GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY OF THE SCHOHARIE VALLEY 101 



silicious sandstone, sometimes with a slight admixture of argil 

 laceous material. The texture is rather coarse, often somewhat 

 pebbly with small flat pebbles of argillaceous sandstone. The 

 lower portion of this series consists of thin beds, the upper of 

 more massive layers. They are succeeded by 27 feet of the 

 pyritiferous Brayman shales. There is some reason for regarding 

 at least the upper 20 feet of sandstones as belonging with the 

 Brayman shales rather than the Lorraine. Before considering 

 this question, however, we must discuss the 



Siluric strata of the Schoharie region 



Only the Upper Siluric beds are found in the Schoharie region 

 and there is every evidence that these are the only ones which were 

 ever deposited here. 



Brayman shales 



Clinton shales; Salina shales; of authors 

 These with the exception of the basal sandstones, are the only 

 beds of the Salina period occurring in this region. They have 

 been variously described in the literature as Clinton shales, 

 pyritiferous shales, Salina shales, etc. The name Brayman shales 

 is chosen for them from the village of Braymanville on the 

 Cobleskill, between which place and Howes Cave they are well 

 exposed. As the shales have so far proved unfossiliferous their 

 exact equivalency is somewhat uncertain. From their position 

 immediately below the Cobleskill limestone it may be confidently 

 inferred that they are of Salina age, but whether they represent 

 the Bertie waterlime of Buffalo, which is the immediate prede- 

 cessor of the Cobleskill of that region, or whether they are of 

 somewhat earlier age is a question difficult to determine. That 

 there is a slight hiatus between the Brayman shales and the 

 Cobleskill seems to be indicated by the fact thai the upper bed of 

 these shales is somewhat conglomeratic, with rounded or elongate 

 pebbles of clay shale inclosed in a dark matrix, partly a calcareous 

 sand and containing numerous scattered rounded quartz grains. 

 This indication of wave activity at the end of deposition of the 



