THE GEOLOGY OF THE SYRACUSE QUADRANGLE 9 



LOCKPORT LIMESTONE 



Overlying the Rochester-Clinton shale is the Lockport limestone, 

 known in the older reports as the Niagara limestone. It consists 

 of a very dark colored, in places black, dolomitic limestone and asso- 

 ciated shales. It contains numerous small geodic cavities lined with 

 calcite and dolomite crystals. 



This limestone forms a rather broad belt across the Syracuse 

 quadrangle. The rock is more resisting to the action of the weather 

 than the shales above and below and hence is characterized by a 

 slight topographic relief. This relief is even less than one might 

 expect from the difference in the rocks, which is probably due in 

 part to the leveling action of the ice during the glacial period and 

 the inequalities of the glacial deposits; possibly also the area was 

 nearly base-leveled before the advent of the glacier. 



The outcrops of the Lockport limestone, while not numerous 

 owing to the heavy glacial covering, are more extensive than that 

 of the underlying shales. The best exposure on the Syracuse area 

 is at the quarry on the South Bay electric road about one mile south 

 of Oneida lake. The greater part of the rock here is a nearly 

 black dolomite. The upper layer is evenly bedded, varies from 

 I to 2 feet in thickness, has a finely crystallized, even texture and 

 is a fairly good building stone. The layers immediately underlying 

 the top bed are more thinly bedded and interlaminated with black 

 carbonaceous shale. At a depth of 4 to 6 feet the limestone occurs 

 in rough irregular masses with no regular lamination or grain. In 

 the bottom portion of the quarry the shale prevails over the 

 limestone. 



On the White farm immediately south of the quarry the rock 

 has been removed over an area several acres in extent. It has been 

 nearly all used for foundations, culverts and bridge piers. Its 

 extended local use is due rather to the fact that it is the only rock 

 obtainable for building purposes between the plateau south of 

 Syracuse and the Medina sandstone area some miles to the north. 



A similar rock at or near the same horizon as that at the quarry 

 mentioned above has been quarried to a limited extent for local 

 use at the village of Cicero, two and a half miles southwest of the 

 barge canal at r)ak Orchard on the Oneida river, and in the bank 

 of the Seneca river a half mile south of Three River point. There 

 is another quarry in this rock two and a half miles northwest of 

 Baldwinsville and another on the western border of the village 

 of Lysandcr. Both of these localities arc on the Baldwinsville 



