36 The Upper Cretaceous Deposits of Maryland 



deep cut of the Delaware Canal, lignite and amber were found by Dr. 

 Morton, associated with ammonites, Bacculites and other organic remains 

 of the Secondary epoch. None of these fossils are known to have been 

 detected in our beds; but they have not been so deeply penetrated into, 

 nor so carefully examined. The great deposit of Lignites and Pyrites 

 with amber, on the Magothy River [Anne Arundel Comity], bears, on 

 the other hand, all the evidences of being a member in the formation to 

 which the micaceous black sand of the Severn [Anne Arundel County], 

 undoubtedly Secondary, is a part." Again, in his report for 1837 he adds 

 in regard to the section on the " Eastern Shore " at the head of the 

 Sassafras Eiver, tbat "at George Town [Kent County] the high river 

 banks are composed of a ferruginous sand, in some places indurated, 

 overlying a mixed green sand, without fossils ; but on ascending the river 

 the green sand is freer from foreign admixture, and at the Head of Sassa- 

 fras becomes quite pure and filled with marine shells, the principal kinds 

 of which are the terrebratula Harlani and gryphea vomer." 



During part of the period that Ducatel was conducting the Geological 

 Survey of Maryland, J. S. Booth was State Geologist of Delaware. The 

 results of the latter's work were finally summarized in 1841 in his 

 " Memoir of the Geological Survey of the State of Delaware," in which he 

 divided the " Upper Secondary " of the Delaware area into the " Red 

 Clay " and the " Green Sand " formations. 



The visit of Charles Lyell to the United States in 1841 was an impor- 

 tant event in the history of Coastal Plain geology. The inspiring pres- 

 ence of the author of the epoch-making " Principles of Geology," coupled 

 with his wide knowledge regarding similar deposits in Europe, led to 

 renewed activities in the field of Coastal Plain geology and the better 

 interpretation under his leadership of many points which had up to 

 that time been but imperfectly understood. Although Lyell's observa- 

 tions were more significant in the field of Tertiary than that of Cre- 

 taceous geology, still numerous references were made to the latter. In 

 his contributions to the subject he correlated the American Cretaceous 

 with the divisions between the Gault and Maestricht of Europe and also 



