feet as determined by tape and Locke level
measurements. The barometric readings gave 200 feet of the gneiss and
this part of the section may be divided as follows: From the river to the
New York Central railroad, forty feet of garnetiferous gneiss, the base of
which is well exposed along the river; vertical cliff of thirty-three feet of
similar gneiss, weathering to a reddish-brown, to level of Little Falls and
Dolgeville railroad; gneiss forming cliff above Little Falls and Dolgeville
‘ailroad, including the conspicuous layers above the cut, sixty feet; gneiss in
the cedar grove where the joint openings are conspicuous, then mostly covered,
but exposed near the top just below Loomis street, seventy feet. All the
gneiss except the seventy feet of the upper part is well shown in Plate
VII, which is a near view, looking westward, of the gneiss along the
New York Central railroad in the eastern part of Little Falls.
L”. In the base of the Hiram Boyer quarry on Loomis street, Just "Sy
above the gneiss, is a very coarse-grained, quartzitic sandstone containing
quite large quartz pebbles. At present the contact of this sandstone and
the gneiss is hardly shown, though Mr. Boyer states that in the deeper part
of the quarry, former excavations showed it very distinctly. In general, the
gneiss apparently dips heavily to the northeast, while in the quarry the
sandstone has a dip of from one to one and one-half degrees to the north-
west. Professors Shaler and H. 8. Willams studied this exposure some
years ago and, it is believed, determined that the sandstone rests uncon-
formably upon the gneiss.* Mr. Walcott stated that this sandstone “ has
been referred to the Potsdam,”+ though he apparently did not accept this
correlation, for he said: “it is doubtful if we can claim the presence of the
Potsdam at any point in the Mchawk Valley.”
L*®. Bluish-black, finely arenaceous shale, nine inches thick, ,"°%,
weathering to irregular pieces. It contains fairly well preserved specimens of
Lingulepis acuminata, Con., which were first discovered by Professors
Shaler and H. 8. Willams, and reported by the latter at the Washington
meeting of the Geological Society of America, in 1890.
*See Walcott : Correlation Papers—Cambrian. Bulletin United States Geological Survey, No. 81, pp. 207-347.
+Ibid., p. 347.
‘a tThid., pp. 207, 347. The paper has never been published, but its title occurs on p 634, Vol. 2, Builetin Geological Society of
merica
§34 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
SECTION FROM
WVCKHRRR GOT TO
TOP OF HILL
NORTHEAST OF LITTLE FALLS
No.#7, B,
ER Com ‘ ngs.
a7 Se oe frei) 2 Ser eee
; Utica.
eft 2 - _-----------------~-------------. Br
| SN
He ieee of Trenton. Terie
97’ ZZ Be
676). __
124,
Mee SS SS SS a ee Birdseye.
Bs
16S
. 494 = Thin layers.
FIGS” a Ledge in field.
8’
Zp Calciferous.
Zm &
ZOLA Foe ie eS a ee et Le ee <
776’
aa | per ae IO Cs pe es EY Top of cut.
bé(
Wea DL StS RAT EETE Ste Shale. @s
Conglomerate. Ba
AO MOY YAddN SO WOVE SNOLSONVS SNOYSAINIVD AO 3SVG ‘STW-| AILLI]
JO MAIA QHVMLSV3 WYAN3*)
‘QVONTIVY IWYLNSD MYO, MAN SHL DONOW SSISNO NVILNSYNV]
YW
I
JO LuVd NYS1SVS =
= , |
“e OD AGYOIMVYO HOSENAVIWH dOOMNAM
walt ¢ ~ t
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; v
IA ALW1
Prosser anp Cumrncs—Lower SriurRIAN SEcrTIONS. _ 635
L*. Above the shale is the massive Calciferous sandrock, seventy- 46°%bo
four feet of which is exposed in the wall of the quarry. This part of the for-
mation is composed principally of compact, thick-bedded, greyish calcareous
sandstone that has been quarried. In the lower part are occasional shaly
partings, similar to B*, but no fossils were found in them. This quarry is
shown in Plate VIII, where Mr. Birch stands on what is said to be the top
of the gneiss, the two heavy layers at the base of the cliff being the sandstone
of B®; the stratum of fossiliferous shale is marked by the hammer, while
above is the massive Calciferous sandstone.
In the fields above the Boyer quarry the rocks are partly covered, yet
there are sufficient exposures to make possible the determination of the top
of the Calciferous. In the upper part it is thinner bedded than in the lower.
No fossils were found.
L*, On the Ritter farm, near the house, is a ledge composed of 52°64
thin layers of compact, fine-grained, dove-colored limestone, containing vertical
tubules filled with calcite similar to the small ones found near Newport and
referred to Phytopsis. The thickness is approximately five feet and it is
referred to the Birdseye limestone.
B®. For fifty-three feet above the Birdseye the rocks are covered, of °°%¢g
when a ledge of Trenton limestone, five feet thick, appears. The rock is a
crystalline greyish limestone and contains an abundance of Trenton brachio-
pods. Above this ledge forty-six feet are covered before the base of the black
shale is reached; but it is probable that nearly if not all of this 104 feet
belongs in the Trenton. The following species were obtained from the five-
foot stratum:
1. Rajinesquina alternata (Con.), Hall and Clarke. — (aa)
2. Plectambonites sericea (Sowb.), H. and C. (a)
3. Orthis (Dalmanella) testudinaria, Dal. (c)
4, Monticulipora (Prasopora) lycoperdon (Say). (a)
5. Calymene callicephala, Green. (1')
6. Asaphus platycephalus, Stokes. (1)
7. Orthis (Dinorthis) pectinella (Kmm.), Hall. (7)
8. Orthoceras sp.
9. Zygospira recurvirostra, Hall. (1°)
10. Trinucleus concentricus (Eaton), Hall.
11. Escharopora recta, Hall. (7)
")
12. Crinoid segments.
636 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
LL. Black carbonaceous shale at the base of the Utica formation; ,,"°,
nineteen feet exposed on the hill near the Eysaman house.*
Vanuxem, in describing the rocks about Little Falls, states that “the
gneiss rises at the east end to the height of a hundred feet,” while the Cal-
ciferous is given as having “a thickness of over 200 feet.” + In each case it
will be noticed that the thickness is more than twice as much as Vanuxem’s
estimate. Darton gave the thickness of the Calciferous as from “200 to 250
feet on the Mohawk,” } while the Birdseye is mentioned as having a thickness
of “four feet about Little Falls.”§ On the south side of the east and west
road west of the Eysaman house is an old quarry and lime-kiln, known as the
Cook quarry, in which the contact of the Birdseye and the Trenton limestones
is clearly shown.
Section of the Cook Quarry.
XL VII C*. Fine-grained, dove-colored Birdseye limestone. In gf*%hy
the lower part of the quarry are exposed four and one-half feet, composed of
the three following layers in ascending order: two feet and three inches, one
foot and. five inches, and nine inches. The vertical, small P/hytopsis markings
were present, but no other fossils.
C*. Thin, irregular layers of dark-colored Trenton limestone 44°" ;,
somewhat crystalline and highly fossiliferous; twelve and one-half feet are
exposed in the quarry wall.
1. Orthis (Dalmanella) testudinaria, Dal. (aa)
2. Orthis (Dinorthis) pectinella (EKmm.), Hall and Clarke. — (ce)
3. Rafinesquina alternata (Con.), H. and C. (1)
4. Plectambonites sericea (Sowhb.), H. and C. (c)
5. Asuphus platycephalus, Stokes. (1)
6. Stictopora ct. acuta, Hall. (1)
7. Monticulipora (Prasopora) lycoperdon, (Say). (1)
8. Crinoid segments.
On the south side of the river opposite the central part of the city is a
nearly perpendicular cliff of massive Calciferous sandrock, 300 feet in height.
About 170 feet above the base is a four-foot stratum containing specimens
apparently of Cryptozion proliferum, Hall. Below the Calciferous sandrock
is the gneiss which is excellently shown in the West Shore railroad cut east
* Recently Mr. M. L. Haviland and other students of Union College, measured the section north of Little Falls. They
obtained a thickness of 217 feet for the Laurentian gneiss ; 446 feet for the Calciferous; 81 for the Trenton, and 27 feet of Utica
slate to the top of the hill. c.s8 P.
t Geology of New York, Part III , 1842, p, 209. For the thickness of the Calciferous, see also p. 82.
+ Thirteenth Annual Report State Geologist [New York], 1894, p. 418.
§ Ihid., p, 422.
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ProssER AND Cuminecs—Lower SinurtAn SEcrIoNs. ~ 637
of the station. Plate IX gives a view of this locality, looking eastward,
the cut being through the gneiss, and the cliff above the street being com-
posed of the lower part of the Calciferous sandrock.
CANAJOHARIE AND PALATINE BRIDGE.
Along the Mohawk river on both the north and south sides, in the
vicinity of Canajoharie, are numerous outcrops of the Calciferous sandrock.
The exposures are in the upper part of the formation and belong in the
substage which was named the Fucoidal layers by Vanuxem,* who stated
that the best exposition of these layers “ was at Canajoharie.”
) J
Shaper Quarry.
In the western part of Canajoharie village is the Shaper quarry, which
is extensively worked, exposing some forty-four feet of the Fucoidal layers.
The following section from the level of the West Shore railroad to the top
of the quarry gives the thickness of the different layers as exposed in this
quarry : '
No. 15. Soil on top of quarry.
14. 3 feet, 9 inches.
TSrenneeehysas
Loy 32-5
DAN e eae ED a
WO Wen
Vr Da ne eae
Sethe (Not fucoidal.)
(ieee Se Spal Mae (Not fucoidal. )
(SON Se eae ied (Fucoidal markings very conspicuous.)
Doping Gcba
JC ee ee (The top of this layer forms the floor of the
middle part of the quarry and is its
main ledge.)
Drea o
een Omen (Lowest layer in the quarry.)
IAD AO oat (From the bottom of the quarry to the
level of the West Shore railroad.)
The above section gives a thickness of forty feet and four inches of
Calciferous sandrock in the quarry, or a total of sixty feet and four inches
* Fourth Annual Report Geological Survey of the Third District [New York] (Assembly Document No. 50, 1840), p. 369.
} Geology of New York, Part III, 1842, p. 87.
638 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
for the section from the level of the West Shore railroad below the quarry
to its top. The dip is about sixty degrees west of south and the amount
varies from four to eight degrees in the different portions. This quarry was
described some ten years ago by Professor Smock.*
Canajoharie Creek Section.
The Canajoharie creek flows through the central part of the village, and
exposures of the Calciferous sandrock begin along its sides opposite Arkell
& Smith’s paper bag factory. Along this part of the creek the banks are
not steep, but about one-half mile farther up the stream they become steep
and in places there are vertical rock cliffs, seventy-five feet or more in height.
Near the lower end of this gorge the Calciferous passes beneath the bed
of the creek and is succeeded by seventeen feet of thin bedded Trenton
limestone, above which is the Utica slate forming the cliffs of the greater
part of the glen. In describing this region Mr. Darton stated that in
descending the Mohawk river the thickness of the Trenton limestone
gradually decreases until at Canajoharie “the amount is only six feet,”
and further says, “the formation is well exposed on the creek behind
Canajoharie.”+ In the upper part of the gorge the older rocks are covered
by a deposit of boulder clay, which in places has a thickness of some
seventy-five feet.
LIT GB. Fucoidal substage of the Calciferous sandrock from ,f&t,
the base of the Trenton to the level of the West Shore railroad. The lowest
exposures noted are on the bank of the creek opposite the Arkell & Smith
factory above the West Shore railroad bridge, and about on a level with
the track.
?. Thin-bedded dark blue, very fossiliferous Trenton limestone, ,7°4,
separated by shaly partings, with a total thickness varying from sixteen to
seventeen feet, as measured on the vertical banks of the creek. The line of
division between the Trenton and Calciferous formations in this section is
clearly shown, for the upper part of the Calciferous is slightly flexed and
upon it the regular layers of the Trenton rest. This shows a slight folding
of the Calciferous previous to the deposition of the Trenton and indicates
between them a time break of considerable duration which, in northeastern
New York, is filled by the Chazy limestone. Darton gave a picture of the
creek bank, showing the contact of the Calciferous and Trenton.
* Builetin New York State Museum , No. 3, 1888, pp. 109-110. See ibid., Vol. 2, No. 10, 1890, p. 245.
+ Thirteenth Annual Report State Geologist [New York], 1894, p. 425.
¢ Ibid., pl. 5.
‘YSINWVH AS GSLVOIGNI SqVHS VINSON) “ANOLSONVS SNOYSSIONVD NI AYYWNd ysAog
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Prosser: AND Cumrincs—Lowerr SILuRIAN SEcrIoNsS. 639
B®. Very black, bituminous Utica slate forming the greater part 39)°%"320
of the walls of the glen. It is quite calcareous and more fossiliferous than
‘that in the exposures farther down the Mohawk valley, and the exposure of
fully 300 feet in the gorge belongs in the lower part of the Utica formation,
In the lower part of the gorge is a fall over Utica slate, the top of which is
about forty-five feet above the base of the slate. This locality was cited by
Mr. Darton as “one of the finest exposures [of Utica slate] in the Mohawk
valley,” and a picture of the falls was given in his report.*
The thin layers of Trenton limestone in the Canajoharie gorge are abun-
Loy
(S)
dantly fossiliferous and: the following species were collected :
1. Rafinesquina alternata (Con.), Hall and Clarke. (c)
2. Calymene callicephala, Green (?). (r)
3. Orthis (Dalmanella) testudinaria, Dal. (a)
4. Asaphus platycephalus, Stokes. (c)
5. Monticulipora (Prasopora) lycoperdon, Say. (1)
6. Modiolopsis mytiloides, Hall (?). (rr)
7. Tellinomya levata, Hall. (11)
8. Zygospira recurvirostra (Hall), Winch. and Schuch. (rr)
9. Plectambonites sericea (Sowb.), H. and C. (c)
10. Trinucleus concentricus, Eaton. (7)
js Atrypa (Protozyga) exiqua, Hall. (r)
12. Ceraurus pleurexanthemus, Green (2). (ar)
13. Murchisonia bellicincta, Hall. (rr)
14. Murchisonia gracilis, Hall (2). (7r)
15. Camarella ef. Volborthi, Bill. (rr)
16. Stictopora sp. (r)
As already stated, the Utica slate contains a larger number of fossils
than has been found in the more eastern exposures. The list is as follojvs,
and it undoubtedly might be materially increased by further search.
1. Lingula quadrata (Kich.), Hall (2). (c)
2. Plectambonites sericea (Sowb.), H. and ©. (a)
3. Orthis (Dalmanella) testudinaria, Dal. (c)
4. Triarthrus Becki, Green. (c)
5. Graptolites. (a)
6. Asaphus platycephalus, Stokes. (r)
7. Tellinomya nuculiformis, Hall. (1)
* 1bid., p. 429, pl. 7.
640 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.:
8. Pterinea Trentonensis (Conrad). (rr)
9. (2) Edmondia subtruncata (Hall). (rr)
10. Hndoceras proteiforme, Hall. (c)
11. Raphistoma lenticulare (mmons). (1)
12. Trocholites ammonius, Conrad. (1)
13. Rafinesquina alternata (Con.), H. and C. (r)
14. Orthis (Dinorthis) pectinella, Etam., var. semiovalis, Hall. (rr)
15. Crinoid segment. (rr)
16. Leptobolus insignis, Hall. (r)
17. Lingula curta, Con. (a)
18. Monticulipora (Prasopora) lycoperdon, Say. (17)
19. Bellerophon sp. (rr)
The Mohawk Valley Stone Company’s Quarry.
On the northern side of the Mohawk river to the west of Palatine
Bridge is the extensive quarry of the Mohawk Valley Stone Company,
formerly called the Frey. This quarry is in the Fucoidal substage of the
Calciferous and in recent years a large amount of stone has been shipped
from it. At present it is, probably, the most largely worked quarry in the
Mohawk valley. On the upper surface of the rock, near its eastern end,
are glacial striae.
LIT ©. Covered from the level of the New York Central rail- ,Fet,
road track to the base of the quarry.
