CHAPTER VI. 



THE NEW-YORK SYSTEM. 



GENEBAI. CONSIDERATIONS. CLASSIFCATION OF THE NEW-YORK ROCKS. I. CHAMPLAIN DIVISION : ITS R.\NGE AND 

 EXTENT, PHYSICAL CHARACTERS OF THE COUNTRY OVER WHICH IT EXTENDS, AND AGRICULTURAL REL.\TION3 

 OF THE S.tME. II. ONTARIO DIVISION : LITHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS, DISTRIBUTION, FR.4CTURES, etC. ; SUMMARY. 

 III. HELDERBERG DIVISION ; LITHOLOGIC.4.L CHARACTERS, INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS, FAULTS OR FRACTURES ; 

 SUMMARY. IV. ERIE DIVISION : LITHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS, INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS, FAULTS OR FRACTURE3 ; 

 SUMMARY. V. CATSKILL DIVISION : LITHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS, CHANGE IN FOSSILS, POSITION AND DISTRIBU- 

 TION ; SUMMARY. CONCLUSION. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE NEW-YORK SYSTEM. 



§ 1. Preliminary remarks. 



I HAVE now disposed of those rocks which I have denominated Taconic : rocks, which 

 underlie that part of the State included between the Hudson river on the west, and the 

 base of the Green mountains on the east. Their agricultural characters and relations will 

 form the subject for a chapter in another place. I shall now proceed with the report on 

 the plan I have already marked out, namely, that of bringing before my readers first those 

 subjects which may be considered strictly geological ; after which, we will be prepared to 

 enter upon the consideration of the agricultural relations sustained by the several individual 

 rocks, and the influences they exert upon the superincumbent soil. 



The series of rocks immediately succeeding the Taconic, in tlie ascending order, constitute 

 a full and distinct system in themselves, even if considered only within the geographical 

 limits of New-York ; and inasmuch as the series is complete, and they form by themselves 

 one of those great and leading divisions of rocks, they have been brought under one head, 

 which has been denominated the New- York System. Under the word system (p. 36) , 

 the reader will find v/hat is to be understood by the term when geologically used. In 

 New- York, the change between the period occupied in the formation of the Taconic rocks, 

 and the commencement of the New-York system, is marked both by a change in the posi- 

 tion of the former, and by a change in the character of the fossils of the latter. One 

 of the most remarkable facts observed, is the introduction of the mollusca. I can speak 

 [Agricultural Report.] 15 



