1884.] ±6j [Stevenson. 



boniferous, as though the agency to which they owe their origin had 

 not been long at work. 



The only deposit of Quarternary age, aside from the terrace deposits, is 

 that near Saltville, in Smyth* count}^ where a conglomerate overlies the 

 great mass of gypsum. This material has been exposed bj- a railroad cut 

 Avest from Saltville, where it is said to have yielded remains of Mastodon. 

 It is a conglomerate of red and blue clay, sandstone and large, mostly 

 waterworn blocks of Knox chert and calcareous sandstone, the cement 

 being mostly selenite. A small part only of the original mass remains, 

 by far the greater part having been removed by erosion. No deposit of 

 similar character was seen at any other of the gypsum bearing localities. 



The deposits of gypsum and common salt occurring at Saltville and 

 other localities on the North fork of Holston river, belong in all proba- 

 bility to the Tertiary. Their character and relations will be considered in 

 another part of this memoir. 



The Coal Measures. 



It is unfortunate for the nomenclature of the Carboniferous that the 

 rocks of that age were first studied and classified in Pennsylvania. Had 

 the study and classification been made in Virginia, the nomenclature 

 would have been different and would have been better applicable to the 

 several areas in which Carboniferous rocks occur. The Coal measures be- 

 gin with the Serai or Pottsville Conglomerate of Pennsylvania ; which in 

 that State is for the most part of little economical importance, but in Vir- 

 ginia and much of West Virginia is equally important with the overlaying 

 beds, the Lower Coal measures of the accepted nomenclature. The 

 proper terms fitted for the whole of the Appalachian area are: 



Upper Coal Measures, equivalent to the Upper Coal measures of Penn- 

 sylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, begining with the Pittsburgh coal bed 

 and continuing to the top of the series ; 



The Middle Coal measures, equivalent to the Lower Coal measures of 

 the States already mentioned ; and 



The Lower Coal measures, equivalent to the Serai or Pottsville con- 

 glomerate of Pennsylvania, the Millstone grit of Ohio and the Quinnimont 

 group of Virginia and West Virginia. It attains great thickness in the 

 Virginias, where it contains the coking coals of the New river and its 

 tributaries. 



The Coal measures do not cross to the south of the Clinch system of 

 faults though they are entangled among them. The Middle and Lower 

 groups only are reached in the area examined. 



The Middle Coal measures occur within Wise and Russell counties as 

 far east as the line of Buchanan county. They are cut ofTby the Clinch 

 fault which passes into Buchanan county between Dump and Lewis 

 creeks, so that in that county the Middle and Lower Coal measures should 

 be found faulted against each other north from the latter creek. The more 



