GEOLOGY. 373 



had succeeded in identifying the coal-beds of Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and 

 Ohio. Thus the Pomcroy coal at the mouth of the Great Kanawha is iden- 

 tified with the Gate vein at Pottsvillc, on the Schuylkill, and the highest 

 coal bed in Western Kentucky, with the great Pittsburgh bed of Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



The old views, as to the thickness of anthracite coal-scries, and the impov- 

 erishment of the Western bituminous scries, have been incorrect. The 

 number of beds in a given vertical space is no greater in the cast than in the 

 west ; the intervals are substantially the same ; but a more valuable fact is, 

 that the relative values of the beds, among themselves, is maintained. 



OX THE SO-CALLED NEW RED SANDSTONES OF THE ATLANTIC 



STATES. 



Highly important additions to our knowledge of the geological character 

 and position of the so-called New Red Sandstones of the Connecticut valley, 

 and of New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina, have been recently made 

 through the investigations of Dr. E. Emmons, the State Geologist of North 

 Carolina. This information is contained in Dr. Emmons's preliminary re- 

 ports to the Legislature of North Carolina, and in Part IV. of American 

 Geology by the same author. 



The range of sandstones in question is well known to extend from the 

 north part of Massachusetts, on Connecticut River, southward to Long 

 Island Sound ; to begin again on the southern part of the Hudson and con- 

 tinue into New Jersey, and, pursuing a course west of south, to appear in 

 the States of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina, even into the 

 bounds of South Carolina, though with interruptions. At the north this 

 series was formerly called the New Red Sandstone, supposed to be, geolog- 

 ically, next above the Coal Formation, and part of the Triassic. On the 

 Continent of Europe, the Trias is divided into three parts, the upper called 

 the Keuper, the middle the Muschelkalk, and the lower the Bunter Sand- 

 stein. The Muschelkalk is wanting in England and in our country ; the 

 other two are admitted in the geology of England, and Dr. Emmons main- 

 tains the existence of both in North Carolina and at the north, as the Upper 

 and the Lower Sandstones, separated by their peculiar conglomerates and a 

 partial unconformability. If this is sustained, the Richmond coal-field, and 

 also that of North Carolina, must be placed, not in the Lias, or Oolite series, 

 but entirely below both. In the former relation, Prof. W. B. Rogers placed 

 the coal and sandstone in view of all the evidence attained in 1843. This 

 view Sir Charles Lyell considered to be confirmed by his own subsequent 

 special examination, as he states in his Elementary Geology, sixth edition, 

 p. 330. 



The researches and discoveries of Dr. Emmons have, however, changed 

 the character and value of the evidence previously collected on this subject. 

 In Virginia, there arc two tracts of these sandstones and shales, of which the 

 eastern, on James River, has long supplied bituminous coal. 



There arc also two tracts of these rocks in North Carolina, in both of 

 which are coal ; in the northern basin, upon Dan river, semi-bituminous 



32 



