Febeuaky 16, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



267 



stone which lithologically is difficult to sub- 

 divide, but paleontologieally is separable into 

 three main • parts which are referred to the 

 Ordovician, Silurian and upper Carbonifer- 

 ous. The Devonian and Mississippian are 

 not represented by sediments. All of these 

 rocks, from the pre-Cambrian to the Carbonif- 

 erous, are structurally conformable and dip 

 westward at angles varying frona 20 to 45 de- 

 grees in different parts of the range. A con- 

 siderable amount of coa"Tse, red granite of 

 post-Paleozoic age occurs in the mountains, 

 chiefly associated with lines of faulting. No 

 sediments of early Mesozoic age are here 

 present, b\it Cretaceous strata, including the 

 Washita and Benton groups, occur in isolated 

 areas west and south of the range. The ad- 

 jacent lowlands are underlain by unconsoli- 

 dated material to a depth of over 2,000 feet. 



The rocks are traversed by two prominent 

 sets of joints, striking north-south and east- 

 west, and the distribution of the strata reveals 

 several large faults in both of these directions. 

 The main faulting is parallel with the north- 

 south trend of the range, and as the strata dip 

 invariably toward the west, the internal struc- 

 ture shows a series of tilted blocks. Whether 

 the whole range is a large block limited on 

 the east and west by faults can not be de- 

 termined since the mountain bases are buried 

 under deep accumulations of debris. The 

 fact of recent movements is proved by the 

 presence of minor faults in a sand bank in 

 the northern part of El Paso. These displace- 

 ments follow the same trend as the principal 

 faults in the mountains. A detailed descrip- 

 tion of this region will appear in the forth- 

 coming El Paso folio of the geologic map of 

 the United States. 



The Santa Fe Peneplain: Mr. M. E. Camp- 

 bell. 



Mr. Campbell spoke of the existence of a 

 surface of low relief in the vicinity of Santa 

 Fe and its extension northward along the val- 

 ley of the Eio Grande into San Luis Park, 

 and suggested the probable correlation of this 

 surface of erosion with the peneplain of the 

 great plains region. 



Arthur C. Spencer, 



8ecreta7-y. 



THE SOCIETY OF GEOHYDROLOGISTS, WASHINGTON. 



The third regiilar meeting of the society 

 was held on January 17. The following pro- 

 gram was presented: 



Method of Sinhing Wells in the Sahara: W. 



T. Lee. 



The wells of the Sahara, as described by 

 recent visitors to the region, are still sunk in 

 the same way as they have been for a thousand 

 years. A hole about eighteen inches square is 

 dug to a gypsum layer overlying and confining 

 the water bed at a depth of about 200 feet. 

 The capping is then punctured with a bar by a 

 man at the bottom of the well. In the rush 

 of water which follows the driller does not 

 always escape. 



Depth Beached hy the Deepest Borings: B. L. 



Johnson. 



In this paper only wells or borings having 

 depths over 4,000 feet are considered. Data 

 regarding 48, which are distributed as follows 

 have been obtained: Transvaal, 24; United 

 States, 10 ; Germany, 6 ; Queensland, 6, and 

 New South Wales, 1; South Australia, 1. 

 The six deepest are given below in the order of 

 their depth. They are separated from the 

 next deepest by a considerable gap : Paruscho- 

 witz, L^pper Silesia, Germany, 6,572.6 feet; 

 Schladebach, near Leipzig, Germany, 5,735 

 feet; Springs, 25 miles east of Johannesburg, 

 Transvaal, 5,582 feet; West Elizabeth, 12 

 miles southeast of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 

 5,575 feet ; Doornkloof, Transvaal, 5,560 feet ; 

 Aleppo Township, Greene County, Pennsyl- 

 vania, 5,322 feet. 



Recently Reported Blowing Wells: Samuel 



Sanford. 



In connection with the collection of well 

 records and samples many new instances of 

 blowing wells have come to light. Previous 

 instances have been mainly from Nebraska 

 and adjacent states, but several in the eastern 

 states, including Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, 

 Louisiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, 

 New York, South Carolina and Georgia, are 

 now known. Those of New York, Michigan, 

 Wisconsin and Iowa are in the drift ; those of 

 Missouri and Arkansas in cavernous lime- 

 stone; those of Louisiana, Georgia and South 



