Section near Turner's Falls, 



423 



shale is suddenly bent upwards several degrees on its eastern edge, 

 so as to dip westerly. On the southern bank the very spot where the 

 flexure takes place is visible. Advancing towards the mouth of Mil- 

 ler's river, the westerly dip rapidly increases, and within a few rods 

 it approaches 90°. Then for a considerable distance succeeds a coarse 

 conglomerate, in which I could preceive no marks of stratification. 

 For a few rods beyond this rock, diluvium hides the rock in place, 

 and then, before reaching the mouth of Miller's river, we strike a 

 formation of gneiss, hornblende slate, and mica slate, with granite- 

 gneiss and granite, which constitute the western margin of the gneiss 

 range of Worcester county. The strata of these rocks, at the mouth 

 of Miller's river, and on the east bank of Connecticut river, (for we 

 have now reached the spot where this river runs southerly,) run a 

 little west of south and east of north, and dip to the west between 30 Q 

 and 40°. 



Section between Montague and Gill. 



It will be perceived that the above section is intended to embrace 

 every thing important on both banks of Connecticut river, and is not 

 meant to be geometrically accurate. Those parts which are the 

 most interesting occupy more than their proper proportion of the 

 distance ; but this produces no geological error. The part of the 

 section most likely to produce an erroneous impression, is where the 

 sandstone strata are represented by horizontal lines : for these strata, 

 as already stated, do in fact dip 30° to 40° south. This change in the 

 direction of the strata appears to result from the fact, that the green- 

 stone ridges, towards the western extremity of the section, with the ac- 

 companying sandstone, take a northeasterly direction for two or three 

 miles, rising into considerable hills, and forming an axis of elevation, 

 to which the strata just referred to are in a measure conformable. 



