428 W. M. Fontaine—Primordial Strata of Virginia. 
The disturbance of the strata in this area is much less than 
that which i is found in the Primordial belt. The strata over 
absence of measurements, no positive conclusions can be drawn 
as to the comparative thickness of these semi- patna ye 
strata, but the indications are that it does not surpass, if 1 
e uals, the united thickness of be more highly ae 
rocks which lie to the west of ther 
In the Eastern belt the strata are Me th@hoauhly altered, and in 
the coarseness of the crystallization, and firm, unyielding charac- 
ter of the rock, contrast strongly with those of the Middle belt. 
The massively bedded, underlying granitoid rocks are appar- ~ 
ently of different age from the overlying schistose strata, being 
robably Laurentian. Still, in the amount of metamorphism 
exhibited, they do not surpass the latter. These schistose 
strata, which, as previously stated, have the general character 
of the “White Mountain series,” ‘do not exhibit that increased 
amount of disterbancs and of thickness that should exist if 
have been covered with the water of the ancient seas certainly 
to as late a period as either of the other belts 
In examining the geological structure of the State from east 
to west, I have not aay any such connection between the 
flexures as would justify the conclusion of Pro ogers, 
that the Appetiolen eyelet of folds extends to the Atlantic, 
and that they are more compressed next to the ocean, while 
they open out in proceeding west. Indeed, I do not see how 
he himself could have come to any such conclusion, after an 
inspection of his ‘‘ Susquehanna Section” alone 
uch a connection between the flexures of ei Silurian, De- 
vonian, and Carboniferous areas does exist, but the Blue Ridge 
is the initial point on the east, and it may be accounted for 
by the fact that their flexures were mainly produced by a com- 
mon cause acting in one peri 
On the contrary, the folds of the eastern belt are seh! 
ined than those found in the other belts, and independent of 
