18 EXPLORING EXPEDITION FROM SANTA PE 



I will not insist, but by submerging a porous body, such as a Bponge, it will be seen 

 that the pressure of the superincumbent water has no tendency to bring its particles in 

 contact or consolidate it 'The excess of sulphur is doubtless due to the decomposition 

 of the numerous marine organisms which inhabited the water by which the coal was 

 saturated or submerged. 



Fossils. — The conditions under which the coal-strata of Kansas have been formed 

 were not favorable to the preservation of a large number of plants; less than a dozen 



species having been discovered there up to the present time. These are Coraades 

 borassifolia, Annularia s-phenophydoides, Sphenophyllum dentatum, Ahtlwpteris Srr/u, Pecop- 

 teris arborescens, Keuropteris flexuosa, X. Mrsutu, and SigiUaria Menardi These plants 



are all found in the coal-formation east of the Mississippi. 



The molluscous fossils of this region have been pretty thoroughly worked up b\ 

 Messrs. Shumard, Swallow, and Meek. They are enumerated in the papers el' these 



gentlemen in the proceedings of the Saint Louis and Philadelphia academies; and in 

 Chapter X of my report on the Geology of the Colorado Country. 



In some portions of Eastern Kansas the Upper Carboniferous limestones contain 

 the remains of echmoderms, of which the spines and plates sometimes almost com- 

 pletely cover the weathered surfaces of the rocks. They all belong to the genus 

 Archceoddaris, and constitute several species described by Messrs. Shumard and Hall. 

 These fossils present a new feature in the Carboniferous fauna to one who has studied 

 that formation only east of the Mississippi, where they are exceedingly rare. They are, 

 however, equally common in the Carboniferous rocks of Xew Mexico; one ot the 

 Kansas species recurring in great numbers at PecOS Village, near Santa I'Y, and sev- 

 eral others of large size, described in my report to Lieutenant Ives, are conspicuous 

 features in the limestones, equivalents of the Coal-Measures, on the banks of the Col- 

 orado. 



The Fusilinas, which give character to the Fusilina limestones of Missouri and 

 Kansas, have attracted the attention and excited the surprise of every geologist who 



has visited that region. The ( Joal-Measure limestones are almost everywhere crowded 



with them, and in many instances they compose by far the greater portion ot then- 

 mass. It is not easy to say what influences could have fostered this enormous develop- 

 ment of Foraminiferous life in the sea from which the Kansas limestones were deposited ; 

 for these fossils, like the echinoderms of which L have spoken, are almost unknown 

 east of the Mississippi; but, unlike them, are comparatively rare in the limestones of 



New Mexico. 



DRAGOON CREEK TO COTTONWOOD CREEK 



The Carboniferous rocks which I have described as so characteristic of Eastern 

 Kansas, prevail without interruption overall the interval between Independence, Mo., 



and Dragoon Creek. Although the exposures of the underlying rocks are frequent 



along theSante Fe road, the surface is merely undulated, nowhere broken, and there 



are no deep excavations formed by the draining streams. Asa consequence the order oi 



succession of strata could not be fully made out, and it is probable that not every num- 

 ber of the series is anywhere visible along our line of examination. It is not certain, 

 therefore, that there are not beds of coal or other valuable minerals still lying concealed 



