276 W. M. Fontaine— Conglomerate Series of West Virginia. 



In the May and June numbers of this Journal for 1874, I 

 gave some account of the strata which, on New Eiver, West 

 Virginia, underlie the massive sandstone exposed at the Falls 

 of the Kanawha. This account was necessarily imperfect, since 

 at the point examined the base of the series was not exposed, 

 and the exposures were very unfavorable for a detailed exam- 

 ination. 



During the past summer I revisited this field, and made 

 further examinations, at points more to the east, with such suc- 

 cess that I am now able to present a detailed section of this 

 field. Since the white sandstone of the Falls is the equivalent 

 of what is everywhere called " the Conglomerate " of the Coal 

 Measures, it might to some seem more fitting to call the rocks 

 tion "Sub-conglomerate," or "Lower Carboniferous." 

 ; Virginia, the strata which occupy the interval between 

 the floor of the productive coals and the Devonian, are so 

 greatly expanded, and so much diversified, that these terms are 

 not definite enough to distinguish them. Besides, this New 

 Eiver system occupies precisely the horizon which is elsewhere 

 commonly filled by conglomeritic sandstone alone, lying, as it 

 does, between the red shales of the Umbral, and the lower pro- 

 ductive coals. For these reasons I prefer to use the name 

 " Conglomerate Series " for it. For like reasons it will be neces- 

 sary to retain the names " Vespertine " and " Umbral," of the 

 first Pennsylvania Survey, in describing rocks equivalent to 

 those bearing these titles in the above named survey. A single 

 instance will show this necessity. The system about to be 

 described contains important coals. We find also far below 

 them, in the Vespertine of Montgomery County, Virginia, 

 near the White Sulphur, West Virginia, and elsewhere, well 

 developed coals. To call these Sub-conglomerate or Lower 

 Carboniferous coals would fail to distinguish them. 



In my second, visit to this region I made a re-examination of 

 the strata at Sewell Station, the point at which most of the 

 facts given in my first paper were obtained. In this last visit I 

 found the strata quite well disclosed in the cuttings of the 

 " Incline," made since my previous inspection. I also made a 

 careful and detailed examination of the same strata at Qam- 

 nimont, a point on the Chesapeake and Ohio Kailroad, distant 

 by railroad twenty- one miles to the east of Sewell Station, but 

 about ten miles by air line. 



While the base of the series is not exposed at Sewell Station, 

 yet, owing to the fact that the westerly dip is more rapid than 



in We 



