UPPER BARREN MEASURES. PP. 25 



Whether any of these strata should be placed in a more 

 recent series as, " Permo-Carboniferous," or "Permian," 

 may be better determined after a review of the evidence af- 

 forded by the plant-life. 



It is only necessary here to refer to the general section of 

 the strata made in passing from the western part of Monon- 

 galia Co. where the highest strata occur, to the east where 

 the Waynesburg Coal appears at Cassville. * 



This section does not give the entire thickness of the Up- 

 per Barren Measures in W. Va., since in Wetzell and Mar- 

 shall counties the column of rocks extends from 200 to BOO 

 feet higher. We have had no opportunity to examine and 

 measure these beds. 



The upper 300 feet of the section given are never fully 

 exposed, so that not much can be said about the strata oc- 

 cupying this space. A very massive sandstone is often 

 found near the top, and probably one or two small lime- 

 stones occur near the center, as they appear at this horizon 

 in the adjoining portions of Pennsylvania. 



In naming and numbering the different beds of lime- 

 stone, coal, &c., found in this series, we have followed the 

 nomenclature of Dr. John J. Stevenson in his Report of 

 Progress, K, on Greene and Washington Counties in Penn- 

 sylvania, 1876. 



No. 3 of the section was by him called Limestone X. It 

 is one of the most persistent members of the series, as we 

 have traced it over a wide area in Monongalia, Wetzel, and 

 Marshall counties, always finding it at the proper horizon. 



None of the coals of this series ever attain workable di- 

 mensions except No. 20, or the Washington Coal. The 

 other coal beds are 1 to li feet thick, and are never mined 

 except by "stripping" at points where they lie near the 

 surface. 



The upper half of the series is quite variable in the char- 

 acter of its strata. In some places, we iind it containing 

 a great deal of massive sandstone, with drab, argillaceous 

 beds, mainly incoherent shales. At other points, we find 

 on the same horizon, several hundred feet of red shales, 



*See Section and Fig. 4 at the end of this chapter. 



