xt7m3775tw1n https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7m3775tw1n/data/mets.xml Lyon, Sidney S. (Sidney Smith), 1808-1872. 1861  books b96-11-34702566 English Printed at the Yeoman Office, J.B. Major, state printer, : [Frankfort : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Geology Kentucky. Kentucky Topography. Topographical geological report of the progress of the survey of Kentucky for the years 1858 and 1859  / by Sidney S. Lyon. text Topographical geological report of the progress of the survey of Kentucky for the years 1858 and 1859  / by Sidney S. Lyon. 1861 2002 true xt7m3775tw1n section xt7m3775tw1n 













             TOPOGRAPHICAL


     GEOLOGICAL REPORT

                  OF THE


PROGRESS OF THE SURVEY OF KENTUCKY,



     FOR THE YEARS 1SiS AND 1859.


             BY


SIDNEY S. LYON, TOPOGRAPHICAL ASSISTANT.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 
              INTRODUCTORY LETTER.



To Dr. D. D. OwnEN, Principa Geologist:
  Sih: I herewith transmit my Report of the progress of the work of
the Geological Survey of Kentucky, made by Corps No. 2, during the
year 1858, according to your instructions, a copy of which is hereto
annexed.
  All of which is respectfully submitted.
                                          SIDNEY S. LYON.
         63

 This page in the original text is blank.

 



                    INSTRUCTIONS
     FOR THE GUEDANCE OF S. S. LYON, TOPOGRAPHICAL ASSISTANT
              TO THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKY,
                        FOR THE YEAR 1858.


  You will proceed, as soon as possible, to organize the base line party;
and, as soon as the weather will permit, take up the line where it was
left off last fall, and carry it through, in a due east course, to the Vir-
ginia line, with as much dispatch as is consistent with accuracy and
permanency.
  While on that line, wherever a favorable opportunity offers, you wil
make accurate and minute geological sections of the strata that present
themselves on, or sufficiently adjacent to, the line-not to consume too
much time in their construction, or interfere with the main object of the
work. You will also make such collections, as opportunity may afford,
of all remarkable or interesting soils-i. e., such that can be either defin-
itely referred to a particular geological formation for its derivation, or
to individual members of any formation-or such as have interest from
supporting any particular growth; or such as seem to be deficient in
any particular ingredient, from failing to produce certain crops.
  You will also make collection of such ores, minerals, rocks, or fossils,
as may be of practical interest and importance.
  So soon as the base line is completed, you will disband such members
of the corps as may not be required in the prosecution of the topo-
graphical work, to be continued through the counties of the western coal
field; and then, organize the western corps to proceed with the detailed
Topographical Geological Survey of Hancock county, so as to enable
you to construct a map of that county on the same scale and style as
that of Hopkins county; and carry through said county of Hancock
such a system of levels, as will enable you to lay down and report on
the relative elevations of the various outcrops of coal, limestone, ore
beds, or such beds of rocks as will enable you to identify the horizon of
the leading and important membeur of the western coal measure.

 



500                         N5NTRUMONS.

  When the Survey of Hancock county is completed, you will proceed
with the detailed Topographical Geological Survey of Grayson county,
on the same plan as that of Hancock.
  During the month of October, you will take a few weeks to make
some special collections, at localities of peculiar interest in the various
departments and branches of the Survey.
  In the latter part of the season, when the weather becomes unfavor-
able for field operations, you will, with the aid of your sub-assistant, plat
up the work of the season, and construct the maps of the counties sur-
vey ed, to be ready as early as possible for the engraver.
                                    D. D. OWEN, State Geologist.

 




                          CHAPTER I.