Cc? The lower half of the quarry, consisting of fucoidal Caleif- ,°%,
erous sandrock which splits into three prominent layers that become thinner
on the weathered surface and thus do not extend for any considerable
distance,
C*, Nine feet and four inches of fucoidal Calciferous sandrock, ,F°¢,
in fairly thick layers, forming the upper part of the quarry.
In the field to the northeast of the quarry a ledge of Calciterous rock
was noticed, but no other formation was seen below the highway. Mr. Darton
stated that the Fucoidal beds in the vicinity of Canajoharie, “have a
thickness of about ten feet and le about six feet below the top of the
formation.” It is perfectly evident after an examination of the quarries on
either side of the Mohawk river at Canajoharie, that the thickness of the
Fucoidal substage is much greater than ten feet.
* Thirteenth Annual Report of the State Geologist [New York], p. 421.
Lu
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ProssER AND Cumincs—Lower SILuRIAN SECTIONS. ° 641
SPRAKERS.
Twenty miles southeast of Little Falls and three miles below Canajoharie
ds the small village of Sprakers,* at the upper end of the lower gorge of the
Mohawk river. About a mile below the railroad stations the valley is very
narrow and is bounded on each side by nearly perpendicular walls, in places
350 feet in height, composed largely of Calciferous sandrock. About two
miles below the New York Central railroad station, on the northern side of
the river, is a conspicuous pot known as the Great Nose, where the
Laurentian gneiss is exposed, above which the massive Calciferous sand-
stone is clearly shown. On the southern side of the river opposite this
point and farther down the river in the valley and in the West Shore railroad
cuts at the foot of Little Nose, the gneiss is also shown. The scenery in
this gorge is very picturesque and the locality is one of the most charming
in the beautiful Mohawk valley.
Flat Creek Section.
At Sprakers, Flat creek enters the Mohawk river from the south, the
banks along its lower course being steep and rocky. From the village to a
point a short distance above the falls, the rocks along the creek belong to the
Calciferous sandrock, while the bank above shows about seventeen feet of
Trenton Imestone, capped by Utica slate. A quarter of a mile farther up
the creek the second gorge begins, the steep sides of which are composed
entirely of Utica slate. At least 230 feet of the slate are shown in the
bank of the creek. There is a fall formed by some of the harder layers of
the slate, while pillars of erosion and several very pretty amphitheaters
occur.
VII A*. Covered slope from the river level to the lowest
rocks exposed in Flat creek.
A*, Light grey, massive, calcareous sandstone exposed in the ,,"et,
creek bed and along its steep banks. Calciferous sandrock,
A’. In the upper part of the Calciferous, a portion of the layers ,,"°%,,
is thinner and contains great numbers of fucoidal markings. There is no
sharp line of division, but these fucoidal layers begin to be conspicuous some
ninety-five feet below the top of the Calciferous. In the upper part of the
fall, about one mile south of Sprakers, are thick strata similar to those quar-
ried at various localities in the Mohawk valley termed the “* Fucoidal layers,”
*On most of the maps this village is called Sprakers Basin, but Sprakers is the name of the post office and of the railroad
Stations.
41
642 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
by Vanuxem. The statement that these massive fucoidal layers are from ten
to fifteen feet in thickness and confined to the upper twenty-five feet of the
formation is misleading, for layers of similar structure and appearance occur
along the Mohawk valley at least 130 feet below the top of the formation.
In a quarry on the east side of the creek, near the top of the bank, are layers
of the massive fucoidal limestone containing specimens of Ophileta compla-
nata, Van.
A‘ Thin layers of dark blue, fossiliferous limestone, well exposed 4°39
in the steep bank above the fall and highway bridge, from sixteen and one
half to seventeen feet in thickness. Trenton limestone.
A’. Very black, argillaceous shale which forms the steep banks 9542 tig,
of the creek in the second gorge. Utica slate. ‘The 230 feet do not represent
the thickness of the formation in this region, but should be considered to
refer simply to its lower part which is admirably exposed in this gorge.
The above section is important from the fact that it shows the thinning
of the Trenton formation from an approximate thickness of 109 feet at Little
Falls, twenty miles northwest, to about seventeen feet in Flat creek.
Furthermore both the Birdseye and Black river limestones are wanting. The
dip varies from 5° to 7°, N. 84° W. along the lower gorge.
Some ten years ago, a diagrammatic section of this creek was published,
which represented the Calciferous, Chazy, Trenton and Utica formations.*
The thickness of the Trenton limestone is given as “from ten to fifteen feet,”’+
which is the only measurement recorded, and the Chazy limestone appears
not to be present.
West Shore Railroad Cut Section.
About one and one-fourth miles below Sprakers is the West Shore rail-
road cut, with a nearly perpendicular southern wall of Calciferous sandrock
which reaches a height of 350 feet.
VIT B. Top of the Laurentian gneiss, exposed at the eastern end
of the cut.
>, Basal part of Calciferous sandrock extending from the top 43°;
of the gneiss, 1,500 feet along the side of the railroad to the point where the
nearly vertical cliff of Caleiferous was measured. The thickness is estimated
from the dip which is about 1°, N. 85° W.
33. From the railroad level to the brow of the cliff forming the 36 °%sg5
nearly perpendicular wall of the railroad cut. The cliff is composed entirely
* Fifth Annual Report of the State Geologist [New York], 1886, p. 9.
+ Ibid., p. 8.
‘ANOLSONVS SNOYSSIOIVD SHL YSAO ‘SYSBYVHdS ‘MASH 1vI4 NI STIV4
9 youve wa 1whidoos ie eatin - : : ; 3 ea rr
tk ea pike , 2 aS. v4
“e.. : % Ss ; %
i ; ¢
X 3Lv1d
ProssER AND Cumincs—Lower Simurtan SEctrions. 643
of the massive, light grey Calciferous sandrock and is one o1 the best out-
crops of the formation to be found in the Mohawk valley. A specimen of
- Cryptozobn proliferum, Hall, was found near the middle of the cliff.
B+. In the field south of the cliff, mostly covered, showing only ¢5"°"s
occasional outcrops of the Calciferous sandrock with a conspicuous stratum
at the top of the first terrace south of the cliff.
B®. Partly covered, still showing plenty of outcrops of an arena- 4"°%fo
ceous, compact, greyish rock with irregular fucoidal markings. Several
specimens of Ophileta complanata, Van., and also the form named QO. /evata
by Vanuxem*, have been found in the somewhat shaly layers of this division.
The Calciferous sandrock caps the highest land about one mile southwest of
the railroad cliff, although it is undoubtedly near the summit of the
formation.
The above section shows that the Calciferous formation has a thickness
of 500 feet in the region of Sprakers and the lower gorge of the Mohawk
river. This decided increase over the supposed thickness will be appreciated
when it is stated that Vanuxem gave it as “ upwards of 200 feet thick at the
Noses and Little Falls.”+ Darton states that ‘“ the formation has a thickness
of 200 to 250 feet on the Mohawk, and the amount appears to be constant
over a wide area.”{ The thickness of the Calciferous sandrock along the
Mohawk valley is thus shown to be 500 feet which is some 250 to 300 feet
greater than has generally been given.
Section at Yosts.
On the northern side of the Mohawk river at Yosts, three miles below
Sprakers and five miles above Fonda, is a high and steep cliff composed of
the Calciferous sandrock. This locality is at the eastern end of the lower
gorge of the Mohawk river and the massive, nearly horizontal layers of the
Calciferous formation are conspicuously visible from the trains of the New
York Central railroad. (See Plate 1.)
VI ©’. Covered from the railroad track to the base of the cliff. ,,Fe',,
The greater part if not all of this covered division belongs in the Calciferous.
O*, Massive layers of Calciferous sandrock, forming the nearly 4»,
perpendicular cliff. From the base of the Calciferous ledges to the brow of
the cliff.
* This species is referred to O. complanata by Whitfield. See Bulletin American Museum of Natural History, Vol. II, p. 49
+ Geology of New York, Part III, p. 32. On p. 205 Vanuxem stated that the Calciferous cliff at the Noses ‘rises vertically to
two hundred and more feet.”
¢ Thirteenth Annual Report of the State Geologist [New York], p. 418.
644 Report oF THE STaTE GEOLOGIST.
C*%. From the brow of the cliff to the top of the bill, Partly j5¢°"%S5ss
covered but showing ledges of Calciferous sandrock to the top of the hill.
The Calciferous sandrock forms the top of this hill and no indication of
the Trenton was found. The Fonda sheet of the United States topographic
map shows that the difference in altitude between the New York Central
railroad and the top of this hill is between 560 and 580 feet. This section
shows at least 450 feet of Calciferous sandrock to which, probably, the greater
part if not all of the covered 112 feet at the base of the section should be
added, which would indicate a thickness of more than 500 feet of Calciferous.
Tries Hi anp Forr Hunter.
North Side of the Mohawk.
Tribes Hill is a small village about half way between Fonda and Amster-
dam, and opposite the mouth of the Schoharie creek, which enters the
Mohawk river from-the south. The Trenton limestone is exposed on both
sides of the Mohawk at this locality, the most extensive outcrop being in the
quarry below the railroad and the cut above it Just west of the Tribes Hill
station. The section of this quarry and railroad cut is as follows:
XLIIV <. 0520 ieee eee
* Transactions American Institute of Mining Engineers, Vo}. XVI, pp. 951, 952.
ProssER AND Cumincs—LOoOWER SILURIAN SECTIONS. 659
em eh CREE Lah ratte Bre 5) a wifm a 7 HE Ngee ey, dao! ogg hee
lia 7 148y5
C®, Thin layer of sandstone.
Ce crim mnevarenaceous shale..." 2 se fete me wv ght
C8’. Heavy layer of sandstone by the highway which runs under ,Fe¢t
the railroad track east of the cut. Dip, 3°, 8. 50° W.
From a very thin layer of loose grained, arenaceous shale exposed near
the base of the railroad cut on both sides of the track and largely composed
of the comminuted fragments of fossils, the following species were collected:
1. Triarthrus Becki, Green. (c)
Numerous small fragments of the pleurae and a few complete
specimens of the glabella.
2. Trinucleus concentricus, Katon. (c)
Mostly fragments of the spines and cheeks.
3 Plectambonites sericea (Sowb.), H. and C. (?) (c)
All the specimens are very small and rather coarsely striated.
4. Orthis (Dalmanella) testudinaria, Dal. (2) (r)
5. Orbiculoidea sp.
6. Monticulipora (Prasopora) lycoperdon, Say (2). (r)
7. Crinoid segments. (r)
8. Graptolites.
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
(GEOLOGICAL MAP.)
REPORT
ONSTHE TAL€ INDUSTRY OF ST. LAWRENCE. COUNTY.
JAMES HALL, | CoE SEY RE: Jin.
State Geologist. | Assistant.
1895:
661
James Han, State Geologist,
Sir:
The accompanying report on the tale industry of St. Lawrence
county embraces certain results of my investigations in this region which it
has seemed well to bring together in a special chapter.
Respectfully yours,
Cera SiEY TECe Ir:
Hamitton Couiecr, Cuinton, N. Y., Lebruary 27, 1896.
663
Report on the Talc Industry of St. Lawrence County.
By C. H. Smyrn, Jr.
* an account was given of the southwestern portion
In a former report,
of the tale deposits, which extend from the central part of the township of
Fowler, nearly across Edwards. The examination then made was incidental
to a reconnaissance of a portion of St. Lawrence county not including the
town of Edwards in which the tale has its greatest development. On this
account, the description of the deposits was very incomplete, and the con-
clusions drawn as to their origin were limited to such portions as were
actually studied. The explanation of the deposits suggested was, however, of
such a nature that it was difficult to see how it could apply to a part of
them and not to the whole; and this general application was withheld simply
because the descriptions of the tale in Edwards, which had been published at
that time, were so at variance with the facts observed in Fowler. In the
latter town, as stated in the report referred to, the tale gives every indication
of being a bedded deposit, constituting a portion of the crystalline limestone
formation so important in this region.
Published accounts of the tale in Edwards, however, stated that it formed
a clearly-defined vein, with granite or gneiss walls.+ As it hardly seemed
possible that the tale should exhibit such different relations at poimts on a
continuous belt and separated by only a few miles, it was thought advisable
to examine the entire series of deposits, their economic importance being
sufficient to warrant a determination of their geologic character.
Such an examination, made during the past summer, served to remove
the seeming contradictions which formerly existed. The deposits in Edwards
were found to agree in every important particular with those of Fowler, and
all the facts observed are in harmony with the explanation given for the
latter. The deposits only remotely resemble veins, while the walls of granite
and gneiss have no existence.
The chief mines form a group in and near Taleville, and here the tale is
well shown. It occurs in two or more horizons only a few feet apart, forming
* Report of the New York State Geologist for the year 1893, pp. 493-515.
+ A. Sahlin ; The Talc Industry of the Gouverneur District, St. Lawrence county, N. Y. ; Transactions American Institute of
Mining Engineers, Vol. X XT, p. 583.
Talc ; The Mineral Industry, Vol. I, p. 435.
665
666 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
beds from ten to above twenty feet thick, averaging about sixteen feet. The
beds dip to the north and strike northeast, conforming in both respects with
the crystalline limestone in which they he. The walls of the tale consist
of a tremolite or enstatite schist which passes over gradually into the
limestone.
While, in mining, the tale is easily separated from its walls, every possible
gradation exists between the two rocks, and it is evident that they are
different phases of one rock body. The schist probably has resulted from the
metamorphism of a siliceous and magnesian portion of the limestone, being ¢
product of the general metamorphism of the region. Subsequently, parts of
the metamorphic silicates have been altered into tale by addition of water
and loss of lime. This alteration, while most pronounced along certain hori-
zons in the schist, is more or less irregular, causing variations in the thickness
and precise location of the tale beds, which are further increased by
mechanical disturbances.
Most of the Edwards tale shows the fibrous structure of the original
minerals and, in fact, as at the Fowler localities, contains a greater or less
amount of residual tremolite or enstatite. This 1s shown by tests of the hard-
ness of different parts of specimens, or, still better, by a microscopic exami-
nation.
The formation of the tale by the process suggested (and discussed more
at length in the previous report) would not be a merely superficial pheno-
menon, like weathering, but would be the work of solutions which might
extend to great depths, and there seems to be no reason for fearing that the
deposits may be shallow and quickly exhausted. As a matter of fact the
weathered material at, and near the surface, is very poor, good tale appearing
only at some depth where it has been protected from the attack of superficial
agents.
As it comes from the mines, the tale 1s white with a more or less intense
tinge of green. Its lustre is silky or pearly, and its structure decidedly
fibrous. Mingled, however, with the fibrous tale there is often some that is
scaly or wax-like. The latter variety is nearly always developed upon the
surfaces of the rather abundant slickensides.
At the present time ten mines are in operation in the tale district, all but
one, that of the American Company described in the previous report, being
situated at Taleville.
The product of the American Company’s mine is ground by steam power
ia a mill situated only a few rods from the mine, but the other mines send
Smytu—Tarc Inpustry’ or Str. Lawrence County. 667
their product over the recently constructed Gouverneur and Oswegatchie
railroad, to mills scattered along the Oswegatchie river, which furnishes their
motive power.
The process of manufacture is purely mechanical, having for its aim the
reduction of the tale to a fine powder of uniform grain and free from grit.
On account of its fibrous structure, the tale, when powdered, has a strong
tendency to pack into a sort of felt. For this reason it can not be bolted,
and special methods of treatment are required.
The process begins with a sorting of the material at the mines, where the
hard and darker-colored pieces are thrown out. The good tale, in lumps
ranging from a foot or more in diameter down to coarse powder, is then
loaded on cars and shipped to the mills. Here it passes through Blake
crushers, and then goes to rolls or burr stones and is reduced to grains about
the size of a pea.
From the rolls or burr stones, the tale goes either to Griffin mills
or direct to the Alsing cylinders. T hese are drums of half-inch steel, six
feet in diameter and ten feet in length. They are supported by trunnions
at the ends, and revolve about twenty-five times a minute. The cylinders
have a lining of glazed brick, and in each one are placed some three and one-
half tons of round flint pebbles, about the size of an egg. A cylinder is
charged with an amount of tale equal to one-quarter or one-third the weight
of flint pebbles and, after the manhole is closed, is revolved till the tale is
reduced to the requisite degree of fineness. This operation usually takes
about two hours. When it is completed, the closing plate is removed and a
erating substituted, which will retain the pebbles and permit the discharge of
the tale. The cylinder is then revolved again till the tale is all removed,
ready for packing and shipment.
