Ko. 1S51. WAVERLYAN PERIOD OF TENNESSEE— BASSLER. 211 



quently absent. This shale contains undescribed ostracods indicative 

 of early Mississippian age. Above this comes the usual siliceous lime- 

 stone vnth few fossils. In their correlation table the Tullahoma is 

 made the equivalent of the Kinderhook, Burlington, and Keokuk of 

 the generalized time scale. 



The most recent discussion of these strata is contained in the paper 

 entitled ''Types of Sedimentary Overlap," by Dr. A. W. Grabau.* 

 The portion of this paper devoted to the Tennessee Subcarboniferous 

 is apparently based upon the literature alone, for this author writes : 



The Fort Payne chert is very fossiliferous, and is the "siliceous group" of Safford, 

 which he di\'ided into a lower, or Protean (Lauderdale, McCalley), and upper, or 

 Lithostrotion (Tuscumbia, McCalley). Ulrich makes the Tullahoma of central Ten- 

 nessee and the Fort Payne of eastern Tennessee equivalent, and correlates both with 

 the Kinderhook and Osage of the Mississippi Valley. There is here an inconsistency, 

 for the upper part of the Fort Payne (Tuscumbia) is clearly of lower Saint Louis age, 

 as shown by the abundance of Lithostrotion canadense {=L. mamillare). 



Taking up these statements in order, it may be said that, aside from 

 dismembered crinoid columns, recognizable fossils in the Fort Payne 

 are exceedingly rare. The Fort Payne is not the equivalent of the 

 Siliceous group of Safford, because it does not contain the St. Louis 

 limestone at its top. There is not an abundance of Lithostrotion 

 canadense in the upper part of the Fort Payne. This characteristic 

 St. Louis fossil is found onl}^ in the lower beds of the overlying Bangor 

 limestone. Taking for example the McMinnville folio from which 

 Grabau takes some of his statements, one acquainted with the area 

 can easily make out the geological equivalents. Here the Fort Payne 

 chert is described as a cherty limestone and heavy beds of chert, giving 

 rise to a white, siliceous soil, and forming the barrens of the High- 

 land rim. The overlying Bangor limestone has at its base a blue 

 limestone member with nodular chert, weathering into a red, slightly 

 cherty soil. It is in this latter red soil only that the characteristic 

 St. Louis fossils are found. 



The Lauderdale and Tuscumbia formations do not fall within the 

 scope of the present paper, and need not be mentioned further, except 

 to state that, as the names are of later date than the formations here 

 discussed, they will in all probability be found to be superfluous. 



The above notes include all of the more important references to 

 the Lower or Protean member of the Siliceous group in Tennessee. 

 In the discussion of the geology of neighboring states the terms 

 Siliceous, Tullahoma, and other names have been frequently em- 

 ployed, but they need not be referred to at present, with one exception. 

 This is the Fort Payne chert, a term proposed by Hayes ^ for practi- 

 cally the same strata in the southern Appalachian Valley. It is 



1 Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 17, 1906, pp. 567-636. 



2 Idem, vol. 2, 1890, p. 143. 