  The necessary preparations having been made, the base line party
arrived on the ground and began their labors on the 20th day of April.
  The monuments set up at the terminus of the line at the close of the
last season were found undisturbed. No difficulties were encountered
not necessarily connected with a work of this character, other than those
incident to the organization of a party composed of persons not pre-
viously engaged in such work. All parties engaging with a good will,
the zeal of those employed soon enabled each to perform his duty, and
the work made fair progress.
  During the early part of the season the work was much retarded by
frequent and continued rains.
  In addition to the observations made on that part of the line pre-
viously run-reaching from Uniontown, eastwardly, 376,847 feet, or
71i miles-observations were frequently taken by the barometer to
determine the elevations of important points along the base line.
  The party were kept at work until the 18th day of September, when
the field work on the base line was closed for the season, on the waters
of Jenney's creek, near the Big Sandy river.
  The total length of the line up to this point was 1,468,757 feet, or
278 miles 917 feet. The distance accomplished this season being
1,091,910 feet, or 206 miles 8 poles.
  The season being far advanced, our outfit being insufficient for the
residue of the line, the members of the corps being worn out by the
length of the time employed, and the mountainous character of the coun-
try beyond rendering a different organization of the corps necessary, it
was deemed advisable to disband the base line party for this season, espec-
ially as one of the wagons and team employed by the base line party was
required for the use of corps No. 3 in the operations in the eastern coal
field. As soon as the other team was recruited and preparation could
be made, I proceeded to make a reconnoissance, preparatory to the work
of next season, around the eastern margin of the coal field lying in
Grayson, Edmonoon, and Hart counties, which was farther extended

 


502      TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.



into Warren, Allen, Larue, Hardin, Nelson, and Bullitt counties, making
at the same time the collections as specified in the instructions.
  The topographical and geological details of the country crossed by
the base line will be seen by the accompanying diagram and section.
The length of the line run can only be conveniently exhibited on a very
reduced scale, viz: of six miles to the inch.
  It will be seen by the diagram referred to that the line begins at
Uniontown-which is situated in a nearly level country, though, geolog-
ically, the rocks lie high in the coal measures of the west-and that it
crosses successively the coal measures, the millstone grit, and the inter-
calated beds of limestone associated with it, the sub-carboniferous beds
of limestone, and the sandy mudstones of the beds usually called the
knobstone.
  Descending the sub-carboniferous beds near the valley of Salt river,
the line runs on the low valley of the Beech fork of Salt river, on the
beds of black slate, the next rock in the descending series, occasionally
crossing spurs of the knobstone.
  The black slate in the vicinity of the line rests on beds of the Upper
Silurian rocks of the age of the Niagara group of the New York State
Survey.   Hills of inconsiderable altitude frequently including the knob-
stone, black slate, and considerable masses of the Silurian rocks at the
base. As the country becomes higher, toward the east, the black slate
forms outliers, capping the hills in the eastern part of Nelson and the
western part of Washington county. The shaly limestone beds are cut
by the valleys in Nelson county, and form  no inconsiderable portion of
the surffce rock of the western part of Washington county.
  After leaving the valley of Cartright's creek, for a short distance the
sandy mudstones of the Silurian period occupy the surface. These
beds fiequently alternate with a soft friable shell limestone.
  All the beds are generally soft, and easily cut by running water, thus
producing a rolling country-locally quite fertile. One mile west of
the last crossing of Salt liver, the base of the sandy or muddy silicious
beds come to the surface. From Salt river to the valley of Dick's
river the country is elevated, nearly level; and the general surface rock
is the cavernous bed of the Lower Silurian period. This bed gradually
changes by intercalation of the upper and thin plate-like layers of the
bird's-eye limestone. This last rock forms the walls of the gorge in
which Dick's rivor flow. Occasional patches of the andy member m

 


TOPOGBAPHICAL REPORT OF eBOLOlICAL SURVEY.



