Mar iatifer oils Rocks. 113 



be deposited in some of the lower strata ; the richness and abund- 

 ance of the salt water at present forbidding any such attempt. 



Muriatiferous Rocks of the Kenawha Valley. 



It has been observed that the principal salt deposits, throughout 

 the globe, are generally situated near the base of extensive moun- 

 tain ranges, on the borders of vallies or plains. This, however, is 

 not universally the fact, for salt is sometimes found in very elevated 

 situations, on or near the tops of mountains. From its being often 

 found at the feet of high mountain ranges, it has led some to sup- 

 pose that these ranges were once the barriers or shores of inland 

 seas of salt water, which having become dry by evaporation, left 

 these deposits of salt deep down, to be subsequently covered with 

 other deposits of earth and sand from fresh inundations. Whatever 

 may have been the origin of the salt now found in the earth, it 

 seems to have been placed there under a uniform law, governing the 

 process in all parts of the earth : wherever found, it is associated 

 with particular species of earths and rocks, the prevailing ones of 

 which, are red marl and sandstone. We find this law holding good 

 through all the valley of the Ohio, in the vicinity of the muriatife- 

 rous deposits. In some districts the red marl is very abundant, 

 coloring the soil by its decomposition, and existing in thick beds on 

 the sides and at the foot of hills. When boring for salt water it 

 is found at considerable depths, constituting a tolerably hard rock, ' 

 alternating with sandstone, slate clay and limestone and coal. A 

 single deposit, has recently been pierced for one hundred and fifty 

 feet, in boring a well on March run, near Marietta. Limestone is sel- 

 dom found at the Kenawha salines, but is abundant at all the other 

 principal salt works, not only on the surface but deep in the earth. 

 It is without doubt to be found here, at great depths, for the muri- 

 ate of lim»e is a prominent constituent in the composition of the 

 brine, running freely from the fresh made salt in the " Bitter water." 

 Gypsum, or sulphate of lime, is constantly with rock salt as an ac- 

 companying mineral, wherever found in other parts of the world. 

 Through thfe valley of the Ohio, it has not yet been found to ac- 

 company the rock strata near the surface of the earth, although in- 

 dications of it are discovered at great depths below, especially at the 

 works on the Muskingum river. Gypsum is deposited in extensive 

 beds on the borders of the valley, in the secondary and transition 

 rock at the surface, and maybe deposited beneath the series of sand- 



VoL. XXIX.-— No. 1. 15 



