264 
GENERAL GEOLOGY OF THE STONES RIVER GROUP OF 
CENTRAL TENNESSEE. 
The formations of the Stones River group outcrop upon the crest and 
west slope of Nashville dome in Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford, Marshall, 
Davis, Cannon, Williamson and Murray counties, where the Stones, Duck, 
Harpeth and Cumberland rivers have eroded their valleys through the 
younger beds. 
In 1851 J. M. Safford’ studied the limestones in central Tennessee and 
gave the name Stones River to the series of beds that appeared at the 
surface in the bluffs along that stream. In 1869* he published a description 
of the formations and considered the group equivalent in age to the Trenton 
of New York at which time he abandoned the name he had formerly used. 
Twenty-eight years later Winchell and Ulrich* revived the name Stones 
River and included within the group the Carters’ limestone, and in 1900 
Safford and Killebrew* redefined the group and published a brief descrip- 
tion of the formations. 
The upper member of the Stones River group occurs in the Columbia, 
Tennessee, quadrangle and was studied by Hayes and Ulrich’ in 1903, and 
lists of fossils from the lower members are published in the folio. 
The Carters limestone was transferred from the Stones River to the 
Black River group in 1915 by Mr. Ulrich.” Further study and mapping of 
the limestones of Stones River age was done by Ulrich and Bassler during 
1908 in the Woodbury, Tennessee, quadrangle, but a report has not yet been 
published. 
The following table giyes the names and chronological order of the di- 
visions of the Stones River group as developed in central Tennsesee: (For- 
mations present are given in italics.) 
Cenozoic 
Mesozoic 
Permian 
| Pennsylvanian 
Mississippian 
| Devonian 
{Silurian 
‘Cincinnatian 
Paleozoic 4 Mohawkian (Lebanon 
/Ordovician {Chazyan {Blount | Ridley 
Stones River {Pierce 
|Big Buffalo series | Murfreesboro 
|Canadian |Mosheim 
|Ozarkian 
{Cambrian 
Proterozoic 
Murfreesboro limestone. Safford referred to the Murfreesboro limestone 
as the “Central limestone” in his Geology of Tennessee published in 1869, 
because it occurred in the center of the state. The name of this formation 
was changed to Murfreesboro limestone in 1900 by Safford and Killebrew?’ 
when they believed that the city of Murfreesboro was near the center of its 
1Am. Jour. of Sci. and Arts, 2nd ser., Vol. XII, p. 352. 
“Geol. of Tenn., p. 258. 
8Geol. of Minn., Vol. III, Pt. II, p. xe, (1897). 
4Elem. Geol. of Tenn., p. 125, (1900). 
1U. S. Geol. Survey Folio 95 (1903). 
“U.S. Nat. Bull. 92, Pl. II. 
