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LITERATURE. 15 
s i ids of the central trough of the synclinorium. The gentle northerly slope of 
le surface of Rounds Rock and the similar southerly slope of the top of the Bald 
m fountain spur, as seen from Potter Mountain on the southwest, are probably 
Lie to the trough structure of the entire mass. The cliff of Rounds Rock is 
ttributed to glacial action upon an east-west system of joints associated with 
le pitch. Generally the schist sends out tongues corresponding to synclines 
lto the lower limestone area. There are also reentering angles of limestone 
1 the schist area corresponding to anticlines. There are also isolated schist 
reas. generally lenticular in form, corresponding to more or less open syn- 
lines, and also isolated limestone areas, corresponding to compressed anti- 
lines, projecting through the overlying schists and exposed by this erosion.] 
Ill a paper on the Rensselaer Plateau, published also in 1894, the 
vriter called attention to the existence of three topographic belts 
>etween the eastern foot of Hoosac Mountain and the Hudson: (1) 
liat of the Berkshire Hills, consisting of parallel synclinal schist 
lill ranges and anticlinal limestone valleys trending north-northeast, 
he former with deep transverse, branching hollows on both sides; 
his extends from the Hoosac Mountain to the valley of the Little 
loosic. (2) That of the plateau, with little incised edges and nearly 
evel surface, rising from 700 to 1,200 feet above the valley and from 
,400 to 2,000 feet above sea level and dotted over with ponds and 
•wamps, its features being probably due to its more massive rocks, 
ts NNW.-SSE. trough structure, and to base-leveling; this plateau 
was once thickly timbered (the uplands referred to by Spafford, 
). 11), but its deforestation has left a rocky region thickly strewn 
with bowlders, in places poorly supplied with w T ater, in others badly 
drained, and with little good soil, offering in these respects a marked 
contrast to the fertility of the Hudson Valley and the Berkshire and 
Berlin valleys; the Berkshire Hills, however, are better watered and 
drained, and their rocks afford more soil than those of the plateau. 
(3) That of the Hudson Valley, with its low hillocks extending 7 J 
miles east of the Hudson and largely due to its more erodible shales. a 
In 1894 the writer described the anticlinal ridge extending from 
Dorset Mountain to Pine Hill in Proctor, Vt. The bold eas^-w T est 
face of Dorset Mountain and its elevation of 1,650 feet above Danby 
Hill north of it are shown to be due to transverse faulting and erosion, 
a mass of limestone and schist, about a half mile thick, having been 
removed from the quart zite between the two hills. 6 
In 1895 Davis wrote : 
During the period of most energetic deformation, New England must have 
had as thoroughly a mountainous form as it still has a mountainous structure. 
Indeed, the most probable conclusion that can be reached regarding the ancient 
topography of the region raises its peaks to truly alpine heights. * * * New 
" The Rensselaer grit plateau in New York : Thirteenth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 
pt. 2, 1803, pp. 297-299, 335-336, figs. 18, 19. 34, 35. 
" Fourteenth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 2, 1894, pp. 531, 543, 545, 546, pis. lxvi, 
lxx. 
