A Geological Section at Providence, Missouri. 



BY ALBAN STEWART. 



On October i, 1894, i^^ company with Professor G. C. Broad- 

 head of the Missouri State Universit}', I visited the region at and 

 surrounding Providence, Missouri. Providence is a small town, 

 consisting only of a store, postoffice and a number of small dwell- 

 ings, situated on the Missouri, Kansas and Eastern Railway, 

 twent3--five miles northwest of Jefferson City. The bluffs, both 

 east and west of the city offer excellent facilities for examining the 

 various strata there exposed, having been cut down perpendicularly 

 for the road bed of the railroad. The}' are capped with the Burling- 

 ton limestone, below which is the Chotean limestone containing 

 many characteristic fossils, such as Rhynchouclla niissourirusis, Pro- 

 ductits blairil one or two species of Ortlioceras, etc. The total 

 thickness of these two limestones is one hundred and forty feet. 



The following section is that existing at the town and extending 

 one and a half miles below it. 



1. Top of bluffs. 



2. Burlington limestone, 90 feet. 



3. Chotean limestone, 50 feet. 

 Consisting of: 



a. Drab colored limestone with siliceous geodes and con- 



taining but few fossils, 20 feet. 



b. Brittle, dove colored limestone, abounding in fossils, 



such as RhyncJwnella, Orthoceras, Prodnctiis, Perno- 

 pcctin slmmardii, etc., 3 feet. 



c. Thin shaly limestone, including Trilobites {^Phillipsia, 



spp.) Crinoids, Bryozoans, Spirofcr, Goinphoceras, 

 Orihis, Corals, etc., 25 feet. 



4. Light green calcareaus sandstone, Tamocris caudagalli, i foot. 



5. Devonian limestone, dove colored, containing in its upper 



part, Favosites alpineiisis and Stomatopora cxpansa, below 

 which is found Loxincura robusta; four feet from the top 

 is found a large Turbo like fossill and Spin'/cr erriternus, 

 25 feet. 



6. Chert, some of wdiich is oolitic, alternating with sandstone 



and limestone, 5 feet. 



7. Magnesian limestone, 7 feet. 



Qfil) KAX. UNIV. QUAE.. VOL. IV. NO. 3, JANUARY. 1896. 