seen on the west side of Garrard county. The base line crosses Ken-
tucky river near the mouth of Big Hickman creek. The base of the
sandy mud beds were not seen at the crossing into Jessamine county.
A fault which is coincident with the valley of Hickman creek has
carried this rock on the east side of the creek below the surface of the
Kentucky river, where the line crosses it. The sandy mud beds are
gradually ascended, and are found covered by the yellow magnesian
beds of the Upper Silurian group at the crossing of the Lexington and
Richmond turnpike, near Richmond. About four miles east of Rich-
mond the black slate, which was last seen in Nelson county, is again the
surface rock, rising even in elevated positions; the streams cutting into
the yellow beds beneath.  This alternation continues to the last crossing
of the Kentucky river into Estill county. The last portion of the line
cutting the Silurian rocks is at White Oak creek, on the east side of the
Lone knob.
  The land now suddenly assumes an elevation above the valleys of
about 600 feet, and contains, in sections, sandstones of the millstone
grit (), or coal measures, on -the top of which rest the whole body of
sub-carboniferous limestone, the black slate, and a few feet of the
Silumian rocks at the base, including the horizons of the beds of iron ore
of Bullitt and Nelson, as well as the beds, probably, equivalent to those
of Lyon and Marshall counties, on the western margin of the western
coal fields.
  Here, in a space of 600 feet, we have rock formations which, in the
west, occupy probably 2,700 feet in thickness. The base line from the
last crossing of the Kentucky river became very laborious, the country
being traversed by deep rocky valleys, from 400 to 500 feet deep, the
walls generally vertical, the width varying from 300 to 1,600 feet, while
the country is generally heavily timbered and grown up with an under-
growth of hickory, oak, red bud, black locust, &c., depending upon the
geological member forming the surface rock-the great feature of the
country and of the geology being the great sandstone, so well seen at
the old furnace, and known as the State House.
  From the vicinity of the old furnace to the crossing of Swift's Camp
creek, this notable sandstone is seen in every valley crossed by the line.
After crossing Swift's Camp creek, softer beds of the coal measures
form the surface rocks, and continue until the line reaches the ridge at
the head of Red river, which divides the waters of the Burning fork of



503

 

504        TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL NURVEY.



Licking from the bead waters of Jenney's creek. The heavy sandstone
formation of these ridges is probably the geological equivalent of the
sandstone at the top of the section, near Mount Savage furnace, and is
considered to be the highest member observed in the coal measures of
this region. Since the beds are frequently very much modified in a
short distance, minute geological sections were incompatible with the
objects of the base line survey; and, indeed, are only of local interest.
  To the foregoing statement of the general features of the country
traversed by the base line, I shall add a few details and local sections,
taken at different points along the line, with some inferences, along with
some other observations made in connection with my field work in other
parts of the State during the last five years.
   The value of the observations made by myself and other members of
my corps, is much increased by their continuity, without breaks, over
extended tracts of the country; and further, having no special theory
to support, I have only followed, or endeavored to follow, the deductions
necessarily flowing from the facts themselves.
  SPECIAL GEOLOGY OF THE BASE LINE IN BRECKINRIDGE COUNTY.
  The following section, taken near the base line, opposite 378,337 feet
post, will serve to show the stratigraphical arrangement of the upper
beds of the millstone grit, on the eastern edge of the western coal basin.
No. 1. Slection of King's hill, Breckinridge county, east side of Fur
  fork of Clover creek, the top of the hill being capped with loose blocks
  of sandstone, which was traced to the yellow sandstone under the
  "Breckinridge coal," Hancock county, one and a half miles distant:

                                                     Thicksa. t Elevation.

                                                     Feet. 'Inches: Feet. Incbhs

Blocks of coarse sandstone, marked by bands of feuginons stains  21  344  8
Thin bedded sandstone ------------------_            63 1-      323  .____
Earthy limestone, on surface -------_-_-_-_-_      5     4  260  _-_
Steep, covered space, limestone, (1) -___-__ -_- _- __ 10  8  254 ---
Slope, covered space, alominous ahsles, (). -_- .-  84 -   244.
Beds of limaetone, containing Productos and Crinoide - _- _  30 ---1-- 0 . __
Limestone, containing great numbera of Belerophon -_-_-  37  _  134  ._
Covered space, showing occasionally beds of aluminous shale;
  base of the mass of black shale -_- __-__-__-    53    4    97
Limestone in place, thick beds- -_-_- __-_-__-___-_ 13   51  44     8
Aluminou shale- _------------------------------    11        31-
Thin bedded sandstone -_----_---_-_-_-__-_-      _ 10 l------  20
Ledge of sandstone, "Tar Rock" -_-__-___-__-__-___-__-_ 10 ---  10  ._-_
Top of limestone.                                    I

 

TOPOGRAFHCAL REPORT 01 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.