Several grades of tale are produced, varying in fineness and. color.
Extreme and uniform fineness and a blue-white color, are the desirable
qualities. The fibrous structure is found in all grades and is, doubtless, a
most important factor in giving value to the material. The felting of the
powder, which gave much trouble in the earlier attempts at manufacture, is
the foundation of its most extensive application. Under the microscope, even
the finest and most impalpable portions of the powdered tale are seen to con-
sist of ragged, fibrous masses, elongated in the direction of the fibres, and
frayed and shredded at the ends. It is evident that the fibrous structure
is present on so minute a scale as to extend to the finest particles of the
mineral.
668 Report OF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
This structure alone, howeyer, would not suffice to give to the material
its valuable properties; indeed, it is not an inherent property of tale but,
instead, is a product of its mode of formation. The value of the tale follows
from its complex origin, in virtue of which it combines the fibrous structure
resulting from its derivation from the other silicates with its own pliability
and softness. The value of either mineral in its typical form would be
much less than that of the material which combines some of the properties
ot both.
Tremolite and enstatite, although fibrous, would, on account of their
brittleness, grind to a granular powder with no binding properties; and
the same would be true, though perhaps to a less degree, of massive or
fohated tale.
In the district under consideration the terms “massive” and “foliated ”
are often applied to varieties of tale in which the fibrous structure, although
present, is so fine as to be inconspicuous, except under the microscope. In
such cases, the character of the ground material is the same as of that pro-
duced from the coarsely fibrous talc; although sufficient tale that is truly
massive or foliated may sometimes be present to render the grinding more
difficult and the finished product of less value.
The presence of scales of talc, in many specimens, indicates that it can
not be regarded as entirely pseudomorphous, as these scales certainly do not
have the form of the original minerals. On the contrary, the form is that of
tale itself and must have resulted directly from the independent growth of
that mineral. The materials, doubtless, were supplied by the constituents of
the schist, but the structure of the latter, physical as well as chemical, has
broken down. From this, it seems possible that the fibrous structure of the
deposits may be an indication of a lack of completeness in the process of
alteration which, if continued to its ultimate end, would convert all of the
schist to scaly tale. From what has been said above, it is evident that the
possibility of such a complete change of structure has an economic bearing, as
it would result in the destruction of the most valuable properties of the tale.
From this point of view the question is two-fold, involving the possibility of
such a complete change, and the probability of its taking place at moderate
depths, so as to put a stop to profitable mining. On neither of these points
are there conclusive data at hand but, while it is not impossible that such a
complete alteration may have occurred in some portions of the deposits, it
would, doubtless, be very irregularly distributed; and as it would be inde-
pendent of the present topography, would be developed, at such depths as to
SmytrHo—Tatc Inpustry’ or Str. Lawrence County. — 669
prevent further working, only by a coincidence. For these reasons, it seems
entirely justifiable to neglect this factor in estimating the extent and value of
the deposits.
In the case of most mine products, the chemical composition is the most
important feature, the aim being to secure the greatest amount possible of
one or more constituents of the material mined and in a condition suitable
for extraction. With the talc, this is not so; its value is entirely dependent
upon its physical properties, and its chemical composition is of importance
only as it conditions these. The connection between physical properties and
chemical composition is, of course, most intimate, and hence the composition
is of importance indirectly. The value of the material does not, however,
depend upon the presence of some one element which is to be extracted, but,
instead, upon the character resultmg from the union of all the elements
present.
If any one constituent can be said to have particular value, it is the
water. Its importance les in the probability of its giving the soft and pliable
character to the mineral. Of course, it is Impossible to say that this is posi-
tively the case, but it is a familiar fact that many minerals which contain the
elements of water are softer than other minerals having nearly the same com-
position aside from this constituent. In using the term “water” in this
connection it is not meant to imply anything definite as to the condition in
which its elements are present; for in most cases, as with the talc itself, this
is a disputed point.
The predominant importance of the physical properties of the tale ren-
ders simple mechanical tests of more practical value than elaborate chemical
analyses in determining its grade. Were the material of sufficient value to
demand careful discrimination in dealing with it, microscopic examination of
the powder would perhaps afford the most accurate method of grading. By
this means the perfection of fibrous structure, together with the relative
amounts of talc, tremolite and foreign impurities could be rapidly determined.
With existing prices, however, such refinements are unnecessary.
A chemical analysis, of course, shows whether the alteration of the schist
into tale is complete and, if made on a sample taken from a fibrous mass, is a
thorough test of the value of the material. But aground sample might afford
an excellent analysis, and yet lack entirely the fibrous structure necessary to
give it the desired binding properties. In this way, a purely chemical exam-
ination might lead to very inaccurate conclusions as to the quality of the
material.
670 Report OF THE Stave GEOLOGIST.
The following analyses suffice to indicate the composition of the tale:
ie Il. jE IV. NV;
SiO, Sal lyse anes oO ys) 52.42 61.28 62.10
ALLOn is Soh eer arena eales Rex
Fie,(u Sav es de, ee ot oo. enh ete aes
FeO Oe Qdhar th?) fiiddtinge, Waleed Bie 1.30
MnO 1. 16 0.76 iawn Hee One Das
MgO 34.72 31.37 36.24 26.58 32.40
CaO niice ei; eee Os Dhl eats chctegr Me aes bite ee
Nag) acter eas ae ee OS AB oo An eee dati ee eee eee
H,O Sisthik G22. PC Rae gee 2.05
Getalts Aaa 100.58 99.85 88 .66 87.86 100.00
All of these are analyses of fibrous tale, except III, which is the foliated
variety. I and II are from Dana’s System of Mineralogy, page 679; ILI and
IV from “The Mineral Industry,” Volume I, page 425; and V is communti-
cated by Mr. A. J. McDonald, Superintendent of the International Pulp
Company, to whom the writer is indebted for much information used in the
preparation of this report.
The figures shown in I, II and V agree quite well with the theoretical
composition of tale, and present some features which seem difficult to
reconcile with the hypothesis offered to account for the formation of the
deposits, notably the small amount of lime and alumina. But it is probable
that these analyses are made on selected samples, and that the average com-
position of the product of the mines would show more of these impurities.
Moreover, the thickness of the deposits makes it possible to mine only the
best and most completely altered material, thus tending to keep the average
composition fairly close to the theoretical percentages. That there are, how-
ever, wide variations, is shown by the incomplete analyses, III and IV, which
probably represent the ground product.
During the past year the industry has been in a fairly active state, though
not so flourishing as formerly. ‘The output for the year is estimated, by a
competent authority, to be about forty thousand tons. The selling price of
the finished product ranges from seven to twelve dollars, depending upon the
quality.
The great bulk of the product is used as a filler and weighter in the
manufacture of the medium grades of paper. Its value here is a result of its -
Smyru—Tatc Inpustry or Sr. Lawrence Coun'ry. * 671
fibrous and pliable character, which causes it to be retained in the paper
pulp, to which its binding properties give added toughness. Formerly,
various clays were used as fillers, but these did not strengthen the paper, and
only thirty to forty per cent. of the clay was retained by the pulp, while of
the tale, seventy to nmety per cent. is retained.
Smaller quantities of tale are used in the manufacture of cheap grades of
soap, in toilet powders, in the adulterations of various substances, and in the
manufacture of dynamite.
There seems to be no reason for doubting that the demand for tale will
continue, and increase with the revival of business interests in general. As
existing plants can largely expand their output at any time, it is not probable
that any new properties will be developed in the near future. The many
advantages enjoyed by the plants now in operation are sufficient to prevent
new competitors from entering the field, unless there be some great increase
in the demand for tale. The present conditions are not such as to stimulate
search for new deposits, and past efforts in this direction have not been
encouraging. ‘The great extent of crystalline limestone in the region makes
it probable that other tale deposits exist, but tt would be surprising if any
which equal in size and quality the deposits now worked, should have
remained undiscovered till the present time.
CEOLOGICALD SURVEY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
PHYSICAL TESTS OF THE DEVONIAN SHALES OF NEW YORK
STATE TO DETERMINE THEIR VALUE FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF CiLAY PRODUCTS.
JAMES HALL, HEINRICH RIES,
State Geologist. | Assistant.
43 amie } “613
Physical Tests of the Devonian Shales of New York State
to Determine their Value for the Manufacture
of Clay Products.
By Heryricnu Ries.
The extensive developments, in recent years, of the manufacture of clay
products having an impervious or vitrified body, as well as strength and
toughness, has led the manufacturers of these goods to experiment consider-
ably in order to determine what class of clays is best suited for the production
of them. The result of these experiments has been the almost universal
adoption of shale for this purpose.
The production of a vitrified body depends on the proper amount of
fusible impurities in the clay, and that these fluxes shall be of such nature
that the clay can be brought to vitrification without danger of its becoming
viscous. It is in shales that these qualifications are usually found.
An extensive branch of the clay-working industry depending upon
shale for its support, has thus sprung up. The product is principally paving
brick and sewer-pipe.
Some idea of the extent to which shale is used may be gained from the
following figures of production given in the “ Mineral Resources” of the
United States Geological Survey, for 1895. The states given are those in
which shale is almost exclusively used.
PRODUCTION OF VITRIFIED PAVING BRICKS IN 1895.
STATE. THOUSANDS. VALUE.
Paina es a gs. } DBOO $23,500
Mencia ete Ne sh ko eels 1s “82,026 643,997
INHALT kek ald DOBLE 204,000
Pee ee Wet ee lon Ey oe FOLIOS 243,928
IN CAS SCOU TEE ae PRS ee 00 A) 54,640
Ivenuork @y, ee oS" Se gl 105896 121,892
OO tie eo sete as) aks ve “OOOO 787,878
Ais alige tte, 2 calles Sie % ber SHG. LO $2,079,835
Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
for)
SI
(op)
These figures, though large; do not include other shale products, such as
sewel-pipe, stoneware, terra-cotta, pressed brick, ete., and as will be seen from
them, Ohio and Illinois are the largest producers. The works in these two
states have been erected on a large scale, and the products find a wide
application.
Until recently shale was little used by clay workers in the eastern
states, but, having become convinced of its value, they are now taking full
advantage of it.
The whole southern half of New York state is underlaid by a formation
including among its members many extensive shale deposits. These have
been tried with success at several points, and their utilization should expand
rapidly in the near future.
General Properties of Shales.
A shale is practically nothing more than a hardened clay, having been
formed in the same manner, viz.; as a fine sediment deposited in the quiet
portions of lakes or seas, but subsequently hardened by burial under other
sediments laid down upon it.
Although shales are apparently very distinct from clay, on account of
their rock-like condition, the two materials have practically the same physical
and chemical characters, and shale, when ground and mixed with water,
possesses the same plasticity as clay.
Shale-like clay may vary considerably, for just as a clay, by an increase
of its siliceous contents, may pass into sand, so a shale, by an increase of
sand grains in its composition, may grade into a sandstone. This is not at
all an uncommon occurrence.
Shales may also exhibit another change, viz.; passing into slate as a
result of metamorphism. Such slates, when ground and mixed with water,
will never have the same plasticity as shale. They also show a false bedding
developed as a result of pressure, while the original layers of sedimentation
are almost obliterated, the slate showing no tendency to split parallel to them.
At times shales run so low in impurities that they are adapted for the
manufacture of refractory materials. Such shales are restricted almost entirely
to the Carboniferous period (in the eastern United States) and are therefore
not to be sought in New York state.
It sometimes happens that shales are so charged with bituminous matter,
that this impurity has to be taken into consideration in the process of burning,
on account of the enormous heat which it is likely to develop.
Rres—Puysicat Tests or Drvontan SHALES. ~ 677
Most shales contain a large percentage of fusible impurities and it is this
which enables them to burn to a hard, dense, tough body so essential to
vitrified wares, and especially to paving brick. Their action under heat, how-
ever, varies with their physical and chemical properties, which may be briefly
stated.
Chemical Properties of Shales.
Pure clay is fusible only at extremely high temperatures, but the presence
of a shght amount of impurities may lower its melting point considerably.
The impurities found in clays and shales are silica, alumina, iron, lime, mag-
nesia, alkalies, water, organic matter, titanic acid, phosphoric acid, sulphur
and sometimes manganese. Al] these impurities may be placed in one of
two classes, depending on whether they are active or fluxing impurities, or
inert or non-fluxing ones.
Fluxing Impurities.
These, in the order of their effectiveness, are alkalies, lime, magnesia and
iron. The manganese, sulphur and phosphorus would come under this head,
but are seldom present in sufficient quantities fo be worth considering.
“Alkalies. The alkalies in clay may be ammonia, potash, soda and lithia.
The lithia is extremely rare and need not be considered. The ammonia is
frequently present in shales, but as it volatilizes at low temperatures its only
effect is to give a slight, characteristic odor to the material when moist.
Soda and potash are powerful fluxes, which are found in nearly all shales.
They vary in quantity from a trace up to nine or ten percent. This variation
depends on the quantity of feldspar grains present, for this mineral is the
usual source of the alkalies in shales and clays. Aside from the feldspars,
mica may also furnish potash. The mica shows itself as small glistening
scales scattered through the shale.
The alkalies are sometimes present in soluble form as sulphates, which
may cause considerable trouble. In the drying of the clay the water coming
to the surface to evaporate will leave these soluble alkaline salts on the sur-
face as a white coating. In salt-glazing sewer-pipe the sodium vapors from
the salt thrown into the fire unite with the silica and alumina of the clay,
thus forming the glaze. If, now, a coating of these soluble sulphates is pres-
ent, it prevents this chemical union and formation of the glaze. Furthermore,
if the heat is not raised sufticiently to decompose any sulphate salts
678 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
present, they may form a white coating on the surface of the burned ware.
The decomposition of sulphates is also accompanied by the disengagement
of sulphuric acid, which, if it escapes with violence, may cause blistering.
Lime is a common detrimental impurity. It is abundant in some mem-
bers of the New York shales, especially those of the Salina group in central
New York. When present to the extent of only two to three per cent. it is
practically harmless. The common source of lime in shales is feldspar, which
is a double silicate of lime and soda; or calcite, which is carbonate of lime.
The latter may be detected by the effervescence produced on the addition of
muriatic acid.
Lime in the condition of silicate may serve as a useful flux, if present to
the extent of four or five per cent.
Carbonate of lime may render a shale very fusible and materially lower
the difference in temperature between the points of incipient fusion and
viscosity. Lime also diminishes the shrinkage of a clay in burning; in fact,
an excess, say twelve to fifteen per cent., may cause the clay to swell slightly.
An excess of lime over iron will counteract the reddening effect of the
latter by the formation of a silicate of lime, iron and alumina.
Seger found that if the lime exceeded the iron in the proportions of three
to one, the product is a good buff. He also found that a good brick could,
with care, be made from a clay containing twenty to twenty-five per cent. of
carbonate of lime, but it is not safe to make a vitrified one from such clay.
Sulphate of ime is not uncommon in some New York shales, and its action
on heating may be the same as described under sulphates of the alkalies.
Some of the marly shales of central New York may be found more suitable
for the manufacture of Portland cement than for clay products.
Magnesia is not an abundant element in most shales, although in some of
the Salina shales it is common. Magnesia is derived from the same classes of
compounds as lime, and, as far as known, exerts the same influence.
Tron. ‘This element acts not only as a flux but also as a powerful color-
ing agent of clay materials, both in their green and burned conditions. It
may exist in clays in a variety of forms, according to the mineral of which it
is a component element. These mineral compounds may be silicates, carbon-
ates, oxides or sulphates. In all these combinations it exists in the condition
of either a ferrous or ferric salt; but in burning, the former generally become
oxidized to the latter, unless the fire is reducing in its action. When pyrite
occurs in the shale, it will, if in grains or lumps, produce fused spots in
burning. It acts as a strong flux.
Rirms—Puysicat Trsts or Devontan SHALES. 679
Ferrous iron compounds are more fusible than ferric ones, and conse-
quently with reducing fire the clay will fuse at a lower temperature; at the
same time, it will not burn to as bright a red. If treated to an oxidizing
fire, the presence of ferrous salts need not be considered. Iron salts are
affected by varying conditions in burning. If the temperature is raised too
rapidly the outer portion of the piece of clay being burned may shrink and
become dense before the air has had time to permeate the clay and oxidize
the iron in the centre of the body. The centre of a brick or other piece of
clay ware may thus be dark and porous while the surface is red and dense.
