102 J. J- STEVENSON — CARBONIFEROUS OF APPALACHIAN BASIN 



rocks rise toward the southeast, so that at the head of Dry fork that 

 limestone is shown high up in the hills, with the Sharon coal bed at 

 280 feet below, while in a hill near by the Mercer is mined at 180 feet 

 above the Sharon. Passing over to Big Blaine creek, which drains north 

 Johnson and flows northwest across Lawrence to the Big Sandy river, 

 one finds the Sharon sandstone along the forks in both counties. At 

 the head of Blaine the Ferriferous limestone is 95 feet above the Mer- 

 cer, which is 100 feet above the Quakertown. The intervals diminish 

 in this direction, for in southern Carter that from the Ferriferous to the 

 Sharon coal bed is 317 feet. In northwest Lawrence it is 280 feet, while 

 on Irish creek of Blaine it is only 240 feet. The Mercer, Quakertown, 

 and Sharon are all shown on Irish creek, where the intervals are 88 and 

 55 feet, and the Connoquenessing sandstones are well defined. In the 

 southern part of the count}' the Mercer is 150 feet above the Sharon, 

 which is separated from the Sharon sandstone by about 50 feet of shale.* 



Passing into Morgan county, one finds in the northwest portion a sec- 

 tion very similar to that of Elliott, but in the easterly and southern parts 

 the section above the Sharon sandstone changes. In Greenup the 

 Quakertown coal bed showed a tendency to divide, and at a number of 

 localities a small bed was seen above Coal bed number 2, which Pro- 

 fessor Crandall designated as " Number 2 A." This tendency is more 

 marked in Carter and in the southern part of that county, where the 

 interval between Mercer and Sharon has increased to 200 feet. The 

 upper split of the Quakertown is at somewhat more than 75 feet below 

 the Mercer. The section of western Carter prevails in Elliott and west- 

 ern Morgan, where the Quakertown is single ; but in eastern Morgan the 

 conditions observed in eastern Carter prevail, and the Quakertown splits 

 are shown with increased interval. Not infrequently a thin coal bed 

 appears underlying the Lower Connoquenessing sandstone, and several 

 sections show a thin bed below the Sharon, resting directly on the 

 Sharon sandstone. 



In northwest Morgan the Sharon coal bed is from 40 to 60 feet above 

 the Sharon sandstone, and the Quakertown at about 60 feet higher, 

 while the little bed above the Sharon is 18 inches thick and 20 feet 

 above the Sharon coal bed. 



The Sharon coal bed is exposed in many places within western Mor- 

 gan, where it appears to be thin, though occasionally reaching 3 feet. 

 It is accompanied everywhere by the characteristic limestone bands and 

 concretions, which are especially abundant in the underlying shales, 

 though occasionally seen in those above ; but the higher concretions in 



*A. R. Crandall: Geology of Greenup, etcetera, pp. 51, 64, 65, sees. 47, 73, 76, 81. 



