98 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA FE 



Section of Carboniferous rod's in Labyrinth Canon. 



Feet. 



1. Blue slaty argillaceous limestone, with nodules of chert, and containing cri- 



noidal columns in great numbers, Athyris subtilita, Bellerophon, Product us, dr.. 20 



2. Massive blue limestone, portions of which are quite sandy, generally variable 



in color and composition 50 



3. Slaty blue argillaceous limestone, somewhat cherty, crowded with fossils, among 



which are Athyris sultilita, Spirifer camcratus, Productus scmireticidatus, P. 

 scabriculus, P. Rogersi, P. punctatus, P. nodosits, Ortliisina wnbracidum, Mya- 

 lina ampla, Plcurotomarla excclsa a large and fine new species Allorisma 



subcuncata, &c 40 



4. Eed shale, no fossils 6 



5. Bluish- white, red or mottled sandy limestone, no fossils 35 



6. Red calcareous shale, no fossils 7 



7. Red or bluish- white, mottled sandy limestone, massive, no fossils 25 



8. Coarse blood-red sandstone, in some localities becoming red shale, no fossils. . 22 



9. Hard blue cherty limestone, with a few fossils of the same species found in No. 3 . 36 



The last number of the series forms the fall or precipice which stopped our prog- 

 ress down the canon. The remainder of the section was inaccessible to us; as seen 

 from above it seemed to consist of alternations of strata, similar to those already 

 enumerated. If we may judge of the thickness of the Carboniferous formation in this 

 vicinity by what it is lower down on the Colorado, we cannot suppose that the base of 

 the series is reached in the canon of Grand River. 



On comparing this exposure of the Carboniferous strata with that at Santa Fe, 

 described in Chapter II of this report, and those of the banks of the Colorado below 

 the mouth of the Little Colorado, noticed in my report to Lieutenant Ives, Chapter VI, 

 pp. GO and G2, it will be seen that the fossils are generally identical; that, while two 

 or three neAv species were added in each localit}^ to the Carboniferous fauna of the 

 Mississippi Valley, most of them are the same with the most common and characteristic 

 fossils of our Coal-Measures in Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. 



In lithological characters there is a general correspondence between all the locali- 

 ties in New Mexico where the Carboniferous rocks are fully exposed, but at Santa Fe 

 there is a greater proportion of coarse material, sandstones and conglomerates, than at 

 the more western localities. At Santa Fe, too, we find land-plants, characteristic Coal- 

 Measure form's, and even a thin bed of coal; all of which indicate the immediate prox- 

 imity of dry land. 



Too little was learned of the lower part of the series on Grand River to enable 

 me to institute a fair comparison between the Carboniferous rocks at this locality and 

 those on Cataract Creek, 150 miles below. In the upper part of the formation we find, 

 however, here as there, cherty limestones with similar fossils, but the great beds of 

 gypsum of Cataract Creek are certainly wanting here. 



Combining the sections exposed at different points along our route in our descent, 

 step by step, from the summit of the Mesa Verde to the canon of Grand River, we 

 have the following rc^umr of the strata and formations passed through: 



