TACONIC SLATE AT BELFAST AND CAMDEN. 



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At Belfast, upon Penobscot bay, the same rock occurs, but much more disturbed than 

 at points Intervening between Waterville and Belfast ; and it is for this reason that the 

 geological position of these rocks is still doubtful. They may be talcose slates of the 

 primary schists ; or they may be magnesian slates altered by subterranean and other 

 forces, so as to disguise their true character. There is still another difficulty in deter- 

 mining satisfactorily the position of the rocks at this place : it is tlieir concealment by- 

 drift. We rind exposed at a certain place, for example, a small portion of a mass which 

 contains garnet, hornblende, etc. : it is, so far as can be determined, a primary schist. At 

 the distance, however, of a quarter or half a mile, another rock is partially exposed, which 

 is a magnesian slate, without garnets, hornblende, or other of the essential characters of 

 the talcose slate just alluded to. In these cases, the great difficulty is the concealment of 

 the relations of the two rocks by soil and drift. Now in this and some other cases, the 

 doctrine I am disposed to maintain is that different rocks, differing as it regards age, but 

 agreeing in respect to lithological character, may be formed in proximity ; but of this I 

 shall speak hereafter. 



The coarse schists at Belfast abound in andalusite in very perfect crystals. They may 

 be found upon the beach about half a mile north of the village. They are reddish, and 

 more like foreign andalusite than any I have seen. 



Not finding the Taconic rocks sufficiently well exposed or developed at Belfast, I pro- 

 ceeded to Camden. I had been informed that limestone was one of the principal rocks at 

 this place, a circumstance which was deemed of sufficient importance to authorize an 

 examination. 



In the rocks of Camden, I found much to support and sustain the views I had previously 

 formed of the independent existence of a system of rocks above the Primary schists, and 

 below the Silurian system. That the relations of the rocks at this place may be under- 

 stood, I have introduced a section which embraces the entire series in the order they occur. 

 It crosses a tongue of land intervening between the harbor at the village of Camden, and 

 a small bay or harbor formed by Goose river. By r this section, I am able to refer at once 

 to the rocks and their position. 



Fig:. 14. 



Wrinkled magnesian slate, b. Limestone, c. Trap dyke. d. Hard siliceous slate, e. Granitic vein. /. Fine 

 slate, g. Coarse slate, with imperfect staurotide. h. First mass of granular quartz, i. Slaty contorted quartz, 

 passing into a rock containing macles. K. Fine granular quartz. I. Slate with macles. n. Granular quartz. 

 F . Fracture and uplift, m. Magnesian slate. 



G. Goose river. 



[Agricultural Report.] 



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