RIPPLES OF THE BEDFORD AND BEREA IN OHIO 267 



evidence that there was no such control in that direction at that 

 time. 



Futhermore, the axis which lay to the southward and which 

 did control the ripple directions was directly transverse to the 

 present Cincinnati axis. Whether or not this axis is to be con- 

 sidered as the result of the same forces and conditions which 

 determined the Cincinnati axis, but which were operating in a 

 different manner during Bedford-Berea time, is a question whose 

 answer is, perhaps wholly, a matter of personal opinion. The 

 question is one of some importance in determining the nature of 

 forces and conditions lying back of such a positive element of 

 the continent. The case is of especial interest in view of the fact 

 that, in the Cuyahoga formation which almost directly succeeds the 

 Berea, 1 there is positive evidence of a different nature that the 

 Cincinnati dome had nearly the axial alignment which it holds 

 at present for at least 40 miles north of the Ohio River where the 

 evidence is lost, due to the swinging of the outcrops to the eastward. 



In view of the suggestion that the shore line lay to the south- 

 ward, a word is desirable as to the nature of the Bedford and Berea 

 formations in that direction. W. C. Morse and A. F. Foerste have 

 traced them southwestward into Kentucky for 80 miles and show 

 that the horizon thins rapidly, being reduced at some points to two 

 or three inches. 2 The sandstones and ripple-marks (directions not 

 noted) are still in evidence 18 miles south of the Ohio River where 

 the horizon is only 46 feet thick (as against over 100 in Ohio). 

 Beyond this it is much reduced, and consists almost wholly of 

 argillaceous or calcareous shale, presumably very like the basal 

 Bedford in Ohio. 



The authors mention the possibility that only the basal part 

 of the Bedford may be represented in this southern extension, 

 but reject the idea, holding that, even when reduced to two inches, 

 the horizon is "Bedford-Berea." To the writer, who knows the 

 area only from their paper, there seem to be many facts which 

 strongly favor the removal of the Berea and much of the Bedford 



1 The Sunbury black shale, 10 to 20 feet thick, intervenes. 



2 "The Waverly Formations of East Central Kentucky," Journal of Geology, 

 XVII, 164-77. 



