220 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



THE TERMINAL BOULDER BELT IN SHAWNEE COUNTY. 



By B. B. SMYTH, Topeka. 



Stretching across the southern part of Shawnee county there occurs a 

 line of red rocks, more or less rounded by the action of water and abrasion. 

 This line is very noticeable, because the rocks in it are unusually hard and of 

 a different color from all other rocks that are found in situ, and lie loosely 

 upon the surface in such a way as to give the impression that they were 

 thrown there and had subsequently sunken slightly into the earth. 



This line is a part of a line stretching across the United States for a dis- 

 tance of more than 2,000 miles; reaching from the British line in northwest- 

 ern Montana, entirely across the states of Montana, North and South Dakota, 

 and Nebraska, one corner of Kansas, across the states of Missouri, Illinois, 

 Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. It continues eastward from 

 end to end over Long Island, and still continues eastward over the bottom of 

 the shallow ocean south of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. 



This line is not, however, in Shawnee county, at least, a moraine in truth; 

 it is a distinct and well-defined border belt of boulders, with slight morainic 

 tendencies. The boulders in this line are from one to ten feet in diameter, 

 and from close together to thirty or forty feet apart. Four of the largest in 

 the line are six or seven feet high and ten feet across. These are about seven 

 miles apart, one in a place. Three of them are within ten feet of the very 

 front; a fourth is a little further back. One of them, six feet high and ten feet 

 across is split vertically into three parts; the parts have sunken into the 

 ground somewhat, and are separated from each other far enough to permit a 

 cow to pass through. The interior parts are well covered with lichens of very 

 slow growth. A fifth, about 600 feet back of the line, is three feet high and 

 twelve by eight feet across. It stands in ground that is sometimes springy 

 and soft, and probably rests on the bed-rock, which is two feet below the 

 surface. Several others, somewhat larger, stand on the high ground north of 

 the Kaw, and about twelve miles back from the moraine. One, about the 

 same distance further back, is said by Professor Hay, who has seen it, to 

 be twenty-seven feet across. These are all in Shawnee county. 



The boulders are mostly on hilltops and southern exposures. There seem 

 to be all varieties of granitoid, gneissoid, quartzose, and schistose rocks, con- 

 glomerates, and metamorphic sandstones. They are red, pink, purple, gray, 

 green, black, and striped with pink and yellow; but red is the predominating 

 color. They are usually very hard, especially those exposed; sometimes one 

 that is covered is decomposed, like these samples (Nos. 1 and 2) in my hand. 



COURSE OF THE MORAINE. 



This train of boulders traverses the county from east to west, as indicated 

 on the map, commencing near the southeast corner, about two miles north of 

 Richland. It follows the southern crest of the bluffs north of the Wakarusa, 

 until Linn creek is reached, which it crosses, passing up tne creek to Ber- 

 ryton, continues the same course to Pauline, and on to the westward three 

 miles. Here it makes a sharp turn to the north for two miles until the banks 

 of the Shunganunga are reached; it then disappears. 



A recent attempt to trace the continuance of this boulder train, in company 

 with Dr. Wm. Smith, of Topeka, resulted in finding it to make a sharp detour 



