UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secretary

GLtJLOGICAL SURVEY 

G«orge Otii Smith. Director

Bulletin 818

"OLOGY AND MINEEAL EESOUECES OF T] 

CLEVELAND DISTEICT, OHIO

BY

H. P. GUSHING, FRANK LEVERETT

AND

FRANK R. VAN HORN *

 ^

UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON : 1931

 intondentof Documents, Washington, D, C. - /
,,l
7

f UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Ray Ljman Wilbur, Secretary 

6kt)LOGICAL SURVEY 

George Oils Smith, Director 

OGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE 

CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

Bulletin 818

- BY 

H. P. GUSHING, FRANK LEVERETT

AND

FRANK R. VAN HORN *

UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON: 1931

intendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.

CONTENTS

Page

Introduction, by H. P. Gushing and Frank Leverett __...__________. 1

General relations._______________________ _ 1

General geography and geology of the region _____ _______ _ 1

Physiographic divisions___ __ ___ __ 1

Drainage. _ 4

Stratigraphy and structure '5

Geologic history_________ _______________ _. 6

Relation of culture to geology 10

Topography of the Cleveland district, by H. P. Gushing.._ 11

Surf acfv features. ____________________________________ 11

G s .-eral character_________ ____ ______ 11

Appalachian Plateaus__._ _ _ _____ _ 11

Portage escarpment__ ___________ 12

Erie Plain.______________________________ 14

VaUeys..______ _ ___ 16

Drainage. __ ____ . 18

General character____________________.__.... 18

Cuyahoga River and other streams _____________ __ 19

Springs-.-. _____ __ ________________________ 21

 ~- Bedrock surface.._________________-_----__._______ 21

Culture____________________________________ 24

Stratigraphy.... 26

General features, by H. P. Gushing__ _______________ . 26

Rocks not exposed, by H. P. Gushing _____ ___ _ 27

General features._______ 27

Ordovician and early Silurian rocks...____________________ 29

Late Silurian (Cayugan) rocks__________________ 30

Devonian limestones________ ____________ 31

Devonian shales___________ _____________ 32

Rocks exposed.._____________ ______________________ 33

Devonian system, by H. P. Cushing_____________________ 33

Chagrin shale.________________________________ 33

Devonian or Carboniferous rocks, by H. P. Cushing___________ 35

i^^^Pleveland shale...__________________________________ 35

. Bedford shale__..________________________ 40

Garboniferous system, by H. P. Gushing.________________ 45

Mississippian series.___._-______-_._________ 45

Berea sandstone____ __. __________ 45

Cuyahoga group_____________________ 48

Orangeville shale..____...__________ 49

Sharpsville sandstone. __________._ 50

Meadville shale___________________.._._. 52

Pennsylvanian series---________-_______-_________.___ 54

Sharon conglomerate______-_______-_______________ 54

in
IV CONTENTS

Stratigraphy Continued.

Rocks exposed Continued.

Quaternary system, by Frank Leverett. _____________________

Pleistocene series __ _________________________________

General features..-. ______________________________

Pre-Illinoian drift (Kansan?) _______________________

Illinoian drift... _____._._...____-...______..._-__.

Post-Illinoian loess________________________________

Latest or Wisconsin drift....--. ____________________

General features--.... .._..-..____...---___-__

Defiance moraine. ________ ____________________

Ground moraine or till plain north of the Defiance 

moraine___. __________________________ _ __

Euclid moraine........... _ .____-.________..

Moraine in Brooklyn Township. ________________

The glacial lakes...... _____________________________

General features. ______-.._____.-__-_________.

GlacialLakeCuyahoga...... ____----_____-_-._

Maumee beaches_______ _ _________>_____ _ _.

Work of Cuyahoga River at time of glacial Lake 

Maumee _ _. _ __ -_.. _ __ ___ ... _

Work of Rocky River at time of glacial Lake 

Maumee... ________________________________

Lake bed between shore lines of glacial Lake 

Maumee and those of glacial Lake Whittlesey. _ _

Shore of glacial Lake Arkona.... _______________

Work of Cuyahoga River at time of glacial Lake

Shore of glacial Lake Whittlesey ________________

Work of Cuyahoga River at the glacial Lake Whittlesey stage_____________________________

Lake bed between the Arkona-Whittlesey shore 

and the glacial Lake Warren shore.___________

Shore of glacial Lake Wayne____________________

Work of Cuyahoga River at the time of glacial 

Lake Wayne____ ___________-__-__-___-__-

Shore of glacial Lake Warren_ __._ _ 

Lake bed between the Wayne-Warren shores and 

the Grassmere beach of glacial Lake Lundy_-_- 

Grassmere Beach of glacial Lake Lundy _______

Elkton Beach of glacial Lake Lundy____________

Lake bed between the Lake Lundy shores and^

LakeErie___-__--_--_. 

Early stages of Lake Erie. 

Present shore line of Lake Erie. 

Structure, by H. P. Gushing ___. 

Geologic history._________________1.

Paleozoic era, by H. P. Gushing. ._'_

Ordovician period._________________

Silurian period_____-_____--_-_--l

Devonian period___________________

Sylvania and Lucas submergence 

Onondaga submergence 

Hamilton submergence 

Portage and Chagrin sedimentation

page 

57 

57

57

58

59

60

60

60

62

64

65

66

67

67

68

69

72

73

74

74

75 

75_

76

77

77

78

78
CONTENTS V

Geologic history Continued.

" Paleozoic era Continued. Page

Devonian or Carboniferous submergence__..____..___-___-_-__ 88

Cleveland sedimentation _________________..___-____---- 88

^ Bedford sedimentation..-__------_-___----------------_ 88

Carboniferous period.. .._.._.________-----____-__----- 89

»/ Mississippian epoch____________-____-___--_-____-_-__- 89

Berea sedimentation_________----__--___-__------ 89

* Orangeville sedimentation_.____-_________-_________ 90

Sharpsville and Meadville submergence______________ 90

* Later Mississippian time__________-_--____---__--_- 91

Pennsylvanian epoch_________________________________. 92

t Potts ville time-..--._-.._.-.____---------- 92

Remainder of Pennsylvanian time---___.______---_-_ 92

Deformation of the strata_____------_----------_--------------_ 93

t Mesozoic era, by H. P. Gushing .--------_____- ----------- 93

Cenozoic era...--.-.__-... _..--_----- .. ... 94

'V Tertiary period, by H. P. Gushing-.._________._-_-___..___- 94

Erosion of surface.--_-__-----_-------_----__--_------- 94

f Late Tertiary elevation....._.__----__----. .... _. 94

Quaternary period, by Frank Leverett.. -_-----__---___---_ 95

Pleistocene epoch.__----___..___.._______._________.__ 95

Initiation and stages of glaciation--______.__.._____. 95

Advance of the ice__----_---_----------_-_-.-----_ 95

ft Deglaciation...--_-.-_-_---_--__-_-_______-__-__-_ 96

History of the glacial lakes-__-_-____--______-___.__ 96

Glacial Lake Maumee__.__._.__.___.._-...__ 96

Glacial Lake Arkona._________________________ 98

* Glacial Lake Whittlesey________________ 98

Glacial Lake Wayne-.______--_-_______-.__..__ 99

^ Glacial Lake Warren._________________________ 99

^ Glacial Lake Lundy___________________________ 99

Postglacial lake.__-____-__--__-_-_-_-_____________ 100

^ Lake Erie_.__.____._---___--.__________ 100

Postglacial stream8_-._-_-_________--_--,__________ 103

* Economic geology by F. R. Van Horn_____________________________ 104

Clay and shale__-_-__--_-__--------------_--__---__-__-__.__ 104

" Building stone_______ _ ______. _______________ 107

Grindstones __-_-_--____----------_------------_____________-_ 111

^ Salt...______________________________________________________ 111

^ Natural gas and petroleum_____________________________________ 114

Drift gas_ _______...____.______._________...._ 114

t Shale gas___._ _.-____._____ _____________ 115

f Rock gas.__ _ _____________________________ 116

+ Historical notes______________________________________ 116

Producing sands______________________________________ 11&

* Stray sand.__________________________ US

Newburg or Stadler sand.__________________________ 118

Clinton sand_____________________________________ 120

_, , Trenton (?) limestone___.________________ 122

Pressures._______________________________________ 122
VI CONTENTS

Economic geology by F. R. Van Horn Continued. Page 

Natural gas and petroleum Continued.

Petroleum ________________________________. 123

Effect of structure and of physical character of the sand on 

accumulation of oil and gas.....I._____ _ 124

Sand and gravel.._____________________._._____. . 126

Peat_____.______________________________________ 127

Road material.___________________.. __ 128

Water resources ____________________ __ __ 129

Soils___________________________________________ 131

Index__.______________ _______ ..... 135

ILLUSTRATIONS

Pag* 

PLATE 1. Cliff of Chagrin shale near Euclid Creek, three-fourths of a mile

south of Euclid.-._..._____.__.._ _ . 40

2. A, Shale bank of Cleveland Brick & Clay Co. near Cleveland;

B, Quarry in "Euclid bluestone" at South Euclid_____ 40

3. Bedford shale in old quarry on Euclid Creek, 1% miles north

of South Euclid__________________________ 40

4. Bedford shale at type locality, Tinkers Creek, Bedford____ 40

5. Bedford shale 2 miles south-southeast of Brooklyn. __. 40

6. Ledges on Tinkers Creek just west of Pennsylvania Railroad

bridge.______________________________________________ 40

7. West contact of Berea sandstone on Bedford red shale in cut -* 

on Belt Line Railroad 2 miles southwest of Brooklyn____ 56

8. A, Orange ville shale cliff about 50 feet high, on Brandy wine '^ 

Creek 1 mile below Little York; B, Sharpsville sandstone 

on Brandywine Creek at Little York._____________. 56

9. Basal portion of Sharon conglomerate in quarry at Scotland, ^ 

Chester Township, Geauga County___ ___ _____ 56

10. View in road cut a short distance north of the quarry shown in 4 

Plate 9_ ______________________...._____.___ 56

11. Glacial Lakes Maumee, Saginaw, and Chicago.____________ ' 96 s

12. Glacial Lakes Whittlesey, Saginaw, and Chicago. _________ 96

13. Glacial Lakes Warren and Chicago.______________ .___ 96 *

14. Glacial Lakes Lundy, Chicago, and Duluth__.________ 96 "

15. Glacial Lakes Algonquin and Iroquois, Lake Erie, and Champlain Sea _ _ 96 ^

16. Nipissing Great Lakes.________________._...._ 96

17. A, Complex variation of gravel and sand in pit on Mill Creek ^ 

near Garfield Park, Cleveland; B, View looking south at the 

junction of the East and West Branches of the Rocky River. 96 *

18. Successive positions of the ice border in Ohio and neighboring 

v regions________________________________________ 96

719. Map of the Cleveland gas field, showing geologic structure. In paaliot. 

V 20. Map of the Euclid, Cleveland, and Berea quadrangles, showing -^"W^

areal geology____________________________________ In pocket. '-.^

V 21. Map of the Euclid, Cleveland, and Berea quadrangles, showing Xtffty. 

Pleistocene geology.._____________ _______ In pack&U
CONTENTS VH

Page

PLATE i22. A, B, Quarry at Berea, showing Sunbury shale overlying

Berea sandstone___ ..... __ _ 108 

23. A, Quarry at Berea, showing Sunbury shale overlying Berea 

sandstone; B, Wedge and feather system of breaking sandstone blocks in quarry at Berea 108

FIQTJBB 1. Outline map of Ohio showing physiographic provinces _ 2

2.. Section across the Cuyahoga Valley from Walling Corners

to Macedonia____________ 17

3. Generalized columnar section of the exposed rocks of the 

Cleveland, Berea, and Euclid quadrangles and of the 

rocks that have been penetrated in deep wells at Cleveland, 

Berea, and Lorain_... 28

4. Contac tof Berea sandstone on Bedford shale in railroad cut

in Newburg Township, Cuyahoga County____ ... 47

5. Berea-Bedford contact in cut on the Belt Line Railroad 2 

miles southwest of Brooklyn, showing a Berea channel 

more than 30 feet deep cut in the shale____ 47

6. Sections across Cleveland quadrangle 82

7. Diagram illustrating east and west dips between Bedford and

Olmsted Falls__________ _ 83

8. Defiance moraine in Ohio 97

9. Falling and rising stages of lake waters in the Erie Basin 98

10. Hinge lines of Lakes Whittlesey, Wayne, and Warren 101

11. Isobases and hinge line of Lake Algonquin 102

GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE 

CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

By H. P. GUSHING, FRANK LEVERETT, and FRANK R. VAN HORN l

>. INTRODUCTION

w, By H. P. GUSHING and FRANK LEVERETT

I GENERAL RELATIONS 

>

The Cleveland district, as described in this bulletin, lies in northeastern Ohio between the south shore of Lake Erie and parallel 41° 

> 15' and between meridians 81° 30' and 82°. It comprises the Berea, 

Cleveland, and Euclid quadrangles, which have an aggregate land 

area of about 503 square miles. Nearly the whole of Cuyahoga

* County and small parts of Lorain, Medina, and Summit Counties are

included in it. The city of Cleveland lies along the shore of Lake

. Erie hi the northern part of the district. Adjoining it are several

** 0 large suburbs, such as lie near to most flourishing cities. Berea and 

: Bedford are villages 10 and 11 miles, respectively, from the city hall

of Cleveland. 

% In its general geographic and geologic relations the area forms a

part of the rather indefinite border zone in which the Appalachian

Plateaus merge into the glaciated part of the Central Lowland, and 

» it thus partakes somewhat of the character of both provinces, which

are distinguished only by broad, general differences.

PHYSIOGRAPHIC DIVISIONS

, Portions of two major physiographic divisions are included within

, the State of Ohio the Appalachian Plateaus on the southeast and

»~ the Central Lowland on the northwest each occupying about half

the State. (See fig. 1.)

r The Appalachian Plateaus include the large areas of hill land of

V southern New York, northwestern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, West

Virginia, and eastern Kentucky. In northeastern Ohio the hilltops

in this division range from 1,100 to 1,400 feet above sea level. The

* plateau is terminated on the north by the Portage escarpment, which

t ' Since the death of Professor Gushing, Prof. C. R. Stauffer has rendered valuable aid in mapping and 

Prof. J. E. Hyde has aided in the revision of the manuscript. Acknowledgment is also made for access to an

> unpublished manuscript on the Quaternary geology of the Cleveland district by Prof. Frank4Carney. 

The des jription of the Quaternary here presented by Mr. Leverett is based on his own earlier and later

. studies.

* 
J GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

is prominent and continuous from Cleveland eastward to Albany, 

N. Y. In the vicinity of Cleveland the escarpment that bounds the 

Appalachian Plateaus turns more to the south and passes between 

Columbus and Newark, through Chillicothe, and on southward into 

Kentucky. In the northern part of Ohio this escarpment is as high 

as the Portage escarpment, on the east, but its slope is more gentle 

and it is not so impressive. South of Newark it is bold and precipitous and is fully 300 feet high.

FIQUBE 1. Outline map of Ohio, showing physiographic provinces. The Cleveland district Is 

shown by the shaded area. The numbers at the sides of the area indicate the three quadrangles: 

1, Cleveland; 2, Euclid; 3, Berea

Northwest of the Appalachian Plateaus is the Central Lowland, 

which includes the lowland that surrounds the southern part of the 

Great Lakes and extends west as far as the border of the Great Plains. 

This region consists of rolling plains rather than hills, but its altitude in 

many places is equal to that of the Ohio part of the Appalachian 

Plateaus. In places the lowland is very hilly.

In the region of the lower Great Lakes the Central Lowland consists of a number of separate and distinct plains, which are known
GENERAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE REGION 6

by the names Erie Plain, Huron Plain, and Ontario Plain. The 

lowest of these plains is the Ontario; this is separated from the Huron 

by a distinct rise or escarpment, and the Huron is separated by a 

similar feature from the higher Erie Plain. The sequence of terraces 

and escarpments can be carried farther, as the Erie Plain is separated 

from the generally flat top of the Appalachian Plateaus by the 

Portage escarpment.

The Erie Plain lies at the base of the Portage escarpment across 

western New York and extends along the prolongation of the escarpment across northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. It 

forms a large portion of the Ontario Peninsula between Lakes Huron 

and Ontario, and Lake Erie occupies a shallow depression in its surface. In New York the plain becomes very narrow east of Buffalo, 

and it pinches out against the Portage escarpment just east of Auburn.

From Buffalo to Cleveland the width of the plain between the 

shore of the lake and the escarpment is only a few miles, but west of 

Cleveland the escarpment swings away from the lake toward the 

southwest, and the plain broadens rapidly and increases in altitude. 

Within Ohio it ranges in altitude from 573 feet at the lake shore to 

nearly 1,000 feet. Its relief is slight, and it is on the whole a gently 

rolling, northward-sloping plain, interrupted only by morainic ridges 

and by the beaches and low cliffs of the glacial lakes.

Across western New York the Erie Plain is sharply separated from 

the Huron Plain by the low Onondaga escarpment. West of Buffalo, 

however, this escarpment becomes barely discernible, so that in 

Ontario the Huron and Erie Plains are practically merged into one. 

In Ontario in general the southwestern half of the triangular peninsula 

between Lakes Ontario and Huron belongs to the Erie Plain and the 

northeastern half to the Huron Plain. Westward across this peninsula the Huron Plain gradually rises and becomes higher than the 

Erie Plain, parts of it south of Georgian Bay being more than 1,500 

feet above sea level.

