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Scientific Intelligence. 



Table of the Geological Formations of Tennessee. 



Post-tertiary. — (14.) Alluvial Series. — 2. "Bottoms" of the Missis- 

 sippi; 1. Alluvial Bottoms of all the streams, and the gravel-beds of 

 their channels, etc. 



(13.) The Bluff and Drift Series. — 3. Upper part of the Mississippi 

 Bluffs ; 2. The high gravel-beds in the vicinity of the East Tennessee 

 rivers; 1. The gravel-beds of Hardin, Wayne,? etc. 



Tertiary? — (12.) Lignite Group. — 1. Lower part of the Mississippi 

 Bluffs — composed of sands, laminated clays, and beds of lignite, etc. 



Cretaceous. — (11.) Orange Sand Group. — 4. The red ferruginous 

 sandstone of the district ; 3. The yellow and orange sands and stratified 

 clays of the central part of the district ; 2. The greensand of McNairy, 

 etc. ; 1. The clays and sands of Chalk-Bluff, in Hardin. 



Carboniferous. — (10.) Coal Measures. — 1. Shales, sandstones, and 

 coal, of the Cumberland table-land. 



(9.) Mountain Limestone. — 3. Limestone of the escarpments of the 

 Cumberland table-land; 2. Limestone of Newman's Ridge, Lookout 

 Mountain, etc. ; 1. Upper limestones of Montgomery, Dickson, etc. 



Lower Carboniferous. — (8.) Siliceous Group. — 3. Calcareo-siliceous 

 and flinty rocks of the Highland Rim of Middle Tennessee ; 2. Sand- 

 stones of Stone and Pine Mountains, in Hawkins; 1. Sandstones in front 

 of Montvale Springs. 



(V.) Black Slate. — 3. Black slate along the eastern base of Clinch 

 Mountain, etc. ; 2. Slate of the Highlands of Central Middle Tennessee ; 

 1. Black slate of the Tennessee River Valley, west. 



Devonian and Upper Silurian. — (6.) Dyestone and Gray Limestone 

 Group. — 4. Limestones of the Harpeth and Tennessee Rivers, west ; 3. 

 Limestone of Sneedville ; 2. Shales, thin sandstones and dyestone of the 

 base of the Cumberland, etc., East Tennessee ; 1. Sandstones of Clinch 

 and Powell's Mountains : corresponding, in order, to Helderberg series, 

 Niagara limestone, Clinton group, Gray Sandstone of New York. 



This is a protean group, provisionally adopted to include several dis- 

 tinct formations. We apply in part the term dyestone to it, on account 

 of the presence of this interesting iron ore among the strata of one of its 

 divisions. Its rocks belong to the Upper Silurian and Devonian systems 

 of geologists. 



In East Tennessee it is a group of sandstones, calcareous shales, in- 

 cluding dyestone, and some limestone ; in Middle and West Tennessee, it 

 is almost entirely limestone. 



In the former division, the following sub-groups occur : 

 The Clinch Mountain Sandstone. — This, several hundred feet in thick- 

 ness, is a light gray, generally thick-bedded sandstone, abounding at 

 many points mfucoids. It sometimes affords layers of conglomerate, 

 the pebbles like small peas in size. The upper part at some points, in 

 Hancock especially, is red and highly ferruginous. 



This sandstone is the great protecting rock of many high ridges in 

 northern East Tennessee ; it caps, and, in most cases, rests against the 

 southeastern side of the Bay's Mountain ridges, the Devil's Nose, etc., in 

 Hawkins, Clinch Mountain, Newman's Ridge, Powell's Mountain, etc. 



