<S NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



1898 Kemp, Newland & Hill. Preliminary Report on the Geology of Hamil- 



ton, Warren, and Washington Counties. In i8th Annual Rep't N. Y. 

 State Geologist. 



1899 Kemp & Hill. Preliminary Report on the Pre-Cambrian Formations in 



Parts of Warren, Saratoga, Fulton, and Montgomery Counties. In 



19th Annual Rep't X. Y. State Geologist. 

 191 1 Miller, W. J. Exfoliation Domes in Warren County, N. Y. In N. Y 



State Mus. Bui. 149, p. 187-94. 

 191 1 Miller, W. J. Pre-Glacial Course of the Upper Hudson River. In 



Bui. Geol. See. Amer., 22 : 177-86. 



ROCKS OF THE REGION 



GRENVILLE SERIES 



General statements. The Grenville series comprises the oldest 

 known rocks of the area. They consist of a great mass of highly 

 metamorphosed and crystallized sediments such as original lime- 

 stones, sandstones, and shales which have been changed to crystal- 

 line limestone or marble, quartzite, and various gneisses. Since 

 it has not yet been definitely determined whether these rocks should 

 be classed as Archeozoic or Proterozoic in age, the noncommittal 

 term " Precambric " is employed. The- weight of evidence is on the 

 side of their Archeozoic age and it is certain that they can not 

 be of late Proterozoic age. 



Among the proofs for the sedimentary origin of these rocks 

 within the quadrangle are: (i) the very character of much of 

 the material srch as limestone and quartzite which can not possibly 

 have been of igneous origin; (2) the arrangement of the rocks in 

 distinct beds of widely different composition and often sharply al- 

 ternating ; and (3) the common occurrence of graphite (crystal- 

 lized carbon) as flakes scattered through much of the rock, such 

 graphite being almost certainly of organic origin. 



Grenville strata are known to be of common occurrence through- 

 out the Adirondack mountain region and this, together with the 

 facts that the total thickness of these strata is very great and that 

 they extend over not only the Adirondack area but also a vast ex- 

 tent of Canada, make it certain that those very ancient strata are of 

 marine origin. It is evident that the Grenville sediments were laid 

 down upon an ocean floor of even greater age but, in spite of twenty 

 years of painstaking field work by several investigators, no trace of 

 that ancient floor has certainly been recognized. Nor has any trace 

 of that very ancient land, whose wearing down by erosion furnished 

 the Grenville sediments, been found. It seems probable that those 



