98 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA. 



found in it. Deep boring only can determine its limits in 

 a N. or N/E. direction. 



It has been suggested that this deposit does not extend 

 in a S. E. direction from the S. W. end of section 5 because 

 on the face of the hill on the S. E. side of a deep gorge, the 

 Cambrian Limestone is exposed, and no iron ore is there in 

 connection with dt. This is not conclusive evidence, the 

 great fault is at the S. E. edge of the Cambrian Limestone, 

 not at the gorge. Denudation here, as in many other 

 places, has not followed the line of the fault. And the 

 deposit of iron ore has here been swept away from the line 

 of the fault, to the bluff on the opposite or S. W. side of the 

 gorge. A similar condition of things exists a mile to the N. 

 E. in section 4, where the principal denudation is S. E. of 

 the fault, in the LaGrange sandstone leaving a portion of 

 Lower Siliceous, and Clinton strata, at the fault, in direct 

 contact with the great deposit of lower Silurian limonite. It 

 would also be an unreasonable supposition to conclude that 

 this great body of ore was terminated by the fault on the S. 

 E. side. That would be such an abrupt ending, as would be 

 inconsistent with the laws governing sedimentary deposits; 

 and such as has no where been seen in any other strata. 



In the S. W. i of Sect. 5 the best, and only aproximate 

 measurements, of this* great bed were obtained. The top 

 of the deposit is the best sho^vn near the north line of that 

 i section. Thence is a gentle and unbroken descent, over 

 the edge of the deposit, in a S. E. direction, for a distance of 

 a little over 450 feet to the Cambrian rocks; difference of level 

 'by aneroid measure, 45 feet. The Cambrian limestone, on 

 which the ore is bedded, here dips N. W. 60. But this is 

 believed to be an exceptionally steep dip. The members of 

 that limestone here are thin and shaly; and it has been 

 everywhere noticed in this formation, that the thin members 

 have been crushed by the thicker, and more rigid ones, so 

 that they dip at all angles. In estimating therefore the av- 

 erage dip of the strata, the dip of the thin shaly members 

 must be disregarded,. and the true dip of the strata obtained, 



