EOKMER CONNECTION OF KENTUCKY COAL AREAS 623 



coins the happy expression "geological distribution of politics," and comments 

 on how the distribution might have been affected by differing rates of denuda- 

 tion, has been enjoyed by every student of Kentucky history. 



Linney's contribution to the subject is seen in his report on Lincoln county 

 under the head "Waste beds," on page 26 : 



"Over every portion of Lincoln county are to be seen the waste of beds which were 

 once in position over those now seen in place. Corals and chert from the Corniferous 

 are very common. These and the geodes from the Carboniferous are hauled off from 

 many fields and used for repairing roads. Blocks of sandstone and masses of conglom- 

 erate are not infrequent over the blue limestone beds. 



"Over the Subcarboniferous part of .the county the remains of the Saint Louis beds 

 are seen nearly everywhere ; and over these are spread, sometimes many feet in depth, 

 the sands and pebbles of the base of the Coal Measures. There can be no reasonable 

 doubt that all the series of rocks now seen in tbe county were once continuous over its 

 surface, unless we except some of the thin beds of the Upper Silurian, and that on top 

 of these were the Subcarboniferous limestones and the lower portion and perhaps all the 

 Coal Measures." 



W. T. Knott, in his report on Marion county, refers to the tops of the knobs 

 in that county still carrying the "waste of the conglomerate, in some places 

 consisting of quartz pebbles, well worn and masses still compacted." 



The work of the present geological survey has been confirmatory of the views 

 on this subject entertained by the workers on the Shaler and Procter surveys. 



Excavations in the city of Lexington and barite mining operations in the 

 blue-grass region have brought to light Waverly geodes, which can not well be 

 accounted for on any other hypothesis than that the beds containing them for- 

 merly went over the "Jessamine dome" of the Cincinnati anticline. 



The work of the writer during the past summer in the counties of Green, 

 Taylor, and Adair has supplied additional proof, if such were needed, that the 

 Coal Measures once extended across the Cincinnati anticline. The remnants 

 still remain on the highlands that mark the dividing of the waters between the 

 Salt and Green rivers. They exist like stepping-stones between the two coal 

 fields. 



Professor Foerste had noted and mapped a tongue of conglomerate extending 

 out from the Western coal field between the Green river and Bacon creek of 

 Nolin river for some distance east of the Louisville and Nashville railroad. 



He did not trace it farther than 3 or 4 miles east of the railroad. A number 

 of years ago the writer had noticed a belt of conglomerate waste crossing the 

 old Bardston and Nashville turnpike south of Magnolia, and during the past 

 summer found a continuous belt of it, forming the highland along the boundary 

 of Green-Hart, Green-Larue, Taylor-Larue, and Taylor-Marion counties. This 

 conglomerate is much disintegrated; still it is a very heavy deposit, estimated 

 to be 50 feet thick, and much of it is practically in place. The pebbles of it 

 are remarkably large, many of them being as large as hens' eggs, whereas the 

 usual size for the conglomerate pebbles in Kentucky is that of pigeon eggs, or 

 even as small as large peas (hailstone-grit). Where in place, or nearly in 

 place, it rests on Saint Louis limestone, which is also generally badly disin- 

 tegrated and indicated mainly by abundance of chert, a conspicuous element of 

 which is silicified Lithostrotion canaclense and L. proliferum. There is no sign 

 of the Kaskaskia (Chester) in this region, though immediately south of the 

 Green river the knobs are capped by Kaskaskia, with no sign of the waste of 

 LX — Bull. Geol. Soa Am., Vol. 20, 1908 



