﻿34 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  STATE 
  MUSEUM 
  

  

  represents 
  a 
  deposit 
  in 
  a 
  long 
  submericlional 
  Appalachian 
  trough. 
  

   Its 
  pebbles 
  of 
  coarse 
  and 
  fine 
  gneiss 
  came 
  from 
  a 
  short 
  distance 
  

   and 
  the 
  numerous 
  Lower 
  Cambric 
  pebbles 
  probably 
  from 
  places 
  

   Jiorth 
  of 
  the 
  plateau. 
  Its 
  deposits 
  suggest 
  those 
  of 
  an 
  embayment 
  

   receiving 
  its 
  materials 
  from 
  the 
  north. 
  The 
  entire 
  absence 
  of 
  the 
  

   fossils 
  occurring 
  in 
  the 
  nearby 
  Becraft 
  mountain 
  formations 
  favors 
  

   this 
  conception 
  of 
  estuarine 
  conditions. 
  

  

  The 
  evidence 
  compels 
  us 
  to 
  grant 
  that 
  the 
  Rensselaer 
  grit 
  is 
  of 
  

   later 
  than 
  Siluric 
  age; 
  there 
  is 
  some 
  good 
  reason 
  for 
  regarding 
  it 
  

   an 
  eastern 
  deposit 
  contemporary 
  with 
  the 
  early 
  Devonic, 
  but 
  the 
  

   alternative 
  proposition 
  stands 
  open, 
  that 
  its 
  estuarine 
  character 
  

   and 
  great 
  thickness 
  suggest 
  identity 
  with 
  the 
  Catskill 
  beds 
  which 
  

   stand 
  sheer 
  on 
  the 
  other 
  side 
  of 
  the 
  Hudson 
  river 
  in 
  bights 
  of 
  

   several 
  thousand 
  feet 
  and 
  only 
  30 
  miles 
  away 
  from 
  the 
  outlier 
  at 
  

   Austerlitz. 
  . 
  

  

  h 
  Dana 
  indicated 
  by 
  the 
  term 
  ''Worcester 
  trough," 
  a 
  hypothetical 
  

   Appalachian 
  waterway 
  in 
  which 
  the 
  Carbonic 
  beds 
  of 
  Worcester, 
  

   Mass., 
  eastern 
  Massachusetts 
  and 
  Rhode 
  Island 
  were 
  deposited. 
  

   This 
  is 
  a 
  more 
  easterly 
  northeast-southwest 
  passage 
  than 
  the 
  Con- 
  

   necticut 
  trough 
  ancf 
  we 
  can 
  derive 
  no 
  satisfactory 
  evidence 
  of 
  its 
  

   existence 
  during 
  the 
  Devonic. 
  Indeed 
  the 
  statements 
  made 
  above 
  

   indicate 
  that, 
  though 
  this 
  region 
  may 
  have 
  been 
  receiving 
  

   deposits 
  during 
  the 
  Cambric, 
  it 
  was 
  a 
  land 
  body 
  during 
  the 
  period 
  

   with 
  which 
  we 
  are 
  now 
  concerned 
  and 
  was 
  not 
  opened 
  again 
  for 
  

   the 
  reception 
  of 
  sediments 
  till 
  the 
  beginning 
  of 
  the 
  Carbonic. 
  We 
  

   are 
  compelled 
  therefore 
  to 
  dismiss 
  the 
  Worcester 
  trough 
  as 
  having 
  

   any 
  bearing, 
  from 
  present 
  evidence, 
  on 
  the 
  theme 
  before 
  us. 
  

  

  c 
  The 
  Perry-St 
  John-Annapolis 
  Devonic 
  channel, 
  lying 
  further 
  

   to 
  the 
  south 
  and 
  east 
  of 
  those 
  we 
  have 
  considered, 
  is 
  today 
  repre- 
  

   sented 
  by 
  deposits 
  still 
  largely 
  covered 
  by 
  the 
  sea. 
  Its 
  far 
  easterly 
  

   course 
  and 
  its 
  isolation 
  seem 
  to 
  indicate 
  that 
  it 
  had 
  nothing 
  in 
  

   common 
  with 
  the 
  rest, 
  that 
  it 
  must 
  have 
  entered 
  the 
  southern 
  

   Appalachians 
  by 
  a 
  way 
  of 
  which 
  we 
  know 
  nothing. 
  

  

  12 
  We 
  are 
  thus 
  impelled 
  to 
  conclude 
  from 
  the 
  factors 
  given 
  

   that 
  the 
  line 
  of 
  passage 
  southwestward 
  from 
  all 
  the 
  channel 
  basins 
  

   we 
  have 
  specially 
  discussed, 
  into 
  the 
  New 
  York 
  Helderbergian- 
  

   Oriskany 
  channel 
  was 
  by 
  way 
  of 
  the 
  Connecticut 
  trough 
  ; 
  that 
  the 
  

   Gaspe, 
  Dalhousie, 
  Aroostook 
  and 
  in 
  a 
  sense 
  the 
  Piscataquis-Somer- 
  

   set 
  channels 
  were 
  independent 
  isolated 
  passages 
  for 
  a 
  part 
  of 
  their 
  

   distance 
  only 
  and 
  that 
  they 
  converged 
  eventually 
  southward 
  to 
  

   •contemporaneous 
  or 
  successive 
  unity. 
  

  

  