GEOLOGY OF THE NARRAGANSETT BASIN. 



PAET II— THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN PORTIONS OF 



THE BASIN. 



By J. B. Woodworth. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE PROBLEM OF STRATIORAPHIC SUCCESSION. 



In the autumn of 1894 the writer was assigned the task of reporting 

 upon the stratigraphic succession of the Carboniferous deposits in the Nar- 

 ragansett Basin. Previous to this time, during the summer months of 1891 

 and 1892, he had made an examination of portions of the basin which 

 seemed likely to afford a key to the structure of the beds. In the autumn 

 of 1894 and during the field season of 1895 the examination of the field 

 was continued. The following pages set forth the results of these studies. 

 While more was effected than the writer personally expected, there are 

 many questions yet to be determined regarding the equivalency and thin- 

 ning out of strata and the tracing of horizons. It is believed that the 

 work so far accomplished serves to afford, first, a truer measure of the 

 thickness of the beds than has heretofore been gained; second, a nearly 

 complete analysis of the structure of the part of the basin studied; and, 

 third, a differentiation of the beds into a few horizons which have a 

 geographical value, if not also in most cases a local chronological value. 



The opportunity which the geologist has of determining the succession 

 of the strata in any region usually increases with the amount of uplift and 

 denudation, since, were the beds of a basin to remain in the condition in 

 which they were deposited, the surface of only the topmost stratum would 

 be open to examination. However, if uplift and denudation proceed so far 



