xt766t0gtt3z https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt766t0gtt3z/data/mets.xml Kentucky Geological Survey. 1882  books b97-20-37303964 English Stereotyped for the survey by Major, Johnston & Barrett, Yeoman Press, : Frankfort, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Geology Kentucky. Paleobotany Kentucky.Linney, W. M. (William M.) Notes on the rocks of central Kentucky  : with list of fossils / by W.M. Linney. text Notes on the rocks of central Kentucky  : with list of fossils / by W.M. Linney. 1882 2002 true xt766t0gtt3z section xt766t0gtt3z 










GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKY.

        JOHN R. PROCTER, DIRECTOR.



                N OTES

                   ON THE


ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.

                   We



LIST OF FOSSILS.

  BY W. M. LINNEY.



STURROTYPED FOR THE SURVXY BY MAJOR, JOHNSTON & BARREYr, YEOMAN PRESS, PRANKPORT, KY.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 














             INTRODUCTORY LETTER.


Hon. JoHN R. PROCTER, Direclor Keziurcky Geological Survey:
  DEAR SIR: I herewith submit a few notes on the rocks of
Central Kentucky, a list of fossils collected from them, and a
brief discussion of some of the problems connected with the
geology of that region.
                        Yours truly,
                                    W. M. LINNEY.
  HARRODSBURG, KY., Nov., I882.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 







NOTES; ON THE ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY,
               WITH LIST OF FOSSILS.



  The detailed work on the geology of Madison, Garrard,
Lincoln, Boyle, Mercer, Washington,.and Marion having been
completed, and partial examinations made in some of the con-
tiguous counties, a few general notes are, now offered as bear-
ing upon the geological problems of the State. . The minor
details of those investigations will be seen by consulting the
reports on the above named counties.
  The bedded rocks which come to the surface in this district
amount in thickness to over twenty-one hundred feet; and
when referred to the different formations, are divided as fol-
lows:
           Carboniferous...... .. .. .. .  100 feet.
           Subearboniferous. .   ..... .  570 "
           Devonian.........          .    65
           Upper Silurian....... .. .. .. .  100"
           Lower Silurian...... .. .. .. . 1,330

             Total.... .. .. .. ... . .. 2,165 feet.

  The rocks of the Lower Silurian age, which lie at the base
of the section, are composed of the following subdivisions:

                    HUDSON RIVER GROUP.
           Upper Beds......... .. ..   .  325
           Middle Beds....... .. .. .. .  150
           Lower Beds....... .            200
                                                675
                      TRENTON GROUP.
           Trenton Beds..... .. .. .. .. .  175
           Birdseye Beds...... .. .. .. .  130
                                                305
                      CANADIAN GROUP.
           Chazy Beds..... .. .. .. .. .       350

 

6              ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.

  The greater part of these beds agree closely in lithological
characters with their equivalent horizons in New York as they
have been described in the reports on the geology of that
State.  So close is this correlation in many particulars that
the same physical conditions must have existed over the two
regions during the same periods of time.
  The Clhazy limestones in New York are described as heavy-
bedded, strong, tought stones, filled largely wit/i fucoids and
having Maclurca iagna as their most characteristic foss/i-the
top layer plated wit/i chert.
  The Birdseye limestone is characterized as compact in
structure, breaking wit/ a conchoidal fracture-brittle, Pure,
susceptible of a good polisih the only cryslalized particles are
where fossils have been inclosed. It has a slight translzcency,
and there are ten feet of buff limsestones in its lower part.
  Those descriptions apply equally well to the groups as seen
in Kentucky.
  When we come to examine the Trenton Group, the analo-
gies are not so close throughout. Yet we have in the lower
part some heavy beds marked by oblique lines of deposition,
and some of the fossils beside, which mark the Black River
division-thin shaly layers, a bituminous layer, black shale, black
limnestones, breccitz and hea-zy sedi-crystalized grey limes/ones near
the top-are some of the other similar features.
  It is probable that the grey limestone in the upper part of
the Trenton in New York is the same as that which lies near
the top of the same group in Central Kentucky; and if so, it
must have been of vast extent, as it is seen near Cumberland
Gap, in East Tennessee, includes the Capitol limestone at
Nashville, and, doubtless, the building stones quarried at
Point Pleasant, on the Ohio river above Cincinnati.
  The dove-colored limestones lying at the top of the Trenton
in Mercer,. Garrard, and Boyle counties, which I have termed
the Upper Birdseye, are a local phase; they soon run out,
leaving the Hudson River Group resting upon the Trenton
rocks, without a great change in their lithological characters.
This was a condition highly favorable for the preservation of

 ROcKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.



many Trenton species, by allowing their extension into the
Hudson River Group.
  The lithological characters of the Utica Slate Group, as
seen in the East, are not distinguishable here. The Lower
Hudson River beds contain some of its graptolites and a few
others of its fossils.
  In comparing the descriptions of the Lorraine shales of New
York with the features of the Middle beds of the Hudson
River, as displayed in this part of Kentucky, the relationship
seems complete. They are described as brown or yellowish
brown on exposure, and so liable to disintegration that streams
passing over them have so channeled them that free communica-
tion between them is prevented. A peculiar feature is the cone
in cone structure exhibited in one of the layers.
  Whoever has attempted to pass over the Middle beds of the
Hudson River Group, as presented in the Sugar Creek valley
of Garrard county, would not desire other words to describe
them.
  The upper member of the Hudson River Group in New
York contains a great number of fossils in its lower section,
and the grey sandstone of Oswego in its upper. In Kentucky
we have a wonderful development of fossils in the lower part
and in the Cumberland sandstone, near the top-one well
marked feature of the Oswego sandstone-a greenish fine-
grained sandstone, nearly destitute of fossils, and with ye//ow
and green specks through it.
  In the following catalogue of fossils, which have been col-
lected from the Lower Silurian rocks in Central Kentucky,
the species are arrangWd under the divisions from which they
were taken, and to sqme extent as they are vertically dis-
tributed. The latter arrangement is difficult, as often a num-
ber of forms are associated at the same horizon; and again,
the position of fossils in a group could not be accurately de-
termined, and a note was not always made. So this arrange-
ment is not altogether satisfactory. Should this region ever
receive from collectors that careful scrutiny which has been
given to other localities, the number of species will be largely



i

 

8              ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.

increased. I am much indebted to Prof. R. P. Whitfield, of
New York City, Mr. U. P. James and Dr. R., M. Byrnes, of
Cincinnati, for the identification of a number of forms:

                 UPPER HUDSON RIVER BEDS.
          I. Tetradium minus (Safford).
          2. Columnaria alveolata (Hall).
          3. C. stellata (Hall).
          4. Columnopora cribriformis (Nich.
          5. Beatricia nodulosa (Billings).
          6. B. undulata (Billings).
          7. Streptelasma corniculum (Hall).
          8. Gomphoceras eos (H. &. WN.)
          9. Buthrotrephis subnodosus (Hall).
          Io. Pasceolus globosus (Billings).
          i i. Strophomena rhomboidalis (Sowerby
          12. Pakeophyllum divaricans (Nich.)
          I3. Rhynchonella capax (Conrad).
          I4. R. dentata (Hall).
          I5. Arthraria biclavata (Miller).
          i6. Modiolopsis pholadiformis (Hall).
          I7. Orthis den-tata (Hall).
          i 8. Heterospongia subramosus (Ulrich).
          I9. Ambonychia alata (Meek).
          20. Mlodiolopsis truncata (Hall).
          21. MUrchisonia milleri (Hall).
          22. Streptorhyncus sulcatus (Vern.)
          23. S. sinuatus (Em.)
          24. S. planuumbonus (Hall).
          25. Strophometia alternata (Con.)
          26. Asaphus gigas (De Kay).
          27. Acidaspis anchoralis (Miller).
          28. Calymene senaria (Con.)
          29. Ceraurus pleurexanthemus (Green).
          30. Orthis retrorsa (Salter).
          31. 0. occidentalis (Hall).
          32. 0. acutilirata (James).

 

ROCKS OF tNTRAL KENTUCKY.



