WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 3! 



TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES. 



Lewis and Gilmer offer little that is striking or unusual in 

 their topographic forms. The surface features of both counties 

 show a regular succession of ridges separated by long creeks, 

 with frequent high tops reaching from 100 to 200 feet above 

 the general ridge levels and occasional low divides where the 

 creeks on both sides have sawed notches into the ridges. 

 The ridges vary from about 300 feet in the northern part of 

 the area to about 700 feet in the southern part, or panhandle, 

 of Lewis. 



An exception to the general topographic succession is vis- 

 ible in eastern Lewis, where Stonecoal Creek, Big and Little 

 Skin Creeks, Sand Fork and West Fork have cut their way 

 nearly to base level against the high plateau that exists just 

 across the Upshur County Line, the level of which is about 400 

 feet above that of the main tributary streams of the West 

 Fork Valley in Lewis. 



The erosive work of these streams tends to increase, year 

 by year, the drainage basin of West Fork, and decrease that of 

 the Buckhannon River. 



RIVER TERRACES. 



Terrace clays were observed both along the West Fork 

 River and along the Little Kanawha and some of its tribu- 

 taries. 



The following table shows the locality and elevation above 

 the stream level of the top of the terrace deposits noted along 

 West Fork River : 



Height of Top 



Locality. Tidal Elevation of Deposits 



Top. Above Drainage. 



MouTh~of~Mc^Cann Run 1090' B.~~ ilO' B~ 



Mouth of Maxwell Run 1060' B. 60' B. 



Mouth of Carrion Run 1070' B. 40' B. 



Arnold Station.., 1102' L. 50' B. 



At McCann Run, in northern Lewis, thick deposits of 

 loose sand are visible on both sides of the river. The eleva- 

 tion of these deposits seems to indicate that they belong to the 