A further result of this will be a differential shrinkage between centre and
exterior and possible cracking.
Unburned shales may be yellow, blue, brown, red, gray or green in color,
depending generally on the relative amounts of ferrous and ferric salts present.
The same variety of shades and colors is produced in burning. Ferrous iron
alone may impart a green color to burned clay, and ferric oxide red or, with
hard firing, purple. The higher the temperature to which a clay is subjected,
the deeper usually is the color produced by the same amount of iron.
Non-Fluxing Impurities.
These include silica, titanium, organic matter and water.
Silica. This may be present either as quartz combined with alumina
and water in the form of kaolinite, or combined with other elements, as
in feldspar and mica. Silica renders a’ clay more refractory, lessens its
shrinkage in burning and decreases the plasticity. On this account plastic
clay or shale is added to very siliceous ones.
Titanium is a seemingly rare element in clays, due to the fact that it is
seldom looked for in chemical analysis. It is never present in great quanti-
ties, rarely over one per cent., and only exerts a fluxing influence at high
temperatures and when six or seven per cent. of it are present.
Organic matter. Very common in black and in some grey shales, and
may mask the color which any iron present might produce. It may be pres-
ent as finely disseminated particles or in the form of stems or other plant
remains. Organic matter burns off at a bright red heat. Its chief influence
lies in the increased plasticity of a clay or shale, provided an excess of sand
is not present.
Water is present in shales in two forms, viz., chemically combined water
and mechanically combined water or moisture. The moisture in unweathered
shales is generally low, but in mellowed portions of their outcrops it may be
650 Report oF THE Sratre Gronoaist.
.
twenty or thirty per cent. Air drying expels most of the contained moisture
and at the same time a shrinkage of the material takes place. Sandy, coarse
grained clays show the least shrinkage, but fine grained ones may sometimes
show considerable diminution of volume on air drying. The larger the
quantity of water absorbed by a shale in tempering, the more will it shrink
in drying. If the clay is fine grained, rapid drying may cause it to split.
The last traces of moisture are generally driven off in the kiln during the
early stages of burning.
Combined water, This is present in all shales. It usually varies from
three to eight or ten per cent. in shales, depending on the amount of clay
substance and perhaps other hydrated minerals present. Combined water is
driven off at a low red heat, or about 1,200° F., and with the passing off of it
there also begins a second shrinkage. While the amount of combined water
does not stand in any close relation to the plasticity, nevertheless when once
the combined water is driven off, the clay can no longer be rendered plastic.
Physical Properties.
These are considerations of as much importance as the chemical ones, for
they exert fully as much influence on the characters of clay or shale. The
important physical properties which should always be considered, are
fusibility or behavior under heat, plasticity, tensile strength or cohesion and
absorption.
Plasticity. This is one of the two important properties which makes
clay of such use to man, for it permits of molding it into any desired form,
which is retained when the clay is dried. Plasticity, however, is a variable
property, some clays possessing it to only a shght degree, others having
it highly developed. The former are called “lean,” the latter “fat.”
Very fine and very coarse grained clays are generally lean. An excess of sand
also tends to diminish the plasticity, and consequently very siliceous shales,
those passing into shaly sandstones, should be avoided, or should not be used
unless mixed with more plastic material. Organic matter frequently increases
the plasticity of a clay and makes it very fat, unless there is an excess of sand
present. If water be gradually added to dry clay and the mass thoroughly
kneaded, it will be found that its plasticity mereases up to a certain point,
but if more water is added it begins to decrease until finally the clay runs
like soft mud. The amount of water absorbed by shales or clays depends in
general on their plasticity, very “fat” ones requiring the addition of a large
i
Rires—Puysicat Tests or Drvontan SHALES. 68]
quantity of water, and “lean” ones usually needing but little. Of course
there are exceptions to this rule.
The production of maximum plasticity has a practical bearing in the
tempering of the clay, for if too little water is added, the clay will frequently
crack in molding.
Tensile Strength, or Cohesion.
The plasticity of a clay has been found to be due to the interlocking of
its particles,* consequently a mass of clay, when air dried, offers a resistance
(which may be great) to any force tending to pull it apart. This tensile
strength or cohesion stands in close relation to the plasticity, and consequently
serves as a measure of it. The tensile strength is expressed in pounds per
square inch and is determined by forming the wet clay into briquettes of the
same shape and size as those used in testing cement, allowing them to air dry
and then pulling them apart in a cement testing machine.
Jays which appear moderately plastic when worked in the hand, will
show a tensile strength of 100 to 150 pounds per square inch when air dried.
Lean clays may run about fifty pounds per square inch, often lower. Very
plastic clays may show 250 to 300 pounds tensile strength per square inch.
Very fine and very coarse grained shales or clays show a low strength.
Behavior under Increasing Temperature.
Shrinkage. The amount of shrinkage that clay materials undergo in
drying, depends somewhat on the amount of water absorbed or the porosity
of the clay. Coarse grained clays may absorb much water and yet shrink
very little. Having larger pores, they will also permit the water to escape
more rapidly and consequently can be dried quicker, while fine grained ones,
owing to the smaller size of their pores, must dry slowly.
The air shrinkage of a clay begins as soon as it is molded and set out in
the open air or put in tunnels to dry, and continues until all the moisture is
driven off. It may be as low as two per cent. in lean, coarse grained clays, or
reach twelve or thirteen per cent. in others. The highly plastic clays do not
always shrink the most.
The fire shrinkage begins when the combined water commences to pass
off, or at a temperature of about 1,200° F. It may also vary within the same
limits as the air shrinkage. It is, however, affected by several factors. It
* Olchewsky. Tépfer und Ziegler Zeitung, 1882, No. 29.
682 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
often increases with the amount of organic matter or combined water present,
and diminishes with the amount of sand which the shale or clay contains.
Lime in excess exerts the same influence as sand.
Between the points at which air shrinkage ceases and fire shrinkage
begins, the clay shrinks little or not at all, therefore in burning clay wares
the heat can be raised rapidly between these two points, but above and below
them it should be raised slowly as long as any water is passing off, to prevent
cracking.
Fusibility.
No clays, on being subjected to a rising temperature, pass suddenly
from a solid to a fluid or viscous condition; on the contrary, they change
slowly from the condition of solidity to that of viscosity. This change may
occur within a range of 75° F., as in very marly shales, while in others it may
require a rise of 400° F. to convert the material from solidity to viscosity.
As the heat is raised to a temperature varying from 1,500 to 2,000° F.
in different shales and clays, the particles of the clay soften somewhat, and
become tightly stuck together. In fact, the individual grains may no longer
remain distinct, and the clay can barely be scratched with a knife. This is
the point of ¢neipient fusion and, as Wheeler* has suggested, this is a good
term to use in defining this stage.
As the temperature is raised from 100° to 200° F. higher (also depending
on the clay), the clay becomes completely vitrified; the body resembles one
solid mass and is impervious or nearly so, The clay has also acquired its
maximum toughness and maximum shrinkage. With an additional varying
rise of temperature, viscosity occurs. ‘The point of vitrification is generally
midway between incipient fusion and viscosity, and these two latter points
may be from 100° to 400° F. apart; the nearer 400° the better. It should
not be less than 200°, otherwise there is the danger of loss in burning, for
with so little margin between vitrification and viscosity it is hard to run the
©
burning to the former point without passing it and reaching the latter.
Manufacture of Paving Brick.
As the most extensive use of shale is for the manufacture of paving
brick, it may not be out of place to describe briefly the methods employed.
Owing to its hard nature, shale generally has to be mined by blasting,
although in some cases, as at Galesburg, Ill, a steam-shovel has been found
* Vitrified Paving Brick, Indianapolis, 1895
Rims—Puysicat Txrsts or Drvontan SHALEs. 683
efficient and economical. The economy of this latter method depends, how-
ever, on its being kept at work as steadily as possible, and consequently it is
chiefly applicable to larger plants.
Preparation. Before being mixed with water or tempered, the shale is
first ground in dry-pans or disintegrators.
Dry-pan. This consists of a circular iron pan with perforated bottom.
In the pan are two mullers about twelve inches wide and supported on a
horizontal axle. The mullers weigh from 2,000 to 4,000 pounds and revolve by
the tangential friction of the pan floor, which is turned by power transmitted
from the engine. Scrapers attached to the axle of the mullers keep the mate-
rial charged, in their path. The shale when ground fine enough falls through
the slits in the pan-bottom. These slits are
generally one-eighth to three-
sixteenths of an inch wide. The capacity of a dry-pan varies with the size
of the screen openings and character of the clay, but one hundred tons in ten
hours with one-eighth inch screen openings is a fair capacity.
Disintegrators, consisting of concentric wheels bearing cross pieces and
revolving in opposite directions, or of an axle bearing steel arms which revolve
between a series of parallel steel bars, are often found effective. The pieces
of shale are ground not only by being hit by the rapidly moving arms, but
also by being thrown against each other.
Screening. The ground shale is generally transported from the dry-pans
or disintegrators to the screens by means of bucket elevators or traveling
belts. Three general types of screen are used.
1. Inclined screens, ten to fourteen feet long, with wire cloth or perforated
metal bottom. They are often provided with a tapping device to keep them
from becoming clogged. Inclined screens are simple and cheap, but have
small capacity.
2. Rotary screens, of cylindrical or octagonal form, usually provided with
automatic devices, such as brushes to keep them clean.
3. Shaking screens, fixed at one end and driven by crank and piston or
eccentric. These are cheap and simple in operation.
While all these screens are designed to perform their work automatically,
still few of them can be left without attention for any length of time.
The tailings from the screens are returned to the crusher or disintegrator.
Tempering is usually done in wet-pans or pug-mills.
Wet-pans. These resemble dry-pans, but have a solid instead of perfo-
rated bottom. The clay is charged in lots of 600 to 1,000 pounds and water
added. Wet-pans are very rapid in their action, a charge for brick or sewer
684 Report oF THE Srare GEOLOGIST.
pipe being tempered in a few minutes. The charge is generally removed by
means of a long-handled shovel pivoted on an upright arm. Wet-pans have a
greater capacity and are more efficient than» pug-mills, but consume more
power.
Pug-mills consist of a horizontal or inclined trough in which there
revolves a shaft bearing knives or a worm screw. The material with water
is charged at one end and, by means of the screw thread or knife blades, is
mixed thoroughly and at the same time passed to the other end of the trough,
where it is discharged. To insure thorough tempering, pug-mills should not
be less than eight or ten feet long. They are extensively used by paving-
brick manufacturers, and so arranged that their contents are discharged
directly into the molding machine.
Molding. Paving brick may be manufactured by one of three processes,
viz., the stiffmud, soft-mud or dry-clay process.
Stiff-mud process. This is the most used by paving-brick manufacturers.
In this process the clay is discharged from the machine through a rectangular
steel die, whose cross-section may be 9x4 or 2x4 inches, depending on whether
the brick is to be end-eut or side-cut. As the bar of clay issues from the
machine it is received on the cutting table and: cut up into bricks, either by a
series of parallel wires fastened to a moveable frame, or by means of a revolvy-
ing wheel, also bearing a series of wires. The capacity of the machine may
be materially increased by having a double or triple die, so that more than
one bar of clay issues at the same time, but a single die will give an
auger machine a capacity of 50,000 brick in ten hours. The clay should
be thoroughly pugged before being charged into the machine. Auger
machines combine economy and large capacity, and their use has not only
become widespread but necessary to enable the manufacturer to compete
successfully with his rivals.
Auger machines are adapted to a wide range of clays, except very lean
or very plastic ones. The former seldom have enough cohesion to hold
together in passing through a die, and the bar of clay cracks and tears. Very
plastic clays develop a series of concentric laminations in the brick which are
a serious detriment to its strength. The laminations in two bricks made from
the same shale may be very differently developed, if molded in machines of
different make. Much attention is, therefore, paid to improving the construc-
tion of the dies and other portions of the machine as small changes may often
cause considerable difference in the structure of the brick.
Rires-—PuysicaL Trests or Drevonran SHALES. 685
Stiffmud brick are frequently repressed, as it is considered to improve
the quality of the product and, indeed, this is true within certain limits.
In a series of experiments recently made by Professor E. Orton, Jr., it
was found that end-cut bricks were tougher than side-cut ones, and when
repressed they were still more so. These experiments are important and
interesting and worth mentioning in detail, A number of bricks were made
from the same lot of shale, but molded on different machines. They were,
however, all burned together in the same kiln. These brick were tested in a
rattler and it was found that the loss by abrasion was least in the case of the
end-cut repressed brick.
Soft-mud process. This method is sometimes used for shales or clays
which can not be molded in stiff-mud machines, and works well. It is being
used at one locality in New York state for the manufacture of paving brick.
The soft-mud process gives a brick of thoroughly uniform texture, but on
account of its limited capacity the cost of production is greater than with
stiff-mud machines.
Drying. Paving brick are generally dried by artificial heat. Two
general systems of drying may be noticed, viz., floor-dryers and tunnel-dryers.
The latter have the most extended application.
Floor-dryers. These may be of brick, heated by flues underneath them,
which conduct the heat from the fire-place at one end. Such floors are cheap,
but the heat is very unequal at the two ends, and the use of such floors
involves considerable labor in handling. Slatted floors, such as those used
for drying sewer pipe, may be used, but their cost of installation is great, and
the bricks also require much handling.
Tunnel-dryers. ‘The tunnels are made of brick or wood and heated by
hot air, steam or flues running under them. The bricks are piled on cars,
which are run on tracks into the tunnel. The cars are run in at one end
and always taken out at the other. The hot air is introduced at the end
where the bricks are taken out.
A recent improvement is the drawing of hot air from the cooling kilns
and blowing-it through the tunnels. Though still in the experimental stage,
this method will no doubt be widely used before long.
Burning. Paving brick are generally burned in down-draft kilns.
These are of rectangular or circular shape, the former having a capacity of
160,000 to 200,000 and the latter about 30,000. The rectangular ones are
quite generally used now, and it is only in a few districts that the manu-
facturers cling to the circular ones.
686 Reporr oF THE State GEOLOGIST.
Continuous kilns are used at several localities, and while they work
fairly well, still they can hardly be considered to have completely emerged
from the experimental stage.
In burning paving brick the temperature is gradually raised to the point
of vitrification and the kiln held at this temperature for several days in order
to allow the heat to thoroughly penetrate each brick and cause it to get its
maximum shrinkage. The kiln is then cooled very slowly to anneal the brick
and give a hard, tough product.
The temperature attained in paving-brick kilns varies, but it may be said
in general to vary from 1,700° F. to 2,000° F. In experiments made by
Professor Orton, Jr., of the Ohio Geological Survey, the temperatures of
paving-brick kilns when at their best heat varied from 1,800° F. to 1,920° F.
In the New York shales tested it was about 2,100° F.
Requisite Qualities of Paving Brick.
As paving brick are laid in streets, they are subjected to considerable
wear and tear, which they should be able to withstand if of good quality.
In order to determine by experiment in the laboratory whether a paying
brick possesses the requisite characters, certain standard methods of testing
have been devised.
Recently the National Brickmakers Association appointed a committee
to carefully go over the various methods of brick testing and draw up a set
of standard specifications. The tests considered were the rattler, absorption,
cross-breaking and crushing test, and the recommendations of the committee
were as follows:
Specifications for Abrasion Test.
LI, Dimensions of the machine. The standard machine shall be twenty-
eight inches in diameter and twenty inches in length, measured inside the
rattling chamber. Other machines may be used, varying in diameter between
twenty-six and thirty inches, and in length from eighteen to twenty-four
inches, but if this is done a record of it must be attached to the official report.
Long rattlers may be cut up into sections of suitable length by the insertion
of iron diaphragms at proper points.
IT. Construction of machine. ‘The barrel shall be supported on trunnions
at either end; in no case shall a shaft pass through the rattling chamber.
