in the Xarragansett Basin. 59 



significance of granite pebbles in the conglomerate can be 

 finally known. 5s o pebbles strongly resembling the muscovitie 

 contact phase of the Sterling granite-gneiss were noted. 



The Wamsntta exposures are so isolated, both with respect 

 to themselves and to the other formations, that structural 

 features of critical value are largely, if not wholly, concealed. 

 The main Wamsntta area is separated from the granite area on 

 the west and southwest by a narrow band of " Coal Measures." 

 but all contacts in the area studied are concealed. The strikes 

 and dips of the two formations where studied are discordant, 

 and suggest a concealed unconformity or a fault. Study of 

 composition at this place was inconclusive. The Wamsntta 

 (and Pondville) beds are chiefly fine highly quartzose conglomer- 

 ates and sandstones, with all their pebbles badly stained with 

 iron oxide. "Weathered red feldspar from the nearby granite 

 was found, but if any " Coal Measures " material was present, 

 its identity was destroyed by red staining. Woodworth. who 

 interpreted the Wamsutta as underlying the north most part of 

 the '* Coal Measures" and grading southward into their lower 

 portion, assumed a fault at this place (fig. 1), the Wamsntta 

 beds rising with respect to the "Coal Measures. " He suggests 

 faults at other places to account for discrepancies in the 

 stratigraphy, but the data shown in his illustrations are very 

 meager.- He states elsewhere* that steep dips, faulting 

 and isolation of outcrops renders it impossible to work ont the 

 stratigraphy with certainty. 



The only fossils found in the Wamsutta formation are a few 

 specimens of Catamites sp. and Cordaites ep., both of which 

 genera range through the Pennsylvania and into the Permian. 



The writers regret their inability to arrive at a more 

 satisfactory conclusion regarding the stratigraphic relations of 

 the Wamsntta formation in this basin. They can only express 

 the opinion that, in view of the extreme obscurity of structural 

 features, the composition of the beds suggests that the 

 Wamsntta may be more closely related to the Dighton 

 conglomerate, which is regarded by the authors as of Permian 

 age. than to the u Coal Measures. " If more thorough study 

 succeeds in the discovery of undoubted pebbles of the u Coal 

 Measures " strata and of the contact phase of the Sterling 

 granite-gneiss, the Permian age of the Pondville conglomerate 

 and of the Wamsntta formation may be considered proved ; on 

 the other hand, if future discoveries of fossils prove these 

 formations to be of Pennsylvania!! age. the unconformity 

 indicated in the second and third columns of the correlation 

 table must be placed above the Wamsntta formation. In the 



*Op. cit., p. 157. ficr. 16 : and p. 184. 

 fOp. cit.. pp. 143-146. 



