20 GEOLOGY OF ERIE COUNTY 



Stafford Limestone. 



Bedded between the two black shales of the Marcellus beds 

 is the Stafford limestone which, though present in Erie county, 

 is a meager representative of its eastward extension. Hall 

 described this thin limestone layer with which he limited upward 

 the lower black (Marcellus) shale. He traced it from Flint creek, 

 Ontario county to Le Roy, but seemingly he missed the exposure 

 at Lancaster. He included it in the Marcellus. In 1888 Dr. 

 Clarke designated this the Stafford limestone from its excellent 

 exposure at Stafford, Genesee county. 



-'# 



F. Houghton, Phot o. 



Fig. 6. Contact of Stafford limestone and Marcellus shale. 



New York Central Railway cut, north of Gardenville. 



The Stafford limestone in its Erie county exposures is but 

 eight feet thick. It lies between the black Marcellus shale below 

 and the dark Cardiff shale above. When fresh it is of a dark 

 chocolate color but becomes light gray after exposure. It splinters 

 under the hammer, yet is substantial enough for building stone 

 for which it has a limited use. Much of it is concretionary and 

 at least one layer contains pyrite and chert. 



