320 GEOLOGY OF THE SECOND DISTRICT. 



the South Hero, it forms the cUffs upon the southeast side, opposite Milton in Vermont. We 

 have, therefore, a few opportunities for an examination of this mass in a state and condition 

 free from the Hudson river shales. Usually it is so much enveloped in the latter masses, 

 that it is difficult to form a judgment of its characters, particularly when in the midst of the 

 disturbed strata. 



Dip and Strike of the Rocks in Clinton. 



As the rocks repose upon the eastern slope of the primary, their general inclination is east- 

 ward. It is not, however, unfrequent to find it northeast, or veering round towards the north. 

 A few examples of dip, will be sufficient to convey to the reader all that is necessary upon 

 these points. 



About four miles souih of Chazy, th5 calciferous sandrock dips nearly east. At the village, 

 in the bed of the creek, the rocks or strata associated with the birdseye dip N. 60° E. ; the 

 amount is 20° to 25° ; the strike or trend, N. 60° W., and N. 60° E. Following the masses 

 in the ascending order some twenty yards, the dip is still more towards the north. If, how- 

 ever, we examine the dip of the rocks at the uplift about half a mile southwest of the village, 

 and pass over the several uplifts in the direction of their dip, our course will be southeast. 

 But if we commence an examination a little to the north of the locality just cited, we shall find 

 the same rocks dipping to the northeast, or considerably north of east. We find, therefore, in 

 the same masses, and those also proceeding almost from the same point, a divergent dip ; a fact, 

 which I do not remember to have fallen under my notice before. Pursuing the dip in either 

 direction to the southeast or northeast, it becomes less, until it amounts to only a few degrees. 



The principal force producing an uplift of the rocks I have been describing, operated upon 

 the lower portion of the calciferous sandrock ; and hence the succeeding rocks are but little 

 altered from their original horizontal position two or three miles to the east, diminishing 

 gradually towards the higher masses, or towards the southeast and northeast. In all the 

 rocks of Clinton, the dip has rarely suffered a local derangement. The forces usually con- 

 cerned in overturning and deranging the strata, appear to have been quiescent over the whole 

 of this county. Near the locality of the fucoidal layers, the calciferous is slightly dome- 

 shaped, being elevated or pushed slightly upwards, so as to give a gentle dip in all directions. 



As a field for study, Clinton county furnishes some useful and interesting phenomena, par- 

 ticularly in the succession of masses from the potsdam and upwards, to the utica slate ; and 

 what is well worthy of particular note, is the distribution of the fossils, they being confined to 

 masses with as distinct limitations as any geologist can wish. Even few strata of the calci- 

 ferous contain fossils limited to them exclusively, and appearing neither above nor below. I 

 state this rather as an illustration to the student in geology, of the mode in which fossils are 

 distributed, and of the characteristics which they furnish for identifying distant rocks, and 

 sometimes strata. 



The rocks of these lower masses, it has been said, are abundant in fossil individuals of a 

 few species ; and it is a remarkable fact in palaiontology, that they are confined to such narrow 



