80 

 .u^,.j '^ [Stevensou 



In the New River section fragments with Chemung fossils are plentiful 

 to a vertical distance of not far from 500 feet above the conglomerate, but 

 beyond that the fossiliferous fragments become rare and soon are alto- 

 gether wanting. A fossiliferous sandstone containing Ghonetes and 

 Pthonia, both Chemung forms, together with many other forms not easily 

 recognizable on the weathered surface, was seen on the Dublin and Pear- 

 isburg pike at between 300 and 400 feet vertical distance above the sup- 

 posed place of the upper conglomerate. The transition tlience to the Ves- 

 pertine, as shown in the excellent and almost continuous exposures along 

 that road, is absolutely imperceptible — there is no change to the "Quarry 

 rock," and the drawing of the line of separation at the bottom of that rock 

 is wholly arbitrary here. But at many other localities a change occurs at 

 about 200 feet below that rock, bringing in some bluish sandstones. Che- 

 mung forms become very abundant immediately below the upper con- 

 glomerate. Good collections can be made on Brushy mountain in Bland 

 county along the Seddon and Mercer road, as well as along the road from 

 Point Pleasant to Kimberling creek. Excellent localities on Little Walker 

 are on New river and on any of the roads crossing the mountain in Pul- 

 aski and Wythe counties. No doubt good collections can be made within 

 a mile and a half of Pulaski on the road leading over Draper mountain. 



The geologist familiar with the Chemung of Pennsylvania and Mary- 

 land will recognize a familiar section here : the two conglomerates with 

 variegated shales below them passing into' the flags, while between them 

 are the flags and shales passing through clayey concretionary sandstones 

 to the upper conglomerate. The similarity fails above that conglomerate 

 in that the red shales are wanting, and the passage to the Vespertine is 

 through sandstone rather than through shale. The condition is more 

 nearly that of South-western Pennsylvania where, as here, the Catskill is 

 absent and the Chemung is carried directly to the Vespertine. The thick- 

 ness of the section in Bland county appears to be very nearly the same 

 with that of the section in northern Bedford county of Pennsylvania, 

 nearly 300 miles away along the line of strike. This persistence through 

 so great a distance makes more remarkable the entii"e disappearance of the 

 group between Bland Court-house (Seddon) and Pennington's gap in Lee 

 county, only 125 miles away at the south-west. 



This group evidently reached to the south-easterly side of the "Great 

 valley," for the beds upturned alongside of the Draper Mountain fault are 

 within twelve miles of the Archisan. 



Hamilton. — The line between Hamilton and Chemung cannot be drawn 

 satisfactorily during a reconnaissance, as the passage from one to the other 

 is by no means abrupt. So gradual, indeed, is the passage here, as well as 

 in a great part of the Appalachian region, that the older geologists of both 

 Virginia and Pennsylvania placed the series together as a single group, 

 their No. VIIL The Hamilton shales are gray to black, and evidently 

 represent only the lower part of the group as found further northward. 

 They are shown in the " Poor valleys " of Walker and Cove mountains. 



