474 



CHARLES S. PROSSER 



layer is in the upper part of the Columbus limestone, t ho western 

 continuation of the Onondaga limestone of Now York. 



In general, the crests of the ripple marks which remained in 

 September, [914, run X. about 20 \Y.. but those farthest to the 

 west run N. about 25° \Y. Occasionally two will run together 

 and, in one ease at least, then diverge again. The crests o\ those 

 studied vary from ::. 24, 25 to 26 inches apart, the greater number 

 of them being about 2 feet apart. Mr. Ransom reported those 

 shown in the half tones as "being 3 to 4 feet from crest to erest." 1 

 In the somewhat worn surface of the layer it is difficult to distin- 

 guish any particular difference in the angle of slope of the two sides; 

 although, perhaps, some of the ripple-marks west of the quarry 

 track are a little steeper on the southwest side, with a little longer 

 slope on the northeast side. The troughs of these ripple-marks are 

 rather shallow, although the exact depth was not determined. 

 Figs. 4. 5. and are from photographs, furnished by Mr. 1 Vl.os C. 

 Ransom, of the floor of the old (Schoepfle) quarry, showing the 

 ripple-marks as they formerly appeared before this layer was 

 mostly destroyed by the extensive work of the Wagner Stone 

 Company. Mr. Ransom has stated that in Figs. 4 and 5 the 

 camera was pointed toward the southeast and parallel to the direc- 

 tion of the ripple-marks. In Fig. the direction across the ripple- 

 marks is toward the northeast, at right angles to Fig. 4. and the 

 crests are three or four feet apart.-' Mr. Ransom has written 

 several times concerning these ripple-marks, and the following 

 quotation is from one of his letters: 



Now such ripple-marks 3 or a toot wide as arc in limestone must have 

 been constructed in water 50 to 100 feet deep and waxes of immense si.:e in 

 the ancient comparatively shallow and wide sea when our limestones were 

 laid down. "Ripple-marks" hardly expresses or describes these large parallel 

 stone W<nes. They are perpendicular to the direction of the wind, hence aeons 

 ago winds were as now largely SAW and N.F. and hence the poles of the earth 

 have not changed since.- 5 



1 1 ettets of January :>. 1:902, and October a8, 1903 

 ■Letter of September .-5. 



- ; Letter of October a8, 1903 



