THE GEOLOGY OF THE SYRACUSE QUADRANGLE / 



STRATIGRAPHY 



As indicated on the foregoing table, there are 14 units, with a 

 few subdivisions, of the paleozoic rock series of New York repre- 

 sented on the Syracuse quadrangle. Of these, 12 are represented 

 in color on the map. The lowest group on the area is that of the 

 Clinton shale in the midst of the Siluric, and the upper one is the 

 Cardiff shale of the Mesodevonic. 



NIAGARAN GROUP 



CLINTON-ROCHESTER SHALES 



These oldest rocks of the Syracuse region consist of shales which 

 outcrop in the village of Brewerton at the west end of Oneida lake, 

 exposed in the dredgings of the barge canal at Brewerton and in a 

 cutting on the same canal near Three River point. These exposures 

 occur in a rather wide area between the dark (Lockport) dolomite 

 on the south and the red (Medina) sandstone on the north, the re- 

 mainder of the intervening area being covered with a thick mantle 

 of glacial drift. The entire area is underlain by the Clinton and 

 the Rochester shales but present data are not sufficient to distin- 

 guish the two areas separately. The shales exposed in the village 

 of Brewerton are an olive green which oxidizes to a reddish and 

 yellowish brown. The shale is friable and not very resistant to the 

 action of the weather. That dredged from the canal has a bluish 

 color and crumbles very rapidly on exposure to the weather. It is 

 calcareous and contains many fossils. 1 



A test hole drilled at Brewerton about 75 yards west of the high- 

 way bridge near the Onondaga-Oswego county line gave the follow- 

 ing section : 2 



14 feet Clay 



42 feet 4 inches Olive gray shale with a few thin bands of lime- 

 stone. At 19 feet from surface there is a 

 4 inch band with black pebbles 

 2 inches Fossil ore inclosed in shale 



23 feet Shale with limestone bands 3 to 4 inches thick 



at regular intervals. Cavities lined with crys- 

 tals ; ore in threadlike veinlets in the lime- 

 stone 



1 See page 57 for a discussion by Dr Burnett Smith of the paleontology 

 of this group, and all the other groups of the area. 



2 D. H. Newland and C. A. Hartnagel. State Mus. Bui. 123, p. yj. 