  To this may be added the following section, taken immediately north
of this locality, and at the Tar Spring. The sections united will form a
continuous section. The lower sandstone in section No. 1 is the equiva-
lent of the sandstone at the top of the following section, and is here the
place of the tar deposit, which flows down through fissures in the inferior
beds, and at the Tar Spring flows out at the base of the sandstone first
below this bed:

         No. 2.   Section at Tar Sp1rings, Breckinridge county.

                                                     Thickne.   Elarmtiot

                                                     Feet. Inches. Feet. Inches.

Tar sandstoLe, chin beds _- __.-__-__---- _ ---    16 ----    90     2
Tar sandstone, thick beds - --------_---------------------l- 14 '   8  174  2
Yellowish gray thin bedded limestone, containing Retepora,I  l  p
Arcbemides, Pentremites, &c -- _._D__---- __-       32     4   159     6
Whitish limestone, thick beds ----------------      5  ------ 127    2
Mass of coarse sandstone -  _-__-_---_- _----------  20  ----  122   2
Four masses of sandstone beds, well defined by the obliqoity ofj
the deposition of the different beds ------------- --  62  2  102  2
ManLy shale, containing lenticalar masses of limestone._ -  3 ---- -  40 -----
Limestone-1' - ---- --- ------------------------- --------- I  I  6 l  37  ------
BIleg ray marl-i _ ___-_-_-_-_-__-_-__-_-l              -    6    35     6
Covered space, probably limestone _  .-__-- -      35 ----    35 -----

  The Tar Spring sandstone is cut by Clover creek, at the crossing of
that creek by the line.
   In the foregoing sections a thickness of 534 feet 10 inches of the
sand and limestones of the millstone grit beds are given, which circum-
scribe the coal field of the west on this part of its margin.
  Before proceeding eastward, a few remarks will be made in reference
to the beds lying above the top of the masses in section No. 1.
  The section given in Vol. 1, Kentucky Geological Reports, diagram
No. 4, gives the equivalent of the rocks both above and below sections
Nos. 1 and 2 united.
   On pages 458 and 459, Vol. 3, Kentucky Geological Reports, a
section of the masses near the margin of the coal field is given.  On
the line westward fronl the Tar fork of Clover creek to Knottsville, the
measures are undulating, and frequently cut by the head branches of
Blackford's creek.
   It is probable that there are no coal beds of workable thickness on
the line east of the Hawesville and Hartford road, in Hancock county.
           64



505

 

506       TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.



  The country between Knottsville and Yellow creek exposes only the
beds of the Hawesville section, and those of the section given on pages
458, 459, and 461, Vol. 3, Kentucky Geological Reports.
  The beds associated with the Estis or Lewisport coal, were not recog-
nized on the line east of Yellow creek. The line running along the crest
of an anticlinal wave, it is probable the Leds last alluded to are masted
by denudation in the vicinity of the line, east of Yellow creek; and
that they are carried down by rapid dip near the creek, and are lost
under the soft beds west of it.
  West of Yellow creek the country is covered by the silicious quarter-
nary marls, and no section could be obtained between the creek and
Green liver.
   West of Green river the upper part of the coal measures, associated
with the coal beds worked at Newburg and Evansville, Indiana, come to
the surfi-ce.  The section of the Holloway borings, in Henderson
county, given on pages 32 to 36, Vol. 1, Kentucky Geological Reports,
will serve to illustrate the geology of the line from Green river to
Uniontown-it need not be repeated here.
   Returning toward the east we find the great sandstone of the Tar
Spring forming the banks of Clover creek; the masses covering the
sandstone having suffered considerable alteration. The limestone imme-
diately above is semi-oolitic; the upper part of the mass being buff
colored, and abounding in Pentremites, Phyriformis, and Retepora
Archemides. At the crossing of the Beech fork of Clover creek the
great sandstone is beneath the drainage, and is not cut by that creek
where we crossed it. The section at Beech fork is identical with the
following, taken at Clover creek, except the lime and sandstone masses
at the base:
No. 3. Section of the millstone grit bed at the crossing of Clover
                                  creek.

