GEOLOGY OF THE MESOZOIC AEEAS. 5 



into North Carolina into the Dan River Coal Field. The longer axis of this 

 belt runs about 40° east of north. Its length is 62 miles and average 

 width 4£ miles. The average width varies little from the maximum, and is 

 very uniformly maintained. It is then in form rather ribbon-shaped than 

 elliptical. In its geological features it differs considerably from the two 

 previously described areas, and is more like the Palisade, Area presently to 

 be mentioned. It has no coal beds, and has yielded no determinable plants. 

 No doubt they exist, but no considerable search has been made for them. 

 This is the most distant area from the Blue Ridge that shows any large 

 amount of the deep red strata so characteristic of some of the so-called 

 Trias of the eastern part of the United States. Here they form the lowest 

 beds. 



The Buckingham Area is a small oval patch, lying on James River, in 

 the northern part of Buckingham County. It lies in the prolongation of 

 the Palisade Area. It is about 18 miles long, with an average width of 

 4 miles. No coal exists, and no plants have been found. A very large 

 proportion of the beds are coarse sandstones, conglomerates, and shales, 

 mostly of a deep red color. 



The Palisade Area is the largest area of older Mesozoic in the State. 

 It forms a band, about 15 miles wide on the Potomac River where it enters 

 the State, that extends 80 miles to the southwest, parallel with the Blue 

 Ridge, and about 20 miles distant from it. This band narrows gradually 

 to the south, and ends in Orange County. It is the continuation of the 

 band of Mesozoic that begins at the Palisades on the Hudson River, and 

 extends southwest through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. 

 Its geological character in Virginia is similar to that found farther north. 

 It enters Virginia between Point of Rocks, Maryland, and the mouth of 

 Seneca Creek on the Potomac. It contains no coal, and no plants have 

 been found, though search would probably reveal them. It is character- 

 ized by the large amount of red strata that it contains. 



The determination of the details of the geology of these areas is very 

 difficult. The exposures are few and very poor, owing to the ease with 

 which the strata crumble to earth. The strata are exceedingly variable, 

 and often the same bed, traced horizontally, changes to something very 