The Niagara escarpment separates the Huron Plain from the 

Ontario Plain. East of Rochester these two plains merge into one 

by the disappearance of the escarpment, but at Rochester it is about 

100 feet high, at Niagara about 200 feet, and it crosses the Ontarian 

Peninsula with steadily increasing altitude. It turns northwestward 

at Hamilton and continues to Georgian Bay, where, in the Blue 

Mountains, it has an altitude of more than 800 feet. Thence it crosses 

to northern Michigan, turns southward through eastern Wisconsin, and 

dies out in northern Illinois.

The Ontario Plain lies between the Niagara escarpment and the 

Laurentian Plateau. In New York its altitude ranges between 250 

and 500 feet above sea level. Across. Ontario the altitude increases 

and attains more than 700 feet south of Georgian Bay.
4 GEOLOGY OP THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The Cleveland area includes the margins of the Appalachian 

Plateaus and the Central Lowland and the border zone between them. 

The larger topographic features are due to the bedrock surface and 

incised stream valleys, largely masked but not obliterated by the 

covering of drift left by the glaciers, and the minor features are due 

to glaciation and the action of glacial lakes. The northwestern twothirds of Ohio, including the Cleveland area, was covered by the 

great ice sheets of the Pleistocene epoch; the southern boundary of 

the glaciated area crosses Ohio from the middle of the east side to the 

southwest corner of the State, running obliquely across plateau and 

lowland.

DRAINAGE

The greater part of northern Ohio is drained to the St. Lawrence 

River and the remainder to the Ohio River. The Erie Plain is 

drained directly into Lake Erie, except that part lying east of Buffalo, 

which drains into Lake Ontario. The Ontario Plain is drained chiefly 

into Lake Ontario, but the western part drains into Lake Huron and 

the extreme eastern part into the Mohawk River.

The northern and northeastern margins of the Appalachian Plateaus drain into Lakes Erie and Ontario, chiefly through short 

streams that head not far back from the crest of the escarpment, 

through which they flow in deep, narrow valleys. The Grand River, 

in northeastern Ohio, is an exception, in that its valley across the 

escarpment is very broad. The Genesee River, in western New 

York, is a notable exception of another sort, as it rises in northern 

Pennsylvania far back fr6m the escarpment and trenches it in a 

picturesque gorge. In northern Ohio the Grand, Chagrin, Cuyahoga, 

Rocky, Black, and Vermilion Rivers all rise not far within the plateau 

and flow north to Lake Erie. The greater part of the plateau in

Ohio is drained southward into the Ohio River by means of streams 

that, in southeastern Ohio, occupy deep, narrow valleys; among 

these the Muskingum is chief. The Scioto and Miami, of central and 

southwestern Ohio, occupy much broader, shallower valleys. The 

divide between the drainage to Lake Erie and that to the Ohio runs 

rather close to the lake. It is inconspicuous and consists for the 

most part of low morainic ridges.

The preglacial drainage of the Appalachian Plateaus ran to the 

Erie Plain from all of eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia, and 

western Pennsylvania, a large part reaching it through the Grand 

River Basin. The drainage area of the Cuyahoga also extended 

farther south than at present. The change to present conditions 

came largely as a result of the glacial occupation. For a long time 

the glaciers wholly blocked the lower courses of many northwardflowing streams and forced them to seek outlets to the south. As 

the ice margin melted back from south to north the streams flowing 

southward filled up some of the northward-sloping drainage courses
GENERAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE REGION 5

and dissected the surface sufficiently to divert much of the drainage 

into its present courses.

STRATIGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE

The consolidated rocks of that part of the Central Lowland east 

of the Mississippi River and of the Appalachian Plateaus are, except 

a few small igneous dikes, wholly sedimentary and of Paleozoic age, 

ranging from Ordovician to Carboniferous. The Laurentian upland, 

north of Lake Ontario, is occupied by a complex of both igneous and 

sedimentary rocks of pre-Cambrian age, most of which are greatly 

metamorphosed. Similar ancient rocks extend everywhere beneath 

the region and form the floor upon which the Paleozoic rocks rest.

The stratified Paleozoic rocks have a general slight southward 

dip away from the area of ancient rocks. The oldest of them crop 

out around the border of the Laurentian upland, and on the south 

successively younger formations adjoin them in rudely concentric 

belts. The general southward dip is disturbed in places by broad, 

gentle folds. In western Ohio occurs the broad, low dome known as 

the Cincinnati arch, the axis of which trends nearly north. The rocks 

dip gently away from this axis, westward into Indiana and eastward 

or southeastward into central and eastern Ohio. In 'western New 

York and Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio the rocks dip southward, and their belts of outcrop have a general eastward trend. In 

central Ohio the trend of the outcrop belts has swerved to a northerly 

direction, with eastward dip, along the east flank of the Cincinnati 

arch. Just west of Cleveland the strata swing from the eastward 

trend of northeastern Ohio to the northerly direction of central Ohio. 

About 20 feet to the mile is a common rate of dip in these regions. 

Other slight swells of the strata exist, of less magnitude than the 

Cincinnati arch too slight to require material modification of the 

statement that the general structure of eastern Ohio is monoclinal.

There is close agreement between the relief of the region and the 

surface distribution of the formations, the more resistant beds capping 

escarpments and steep slopes and giving rise to platforms, whose 

surfaces, together with the lower slopes of the escarpments, are 

occupied by less resistant beds. The Ontario Plain is occupied by 

Ordovician limestone and shale and early Silurian shale and sandstone. 

The Niagara escarpment is capped by a massive limestone of middle 

Silurian age, and the Huron Plain is occupied by late Silurian lime-, 

stone and shale. The Onondaga escarpment is formed of the Onondaga limestone, of Middle Devonian age. The Erie Plain is formed 

on shales of Upper Devonian age, including also shales of probably early 

Carboniferous (Mississippian) age at and west of Cleveland. There 

the southward swerve of the formations causes discordance between 

the relief and the surface distribution of formations, so that at and
6 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

west of Sandusky much of the surface of the Erie Plain is formed on 

Silurian and Devonian limestones.

The rocks of the Portage escarpment in New York are sandstones 

and shales of Upper Devonian age. In passing into Ohio successively 

younger and younger rocks are found at the crest of the escarpment, 

and in the Cleveland district the Sharon conglomerate, of early Pennsylvanian age, forms its capstone. Within Ohio the Appalachian 

Plateaus are formed of shales and sandstones of Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and lower Permian age.

GEOLOGIC HISTORY

Little is known of the pre-Cambrian history of the region, but at 

the beginning of the Cambrian it was a land area, and existed as such 

for a long time, so that erosion reduced it to a nearly even surface. 

During late Cambrian time it became submerged beneath the wators 

of a shallow, epicontinental sea, the first of a series of such seas that 

invaded and covered parts of the interior of North America in Paleozoic time. Frequent changes in the relative levels of land and sea 

shifted the position of these seas, changed their size and shape, and 

shifted also their connections with the oceanic basins. Climates 

altered from humid to arid and from warm to cool and the reverse, 

and a tremendously long and complicated history was recorded, 

many of the details of which have not yet been worked out.

During much of the Paleozoic era the region was covered by marine 

waters, and successive sheets of mud, calcareous mud, sand, and 

gravel were spread over the sea bottom. At times nonmarine 

deposits were formed, such as the delta sands and coals of the Pennsylvanian of eastern Ohio, or the gypsum and rock-salt deposits laid

down in the salt lakes of the Salina epoch and now buried 1,800 to 

2,000 feet beneath Cleveland. At other times the waters were largely 

or completely withdrawn and the surface was partly worn away, 

instead of receiving deposits. Many of the seas contained abundant 

marine life, which in the earlier seas consisted entirely of invertebrate 

animals. In some beds of the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian 

periods the calcareous shells of these creatures are so plentiful as to 

constitute the major part of the rock. Later in the era fishes appeared, as shown by their remains in the Cleveland shale, and plants 

flourished, which have been preserved in the coal seams of the "Coal 

Measures."

No locality shows a complete section of the known Paleozoic 

formations, because the seas alternated with land, leaving many 

areas without record of long passages of time. Everywhere deposition 

was frequently interrupted, and at times the surface deposits underwent erosion. When the sea returned and deposition was renewed 

the new beds were laid down on the worn surface thus produced, 

which remains as an evidence of the time interval between the two
GENERAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE REGION 7

sets of deposits. "Unconformities" of this kind are found at several 

horizons. The one beneath the Sharon conglomerate, at the base of 

the "Coal Measures," is the most significant one exposed in Ohio. 

A much less conspicuous one occurs beneath the Berea sandstone.

The first of the Paleozoic seas overspread the region in the later 

part of the Cambrian period. In the Ordovician and Silurian 

periods the region was many times submerged. Early Devonian 

seas barely reached it, but the Middle Devonian sea was widespread 

over it. A late Devonian sea also existed in the region but did not 

lay down thick deposits. Early Mississippian seas succeeded that 

of the late Devonian., During the later half of the Mississippian 

epoch the region was above sea level, and its surface was planed off 

by erosion. The land was low, however, and the thickness of material 

worn away was moderate. On the irregular surface thus formed, 

early in Pennsylvanian time, a thick deposit of sand and gravel with 

thin beds of mud and of plant de*bris, indicating strong currents, 

perhaps rivers, was formed over the region; this material has consolidated into the Sharon conglomerate. It was followed by the 

formation of a great thickness of Pennsylvanian shales and sandstones, with beds of coal, over all of southeastern Ohio. The sea then 

withdrew altogether from the region, and there is no evidence that it 

has since returned to any part of it, except for a recent occupation of 

the basin of Lake Ontario.

The Cincinnati arch was developed at the end of the Ordovician 

period and existed as a low dome over a large part of western Ohio 

throughout the remainder of Paleozoic time, sometimes as a land area, 

sometimes as a shoal. When not submerged it separated the marine 

waters covering Ohio from those on the west.

In the final stages of the Carboniferous period the whole region was 

brought above sea level and much of it was greatly elevated. The 

uplift was accompanied by profound deformation of the rocks along 

the east sid,e*of 'the Appalachian Plateaus and the region still farther 

east, the strata being closely folded and more or less faulted. It was 

by this disturbance that the Appalachian Mountains were formed. 

The Appalachian Plateaus, lying immediately west of this belt of 

intense folding, were broadly uplifted with only gentle folding, which 

decreased in amount westward, so that as a rule the folds in Ohio are 

perceptible only on careful determination of the altitude of the beds 

in different places. The uplift and deformation that produced the 

great mountain system in the eastern half of the Appalachian province 

probably gave the surface of much of the remainder, especially of its 

northern part, a northwestward slope, with considerable altitude at 

the base of the mountains, diminishing toward the country now 

occupied by the lakes.

The Mesozoic era thus began with the region above sea level and 

undergoing erosion, and it has probably never since been submerged.
8 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The surface sloped to the northwest or north, and the original 

streams must have flowed down this slope. Erosion was several 

times accentuated by renewed uplift of the land, accompanied by 

some warping or tilting of the surface, which influenced the courses 

of the streams. During the early part of the era the region remained 

undisturbed so long that the surface of the entire region, even of the 

mountains, was worn down to a comparatively featureless plain of 

low altitude, or "peneplain." The uplift next following, probably 

at the end of the Jurassic period, was accompanied by marked eastward tilting of the region now forming the Atlantic Coastal Plain, so 

that the sea has since repeatedly invaded it as far as the present "fall 

line," and, as part of the peneplain was also involved in the tilting, 

the streams flowed down these new slopes toward the southeast. 

These streams had a short route to the sea compared with those 

flowing northwest, and this enabled them to extend their headwaters 

back into the plateau at the expense of the other streams.

This uplift of the plateau was great enough to revive the streams, 

which at once began to deepen their valleys across the old peneplain 

and to reduce the general surface. This erosion interval was not, 

however, as long as the preceding one, so that only the less resistant 

rocks of the district were worn down to a new peneplain. All the 

region north of the Portage escarpment and west of the Adirondacks 

was so worn down, and the Erie Plain is the remnant of the peneplain then formed. A subsequent uplift again lowered the grade of 

the streams, and the Ontario Plain was worn down below the level 

of the Erie Plain. During the Tertiary period the streams of the 

northern part of the Appalachian Plateaus in all likelihood flowed 

northward and northwestward into trunk streams that occupied the 

Erie and Ontario Valleys.

During the Pleistocene epoch great ice sheets, four at least, successively invaded the northern part of the United States from the 

Canadian plains. One or more reached as far south as Long Island, 

southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, central Missouri, and northeastern Kansas. Evidence of four such invasions has been obtained 

in the Mississippi Valley. In Ohio there is certain evidence for at least 

two of these invasions, but by far the greater part of the glacial deposits 

are those of the last, or Wisconsin glacial stage. The ice of this 

stage spread out from the Labrador Peninsula and in western Ohio 

reached well toward the Ohio River. In eastern Ohio the high land 

of the Appalachian Plateaus so blocked its course that it extended 

only 60 to 80 miles south of the Lake Erie shore. The general direction of the ice movement over the Cleveland district was southward. 

As the ice advanced across the region it removed much of the loose 

surface material and somewhat eroded the underlying rock, especially 

where the rock was soft shale, so that the basal ice became heavily
GENERAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE REGION 9

clogged with rock fragments. When the ice melted away it spread a 

sheet of such material over the surface, most thickly over the depressions and valleys, so that the new surface was much smoother than 

the old.

A very prominent effect of the ice invasion upon the region was the 

modification of the drainage systems. Many valleys were filled with 

glacial deposits, some were deepened and widened by ice erosion, and 

northward-flowing streams were dammed by the ice or by glacial 

deposits and forced to seek new outlets southward. Divides were 

shifted, in places for long distances, and the directions of many 

streams were permanently reversed. Some of the new stream courses 

occupied old valleys but in reversed direction, such as the lower 50 

miles of the Scioto; others followed wholly new routes, such as the 

Scioto above Marion. Many of the streams that follow new routes 

have since cut gorges with waterfalls where they enter the preglacial 

portion for example, the Cuyahoga. Most of the cataracts and 

gorges of northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania and New 

York, Niagara among the number, have thus originated.

When the invading ice melted away its southern margin moved 

slowly backward. In doing so it uncovered, in the present Great 

Lakes region, the western and southwestern ends of several basins 

whose natural outlets are on the east. After the ice front had withdrawn within these basins, it acted as a dam to those streams that 

flowed into them from the south and caused their waters to form 

lakes. For a long period it prevented these lakes from using their present outlets and raised them to levels of much higher outlets. As the 

ice withdrew farther or readvanced it uncovered lower outlets or 

blocked them again, and the lake levels fell and rose in consequence. 

When the present outlets were uncovered by the melting away of 

the ice the lakes finally fell to the level of these outlets. Traces of the 

successive changes in level are preserved in a series of old beaches 

extending entirely around the Great Lakes, some of them several 

hundred feet higher than the present surface of the lakes.

As a result of the tremendous weight of the ice over a very great 

length of time the northern part of the continent was, at the time of 

maximum ice occupation, depressed several hundred feet below its 

normal position. As the ice melted away and the weight was lessened, 

the continent slowly arose a greater amount in the north, where it 

had been weighted most. As a result the shore lines, which were 

once horizontal, are now higher at the northeast than at the southwest.

The ice withdrew from the lower St. Lawrence Valley before the 

rebound of the continent was completed and while the outlet from 

Lake Ontario was yet below sea level, thus permitting the ocean 

2953 31 2
10 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

waters to come into Lake Ontario for a short time, but they were 

drained out as the further upward movement of the land mass brought 

the present St. Lawrence River above sea level. Tins' was the last 

occupation of the Great Lakes region by ocean water.

RELATION OF CULTURE TO GEOLOGY

On the comparatively level surface of the Central Lowland transportation routes are free to follow any desired direction at a minimum 

of expense. Railroads are generally laid out in straight lines between 

points, and the vehicle roads follow the section lines, usually 1 mile 

apart. These facilities for transportation together with the general 

fertility of the glacially deposited soils, have permitted a rather 

uniform distribution of a fairly dense population, such as characterizes 

the western half of the State of Ohio.

In the unglaciated Appalachian Plateaus in eastern Ohio, the surface 

is rugged, and the tops of ridges are from 200 to 400 feet higher than 

the floors of the valleys. Much of the surface consists of steep slopes, 

many with thin soils, and much of it remains forested. Railway 

routes must follow the valleys and, in passing from one drainage 

system to another, must overcome steep grades. They are more 

expensive to lay out and to maintain than those in the glaciated plains. 

Roads commonly follow either the valleys or the crests of ridges and 

are correspondingly crooked. Population is less dense and settlement more uneven than on the plains. On the other hand, the mineral wealth of the plateau is an incentive to settlement.

The northern part of the Appalachian Plateaus was covered by the 

Pleistocene ice sheets, and its valleys are largely filled with glacial 

deposits. Its surface is therefore less rugged than that of the unglaciated part of the plateaus, its soils are better and more uniform, 

and transportation routes are much less hampered by steep slopes, are 

usually independent of stream valleys, and are laid out in nearly 

straight lines between places.

