RIPPLES OF THE BEDFORD AND BEREA IN OHIO 261 



or south 53 east." 1 In a footnote to the last, he states that Mr. 

 H. W. Overman, the county surveyor, made a careful series of 

 measurements of these directions. "Of twenty-four observations, 

 fourteen were found south 53 east. Four points showed south 

 65 east; one south 46 east; one south 57 east. The points 

 that showed south 65 east overlie the other exposures, and prob- 

 ably indicate a real change of direction in the wave action." 



THE NATURE OF THE RIPPLES AND THE PERSISTENCY OF THE RIPPLE 



DIRECTION 



These observations which are given above in full suggested to 

 the writer that further similar observations over a wider area 

 might prove of value in the interpretation of the geography of 

 the Bedford-Berea sea. Accordingly determinations of the direc- 

 tion of the ripple-marks in both the Bedford and Berea have been 

 made sufficient practically to cover the whole of the outcrop in 

 Scioto and Pike counties and most of Ross County, an area about 

 50 miles in length (from north to south) by 20 in breadth. Obser- 

 vations at three localities in central Ohio, Lithopolis, Gahanna 

 (Rocky Fork), and Sunbury (Rattlesnake Creek), show that the 

 same persistency continues to the northward, a total distance 

 from the Ohio River of 115 miles. 



The results of 149 observations have been merely to confirm 

 Orton's observation on the original much smaller area, as to the 

 general direction of the ripples. However, his statements as to 

 the extreme persistency of the 53 angle are not borne out, and, 

 if the area as a whole is considered, no tendency is apparent on 

 the part of the higher surfaces to carry ripples trending more 

 nearly east and west, as he seems to have found them. 



At all points where several rippled surfaces are exposed, varia- 

 tion in direction is found, and not infrequently where one surface is 

 exposed continuously for some distance, considerable change may 

 be found in the direction of the ripples which cover it. This, of 

 course, is to be expected. Not infrequently a range of five or ten 

 degrees will be found on an outcrop showing possibly only six or 

 eight surfaces; indeed, as great a range can be found in one ripple 



1 Geol. Surv. Ohio, Vol. II, Part 1 (1874), 620. 



