34 W. M. Fontaine—Mesozoic Strata of Virginia. 
such a rock could have been formed out of any of the Azoic 
rocks in the vicinity, for these contain a good deal of quartz, 
even when richest in feldspar, and this sandstone contains very 
little. 
The upper series contains a predominance of reddish and 
en bu i 
over the whole belt, varying from thirty to forty degrees. is 
constant high dip indicates a thickness for the formation which 
is not justified by the other indications. In the description of 
the Richmond coal field I she state what I think is the explana- 
tion of this apparent anom 
Deposits of bowlders pudlad to those above deco 
appear, according to the statements of Emmons and r, to 
be found associated with the Mesozoic of North Carcliaa 
Emmons mentions beds of large stones as found on the west 
side of the Dan River coal field. There the normal strata dip 
northwest. Kerr mentions similar beds as occurring on the — 
east side of the Deep River coal field, where the normal strata — 
dip southeast. He however thinks that these ater pane from | 
Professor Kerr thinks that these beds are pre-Triassic, as he ‘ 
does not indicate any change of dip in the associated normal — 
eds. This southeast dip and the position of the beds, would 
ba that they are, as in Virginia, post-Triassic. Professor 
Emmons mentions that the Egypt shaft after passing through ~ 
twenty-eight feet of soil (?) penetrated two feet of large stones, — 
resting on the coal sha ws This may be the same deposit with — 
that of Protease Kerr. It does not seem possible that water 
action alone could have deposited these stones in their present — 
position. For if we could conceive of a torrent of such power — 
as to be able to steer these masses, and which would at the — 
same time not remove the fine matrix in which they are imbed- — 
ded, we should still. be unable to understand how water could — 
reach and remove material which had never been ex 4 
surface rock, to the decomposing action of atmospheric agencies q 
I will pass over the Buckingham Belt and the Prince Edward — 
Belt, pola I had no opportunity to study them, and will consider 
next t ’ 
Richmond Coal Field.—This portion of the Richmond Belt, 7 
which, as previously defined, lies south of the Chickahominy — 
River. 3 is the only Mesozoic area in Virginia which shows the — 
structure of a basin. sea strata may be divided into two | 
series, which show, as a whole, very marked differences, but 
between which no distiget line of separation can be tra a 
