THE SECTION AT SCHOHARIE, N. V. 379 



Above Schoharie the contrast is not so strong, for there cul- 

 tivated benches are seen also on the west side. For the most 

 part, the river runs near the foot of the western hills. The val- 

 ley contracts at five miles above Schoharie, where it is enclosed 

 in the harder rocks of the Devonian. 



Messrs. Mix and O'Reilly recently opened a quarry at a lit- 

 tle north from Schoharie, where the stripping exposed a glaci- 

 ated surface of the Lower Pentamerus, and showed well the 

 character of the till. 



The striae are shallow, some as slight as though they had been 

 made with a pin. The strongest scratches are not more than 

 1/20 of an inch deep, and i/io of an inch wide. The general 

 surface is highly polished. The striae appear to be in two sys- 

 tems, the stronger of which varies from N. 55° E. to N. 73° E., 

 the most marked running N. 66° E. The other is not so strong, 

 its striae varying three or four degrees north or south of east. 



An interesting feature of the surface in this quarry is the oc- 

 currence of two abrupt steps, one about 2^ feet high, running 

 N. 45° E., and the other, not so high, N. 66° E. These must 

 have existed before the ice invasion, as the former is but slightly 

 rounded at the upper edge, while the face is unpolished, whereas 

 the face of the latter is highly polished. 



The extreme thickness of till shown is ten feet ; the bowlders 

 are large in the lower part, often two feet in diameter, but de- 

 crease in size toward the top, where they are mere pebbles of 

 two or three inches. They are of foreign material, the large 

 ones being gneiss, while veiy many of the smaller ones are ap- 

 parently from the Hudson shales, which are exposed within a 

 mile or so northward ; all are more or less water- worn. 



The clay is slightly calcareous, and small stalactitic deposits 

 are frequently found in its cavities. This till was followed up 

 the valley to the old cemetery quarry, where it rests upon the 

 Tentaculite limestone, which, also, is covered with striae. 



The Upper Pentamerus, on this side, at more than 100 feet 

 further up the hill, shows also a glaciated surface on the Brown 

 property with striae following the same general directions as 

 those on the Lower Pentamerus. 