                                                        Feet. Iches. Total.

 Corered spaee-                                           __ __ _ _ _  41158
 Huff Pentremital limestone ----------------------------------  12 -----  117
 Onliti limestone, (fossils rare----------------------------------I 2  __ 15
 Sandstone. single ledge -------     --     ----          14          93
 Heany bedded sandstones, oblique lines of deposition ---_-__-_-  45 _--- 79
 Tal us- _----------------------------_-i-20                          .34
 Dark g-sy -oricretiosary limestone -   _      ------     14    _- -  14
 Buttom nut seen. Bed of creek-                        4

 


             TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGIC.U SURVEY.                507

  The creek, where the line crosses it, evidently lies in a synclinal fold,
with a rapid dip toward the northwest.
  Between Clover and Sugar Camp or Doverty's creek the line lies
upon an elevated plateau, with no large streams crossing it. The upper
part of section No. 3 is cut at Mr. Weatherford's, on the lHardinsburg
and Hartford road, a short distance south of Hardinsburg.
  At Sugar Camp creek the following section is visible:

                No. 4. Section at Sugar Camp creek.

                                                      Thickness.  Elevation.

                                                      Feet Inches Feet. Inches.

Covered space over liestone-generally flat knolls      25         150     5
Limestone, Pentremites, &c -_-------           -       21 ------  125    5
Covered space, wasted sandy shales _-_- __----  _   32   _     o 0
Buff limestone beds ---- _-__-__-     __---             5     4    69     5
Oolitic limestone, fossiliferous -- - _- _-         1   5     4    64      1
Onliti limestone, few broken fossils__-__-_- -          5     6    58     9
Whitish beds, limestone Pentmemites abundant _--        5     4    53     3
Hard bluish limestone                                   5     3    47     11
Six plates of limestone, the lower three full of segregations of  I
cbert -       ------------------------------- ---     5     4    42      8
Limestone with regular beds of chert-fossils rare       6   --     37     4
Covered space, waste of limestone -_                         -----10 -31  4
Fine grised yellow sandstone...---                      5     4    2 1    4
Bed of sandstone -------------                         16          16
Bed of creek, top of Tar Spring sandstone.

  After leaving Clover and Sugar Camp creeks the line lies on the
south side of the dividing ridge, between the waters of the streams
emptying into the Ohio river and those emptying into Rough creek.
The head of some of the streams emptying into Rough creek are cut
on the 85th and 86th miles. Near the 86th mile post the drainage
cuts through the Tar Spring sandstone, the bed of limestone beneath
it, and into the lowest and last sandstone of the millstone grit.
   The following section, taken near the 86th mile post, corresponds
very nearly with a section obtained one mile west and two miles south,
at Mr. Compton's, on Lost run. Immediately west of the place of
this section the sandstone of the Tar Spring rises in a bold precipice,
where this rock is seen forming a bluff for the last time along the line:

 


508        TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

        No. 4. Section on the farm of the Widow Jlhiteworth.



Rounded untier of the Tar Spring sandstone, showing 35 to 40
feet sandstone at the base- _--    --        -
Aluminno- and    icaeous and   shale ----------------------
hard crystalline limestone, thin beds. ___-  _-_-___      -_
lard crystalline limestone, containing great numbers of Belero-
phon _.     __-
Earthy limestone, dingy-bhff color, containing few or no fossils_
Line tone, abounding in Pentresites and Crinoides, w ith a few
  Terebratul--
lim  Lstone, whitish colored, fossils rare - _- __-_-_
Covered space, showing occasionally beds of blue aluminous shales
Covered space -_-_----_----_------        _------   _-
Thin bedded sandstone. . -------------------
Bed of branch, on sandstone.



Thicknes.    Elevation.

Feet. Inches. Feet. Incbes.


  5(1        151      4
  10      8  101       4
  5          so 90    8
  2      6   85      8
  14      6   83      2
  4 ...... _ 68       8
  10 ------l  64       8
  12      e   54      8
  16   -_-    42    _-__
  26 -    j-- 26   _-_



  Eastwardly from the place of this section, the sandstone at the base
of the millstone grit to the valley of Sinking are frequently cut through,
and the upper beds of the great mass of the sub-carboniferous limestone
exposed. The base of the foregoing section, (No. 4,) was obtained on
the 87th mile, as follows:

             No. 5. Section near the farm of Mr. Perin's.

