CARBOXIFEROUS AND PERMIAN FORMATIONS I I 



stratum of coal from ten to fifteen inches in thickness/ In this 

 connection it is interesting to state that Professor Knerr noted 

 the occurrence of "a shale bearing a four-inch stratum of coal " 

 which is given as from 50 to 100 feet below the Cottonwood 

 limestone.- Again, in the vicinity of Tecumseh Dr. Hay den 

 stated that "in a bed of limestone, holding a high position in the 

 hills, the following fossils were found : Spirifev cameratus, Athyris 

 S7ibtilita, Sy?itnlasma heniiplicata \_Enteletes Jiemiplicatus\, Prodiictus 

 semiretiailatus." ^ In Kansas, where the waiter has carefully 

 studied the stratigraphy and palaeontology of the Upper Car- 

 boniferous and Permian rocks along the Kansas and Cottonwood 

 valleys where they, as far as known, are more clearly exposed 

 than at any other locality in the two states, Spirifer cameratus 

 Morton has not been found above the top of the Wabaunsee 

 formation, and from this fact the writer is inclined to refer the 

 limestone mentioned by Dr. Hayden to the Wabaunsee forma- 

 tion. 



Permian. — In Gage county, which lies next west of Johnson 

 county, Dr. Hayden reported grayish and yellowish argillaceous 

 limestones which he stated — "are undoubtedly of Permian or 

 Permo-Carboniferous age, though they contain fossils common 

 to both Permian and Carboniferous rocks."'* He was not confi- 

 dent of the presence of Permian rocks in Nebraska for he said : 

 "It is not certain that the true Permian beds, as recognized in 

 Kansas, extend northward into Nebraska, though thin beds 

 may occur in some of the southern counties." ^ And he further 

 said that the Permian rocks " pass beneath the water level at 

 Beatrice," the county seat of Gage county, and westward are the 

 yellowish and dark brown Cretaceous sandstones, now known as 

 the Dakota sandstone. 



In 1886 Professor Hicks published a short paper about the 

 rocks along the Blue River in Gage county which he designated 

 provisionally as Permian and said that they were " distinguished 



■ Fin. Rep. U. S. Geol. Sur. Nebraska, p. 34. ^ Ibid., p. 28. 



^ Univ. Geol. Sur. Kansas, p. 142. ^ Ibid., p. 28, footnote. 



3 Kin. Kep. L'. S. Geol. Sur. Nebraska, •jj. 34. 