0. laticosta (James).
0. insculpta (Hall).
0. sinuata (Hall).
0. lynx (Van B.)
Chzetetes alter (Ulrich).
C. dalei (E. & H.)
C. ortoni (Nich.)
C. petechialis (Nich.)
C. nodulosa (Nich.)
Zygospira modesta (Say).
Strophomena nasuta (Con.)
Crania scabiosa (Hall).
Agelacrinites cincinnatiensis (Roemer).
Megambonia jamesi (Meek).
Serpulites jamesi (Nich.)
Cyclonema fluctuatum (James).
Hippothoa inflata (Hall).
Alecto confusa (Nich.)
A. arachnoidea (Hall).
Pterina demissa (Hall).
Stellipora antheloidea (Hall).
Conchicolites corrugatus (Nich.)
Protareavetusta (Hall).
Retepora angulata (Hall).
Orthis linneyi (James).
Cyrtoceras vallandinghami (Miller).
Ptilodictya hilli (James).
Pt. falciformis (Nich.)
Streptorhyncus planoconvexus (Hall).



      MIDDLE HUDSON RIVER BEDS.
i. Streptorhyncus planoconvexus (Hall).
2. Strophomena squamula (James).
3. S. alternata (Con.)
4. Orthoceras halli (Miller).
5. Ambonychia costata (James).
6. Calymene senaria (Con.)



33-
34-
35-
36.
37-
38.
39-
40.
41.
42.
43-
44-
45-
46.
47.
48.
49-
50.
5'.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
6o.
6I.



9

 
10             ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.
                LOWER HUDSON RIVER BEDS.
          I. Leptacna sericea (Sow.)
          2. Zygospira cincinnatiensis (James).
          3. Chxtetes tuberculatus (James).
          4. Bellerophon bilobatLus (Sow.)
          5. Stromatopora scabra (James).
          6. Dalmanites carleyi (Meek).
          7. Climacograptus bicornis (Hall).
          8. Heterocrinus simplex (Hall).
          9. H. simplex var. grandis (Meek).
          IO. Ceramopora concentrica (James).
          i i. Chaetetes clathratulus (James).
          12. C. approximatus (Nich.)
          13. Asaphus gigas (De Kay).
          I4. Orthis emacerata (Hall).
          I 5. 0. multisecta (James).
          i6. Palaophycus flexuosum (James).
          17. Trematis punctostriata (Hall).
          j8. T. millepunctata (Hall).
          I 9. Trinucleus concentricus (Eaton.)
          20. Ceramopora multipora (James).
          21. Paleophycus tubulare (Hall).
          22. Conularia trentonensis (Hall).
          23. Orthodesma contracta (Hall).
          24. Ptilodictya shafferi (Meek).
          25. Pt. arctipora (Nich.)
          26. Beyrichia chambersi (Miller).
          27. Acidaspis crossotus (Locke).
          28. Cyclonema percarinatum (Hall).
          29..Pholodops cincinnatiensis (Hall).
          30. Telinomya obliqua (Hall).
          3I. Hyolithes americana (Billings).
          32. Modiolopsis cancellatus () (Walcott).
          33. Lingula covingtonensis (H. & W.)
          34. Butrothrephis ramulosa (Miller).
          35. Chartetes briarius (Nich.)
          36. Leptobolus lepis (Hall).

 
      ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.               II

37. Graptolithus gracilis (Hall).
38. Cyclora minuta (Hall).
39. C. parvula (Hall).
40. Lichenocrinus crateriformis (Hall).
41. Stellipora autheloidea (Hall).
42. Stenopora fibrosa (Gold.)

          TRENTON LIAMSTONES.
 I. Stromatopora rugosa (Hall).
 2. Columnaria alveolata (Hall).
 3. Brachiospongia digitata (Owen).
 4. Orthis borealis (Billings).
 5. 0. lynx (small form) (Von B.)
 6. Rhynchoniella increbescens (Hall).
 7. Tetradium fibrosum (Saff.)
 8. Endoceras magnunmventrum (Hall).
 9. Murchisonia gracilis (Hall).
 io. M. perangulata (Hall).
 i i. M. bellicincta (Hall).
 I 2. Arthraria antiquata (Billings).
 13. Bucania bidorsata (Hall).
 I4. Raphistoma lenticularis (Sow.)
 I5. Lingula attenuata (Sow.)
 i6. L. quadrata (Eich.)
 17. L. riciniformis (Hall).
 i8. Cyrtolites compressus (Con.)
 I9. C. ornatus (Con.)
 20. Ceraurus pleurexanthemus (Green).
 2i. Lichas trentonensis (Con.)
 22. Asiphus gigas (De Kay).
 23. Calyrnene senaria (Con.)
 24. Bellerophon bilobatus (Sow.)
 25. B. troosti (Saff.)
 26. Murchisonia umbilicata (Hall).
 27. M. vittata (Hall).
 28. M. tricarinata (Hall).
29. Telinomya ventricosa (Hall).

