Annual Report on the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, Volume 2Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, 1838 - Geology |
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Common terms and phrases
Allegheny mountain Anthracite coal Anthracite coal basins anticlinal axis Appalachian region argillaceous ascertained base beds belt bituminous coal Blue mountain calcareous carbonate of lime clay coal fields coal measures coal regions coal seams coarse composed composition conglomerate contain course Delaware river Delaware Water Gap deposits direction dislocation districts east eastward embraced Etym explored extensive feet fossils Geological grey sandstones Hemlock creek Kittatinny mountain Kittatinny valley layers Lehigh less limestone Mahonoy mass materials miles mineral mines Montour's ridge nearly neighborhood New-York North Branch north-west north-western northern numerous occupies occurs overlying oxide of iron pebbles Pennsylvania places portion position Pottsville Pottsville basin present quantity quarry range red shale rock sand sandstones Schuylkill Sharp mountain shew siliceous South mountain south-eastern southern side stone strata stratification stratum structure summit surface survey Susquehanna Swatara creek Tamaqua texture thence thickness thin tion tracing tract upper usually variety Water Gap western whole
Popular passages
Page 88 - Trap family, usually fissile. It is sonorous when struck with a hammer, whence its name. Coal Formation. — This term is generally understood to mean the same as the Coal Measures. There are, however,
Page 89 - FAULT, in the language of miners, is the sudden interruption of the continuity of strata in the same plane, accompanied by a crack or fissure varying in width from a mere line to several feet, which is generally filled with broken stone, clay, &c., and such a displacement that the separated portions of the once continuous strata occupy different levels.
Page 90 - QUA-QUA-VERSAL DIP. The dip of beds to all points of the compass around a centre, as in the case of beds of lava round the crater of a volcano. Etym., yuA-qud versum, on every side.
Page 89 - GNEISS. A stratified primary rock, composed of the same materials as granite, but having usually a larger proportion of mica, and a laminated texture. The word is a German miner's term.
Page 90 - OXIDE. The combination of a metal with oxygen; rust is oxide of iron. OXYGEN. One of the constituent parts of the air of the atmosphere ; that part which supports life. For a further explanation of the word, consult elementary works on chemistry.
Page 91 - Low hills which skirt or lie at the foot of the great chain of the Apennines in Italy. The term Subapennine is applied geologically to a series of strata of the Older Pliocene period. SYENITE. A kind of granite, so called because it was...
Page 88 - Conglomerate or Puddingstone. — Rounded water-worn fragments of rock or pebbles, cemented together by another mineral substance, which may be of a siliceous, calcareous, or argillaceous nature.
Page 88 - ... lines, and which is invariably alluvial, was first called, in the case of the Nile, a delta from its resemblance to the letter of the Greek alphabet which goes by that name A. Geologists apply the term to alluvial land formed by a river at its mouth, without reference to its precise shape. DENUDATION. The carrying away by the action of running water of a portion of the solid materials of the land, by which inferior rocks are laid bare. Etym., denudo, to lay bare.
Page 88 - CARBONATE of LIME. Lime combines with great avidity with carbonic acid, a gaseous acid only obtained fluid when united with water, — and all combinations of it with other substances are called Carbonates. All limestones are carbonates of lime, and quick lime is obtained by driving off the carbonic acid by heat.
Page 87 - ALLUVIUM. Earth, sand, gravel, stones, and other transported matter which has been washed away and thrown down by rivers, floods, or other causes, upon land not permanently submerged beneath the waters of lakes or seas.