The cross-section of the barrel shall be a regular polygon having fourteen
sides. The heads and staves shall be composed of grey cast iron, not chilled
Ries—Puysicat Tests or Drvontan SHALES. ; 687
er case hardened. There shall be a space of one-fourth of an inch between
the staves for the escape of dust and small pieces of waste. Other machines
may be used having twelve to sixteen staves, with openings from one-eighth to
three-eighths of an inch between the staves; but if this is done, a record of it
must be attached to the official report of the test.
— LLL, Composition of the charge. All tests must be made on charges
composed of one kind of material at a time. No test shall be considered
official where two or more different bricks or materials have been used to
compose a charge.
IV. Quantity of the charge. The quantity of the charge shall be
estimated by its bulk and not by its weight. The bulk of the standard
charge shall be equal to fifteen per cent. of the cubic contents of the rattling
chamber, and the number of whole brick whose united volume comes nearest
to this amount shall constitute a charge.
V. Revolutions of the charge. The number of revolutions of a standard
test shall be 1,800, and the speed of rotation shall be thirty per minute. ‘The
belt power shall be sufficient to rotate the rattler at the same speed whether
charged or empty. Other speeds of rotation between twenty-four and thirty-
six revolutions per minute may be used, but in this case a record of the speed
must be attached to the official report.
VI. Condition of the charge. The bricks composing the charge shall be
dry and clean, and, as nearly as may be possible, in the condition in which
they were drawn from the kiln.
VIL. Calculation of the results. The loss shall be calculated in per-
centage of the weight of the dry brick composing the charge, and no result
shall be considered official unless it is the average of two distinct and complete
tests, made on separate charges of brick.
Specifications for Absorption Test.
1. The number of bricks for a standard test shall be five.
2. The tests must be conducted on rattled bricks. If none such are
available, the whole bricks must be broken into halves before treatment.
3. The bricks should be dried for forty-eight hours at a temperature
ranging from 230° to 250° F. before weighing for the initial dry weight.
4. The bricks should be soaked for forty-eight hours, completely
immersed in pure water.
5. After soaking and before weighing, the bricks must be wiped dry
from surplus water.
688 Report oF tHe Strate GEoLoacist.
6. The difference in weight must be determined on scales sensitive to
one gram.
j-
(.
The increase in weight due to water absorbed shall be calculated in
percentage of the initial dry weight.
Specifications for Cross-Breaking Tests.
1. Support the brick on edge, or as laid in pavement, on hardened steel
knife-edges, rounded longitudinally to a radius of twelve inches and _trans-
versely to a radius of one-eighth inch, and bolted in position so as to secure a
span of six inches. .
2. Apply the load to the middle of the top face through a hardened
steel knife-edge, straight longitudinally and rounded transversely to a radius
of one-sixteenth inch.
3. Apply the load at a uniform rate of increase until fracture ensues.
4. Compute the modulus of rupture by the formula
3) well
pit Se eerees
Ib=d?
in which
f = modulus of rupture in pounds per square inch.
mw — total breaking load in pounds.
/ — length of span in inches — 6.
4, — breadth of brick in inches.
d — depth of brick in inches.
5. Samples for test must be free from all visible irregularities of surface
or deformities of shape, and their upper and under surfaces must be perfectly
parallel.
6. Not fewer than ten bricks shall be broken, and the average of all be
taken for a standard test.
Specifications for Crushing Test.
1. The crushing test should be made on half bricks, loaded edgewise,
or as they are laid in the street. If the machine used is unable to crush a
full half brick, the area may be reduced by chipping off, keeping the form of
the piece to be tested as nearly prismatic as possible. A machine of at least
100,000 pounds capacity should be used, and the specimen should not be
reduced below four square inches of area in cross-section at right angles to
the direction of the load.
Rres—PuysicaLt Tests or Drvontan SHALES. 689
2. The upper and lower surfaces should be preferably ground to true
and parallel planes. If this is not done they should be bedded in plaster-of-
paris while in the testing machine, which should be allowed to harden ten
minutes under the weight of the crushing planes only before the load is
applied.
3. The load should be applied at a uniform rate of increase to the point
of rupture.
4. Not less than an average obtained from five tests on five different
bricks shall constitute a standard test.
It was resolved by the commission that “from the experimental work
done so far by the commission, or by others so far as is known to us, in the
application of the cross-breaking and crushing tests to paving brick, it is not
possible to show any close relationship between the qualities necessary for a
good paving material and high structural strength as indicated by either of
these tests.”
Extent of New York Shales, together with Tests of Samples from Type
Localities.
The shale bearing formations occurring in New York state, beginning
with that geologically oldest, are as follows:
Woweresrruriain oe ss ee Se Hudson river.
( Medina.
Clinton.
Niagara.
| Salina.
( Hamilton.
Wersecnet wen sed). gotten ke Les eee eo). oh Portage.
|
MMe meMMAN Sey scars gw ay fw A
nA
| Chemung.
Of these formations only the shales of the Salina, Hamilton, Portage
r utilized.
Oo
5
and Chemung are at present bein
Hudson river, This formation is abundantly displayed in the counties
of Lewis, Oneida, Montgomery, Schenectady and Columbia. Its tendency is
to exhibit siliceous or slaty phases, but m eastern Columbia county it becomes
at times argillaceous and at the same time contains considerable iron.
Medina. The Medina formation at times is shale bearing, as along the
Genesee river, where it is also marly, but the extent of the shaly layers is
unimportant. (Hall, Geology of the Fourth District of New York, p. 38.)
| 44
690 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
The Clinton group is shale bearing in its lower members in eastern
Wayne county. It is a bright green shale and is about thirty feet thick. At
Sodus Point the shale is purplish. It occurs at other localities, but is very
thin, not more than two to four feet (Jd7d, p. 59.) The second green shale
of the Clinton group is less brilliant in color and everywhere full of fossils.
It is well exposed at Rochester and at Wolcott furnace, in the banks of the
creek, where it is over twenty-four feet thick. The shale is probably fre-
quently calcareous.
Niagara. Although a prolific shale formation in New York state,
the writer has not seen any exposures of it which were not either very sili-
ceous or calcareous, so that it would probably not work well for the manu-
facture of clay products. When ground and mixed with water it possesses
no plasticity.
According to Professor Hall (Geology of the Fourth District of New
York, p. 80), the Niagara shale forms a member of great development im the
lower part of the Niagara group. It is a dark bluish shale which, on expos-
ure, forms a bluish grey, marly clay. It is well shown at Lockport, in the
sides of the gorge at Rochester, just below the railroad bridge, and at many
localities in Wayne and Monroe counties. The lower layers of the shale are
less calcareous than the upper ones.
The followimg is an analysis of this shale, the sample taken from the
gorge at Rochester (Sixteenth Annual Report United States Geological
Survey, part IV, p. 569).
Silva, oy ee a, Lies ph geal eau pea ok ace ie oe On
Alramaiina< ys aca? gS eevee reel restate mete tot teh nee ae mea
Ferric Ox1d@,4:.1,- wan ot im ver eds lenin Rome ie uo nog eee mn ea
Lime, 3.24. oe shi etre ee ee ee ee
Magnesia, * .-t.3- 3 -abta. he tere) © oe «oil eee te yan mE
Adkahes:"-. Sai Rae Osta Ket ah here Pane he ain nner ae tick
76.16
H. T. Vulté, Analyst.
The shale is also to be found in many of the ravines and gorges, from
Rochester to the Niagara river.
Salina. The shales of this formation are contained in a belt extending
from Syracuse westward along the line of the New York Central railroad to ~
Riws—Pauysican Trsts or Devontan SHALES. 691
Buffalo. As a rule they are extremely impure and at times even marly.
They are soft shales, which weather very easily, and are generally red or
green in color and contain the beds of gypsum and salt.
The Salina shales are well exposed at Warners, near Syracuse, where
they are utilized for making brick.
Professor Hall says of the Salina or salt group (Geology of the Fourth
District of New York, p. 117), that it forms an immense development of shaly
marls and limestones, with interbedded deposits of gypsum. The formation
extends from Syracuse westward through southern Wayne county, and
northern Ontario and Seneca counties, northern Genesee and Erie counties
and a small part of the southern portion of Niagara. This group contains
important shale beds, although they are unfortunately very calcareous at
times and consequently require careful manipulation.
The red shale forming the lower divisions of the group was not observed
west of the Genesee river. It appears in eastern Wayne county, as indicated
by the deep red color of the soil overlying it. At Lockville the greenish blue
mar] with bands of red has been quarried from the bed of the canal. West
of the Genesee this is the lowest visible mass; the red shale has either
thinned out or lost its color, becoming gradually a bluish-green ; while other-
wise the lithologic character remains the same. On first exposure it is
compact and brittle, presenting an earthy fracture, but a few days are
sufficient to commence the work of destruction, which goes on till the whole
is resolved into a clayey mass.
The green marl of the lower division appears near the canal at Fairport
and again at Cartersville. The bed of the stream at Churchville shows the
greenish-blue marl.
“The prevailing features of the second division of this group,” says
Professor Hall, “are a green and ashen marl, with seams of fibrous gypsum
and red or transparent selenite. It occurs in the vicinity of Lyons and
numerous points farther west.”
The third division contains large gypsum beds and is probably not
suitable for use.
The Salina shale, as stated above, is worked at Warners, Onondaga
county, by the Onondaga Vitrified Brick Company.
The shale as exposed in their bank consists of a green or red, soft,
argillaceous shale, of considerable impurity as the following analyses
furnished by the company show.
692 Report oF THE Stare GEOLOGIST.
CALCAREOUS
LAYER IN BANK. RED SHALE. BLUE SHALE,
Silica tei «6BABT.
EN nan rN mentee ies ieleig ay cv say Soy) yath Sead! Ys clk Awe re p LOTS
Nicrai CMODMt GC mre RN ho re an, asic Meeiian wae wary GOT
VSS Ol Ook ae i Se a 82
VRRP ORT, on SE GR cris en EN ener ae a
Ole eae BT roe ee i lw B78
ics ral POUNDS eee GD we, chu c te © ye. ¥ otel LOOT
The principal output of these works is sewer pipe and fire-proofing. On
account of its softness the shale is easily mined and transported in cars to
the dry-pans, where it is first ground and then tempered in a wet-pan. The
tempered material is then conveyed to the upper floors and discharged into
the usual form of sewer pipe press. The glazing of the sewer pipe is done by
means of salt.
Chemung. The most southern shale formations of New York state are
included under this head. As a whole, the group consists of interbedded
shales and sandstones, the former prominent towards the west, the latter
becoming predominant to the east. The shales vary in color, and are black,
* Bulletin New York State Museum, III, No. 12, p. 228.
+ Clay Worker, December, 1893.
696 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
olive or green. The shales sometimes pass into shaly sandstones, and these
are often highly micaceous. ‘The members of the group recognized by Pro-
fessor Hall, beginning at the top, are:
lon)
Sandstone and conglomerate.
Old red sandstone.
Grey and olive shales and shaly sandstone.
Green shale with grey sandstones.
Black, slaty shale.
Olive, shaly sandstone.
ro go Ro
_
Portage sandstone.
Of these members 2, 3 and 4 are the most important to clay workers, and
the beds of shale exposed are often twenty or thirty feet in thickness and free
from sandstone.
“On the Genesee river the shale is often in thick beds of a bright green
color and scarcely interrupted by sandy layers.”
“ Westward from the Genesee river there appears to be a constant aug-
mentation in the quantity of the green shale, which is often the predominating
rock, though from weathering to an olive color it does not always appear as
distinctly.”
“In the ravines in Chautauqua county, extending toward lake Erie, the
shale still retains its green color.”
Jamestown, Chautauqua county. This sample of shale came from the
bank of the Jamestown Shale Paving Brick Company.
This was a rather gritty shale, which required 18.5 per cent. of water to
make a workable paste; plasticity, lean. The paste shrunk 4.5 per cent. in
drying, and an additional 7.5 per cent. in burning, making a total shrinkage
of twelve per cent. Air-dried briquettes made of this mud had an average
tensile strength of sixteen pounds per square inch, and a maximum of twenty
pounds per square inch. This low tensile strength was due to the siliceous
character of the shale which, however, permitted rapid drying.
Incipient fusion occurred at 1,950° F., vitrification at 2,050° F., and
viscosity at 2,200° F. The clay burns to a deep red and dense body.
Alfred Centre, Alleghany county. Chemung shale is used at this locality
for the manufacture of roofing-tile. The shale is somewhat argillaceous, and
moderately fine grained.
It requires twenty-two per cent. of water to make a workable paste
which is slightly plastic. The shrinkage of this paste in drying is four per
Ries—Puysicat Trsts or Devonran SHALES. _ 697
cent. and in burning, nine per cent. The tensile strength of air-dried
briquettes was, on the average, sixty-one pounds per square inch, with a
maximum of sixty-two pounds per square inch.
Incipient fusion occurs at 1,900° F., vitrification at 2,050° F. and
viscosity at 2,150° F.
The composition of the shale according to an analysis furnished by the
Celadon Terra Cotta Company, of Alfred Centre, is:
Sec mee a ee Me RS LY Be OE BS OG
JE NSETTS STI OU 2
mmm HEE Tr Ol de a ke we a 1090
ere ae, ae ee Gea a 1.01
CSE Merk Ae ee eS SG .62
LON EGU Gi” Nols 22% ge NES a 2.69
SU UOEIAIG VEO, eee or 41
WE LONG EGG a 91
Sicnove Cerra he ee eS ke 6.39
MEseAMedG Oxides er sae ek sk ee 52
ORO U
locitusangmmpuriines: s a6 bs yetls) Goi. ier. B.A
‘This shale corresponds very closely in composition to that used at
Kansas city, Mo.,* for the manufacture of paving brick, but there is a
considerable difference in the fusibility, the Missouri shale being very fine
and consequently more fusible.
When this factory was first started, both terra-cotta and roofing-tile were
produced, but now the Celadon Terra-Cotta Company confines itself entirely
to the manufacture of vitrified roofing-tile, which is of a superior quality, and
bears an excellent and wide-spread reputation. At first a mixture of clay
and shale were used, but now the latter material alone is found sufficient ;
the shale after grinding and careful tempering is molded either by hand or
steam-power machines, and then set aside to dry slowly. The tile is no
longer burned in saggars as was formerly done, but is placed in pockets in
the kiln. The shale burns to a tough, cherry-red body.
Flornellsville, Steuben county. The shale at this locality frequently
contains interbedded layers of sandstone, which are separated in mining
without much trouble. The shale is rather gritty, and on the addition of
twenty per cent. of water gave a lean, workable paste, which shrunk 2.7
* Missouri Geological Survey, XI, p. 565.
698 Report oF THE SratE GEOLOGIST.
per cent. in drying and 5.3 per cent. in burning. The tensile strength of
the air-dried mud per square inch was on the average thirty-four pounds,
with a maximum of thirty-nine pounds.
Incipient fusion occurs at 1,900° F., vitrification at 2,050° F., viscosity
at 2,200°-K.
The shale burns to a dark red. It is used in the manufacture of paving
brick.
The composition of the clay, from an analysis furnished by the Hornells-
ville Brick Company, is as follows:
Silliead . cin, ce, Lon ha Be ko Sogo eae ene ee 28. sp a Sas a aa oe een 1
Ferric OxXI@@ Sate on Fe OLE a ee 7.04
TotGe<.4 se ee ee ; 58
Magnesia «0 doje 4 a-ha om ae a on angen eee
Potash so ce 2a Se ee eee ee ee
SROda "Lose dee iw Bee op ck ccna Mcgee an
96.16
Bluxes™ 2. soc fh3n ao 2k Be ah eet Sol ak ee ae ee eee
The method of manufacture followed at these works consists of the usual
dry-pan for grinding the shale and wet-pan for tempering it. The molding is
done by stiff-mud, side-cut machine, and the green brick are repressed. The
burning is in down-draught kilns.
From the tests cited above it will be seen that the shales used compare
very favorably with the requirements of a paving-brick material. Most of
them are slightly more siliceous than the average run of paving-brick clays,
but this 1s no serious objection.
The lean character of many can be overcome by the addition of plastic
clay, as in the case of the Cairo shale, in which instance the mixture, as
already stated, had a tensile strength of one hundred pounds per square inch.
The amount of fluxes present permits of their vitrifying at comparatively
low temperatures. But if necessary their refractoriness could be easily
increased by the addition of a certain amount of fire-clay.