 
ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.



30. Leperditia canadensis var. (Jones).
31. Modiolopsis winchelli (Saff.)
32. Orthis clytie (Hall).
33. Ambonychia undata (Emmons).
34. Orthoceras capitolinum (Saff.)
35. Endoceras proteriforme (Hall).
36. Ormoceras tenuifilum (Hall).
37. Orthoceras undulostriatum (Hall).
38. Cypricardites ventricosurm (Hall).
39. Bathyurus sextans (Hall).
40. Chactetes whiteavesi (Nich.)
41. C. multitabulata (Ulrich).
42. Pleurotomaria rotuloides (Hall).
43. Telinomya alter (Hall).
44. Strophomena alternata (Con.)
45. S. alternistriata (Hall).
46. Aulopora arachnoidia (Hall).
47. Lichenocrinus crateriformis (Hall).
48. Telinomya levata (Hall).
49. Zygospira modesta (Say).
50. Subulites elongata (Hall).
5i. Heterocrinus heterodactylus (Hall).
52. Intricaria reticulata (Hall).
53. Chonchicolites flexuosus (Hall).
54. Conularia trentonensis (Hall).
55. Stictopora elegantula (Hall).
56. Raphistoma subtilistriata (Hall).
57. Ambonichia bellistriata (Hall).
58. Receptaculites neptunii () (DeFrance).
59. Trinucleus concentricus (Eaton).
6o. Echino-encrinites anatiformis (Hall).
6i. Streptelasma corniculum (Hall).
62. S. profundum (Hall).
63. Leptana sericea (Sow.)
64. Orthis pectinella (Con.)
65. 0. tricenaria (Con.)
66. 0. testudinaria (Dal.)



12

 

ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.



67. Paleophycus simplex (Hall).
68. Callograptus (near elegans) (Hall).


          BTRDSEYE LIMESTONE.
 i. Phytopsis tubilosum (Hall).
 2. Orthoceras multicamaratum (Hall).
 3. 0. amplicamaratum (Hall).
 4. 0. fusiforme (Hall).
 5. Endoceras tenuiseptum (Hall).
 6. Ormoceras tenuifilum (Hall).
 7. Ptilodictya ramosa (Hall).
 8. Trochonema umbilicata (Hall).
 9. Buthotrephis gracilis (Hall).
 I 0. Murchisonia angustata (Hall).
 i i. M. perangulata (Hall).
 I 2. Leperditia canadensis (Jones).
 13. Asaphus extans () (Hall).
 14. Heterocrinus Milleri (Wetherby).
 15. Ptilidictya acuta (Hall).
 I6. Columnaria alveolata (Hall).
 I 7. Trochonema umbilicata (Hall).
 i8. Murchisonia ventricosa (Hall).
 I9. M. subfusiformis (Hall).
 20. Pleurotomaria subconica (Hall).
 2 I. Strophomena filitextua (Hall).
22. S. camarata (Hall).


           CHAZY LIMESTONE.
 i. Maclurea magna (Les.)
 2. Asaphus marginalis (Hall).
 3. Rhynchonella plena (Hall).
 4. Retepora reticulata (Hall).
 5. Orthis costalis (Hall).
 6. Leperditia canadensis (Jones).
 7. Rhynchonella (near recurvirostra).
 8. Columnaria, with very large cells,



13

 

ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.



  I am tinder especial obligation to Prof. A. G. Wetherby, of
Cincinnati, Ohio, for a list of the following species, which he
collected from the strata underlying the Hudson River Group
in Mercer and Jessamine counties:
         BlastoidocrinLus carchandeus (Billings).
         Hybocrintis tumidus (Billings).
         Hybocrinus conicus (Billings).
         Amygdalocystites florealis (Billings).
         Amygdalocystites radiatus (Billings).
         Hybocystites problematicus (Wetherby).
         Heterocrinus Milleri (Wetherby).
         Glyptocrinus priscus (Billings).
         Porocrinus COnliCUS (Billings).
         Carabocrinus radiates (Billings).
         Palaeocrinus angulattus (Billings).
         Dendocrintis actutodactylus (Billings).
         Cleiocrinus regius (Billings).
         Rhodocrinus gigas (Billings).
         Colpoceras virgatum (Hall).
         Cypricardites obtusus (Hall).
         Cypricardites cardiformis (Billings).
         Conularia quadrata (Walcott).
         Orthis perveta (Conrad).
         Strophomena incrassata (Hall).
         Streptorhyncus fillitextus (Hall).
         Streptorhyncus subtendus (Conrad).

