GEOLOGY OF THE BUFFALO QUADRANGLE 



The strata composing the surface rocks of this quadrangle as 

 delineated on the map have an aggregate thickness of 804 feet, 

 of which 310 feet are exposed by the difference of elevation between 

 the lowest horizon, 570 feet above tide, where the north line of 

 the quadrangle crosses Niagara river, and the highest land 880 

 feet above tide in the southeast corner near Orchard Park; 494 

 feet of this thickness are brought up by the northeastern elevation 

 of the beds which thus show the average dip to be 28 feet a mile. 



This dip, however, is variable as the strata roll in broad undula- 

 tions, and it is also modified by changes in the thickness of the 

 different formations throughout their extent. In the vicinity of 

 Black Rock the dip is about 40 feet a mile toward the south, while 

 in the southern part of the quadrangle it decreases to 25 feet. 



In a well put down by the Lackawanna Steel Co. in 1904 on the 

 bank of Smoke's creek in West Seneca, the bottom of the Onondaga 

 limestone was found at the depth of 292 feet or 288 feet above 

 tide, and that horizon appears in the quarry of the Buffalo Cement 

 Co., 10^ miles north of the well at 640 feet above tide, showing a 

 southward dip of 352 feet or an average of nearly 34 feet a mile. 



SUCCESSION OF STRATA 



The following formations are represented on this quadrangle: 



f 



f Neodevonic < 



Senecan 



c < 

 o > 

 > 



Mesode- 

 vonic 



I Paleo- 

 (_ devonic 



Brian 



I 



I 



L Ulsterian 

 I Oriskanian 



Cayugan 



1 Rhinestreet black shale 

 Portage , Cashaqua gray shale 



' Middlesex black shale 



( West River shale 

 Genesee < Genundevvah limestone 



( Genesee black shale 



Hamilton 



Marcellus 



Onondaga 

 Oriskany 



\ 

 J 



y Salina 

 7 



f Moscow shale 

 J Tichenor limestone 

 ] Ludlowville shale 

 t Skancatcles shale 



Cardiff shale 

 Stafford limestone 

 Marcellus black shale 



Onondaga limestone 



Oriskany sandstone 



Cobleskill waterlime 



( Bertie waterlime 

 I Camillus shale 



