24 FLOEA OF SOUTHERN NEW YOEK AND NEW ENGLAND. 



In 1895 Dr. F. J. H. Merrill published " Notes on the Geology of Block Island/' a 

 in which he concludes that the white clays and sands exposed at certain localities 

 may be of Cretaceous age and that their folded condition was caused by glacial 

 action. In regard to the Clay Head deposit he remarks (pp. 17, 18) that a in 

 character and position it is entirely analogous to that at Glen Cove, Long Island.'' 



In 1896, at the New York meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof. 

 O. C. Marsh read a paper on "The Jurassic Formation on the Atlantic Coast," 5 in 

 which he advanced the theory that the clays throughout the insular area, as well 

 as their equivalents in New Jersey, are probably Jurassic in age, but any evidence 

 to support the theory was not produced. 



This paper was supplementary to two preliminary papers by the same author, 

 on "The Geology of Block Island," c in which the same theory was advocated. In 

 these contributions the opinion was expressed that the testimony of fossil plants 

 was not conclusive as to the Cretaceous age of the strata. 



In 1897 Prof. J. B. Woodworth read a paper before the Geological Society of 

 America on "Unconformities of Marthas Vine}^ard and of Block Island, " d in which 

 the disturbance caused by glacial action is discussed, and in 1900 one upon " Glacial 

 Origin of Older Pleistocene in Gay Head Cliffs," etc., 6 which may be regarded as 

 supplementary to the one previously mentioned. 



In 1899 a joint contribution appeared, by G. C. Curtis and J. B. Woodworth, 

 entitled "Nantucket, A Morainal Island/'^ in which, besides the discussion of the 

 glacial deposits, there is a brief paragraph (p. 231 to) the effect that: "The oldest 

 known formation on the island is a bluish clay, probably of Cretaceous age. * * * 

 The beds of this series are highly folded, as are also the strata of the same, and 

 even more recent date, in the islands westward to Staten Island." Opinions of 

 others in regard to the causes of the folding are also given, but without discussion. 



In 1905 Mr. Myron L. Fuller, in a paper on the "Geology of Fishers Island, New 

 York,"^ makes incidental reference to the same phenomena in connection with the 

 Gay Head and Block Island clays. The occurrence of Cretaceous deposits, at a depth 

 of some 260 feet below sea level, is inferred from the presence of a bed of blue clay 

 struck at that depth in a well boring, in regard to which the author (p. 373) says: 

 "No samples of this clay have been seen, but the fact that it rests on the granite 

 instead of on a thick series of glacial gravels, as does the only known Pleistocene clay 

 of the region, points to its probable Cretaceous age." 



The most complete exposition of the geology of any part of the region was 

 brought out in 1902, under the joint authorship of F. J. H. Merrill, N. H. Darton, 

 Arthur Hollick, R. D. Salisbury, R. E. Dodge, Bailey Willis, and H. A. Pressey, as 

 the New York City folio of the Survey,^ in which the entire area of Staten Island 

 and a portion of the adjacent area of Long Island is mapped topographically and 

 geologically, with descriptive text and illustrations. The Cretaceous area of 



a Trans. New York Acad. Sci., vol. 15, 1895, pp. 16-19. 

 '6 Am. Jour. Sci., ser. 4, vol. 2, 1896, pp. 433-447. 

 c Ibid., pp. 295-298, 375-377. 

 dBull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. 8, 1897, pp. 197-212. 

 cBull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. 11, 1900, pp. 455-460. 

 /Jour. Geol., vol. 7, 1899, pp. 226-236. 

 9 Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. 16, 1905, pp. 367-390. 

 h Description of the New York City district: Geologic Atlas U. S., folio 83, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1902. 



