55 ■ JOURNAL O^ THE 



ceptions they entertained reofardino- the nature of these 

 rocks, due perhaps chiefly to the lack of pctrog-faphic 

 evidences, the science of microscopic petrography beino- 

 totally unknown in Kmmons' days, and certainly in its 

 infanc}^ at the time of Kerr. 



EMMONS' TACONIC SYSTEM IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Emmons placed these rocks amono- the oldest sediment- 

 aries, i. e. ut the base of the Paleozoic. In his words:' 

 "The formation of the midland counties, which occup}' 

 the largest extent of surface, are slates and siliceous 

 rocks, which have been called quartzites." " ^- ""' "" 

 "The slates are variable in color and composition. They 

 are mineralogically cla3% chloritic, and talcose slates, 

 taking silica into their composition at times, and even 

 passing into fine grits and hornstones, but still variahrle 

 in coarseness. In the order in which the}' lie the talcose 

 slates and quartzites are the inferior rocks, though 

 quartzites occur also in the condition of chert, flint or 

 hornstone in all the series." 



He established their sedimentary origin from the oc- 

 currence of numerous beds containing, in his belief, 

 rounded pebbles. Further, "I found, however, many 

 beds among them which looked like sediments, were por- 

 phyrized and somewhat changed, though not strictly por- 

 phyries. I found after much search too, beds which were 

 unequivocally pebbly; and finally, to remove all doubt, I 

 was fortunate in discovering that the porphorized beds 

 also frequently contained pebl>les; proving most conclu- 

 sively that thev are sediments which were partially al- 

 tered.""^ 



One of the arguments that Emmons useH to prove the 

 sedimentary nature of the Taconic, and its derivation 

 from the basal complex, is the presence of gold in the 



1 Geol. Report of Midland CountLsb of X. C, 

 2 Ibid, p. 47. 