Most of the shale deposits are easily accessible and located in close prox-
imity to railroads.
The Discovery of a Sessile Conularia.*
By R. Rurepemann.
In collecting, in a layer of the lower Utica shale, problematic filiform
fossils to which Professor J. M. Clarke had directed the writer’s attention, a
Conularia was found to which are attached several smaller cuneiform fossils
by organs which at first sight appear like rings. A thorough search in the
_ locality has furnished four more specimens of Conularia which bear such
appendages ; also a few impressions of shells of Zrochonema to which were
attached, in one case, a single individual of the supposed Conularia (PI. II,
fig. 1), and in another case many, but mostly poorly preserved, remains of
Conularia ; also the ever present Diplograptus foliaceus, Murch. sp., and the
above-mentioned problematicum, which will be described later.
That the Conularia, their cuneiform appendages and the similar larger
bodies attached to shells of Zrochonema belong together, is a supposition for
which this note is intended to submit the arguments.
The Conularie to which the supposed young are attached (Pl. I,
fig. it in which the interior cast of the shell is partly seen), as well as those
found without the young in the same layer, compare best with Conularia
gracilis, Hall.t This form was described from the shaly upper part of the
Trenton limestone near Middleville, N. Y., while the specimens of the writer's
collection were found in the lowest Utica shale.
One specimen (PI. II, fig. 5) has been figured on account of its remark-
ably well preserved ornamentation and the structure of the angular grooves.
It expands more rapidly than the others, the average angle of which is only
HOC SA specimen with a length of 14.3 cm. has an angle of 11°. The
specimen illustrated rests on one edge. This, however, is not the common
mode of compression in this species, for the great majority of specimens
apparently show only two angular grooves and one face of the pyramid,
because the whole shell has been compressed into the face on which it
originally rested. According to Holm} this mode of compression is found
with Conularie of quadratic section, while those of rhombic or rhomboidal
* Two instalments of this paper, with three of the accompanying plates, have already been published in the Asnerican
Geologist ; Article I, in Vol. XVI, March 1896, pp. 158-165, and Article II, in Vol. XVIII, August, 1896. pp. 65-71. The observa-
tions heretofore unpublished begin with page 711 of the present article, and are illustrated by an additional plate.
t Pal. of New York, Vol I, p. 224, Plate LIX, figure 5, 1847.
+ Sveriges Kambrisk-Siluriska Hyolithidx och Conulariide ; Sveriges Geol. Undersikning, Ser. C, No. 112.
701
702 Reporr oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
section are compressed in the direction of the obtuse angles. The shell of
C. gracilis Hall, which I have seen only strongly compressed, therefore
probably had equal faces and a quadratic section.
The complete flattening of the specimens without breaking, as well as
the common bending of the proximal parts of the shell (PI. I, fig. 4), are
indications of a slight flexibility of the shell. Hlall’s type also was “ slightly
bent or arcuate.” This remarkable character of (C. gracilis is causally
connected with the extreme thinness of the walls already observed by Hall.
As the observation of small wall fragments (Pl. I, fig. 6) and the
abundance of smooth casts of Conulariw indicate, the wall was very easily
destructible. This may also account for the frequent absence of wall remains
in the young Conularie while the edges are preserved. Plate I, figure 4,
and Plate II, figure 5, well illustrate this breaking out or dissolving of the
walls between the edges in even larger individuals.
The sculpture consists of “sharp, undulating, transverse strive and
scarcely conspicuous longitudinal ones.” (Pl. I, figs. 5 and 6.) The finer
longitudinal ribs alone, however, are continuous and the wavy cross-ribs con-
nect with them. Although the latter sometimes unite to form continuous and
very prominent cross bands, their whole appearance is such as to suggest that
they are wrinkles of shrinkage. The undulating transverse and the finer
straight longitudinal ribs are so characteristic a feature that they can safely be
used to distinguish this form from Conularia Trentonensis, Hall, C. Hudsoni,
Emmons, and C. guadrata, Walcott, which have straight and continuous
transverse ribs. The undulating transverse ribs are of special importance in
the study of the young Conuwlariw, as they are easily recognized by their
characteristic form whenever the surface film is sufficiently preserved,
however delicate it sometimes may be.
The cast of the mterior often shows, in different parts of the same
specimen, either the filling of the transverse ribs as similar ridges, or pustules
(cf. Pl. I, fig. 1) and deep furrows in place of the longitudinal ribs, or only
the latter, or in many places the cast is perfectly smooth. The last fact is
accounted for by specimens similar to that represented im Plate I, figure 4.
This interesting young Conularia, which at the distal end shows the straight
sulcate edges of a Conularia, has in the middle part preserved the wall which
consists of two layers—an exterior deep black, apparently carbonaceous one,
which shows the characteristic ribs of C. gracilis, and a much stronger inner
layer which has a more greyish, mineral appearance and is probably richer in
calcium phosphate. This second layer in the middle part between the two
RuEDEMANN—SEsSILE CoNULARIA. . 703
upper grooves, where it is apparently least crushed, is almost smooth, with
only an obscure indication of transverse lines of fracture. On the sides it is
broken into transverse ring segments. Although it is thicker than the outer
layer, it is more frequently lost, leaving, however, a smooth cast.
The segmental line appears as a shallow groove, scarcely conspicuous in
most specimens. It therefore is of no help in identifying the young Conu/laria,
Of greater importance in this regard is the structure of the grooves at the
edges of the pyramid, as this is generally the best preserved part of the fossil.
In the specimens, for instance, represented in Plate I, figure 4, and Plate
II, figure 5, the side walls of the grooves alone are preserved in the distal
part, the connecting wall being either dissolved, as indicated by the smooth
surface between the edges in Plate I, figure 4, or broken away as in Plate
I, figure 5. The walls of the grooves are much thickened, this strengthening
extending also to the adjoining parts of the faces, so that the grooves are lined
by two thick ridges. The connection between fragile thin faces and stout
edges seems to be found in other species also. Conularia Linnarssont, Holm,*
is described as having the grooves stronger than the segmental line and
being fragile toward the aperture.
As the original of Plate II, figure 5, shows at the upper groove, and as
has been observed in other species, the surface film extended—here with its
wavy transverse wrinkles—over the groove, covering and closing it (Pl. I,
fig. 2, @). Where the outer layer is lost, but the underlying parts are fully
preserved, there appears next below a thin smooth layer (4) with indications
of transverse lines of fracture ; this layer in its turn covers a milky white
laminated substance (phosphate of ime). The latter (¢) fills the groove and
contrasts strongly with the black shining walls (7). Often, however, this
substance is lost, leaving the groove empty or giving place to a filling by iron
oxides.’ The side walls of the empty groove show mostly very marked
transyerse fractures with upturned margins. The groove seen from the
inside (Pl. I, Fig. 3) has a roof-lke form with strongly slanting sides, which
are either smooth or exhibit the same transverse joints as seen from the
outside. Sometimes oblique pressure caused these joints to be pushed over
each other. Where the top is broken off the white phosphate of lime
appears again.
From these observations it may be stated that the edges of the pyramid
of Conularia gracilis, Hall, formed a kind of supporting framework for the
faces; that the grooves, therefore, had strong walls which were continuous
* Op. cit., p. 130, Plate IV, figures 38-40
704 Reporr of THE SrareE GEOLOGIST.
with the second mineral layer; that the grooves were filled with phosphate of
lime and covered by the sculptured outer layer with an underlying thin film
similar in appearance to the second layer. The groove, therefore, appears to
be altogether an expansion of the second layer of the wall. A diagrammatic
section of the groove at the angle of C. graci/is is given in Plate I, figure 4.
The reasons which the writer has for regarding the cuneiform appen-
dages of C. gracilis, and the bodies attached to Trochonema, ete., as remains
of young individuals of C! gracilis are as follows :
1. Wherever an appendage is preserved completely it shows four
divergent grooves, such as would form the edges of a pyramid, with about
the same angle as the older shells of C gracilis (Pl. I, figs. 2, 3, Pl. HU,
tie
or
x. 1). Some apparently show only three grooves, but investigation will
generally bring out the fact that the fourth is divergent from the plane of the
others and hidden in the matrix. Generally, however, the whole fossil
appears only as a cuneiform film between two thick edges, which are formed
by two coinciding grooves, while the two originally vertical faces have been
folded inward between the horizontal ones or partly bulge out from between
them (Pl. I, fig. 1, @). Some appendages show even but one groove;
the proximal parts of the other grooves, however, are also ordinarily traceable
into the matrix (PI. I, fig. 2). It is to be concluded from this that the
complete appendages contained grooves which originally did not lie in one
plane.
2. The four grooves show exactly the same structure and composition
as those of C gracilis, 1. e., the V-shaped section, the filling with milk white
phosphate of lime, the extension of the carbonaceous sculptured surface film
over them, and especially the very characteristic and easily discerned trans-
verse ridges of the side walls of the groove. (Cf. Pl. I, figs. 1, 6, 2,5;
Pl, ties 79)
3. The space between the grooves of the appendages is generally
perfectly smooth, thus indicating that between them was a connecting wall
which is now lost. However, in many places the tender carbonaceous surface
film is still preserved. Where this is the case the longitudinal ribs, as well
as the characteristic undulating transverse wrinkles, are clearly discernible, as
indicated in Plate I, figures 1, 2, and Plate I, figures 1, 7, at s.
4. The carbonaceous cup-shaped bases, by which the supposed young
Conulariw are attached to the older individuals, are exactly similar to those
of some larger fossils which can be safely referred to C. gracilis, and
especially similar to the basal cups of the two important specimens repro-
RuEDEMANN—SESSILE CONULARIA. j 705
duced in, Plate I, figure 4, and Plate Hl, figure 1. The latter, which on
{ the four grooves and the
account of its general form, the structure o
sculpture of the surface film, must be regarded as identical with, or very
closely related to C. gracilis, has a beautifully preserved cup of the same size
and structure as those attached to the original of Plate II, figure 2.
5. Finally, it may be adduced as an additional argument for the
similarity of the observed appendages and the shell of a Conularia, that in
some of the former (Cf. Pl. I, fig. 1, ¢) a triangular subcarbonaceous plate
is preserved which is strongly suggestive of the flattened apertural process
of the uppermost face.
It is permissible to meet some of the objections which are easily sug-
gested in comparing the appendages with Conularia. There is first the
strangely curved form of many of the smaller and medium sized individuals.
As already stated, Hall’s type, of about two inches in length, is “slightly
arcuate.” The axes of the older specimens, however, which the writer pos-
sesses, as also the axis of the specimen figured in Plate II, figure 5, are
always perfectly straight. An examination of the shells of the young Conw-
laria establishes the fact that the better they are preserved the straighter
they are. (Cf. Pl. I, figs. 1, 2.) Even some of the very smallest Conu-
larie are straight. ‘This, as well as an examination of such specimens (PI. I,
fig. 4), im which the youngest part only is bent and the older is perfectly
straight, leads to the conclusion that the young shells also of C. gracilis were
straight, but probably more flexible than the more distal parts and perhaps
less able to resist the dissolving influence of the sea water. A group of fos-
suis (Pl. H, fig. 7) which are attached to the poorly preserved cast of a
Trochonema shell, on account of the strong distortions of the wedge-shaped
appendages presents appearances differmg most widely from those of Conu-
lavia. In this case the appendages are identical with the leaves of Hall’s
Sphenothallus angustifolius.* The extensive destruction of the faces of the
pyramids in both specimens, as well as the very poor preservation of the gas-
tropod, is proof enough of the destructive influences to which they were
subjected and which may also haye distorted the slender pyramids before
they were covered by sediment. On the other hand, both contain a sufficient
number of nearly straight shells (cf. especially Hall’s figure) to warrant the
statement that the pyramids were originally straight. The writer’s specimen
* Palaeontology of New York, Vol. I, p. 261, Plate LX VUI, figure 1, 1847. _Hall’s type, whichProfessor J. M. Clarke had the
kindness to lend the writer and which is figured on Plate TV, not only shows young individuals attached to older ‘‘leayes,”’ but
also ring-like impressions of the basal cups and the transverse ridges of the grooves. The faces have left smooth impressions
only
45
706 Reporr or tHe Srare GEOLOGIST,
exhibits besides, in several places, well preserved transverse undulating cross-
ribs which are very similar to those of C. gracilis.
Another objection, which naturally arises in studying these forms, is this;
assuming that other Coniwlari@ were sessile also, why have not any such
bases been found among the thousands of specimens of the species already
described? Barrande had more than a thousand specimens of certain
species without noticing such basal cups in the young, which are generally
stouter and better preserved than any other part of the fossil.
In almost all described shells of Conulari@ the apex is broken off, either
irregularly or along a septum. The irregularly broken shells, which compose
by far the great majority, have undoubtedly lost their proximal parts and are
therefore not complete and may be considered out of the discussion. Those
closed by a septum are most probably not complete either, for as Dr. A.
Ulrich* has pointed out, the empty chamber between the imperforate septa
must have been more liable to destruction than the other sediment-filled part.
It may, therefore, have. been lost in most cases, and only that part of the shell
beginning at the youngest septum may have been left to us. It remains in the
extremely small number of fully preserved shells. Wiman,t on the basis of
Holm’s paper, estimates their number at less than 5.55 per cent. of all known
Conularie. ‘These few forms again, although tapering down to a very small
diameter (the writer does not know of a real “ point” having been observed),
do not exclude the possibility of having been expanded again into a base. It
is true that it does not seem very natural to have a large pyramid supported
by such a thin stem, but this was, in fact, the case with rather large shells of
C. gracilis (Pl. Il, figs. 1, 7). Suppose all Conulariw were attached thus,
then it would have been just as strange 1f the pyramids, in becoming covered,
had not been broken right over the bases, as it is that not more of the shells,
if they were free, should have preserved the apex. It also bears on this ques-
tion that several cups, among them one with a diameter of 5 mm.; have been
found which bear only a very small fragment of the pyramid (PI. III, fig. eas
and that the specimen represented in Plate I, figure 1, bears a great number
of bases from which the young Conularia are broken off. The preservation
of the apex not only forbids any positive conclusion as to the mode of life of
the Conulardw, but the supposition of their free existence seems to be question-
able and will, therefore, be discussed hereafter.
As none of the large specimens of C. gracilis have been found attached,
the question as to mode of life can not be directly answered. It can, however,
* Palwozoische Versteinerungen aus Bolivien, p. 35, 1892
+ Palwontologische Notizen 1 und 2, Bull. Geol. Inst. Univ. Upsala, Vol. IT, No. 3, p. 7, 1894.
RuEDEMANN-—SESSILE CONULARIA. 707
be remarked that the largest specimen in the writer’s collection (length 14.3
cm.) is preserved to a breadth of 4 mm. and ends in a deep impression which
could be caused by a cup not larger than the largest well preserved one which
has been found. Further, it will be noticed that some of the attached shells
(Pl. IV, fig. 40; Pl. II, figs. 1, 7) have already reached a size which renders
it improbable that the enclosed animals should still have changed their
mode of life.
After having presented the general features of the occurrence of a sessile
Conularia, the writer intends now to describe the most novel part of the
fossil, 7. ¢., the basal appendage.
Though an attempt to isolate and decolor some of the appendages failed,
partly on account of an obscure cleavage in the rock and partly on account of
the consistency of the residuum after the treatment with acetic and hydro-
fluoric acids, the author succeeded at least in developing, by the application
of the same agents, several of the stout chitimous appendages on the slabs
(cf. Pl. IU, figs. 5 and 16). The defects in the preparation of the material are
atoned for by the well-preserved state of the material itself, for several of the
bases are preserved in neat natural sections (cf. Pl. IL, figs. 2 and 3), a com-
parative study of which, as well as of the varying aspects of the other bases,
allows a fair insight into the structure of this interesting organ. In order
to énable the reader to form for himself a picture by a comparison of
the different states of preservation, the writer has given as many sketches as
possible.
As already stated in the first article, most bases appear at first sight as
stout subcircular to suboval chitinous rings* (cf. Pl. IL, fig. 1, which is the
base of the specimen reproduced on Pl. IH, fig. 1). The original form was
probably circular, as the elongated forms (cf. Pl. III, fig. 20) are generally
found near the edge of the supporting fossil (cf. Pl. I, figs. 1 and 2),
where they were more liable to become laterally compressed than those on the
inner part of the fossil.
