KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 15 



In that very able outline of Kansas geology, by our esteemed friend, Pro- 

 fessor Mudge, contained in the First Biennial Agricultural Report (1877-78 

 we have the statement that, "There is no slate or soapstone in Kansas. They 

 both belong to metamorphic rocks, of which we have not a single bed." (Page 

 70, note.) Also, that, "There is nowhere to be seen any violent disturbance 

 of the strata, marks of internal fire, or even any slight metamorphic action 

 in any of our deposits." 



This was made in full knowledge of the transported rocks, and also of some 

 amount of metamorphic action manifested in the lead district of the Sub-car- 

 boniferous region in the southeast corner of the State. Of that metamor- 

 phosis, however, it may be well to speak a little more fully. The solid 

 limestone strata of Spring river and Short Creek show little or no trace of 

 seismic agency or metamorphic action, at least as at present known. I have 

 neither seen nor heard of trap dike or basaltic rock. The hills on which • 

 Empire City and Galena stand are, however, immense masses of brecciated 

 material, evidently unremoved since they were brecciated. The great bulk 

 of the material is chert or limestone of the neighboring strata, in parts some- 

 what silicified, and more or less altered in structure, yet with abundance of fos- 

 sils scarcely changed at all. The limestone is all in angular fragments — we 

 have looked in vain for a water-worn piece — cemented together by amber- 

 colored zinc blende, lead ore, and iron pyrites. It appears evident that the 

 metallic elements were in solution when forced among the debris of the lime- 

 stone rocks, and into some of the interstices the mineral matter trickled so 

 slowly as to form true crystals, and the apertures of supply becoming closed 

 before the crevice was filled, we have the forms of the mineral crystals beau- 

 tifully shown. The peculiar wedge-shaped crystals of pyrites are worthy of 

 attention as being very suggestive. 



The questions, "Whence came the mineral solutions?" "What was the 

 degree of temperature?" and " Whence came the heat?" for the present must 

 remain unanswered, but we venture to suggest the following as indicating the 

 line of investigation to be carried on that should tend to answer them : 



1. Was there a great downthrow of formations west of Spring river at 

 the close of the Sub-carboniferous age? and, 



2. Was the heat evolved by the friction of the fault sufficient for the 

 fusion of metals, and solution of iron, zinc and silicon? 



3. Is there in the district of Eureka Springs, or near the white marble 

 quarries in the Indian Territory, any outburst of granite or trappeian rock 

 whose igneous energy reached to the Galena and Joplin districts? 



The only point that we make here with any degree of assurance is, that 

 the brecciated material is, at Short Creek, on the spot where it was meta- 

 morphosed, and that, therefore, it is in a sense true that we have in Cherokee 

 county metamorphic rock m situ. 



About three years ago the papers of the State were agitated by reports of 

 a silver region in Woodson county. It was said that assays made in the 



