490 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



SECTION OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY. 

 October 5, 1908. 



Section met at 8:15 P. M., Vice-President Grabau presiding. 



Thirty persons were present. 



The minutes of the last meeting of the Section were read and approved. 



The following program was then offered: 



W. 0. Crosby, Outline of the Geology of Long Island. 



James F. Kemp, The Production of Low Grade Copper Ore in 



THE West. 



Charles P. Berkey, Limestones Interbedded with the Fordham 



Gneiss of New York City. 



Amadeus W. Grabau,CoNTiNENTAL Formation of the American Pal- 

 eozoic. 



Summary of Papers. 



Professor Crosby's paper has been published as pages 425-429 of this 

 volume. 



Professor Kemp presented a brief description of the recent development 

 of the so-called "low-grade" copper mines in Bingham Canon, Utah, and at 

 Ely, Nevada. By means of maps, the geographical situation was made 

 clear and the geological relations were outlined. The ores consist of bodies 

 of silicified and brecciated porphyry, impregnated with chalcocite. They 

 are mined by means of steam shovels, in huge open cuts. They range in 

 copper from less than two to two and a half per cent, copper. The operation 

 and processes of the mills and smelters was briefly outlined. The paper 

 was based upon visits made the past summer. 



Professor Berkey, in 1907, published a discussion of the "Structural and 

 Stratigraphic Features of the Basal Gneisses of the Highlands," based 

 upon work in that area for the New York State Survey. The conclusions 

 announced were that the oldest gneisses of the Highlands are essentially 

 the same in origin, age and character as the Fordham of New York City. 

 At the same time numerous small occurrences of very impure crystalline 

 Hmestone vv'ere interpreted as interbedded members of this old series asso- 

 ciated closely with especially quartzose and micaceous facies of the formation, 

 all together indicating a metamorphic recrystallization of an original sedi- 



