The Ash Bed at Meriden. 29 



sheet on various lines, the present ridges will be arranged in ac- 

 cordance with these repetitions. Thus we can account for the 

 numerous high trap ridges, such as Higbyor Besick Mountain, east 

 of Meriden, Chauncy Peak and Lamentation to the northeast, the 

 Hanging Hills, and other equally prominent ridges further north 

 and south, all of these being the edges of a single heavy lava flow, 

 repeated in as many blocks, more or less dislocated. Here we 

 find the evidence of the great original area of the main sheet. 

 The course of the dislocations or faults by which the blocks are 

 separated is about N. 60° E. in the Meriden region; for example, 

 the fault that cuts off the south end of the quarry ridge north of 

 the Fair Grounds in Meriden (the easternmost member of the 

 Hanging Hills group) passes obliquely across the Beaver Pond 

 valley and cuts off the northern end of Lamentation Mountain. 

 At the quarry, one may pass in a few steps from the main sheet to 

 a bed of conglomeratic sandstone that belongs perhaps two thou- 

 sand feet lower down in the normal series, merely by crossing the 

 branch railroad track. Following the line of the track northeast- 

 ward, successive conglomerate ridges may be seen to end one after 

 another as they run north to the invisible fault line; and the ante- 

 rior trap ridge of Lamentation disappears in the same manner, a 

 manner that would be mysterious enough if it were not so sys- 

 tematically connected with the prevailing structure of the region. 

 Faults of the same kind may be traced through Cat Hole, Reser- 

 voir Notch and other passes that interrupt the range north of 

 West Peak; also through the notch between Lamentation Mount- 

 ain and Chauncy Peak, and between the latter and Higby Mount- 

 ain. 



In every block thus defined, the whole series of deposits must 

 appear. The lower conglomerates and sandstones first, then the 

 anterior trap sheet, the shales overlying it, the main trap sheet 

 forming the dominating ridges, and behind these more shales and 

 a posterior trap sheet, somewhat thinner than the anterior. The 

 ash bed that is associated with the anterior sheet in the Lamenta- 

 tion block can be seen in the same relative position in the Chauncy 

 Peak block, and again near the north end of the anterior ridge of 

 the Higby Mountain block. It may yet be found elsewhere. It is 

 in this structural relation that the ash bed has its iiighest value. 



Enough has been said to point out tlie importance of study of 

 the region from the physical point of view. It is not sufficient to 

 examine one locality and another, regarding each simply as fur- 

 nishing geological specimens; the relations of the several parts 



