WEST VIRGINIA 157 



Raleigh. The plane of separation between the Pocahontas and Clark 

 was drawn on top of the Pocahontas coal bed, and this division is clear 

 on Flat Top, in Mercer, as well as along the Guyandotte river in south- 

 ern Raleigh and Wyoming ; but that coal bed becomes insignificant 

 northward, and the two formations near New river are united by Mr 

 Campbell into the Thurmond, which there is but 450 or 500 feet as 

 against about 750 in southern Raleigh. Along the Guyandotte river the 

 Pocahontas coal bed is important, and Mr d'Invilliers has described it 

 in detail. Other beds of some importance are present there in both the 

 Clark and the Pocahontas, but near New river, in Fayette county, the 

 Thurmond appears to contain no coal bed of any value whatever. 



The Quinnimont, equivalent to the upper Welch of the Tazewell- 

 McDowell area where it is more than 300 feet thick, decreases north- 

 ward, as does the Thurmond, and is only 180 feet on New river. The 

 Quinnimont coal bed rests on the heavy sandstone at the top of the 

 Thurmond, and the u Beckley " coal bed is directly under the Raleigh 

 sandstone. Two other beds are in the interval, but they have not been 

 exploited. The Quinnimont bed, named by Fontaine many years ago, 

 is the same with the Fire Creek bed of lower New river; it is extremely 

 variable. In southern Raleigh it is unimportant, but in southern Wyo- 

 ming, near the Raleigh line, as well as in the central part of the county, 

 it is valuable. On New river it is important from Quinnimont to Sewell, 

 10 or 12 miles, but below Sewell Mr Campbell did not recognize it, 

 though several miles farther on it was found by Doctor White. The 

 "Beckley" coal bed is workable only in northern Raleigh, but either 

 thin coal or black shale is present at almost every exposure of its hori- 

 zon. These persistent beds below the Raleigh (Bonair) sandstone bear 

 much resemblance in their position and in their persistency to the beds 

 between the Bonair and Etna sandstones in Tennessee, and it is possible, 

 one might almost say probable, that .the persistent sandstone at the top 

 of the Clark or Thurmond, which has been seen in all the sections from 

 eastern Russell to New river, may prove to be the Etna (Cliff) sandstone. 



The Raleigh (Bonair) sandstone is less thick in southern Raleigh than 

 at Welch, in McDowell county, but it thickens northward until it be- 

 comes 150 feet or more near New river. Eastward and southeastward 

 from that river, in Fayette county, it decreases and becomes unimportant 

 within a few miles ; but it maintains itself northward along New river, 

 and westward it is easily recognized in Raleigh and Wyoming wherever 

 its place is exposed. 



The Sewell formation, 600 to 700 feet thick, has as its highest member 

 the Nuttall (Sharon, Corbin, Dotson) sandstone, which along New river 



XXI— Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 15, 1903 