The Appalachian Plateaus form a high rugged land barrier to 

east-west trade routes across Ohio, except those that traverse the low 

strip of the Erie Plain. The Erie Plain connects on the east with the 

Mohawk Valley lowland, separating the Adirondack highland from 

the Appalachian Plateaus, and these two lowlands form the only 

natural low-grade route north of the Gulf Coastal Plain between 

the Atlantic seaboard and the interior of the United States. The 

Lake Erie ports are consequently the natural points for transshipment 

of the coal of the northern part of the Appalachian Plateaus and the 

iron ore of the Lake Superior region. Largely because of the industries that have developed in this meeting ground of coal and iron, 

the Erie Plain is the most densely populated part of Ohio.
GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO 11

TOPOGRAPHY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT

By H. P. GUSHING 

SURFACE FEATURES

General character. The altitude of the surface of the Cleveland 

district ranges from 573 feet above sea level along the lake shore to 

1,300 feet on the south margin of the Cleveland quadrangle, in Richfield Township. The Portage escarpment, which separates the Erie 

Plain from the Appalachian Plateaus, crosses the Ecufid, Cleveland, 

and Berea quadrangles from northeast to southwest. The boundary 

between plateau and plain is not very sharp but forms a zone, in 

places several miles wide. As a rough approximation two-thirds of 

the district may be said to belong to the hilly plateau and escarpment 

and one-third to the plain. All three parts are notched by the 

Cuyahoga River, Rocky River and its branches, Euclid and Big 

Creeks, and Doan Brook, most deeply where these streams have cut 

into the plateau and escarpment.

The slope of the Portage escarpment from plateau to plain is not 

simple. In the .Berea quadrangle it is a single slope descending from 

the plateau surface to the plain, but in the Cleveland and Euclid 

quadrangles this slope is interrupted by one or, in places, two minor 

platforms or terraces.

,, Three resistant sandstone formations in the rock section at Cleveland, separated by a varying thickness of weak shale, mark the surface 

of the Appalachian Plateaus and the two lesser platforms on the slope 

of the Portage escarpment. The uppermost and thickest of these 

sandstones is the Sharon conglomerate, of Pottsville (lower Pennsylvanian age. It is the youngest Paleozoic rock exposed in the quadrangles and is the capstone formation of the plateau across northeastern Ohio. A thickness of 150 to 350 feet of beds, chiefly shale, 

separates it from the Berea sandstone beneath, and 50 feet of shale 

lies between the Berea sandstone and the Euclid sandstone lentil 

at the base of the Bedford shale. Because of their resistance erosion 

has developed a terrace at the summit of each of these sandstones, and 

each terrace terminates in a steep front or low cliff. From the foot of 

these scarps gentle slopes run down to the surface of the terraces / 

below. J

Appalachian Plateaus. The rolling uplands of the southeastern 

two-thirds of the region form the northwestern margin of the Appalachian Plateaus. The highest hills, whose altitude ranges from 1,150 

to 1,300 feet, are more or less flat topped and are composed of the 

Sharon conglomerate. There is, however, only about 15 square miles 

of such territory, contained in a dozen separate areas, so that much 

of the rolling plateau surface is on the underlying shale. There are 

three such areas east of the Cuyahoga River one in Warrensville,
12 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

one near Northfield, and one in Boston, the last capping the CuyahogaValley wall and giving rise to the picturesque scenery of the "Boston 

Ledges." Eight of them lie west of the Cuyahoga River in the southwestern part of the Cleveland quadrangle, but only one is of much 

size, and four of the eight are very small. Two occur in the Berea 

quadrangle. Taken together these form all that remains within the 

quadrangles of this sandstone platform, the original surface of the 

plateau. The topographic prominence that rightly belongs to them 

has in many places been greatly subdued by heavy banking of glacial 

drift against their fronts and in the lower lands between them. Some 

of them stand out as prominent hills, 100 feet or more above the level 

of the surrounding territory, flat topped and steep fronted or surrounded by low ledges. Upon many the soil is thin and poor, and they 

remain largely forested. Between these hills the sloping surface is 

gently rolling from an altitude of 1,100 or 1,200 feet down to about 

900 or 1,000 feet, whence the slopes descend more steeply to the 

valleys of the Cuyahoga and Rocky Rivers.

This region does not suggest a plateau, but southeast of these quadrangles the plateau surface is distinct and more nearly continuous. 

The margin of the plateau in the Cleveland region has been dissected 

by stream erosion until it has been reduced to long promontories projecting northward from the main area of the plateau, and outlying 

patches have been wholly separated from it.

Portage escarpment. The Portage escarpment is the irregular 

slope 2 to 4 miles wide that descends from an altitude of 1,200 or 

1,240 feet on the northwestern edge of the Appalachian Plateaus to 

700 or 800 feet at the southeastern margin of the Erie Plain. It is 

irregular and discontinuous because of the large valleys cut into the 

plateau, and it bends away from its southwesterly trend into the 

walls of these valleys. Its upper, southeastern limit has the intricate outline of the dissected margin of the plateau surface; its foot, 

bordering the plain, is much more continuous and regular. Northeast of Cleveland, in the Euclid quadrangle, the Erie Plain is abruptly 

terminated immediately southeast of Euclid Avenue by the foot of 

the Portage escarpment, at an altitude of 680 to 740 feet. In the 

northern third of the Cleveland quadrangle the foot of the escarpment bends southward into the east wall of the Cuyahoga Valley. 

West of the Cuyahoga River the southern margin of the Erie Plain 

or the foot of the escarpment, is not so sharply defined. Where the 

west wall of the valley bends westward into the escarpment, across 

Independence Township, it lies along Rockside Road, at an altitude 

of about 800 feet. Across Parma Township the margin may be regarded as bending southwestward at an altitude of either 800 or 

880 feet, depending on whether the low Berea scarp (see p. 13) is 

included or not. :
SURFACE FEATURES 13

In the south-central part of the Berea quadrangle the Portage escarpment assumes the southerly trend that carries it entirely across 

Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The northern and western threequarters of the quadrangle lie within the Erie Plain. The foot of the 

escarpment runs east of Berea, crosses the East Branch of the Rocky 

' River near Strongsville, and runs east of the West Branch at the south 

line of the quadrangle. It is obscure in places but has an altitude 

between 800 and 900 feet.

The greater part of the Portage escarpment is made up of the long, 

gentle slopes of shale that descend from the Pottsville to the Berea 

terrace, or roughly that part of the Cleveland and Euclid quadrangles 

lying between 900 and 1,150 feet in altitude and of the Berea quadrangle between 800 and 1,150 feet. The general direction of the 

slope is northwest, but it is not sharply separated from the slopes 

of the valleys crossing the escarpment. There is some dissection by 

narrow, shallow stream valleys, but otherwise the slope is fairly uniform, descending from 40 to 80 feet to the mile and mantled everywhere with glacial drift. Rock outcrops are found principally in the 

stream valleys, and by no means in all, as many streams flow for 

miles in channels that nowhere cut through the drift.

The outcrop of the Berea sandstone makes a minor escarpment 30 

to 50 feet high, which may be called the Berea scarp and which extends across the Euclid and Cleveland quadrangles in a southwesterly 

direction as far as the Cuyahoga Valley, where it swings to the 

south as a well-defined bench along the valley wall. As such it continues to the south margin of the Cleveland quadrangle, with a steady 

decrease in.altitude, which brings it down to the level of the river 

about 3 miles farther south. There is a companion terrace on the 

west side of the valley. West of the Cuyahoga the Berea scarp continues westward and southwestward to the Rocky River at Berea, 

but the Berea sandstone declines in altitude, and the scarp is an 

obscure gentle slope of about 50 feet in a mile. At Berea the Berea 

sandstone descends below the level of the Central Lowland or Erie 

Plain and exerts no influence on the topography of the plain from 

Berea 13 miles westward to Elyria, in the Oberlin quadrangle, where 

it is again effective.

East of the Cuyahoga River the Euclid sandstone is present 50 

feet below the Berea and caps part of a well-defined slope and terrace, 

the first rise of the Portage escarpment above the Erie Plain. West 

of the Cuyahoga Valley the Euclid sandstone and its terraces are 

absent, except for a small elevated area between 780 and 800 feet hi 

altitude on the southern edge of the plain, in Brooklyn Township.

East of the Cuyahoga River the Portage escarpment forms three 

distinct steps, the first from 100 to 150 feet above the Erie Plain, 

largely under the influence of the Euclid sandstone; the second 50
14 GEOLOGY OP THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

feet higher and half to three-quarters of a mile south, the Berea 

sandstone; the third about 300 feet higher, 3 miles farther south and 

obscurely denned at the position of the Sharon conglomerate) at the 

edge of the Appalachian Plateaus.

West of the Cuyahoga River the Portage escarpment is not so 

high as on the east and consists of a single rise steeper than that east 

of the river, with the obscure Berea platform at its base.

Glacial deposits so thoroughly mantle the surface and clog the old 

valleys of the plateau and the escarpment slope that the present 

topography is much less varied than that which would be disclosed 

by the removal of these deposits. The plateau was deeply trenched 

by many old valleys, and its topography was much more-rugged than 

it is now. It was a topography of mature stream dissection;, in strong 

contrast to the present immaturity.

Two low morainic ridges, the Cleveland and Euclid moraines,, 

slightly diversify the smooth slopes of the plateau and, plain. The 

most westerly place at which the Cleveland moraine is recognizable 

as a distinct topographic feature is near Linndale-, whence it runs to 

Brooklyn, following a course not far south of the valley of the main 

trunk of Big Creek. It is 20 to 30 feet high and about three-quarters 

of a mile broad. It is interrupted by the Cuyahoga Valley, but it 

reappears at Newburg, where it shows a number of knolls of gravelly 

drift, and continues east to Randall, where it joins the Defiance 

moraine and thence continues to the edge of the- Cleveland; quadrangle and beyond. In this part of its course, however, it is so low 

and so broad that its topographic expression is very indistinct. It 

is not mapped between Newburg and Randall.

The Euclid moraine shows only its west end in> the Euclid quadrangle, just east of Euclid, as a thin mantle of till in a gentle ridge 

lying along the terrace at the top of the lowest OF Euclid scarp. The 

terrace is not capped by the Euclid sandstone at this place. The 

Euclid moraine is noteworthy here as marking the- west end of a series 

of moraines that follow the lower slopes of the Portage escarpment to 

the east end of Lake Erie, have much to do with the present configuration of the escarpment, and exert a profound influence upon* the 

drainage of northeastern Ohio.

Erie Plain. A considerable part of the Erie- Plain' is submerged 

beneath the waters of Lake Erie. Out in the lake is a channel of 

moderate depth that is probably best regarded as cut below the level 

of the plain, but with this exception the entire lake is shallow, and 

the bottom belongs with the Erie Plain. East of the Cuyahoga that 

part of the plain above the lake is only 2 to 3 miles wide and reaches 

the foot of the escarpment at an altitude of 700' feet at Euclid and 

740 feet at Cleveland. The surface has a lakeward slope of 50 to 60 

feet to the mile but is very smooth, except for the abandoned lake
SURFACE FEATURES 15

strands described below. The streams flow across it in shallow valleys 

that are deepest near the escarpment. The brook valleys are cut in 

the plain to depths of 10 to 40 feet, and the rivers run 40 to 100 feet 

below its level.

West of the Cuyahoga River the escarpment of the Euclid sandstone is absent and there is no sharp southern limit to the plain. 

Between the Cuyahoga and Rocky Rivers the plain may be regarded 

as from 4 to 5 miles broad and as rising from the lake cliffs to an altitude of about 800 feet. West of the Rocky River its breadth increases 

to 17 miles. Here also its slope to the lake is more gentle approximately 20 feet to the mile. The surface is very even, except where 

varied by shallow brook valleys and low lake ridges.

The shore line of Lake Erie at most places is a steep or vertical 

wave-cut cliff from 30 to 50 feet high, broken only by the stream 

valleys that come down to the lake. Sand beaches are few and small.

Much of the wave-cut shelf at the foot of the cliff is under water and 

impassable; where it is above water it is narrow. The shore line is 

fairly straight, and the storm waves sweep strongly against it. The 

cliff is composed of weak material, in places till or sand, in places shale, 

and the recession is moderately rapid, especially in the till or sand. 

In front of Cleveland, where the cliff consists of sand and lake clay, 

the recession was especially rapid until checked by driving piles and 

more recently by expensive breakwater construction. Deltas can not 

accumulate at the mouths of the streams. Bars form in front of the 

streams, but the bulk of the discharged material is carried alongshore 

by the current and distributed as offshore sand bars. *- 

On the broad expanse of the Erie Plain, west of the Rocky River, 

are three low ridges, locally known as North, Middle, and Butternut 

Ridges. These ridges are roughly parallel to one another and to the 

lake shore but diverge slightly westward. They are plainly shown on 

the topographic map of the Berea quadrangle. Their crests rise from 

10 to 30 feet higher than the surface of the plain just north of them,, 

and from the crest of each there is, in many places, a gentle back 

slope to the south, dropping from 3 to 5 feet. These features arebeach ridges formed at higher stages of Lake Erie, as explained under 

"Geologic history" (pp. 98-99).

The crest of Butternut Ridge has an altitude of 760 to 780 feet 

across the Berea quadrangle, except where it is interrupted by theRocky River Valley. East of Linndale it abuts against the north 

side o? the Cleveland moraine. East' of this point it is hard totrace and has no importance as a topographic feature.

Middle Ridge lies from 1 to 2 miles north of Butternut Ridge. 

Its crest is at about 730 feet, about 40 feet lower than that of Butternut Ridge. Its course is interrupted by the Rocky River Valley and 

by the great trench of the Cuyahoga Valley. It is present between the
16 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

Rocky and Cuyahoga Rivers, where Dennison Avenue follows its 

crest. In the eastern part of Cleveland it lies just in front of the 

base of the escarpment, with its summit at about 730 feet. In the 

Euclid quadrangle it disappears as a ridge because the base of the 

escarpment drops to 700 feet and the level of the ridge is therefore about 30 feet up on the steep slope of the escarpment, where a 

ridge could not be developed. Here, a closely related topographic 

feature is found in a distinct platform from 100 to 150 yards in width, 

cut into the face of the escarpment about 40 to 45 feet above its base-, 

and just south of Euclid Avenue.

North Ridge is about 3 miles north of Middle Ridge at the west 

margin of the Berea quadrangle and only half a mile north of it at the 

east margin. It is the only one of the three ridges that is continuous 

and strong entirely across the Cleveland and Euclid quadrangles except as it is interrupted by the Rocky River and Cuyahoga Valleys. 

Through the western part of Cleveland Detroit Avenue follows it rather 

closely; on the east side Euclid Avenue continues with it to Fortieth 

Street. Thence to a .point east of Doan Brook it lies north of Euclid 

Avenue. East of Doan Brook this shore line is not a ridge but a wavecut cliff, which forms the foot of the Portage escarpment and is followed very closely by Euclid Avenue to the east boundary of the 

Euclid quadrangle. The crest of this ridge or base of the cliff, as the 

case may be, is at about 680 feet about 50 feet lower than Middle 

Ridge and cliff.

These beach ridges or cliffs, formed at higher stages of Lake Erie, 

are not the only ridges of the same type that occur within the quadrangle, but the others are too faint and too much interrupted to 

be notable topographic features.

Valleys. The valleys of the quadrangles are of varied topography 

according as they do or do not coincide in location with old preglacial 

valleys. There are three types of stream valleys old valleys, new 

valleys, and those that are part old and part new. Of the lastmentioned type there are two subtypes those in which the lower part 

of the valley is old and the upper part new, and those in which the 

lower part is new and the upper part old. Within these quadrangles 

the Cuyahoga is the only stream of the first type, but the river enters 

its old valley 10 miles south of this area, and all its upper course is new, 

so that its valley as a whole belongs to the first subtype of the third 

group. The Rocky River is an excellent example of the second 

subtype, and Tinkers Creek is another. Euclid Creek and Big 

Creek flow in wholly new valleys. . The Cuyahoga Valley was partly filled with sand and silt in ponded 

glacial waters. Some of this filling has been cleared away by the 

river, and to an observer looking across from the summit of either 

valley wall, a broad and fairly deep valley is open to view bordered on
SUEFACE FEATURES 17

both sides by prominent flat terraces 140 to 160 feet above the stream 

and 100 or 150 feet below the less prominent Berea terrace. The 

stream is not hampered by resistant rock, and its valley across the 

quadrangle is well graded. There are no falls and rapids in its course, 

and it has no gorge. The whole valley is evenly and broadly opened 

down to the level of the Berea terrace, and below that level a narrower 

inner valley has been cut. The rock walls of the valley descend 

with moderate gradient to the level of the Berea terrace, then more 

steeply to the level of the glacial silt terraces, and pass beneath them. 

The surface of the Berea terrace is much dissected by streams and 

descends upstream. That of the silt terraces is very level, with a 

gentle slope toward the center of the valley and a slope down the 

valley of about 7 feet to the mile. Its altitude is 800 to 820 feet at 

the south edge of the Cleveland quadrangle and 700 to 730 feet in the 

southern part of Cleveland, This terrace is divided into separate

patches by the trenches which the river and its tributaries have cut 

into it. The river flows through it in a sinuous trench from 100 

to 140 feet deep and from a quarter to half a mile wide. The swinging

SE.

..... Sharon conglomerate

.Cleveland shale Meadville shelo V 

Bedford shale Orangeville shale \J<2

Chagrin shals

FIGURE 2. Section across the Cuyahoga Valley from Walling Corners to Macedonia. Modern 

channel is shown at east side of old valley; terraced surface on glacial valley filling at the west

of the river carries the trench from one side of the valley to the other. 

Where it is against one of the rock walls of the valley, as at Boston, 

Brecksville, and Southpark, a broad remnant of the terrace lies 

between it and the other valley wall. (See fig. 2.) Where it is in a 

more central position remnants of the terrace may be seen on each 

side. At Southpark the river hugs the west wall, and the broad 

terrace on the east is cut squarely through by Tinkers Creek. At 

Brecksville the river flows against the east wall, and Chippewa Creek, 

coming in from the west, cuts across the terrace to reach the river. 