                                                        Thickness. I Elevation.

                                                        Feet. Incbes. Feet. Incbes.

Sandstone, equivalent to sandstone at 26 feet of section 4 -_ 25  =  99
Sandy and aluminous shale-_ _ _ _ _ __  _ _ _ _  __  10 ------  74 ------
Limestone, descending into the cavernous member of the sub-car-l
  boniferous limestone -_-                               64           64 -------


  Half a mile east of Mr. Perin's, on the farm of Mr. Chandoin, the
limestone at 68 feet, section 4, is the surfice rock.  Near the line, the
sandstone at 99 feet, section 5, appears impregnated with desiccated coal
tar, and persons have made an effort to trace the tar to the coal bed
from which it is supposed it flowed. There is locally a thin bituminous
shale at the base of the sandstone, from 4 to 6 inches thick. The sec-
tton at Mr. Dent's, two miles cast of Mr. Chandoin's, and one and a
half miles north, is the counterpart of that at the latter locality.
   It would be proper to state that, at the locality of section No. 5, part

 


TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVUT.



of the wasted mass of the Tar Springs sandstone is in sight: forming an
outlier of that mass, reduced to a few acres in extent.
      No. 6. Section at Mr. Dent's, west side of Sinking creek.

                                                 Thicknein.  Elevation.

                                                 Feet. Inches.. FeeL Inches.

Tar Spings sandstone          _.---.-_-.-_-. -_   1 4    6   97     2
Limestone -      .------------------              34         82     a
Shale and clay bed -                               8         48     8
Sandstone.--                                       3__ .      49
Limestone_ -_------------                 --       I         45_ -----
Sandstone- --                              _       4          44 '
Sub-carboniferos limestone, (7) --------_-------------  41     . 4
Drainage, dry ravine.

  Sandstone No. 3, or the Tar sandstone of Breckinridge county, forms
the surface rock at Mr. Chandoin's, on the 88th mile. On the 89th mile
the drains emptying into sinkholes, and those emptying into Sinking
creek, cut through the beds lying above the cavernous member of the
sub-carboniferous limestone, and down to that member. The dividing
ridge between the waters of Sinking and Rough creeks are capped by
the lowest sandstone, limestone No. 1, and, on the higher parts of the
ridge, by the waste of sandstone No. 2, or the sandstone forming the
great bed at the Tar Springs.
  The dip observed at various points in the vicinity of the head of
Sinking creek indicates a dome-like upheaval, somewhat prolonged in
the direction of Big Spring; the apparent longer axis of this upheaval
from east to west being about eight miles that from north to south
about two miles. The territory included within this limit being entirely
surrounded by a band of the sandstone beds Nos. 1 and 2, with the
included bed of limestone No. 1. Toward the north, in the direction of
the mouth of Sinking creek, the dip brings sandstone No. 1 down to
the level of the drainage. Still further north the beds of sandstone Nos.
1 and 2 are raised again, and at the Ohio occupy a position from 100 to
150 feet above the river.
  The sinks and basins at the head of Sinking creek exhibit, in a
striking manner, the eroding effiect of rains and frost - some of
the sinks, which are from forty to one hundred and ninety feet deep,
covering an area of from five acres to two thousand. The rim of sand-



59

 

TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGIAL SUREY.



