THE KANAWHA FORMATION 157 



of whose Annularian and Sphenophyllean elements are not known in 

 the Allegheny series. 



Floras of the Kanawha Series 



typical region and thickness of the formation 



The " Kanawha series " is typically exposed along the Great Kanawha 

 river in southern West Virginia. Terranes of this series appear in the 

 gorge of that river from a point above Faj^ette station, where it caps the 

 high knobs, to near Charleston, 50 miles below, where it goes beneath 

 water level. For 35 miles the steep slopes of the valley lie almost en- 

 tirely in the Kanawha formation. This formation, which is largely arena- 

 ceous, includes several thin calcareous beds and an uncertain, though 

 considerable, number of workable coals. From a maximum thickness 

 of approximately 1,200 feet at its eastern outcrop it thins to about 650 

 feet before passing under at Charleston.* Borings to the westward in- 

 dicate a still further reduction in thickness. 



The general constitution of the series is indicated by the accompany- 

 ing sections. The first, figure 2, is a carefully prepared section published 

 by Doctor I. C. White in his memoir, " Stratigraphy of the Bituminous 

 Coal Field in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia." f It shows the 

 principal coals in the lower portion of the section as well as the upper 

 limit of the series as defined by him. The Pennsylvanian nomenclature 

 of the coals is that applied by Doctor White. 



The second section,! figure 3. illustrates at once the relations of the 

 upper coals in the series, as well as the lower coals developed farther 

 down the Kanawha, in the vicinity of Dego. It has not yet been found 

 practicable to trace all of the important coals from one point to the 

 other. The equivalents of even the lower coals shown in the Cedar 

 Grove sections are not definitely known in the Armstrong section. 



DIVISION OF THE KANAWHA COALS INTO TWO GROUPS 

 COMPOSITION OF THE GROUPS 



In their discussion of the type section of the Kanawha formation 

 Messrs Campbell and Mendenhall § have found it most convenient to 

 divide the coals of the formation into two groups. 



*I. C. White in Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey, no. 65, p. 138. 

 ' -f-Loc. eit., p. 138, fig. 113. 



% Presented by the courtesy of Mr Oscar A. Veazey, who has given great attention to the Kan- 

 awha formation in this region. 



§ Geologic section along the New and Kanawha rivers in West Virginia. Seventeenth Ann. Rept. 

 U. S. Geol. Survey, part 2, 1896, pp. 473-511, pis. xxxix-xlix. 