With its flat top and steep fronts this terrace forms a conspicuous 

feature all along the valley. The altitude of the terrace, 730 feet in 

the southern part of Cleveland, corresponds with that of Middle 

Ridge.

The valley of the Rocky River presents a strong contrast to that 

of the Cuyahoga. The upper part of its East Branch also follows 

an old valley, whose course across the Cleveland and Berea quadrangles is plainly shown on the geologic- maps. In general appearance this part of the valley is like that of the Cuyahoga broad and 

with high rock walls, though not so deep as the Cuyahoga Valley.
18 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTKICT, OHIO

East of Strongsville the river forsakes this old valley, and thence 

downstream the valley has an entirely different character. Above 

Berea it is developed in a weak shale, is about a.quarter of a mile 

wide, and is flat bottomed and bordered in places by nearly vertical 

walls of shale 10 to 30 fe6t high, decreasing in height northward. 

At Berea the stream flows in a narrow trench in sandstone and a 

fall and short gorge occur just north of the town, where the stream 

cuts through the sandstone into the shale below. From this point 

to the mouth of the river the valley is flat bottomed and steep walled, 

in a few places as much as a quarter of a mile wide, and has vertical 

walls of shale 100 feet or more in height. The West Branch has a 

similar fall and gorge at Olmsted Falls. Where the two branches 

come together at Olmsted, two prominent, isolated rock hills occur 

in the middle of the valley. They are quadrangular and bounded 

on all sides by precipitous shale bluffs. These are remnants of the 

«hale promontory between the two branches of the river, which long 

ago came together below the hills, later cut across between them, 

forming the north hill, and later still came together as they now do. 

At Kamms the stream crosses the old valley, which had been

 entirely filled with glacial drift, and here its present valley widens 

to three-quarters of a mile and its walls are of glacial drift and less 

steep than above. At the big bend at Rockport the valley reaches 

the east edge of the old filled valley, and the west wall of the present 

valley consists of drift and is in strong contrast with the shale cliff 

that forms the east wall.

The larger creeks of the quadrangles all have a fall over the Berea 

sandstone and a gorge below it. On many of those that flow into 

the Cuyahoga the falls are high and the gorge steep and long, as

-on Tinkers, Brandywine, and Chippewa Creeks. On those that 

flow to the lake Euclid Creek and Doan Brook, for example the 

gorge continues to the escarpment, beyond which the stream crosses 

the Erie Plain in a shallow valley.

A large part of the city of Cleveland is built on a nearly flat platform having a gentle northerly slope, on the surface of the Pleistocene 

deposits that fill the old Cuyahoga Valley. In this part of the city 

^bedrock is far beneath the ground surface.

DRAINAGE

General character. The three quadrangles drain entirely into Lake 

Erie. The greater part of the drainage passes through northwardtrending valleys of medium size., which are rather uniformly spaced 

across the region, one for every 10 to 15 miles or about one to each 

quadrangle. The Cuyahoga River is the stream of this type for the 

Cleveland quadrangle and the Rocky River for the Berea quadrangle. 

The Black and Chagrin Rivers are the corresponding streams for
DRAINAGE 19

the quadrangles next west and east of the Cleveland district. The 

subsidiary drainage of the areas between the rivers flows into these 

rivers, except in that part nearest the lake, in which small streams 

flow directly into the lake. Euclid Creek and Doan Brook, both 

east of the Cuyahoga, are the largest of the minor tributaries to the 

lake. A notable tendency of the subsidiary drainage is to flow for 

considerable distances parallel to the shore of the lake instead of 

toward it. The low ridges that roughly parallel the lake shore the 

lake ridges and the moraines impose this course on the streams. 

The East Branch of Euclid Creek flows southwestward along the 

south face of the Euclid moraine. Butternut Ridge turns Big Creek 

out of its northerly course at North Linndale, sharply eastward to 

the Cuyahoga. A number of small brooks flow behind the lake 

ridges in the Berea quadrangle.

The streams of the plateau flow in all directions, but those that 

do not flow north become tributary to some stream that does flow 

north. Thus in the southern part of the Cleveland quadrangle 

Furnace Run flows southeast, but it reaches the Cuyahoga south of 

the limits of the quadrangle. The extreme upper part of the East 

Branch of the Rocky River flows southeast, in the reverse direction 

to a lower part <of its own flow to the northwest. These various 

directions are controlled by the local surface slopes, which in turn 

are largely due to modification of the normal slopes by glacial deposits.

Cuyahoga River and other streams. The Cuyahoga River is about 

100 miles long. It rises in the highlands of Geauga County within 

15 miles of the lake shore and flows 60 miles southward and southwestward away from the lake. It reaches the old preglacial valley, 

in which it flows northward to the lake, at a place 30 miles southeast 

of Cleveland. Its course is separable into three parts the long upper, 

southwesterly course, which is in a shallow and uneven channel 

through glacial topography, with no well-marked valley, and in which 

the fall is 600 feet, or about 9 feet to the mile; a short middle course, 

where it falls 220 feet in a gorge IK miles long, cut back into the east 

wall of the old valley; and the lower, northward course in the old 

valley, the only portion within these quadrangles.

The Cuyahoga carries to the lake the entire drainage of the Cleveland J quandrangle, except the extreme northeast and southwest 

corners, and also the Big Creek drainage of the eastern part of the 

Berea quadrangle. The stream is thoroughly graded, except for a 

few small rapids. It is very tortuous, its name, of Indian origin, 

meaning "crooked." Its actual length across the Cleveland quadrangle, following the channel, is more than 40 miles, or more than 

twice as great as the air-line distance along the valley. In this distance it drops 80 feet, so that the fall is less than 2 feet to the mile, 

which is much -gentler than that of any other stream of the region.
20 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The average discharge of the river at Independence is about 700 second - 

feet, from a drainage basin containing about 900 square miles, which 

is about 0.8 second-foot to the square mile. The flow is much the 

largest in March and least in midwinter and midsummer.

The chief tributaries to the Cuyahoga are Tinkers, Brandywine, 

and Mill Creeks from the east and Chippewa and Big Creeks and 

Furnace Run from the west. Tinkers Creek is the largest of these. 

It enters the quadrangle at the place where a moraine diverts it 

sharply westward from the old valley occupied by its upper part. 

In strong contrast to its broad upper valley, it occupies within the 

Cleveland quadrangle a narrow, steep-walled gorge, 100 feet deep, 

with a 30-foot fall over the Berea sandstone at the head of the gorge 

at Bedford. This part of its course is less than 7 miles long, and the 

drop is 310 feet, or 45 feet to the mile. Its upper course is longer 

and has a much gentler gradient of about 7 feet to the mile. Big 

Creek is about 14 miles long and drops 630 feet, an average grade of 

45 feet to the mile. It is a shorter and smaller stream than Tinkers 

Creek and should normally have a steeper slope. Chippewa Creek 

is about 7 miles in length and has a drop of more than 500 feet within 

that distance, or more thai* 70 feet to the mile, with its falls over the 

Berea sandstone just below Brecksville. The fall of Brandy wine 

Creek over the Berea sandstone at Brandywine, a straight plunge of 

75 feet, is the highest fall within the quadrangles. Mill Creek has a 

similar profile.

The Rocky River is a much smaller stream than the Cuyahoga, 

though no measurements are known of its volume. The source of the 

East Branch is not more than 30 miles south of the lake, and, except 

the headward part, it flows directly toward the lake. With the East 

Branch it is about 35 miles long and has a gradient of about 18 feet 

to the mile. Across the Berea quadrangle the West Branch falls 

about 10 feet to the mile. This is two and one-half times the Cuyahoga gradient, and the discrepancy is due chiefly to the differences 

in the two valleys, which have already been described.

The Euclid quadrangle is drained by streams that flow directly 

into the lake, chiefly Euclid Creek, Doan Brook, Dugway Brook, and 

Ninemile Creek. These all rise well back from the escarpment, on 

the gentle shale slopes of the Appalachian Plateaus in Warrensville 

Township, and flow northward in very shallow, narrow valleys to 

the places where they fall over the Berea sandstone into narrow, 

rock-walled valleys about 100 feet deep that have been cut backward 

from the edge of the Appalachian Plateaus. From the escarpment 

at the edge of the plateau they flow northward in shallow trenches 

in the Erie Plain to the lake.

The Erie Plain is so narrow across most of the district that it has 

no drainage distinct from the plateau; a number of small streams
BEDROCK SURFACE 21

head on the escarpment and flow directly across it to the lake. West 

of the Rocky River, where the plain broadens, the entire drainage 

of the plain consists of such streams, of which Cahoon and Porter 

Creeks are the largest. In this district the headwater parts of such 

creeks are much deflected by the lake ridges that cross their courses, 

as shown on the topographic map. Their valleys are shallow except 

near the lake, where they notch the shore cliffs, some to depths of 

30 to 50 feet. The larger streams all flow across the plain in sharply 

cut, generally narrow valleys from 50 to 100 feet deep.

Springs. The two great porous sandstones of the region, the 

Berea and Sharon, give rise to a host of copious springs along their 

lines of outcrop! Many streams head in the springs from the Sharon. 

Although there are springs of other origin also, these are so constant 

and abundant that they form a characteristic feature of the drainage.

BEDROCK SURFACE

In the Appalachian Plateaus the altitude, relief, and larger topographic features are due chiefly to the form of the bedrock surface, 

and only the minor drainage lines are completely filled by the drift. 

In the Erie Plain, however, the preglacial valleys are all filled about 

to the level of the interstream tracts, and it is only by boring that 

their positions and courses are determined. On the part of the plain 

within the Cleveland district the coating of drift on the preglacial 

interstream areas probably averages not more than 15 feet in thickness, but in northwestern Ohio these tracts as well as the preglacial 

valleys are covered with thick deposits of drift.

The most prominent parts of the Appalachian Plateaus within 

the Cleveland area have the resistant Sharon conglomerate as the cap 

rock. The Berea sandstone forms the immediate border of the Appalachian Plateaus east of the Cuyahoga River but runs into the Erie 

Plain near the west side of the Cleveland quadrangle. It stands 

somewhat above the area to the north of the plateau as far west 

as Berea but is buried under drift in the western half of the Berea 

quadrangle. This sandstone causes cascades on most of the streams 

that cross it.

The rock floor of the preglacial valleys is much lower than the 

beds of the present streams and in places much lower than the bed 

of Lake Erie. The present streams are controlled by the surface of 

the lake, but the preglacial drainage lines were connected with a 

trunk stream in the Erie Basin whose valley was cut to a level far 

below the bed of the present lake.

Borings in Cleveland and along the Cuyahoga Valley have shown 

the presence of a remarkably deep channel, with a rock floor in places 

near sea level. The preglacial valley is practically followed by the 

present river from Akron down as far as Willow, but from Willow to
22 GEOLOGY OP THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

the lake the present river has a course farther west than the preglacial course. 'The borings indicate that the deepest part of the 

preglacial valley runs nearly north from Willow, along or near East 

Fifty-fifth Street, to the shore of Lake Erie. In two places the rock 

is reported to be below sea level one at the shore of Lake Erie west 

of Gordon Park and the other east of Independence, about 12 miles 

from the lake. The records of several borings that show remarkably 

thick drift and low altitude of the bedrock have been collected by 

Prof. J. E. Hyde, of Western Reserve University. These records 

indicate a lower altitude near the east side of the preglacial Cuyahoga 

opposite Independence than in the middle and western parts of the 

valley.

There are two borings opposite the mouth of the preglacial valley 

of Tinkers Creek, one of which shows a rock floor 20 feet below sea 

level and the other 4 feet above. Five borings within an area of 

about 40 acres about half a mile farther west, near the middle of the 

valley, strike rock at 45, 50, 130, 275, and 306 feet above sea level. 

The borings reaching bedrock at 45 and 50 feet are a little farther 

east than the others. Several borings west of the middle of the 

valley enter rock at levels between 300 and 400 feet above sea level. 

The deep excavation thus seems to be confined to the eastern half 

of the old valley and to a width of about half a mile. The east bluff, 

only half a mile north of the place where the rock floor is lowest, 

has rock up to 800 feet above sea level and a mile farther north up 

to 930 feet. The bluff is therefore remarkably steep for a preglacial 

valley formed by subaerial erosion.

A line of borings running from east to west across the city of 

Cleveland, reported by Upham,1 shows a similar condition, as appears 

in the table below, slightly modified from the original.

Wells along or near Euclid and Detroit Avenues '^^

Between Garfield Monument and Wade Park...... ___________ . ......

Amesbury Avenue (East Ninety-third Street).. _________________

Lincoln Avenue (East Eighty-fourth Street) ________________ . .....

East Madison Avenue (East Seventy-ninth Street) _______________

Qiddings Avenue (East Seventy-first Street) ___________________

Wilson Avenue (East Fifty-fifth Street) .......... .... ..... ..... ..........

Case Avenue (East Fortieth Street) _ .........................................

Dodge Street (East Sixteenth Street) ............................................

Public Square __ ... _ _________________________

Cuyahoga bottom lands". _____________________________

Waverly Avenue _ ... _ . _ . _______________________

Lake Avenue and Detroit Street _ .............................................

Lake Avenue and Edgewater Park _____ ....................................

Distance 

west of 

Garfield 

Monument

Miles 

0.8

1.5

1.9

2.1

2.4

3.0

3.3

4.4

4.7

5.0

5.5 6. a

6.9

7.5

7.9

8.4

9.5

Depth of 

drift

Feet 

0

35

125

346

440

325

320

250

220

205

110

108

104

76

55

40

20

These 2 wells are on ground nearly 100 feet lower than the others. 

Upham, Warren, Qeol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 8, p. 9,1897.
BEDROCK SURFACE 23

With the two exceptions noted the wells are all about 100 feet 

above Lake Erie, so the deepest one recorded in the list strikes rock 

at 340 feet below the level of the lake, or 233 feet above sea level. 

There is, however, only "one boring, that at East Seventy-first Street, 

within a distance of nine-tenths of a mile in the deep part of the 

valley. There is thusjabundant room for a deeper channel about as 

wide as the deep one near Independence. Upham reported a boring 

north of this line, on ground only 50 feet above Lake Erie, that failed 

to reach rock at 520 feet, thus showing the rock surface there to be 

less than 100 feet above sea level.

Mr. H. A. Dempsey, a driller of Cleveland, reports a well drilled 

for the White Co., just southwest of Gordon Park, which reached 

rock at about sea level, or nearly the same as the level of the lowest 

bedrock surface near Independence. He also reports a well several 

miles to the south, just north of Forest City Park, which reached 

rock at about 40 feet^above sea level. He argues from data that he 

possesses that there is a deep channel in the floor of the Cuyahoga 

Valley, cut down to or slightly below sea level and running from a 

point at least 15 miles south of the lake; and that the channel is narrow, its width being about a^quarter of a mile. The data strongly 

suggest such a channel.

The Cuyahoga Valley is cut out of very weak shales, and before 

the discovery of this inneraand narrow deep channel Gushing was disposed to maintain that the valley had been deepened by glacial 

action. This inner channel, however, would seem to be fatal to this 

view, as it must have been cut by a stream, and glacial deepening 

would have obliterated it, although if it had become filled with sand 

prior to the glacial advance, its narrowness would have prevented 

vigorous ice action along it. A certain amount of glacial erosion in 

the valley is definitely suggested by the nearly vertical attitude of 

the valley walls here and there, as at the mouth of the preglacial 

valley of Tinkers Creek, already described, and even more prominently on the east wall of the valley opposite Boston Mills, where 

there seems to be a nearly vertical rock wall at least 700 feet high.

Borings along the Rocky River, although showing a channel cut 

about 200 feet below the level of Lake Erie, have not given evidence 

of excavation to a level corresponding to that on the Cuyahoga Valley. It is possible, however, that borings have not penetrated to 

bedrock in the deepest part of the preglacial Rocky River channel, 

for only a few borings have been made along its course. The valley 

of the preglacial Rocky River makes a gap more than a mile wide in 

the shale bluff where it enters Lake Erie, a short distance west of its 

present mouth, so that many borings are needed in order to test its 

depth fully.
24 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The preglacial Rocky River is followed by the East Branch across 

Strongsville Township, but thence the preglacial channel runs northward through Middleburg Township, passing east of Berea and 

embracing the headwater part of Abram Creek. It crosses to the 

west side of the present stream directly west of Kamms and continues 

a short distance west of the river from that point to the lake. The 

gap in the shale bluff west of the mouth of the present stream was 

interpreted by Newberry as marking the channel of the preglacial 

Rocky River, but the course of the channel was first traced by Dr. 

D. T. Gould, of Berea, several years later.

CULTURE

These three quadrangles are situated in one of the most densely 

populated regions of North America. A large and rapidly growing 

city contains the greater part of the population; the city is closely 

adjoined by suburban towns and villages that are practically parts 

of it and one by one become incorporated with it; and the villages 

steadily expand into the surrounding rural territory. The rural areas 

also are evenly and densely populated. The exact population of the 

quadrangles can not be given, because they do not contain all of 

Cuyahoga County and do contain parts of Medina, Summit, and 

Lorain Counties. But as the part of Cuyahoga County that is not 

included in these quadrangles is roughly equivalent in area to the 

included parts of these other counties, as no large village is situated 

in either, and as the rural population is about equally dense in all, it 

seems reasonable to assume that the population of the quadrangles is 

the same as that of Cuyahoga County. This was in 1910, 637,425, 

or about 1,275 to the square mile; in 1920, 943,495, or 2,038 to the 

square mile; in 1930,1,201,455, or 2,595 to the square mile.