  Beatricea.-This curious palaontological puzzle is seen in
numbers through several counties, always at the top of the
Hudson River Group. This fossil must be referred to one
species only, as single specimens exhibit every character
given to both specific names. Mr. W. T. Knott, of Lebanon,
Kentucky, and myself have examined the conditions in which
it exists in the beds, and have come to the conclusion that it
can only be a cast of the creeping stems of some plant which
grew on an old reef now marked with Columnaria, Columno-
tora, Te/radizum, and Sirepto/asma corals.



14

 

ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.



  Or/his borealis is a common shell near the top of the Tren-
ton, occupying a vertical range of only a few feet, but seen
wherever its horizon is exposed.
  Orthis clylie is found in a somewhat lower horizon, but is
exceedingly limited in its vertical distribution.
  Or/his lynx, of a small form, such as is figured in the New
York Report, is found near the top of the Trenton, but is not
seen again until near a hundred feet of the Upper Hudson
River beds are passed, when it reappears, but of thrice its
former dimensions.
  Columnaria alveolata, which is seen with very large cells in
the Chazy, is found in the Birdseye, in the base and at the
top of the Trenton, and it is not again encountered for nearly
seven hundred feet, when it reappears at the top of the Hud-
son River Group. There is an interval of nearly eight hun-
dred feet between the horizon where Sirep/olasma corni'cidum
is seen in the Trenton and where it is again found at the top
of the Lower Silurian.
  Upper Silurian.-The rocks of the Upper Silurian age thin
out from New York towards the Southwest, and largely lose
their group characters. They are absent at St. Louis and to
the southeast of Nashville, are patch-like in Ohio,. Indiana,
and northwest of Nashville, and such is their appearance in
Central Kentucky. No satisfactory division of their groups
has been made in the Ohio valley. Their distribution seems
to have been made or modified by the causes which gave such
near conditions as existed between New York and Kentucky
duiring the Lower Silurian age.
  The Medina sandstones are formed of materials transported
from a distance and probably left as a reef accumulation. The
clay of which the shales (Clinton or Medina) are formed also
had a foreign origin, and were deposited in perhaps uncon-
nected patches. The Niagara and the Oriskany are in small
force, and not at all times distinguishable. All of those ap-
pear to have been heavier and more connected toward the
north than toward the south of Central Kentucky.



I 5

 

ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.



  Devonian.-The Corniferous limestone, in which a mingling
of Corniferous and Hamilton fossils appear, is only ten to
fifteen feet in thickness in this district; yet it is seen every-
where that its horizon is reached. The black slate is remark-
ably uniform, having a thickness of about fifty feet, wherever
seen, from Madison to Marion county.

  Carboniferous Age.-The rocks of the Carboniferous pre-
sent no strong features to distinguish them from what is known
of them in other parts of Kentucky and in the adjoining States.

  Physical Eistory.-The lowest rocks brought to view in
the State a're the Chazy Limestones, seen near the mouth of
Cooper's Branch, on the Kentucky river, at an elevation of
five hundred and twenty-five feet above the level of the ocean.
Within a distance of six miles, one may pass from those, over
all the intervening groups, and stand seventy-five feet above
the base of the Subcarboniferous Group. From this position
may be seen, at no great distance, an elevation whose top
contains rocks belonging to the Coal Measures. Or, in other
words, a section of country would be presented in which more
than twenty-one hundred feet of rocks were exposed. If those
rocks were all horizontal, they would form an important ele-
vation here, but they are not; they are seen dipping toward
the southeast-the lower disappearing beneath the upper_
until all save the higher ones are lost to view. If we should
follow those upper rocks farther to the southeast, we would
find them sinking beneath others in turn until we stood at the
top of the present Coal Measures in Kentucky, four thousand
feet above the Chazy Limestones.
  If we should have examined those series as we went over
them, we should have observed that, although there were some
changes of dip to the northwest, yet they all conformed to the
same slope, an evidence that the force which made this great
displacement of matter acted upon it all at the same time and
in the same way. It seems evident that when the coal-mak-
ing period had ceased its labors over what is now Central



i6

 

ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.



