of the Devonian of Western Tennessee. 755 



thick, but it is absent at many localities and at Olive Hill 

 has the exceptional thickness of 15 or 16 feet. Locally 

 the base of the sandstone is conglomeratic. 



Fossils in the Chattanooga shale are very meagre and 

 of slight significance in correlation, being limited to sup- 

 posed spore cases (Sporangites), microscopic annelid 

 and conodont teeth, and a small species of Lingula. 

 These fossils are abundant in the base of the shale in the 

 well known quarry 3 miles west of Newsom, and they 

 have been found at various other localities in western 

 Tennessee. The Lingula has often been identified as 

 L. spatnlata, but the specimens collected by the writer 

 are certainly distinct from that species, agreeing much 

 more closely with L. melie of the Sunbury shale of 

 Ohio. 



The age of the Chattanooga shale is a mooted question. 

 Most workers have regarded it as Upper Devonian, and 

 both the Tennessee State Geological Survey and the 

 United States Geological Survey continue to do so, while 

 on the other hand UTrich (1912) refers it to the base of 

 the Mississippian. The known fauna being of little 

 value, the problem will probably be solved only by a broad 

 study of the stratigraphic relations of this widespread 

 formation. No conclusive evidence could be found by the 

 writer in western Tennessee, and he does not wish to take 

 a decisive stand, but it has seemed advisable to conform 

 to the established usage of the state and national surveys 

 in referring the Chattanooga shale to the Upper Devo- 

 nian. 



References. 

 Drake, N. T. 



1914. Economic geology of the Waynesboro Quadrangle, 

 Resources of Tenn., 4, No. 3, 99-120. 



FOERSTE, A. F. 



1901. Silurian and Devonian limestones of Tennessee and 

 Kentucky, Bull. Geol. Soc. America, 12, 395-444. 



1903. Silurian and Devonian limestones of western Ten- 

 nessee, Jour. Geology, 11, 697-715. 

 Safford, J. M. 



1855. A geological reconnaissance of Tennessee, first bien- 

 nial report. 



1861. The Upper Silurian beds of western Tennessee; and 

 Dr. F. Roemer's monograph, this Journal (2), 31, 

 205-209. 



1869. Geology of Tennessee. 



