86 J. J. STEVENSON — CAPBONlPEPvOtJS OP APPALACHIAN BASIN 



thick and containing angular fragments of chert such as those observed 

 by him at more northerly localities. The Sharon coal bed is from 2 to 

 10 feet above it, and occasionally becomes 3 feet thick. At 2 miles 

 northeast from Newark he found a bed of fireclay underlying a 4- foot 

 bed of limestone and separated from the Sharon coal bed by 100 feet of 

 sandstone, apparently the Lower Mercer limestone ; but in the south- 

 east corner of the county and extending into Muskingum he finds the 

 " Flint Ridge cannel " under the same limestone, with occasionally a 

 thin coal bed at from 25 to 35 feet below it.* 



In the general description of formations exposed within the Second 

 Geological district, Professor Andrews says that on the border of the 

 Hocking Valley coal field, embracing parts of Perry, Hocking, and 

 Athens counties, he finds at 80 feet above the Maxville limestone a 

 limestone with a thin coal bed under it; at 20 to 35 feet higher another, 

 often flinty and also overlying a thin coal bed, while at 40 feet above 

 the last he finds the Putnam Hill limestone. These are the Mercer 

 limestones and coal beds. The Sharon coal bed, very thin, is at a few 

 feet above the Maxville limestone, while another is seen occasionally at 

 20 feet higher, and a third, the Quakertown, at 58 feet.f 



The Pottsville was followed by Professor Orton around the Hocking 

 Valley field, supplementing the observations of Professor Andrews. The 

 Tionesta coal bed is present in Perry county at about 10 feet above the 

 Upper Mercer limestone, and at one locality is commercially important. 

 That limestone is not always present, but its ore bed is so well charac- 

 terized as to mark the horizon. The Lower Mercer limestone is thor- 

 oughly persistent. Its extent is shown on the map of the Hocking 

 Valley coal fields accompanying volume vi, from which it appears that 

 the bed, where spared by erosion, reaches to the extreme western out- 

 crops of the coal field in Perry, Vinton, and Hocking counties, attaining 

 at times, even on the western line, a thickness of 10 feet. A thin coal 

 bed is often shown at 45 to 50 feet below it, which may be at the Quaker- 

 town horizon. The Sharon coal bed, from 80 to 120 feet below the 

 limestone, is represented usually by coal or coaly shale, and is sepa- 

 rated by a thin shale deposit from the Maxville limestone, though occa- 

 sionally one finds an attenuated representative of the Sharon conglom- 

 erate.! 



The Lower Mercer limestone was traced by Professor Andrews across 

 Hocking county, where it is commonly accompanied by its iron ore, 

 the " Little block " and the Lower Mercer coal bed. In Athens countv, 



*M. C Read : Vol. iii, p. 358. 



f E. B. Andrews : Vol. iii, pp. 823, 824. 



|| E. Orton : Vol. v, pp. 88<>, 905, 919, 989. 