Kentucky, the Chazy Limestones were four thousand, per-
haps five, or even six thousand feet beneath the surface. If
this be true, a vast amount of matter has been removed from
over the present surface of the Lower Silurian region of
Kentucky. For this work only time and force were required,
if the conditions were favorable.  As greater erosions are
recorded as having occurred elsewhere since the Carbonifer-
ous era, the question of time may be waived. The same
forces-heat, cold, wind,' and water-which war upon and
destroy the surface of the earth to-day, were the only agents
required. For the causes which produced the favorable con-
ditions leading to such denudation, we must look into those
great movements which thrust up the earth along certain lines,
fracturing and crushing the rocks until their degradation and
removal is comparatively easy.
  There are three principal lines of disturbance which
have originated and produced the present surface features
of Kentucky: the Cumberland Mountain Fold, along whose
axis flows Powell river; the "dome-like " elevation in Middle
Tennessee; and a line of uplift in Central Kentucky which I
have named the KENTUCKY ANTICLINAL. The first is well
known; the second and third have had their relations thor-
oughly misunderstood. The first has determined the features
of Southeastern Kentucky; the second modified the south-
central part of the State; while the third determined the
remainder, and extended its effects north of the Ohio into
other States.
  If we draw a line through a map of Kentucky, beginning
near the mouth of the Little Sandy river and ending at the
Tennessee border where it is nearest to Clarksville, it will be
nearly coincident with the KENTUCKY ANTICLINAL. This dis-
turbance is a well marked axis from which the rocks incline
in two directions-strongly to the southeast, and more gently
to the northwest.
  The higher portion of this elevation extends through Mont-
gomery, Clark, Fayette, Jessamine, Garrard, Boyle, and Mari-
on counties, its apex being near Camp Nelson, on the Ken-
    GEOLOG. MUP.-2



I17

 

ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.



tucky river. If we could restore to this denuded area the
removed rock masses of the Lower Silurian, the thickness
of which may be seen at a short distance, we would have the
top of the Hudson River Group elevated one thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five feet above the sea level, with a continu-
ous dip toward the north, amounting along its highest line to
seven hundred feet at Cincinnati, and nine hundred and twen-
ty-nine feet at Dayton, Ohio. A more northwesterly dip
would be toward Louisville, and that reaches to fifteen hun-
dred feet. The latter was probably an average dip for a long
time; the former having been modified by subsequent eleva-
tions along the Lake Region.
  To the southeast of this Anticlinal the rocks through the
counties named have a dip which averages a. hundred feet to
the mile, for six or seven miles; after which they are brought
up by a slight fold, and then dip away again to the southeast.
From Camp Nelson to Livingston, on the Rockcastle River,
this dip amounts to fifteen hundred feet in less than thirty
five miles.
  A good idea of the lower structure of this uplift is seen on
the Kentucky river. In going up that stream from Camp
Nelson, six hundred feet of rocks can be seen sinking beneath
the water in five miles. And here, instead of the massive
walls of the Chazy rising perpendicular from the river's edge,
one would be among the rounded hills made from the soft
shales of the Hudson River Group. In going down the river
the Chazy would disappear in Anderson, the Birdseye in
Franklin, the Trenton in Henry, and so on till at the Ohio,
the Upper Hudson River beds would alone be seen.
  It is to this disturbance, and to it alone, must be referred
the conditions which allowed the degradation of the blue lime-
stone area of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Protected in the
synclinals which lay to the southeast, the rocks have not been
so extensively eroded in that direction. But, with an unpro-
tected slope toward the northwest, down which the crushed
and shattered rocks and shales and coals could be carried by
the rains which fell and the waters that poured through the



I8

 

ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.



transverse fractures of this arch, their denudation was easy in
that direction.
  The erosion is the greatest immediately over the axis of
this uplift, and gradually becomes less to the northwest. In
Central Kentucky it reaches to the Canadian Period, in North-
ern Indiana to the Upper Silurian. Evidently the uplift was
gradual, and consumed much time in its completion, thus, in
part, accounting for the progressive denudation of the sur-
face.
  The Kentucky river and a number of other streams cross
this Anticlinal in transverse fractures. The Cumberland river
flows for part of its length in the synclinal between the Ten-
nessee and the K ntucky uplifts, and, in fact, nearly every
stream in the State has been determined or largely modified
by the Kentucky Anticlinal. A careful study of its relations
will alone solve many problems whose difficulties have been
unsolved, and determine some facts which have been obscured
by fallacious reasonings.