The city of Cleveland in 1930 had a population of 900,429. Several 

immediately adjacent villages and towns are so closely grown to 

Cleveland that the community lines are obscure, although the 

civil distinctions remain. Bratenahl, East Cleveland, Euclid, South 

Euclid, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Garfield Heights, Newburg Heights, Lakewood, and Rocky River had in 1930 a population 

of 222,735. The Cleveland community, including these villages, 

together with thickly settled parts of adjacent townships, therefore 

probably has a total population of about 1,150,000.

The rural population is essentially agricultural. The Erie Plain is 

largely devoted to raising fruit, especially grapes. The whole district is under cultivation except a few excessively steep slopes, a few 

small marshy tracts, and parts of the high-level Pottsville (Sharon) 

conglomerate outliers. Owing to the nearness of the large city, truck 

gardening is extensively carried on. Especially well adapted to this
CULTURE 25

purpose are the sandy surface of the Cleveland moraine in Brooklyn 

Township, the filled old valley of Rocky River, and the black-soil 

areas formerly marsh accumulations just south of the old lake 

beaches in the Berea quadrangle.

On the plateau wheat, corn, oats, and hay are the principal crops 

and some fruit is raised. Little forest remains in these quadrangles 

except in the narrow stream valleys and on the Sharon summits of 

the plateau. This forest consists chiefly of hardwoods, and there are 

many groves of sugar maple that supply a large run of sap in the 

early spring.

Cleveland is a large manufacturing center and has distribution both 

by lake and by rail. It is near an abundant supply of excellent coal 

. and receives annually a huge tonnage of iron ore. A large proportion 

of each is used here, and the rest is transshipped. Manufacturing is 

far more diversified than in many other industrial centers. The city 

serves also as a distributing point for an extensive surrounding area. 

The quarry industry, of which both Berea and Euclid are or have 

been local centers, is large.

Two trunk-line railroads that follow the Erie Plain across Ohio, the 

New York Central and the New York, Chicago & St. Louis, pass 

through the quadrangles. Branch lines of the Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio, and Erie Railroads run into Cleveland from the main 

lines of these systems, which cross the plateau on the south. The 

lines of the Big Four Route begin at Cleveland and run west and southwest, and the Wheeling & Lake Erie has a terminal here. The Belt 

Line Railroad encircles the city and connects all these railroads. 

Seven electric railroads radiate from the city, along the Fake both east 

and west and to the southeast, south, and southwest, of which three 

' have recently been considerably restricted in the length of their lines 

in operation.

Passenger steamers to Buffalo and to Detroit leave Cleveland daily 

.-in the navigation season. The through boats from Buffalo to the 

upper lakes all dock at the city. Lines also run to Sandusky and the 

islands and across the lake to Port Stanley. Freight steamers in 

great numbers ply the lake, loaded for the most part with iron ore, 

coal, or grain. This traffic is closed in winter.

The Ohio Canal, which formerly extended from Lake Erie to the 

Ohio River, passes up the Cuyahoga Valley from Cleveland. No use 

is made of it at present, except as a source of water supply by certain 

industries under lease from the State.

All parts of the quadrangles are reached by public roads, many of 

which are graveled, others are ordinary dirt roads, and some are of 

clay. Over the clay roads traffic is very difficult in wet weather. 

Practically all the chief highways are paved with brick, concrete, or 

asphalt, and the paving is constantly being extended. 

2953 31 3
26 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The chief obstacles to railway and highway construction are thedeep Cuyahoga and Rocky River Valleys and the escarpment. 

Through east-west traffic has the grades of the valley walls to overcome ; that to the south must climb from the level of the plain to that 

of the plateau. The valleys must be crossed by long and costly highlevel bridges and viaducts, or else by steep grades. The New York 

Central Railroad crosses the Cuyahoga River at a low level (about 580 

feet) near its mouth, and then swings far south to Berea, which is 200" 

feet higher, so as to cross the two branches of the Rocky River abovethe falls and gorge. Westbound trains from Cleveland therefore havea heavy grade to overcome. Eastward the rise is more gradual. The 

New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad crosses the Cuyahoga Valley 

farther south by a long, high trestle, and the Belt Line crosses by a still 

higher one. Most of the roads running southward have steep grades 

across the quadrangles. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad runs up th© 

Cuyahoga Valley with a lower grade than that of any other of these- . 

roads, but this grade is balanced in part by an exceedingly heavy 

grade where the road leaves the valley at Akron. The other railroads, 

utilize small branch valleys. The Big Four goes up Walworth Run» 

the Erie up one branch of Kingsbury Run, the Wheeling & Lake Erie 

up Morgan Run, and the Pennsylvania follows in part the shallow 

valleys of Mill and Brandy wine Creeks. In its 20-mile course across 

the Euclid and Cleveland quadrangles the Pennsylvania roadbed rises 

420 feet, an average of 21 feet to the mile; this is a fair sample of the 

grades that must be overcome in passing from the Erie Plain to the1 

Appalachian Plateaus, unless heavy construction is resorted to. Themore recent Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, a unit of the New York 

Central system (not shown on the topographic map but following theeast wall of the Cuyahoga Valley), by a series of great fills and bridges 

across the tributary valleys, accomplishes the ascent by a grade of 

about 15 feet to the mile over many miles in length.

STRATIGRAPHY

GENERAL FEATURES

By H. P. GUSHING

The exposed rocks of the three quadrangles are wholly of sedimentary origin and range in age from late Devonian to Pleistocene. They 

fall into two general classes indurated stratified rocks of late Devonian and early Carboniferous age and unconsolidated surficial deposits 

of Pleistocene age. The Pleistocene deposits form a blanket of relatively slight thickness over the surface of nearly the whole district*. 

The indurated rocks everywhere underlie them and crop out in the 

beds and gorges of streams, in the escarpments, and in a few other 

places, and they have been exposed in numerous quarries and other . 

excavations. (See pi. 20.)
ROCKS NOT EXPOSED 27

The total thickness of Paleozoic strata exposed in the quadrangles 

is about 750 feet. The beds consist of shale, sandstone, and conglomerate of late Devonian, early Mississippian, and early Pennsylvanian 

age. There is as yet a lack of agreement among geologists as to the 

horizon where the line between the Devonian and Mississippian rocks 

should be drawn in this region. The Chagrin shale is of late upper 

Devonian age, belonging chiefly if not wholly to the Chemung epoch; 

the Cleveland and Bedford shales are classed by some geologists as 

uppermost Devonian and by others as lowest Mississippian; and the 

,Berea sandstone and overlying Orangeville and Meadville shales are 

classed by all as Mississippian. Rocks of late Mississippian age are 

completely lacking in these quadrangles, so that the Sharon conglomerate, of early Pennsylvanian age, the youngest Paleozoic formation 

of the quadrangles, rests unconformably upon the eroded surface of 

the Mississippian beds.

The rocks that are exposed are underlain by a large thickness of 

Devonian, Silurian, and Ordovician formations, and presumably of 

Cambrian also, resting on a floor of pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks. 

Many of these buried strata crop out in the western half of the State, 

so that their general character is known. Around Cleveland they 

have been identified in a general way by means of borings, some of 

which have penetrated more than 3,000 feet below the level of the 

lake. Their general character, sequence, and approximate thickness 

are shown graphically in Figure 3.

The superficial deposits comprise Pleistocene glacial and lacustrine 

deposits and Recent alluvium. They were formed under widely different conditions and occur in different parts of the area, and although 

their general order of superposition has been ascertained they do not 

form a continuous sequence of deposits and can not well be represented 

in a columnar section. They will be described in their appropriate 

place.

BOOKS NOT EXPOSED

By H. P. GUSHING

General features, Below ground the drill passes first through several 

hundred feet of shale and continues=through a great thickness of limestone with less amounts of °sKale, gypsum, and salt, called the Big 

lime by the driller. , Below this material a varying series of shale and 

limestone with a few thin bands of sandstone is passed through. 

This series also is very thick, no boring yet having reached its base. 

The upper shale and the Big lime are the buried parts of formations 

of Devonian and Silurian age that, can be studied in outcrop along the 

Erie Plain west of Cleveland and c:an be recognized in a general way in 

the well records. The rocks below the Big lime are of early Silurian 

antd Ordovician age, but surface outcrops of these are more remote, 

anli accurate comparisons are impossible.
' Ordovi-

[ cianor

Silurian

Chagrin shale

Shales of Portage age.

Luoai dolomite.

Bass Islands dolomite.

Salina formation

Niagara limestone.

Albion (?) sandstone.

Queenston (?) shale.

Ordorician ihales and limestones.

615+

FIGDHE 3. Generalized columnar section of the exposed rocks of the Cleveland, Berea, and Euclid 

quadrangles and of the rocks that have been penetrated in deep wells at Cleveland, Berea, and Lorain

28
ROCKS NOT EXPOSED 29

Ordovician and early Silurian rocks. A deep well drilled in 1910 at 

Lorain, 8 miles west of the Berea quadrangle, reached a depth of 

3,720 feet, 1,700 feet below the base of the Big lime, and one at Berea, 

drilled three years earlier, stopped at 3,200 feet and passed through 

734 feet of strata beneath the Big lime.

Logs of deep wells at Lorain and Berea

Lorain

Shale. ___________

Shell... - .............

Sand (?)........._......... *RAH Q iifli A

White slate............ ....

Slate..... . ...........

White shale.. ..............

Slate..... . .. _ ......

Slate.. __ .... ............

Thickness 

(feet)

750 

1,270 

25 

30 

33 

2 

23 

17 

65 

247 

58 

10 

20 

30 

15 

10 

545 

167 

233 

50 

30 

90

Depth 

(feet)

750 

2,020 

2,045 

2,075 

2,108 

2,110 

2,133 

2,150 

2,215 

2,462 

2,520 

2,530 

2,550 

2,580 

2,595 

2,605 

3,150 

3,317 

3,550 

3,600 

3,630 

3,720

Berea

Shale __ . ______ ..

Eed shale _ ..........

Thickness 

(feet)

1,075 

1,391 

239 

345 

150

Depth 

(feet)

1,075 

2,466 

2,705 

3,060 

3,200

The shale and limestone below the red beds in these wells are no 

doubt of Ordovician age and in the Lorain well very probably reach 

down into the early Ordovician (Beekmantown). The red beds 

themselves, 350 to 400 feet thick, probably represent the Queenston 

shale, whose nearest outcrops are in the Niagara Gorge and the 

peninsula of Ontario. They consist chiefly of very soft, very red 

shales, with interbedded sandstones that differ much from place to 

place. These sandstones are usually gray or greenish, and the red 

sand reported in the Lorain record may have been discolored from the 

shale above during drilling. Above the red shales come calcareous 

shales and thin limestones to the base of the Big lime. Locally a 

sandstone, which in western Cleveland and Lakewood is charged with 

natural gas, occurs in them near the base. -Some of these beds have 

a reddish tinge, though by no means so red as the Queenston (?) 

shale. In Ohio they have commonly been referred to the Clinton but 

are probably the representatives of the Albion sandstone. The 

drillers of the gas wells in Cleveland have paid particular attention to 

recording the beds at this horizon, and one of their well records will 

give a better idea of them than the records already quoted.
30 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

Record of gas well of Upson Nut Co., Cleveland

Shale-...... ............

Thickness 

(feet)

84

101

985

105 w»

245

105

460

Depth 

(feet)

84

185

1,170

1,275

1,580

1,825

1,930

2,390

Slate and shell __ .... .

Slate......... 

Slate and shell _______ -

Thickness 

(feet)

15

230

45

20

8

20

12

38

Depth 

(feet)

2,405

2,635

2,680

2,700

2,708

2,728

2,740

2,778

The pink sand near the bottom of the section is the sand referred to. 

Its thickness in few places in the Cleveland district exceeds 20 feet, 

and in many wells it is absent.

Across northeastern Ohio the Big lime is sharply separated into 

two distinct portions by the occurrence of an intermediate series of. 

beds that contain rock salt and gypsum. The limestone below the 

salt beds is chiefly of Niagaran age, has a thickness of about 500 feet, 

and in the upper half at least consists largely or wholly of dolomite. 

Midway in this limestone is another "sand," which is known to the 

drillers as the Newburg sand. It lies about 300 feet higher in the 

section than the so-called Clinton sand and ranges in thickness from 

15 or 20 feet down to the vanishing point. It is not a true sand but 

a granular, porous dolomite. Locally it contains considerable gas 

and a small quantity of oil.

Law Silurian (Cayugan) rocks. Beds of Salina age, consisting of 

alternations of rock salt, anhydrite (or gypsum), dolomite, and shale, 

are reported in practically all the drilled wells in the Cleveland district that reach the necessary depth. The formation has a thickness 

of at least 500 feet, and probably some of the limestone both above 

and below also belongs with it. There are several beds of fairly pure

rock salt, in many places having an aggregate thickness of 150 feet 

or more. In addition the interbedded limestones are more or less 

cavernous, and many of the cavities are filled with salt. The amount 

of salt, however, varies much from place to place and very irregularly. 

The well of the Cleveland Rolling Mill Co., drilled in 1885, was the 

first to penetrate the salt deposit, and its record gives as good an idea 

of the thickness and arrangement of the beds as any other. The part 

of the record concerned is as follows:

Partial log of well of Cleveland Rolling Mill Co.

Limestone __________

Rock salt and shale ...........

Anhydrite _____ . ........

Anhydrite ....................

"Sand". _ . __ ...... _ ...

Thickness 

(feet)

1,990

164

15

81

50

40

20

Depth 

(feet)

1,990

2,154

2,169

9 9^ft

2,300

2,340

2,360

Shale.. ________ . _ ....

Thickness 

(feet)

18

22

20

10

40

5

8

Depth 

(feet)

2,378

2,400

2,420

2,430

2,470

2,475

2,483
BOCKS NOT EXPOSED 31

Orton reports that the 164-foot unit consisted of alternate beds of

salt, anhydrite, limestone, and shale, the details of which were not

recorded by the driller. A well of the Union Salt Co., in Cleveland,

gives four alternations of salt and limestone in the upper 176 feet of

the Salina, the salt aggregating 131 feet.2

In contrast to the 500-foot thickness of beds containing salt and 

anhydrite in the rolling-mill well, only 105 feet is reported from the 

Upson well. Some wells farther west, as at Berea and Lorain, report 

none, and no salt is reported in any well west of Elyria. Furthermore, 

'the thickness of the Big lime in that region is much the same as it is 

in the Cleveland district, if the thickness of the Salina is deducted. 

The Big lime is 1,100 feet thick at Sandusky and from 1,500 to 1,700 

feet thick at Cleveland, where from 400 to possibly 600 feet of the 

thickness belongs to the Salina. This suggests the probability that 

the Salina rocks wedge out at Elyria and are absent west of that 

point. (See pp. 83, 86.)

The overlying Silurian beds are assigned to the Bass Islands 

dolomite, of Cayugan age. The carefully kept record of the rollingmill well indicates a thickness between 250 and 300 feet for this 

dolomite, which lithologically resembles the Devonian Lucas dolomite.

Devonian limestones. The basal Devonian formation in this area 

is the Sylvania sandstone, about 40 feet thick, which is overlain by 

the Lucas dolomite and younger limestones of Devonian age. In 

the rolling-mill well the Lucas is about 200 feet thick. In most of 

the wells the driller does not differentiate the Sylvania sandstone and 

includes the Bass Islands, Sylvania, and Lucas in the general mass 

of the Big lime. The Lucas and Bass Islands dolomites consist

 chiefly of compact magnesian limestone, generally brown but with 

some light-gray or dark-blue beds, of which the dark-blue beds are 

more calcareous than the rest. Many of the beds consist of angular 

breccias, have sun-cracked surfaces, and may be distinctly laminated. 

The freshly broken rock smells of petroleum. Many layers contain 

thin streaks of carbonaceous matter parallel with the bedding planes. 

The rocks are mostly thin and rather evenly bedded, though some are 

in massive layers. The outcrops on the Bass Islands and at Put in 

Bay are well known to most residents of Cleveland.

The Sylvania sandstone in its outcrop is a pure porous quartz sand. 

Underground it becomes less porous and has a calcareous cement. 

In the area in which it crops out it is much used as a glass sand.

The upper part of the Big lime consists of the limestone of Onondaga 

age and the Delaware limestone, both belonging to the Middle 

Devonian, the Delaware limestone being chiefly if not wholly of 

Hamilton age.

* Ohio Qeol. Survey Bull. 8, p. 35,1906.
32 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTKICT, OHIO

The limestone of Onondaga age in northern Ohio has a thickness of 

60 to 100 feet. Its nearest outcrops to Cleveland are at Sandusky and 

Marblehead and on Kelleys Island. This limestone is chiefly gray 

to brown, but its upper part is blue. The lower half of the formation 

is highly magnesian; the upper half much less so. Massive beds, as 

much as 10 feet thick, alternate with much thinner beds. In some 

layers there are nodules of light-colored chert, and many contain 

an abundance of beautifully preserved fossils.

At Sandusky the overlying Delaware limestone is also exposed, 

and its thickness here and elsewhere in northern Ohio is about 60 feet. 

It is chiefly a thin-bedded blue rock with nodules of light-colored 

chert in many of the beds. It is less magnesian and not so fossiliferous 

as the beds of Onondaga age.

Devonian shales. The most carefully kept and most detailed record 

of the shale series above the Big lime is supplied by a well near the 

corner of Euclid Avenue and East Fortieth Street in Cleveland.3 

Its record follows:

Log of well near Euclid Avenue and East Fortieth Street, Cleveland

lying bed) ..................

