BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAE SCIENCES 31 



The Moscow shale is exposed in the L,ake Erie cliff from 

 Pike creek to Wanahkah and in Eighteen Mile creek between its 

 mouth and the railway bridges. In the south branch of Smoke's 

 creek it is well exposed in the stream bed and in cliffs from the 

 small cascade formed by the Tichenor at Windom to the bridge 

 over the Benzing Road. Its lowest beds, with an abundance of 

 fossils, crop out in an obscure gully opening into Smoke's creek 

 at Windom and also just above the cascade where the contact 

 between them and the Encrinal is well shown. The upper beds 

 and their contact with the pyritiferous layer are exposed in a 

 small gully on the east bank, and also just below the bridge over 

 the Benzing Road. The lower and middle beds are well exposed 

 in the north branch of Smoke's creek for a half mile above the 

 cascade at the Town L,ineroad. The entire formation, excepting 

 about three feet of the lower beds, is shown in one cliff section at 

 Springbrook in Cazenovia creek, where the beds are limited 

 above by a four inch bed of pyrite. In Buffalo creek a cliff 

 section at the Bullis road bridge includes all the lower and middle 

 beds. 



The Moscow shale thickens rapidly eastward in the county. 

 At Eighteen Mile creek it is seventeen feet thick, at Smoke's 

 52 feet, and at Springbrook nearly 50 feet are exposed above the 

 lower beds. 



Pyrite Layer, 1 ully Horizon. 



In the central part of New York the Hamilton beds and the 

 Genesee beds are separated by a stratum of limestone which from 

 its exposure at Tully in Onondaga county has been designated 

 the Tully limestone. This limestone is absent in Erie county but 

 its horizon is marked by a layer of shale strongly impregnated 

 with iron pyrites. At some exposures this layer becomes a solid 

 layer of pyrite from an inch to four inches thick. 



This pyrite layer is well shown in Cazenovia creek at 

 Springbrook. The upper beds of the Moscow are well shown and 

 capping these is a four inch layer filled with pyrite, above which 

 are the black shales of the Genesee beds. At one point of this 

 exposure the shale disappears and in its place is a four inch layer 

 of solid pyrite. This is a lentil about 30 feet long in the cliff. 

 This projects from the cliff as a ledge, and on the stream bed are 

 large blocks broken off as the softer shale is undermined. The 



