MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 71 



On the western edge of the Valley the Waynesboro outcrops in a narrow 

 strip along the eastern base of Fairview and Powell mountains, where it 

 is brought to the surface by faulting. Few outcrops can be found in this 

 area, however, since the country is so thoroughly covered with drift 

 material from the nearby mountains. 



ECONOMIC FEATURES. Compared with the neighboring limestone 

 areas the soils derived from the weathering of the Waynesboro formation 

 are comparatively poor and the fields are frequently covered with small 

 sandstone or sandy purple shale slabs and milky quartz fragments. 

 Freshly plowed fields, especially when wet, have a distinct purple to red 

 color. As the formation always outcrops topographically above the 

 adjoining areas, and as the soil is quite porous, Waynesboro areas have 

 both good water and air drainage. This causes such areas to be of 

 especial value for fruit culture, and as a result most of the Waynesboro 

 hills have been cleared and planted in orchards, peaches being the fruit 

 most commonly raised. 



From a commercial standpoint the Waynesboro formation is of little 

 importance. When there was a strong local demand for iron .years ago, 

 it afforded small quantities of residual iron ore. The limestones in the 

 middle portion have in the past been employed very locally for lime burn- 

 ing. The thin-bedded sandstones make excellent flagging stones which 

 are used in the villages close to the areas of outcrop. Mention of the 

 suncracked flagstones in the pavements of Smithsburg has been made 

 in a preceding paragraph. 



AGE AND CORRELATION. No fossils have been observed in the Waynes- 

 boro formation in Maryland, but at the type locality just north of the 

 Maryland line a few poorly preserved phosphatic brachiopods of the 

 genus Lingulella have been noted. These suggest a Middle Cambrian 

 age. The Buena Vista shale of Virginia has yielded an Olenellus-likQ 

 trilobite which would suggest a Lower Cambrian age for this shale, 

 although in recent years the range of Olenellus has been extended into 

 the Middle Cambrian. The age of the Waynesboro is therefore not clearly 

 indicated by paleontologic evidence, but stratigraphic and diastrophic 

 data place it as Middle Cambrian. 



