History of the Island of Cuba. 197 



part of the island at no great depth, and are exposed near both 

 coasts in many cuts beneath the limestones. From their com- 

 position and occurrence there can be little doubt that they 

 once formed an ancient land area almost as large as the present 

 island which became almost or completely submerged during 

 early Tertiary time. Wherever I have seen these rocks, at 

 Villa Clara, Havana and near Baracoa, they have once been 

 covered by the Tertiary limestones, but I cannot speak with 

 certainty concerning the province of Santiago de Cuba, where, 

 according to Kimball,* traces of limestone are preserved as 

 high as 2,300 feet on the south side. On the north side, oppo- 

 site Santiago, they are certainly overlapped far interiorward 

 by the limestones. 



Igneous rocks are rarely intrusive through the Tertiary 

 limestone, no late igneous rocks having been seen by me ex- 

 cept one small dike which intrudes into the folded Tertiary lime- 

 stone near the water-works back of Havana. The presence of 

 eruptivesf and of sediments older than Tertiary, reported by 

 DeCastro^: and seen by me at a few points, and the uncon- 

 formities testify that in pre-Tertiary time the old metamorphic 

 floor protruded above the level of the sea as a land area, form- 

 ing a nucleal region around and upon which the later forma- 

 tions were accumulated. 



The pre-Tertiary sedimentaries. — Resting upon this meta- 

 morphic and igneous foundation at various places, there is a 

 formation of stratified, non-fossiliferous sedimentary clays. 

 These are older than the Tertiary limestone, but apparently 

 immediately preceded them in origin. They have not great 

 thickness and are without determinable fossils wherever I have 

 observed them. In the Havana section a few feet only are 

 exposed beneath the old limestone in contact with the under- 

 lying tuffs. They are here green in color and somewhat 

 unctuous. 



In traveling overland eastward toward Yilla Clara, the lime- 

 stones extend to beyond Colon ; but between that place and 

 San Pedro they are eroded through down to the underlying 

 clay formation which extends from there continuously east- 

 ward to Yilla Clara, being best exposed in the railway cut at 

 Esperanza. Here the railway has cut across a low anticline of 

 clays which show well-defined stratification and alternate strata 

 of softer and harder beds. These clays are folded and slightly 

 faulted in places. 



*This Journal, Dec, 1884. 



f The word eruptive is herein used m the restricted sense of igneous material 

 which has protruded to the surface. 

 \ Op. cit. 