* These rings were observed by A. G. Nathorst as early as 1882 (cf. A. G. Nathorst, ‘*Om férekomsten af Sphenothallus
cfr. angustifolius, Hall, i silurisk skiffer i Vestergétlana” in Geologiska Féreningens i Stockholm Férhandlingar, Vol. VI, p 315,
Pl. 15). The same author has published in the April (1896) number of the same journal (Vol. XVIII, No. 4), under the caption,
“ Sphenothallus en Conularia,”’ areview of the study of this interesting fussil in Sweden, from which it appears that he, in
describing, in the first cited paper, a specimen of Sphenothallus, Hall, from the Silurian shale in the neighborhood of Vamb in
Westgothland, accepted Hall’s interpretation of the fossil as an alga. Some years later, however, another specimen was sent to
him by Dr. N. O. Holst, the state cf preservation of which wassuch as to convince Nathorst at once of the impossibility of
referring the fossil to the vegetable kingdom. He pointed out this fact to Holst, who afterwards sent the same specimen to J.
Chr. Moberg for identification. The latter reached the same conclusion, as appears from an extract of a letier of his to
Nathorst: ‘‘It seems to remind me somewhat of a Conu/aria, and above allit surely was not an alga.’ Nathorst himself vow
accepts the identification of Sphenothallus with Conularia. Hall's type is not so well preserved as to have been able to suggest
a comparison with Conularia.
708 Report oF THE State GEOLOGIST.
The dimensions of those rings. which are found still attached to a Conu-
laria ave: Diameter from 1 to 2 mm. (original of fig. 1, Pl. III, measures
1.3x.7 mm.; original of fig. 19, Pl. III, 1.75x2 mm.), though a few larger
separate ones have been found (one measuring 4 mm.); height .8 mm. (taken
from the originals of figs. 1, 2 and 3, Pl. IIT).
Externally the ring is perfectly smooth and shining (fig. 1), expanded
more or less abruptly towards the base (cf. Pl. III, figs. 2, 3, 18, 18). Under-
neath it possesses a system of regular radial folds (cf. Pl. III, figs. 7, 8, 9, 18,
18). The true nature of the rings is revealed by a few vertical sections which
were found on some slabs (cf. figs. 2 and 3). Figure 2, Plate III, is a repro-
duction of the whole fossil, which is interesting because it demonstrates not
only the occurrence of basal appendages detached from the extraneous object,
but also the common separation of the pyramid of Conularia gracilis from the
appendage a little above the latter. As both sections are not quite median,
part of the rig is seen from the inside. In both, the ring becomes attenu-
ated toward the top (in fig. 2 abruptly), thus forming a skin which fastened
the basal appendage to the pyramid. This skin formed a dome above the ring,
as may be inferred from the laterally compressed specimen reproduced in fig.
9, at a; bis the basal rmg, which on account of its bulging out a little more,
adheres to the counter part of the fossil. The general form of the appendage
may be compared to a bell, which term will be apphed in this paper to the
exterior chitinous wall of the organ under consideration, as the word does not
imply any expression regarding the possible functions of the whole.
Figure 10, Plate III, reproduces a specimen (taken from the original to
Pl. I, fig. 2), which gives a view of the imside of the dome of the bell and
exhibits irregular radial wrinkles of the skin, caused probably by shrinkage
prior to fossilization. In figure 12 a base is seen from above. Here the
greater part of the ring is preserved, while the upper portion of the bell left
only its impression.
As appears from figure 8, Plate HI, which reproduces the view allowed
by one of the appendages into the bell from beneath, the latter, or at least its
thicker basal part, consisted of: concentric layers.
The absence of any carbonaceous film at the base of the bell (cf. figs. 7, 8,
13, Pl. IIT) would lead to the conclusion that the bell was open there: but
the smooth surface of the rock inside of the deeper impression of the ring
(cf. fig. 97) in several specimens indicates the former existence of a basal
closing film. A very clear view of the latter is furnished by the basal
appendage (cf. fig. 15) of the Conularia reproduced in figure 14, which
RuEDEMANN—SEssILE CoNULARIA. 709
apparently was attached to a little fragment of a Stictoporella. It appeared at
first like figure 15; the dissolving of the enclosed rock, however, brought out
the entire base of the organ, namely, the broad, deeply-impressed exterior ring
(a), the impression of the somewhat wrinkled film (4) stretching towards the
center of the base and connecting with an internal part (c) that appears as a
narrower, radially furrowed impression of a ring. The latter can be seen very
distinctly at the bottom of the basal appendage reproduced by figure 1. In
the remarkable specimen belonging to figure 6, all chitinous parts have been
removed by weathering except two stout rings, which strongly contrast with
the buff-colored weathered shale, and which are evidently the bases of the
bell and of an internal part of the appendage. The original of figure 5
(taken from the group Pl. II, fig. 7) exhibits also a stout, though now,
through the action of the acids, somewhat corroded ring. Another
reproduction (fig. 7, Pl. HI) of the underside of a basal appendage shows the
latter removed from the center, apparently by the overturning of the young
Conularia to which it was firmly attached. It is partly preserved in the
original of figure 9, Plate III, and it can be distinctly seen in the basal
appendage reproduced in figure 13, Plate iI (taken from the group Pl. I,
fiz. 5), where it stands out in relief, while its system of basal radial furrows
can be seen in figure 18 at 4,
- The real form of this internal body is revealed by a fine vertical section
through the basal appendage (fig. 3) of a detached Conularia (fig. 4, Pl. 111).
This section shows again a crescent-shaped cleft of a stout chitinous body,
proceeding from the converging marginal grooves of the pyramid of Conularia.
The horns of the crescent can be traced to the chitinous mass of the basal
ring of the bell, the inside of which is visible in the section. The original
of figure 5 assists in making evident that this crescent is the section of
a chitinous cup-shaped body, which is fastened to the apex of the pyramid,
while its base is continuous with the basal skin, extending to the exterior
bell. The cup itself was not closed basally, as can be inferred from the
little node in the center of the impressions of the basal appendages (cf. fig.
9d).
It remains to consider the connection of the pyramid of Conularia with
the basal organ. As the sections figures 2 and 3 indicate, the angular
grooves of the pyramid curved in at the basal end. The subquadrangular
piece broken out of the dome of the bell in figure 10 suggests that the shell
of Conularia yet retained its quadrangular section when entering the bell.
The counterpart of this fossil (fig. 11) has preserved the broken-out chitinous
710 Report OF THE STatre GEOLOGIST.
piece and exhibits on the latter a cross of four ridges, consisting of pyrite. A
similar aspect is presented by the node in the middle of the basal appendage
of figure 17, Plate III, which is an enlargement of the base of the specimen
reproduced on Plate I, figure 4, and which shows two arms and the intersec-
tions of the two others on top of the central node. The pyrite in both specimens
points to the former existence of canals, or at least to an original difference
between the material which has been replaced by pyrite’ and the enclosing
chitine. There can hardly be any doubt that the cross of pyrite represents
the basal junction of the marginal grooves of the pyramid, and that the little
node in the center of the base (cf. figs, 11 and 17, Pl. IID) is the real apex of
the pyramid. The direct continuance of at least two grooves is exhibited
by quite a number of remains, e. 7., by those reproduced in figures 18 and 19,
while the original to figure 20 gives a neat section through the four grooves
at the entrance of the pyramid into the bell. It is evident from the latter
fossil that these grooves, as already demonstrated, were originally covered by
a carbonaceous film and filled with phosphate of lime. The supposition is,
therefore, not out of the way, that they may have been free from this filling
towards their proximal ends and could therefore have been filled by pyrite
during the process of fossilization.
The morphology of the whole appendage will be best understood from a
diagrammatic section, as given in figure 21, Plate JI]. The apex of the pyra-
mid (@) is enclosed in a stout central cup (/) which, in turn, is connected by
a thin film (¢) with the broad basal extension of the exterior bell (@). The
latter again is fastened to the pyramid a little above the cup.
There can be no doubt that the basal appendage was an organ of
attachment. It is further evident that the latter did not amount to a
coalescence, but was of a temporary character only; for the not uncommon
occurrence of detached specimens with well-preserved basal appendages (cf.
figs. 2 and 4) is not consistent with the assumption of a coalescence. The
apparatus, therefore, can not be compared to the basal disks, such as certain
bryozoans have. On the other hand, it is indicated by the impressions left
by the appendages* that their inner parts were flexible or even retractible
while the stout exterior bell, with its broad, radially striated base, apparently
served to give stability to the mechanism and to close the interior tightly
from the exterior.
An attempt to compare the basal appendages to suckers, such as various
gastropods use for purposes of attachment, would lead to the further
* Of. figs. 9 and 16, which show the ring- like impression (¢) of the bell to be considerably deeper than that of the wrinkled
basal film (qd).
RuEDEMANN<—SESSILE CoNULARIA. Fatal
assumption that their interior was filled with muscular tissue, and con-
sequently connected with the circulatory system of the living animal. The
writer was unable to study this question on account of the negative results
which followed his attempts to isolate the appendages; neither did he
succeed in tracing the confluent canals, indicated by the cross of pyrite at the
apex of the shell, which may have effected a connection with the interior of
the pyramid and thereby have become instrumental in producing a vacuum
by the withdrawal of a fluid, similar to that found in the pedicels of the
echinoids. The writer, however, is inclined to suppose that there existed no
connection whatever between the interiors of the pyramid and of the
appendage, but that attachment was effected by the elasticity of the latter
alone, especially by that of the central cup. The organ might then be
compared to the chitinous suckers with which the males of certain water-
beetles (e. g., Hunectes) are provided, and which possess no muscular tissue
whatever but adhere to foreign bodies by external pressure and by sub-
sequently resuming the original shape through their own elasticity, thus
producing a vacuum much like the India rubber plates which are used to
fasten objects to the glass panes of show windows. The shape of the central
cup as well as the fact that the appendage consists of a substance which
certainly was elastic, could be adduced in favor of this supposition, while
there seems to be no serious obstacle in the way of assuming that the animal,
which no doubt had a certain power of free moving, had the further
power of pressing the apex of the shell and with it the securely fastened cup
to the body it wished to adhere to.
The diagrammatic section, figure 21, Plate III, is intended to illustrate the
working of the apparatus, the dotted part representing the latter in the
state of compression preparatory to attachment, and the striated part shows
the same in the state of attachment by suction.
It should be remembered that however erroneous the attempt to explain
the special operation of this organ may be, this does not affect the fact that
the attachment was evidently only a temporary one and that the impressions
left by the appendages show both the connecting film and the central cup
bulging inward. These observations can, in the opinion of the writer, be
only accounted for by the assumption that the basal appendage was an organ
of attachment by suction.
The publication of the concluding part of this article on Conularia
gracilis, Hall, has been much delayed because of a fortunate discovery
during the past summer (1896) of a locality on the bank of the Bast
Tale Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
Canada creek, which yields specimens of this Conularia uot larger than .5
mm. in length, and which, therefore, enables the author to furnish some
further details relating to the development of the shell of this interesting
animal (cf. Pl. IV). The minute, oval, carbonaceous bodies cover some of
the layers in astonishing multitudes.
While the great majority of the tiny fossils are found promiscuously
scattered over the slabs, some of the latter, otherwise poor in such detached
specimens, bear linear carbonaceous films, with outlines so straight and well
defined as to make it improbable that the film should be the result of an
accidental drifting together of shells. One of these bodies has been reproduced
in figure 1, Plate IV, on account of the distinctness with which it shows its
composition of young shells of Conularia. There are others of more regular
outline, the most complete of which attains a length of 31 mm. and tapers
regularly from a width of 5 mm. at one end to 4 mm. at the other. This film
consists of minute shells of Conu/aria, which become especially distinct at
both of its ends, where it is more or less lacerated. ‘The shells observable
in these films range in length from .5 mm. to 2 mm. es "
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PuLatTe III.
Conularia gracilis, Hall. Utica slate, Dolgeville, N. Y.
Fieure 1. Dorsal view of basal appendage. Enlargement of the appendage of the specimen
reproduced in Plate II, Figure 1. » 10.
Ficure 2. Vertical section through appendage. Whole specimen as found. 10.
Figure 3. Nearly vertical section. «, basal ring of exterior bell, seen from inside; b, dorsal part
of bell; c, interior cup. »x 10.
FieurE 4. Detached specimen of Conularia gracilis, bearing the appendage reproduced by
Figure 3. Natural size.
Freure 5. Underside of appendage. a, base of exterior bell; 6, base of interior cup. X10.
Ficure 6. Ventral view of appendage, only the bases of exterior bell (a) and interior cup (0)
being preserved. x10.
Ficure 7. Ventral view of appendage. a, base of exterior bell; 6, base of interior cup. x 10.
FieurE 8. Ventral view of appendage, showing the radial furrows of the base of the exterior bell
and the concentric structure of the latter. x 10.
Figure 9. Lateral view of basal appendage. a, dome of bell; 6, basal ring of bell; c, impression
of base of bell; ¢, impression of basal skin; ¢, node in centre, cast of central cup. x 10.
Figure 10. Interior view of bell from ventral side, shows wrinkled dome of bell and subqua-
drangular entrance of pyramid of Qonularia. 10.
FiGuRE 11. Counterpart of the preceding. Shows the apex of the pyramid. x10.
FicuRE 12. Dorsal view of appendage. Dome of bell broken away. x 10.
FreurE 13. Ventral view of appendage. Shows radial striation of base of bell. x 10.
Freure 14. Conularia gracilis, Hall, attached to a fragment of Stictoporella. Natural size.
FrcurE 15. The same. Basal appendage as found originally. x8.
FieurE 16. The same. Matrix removed by acetic and hydrofluoric acids. a, interior bell;
}, impression of connecting basal skin; c, impression of central cup. x8.
Figure 17. Ventral view of appendage. Exterior bell seen in section. Exhibits apex of
pyramid. x6.
Figure 18. Ventral view of appendage. a, base of bell; >, base of central cup. x 10.
Figure 19. Impression of basal appendage. Junction of two marginal grooves of pyramid
preserved. x 10.
Figure 20. Transversal section through appendage. Shows the four marginal grooves of the
shell of Conularia in section. > 10.
Figure 21. Diagrammatic section through basal appendage. The dotted part is a section
through the basal appendage in the state of compression, the striated through the same in the state of
attachment. » 10.
PLATE IIf
CONULARIA
se ee ey ee eee
ian
de
=e eee
*
Pruate IV.
Conularia gracilis, Hall, Utica slate, Dolgeville, N. Y.
FIGURE 1.
FIGuRE 2.
FIGURE 3.
Group of young. Natural size.
Group of young. Natural size.
Young attached to a small projection. Natural size.
Ficures 4 to 35. Various growth stages. x 4.
FIGURE 36.
or
‘
FIGuRE 37.
FIGURE 88.
FIGURE 39.
FIGuRE 40.
Uncompressed specimen. 4.
Slightly compressed specimen, 4.
Uncompressed specimen, x 4.
Specimen terminated by septum. Natural size.
Type of Sphenothallus angustifolius, Hall, Canajoharie, N. Y. Natural size. a, young
specimens attached; }, natural section, showing the composition of the pyramid of four faces.
728
PLATE Ly
RH =
CONULARIA
NOTES ON SOME CRUSTACEANS FROM THE CHEMUNG
GROUP OF NEW YORK.
By JOHN M. CLARKE.
%,
‘Notes on Some Crustaceans from the Chemung Group of
New York.
By Joun M. Crarkr.
I. A Singularly Ornamented Phyllocarid Genus, Pephricaris.
By the courtesy of Professor A. R. Crandall, of Alfred university,
Alfred, N. Y., and the kindness of Mr. Charles Butts, of the same place, I
have been permitted to study specimens of a new crustacean allied to Avhi-
nocaris, but noteworthy for the extravagant nature of its armature. Of these
specimens, two in number, the more complete belongs to the museum of
Alfred university and is a sculpture-cast of essentially the entire test, the
valves of the carapace being expanded without distortion and the abdominal
seoments showing, in part, in the posterior hiatus of the carapace valves and
thence normally protruding behind. The second specimen, the property
of Mr. Butts, is only the echinate margin of one carapace valve.
