212 



Repoet of the State Geologist 



sulphate of lime had so purified the waters of the interior continental sea that 

 life could again be sustained in them. 



Higher in the strata the limestones are generally purer, and other fossils 

 appear quite abundantly. 



In Onondaga, Cayuga and Ontario counties these upper layers of ''blue 

 limestone " have been extensively quarried for building stones and for the 

 manufacture of quick-lime. 



The large quantities of lime used by the Solvay Process Company, of 

 Syracuse, in the manufacture of soda ash, is taken from their quarries in this 

 horizon at Split Rock, where the rock is in layers from one to three feet thick. 



It is blue-black in color and shows the lines of deposition very plainly. 

 When burned, the bituminous matter which is the cause of the dark color is 

 eliminated and an excellent quality of lime is produced. 



At the mine shafts some of the rocks of this horizon had a brownish 

 pink color, and contained a small amount of petroleum, which exuded in 

 sufficient quantity to cover the surface of the stratum, and in the Lehigh shaft 

 accumulated in the bottom to the amount of several quarts. 



From a compact bed of fine, reddish brown, calcareous sandstone in the 

 Livonia shaft there issued about 100 gallons per day of "bitter water" of so 

 acrid a character as to produce a smarting sensation and violent inflammation 

 when it came in contact with human flesh. 



The beds of hydraulic limestone or "cement rock" which supply the 

 large qualities of natural cement or water-lime produced in Onondaga county, 

 and at Akron, in Erie county, are interstratified with the purer limestones in 

 the upper part of these beds. 



Though nearly black previous to exposure, the water-limestones weather 

 quickly to a light drab. They are composed of carbonic acid, lime, magne-ia, 

 silica, alumina and iron in such proportions that when burned, ground and 

 mixed with sand a mortar is found that will harden under water. 



These rocks of this horizon are abundantly exposed in a large number of 

 outcrops and quarries from Oneida to Erie county. 



In the vicinity of Chittenango, Madison county, there are two layers 

 of the water-limestone exposed in a quarry south of the village, each about four 

 feet thick, separated by four feet of the blue limestone. They are in the same 

 condition in the eastern part of Manlius, Onondaga count)-, and are about 

 forty-live feet below the Oriskany sandstone. From this point westward 

 the upper layer and the intervening rock become gradually thinner, while 

 the lower layer increases in thickness. At Split Rock quarry in the same 