"S

Thickness 

(feet)

300

10

40

25

40

30

10

185

Depth 

(feet)

300

310

350

375

415

445

455

fun

gites) ... ....................

gites) .......................

Thickness 

(feet)

15

60

15

65

55

80fin

Depth 

(feet)

655

715

730

795

850

930

990

The 80 feet of calcareous gray shale near the bottom of the section no doubt is of Hamilton age and overlies the Delaware limestone in the Sandusky region. The overlying shales are of Portage 

age, and the alternations of black shale and gray or blue shale, with 

a thick band of gray shale midway, are characteristic of these shales 

throughout the region. These alternating black and gray shales, 

with a thickness of more than 600 feet, were called Huron shale by 

Newberry, who correlated them with the shales along the Huron 

River, the type locality. Newberry's view is still held by many 

geologists. Others, of whom the writer is one, believe that the two 

shales have nothing to do with each other, that these underground 

shales of the Cleveland section pinch out before the Huron River is 

reached, and that the true Huron shale is a higher formation and is 

wholly unrepresented in the section at Cleveland. The lower part of 

the Chagrin shale is also not exposed in the Cleveland region.

3 Ohio Geol. Survey Kept., vol. 6, p. 429,1888.
DEVONIAN SYSTEM 33 

BOOKS EXPOSED

The sequence, thickness, and general character of the late Devonian 

and early Carboniferous rocks that are exposed in the three quadrangles are shown graphically in the columnar section (fig. 3), and 

their detailed description follows.

DEVONIAN SYSTEM 

By H. P. GUSHING 

CHAGRIN SHALE

Definition. The Chagrin shale was named from the Chagrin 

River, along which between Willoughby and Gates Mill are many 

cliffs that excellently expose much of the upper part of the formation. It consists of very soft and pure greenish-gray or bluish-gray 

clay shale, with a few thin bands of flagstone and more numerous

bands of flattened, hard reddish concretions. The drill shows it 

to have a thickness of about 500 feet at Cleveland, but only the 

uppermost 175 feet is exposed, and the remainder lies beneath the 

level of the lake.

The formation was originally called the "Erie shale," but the name 

was in 1903 changed to Chagrin, because Erie was preoccupied.

Distribution and occurrence. In the Euclid and Cleveland quadrangles the Chagrin shale occupies the entire surface of the Erie 

Plain between the escarpment and the lake, also the lower part of 

the slope of the escarpment. It extends up the Cuyahoga Valley to 

and beyond the south margin of the Cleveland quadrangle, and up 

the valleys of the smaller streams, notably Euclid, Tinkers, and Big 

Creeks. West of the Cuyahoga the westward dip carries more and 

more of the formation below the level of the lake, and much of the 

Erie Plain is covered by the overlying Cleveland shale. Along the 

Rocky River only 80 feet of the formation remains above the lake 

surface, and at the west edge of the Berea quadrangle its top passes 

beneatE the lake. Between the Cuyahoga and Rocky Rivers it is 

the surface rock of a strip of the Erie plain about 1 mile broad. It 

runs up the Rocky River Valley for about 4 miles, but west of this 

river it is for the most part confined to the cliffs along the lake. The 

chief exposures are in the stream beds and banks and in the lake 

cliffs. Nearly everywhere else it is covered by drift, in some places 

very thinly, in others very deeply.

Character. The formation consists characteristically of blue-gray 

clay shale. In the unweathered material shaly cleavage is not 

prominent, and the rock is obtained from pits and excavations in 

large solid masses. Fragments of the rock are readily crushed to an 

impalpable powder beneath a hammer or pestle. On exposure it 

weathers very quickly to a soft sticky clay instead of crumbling to 

platy fragments. As exposed in steep cliffs along the streams it is
34 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

so soft yet so tenacious that it becomes gullied by the rains from top 

to bottom, as may be seen on Euclid Creek. (See pi. 1.) Stones 

thrown against such a cliff when it is damp often adhere or even 

deeply embed themselves instead of rebounding and falling to the 

base.

Thin layers of flattened concretions 1 inch or less in thickness and 

from 3 to 8 inches in diameter occur in the formation. The concretions are blue within and are exceedingly tough and hard, containing a considerable percentage of lime and iron carbonates. On 

exposure to the weather they stain reddish by the oxidation of the 

iron to limonite.

Layers of shaly sandstone, generally thin but reaching in places a 

thickness of 6 inches, are of common occurrence in the formation but 

are very irregularly distributed. As a rule they contain many flakes 

of silvery mica, and in places they are finely laminated. They 

commonly contain marcasite, and marcasite concretions are scattered 

throughout the formation.

Variation. South and east of Cleveland the extreme upper part 

of the formation is of somewhat different character. Sandy greenishgray shale of slightly calcareous nature is interbedded with the soft 

blue shale, and locally thin bands of gray impure limestone are also 

found. Calcareous concretions appear in the soft shales in spotty 

fashion instead of being in continuous bands, and they are much less 

flattened than the concretions in the bands. These upper bWs contain fossils more or less abundantly and in that respect also differ 

from the main mass of the formation.

West of Cleveland the upper part of the formation becomes much 

more sandy. The sections along Big Creek and the Rocky River 

show a much greater proportion of sandy beds in the uppermost 50

feet of the formation than is found at or east of Cleveland. These 

beds are thinly laminated fine-grained gray micaceous sandstones, 

many of them containing marcasite, which are quite like the less 

common beds elsewhere. Here they are more numerous and thicker, 

a few beds reaching a thickness of 6 inches. In the most western 

localities, west of the Rocky River along the lake shore, thin beds of 

black shale are interbedded with the blue shale and sandstone in the 

upper part of the formation. These beds are softer and less black 

than the typical black shale of the district but are quite distinct 

from the blue-gray shale.

Fossils. Fossils are practically absent from the Chagrin shale in 

the Cleveland district, except in the uppermost few feet of it south 

and east of the city. Elsewhere none are found except obscure 

markings on the surfaces of some of the sandy beds which suggest 

fucoids and worm trails but whose real nature is wholly problematic. 

The upper beds carry a fauna consisting chiefly of brachiopods, in
DEVONIAN OK CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS 35

which a few forms are^very abundant and a considerable number of 

others are very scarce. This fauna has never been exhaustively 

collected and studied, but a partial list is here given: 

Chonetes setiger.

Spirifer disjunctus. 

Dalmanella tioga. 

Camarotoechia contracta. 

Camarotoechia orbicularis. 

Camarotoechia sp. 

Leiorhynchus mesicostale. 

Sphenotus clavulus? 

Grammysia communis? 

Gomphoceras sp. 

Sphenotus contractus. 

Lingula sp.

Reticularia praematura. 

Productella lachrymosa. 

Productella hirsuta. 

Athyris polita? 

Cyrtia alta.

Streptorhynchus chemungensis. 

Ambocoelia umbonata. 

Edmondia obliqua? 

Euomphalus hecale. 

Spathiocaris chemungensis. 

Schizodus cf. S. chemungensis. 

Leptodesma sp.

The most favorable localities for collecting Chagrin fossils in the district are on Tinkers Creek below Bedford and on Chippewa Creek east 

of Brecksville. They may also be found in Brandywine Creek but are 

very rare on Big Creek. They are not known to occur in the Euclid 

Creek or Doan Brook sections or anywhere else in or west of Cleveland.

Age and correlation. The fauna found in the Chagrin shale permits 

its fairly definite correlation with the Upper Devonian Chemung formation of New York. The faunas are not identical in all respects, however, and the Chagrin fauna is closest to the fauna of the extreme upper 

Chemung, as it appears in western New York and Pennsylvania.

The variations in the formation across the district, which have been 

already described, are but the local phases of a variation which the 

formation exhibits across all of northeastern Ohio. East of Cleveland the formation steadily thickens, and it is at least 700 feet 

thicker at the Pennsylvania State line than it is at Cleveland. In 

the eastern part of the State the fossils range down through a thickness of several hundred feet instead of being limited to the top layer, 

as at Cleveland. West of Cleveland the formation passes beneath 

the lake level, and what becomes of it is uncertain, though unquestionably its thinning continues. Some geologists hold that it pinches 

out entirely before the Huron River is reached; others believe that 

it changes in character westward, passing laterally into a black 

shale.

DEVONIAN OE CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS 

CLEVELAND SHALE

Definition. The type locality of the Cleveland shale is at Cleveland and more particularly the Doan Brook section, in the eastern 

part of the city. It has there a thickness of about 50 feet and is 

excellently exposed in two cliffs along the brook, in a cut along North 

Park Boulevard, and along the Cedar Road hill. Its contact with 

the underlying Chagrin shale is well shown along the brook, and the
36 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTKICT, OHIO

contact with the overlying Bedford shale in the boulevard cut. It 

consists chiefly of very black fissile shale, most of which weathers 

with considerable rapidity to loose masses of thin, slaty fragments 

that rapidly stain brown. Some layers are thicker and weather 

much less rapidly. Sharp difference of opinion prevails as to the 

precise age of this formation; it is classed in the Devonian by many 

geologists, whereas others regard it as belonging to the Carboniferous. 

Distribution and occurrence. At and east of Cleveland most of the 

outcrops of Cleveland shale are on the front of the escarpment or 

on the steep banks of streams, so that they occupy only a very nar-' 

row strip of territory. At and beyond Euclid the formation extends 

to the top of the first rise of the escarpment and has a greater breadth 

of outcrop. West of the Cuyahoga it lies wholly north of the escarpment and occupies a broad zone on the surface of the Erie 

Plain a zone that steadily broadens toward the west and is from 3 

to 5 miles wide across the Berea quadrangle, because the width of 

the Erie Plain increases west of the Cuyahoga. Farther west, owing 

to the westerly dip, the formation is largely confined to the lake 

cliffs and at Avon Point its base is practically down to lake level. 

It is exposed continuously in the lake cliffs in Avon Township. 

East of Cleveland it crops out on the escarpment slope and at many 

places in road and railroad cuts. The most impressive display is that 

along the Rocky River between Berea and Kamms; for a distance of 

4 miles along the valley there are numerous vertical cliffs that are 

composed of Cleveland shale from top to bottom. 

{/Character. The Cleveland shale consists of a lower and an upper 

division, which exhibit considerable lithologic contrast and differ 

greatly in distribution. The upper division consists entirely of black 

shale, whereas blue shale and thin hard sandstones alternate with the

black shale in the lower division, which is herein called the Olmsted 

shale member. East and south of Euclid and Cleveland only the 

upp^r division occurs. In the Euclid Creek and Doan Brook sections and west of Cleveland the lower or Olmsted shale member is 

present, and it increases rapidly in thickness westward until it greatly 

exceeds the thin upper division. The whole formation has a thickness of about 100 feet on the west margin of the Berea quadrangle, 

about 75 feet on the Rocky River, 70 feet on Big Creek, 55 feet on 

Doan Brook and Euclid Creek, and 18 feet on Tinkers Creek.

The upper division of the Cleveland shale consists of black, mostly 

very fissile shale and has a thickness of 20 to 40 feet. It is present 

everywhere within the area mapped except where it has been removed 

by erosion. It has a deep, dull-black color when freshly broken and 

moist; when dry it is gray-black. It contains many tiny scales of 

white mica, most of them too minute to be seen except with the aid 

of a lens. Otherwise the rock seems to be constituted of uniform
DEVONIAN OR CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS 37

black mud. There is much marcasite (iron sulphide) in the rock, 

chiefly as concretions. On weathering the iron oxidizes, staining the 

shale brown and forming sulphates, and the rock breaks down into 

brown slaty fragments, the surfaces of many of which are mottled 

with thin crystals of gypsum or pickeringite. Most of the shale has 

a very pronounced cleavage and on weathering splits readily into 

thin, even sheets. Some beds are much more massive, and the rock 

splits irregularly and with difficulty and weathers into concentric 

shells that break up into flat flakes. These beds are found in the 

upper part of the formation or alternate with the more slaty beds.

The lower division or Olmsted shale member consists chiefly of 

black shale but contains also beds of blue shale and of thin gray 

sandstone and here and there a thin calcareous bed with the peculiar 

^ structure known as cone in cone. Much of the black shale in the 

Olmsted member is softer and less black and slaty than the black 

shale of the upper division, though beds of both types alternate. 

The blue shale is blue-gray, soft, and fissile and weathers into thin 

leaves, in this respect differing materially from the soft shale of 

the Chagrin, which weathers down to masses of sticky clay. The 

Olmsted member is absent from the Cuyahoga Valley.

The sandstones of the Cleveland shale are thin, laminated micaceous 

light-gray flags, much like those in the Chagrin but usually smoother 

and less apt to show the rough markings found on the under surfaces 

of many of the Chagrin flags. They are mostly confined to the lower 

part of the Olmsted member. In the upper part very thin layers of 

white papery flags occur in places.

The cone-in-cone beds consist of thin light-gray limestone, from 1 to 

3 inches thick, are of lenticular form, and pinch out at no great distance. They are common in the western sections of the Olmsted member of the Cleveland but are unknown east of the Rocky River. They 

are not found in the upper division of the formation so far as known.

Fossils. Throughout most of the Cleveland shale fossil remains or 

traces of any kind are very scarce. But here and there a bed holds 

them in abundance, and all beds contain a few. The fossils are of 

few kinds, consisting of remains of fishes, fragments of plants, shells 

of a few species of brachiopods, chiefly of the inarticulate group, 

shells of uncertain nature but probably belonging to a crustacean, and 

tiny conodonts. The more common brachiopods are Orliculoidea 

herzeri and Lingula melie, but they are of very erratic distribution. 

Within the area shown on the map the writer has found them only 

on Euclid Creek and in the sections in southern Cleveland (Mill Creek, 

Belt Line cut, Cleveland & Youngstown cut). Here they are found 

only in the extreme upper layer of the black shale, which is only a few 

inches thick and which presents features suggesting that it consists 

of reworked black mud and really belongs with the overlying Bedford
38 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTR ICT, OHIO

shale. It also contains rare specimens of other brachiopods, which 

suggest the Bedford forms.

Supposed crustaceans are found in both divisions. In the upper 

division the form is large, Spathiocaris williamsi; in the Olmsted 

member the much smaller species S. cushingi is found. This is the 

most abundant fossil in the Olmsted shale, being especially common 

in the lower layers of black shale, and it seems an excellent horizon 

marker. As lower and lower beds of this shale appear in passing westward, this fossil invariably follows them down, and it has been found 

in every section of the formation in the Berea quadrangle.

Fragments of plants occur rather abundantly as fossils, especially in 

the Olmsted member. In some layers Sporangites are very numerous

The most notable fossils of the Cleveland shale are the fish remains. 

Single tiny scales of ganoids are the most common fossils in the 

formation; teeth and spines of sharks are occasionally found; and in a 

few localities the careful and laborious search of local observers has 

resulted in considerable collections of the bony plates and jaws of 

large, armored fishes of ancient types and of other classes of fishes as 

well. From the valleys of the Rocky River and Big Creek and from 

the shales in the eastern part of the city of Cleveland such collections 

have been made. The material has come from both the upper and 

lower divisions of the formation but chiefly from the lower (Olmsted 

shale member). A list of the fishes found here follows:

Cladodus claypolei. 

Cladodus rivi-petrosi. 

Monocladus clarki. 

Monocladus pinnatus. 

Cladoselache clarki. 

Cladoselache fyleri. 

Cladoselache kepleri.

Cladoselache sinuatus. 

Hoplonchus parvulus. 

Ctenacanthus clarki. 

Coccosteus cuyahogae.

Dinichthys curtus. 

Dinichthys gouldi. 

Dinichthys gracilis. 

Dinichthys prentis-clarki. 

Brontichthj'S clarki. 

Titanichthys attenuatus. 

Titanichthys brevis.

Titanichthys clarki. 

Trachosteus clarki. 

Ctenodus wagneri. 

Actinophorus clarki.

Dinichthys clarki.

West of the district mapped such fish remains have been found at 

several points in Lorain County together with some species not in the 

above list because they have not yet been seen in the Cleveland district.

Unconformity between the Cleveland and Chagrin shales. In all 

sections from the Rocky River eastward the contact between the 

Chagrin and Cleveland shales is very clear cut and appears very 

even. (See pi. 2, A.) Yet careful study shows that it is not really 

even but that the Cleveland rests on different beds of the Chagrin 

shale at different outcrops. The Cleveland has a basal bed heavily 

charged with marcasite, and this bed differs in thickness from place 

to place, owing to trifling irregularities in the surface on which it 

was deposited. The upper bed of the Chagrin shale is overlain in
DEVONIAN OR CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS 39

many places by a thin streak of soft, clayey material, which exhibits 

a weathered character even where the shale above and below it is 

perfectly sound and fresh, suggesting that it was weathered before 

the Cleveland shale was deposited upon it, and that a time of emergence separated the two epochs of shale deposition. There is certainly a break between the two formations, and to the writer it 

appears to be much the most widespread and significant break in the 

series and to mark the line between the Devonian and Carboniferous 

systems. Some geologists, however, deny that there is a break here, 

regard the Cleveland shale as Devonian, and draw the line at the 

base of the Berea sandstone. In the present state of knowledge the 

United States Geological Survey classifies the Cleveland and Bedford 

shales as Devonian or Mississippian and places the boundary of 

unqualified Mississippian at the base of the Berea. It is so shown 

on the accompanying map.

