230 
GEOLOGY OF THE THIRD DISTRICT. 
supposed to be twenty feet, but the extent not over two acres : Again on the land of Mr. Clark, 
near Cooperstown, covering an area of five or six acres. All through the southern valleys, it 
exists in the swampy grounds, but they are but small patches when compared with the 
deposits along the great level. 
The most interesting deposit of peat noticed, is to the east of the tunnel near Syracuse, 
in the deep grading of the railroad. The ditch by the roadside shows a deposit of clay of a 
dark dove-color; upon which is muck or peat, showing a range of stumps and roots, chiefly 
of tamarisk or balsam ; some of the stumps are eighteen inches in diameter, and the whole 
is covered with lake marl. On the top of the marl, there is another deposit of muck, and 
tamarisk stumps, etc.; and then a second deposit of marl, the top of which forms the pre¬ 
sent swampy surface ; making three successive growths of vegetation above the clay, sepa¬ 
rated by two beds of calcareous marl. 
There is a strong odor of sulphuretted hydrogen along that section, which is very offen¬ 
sive at times, and is unusual for such deposits, and merits investigation; showing clearly 
that sulphuric acid has been decomposed, and also water : the former was probably derived 
from the gypseous waters of the region. This fact throws light upon the origin of sulphuret 
of iron, so universally associated with coal; and of carbonate of iron also, which too is an 
associate, but not so uniform a one : they may thus be explained. 
When soil, vegetable matter and water exist together, and air is excluded, it is evident 
from the deposits of iron ore which take place in low grounds, that this mineral is rendered 
soluble in water, and becomes insoluble by the action of the air, and precipitates. Now if 
gypseous water be present, or any sulphate, its acid will be decomposed, and its sulphur will 
unite with the iron and form pyrites. Where iron is in excess, the carbonate of iron will be 
formed by the union of the oxygen of the acid and the carbon of the vegetable matter. The 
latter may also be, and no doubt is formed, by the mixture of vegetable matter, water, and 
oxide of iron of such deposits ; air being excluded, and the vegetable matter being in de¬ 
composition. 
These deposits of muck or peat show clearly how the vegetable matter which forms coal 
beds was accumulated ; and when coal beds alternate with limestone, as they do in some 
countries, how such alternations may have been produced. Were such deposits suddenly 
depressed and subjected to great pressure, the heat which would result, and which could not 
escape but slowly, would give a homogeneous character to the vegetable matter; and were the 
marl sufficiently moist, it would, without igneous action, finally exhibit a crystalline character. 
The constant association in all coal formations of beds of shale, which were but deposits 
of mud, and what is termed fire clay , both of which are common associates of all coal beds, 
is precisely in accordance with the common fact with regard to peat: both having an imperme¬ 
able floor, and water being required for a continuous vegetation, making perfect the analogy 
between the two deposits as to origin. 
Connected with peat, is the production of acid, probably sulphuric, which is found to the 
north of Cherry-Valley at Mr. Schism’s. Below his sulphur spring, are two small mounds 