stone surrounding these depressions is, generally, nearly level; the out-
cropping rocks within are also nearly horizontal. Near the center there
is an opening of from three to fifteen feet in diameter; into this open-
ing the water which has fallen within the margin of the basin has been
drained sinee the day when the rocks exposed within were raised above
the drainage of the country, and thus, by the slow process of washing
and weathering, the rocks, which bnce filled these cavities, have been
worn and carried down into the subterranean drainage of the country.
All this has evidently come to pass in the most quiet and regular man-
ner. The size of the central opening is too small to admit extraordi-
nary floods; nor is it possible, with the level margin around, to suppose
that these cavities were worn by eddies in a current that swept the whole
cavernous member of the sub-carboniferous limestone of western Ken-
tucky; but the opinion is probable that the upheaving force which
raised these beds to their present level, at the same time ruptured and
cracked the beds in certain lines; that afterwards the rains were swal-
lowed into openings on these fractures, producing, by denudation, the
basins of the sinkhole country, and further enlarging the original frac-
tures by flowing through them, and thus forming a vast system of
caverns, which surrounds the western coal field. The Mammoth Cave
is, at present, the best known, and, therefore, the most remarkable.
   The following section, taken three fourths of a mile north of Mr.
Felix Styles', (94th mile,) will carry the sections into the sub-carbon-
iferous limestone, and connect that member with the sandstone and
limestone beds above it:



510

 


TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.



511



No. 7.



! Thickness.    Elevation



Covered space, wasted sandstone      _          ------
Fine grained sandstone --_ -   ----                 --
Fine grained sandstone, containing round segregations of pyritif-i
erous sandstone -       _- -   -    -_-           -
Coarse sandstone, containing balls of sandsstone  
Heavy sandstone, ripple marked, with oblique marks of deposition
'lrhi bedded san-dston-e-                        -----
Co-ered space, shakeo, (7)      _I----
()litic limestones-
Bllisls-eartby limestone, with silicious segregation--
Earthy and onlitic limestone, with remains of Crinoide. near top
Ledge of compact limestone_            _         -_
Ledge of whitish limestone, earthy near the top -_ -
Chert bed _      -        -         -           -
White limestone, containing Crinoidea, Dihrinus beds-
White limestone, with Crinoidea.
White and blue beds limestone, alternating -_   __ -_.-_-_
Blue beds of limestone -      _ __
Buff silicious limestone__- -------------
Hard blue-gray limestone, with Productus_--
Ifard gray limestone, with Crinoides-_-_-_-_-
liHard gray limestone, with Pentremites -----------------------
Flat at Sinking fork of Sinking creek.



Feet. Inches. Feet. Inches.

  15     6   214       4
  5     6   198       8
  5 .---    1931     2
  5         188 5     2
  10         183      2
  26 -       173       2
  5    4 -147        2
  5     4   141       8
  5 --      136       4
  21     8   131       4
  10i1       119       6
  10         108 ' s
  1     6    98,-
  21          96'      4
  1o     8    75!      4
  16: -----   64       6
  21     6    48       0
  5 4-
  5          21       6
  5     8    16       6
  10     8    10       S



  About ten feet below the base of the sandstone, the bedding places of
the limestone are completely covered with the remains of Pentremites
floralis, P. pyriformis, and P. globosus.
   The rocks are quite hard, and the fossils crystallized carbonate of
lime; they are not disintegrated, but weather as fast as the rock in which
they are imbedded.   About fifty feet from the base of the sandstone
the red earth first appears.  This is the usual color of the subsoils of
the sub-carboniferous rocks below the sandstone. The action of the rains
on masses of this rock is remarkable. Rocks which are detached, and
stand isolated and unprotected, are weathered into deep fluted furrows
by the falling rains, while the extreme upper parts of the ridges between
the furrows are kept quite sharp. The same beds have since been seen
in the Mammoth Cave, which are readily recognized by the same flute-
like grooves produced by water trickling over their exposed faces. This
is the more remarkable when the texture of the rock is considered. It
is quite fine grained, and compact.
   The base line, after it crosses Sinking creek, soon ascends a platform
of sandstone, lying quite level, and seldom penetrated by the water.

 

612         TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT OF GEOLOGICAL BSURVEY.



Here we have surface drainage on the north into the sinks and Sinking
fork of Sinking creek, and on the south side into the sinks and Rough
creek.
  This table land extends to the head of May's creek, a tributary of
Rough creek. Further eastward, the sandstones between the conglom-
erate and the cavernous member of the sub-carboniferous limestone are
only seen in isolated patches on the knobs, which stand here and there
detached from the main mass of sandstone, which caps their summits,
and, from its resisting character, maintains these knolls in the