In the Do an Brook section the base of the Cleveland rests on very 

soft and disintegrated Chagrin shale with sharp, even contact. There 

is no trace of the hard beds containing fossils that appear on the 

south and east. In Mill Creek the contact is similar, and the Cleveland is underlain by a large thickness of soft shale from which sand 

beds are entirely absent. The contact is very slightly wavy. At 

Bedford about 1 foot of similar shale lies below the contact, underneath which occurs several feet of sandy shale and at intervals a 

band of flags containing Chagrin fossils, sediments unlike any found 

on Doan Brook or Mill Creek. At the base of the Cleveland is an 

intermittent marcasite band, ranging in thickness from 2 inches to 

a thin film and conforming to the slightly irregular surface of the 

underlying shale. On Brandywine Creek there is an even greater 

thickness of these upper sandy fossiliferous beds at the top of the 

Chagrin, and the sharp Cleveland contact is on a solid sandstone 

bed nearly a foot thick. On Ninemile and Euclid Creeks these upper 

sandy fossiliferous beds are wholly absent, and the Cleveland rests on 

soft barren shale that contains a few thin layers of flat concretions. 

The contact is very sharp, but the base is slightly wavy. The thin 

basal marcasite layer is very persistent but ranges in thickness from 

1 inch down to a mere film. Below it is a persistent but very thin 

streak of yellow clay, and below that the soft Chagrin shale. Many 

other sections could be cited to show variations from place to place 

similar to these.

Emphasis is placed on the facts that the upper sandy fossiliferous 

beds of the Chagrin are confined to sections in which the thickness 

of the Cleveland is less than 40 feet and that they are absent in 

sections like those between and including Doan Brook and Euclid 

Creek, where this thickness is from 40 to 60 feet and where both sand 

and'fossils are absent. This condition indicates that in these sections
40 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

certain beds elsewhere present are lacking, or that the Cleveland 

rests on different horizons of the Chagrin from place to place.

The Big Creek and Rocky River sections are in the zone of rapid 

thickening of the Cleveland by additions at its base; the additions 

are chiefly black shale but include a few bands of blue fissile shale. 

The Chagrin beneath becomes much more sandy than at Cleveland 

and Euclid. There is no question as to the distinctness of the two. 

formations at the contact, which is everywhere sharp. The contact 

is usually at the top of one of the flagstone bands but drops from one 

such band to another successively in passing west, and locally the 

Cleveland rests on soft shale. Where it rests on shale the thin streak 

of yellow clay is usually present between the two, and the variable 

marcasite basal layer of the Cleveland is present in many places also, 

with its characteristic oolitelike marcasite grains. Even where the 

Cleveland lies on flagstone a film of yellow clay in some places intervenes between this and the black shale, and the marcasite layer also 

appears here and there. The evidence is fairly convincing that the 

Cleveland rests on different beds of the Chagrin from place to place or 

lies on a surface beveled off by erosion before it was deposited.

In the sections west of the Rocky River (Dover Bay, Cahoon and 

Porter Creeks, Eagle Cliff, and Avon Point) it is very difficult to 

determine the actual base of the Cleveland shale, because the beds 

added to the base of the Cleveland contain much blue shale and some 

flagstone, and at the same time blackish shales appear in the Chagrin, 

so that there is no sharp, lithologic break, as there is farther east. 

Yet hi all these sections (with one possible exception) a break was 

located at a contact between a band of black shale above and a blue 

shale or flagstope below, marked by a streak of yellow clay and ah 

intermittent marcasite band, as in the sections above described, 

The crustacean Spathiocaris cushingi is found in every section in the 

black shale down to the horizon of this break and is not found below 

it so far as the writer has been able to discover. The plant fragments in the shales above and below this line represent different forms. 

This break is 22 feet above the lake level on Cahoon Creek and from 

2 to 8 feet above it in the cliff sections around Avon. Point. Careful 

scrutiny is needed to locate it, and it may easily escape recognition.

This break is thought by the writer to be the local representative 

of the widespread break farther south at the base of the Chattanooga 

shale and to be a more significant break than those at the base of 

the Bedford shale and of the Berea sandstone described below.

BEDFORD SHALE

Definition. The Bedford shale was named by J. S. Newberry 

from the very excellent section of the formation that is exposed in 

the gorge of Tinkers Creek at Bedford. It there has a thickness of 

about 85 feet and is composed chiefly of soft blue shale, in which are
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SUBVEY 

CLIFF OF CHAGRIN SHAKE NEAR KUCLID CREEK, THREE-FOURT

View looking oast. The cliff is about 80 feet high. The thin harder bands here and there a

the top the base of the black Cleveland shale ap
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

"*VCr&!

A. SHALK BANK OF CLEVELAND BRICK & CLAY CO. 

NEAR CLEVELAND

Section in foreground shows 20 feet of black and blue Cleveland 

shale and 88 feet of Chagrin shale.

/f. QUARRY 

View shows ab

he stripped, 

methods of left channel
IT. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

BEDFORD SIIALK IN OLD QUARRY ON EUCLID CREEK, 1H MIL

View looking southeast. About 12 feet of the "Euclid blues tone" shows above the water lev

shale partings; above lies 20 feet of soft blue shale, with here and there thin bands of 

bands the shale is red, soft, and homogeneous and passes upward into the thin sheet o
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 4

BEDFORD SHALE AT TYPE LOCALITY, TINKERS CREEK, BEDFORD

Bank about 90 feet high, showing 20 feet of (he Berea sandstone above and nearly the entire 

thickness of the Bedford beneath, consisting of blue shale with thin bands of flags or concretions 

here and there, but with no blues tone and no red shale in the section. On the left is seen the 

edge of one of the large downfallen blocks of Berea sandstone.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

ISKDKORD SHALE 2 MILES SOUTH-SOUTHEAST 

Shows beds of shale with strong dip lo Lhe right, overlain by horizontal shales; a thin sa
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

LEIHJES ON TINKERS CREEK JUST WKST OF PEN.MSY I

View looking soul.h. Shows the upper 40 feet of the Herea sandstone, overlain hy th

representing the Siinlmry shale, overlain in turn hy 8 feet of the Aurora san
DEVONIAN OR CARBONIFEROUS ROCKS 41

at intervals bands of thin flagstone and of hard, calcareous concretions. Elsewhere it differs materially from this description, and 

it is the most variable formation in the section.

Distribution and occurrence. In the Cleveland and Euclid quadrangles excellent exposures of the entire thickness of the formation 

are found along many streams, notably Euclid, Tinkers, Brandywine, 

and Skinners Creeks. It is also excellently shown on Big Creek and 

the two branches of the Rocky River. East of the Cuyahoga a sandstone (the Euclid sandstone lentil) within the Bedford formation caps 

a terrace averaging half a mile in breadth, the lowest and northernmost one of the three that here constitute the escarpment. This 

terrace extends up the Cuyahoga Valley as an obscure shoulder on 

each wall, though narrower and less prominent than at the escarpment front. The sandstone is present as far west as the southwest

headwater tributary of Big Creek in the Berea quadrangle, but its 

terrace has disappeared, and the Bedford forms the foot of the escarpment front and part of the Erie Plain, with a breadth of outcrop of a 

mile or more. West of the Rocky River the formation lies wholly 

within the Erie Plain and is so completely covered with drift that 

little can be told about it.

Character. The Bedford is essentially a soft clay shale, very similar 

in character to the soft shales of the Chagrin. Much of it is blue, 

much of it is dull red, and locally some of it is black. West of the 

Cuyahoga the larger part of the shale is red; east of the river blue 

prevails. Where both colors occur in the same section the red shale is 

generally above the blue. The black shale is found only at the base of 

the formation. Much of the rock is exceedingly dense and firm when 

freshly exposed and is lacking in fissility, so much so that the excavator 

usually calls the rock soapstone, as he does also the Chagrin shale. 

It weathers with extreme rapidity, chiefly by checking into irregular 

fragments that suggest shrinkage-cracked mud. Fissility develops 

in some beds but hardly at all in others, and all the material is exceedingly soft and tender when wet, though it becomes fairly firm on thorough drying. The red shale is even weaker than the blue, so that its 

characteristic occurrence in outcrop is as a red mud, and hand speci-r 

mens of the firm rock can be collected only when an excavation is 

being made.

Interbedded with the shales are bands of blue-gray sandstone and 

of hard dark-gray concretions. (See pi. 3.) The concretionary bands 

occur at all horizons but are'more^common near the base. They consist of fine sand and clay, thoroughly tcemen ted by lime and iron carbonates, and there is much variation in the relative amounts of lime 

and of sand. Mostly they are fine grained and exceedingly hard and 

flinty. They weather reddish. 

2953 31 i
42 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The sandstone bands are usually from 3 to 10 inches thick and 

occur singly, separated by different thicknesses of shale. Locally 

they thicken, the interbedded shales becoming very thin, and form 

a sandstone member from 10 to 25 feet thick in which some very 

massive beds occur. The stone is light blue-gray, is very fine grained, 

and contains a considerable quantity of argillaceous matter and a little 

calcareous matter. The surface of most of the beds is beautifully 

ripple marked. Such a sandstone (the Euclid sandstone lentil), about 

20 feet thick, occurs across the eastern part of the city of Cleveland. 

It is known commercially as the Euclid bluestone. It extends from 

Euclid southwestward into and up the Cuyahoga Valley beyond 

Brecksville but is missing between Newburg and Bedford. It contains massive beds 2 or 3 feet thick, makes an admirable flagstone, 

and in past years was largely quarried for that purpose, particularly 

at Euclid. (See pis. 2, B, and 3.) It lies near the base of the formation, with 2 to 10 feet of blue shale and thin flagstone between it and 

the Cleveland. Shallow sand channels descend from its base into 

the shale beneath, and many of them show rounded flow markings 

very beautifully. The stone contains many concretions, some of 

marcasite and some of gray lime-iron composition.

In and west of Cleveland many sections show some black shale 

in the basal part of the Bedford. In the vicinity of Doan Brook a 

basal bed, about 6 inches thick, of dense gray-black nonfissile shale, 

which is coarser grained than the ordinary Cleveland shale, seems to 

grade upward into the overlying blue shale, has a sharp contact with 

the ordinary Cleveland beneath, and carries invertebrate fossils that 

are also found in the next succeeding shales with the typical Bedford 

fauna. It has every appearance of being reworked black mud, and 

on this account it is included in the Bedford shale instead of in the

Cleveland. On Mill Creek is a similar zone only 2 or 3 inches thick, 

which has already been described. The greatest known thickness of 

these black beds in the Bedford is found in the Skinners Run section, 

where they contain sandstone bands and lenses identical in character 

with the usual Bedford sandstones and have a thickness of more than 

25 feet.

Variation. The Bedford shale shows great variation in character 

and in thickness from place to place within the district. The Euclid 

Creek sections show about 15 feet of basal blue shale with thin flags, 

on which lies about 25 feet of Euclid sandstone, capped by 30 to 50 

feet of shale, the upper 10 to 15 feet of which is usually red and the 

remainder blue. (See pi. 4.) The Doan Brook and Mill Creek 

sections are very similar. The Tinkers Creek section differs materially. No red shale is present, and the whole 85 feet consists of blue 

shale with thin courses of flagstone and here and there a concretionary 

band. The zone from 40 to 65 feet above the base contains much more
DEVONIAN OE CAEBONIFEKOUS ROCKS 43

sandstone than the rest, but the beds all alternate with shale. (See 

pi. 4.) A few miles farther south the small creeks show an even more 

sandy zone about 30 feet above the base of the formation. On 

Brandywine' Creek the Bedford is only 65 feet thick, the basal 50 feet 

being nearly all blue shale, upon which lies 7 feet of massive sandstone 

and 9 feet of alternating shale and sandstone, with the Berea directly 

above. On Chippewa Creek the sandstone is much lower, more in 

the position of the Euclid lentil, and the top of the formation is red 

shale.

In strong contrast to these stand the sections farther west, of which 

those on Skinners Run and the Rocky River will serve as examples. 

On Skinners Run the Bedford is about 90 feet thick. The lower 25 

feet consists chiefly of black shale, containing many irregular bands 

and lenses of blue sandstone, large concretions, and much marcasite.

The beds are greatly disturbed. The sandstone beds decrease laterally to thin sheets of sandy material that may wholly pinch out 

within several yards. Vertical shoots run off. from these beds along 

joint cracks and much resemble narrow dikes of igneous rock, but the 

material in them is a mixture of sand and marcasite, the marcasite 

in many places in considerable masses. The shales dip in all directions and show numerous small folds and faults, but none of these 

disturbances involve a great thickness of the rock, and the overlying 

and underlying shale is not affected. (See pi. 5.) These conditions 

indicate that the disturbance took place at the time of deposition and 

was probably due to the currents that brought in the sands. Above 

this black shale lies 20 feet of blue shale and flags succeeded by about 

50 feet of soft red shale.

The Rocky River section is very similar to this one, the Bedford 

having a thickness of about 80 feet. The lower 25 feet consists of 

black shale, with a blue band midway, and at the top and bottom a bed 

of calcareous sandstone that contains Bedford fossils. Above lies 

15 feet of blue shale, capped by 40 to 45 feet of soft red shale.

The thickness of the formation within the district ranges from 40 to 

110 feet. The greater part of this difference is due to irregular wearing 

away of the upper beds by the currents that brought in the sands of 

the Berea formation.

Fossils. Most of the Bedford shale is barren of fossil remains, but 

in most sections rather abundant fossils may be found in the basal 

few feet. In these barren shale formations search for fossils is most 

likely to meet with success just above and just below the black Cleveland shale. The best localities for collecting Bedford fossils in the 

district are in Tinkers and Brandywine creeks, where they occur in 

soft shale and in hard concretions, and in the branches of Euclid 

Creek, where they occur in somewhat calcareous, sandy shale. In the 

soft shale many shells are present, but they are all crushed. In
44 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

the sandy shale the fossils have kept their shape better, but the shell 

is gone. Very few are found in the sandstones. They would be 

plentiful at Cleveland if the base of the formation were well exposed, 

and large collections may be made from artificial excavations, such 

as the new Baldwin Reservoir.

The fauna has long been known but has never been thoroughly 

studied and described. As the bulk of the forms are of undescribed 

species, only a very imperfect list of them can be given. The pelecypods are chiefly represented by species that have a strong likeness to 

Devonian (Hamilton) forms. Similar forms are, however, found in 

the undoubted Mississippian elsewhere. The brachiopods do not as 

strongly suggest the Devonian.

Lingula meeki? 

Lingula sp. (large form). 

Orbiculoidea herzeri. 

Orbiculoidea sp. 

Pholidops n. sp. 

Schuchertella herricki. 

Schuchertella morsei. 

Camarotoechia kentuckiensis. 

Camarotoechia sp. 

Chonetes n. sp. 

Productella pyxidata? 

Strophalosia sp. 

Rhipidomella n. sp. 

Cranaena n. sp. 

Cryptonella n. sp. 

Nucleospira n. sp. 

Camarospira? sp. 

Syringothyris carter!? 

Delthyris n. sp. 

Athyris aff. A. lamellosa. 

Ambocoelia norwoodi.

Palaeoneilo bedfordensis. 

Leda n. sp.

Parallelodon irvinensis. 

Pterinopecten? n. sp. 

Pterinopecten? n. sp. 

Cypricardella n. sp. 

Cypricardinia sp. 

Sphenotus sp. 

Pholadella sp. 

Ptychodesma? n. sp. 

Prothyris n. sp. 

Bellerophon sp. 

Tropidodiscus sp. 

Pleurotomaria sp. 

Bembexia sp. 

Platyceras sp. 

Loxonema sp.

Conularia aff. C. newberryi. 

Orthoceras sp. 

Goniatites sp. 

Brachymetopus sp.

Several ostracodes occur; also crinoids, too badly preserved to be 

determinable; and rarely remains of fishes. One specimen of a 

hexactinellid sponge has been found. Near the base of the formation, 

on Mill Creek, numerous specimens of Lycopodites are found in a 

single layer.

The basal, fossiliferous layer on Euclid Creek is a hard sandy calcareous shale, and the fauna shows a quite different expression there 

compared with that in the soft shale at Cleveland and Bedford. The 

species are the same but differ much in abundance in the two localities, 

a difference which seems certainly due to the contrasted conditions 

of sedimentation in the two places.

Break at base of Bedford shale. At the base of the Bedford shale in 

many sections is the zone described above, of differing thickness, 

which consists of reworked black shale from the Cleveland below. 

This zone is more likely to be present where the basal Bedford is sandy 

than where it consists of soft shale. The greatest known thickness of 

this zone is on Skinners Run, but nearly all the sections at and west of
CARBONIFEEOUS SYSTEM 45

Cleveland show some such material. At other localities Tinkers 

and Brandywine Creeks, for example where the Bedford begins with 

soft shale, no reworked black shale is shown, but instead a very sharp 

contact and the basal blue shale is a compact bed that is composed in 

very large part of shell fragments in a mud matrix. Among the fragments are many whole shells of invertebrates that evidently lived on 

the bottom composed of the fragments. A considerable pause in 

deposition is indicated, during which the fauna came in and lived for 

a considerable time in clear water, the shells being broken up and 

accumulating on the bottom. The writer has failed to discover, however, any evidence that the sea withdrew and land conditions prevailed during this interval, though it is believed that such were the 

conditions between the Chagrin and Cleveland epochs. Deposition 

was interrupted before the Bedford shale was laid down, but the 

interruption was unaccompanied by emergence.

CAKBONIFEROUS SYSTEM

By H. P. GUSHING

M1SSISSIPPIAN SERIES 

BEREA SANDSTONE

Definition. The Berea sandstone was named by Newberry from the 

village of Berea, which is situated on this formation and where the 

rock has been much quarried for many years. It is here a coarse 

sandstone formation with a general thickness of 60 feet but becomes 

locally much thicker. Many layers are cross-bedded, many are 

ripple marked, and the lower part of the formation is thicker bedded 

and more massive than the upper.