The general aspect of the carapace is not unlike that of some species of
Echinocaris, yet it is devoid of the curved sigmoid carina which characterizes
typical species of that genus.
The carapace valves are broad, their margins curving rapidly outward
for about one-half of their length, slowly recurv-
ing near the middle and thence more rapidly
receding to the posterior extremity. The expanded
valves lie with a moderately broad anterior or
rostral cleft, but there is no evidence of a separate
rostral plate. They are in contact just back of the
apex of this cleft, but for only a short distance, as
the underlying abdominal segments are partly
exposed, a fact which may be due either to this
being the normal attitude of the valves, or to casual
FIGURE 1.
separation of them, or again to a breaking of the Pephricaris horripilata, Chemung
sandstone, Alfred, N. Y.
edges of the cast which is not altogether clear at this
place. The surface of each valve is divided into two convexities by an oblique
depression beginning at the dorsal edge just back of the middle and extend.
ing backward with gentle obliquity. This groove does not reach the margin
731
7392 Report oF THE SratE GEOLOGIST.
of the valve. The anterior convexity is much the larger. Usually, in Hehi-
nocaris, there is a number of paired nodes and tubercles grouped about the
cephalic extremity of the carapace, but in this fossil there is only a single
pair, represented by two deep pits situated close upon the hinge and at the
apex of the rostral cleft. It is possible that these are remains of ocular
nodes, but their depth suggests the probability of their having been basal
attachments of the larger legs. Behind these nodes begins an oblique and
strong ridge, thickest and most elevated at the hinge, where the anterior
edges of the ridges on the two valves meet. This ridge departs backward
into the median groove, passes down its anterior slope, then, with a slight
change of angle, along the groove and rises slightly on its opposite slope,
terminating with the groove itself. The margin of the carapace is some-
what thickened and elevated.
Nowhere in Achinocaris do we find a carapace structure like this, even
among the species of the Chemung group. The lateral curved carina is one
of the constant characters of the genus and may even be duplicate in later
species. The median sinus exists there, normally, only as a depression
between nodes, and no species is so free of cephalic nodes as this.
As to the abdominal segments, we find that three, and a portion of a
fourth, protrude beyond the carapace ; between the carapace-valves we make
out traces of two or three others, estimating the entire
number at seven. The posterior segments are unusually
short and have short spinules at their post-lateral extremi-
ties ; there may, also, have been such spinules elsewhere along
the posterior edge as in /ichinocaris, but such are not seen.
The caudal plate is short and triangular, with a short telson
and two long curved cercopods.
FIGURE 2.
Pophicuns home: The fossil bears a striking ornamentation or armature.
eee ee of The entire outer margins of the carapace valves carry a
single row of broad, strong, erect and slightly recurving
spines. These are shortest at their commencement on the anterior margin,
gradually increase in size posteriorly, their greatest length being reached
on the post-lateral curve, and thence to the posterior angle of the
carapace they become shorter. The maximum length attained by these
spines is not less than one-half of the greatest diameter of a carapace valve.
That these processes are spinous extensions of the chitinous test substance,
and not bundles of setz, or of other nature, is shown by the aspect of the
imprints they have left in the matrix, these being sharply defined |
CLARKE—CRUSTACEANS FROM THE CHEMUNG GRoUP. 733
and clean-edged throughout their extent; and again by the presence of similar
but straighter and more slender spines upon the final segment of the abdomen.
Of the latter, two pairs are visible, the penultimate pairs appearing to be
somewhat longer than the ultimate; there are traces also of a similar pair on
the antepenultimate segment.
This description presents all the known characters of this peculiar
crustacean. Its essential structure is nearest to Hchinocaris and yet not in
harmony with that genus, and its extravagant decoration emphasizes that
‘generic difference. For this reason the generic term Pephricaris is adopted
for the fossil, and the species may be known as Pephricar’s horripilata.
Both specimens of the species were found in loose blocks of compact
Chemung sandstone at Alfred, N. Y. Neither shows associated fossils.
II. The Chemung Trilobite, Bronteus senescens, Clarke.
In the Report of the New York State Geologist for 1888, the writer
described the trilobite above named.* The single specimen upon which the
description then published was based, was but a very imperfect fragment of
a pygidium and the only justification for drawing attention to the fossil was
the extreme rarity of all trilobites in the Chemung faunas. At the date of
that writing the presence in the Chemung of the species Phacops ana, Green,
common in the Hamilton rocks beneath, and not of infrequent occurrence in
the Ithaca fauna immediately below the Chemung formation, was suspected,
and had been announced. Later evidence has not confirmed this statement,
and we know to-day only two described species of trilobites from this fauna ;
the Cyphaspis levis, Hall (sp.), the original and only known specimen being
a cephalon, and Brontews senescens. The presence of the genus Homalonotus
is shown by a fragment from the higher beds in Alleghany county. Since
the description of Bronteus senescens, founded on a specimen from the lower
Chemung strata in the town of Prattsburgh, Steuben county, additional
material has been obtained which sets forth the characters of the species in its
entirety and also shows that from the fragment previously figured and the
restored outline at that time given to the pygidium, it might prove difficult to
recognize the species when at its best. A restatement of the characters of the
fossil drawn from our amplified knowledge of it, will therefore serve to clearly
define the value of this species.
* The Genus Bronteus in the Chemung Rocks of New York, op. cif., Figure 1 ; also published in Forty-secund Annual Report
Trustees State Museum, pp 403-405.
734 Report oF THE STatTE GEOLOGIST.
Soon after the publication of, the article above cited, the writer located
the horizon at which this fossil occurs, on Bardeen’s farm in the northern
part of the town of Prattsburgh, finding here several nearly entire pygidia.
This horizon is well characterized by the constant association of this trilobite
with the crinoid Arthracantha depressa; a species recently described by
Wachsmuth and Springer from specimens collected at this locality where its
spinous plates are very common. It is the zone of /ehynchonella (Pugnaa)
pugnus, Sow., and is an eastward extension of this zone from its somewhat
more prolific manifestation at High Point, in the town of Naples. More’
recently two essentially entire specimens of the trilobite have been obtained
from higher strata of the Chemung group, near Avoca, Steuben county,
through the agency of Mr. Clifton J. Sarle, both excellently preserved though
lacking a few details, but presenting us with a really striking exemplh-
fication of the late continuance of this genus.
Figures of these specimens are here given and the description of the
characters of the species is as follows:
FIGURES 3 and 4. Bronteus senescens ; two nearly entire individuals from the Chemung group,
near Avoca, N. Y.
GeENERAL Proportions. The outline of both of these extended
individuals is quite regularly ovo-elliptical, the shorter curve being at the
posterior extremity. In length the larger measures 54 mm., the smaller, 46
mm., while the greatest width of the animal is about one-half this dimension
in both cases. The specimens have been subjected to slight, if any, vertical
compression though the heads are somewhat askew; the lines of the margin
may, therefore, be regarded as normal.
CLARKE—CRUSYACEANS FROM THE CHEMUNG GRouP. 735
CrpHaton. The head is short and subsemilunar in outline, the posterior
margin being quite direct. Its length is shghtly more than one-half its width.
The genal angles are somewhat produced into short and broad spines. The
margin is elevated, while the border of the head is broadly concave, rising on
its proximal limb to a genal ridge. The eyes are small, well back on the
cheeks and moderately elevated, the surface between the palpebrum and the
dorsal furrows being notably convex. The facial sutures are normal.
The glabella is elongate and clavate, its width at the anterior extremity
where it reaches but does not overhang the margin, being twice that just in
front of the occipital ring. In contour it is depressed convex, though its
elevated median portion attains greater elevation than any other part of the
cephalon. The dorsal furrows are deep and narrow; starting from the
posterior margin they approach each other rather abruptly ; the curve changes
at the level of the posterior part of the eyes and thence forward the furrows
diverge outward rather gradually, broadly recurving near the anterior margin.
The lateral furrows are short but distinct, the first and third pairs being
most clearly defined, a median pair making but a gentle depression upon the
surface, while the occipital groove is broad and shallow.
The occipital ring is likewise broad and distinct, but its prolongation to
the cheeks is narrower and much more faint.
. In one of the specimens the removal of the part of the glabella has
exposed a portion of an elongate Aypostome with an oval central depression,
surrounded by a narrow regular groove and bordered by a narrow flattened
margin.
THorax with the normal number of ten segments. The axis is very broad,
having fully one-third the entire width of the thorax, and its margins curve
outward, approaching each other posteriorly. On the axis the segments are
moderately broad and flat, distinctly elevated along the median line with
general longitudinal depressions on the lateral slopes and a slight anterior
bend at the sides. On the pleurv, the segments are narrow and soon become
free of each other, tapering rapidly to slender, recurved, acute extremities.
Pyemrum semielliptical, flabelliform; length and width about equal.
Axis very short, extending for not more than one-fifth or one-sixth of the
plate; triangular, elevated medially and with an obscure central lobe and
depressed lateral slopes. The pleure are broad, flat, separated by sharply
defined flat grooves. They broaden rapidly outward and finally become
merged into the grooves near the periphery of the plate, so that the margin of
the latter is smooth. These ribs are fifteen in number; the median rib being
736 Report oF THE STATE GEOLOGIST.
somewhat broader than the rest and, in the larger specimen, showing a
tendency to division along its distal portion. The margin of the pygidium is
without evidence of spines. In general contour this plate is broadly depressed
within the slightly elevated periphery, convex over the central region and
again sharply depressed about the axis.
Ornamentation. The entire test is pretty uniformly pustulose, the
pustules varying somewhat in size and being coarsest on the glabella and the
ribs of the pygidium. About the enfolded margins of the cephalon and
pygidium the surface is marked by the usual incised inosculating lines.
Oxservations. This species is noteworthy not alone for the rarity of all
trilobites at this horizon. It is, in all probability, the latest representative
of the genus, making its appearance in this later division of Devonian time,
subsequent to the first intrusion of Spirifer disjunctus and long after the
only observed occurrence in this country of Clymenia. It appertains to a
fauna which, considered in its local relations and in correlation with faunas of
other countries, characterizes the final stages of the Devonian, and in these
we have no other record of the occurrence of Gronteus. In this late survivor
of the genus, therefore, we may expect to find structural traits indicative of,
or in harmony with its late appearance. We observe that between the earlier
(upper Silurian and early Devonian) and the later Devonian representatives of
this genus there are contrasts in the form of the glabella, the outline of the
pygidium and the nature of its ribs. Thus, the glabella (or we should rather
say the cranidium, as the distinction depends on the varying distance between
the facial sutures) is very wide anteriorly, the dorsal furrows being highly
concave within the ocular nodes (compare 4. palifer, Beyr., Lower Devonian,
Zittel’s figure, Grundzige der Palzontologie, p. 473, fig. 1,279a; Katzer’s
figure, Geologie von Boéhmen, p. 1,023, fig. 498-4; L. campanifer, Beyr.,
lower Devonian, Beyrich’s figure, Einige béhmische Trilobiten, Plate, fig. 6;
L. Partschi, Barr., wpper Silurian, Katzer’s copy of Barrande’s figure, op. cit.
p. 937, fig. 377-2; B. viator, Barr, lower Devonian, Novak’s figure in
Katzer, op. cit., p. 1,036, tig. 548-1; B.acamas, Hall, Niagara group, Twentieth
Annual Report New York State Cab. of Natural History, Pl. I], fig. 19;
BL. lunatus, Billings, Trenton limestone, Geology of Canada, p. 188, fig. 187,
and Clarke’s figure, Geological Survey of Minnesota, Vol. III, Part 2, p. 725,
fig. 43). In all of these and numerous other recorded examples the feature
referred to is strongly manifested. If on the other hand, we turn to species
of the middle Devonian, the narrowing of the glabella and the interval
between the facial sutures becomes evident (see B. jflabellifer, Goldtuss,
‘
2
CLARKE—CRUSTACEANS FROM THE CHEMUNG GRoUP. 737
System. Uebersicht, Pl. VI, fig. 8; BL. meridionalis, Trom. and Grasset,
Barrois’s figure, Cale. & Polypiers de Cabriéves, Plate I, figure 2a.
DB. thysanopeltis, var. Waldschmidt, v. Koenen, Waldschmidt’s figure, Zeitschr,
d. d. Geol. Gesellsch., Vol. XX XVII, Pl. XX XVIII, fig. 2; B. senescens, ete.,
etc.). This feature appears to be one which, irrespective of other variations
in structure, has gradually passed through the change noted, and it 1s,
naturally, to be observed that lower Devonian faunas embrace species, some
with the wide, some with narrower glabella, while thereafter, the earlier
type of glabella has disappeared.
With reference to the characters of the pygidium in this genus it may be
remarked that the only really useful, tenable subdivision of the group is
founded upon the presence of spinules upon the pygidial margin. This is
Thyanopeltis, one of the names introduced by Corda and designed by its
author to include species of this character; it has proven to possess a definite
stratigraphic value. In matter of outline there is considerable variation, from
the subsemicircular shape in the earliest species like 2. /unatus, Bill., of the
Trenton, 2. daticauda, Wahlenberg, of the lower Silurian of Sweden, and L.
hibernicus, Portlock, of the Caradoc, to the elongate-elliptical curve presented
by the species of the Devonian. In this feature B. senescens is extreme,
surpassing the elongate, narrowing tail-plate of L. Avelcensis, Girich, of the
-lower upper Devonian (Cuboides horizon) of Poland. Corda (Prodrom einer
Monographie der béhm. Trilobiten, pp. 58, 59, 1847), attempted a further
division of the genus on the basis of the simplicity or duplication of the
median rib of the pygidium, proposing for such species as show a bifurcation,
the name Dicranactis, and for those in which it is simple, Ho/omeris. It has
long been evident, and is shown in the species in hand, that the duplicatioa
of this rib is of such minor significance that it can be regarded only as an
individual character and we can not safely infer values from this trait.
Barrande observed (Systeme Silurien, Vol. I, p. 840) that a division of
the species of Drontews might be founded upon the number of ribs on the
pygidium, which are either six, seven or eight on either side of the median
rib. By far the greater number of species possess seven ribs, while six such
ribs are present only in the earliest species, ¢. ¢., Bb. /unatus, B. hibernicus,
B. laticauda. Herein LB. senescens, having seven ribs, perpetuates the struc-
ture of the normal representatives of the genus.
The definite time value of the subgenus 7/ysunope/tis has been set forth
by Barrois, Kayser, Frech and other writers. The only representative of this
division yet known in American faunas is the species 2. tu//ins, from the
738 Report oF THE Strate GEoLoGIstT.
Tully limestone (Cuboides horizon) of New York. Though the group is
well represented in lower Deyoman horizons, there is no record of its per-
durance beyond the Cuboides horizon, and we notice that in this late represen-
tative of Thysanopetis the marginal spies are minute and hair-like. © Within
the limitations of this group we find the glabella passing through variations
in dimensions quite similar to those which characterize the genus as a whole.
Bronteus senescens is devoid of marginal spines and reproduces the char:
acters of the normal middle Devonian type. We look upon this species,
therefore, as distinctly progressed in the character of its glabella and pygi-
dium and as having escaped entanglement with the early Devonian divergence
into Thysanopetis; a survival, with appropriate time modifications, of the
proper expression otf the venus.
PRELIMINARY
GEOLOGIC MAP
°o
ALBANY COUNTY
N
W YORK.
ALL State Geologist
N.A Darton)
One Inch - One Mile
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WA ay ena
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sia
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NALD Lys \ y
Way
HA (
J Explanation of Colors
ONEONTA FORMATION
Ried Shalos and Flags
HAMILTON FLAGS ano SHALES
HAMILTON SHALES
ONONDAGA LIMESTONE
DEVONIAN
ESOPUS SHALES
(Candi Galli)
ORISKANY SANDSTONE
Becraft Limestone
Shaly Limestone
QuaRRIES Pent amerus Limestone
Nole The brown lines are Contour lines which FLAG STONE
South an ROAD METAL
feet in the Northwestern corner of the County. BUILDING STONE
MOULDING SAND WATER-LIME
BRICK CLAY
Tentaculite Limestone
SILURIAN
HELDERBERG LIMESTONES
TT TST VBL | Naga
HUDSON RIVER FORMATION
Shales an¢ Sandstones
ro
TL
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