62 Review of M. Tuomey^s Final Report 



work, and a table is included showing the order of superposition 

 of the fossiliferous strata with the localities of the characteristic 

 deposits in Europe and America. It would perhaps be difficult 

 to find even in double the number of pages elsewhere, a better 



abstract of geological knowledge than that presented to us in 



this introduction, and we think the author has done wisely in 

 appending to his work so much matter of a general scientific 

 character. 



Report on the geology of the state. — The report on the 

 geology of the state, commences with an account of the un- 

 stratified rocks, found in South Carolina, exclusively in the upper 

 or northwestern districts. Although this section of the state is 

 known as the granite region, yet true granite is found over but 

 a small portion of the surface. It is seen perhaps in a more con- 

 tinuous range than elsewhere along the line of the tertiary de- 

 posits, between the Savannah river and the Congaree below Co- 

 lumbia, separating by an anticlinal axis those strata, which dip 



south, from the clay slates which have a northern inclination. 

 Granite also appears at the surface to some extent in the coun- 

 ties of Newberry and Lancaster. Nowhere does it rise, however, 

 to any great elevation. In some localities the rock has disinte- 

 grated, and masses cover the surface of the ground, which from 

 their form and detached position are often taken for transported 

 boulders. 



M. Tuomey accounts for them as follows : 



11 The rock originally presented a jointed structure, the seams divi- 

 ding it by their intersection into cubical blocks of various sizes. Disin- 

 tegration commences at the angles, which being the points of least re- 

 sistance, are removed by exfoliation, or converted into a slightly co- 

 hering mass, that finally becomes a loose earth, enclosing the round- 

 ed pieces of rock. This earth is frequently removed from the crevices, 

 and the globular masses remain standing alone, or piled upon each 



other, as they are often seen. It is in this manner that all the rounded 

 masses of granite in the state have been formed, which can always be 

 distinguished from transported rocks by their identity with the rocks 

 with which they are associated. " 



A coarse feldspathic granite rises into quite a conspicuous hill IB 

 Newberry district, lifting the slates which rest upon it, and giv- 

 ing them a northern and southern dip. This passes at some dis- 

 tance into a fine-grained rock which affords an excellent building 

 material. 



The mineral contents of the granite are but few. Auriferous 

 veins are found in it which have been worked, and there exist 

 some beds of porcelain clay derived from its disintegration. 



Trap and other intrusive rocks. — An extensive series of trap 

 dikes, which extend from Virginia to Alabama, cross the north- 





