24 



GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



the submergence that resulted in the formation of the Carboniferous 

 limestone to have been progressive from the south and west, and the 

 Waverly group of Ohio to be in a large part the shore equivalents of the 

 open-sea limestone sediments of Kentucky, Iridiana, and Illinois. 



The limestone of southern Ohio was called the MaxviUe limestone by 

 Prof. Andrews, from one of the localities where it is exposed. Its occur- 

 rence there and at Newtonville, Mufkingum county, within the area of 

 the Coal Measures, created considerable surprise, and caused its identifi- 

 cation with the Caiboniferous limestone of Kentucky to be questioned, 

 but the long list of fossils collected from it seem to leave no room for 

 doubt on this subject. 



Prof. Edward Orton, who has been engaged during the past summer in 

 a careful review of the geology of the Hocking valley region, has brought 

 out some new facts in regard to the MaxviUe limestone which will give 

 it fresh interest to geologists, while at the same time they explain in an 

 unexpected way all the mysteries that have hung around it. These 

 facts are briefly as follows : 1. That the MaxviUe limestone can be 

 followed by numerous outcrops — as a distinct geological horizon, from 

 Perry county to the Ohio River, and thu,- it does not lie in patches alter- 

 nating with others of Conglomerate as has been represented. 2. That 

 one, sometimes two, limestones or flints are found within a hundred feet 

 below it which share in a degree its lithologieal character and fossil^. 

 3. That the Wellston and Jackson coals, well known and important 

 seams in southern Ohio, are both beneath the MaxviUe limestone. 



A recent visit to the Hocking valley, in company with Prof Orton^ 

 has resulted in the verification of all his observations, and the collection 

 of fossils from the MaxviUe limestone and Waverly shales, which prove 

 beyond question that the lower coals — two or three in number — of South- 

 ern Ohio are of Lower Carboniferous age. 



Another important result of the recent observations of Prof. Orton is 

 to demonstrate that all the conglomerate of Southern Ohio lies below the 

 MaxviUe limestone, and is, therefore, distinct from, and older than, the 

 conglomerate of Northern Ohio. The latter conclusion, which wiU, per- 

 haps, be questioned, is established by the facts that the conglomerate of 

 Southern Ohio is overlain by shales, which contain the fossils character- 

 istic of the Upper Waverly in Holmes, Summit, Mahoning, etc. ; while 

 the conglomerate of Northern Ohio — which, apparently, extends no fur- 

 ther south than Licking county, and thence thickens greatly northward 

 — lies upon the Upper Waverly, and has no Waverly fossils in or above 

 it; also, that it contains, in Holmes county, numerous imperfectly 

 rounded fragments of cherty limestone, of which the lithologieal char- 



