VOLUME XXIV NUMBER 5 



THE 



JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY 



JULY-AUGUST igi6 



THE GEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND GENETIC 

 CLASSIFICATION OF ARKOSE DEPOSITS 1 



DONALD C. BARTON 



Arkose has been held by different geologists to be significant 

 respectively of several different types of conditions at the time of 

 its formation. By Walther, 2 for instance, it is considered to be so 

 distinctive of desert formations as to be, next to salt deposits, the 

 the most important index oi the desert origin of a formation. 

 Mackie, 3 although not mentioning arkose by name, in his discus- 

 sion of the significance of fresh feldspar in sediments seems to con- 

 sider the rock especially characteristic of deposits that have formed 

 under rigorous climatic conditions. Von Hauer 4 believes that 

 arkose is especially characteristic of coal-bearing formations. 

 Shaler 5 is of the opinion that it is formed when a granitic terrane, 

 long under moist temperate climatic conditions, is exposed to more 

 rigorous conditions or to marine or lacustrine transgression. Mans- 

 field 6 believes, on the other hand, that the conditions for the formation 



1 Portion of a thesis accepted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree 

 of Doctor of Philosophy at Harvard University. 



2 J. Walther, Das Gesetz der Wiistenbildung, 2d ed., p. 174. 



3 William Mackie, Trans. Edin. Geol. Soc, VII (1898), No. LV. 



4 Franz von Hauer, Die Geologie, 1875. 



s W. S. Shaler, U.S.G.S. Monograph XXXIII, 1899, pp. 50-55. 

 6 G. R. Mansfield, Bid. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard, XLIX (1906), 293-94. 

 Vol. XXIV, No. 5 417 



