82 J. J. STEVEXSOX LOWER CAEBONIFEEOUS, APPALACHIAN BASIX 



Feet 



1. Place of ore beds 



2. Shales 2 



3. Limestone 93 



4. Limestone with chert. 46 



5. Earthy limestone 94 



The limestone number 3 is mostly earthy, and it might well be de- 

 scribed as calcareous shale, if seen only on weathered slopes. Here the 

 " Chester " or Bangor appears to be wanting and the Hartselle and Tus- 

 cumbia are sufficienth^ distinct.* 



In Powell county, northeast from Estill, Mr Lesley found a total 

 thickness of 161 feet of limestone. But the limestone quickly decreases? 

 becoming from 30 to 70 feet in Menifee count}', according to Mr Crandall, 

 and showing an extreme thickness of 65 feet, according to Mr Linney, 

 in Bath count}^ where that observer places the whole section in the 

 Saint Louis. Rowan, east from Bath, shows, according to Lesley, on]\' 

 30 feet of limestone, which is flinty in the lower portion. 



Carter county is northeast from Rowan. Mr Crandall's summary 

 notes for this and Greenup county are practicall}' our only source of in- 

 formation, aside from Professor Andrews's fragmentar}^ observations 

 along the Ohio. Mr Lesley's notes are too incomplete to be of service. 

 In southwestern Carter the whole thickness of limestone is 75 feet, while 

 in southeastern Rowan, only a few miles awa}^ at the west, it is but 25 

 feet, showing the rapid decrease westward, which continues until the 

 mass is represented b}^ only a few feet of chert}^ rock. It increases east- 

 ward in Carter county, being 140 feet at Carter's caves, in the central 

 part of the county, though it decreases again eastward, becoming only 

 40 feet within a few miles. It must increase southeastwardly and be 

 persistent under Boyd and Lawrence counties, for oil-well records in the 

 latter county show 'a considerable thickness of limestone, as do also 

 those on the West Virginia side of the Big Sandy. Northward from 

 western Carter the decrease is very rapid ; 80 to 100 feet of limestone 

 were seen near Boone furnace, in northern Carter, but at Kenton, in west 

 central Greenup, only 10 feet. Farther north the limestone is repre- 

 sented by a few feet of chert or cherty limestone from Schultzes run to 

 the Ohio, in the northwest corner of the county. Eastwardly from this 

 line the distribution is ver}^ irregular, for opposite Portsmouth, in Ohio, 

 in the extreme northern part of the county, limestone is wholly wanting, 

 while in the eastern portion, along the Ohio, the limestone is seen again 

 at 5 or 6 miles below Greenupsburg and soon becomes 35 feet, whicli, 

 however, decreases quickl}^ so that before the mouth of Little Sandy 



*S. S. Lyou: Fourth Aiiuual Report on Geology of Kentucky, p. 528. 



