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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSILS IN THE CHAMPLAIN DEPOSITS 



The occurrence of marine fossils in the clays and sands of the 

 New York Champlain beds has long been well known, but scant 

 reference is made in the literature to their upper limits. In the 

 course of the present survey search was made for fossils mainly 

 within the zone of beaches above the zone of clays. In the follow- 

 ing notes references are made also to the occurrence of fossil shells 

 found on the northwest slope of the Adirondacks as far west as 

 Ogdensburg. For the purpose of showing their bearing on the 

 reconstruction of the upper marine limit in this region notice is 

 also taken of certain shell-bearing localities in adjacent parts of 

 Canada and Vermont. 



As early as 1849 Prof. H. D. Rogers called attention to the fact 

 that the then known shell localities in this geologic province 

 indicated a want of parallelism between the water level of their 

 epoch and that of the present seas. In recent years much more 

 attention has been given to the evidence of warping of the earth's 

 crust as shown by the deformation of traceable shore lines in the 

 district of the great fresh-water lakes which came into existence 

 with the withdrawal of the ice sheet. In a region like that of 

 the upper St Lawrence and Champlain valleys, where beaches 

 occur referable partly to lacustrine and partly to marine bodies of 

 water, the evidence from fossil shells is of more than usual im- 

 portance. 



As having a slight bearing on the distribution of the marine 

 fossils within the State, the occurrence of shells at Ogdensburg 

 and Norwood is here recorded, but the discussion of the upper 

 marine limit in that direction is withheld till a more complete 

 examination of the district has been made. 



Fossils at Ogdensburg. This locality has long been known. In 

 1903 Prof. A. P. Coleman collected Macoma g r o e n 1 a n d i c a 

 from the clays on the low ground in the southern limits of the 

 city, and later in the same season both he and myself found 

 abundant separated valves of the large Macoma c a 1 c a r e a 

 with those of M . g r o e n 1 a n d i c a and rarer S a x i c a v a 

 rug os a in stratified sands on the border of Ogdensburg and 

 the town of Lisbon about y 2 mile south of the St Lawrence at an 

 elevation of about 281 feet above the sea. Professor Coleman 



