140 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 265. 



TWELFTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE GEO- 

 LOGICAL SOCIETY OF A3IERICA, WASH- 

 INGTON, DEC. S7-S0TH. 



II. 



On reassembling Friday morning the first 

 paper was the following : 



STRATIGBAPHT OF THE POTTSYILLE SERIES IN 

 KENTUCKY. 



Marius E. Campbell, Washington, D. C. 



This paper treated of the areal distribu- 

 tion of the conglomerates of the Pottsville 

 series along the western margin of the Ap- 

 palachian coal field in Kentucky and 

 Tennessee. Three distinct horizons of con- 

 glomerates were described which heretofore 

 have been regarded as a single stratum. 

 Attention is called to the unconformity at 

 the base of the series, and the vertical 

 expansion southward was illustrated by 

 numerous sections measured along the mar- 

 gin of the field. 



In discussion David White remarked his 

 having mentioned to the Society that the 

 relatively thin cross-section of the carboni- 

 ferous in this region only represented a 

 part of the thick eastern outcrops. The 

 older eastern Pottsville is lacking. I. C. 

 White remarked the harmony of the results 

 with those attained in Pennsylvania, and 

 that in the late seventies he had realized 

 the complex nature of the Pottsville in 

 Pennsylvania and Ohio. He commented 

 on the thickening to the south. David 

 White also remarked the trough to the 

 south. W. M. Davis asked about the rela- 

 tions of the marine deposits with corre- 

 sponding fossils, and the fragmental deposits 

 with land plants. J. J. Stevenson remarked 

 the relations of the Devonian and Carbonif- 

 erous continent to the sea. The Devonian 

 is thin to the south and thick to the north, 

 whereas the Lower Carboniferous is thin on 

 the north and thick to the south. 



I. C. White, replying to W. M. Davis, said 

 that the invertebrate fossils were marine and 



that the sandstones contained lime. M. R. 

 Campbell said that the materials of the sedi- 

 ments are quartz and that they could not 

 have been derived from lower-lying rocks, 

 which are limestones. The quartz probably 

 came from the Carolina mountainsand there- 

 fore the water-body was large. Bailey Willis 

 suggested that the Pottsville represented a 

 coastal plain, which was successively trans- 

 ferred, worked over and concentrated. 



RELATIVE AGES OF THE KANAWHA AND ALLE- 

 GHANY SERIES AS INDICATED BY 

 THE FOSSIL PLANTS. 



David White, Washington, D. C. 



From an examination of the stratigraphic 

 distribution of the fossil plants of the 

 Kanawha Series in southern West Vir- 

 ginia, it appears that only the upper half 

 of the Series contains the common and 

 characteristic elements of the floras of the 

 Alleghany Series of Northwestern Pennsyl- 

 vania. The lower half carries a flora which 

 seems distinctly older than any of the floras 

 which occur above the lowest coal of the 

 Alleghany Series. 



The plants of the lower Kanawha Series 

 are comparable to those of the Lower Coal 

 Measures of the old World, whereas the 

 plants of the Alleghany Series in Pennsyl- 

 vania are referable to the Middle and Up- 

 per Coal Measures of the European basins. 



The discussion of the correlation of the 

 coal floras of the two regions was followed 

 by a brief statement of the stratigraphic 

 changes and conditions of deposition in the 

 Virginian region, as indicated by the dis- 

 tribution of the fossil plants. 



I. C. White stated that although the 

 floras changed from Pennsylvania to the 

 Kanawha, the coal seams and sandstones 

 could be traced without a break, from hill 

 to hill. He, therefore, maintained the 

 phj'sical identity of the seams, viz., the 

 Upper Freeport and the Stockton ; one of 

 the Kittanings and the Peerless gas coal, 



