320 
GEOLOGY OF THE SECOND DISTRICT. 
the South Hero, it forms the cliffs upon the southeast side, opposite Milton in Vermont. We 
have, therefore, a few opportunities for an examination of this mass in a state and condition 
free from the Hudson river shales. Usually it is so much enveloped in the latter masses, 
that it is difficult to form a judgment of its characters, particularly when in the midst of the 
disturbed strata. 
Dip and Strike of the Rocks in Clinton. 
As the rocks repose upon the eastern slope of the primary, their general inclination is east¬ 
ward. It is not, however, unfrequent to find it northeast, or veering round towards the north. 
A few examples of dip, will be sufficient to convey to the reader all that is necessary upon 
these points. 
About four miles south of Chazy, the calciferous sandrock dips nearly east. At the village, 
in the bed of the creek, the rocks or strata associated with the birdseye dip N. 60° E.; the 
amount is 20° to 25° ; the strike or trend, N. 60° W., and N. 60° E. Following the masses 
in the ascending order some twenty yards, the dip is still more towards the north. If, how¬ 
ever, we examine the dip of the rocks at the uplift about half a mile southwest of the village, 
and pass over the several uplifts in the direction of their dip, our course will be southeast. 
But if we commence an examination a little to the north of the locality just cited, we shall find 
the same rocks dipping to the northeast, or considerably north of east. We find, therefore, in 
the same masses, and those also proceeding almost from the same point, a divergent dip ; a fact, 
which I do not remember to have fallen under my notice before. Pursuing the dip in either 
direction to the southeast or northeast, it becomes less, until it amounts to only a few degrees. 
The principal force producing an uplift of the rocks I have been describing, operated upon 
the lower portion of the calciferous sandrock ; and hence the succeeding rocks are but little 
altered from their original horizontal position two or three miles to the east, diminishing 
gradually towards the higher masses, or towards the southeast and northeast. In all the 
rocks of Clinton, the dip has rarely suffered a local derangement. The forces usually con¬ 
cerned in overturning and deranging the strata, appear to have been quiescent over the whole 
of this county. Near the locality of the fucoidal layers, the calciferous is slightly dome¬ 
shaped, being elevated or pushed slightly upwards, so as to give a gentle dip in all directions. 
As a field for study, Clinton county furnishes some useful and interesting phenomena, par¬ 
ticularly in the succession of masses from the potsdam and upwards, to the utica slate ; and 
what is well worthy of particular note, is the distribution of the fossils, they being confined to 
masses with as distinct limitations as any geologist can wish. Even few strata of the calci¬ 
ferous contain fossils limited to them exclusively, and appearing neither above nor below. I 
state this rather as an illustration to the student in geology, of the mode in which fossils are 
distributed, and of the characteristics which they furnish for identifying distant rocks, and 
sometimes strata. 
The rocks of these lower masses, it has been said, are abundant in fossil individuals of a 
few species ; and it is a remarkable fact in palaeontology, that they are confined to such narrow 
