18 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE 



I will not insist, but, by submerging a porous body, such as a sponge, it will be seen 

 that the pressure of the .superincumbent water lias no tendency to bring its particles in 

 contactor consolidate it. The excess of sulphur is doubtless due to the decomposition 

 of the numerous marine organisms which inhabited the water by which the coal was 

 saturated or submerged. 



Fossils. The conditions under which the coal-strata of Kansas have been formed 

 were not favorable to the preservation of a large number of plants; less than a dozen 

 species having been discovered there up to the present time. These are 

 borassifolia, Atmxlunu H]>]/<>>/i>]>//i/</i<l<'x, Sphettopkyttum di'i/fuhiin, Ali'/liojitrri* Hn-l 

 teris arborescens, Neuropteris jfaKuosOj N. hh'x/tfit, ami sif/'illai-in M> n/u'<li. These plants 

 are all found in the coal-formation east of the Mississippi. 



The molluscous fossils of this region have been pretty thoroughly worked up by 

 Messrs. Shumard, Swallow, and 'Meek. The}- are enumerated in the papers of these 

 gentlemen in the proceedings of the Saint Louis and Philadelphia academies; and in 

 Chapter X of my report on the Geology of the Colorado Country. 



In some portions of Eastern Kansas the Upper Carboniferous limestones contain 

 the remains of echinoderms, of which the spines and plates sometimes almost com- 

 pletely cover the weathered surfaces of the rocks. They all belong to the genus 

 Archceocidaris, and constitute several species described bv Messrs. Shumard and Hall. 

 These fossils present a new feature in the Carboniferous fauna to one who has studied 

 that formation only east of the Mississippi, where they are exceedingly rare. They are, 

 however, equally common in the Carboniferous rocks of Ne\v Mexico; one of the 

 Kansas species recurring in great numbers at 1'ccos Village, near Santa Fe, and sev- 

 eral others of large size, described in my report to Lieutenant Ives, are conspicuous 

 features in the limestones, equivalents of the Coal-Measures, on the banks of the Col- 

 orado. 



The Fusilinas, which give character to the Fusilina limestones of Missouri and 

 Kansas, have attracted the attention and excited the surprise! of every geologist who 

 has visited that region. The Coal-Measure limestones are almost everywhere crowded 

 with them, and in many instances they compose by far the greater portion of their 

 mass. It is not easy to say what influences could have fostered this enormous develop- 

 ment of Foraminiferous life in the sea from which the Kansas limestones were deposited ; 

 for these fossils, like the echinoderms of which I have spoken, are almost unknown 

 east of the Mississippi; but, unlike them, are comparatively rare in the limestones of 



New Mexico. 



DRAGOON CREEK TO (JOTTONVVOOD CttKEK. 



The Carboniferous rocks which I have described as so characteristic of Eastern 

 Kansas, prevail without interruption overall the interval between Independence, Mo., 

 and Dragoon Creek. Although the exposures of the underlying rocks are frequent 

 along the Sante Fd road, the surface is merely undulated, nowhere broken, and there 

 are no deep excavations formed by the draining streams. As a consequence the order of 

 succession of strata could not be fully made out, and it is probable that not every nun i- 

 ber of the series is anywhere visible along our line of exa.nrina.tion. It is not certain, 

 therefore, that there are not beds of coal or other valuable minerals still lying concealed 