19

 
Electronic reproduction. 2002. (Beyond the shelf, serving historic Kentuckiana through virtual access (IMLS LG-03-02-0012-02) ; These pages may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically.






Kentucky Geological Survey.



Stereotyped for the survey by Major, Johnston & Barrett, Yeoman Press,
Frankfort, Ky. :
[1882]


19 p. ; 27 cm.
Coleman
John Robert Procter, director.
Microfilm. Atlanta, Ga. : SOLINET, 1997. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. (SOLINET/ASERL Cooperative Microfilming Project (NEH PS-21089) ; SOL MN06745.03 KUK)
Printing Master B97-20.






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Geology Kentucky.Paleobotany Kentucky.Linney, W. M. (William M.)




















GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF KENTUCKY.

        JOHN R. PROCTER, DIRECTOR.



                N OTES

                   ON THE


ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.

                   We



LIST OF FOSSILS.

  BY W. M. LINNEY.



STURROTYPED FOR THE SURVXY BY MAJOR, JOHNSTON & BARREYr, YEOMAN PRESS, PRANKPORT, KY.

This page in the original text is blank.
















             INTRODUCTORY LETTER.


Hon. JoHN R. PROCTER, Direclor Keziurcky Geological Survey:
  DEAR SIR: I herewith submit a few notes on the rocks of
Central Kentucky, a list of fossils collected from them, and a
brief discussion of some of the problems connected with the
geology of that region.
                        Yours truly,
                                    W. M. LINNEY.
  HARRODSBURG, KY., Nov., I882.

This page in the original text is blank.









NOTES; ON THE ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY,
               WITH LIST OF FOSSILS.



  The detailed work on the geology of Madison, Garrard,
Lincoln, Boyle, Mercer, Washington,.and Marion having been
completed, and partial examinations made in some of the con-
tiguous counties, a few general notes are, now offered as bear-
ing upon the geological problems of the State. . The minor
details of those investigations will be seen by consulting the
reports on the above named counties.
  The bedded rocks which come to the surface in this district
amount in thickness to over twenty-one hundred feet; and
when referred to the different formations, are divided as fol-
lows:
           Carboniferous...... .. .. .. .  100 feet.
           Subearboniferous. .   ..... .  570 "
           Devonian.........          .    65
           Upper Silurian....... .. .. .. .  100"
           Lower Silurian...... .. .. .. . 1,330

             Total.... .. .. .. ... . .. 2,165 feet.

  The rocks of the Lower Silurian age, which lie at the base
of the section, are composed of the following subdivisions:

                    HUDSON RIVER GROUP.
           Upper Beds......... .. ..   .  325
           Middle Beds....... .. .. .. .  150
           Lower Beds....... .            200
                                                675
                      TRENTON GROUP.
           Trenton Beds..... .. .. .. .. .  175
           Birdseye Beds...... .. .. .. .  130
                                                305
                      CANADIAN GROUP.
           Chazy Beds..... .. .. .. .. .       350



6              ROCKS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY.

  The greater part of these beds agree closely in lithological
characters with their equivalent horizons in New York as they
have been described in the reports on the geology of that
State.  So close is this correlation in many particulars that
the same physical conditions must have existed over the two
regions during the same periods of time.
  The Clhazy limestones in New York are described as heavy-
bedded, strong, tought stones, filled largely wit/i fucoids and
having Maclurca iagna as their most characteristic foss/i-the
top layer plated wit/i chert.
  The Birdseye limestone is characterized as compact in
structure, breaking wit/ a conchoidal fracture-brittle, Pure,
susceptible of a good polisih the only cryslalized particles are
where fossils have been inclosed. It has a slight translzcency,
and there are ten feet of buff limsestones in its lower part.
  Those descriptions apply equally well to the groups as seen
in Kentucky.
  When we come to examine the Trenton Group, the analo-
gies are not so close throughout. Yet we have in the lower
part some heavy beds marked by oblique lines of deposition,
and some of the fossils beside, which mark the Black River
d