Distribution and occurrence. The Berea is the lowest persistent 

formation in the district that strongly resists erosion. It owes to this 

quality its position as the capstone of one of the terraces of the escarpment that overlooks the Erie Plain. East of the Cuyahoga it has an 

.average thickness of 50 feet and its belt of outcrop is about half a mile 

wide; it forms a prominent terrace with a somewhat irregular margin 

along the 900-foot contour, fronting Lake Erie. Similar terraces are 

found on both sides of the Cuyahoga Valley. West of the Rocky 

River the formation thickens and its altitude diminishes; hence the 

breadth of outcrop increases to several miles.

The chief outcrops of the Berea, as of the other formations, are along 

the streams. The principal streams flow in shallow valleys of slight 

descent across the formation and fall over its northern edge into 

gorges whose walls are shale below and sandstone above. The weak 

shales are rapidly eaten back, and many sandstone ledges overhang 

their support. These ledges eventually become undermined, and 

large blocks break off and work their way down the banks and clog the 

stream. Such blocks are particularly abundant on Chippewa Creek.

Besides the creek exposures the Berea is exposed in many more 

places in the interstream areas than most of the other formations,
46 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

because of its resistance to erosion. Outcrops are especially numerous along its escarpment fronts. It has also Been exposed in very 

t/many artificial openings, such as quarries and railroad and road cuts.

Character and thickness. In this district the Berea is composed 

chiefly of medium-coarse pure quartz sand, loosely cemented into 

what is known as a clay-bond sandstone. The cementation is 

nowhere complete and differs considerably in closeness from bed tobed, so that the rock as a whole is rather porous and is heavily charged 

with water underground. Some layers are very slightly cemented. 

The mason finds the rock easy to cut and dress. The usual color is 

light gray, but some beds are specked with yellow-brown, and in some 

localities much of the rock is of this color. Over much of the district 

the formation can be separated into a lower division made up chiefly 

of thick, massive beds and an upper division of thin beds. Crossbedding is a prominent feature nearly everywhere, and locally at least 

half the thickness possesses this character. (See pi. 6.)

Under cover gray is the prevailing color of the rock, with the iron in 

the form of pyrite; above the ground water the pyrite has oxidized and 

stained the rock light or deep brown, according to the amount present. 

Many beds are ripple marked; some are slightly pebbly, with all the 

pebbles of quartz; some contain a few clay-iron concretions; and rarely 

nodules of soft, compact clay occur, evidently deposited as clay balls 

by the currents that transported the sand.

The underground water in the formation is confined there because 

of impervious shales above and below; hence many springs issue 

wherever the base crops out. The spring waters are likely to be mineralized; many deposit limonite, a less number are strongly sulphurous, and at several localities (Brandywine Creek, Tinkers Creek) the 

water is so strongly charged with calcium carbonate that it has formed 

considerable deposits of travertine at the base of the sandstone.

The formation ranges in thickness from as little as 5 feet (Boston 

Mills) to as much as 150 feet (Berea) within the area shown on the 

map and passes both those limits in near-by territory. Locally at 

Akron it is entirely absent, and at Amherst it is at least 225 feet thick. 

In many places great variation in thickness is shown within a short 

distance, owing to irregularity of its base. This feature is much more 

conspicuous in the Berea quadrangle than in the Cleveland quadrangle.

Fossils. The Berea sandstone in pla6es contains plant fragments 

in abundance, especially in the upper part of the formation, but only 

at a few localities does it contain animal remains. At Cleveland the 

surface of one bed of the stone is a mass of the plant fragments. The 

plant tissue has usually been altered to a thin film of black, coaly 

material. Here and there recognizable leaves of plants are found, 

such as Annularia, longifoliat, long ago reported by Newberry from 

Bedford and frequently found since.
CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM 47

Many specimens of a single species of paleoniscid fish, Gonatodus 

brainerdi, have been found in the quarries at Chagrin Falls, and rarely 

single specimens have been forthcoming elsewhere, as at Berea, Newburg, and Independence. The quarries at Chagrin Falls are in the 

upper, thin-bedded portion of the formation, and the fossil fishes are 

abundant on the surface of one particular layer and there only.

Very rarely single specimens of marine brachiopods are found in 

the upper, thin beds of the formation. The writer has seen three

25 50 FEET

FIGURE 4. Contact of Berea sandstone on Bedford shale in railroad cut in Newburg Township, 

Cuyahoga County. Scale, 1 inch=30 feet

or four. All were badly worn and broken and appeared as if they had 

undergone much transportation by waves or currents.

It is thus seen that the fossils of the Berea in northern Ohio are 

not marine forms, and their evidence aids in the determination that 

the Berea here is not a marine formation.

Break at base of Berea sandstone. In nearly all sections the Berea 

rests on the Bedford shale with prominent erosional discordanceWherever good exposures of the contact occur, it is seen to be irregular, in many places highly so. The upper surface of the Bedford has 

been considerably eroded by currents, and the eroded channels have

Feet

 50 

 40 

 30

 20 

 IO 

0

200 Feet

FIGURE 5. Berea-Bedford contact in cut on the Belt Line Eailroad 2 miles southwest of Brooklyn, 

showing a Berea channel more than 30 feet deep cut in the shale

been filled with Berea sand. Most of these channels are shallow 

but deep ones occur, and these are largest and most abundant in the 

district west of Cleveland. (See pi. 7.)

The minor irregularities of the base are well shown in a long cut 

of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad high on the east slope of the 

valley of the Cuyahoga east of Willow. The exposure is no longer, 

very satisfactory, owing to the rapidity with which the Bedford 

shale decomposes and becomes covered with vegetation, yet it still 

shows the irregular base of the sandstone. (See fig. 4.)

One of the larger channels is sectioned by a deep cut along the 

Belt Line Railroad 2 miles southeast of Brooklyn, near the west
48 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

margin of the Cleveland quadrangle. A long, narrow point of Berea 

sandstone here projects northward more than half a mile beyond the 

main edge of the formation, and the railroad cut passes through it 

from west to east. The high point is a prominent topographic feature. 

A sketch of the section shown in the cut is given in Figure 5. Midway of the cut is Berea sandstone, descending below the level of the 

roadbed. At the sides red Bedford shale appears underneath the 

Berea and rises in level until it makes the full height of the cut. The 

east contact has an inclination of 35°, and on this side the Bedford 

shale rises to a height of 30 feet above the roadbed. The west 

contact is inclined only about 10°, and the exposed Bedford rises 

only 10 feet above the track. The shale in the vicinity of the contact is much disturbed. Prolongation of these contact slopes below 

the track level indicates that there is an additional thickness of 10 

to 20 feet of Berea sandstone below ground in the center of the cut. 

As the exposures stand they show a channel cut into the shales to a 

depth of 30 to 50 feet and having a width of about 100 yards at the 

level of the roadbed. The greater steepness of the east side indicates 

that the main current was against that bank.

Channels of this type, cut out of the shale and filled with Berea 

sand, occur as far east as the Chagrin River but are most abundant 

and deepest in Lorain, Erie, and Huron Counties. Here many of 

them are cut wholly through the Bedford shale, so that the Berea rests 

on Cleveland shale hi the channel bottoms, and the Bedford occurs 

only between the channels.

Geologists are not yet in agreement as to the significance of this 

break. One view is that it represents a long period of time and is 

the proper place at which to draw the line between the Devonian and 

Mississippian, The other is that only a short interval is represented, 

and that the channels were eroded by the currents that brought in 

and deposited the sand. The matter is more fully discussed on 

pages 88-89.

CUYAHOGA GROUP

In this area the rocks long known as the Cuyahoga shale are 

divided into three units, called in ascending order Orangeville shale, 

Sharpsville sandstone, and Meadville shale. The type localities of 

these subdivisions are in the northeast corner of Ohio and the northwestern part of Pennsylvania. The subdivisions are quite distinct and 

are here mapped separately. The Cuyahoga is therefore in this, its 

typical area, elevated to the rank of a group, and the subdivisions are 

treated as formations, although in western Pennsylvania they have 

heretofore been treated as members. The Cuyahoga as generally 

recognized in Ohio overlies the black Sunbury shale (see pis. 22, 23), 

a thin representative of which is present in the basal part of the Orangeville shale, but it is here too thin to separate from the Cuyahoga rocks.
CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM 49

ORANGEVILLE SHALE

Definition. The Orangeville shale was named by I. C. White from 

the village of Orangeville, on the Ohio-Pennsylvania line in Trumbull 

County, where it consists chiefly of soft blackish shale but where only 

a part of the thickness is shown. In.the Cleveland district it forms 

the basal portion of the rocks named Cuyahoga shale by Newberry 

here called Cuyahoga group and has a thickness of about 125 feet. 

It is very homogeneous except that it carries a fairly persistent sandstone member from 6 to 10 feet thick, 10 feet or less above the base, 

which Prosser has called the Aurora sandstone member. This bed, 

however, is absent in some sections, as at Berea. The few feet of shale 

beneath this sandstone is on the horizon of the Sunbury shale of central and southern Ohio, a hard, brittle black fissile shale, but the zone 

is much thinner in the Cleveland district, is usually neither very 

black nor very fissile or brittle, and is not easily separable from the 

overlying Cuyahoga beds.

Distribution and occurrence. The Orangeville shale extends across 

the district from northeast to southwest in a belt from 1 to 5 miles 

wide, forming a gentle drift-covered slope that rises from the southerly 

edge of the Berea terrace on the lower slope of the Portage escarpment. 

The Cuyahoga and Rocky River Valleys notch its front and turn its 

<®ttcrop up the valleys, and the best exhibitions of the formation are 

found in the valleys of the tributary creeks. On Chippewa and 

Brandy wine Creeks practically every inch of it is exposed. Good 

exposures of part of the formation occur on Skinners Run, Big Creek, 

Baldwin Creek, Tinkers Creek above Bedford, and Euclid Creek.

Character. The Orangeville is a soft blue-black clay shale that 

contains less bituminous matter than the Cleveland shale and is the 

most homogeneous formation in the local section. Some beds are 

fissile and others are more solid, but all are weak and yield rapidly to 

the weather, and they do not alternate with beds of hard flags and 

hard concretions, like the other shale formations. Hence where 

exposed in high cliffs, as along Chippewa and Brandywine Creeks, the 

shale becomes deeply gullied by the rains. (See pi. 8, A.) There is 

an average thickness of 100 feet of beds of this character. Only in the 

basal 15 to 20 feet and in a similar zone at the top is any variation 

found.

The basal layer of the formation, in few places more than 3 inches 

thick, is a very hard black layer consisting largely of sand cemented 

by pyrite. It lies closely fitted to the top of the Berea, with which it 

has usually been classed, and seems to be everywhere present, notwithstanding its thinness. It is the only bed in this group that suggests a transition from sand to mud; the pyrite marks it as a basal bed 

rather than a top layer, and its fossils also indicate that it belongs here 

rather than to the Berea.
50 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The Aurora sandstone member consists of blue-gray fine-grained 

sandstone, much of it weathering yellowish brown, and ranging in 

thickness from 10 feet to a knife-edge. The shale between it and the 

Berea below is also variable. In some places it is black and slaty and 

has the Sunbury character; in others it shows this character only for 

the basal foot or so; and in still others it consists entirely of soft darkblue to gray clay shale. Thus at Berea the basal shale is black for a 

thickness of at least 10 feet and the Aurora sandstone is absent; at 

Bedford at least 8 feet of the Aurora is present, separated from the 

Berea by 6 feet of shale, which is nearly all blue or gray and quite 

unlike the Sunbury; on Chippewa Creek the sandstone is only 5 feet 

thick and has shale partings, and the 6 feet of shale below is almost 

black and like the Sunbury at the base but has much blue shale above.

Fossils. The OrangevUle as a whole is almost barren of fossils, but 

they may be found sparingly at all horizons, and the forms that occur 

are of the same types as those of the Cleveland shale. Lingula melie 

and Orbiculoidea herzeri are most common in the basal part of the 

shale and at some localities are very abundant, as at Berea; but they 

are found here and there at all horizons. Brandy wine Creek is the 

best-known collecting place for the higher beds. Orbiculoidea is the 

most common fossil, but fish scales and spines also occur, and conodonts are found, though they are chiefly confined to the small thickness 

of shale under the Aurora sandstone. The sandstone itself is sparingly fossiliferous and from Bedford has furnished specimens of 

Orbiculoidea herzeri and fragments of a hexactinellid sponge. The 

basal black pyritiferous layer, heretofore assigned to the Berea, also 

contains fossils, chiefly fishes. From this layer and from the shale 

just above it at Berea have been obtained the following: 

Ctenacanthus formosus. Cladodus pattersoni.

Ctenacanthus clarki. Physonemus tumidus. 

Ctenacanthus angustus. Mazodus kepleri.

SHARPSVILLE SANDSTONE

Definition. The Sharpsville formation was named by I. C. White 

from the village of Sharpsville, on the Shenango Kiver in Mercer 

County, Pa., not far from Orangeville and the Ohio line. It consists 

of gray-blue to gray-brown sandstone in beds from 1 to 2 feet thick, 

alternating with thin layers of gray shale and with a thin bed of blue 

Umestone near the base, the whole having a thickness of 65 feet. This 

zone of sandstone, directly overlying the Orangeville shale, is found 

throughout northern Ohio, and there is no question about its continuity and identity with the sandstone at Sharpsville. It is the 

middle formation of the Cuyahoga group.

Distribution and occurrence. The Sharpsville has no great breadth 

of outcrop, because it is a thin formation. It forms a narrow terrace, 

generally covered with drift, from 1 to 3 miles back from the Berea
CARBONIFEEOUS SYSTEM 51

terrace and about 125 feet above it. The exposures are confined 

to the banks and beds of streams and many are poor, as the formation lies well toward the headwaters of most of the brooks. The 

best exposures of the formation are on Brandywine Creek at Little 

York, where a broad terrace has been developed on the formation and 

the creek channel has been artificially deepened through it. Chippewa 

Creek, Baker Creek, and Skinners Run also show the formation well.

Character and thickness. The Sharpsville has a thickness of 25 to 

50 feet in the Cleveland district and is thinner and more shaly than 

in the type locality. Neither the upper nor the lower boundary is 

sharp; the underlying Orangeville apparently is transitional into it, 

and the formation merges into the overlying Mead ville shale. The 

lower 15 feet or more is commonly very shaly, consisting of blue 

fissile shales with thin bands of blue-gray sandstone and of sandy 

shale. The upper portion of the formation consists chiefly of sandstone with thin shale partings between the beds. (See pi. 8, B.) 

These sandstones are prevailingly gray and in beds from 2 to 18 

inches thick. The sand is fine grained, is somewhat micaceous, 

and has a small percentage of argillaceous and calcareous matter. 

There is much marcasite in the formation, and the shells of many of 

the fossils are wholly replaced by this mineral. Considerable zinc 

blende occurs in the shell cavities. Some of the stone is reddish, 

and the red bands are most conspicuous in the central parts of the 

thicker beds, the margins of which remain blue. The sandy shales 

are blue-gray, very sandy, and very finely laminated, containing 

many mica scales.

A detailed section of the formation at the Brandywine Creek 

exposure will give a better idea of it than a generalized description.

Section of the Sharpsville sandstone at Little York

Feet

Somewhat massive sandstone, shale partings; mostly gray but 

thicker layers partly red; much marcasite and some sphalerite, especially in association with the fossils; at base a 2- 

footlayer______.___________________-___-__--_----_--- 11

Thin gray flags alternating with sandy shale; fossils common 

but poorly preserved_-_----_-_--_--_-_-_-------------- 8

Bluish fissile shale and laminated sandy shale, containing thin 

layers of blue-gray flagstone, with a 3-inch sandstone layer 

at the base. --___-___-_-____----___-___------------ 11

Mostly blue fissile shale, with thin layers of sandy shale and a 

2-inch layer of blue sandstone at base. Base of Sharpsville. _ 5

Blue-black soft shale (Orangeville shale). 

35

Fossils. In most exposures the Sharpsville sandstone contains few 

fossils and those are in a poor state of preservation. But at Little 

York, on Brandywine Creek, fossils are rather abundant and in some 

layers are well preserved. A fauna of about two dozen species has
52 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

been obtained at this point, but it has not yet been thoroughly studied 

and can only be listed. Some of the species seem identical with 

those found in the Bedford shale the Parallelodon and Tropidodiscus, 

for example.

Chonetes sp. 

Rhipidomella sp. 

Camarotoechia sp. 

Spirifer cf. S. centronatus.

Delthyris sp.

Syringothyris sp.

Productella sp.

Ambocoelia sp.

Lingulodiscina cf. L. newberryi.

Parallelodon irvinensis. 

Nucula sp. 

Palaeoneilo sp. 

Cypricardella sp. 

Nuculana sp. 

Grammysia cuyahoga. 

Bellerophon cf. B. jeffersonensis. 

Tropidodiscus cyrtolites. 

Orthoceras sp.

Lingula sp.

MEADVILLE SHALE

Definition. The name Meadville shale, given by I. C. White, has 

long been in use in reports on the geology of western Pennsylvania, 

where it has been applied to the shales resting on the Sharpsville 

sandstone. The formation was named for its occurrence at Meadville, Crawford County, Pa. In the Cleveland district it has a thickness of 30 to 250 feet and consists of alternating blue shale, thin sandstone, and sandy limestone. It forms the upper half of the Cuyahoga shale of Newberry in northern Ohio.

Occurrence and thickness. The Meadville forms the upper and 

steeper half of the long, gentle slope that stretches down from the preserved fragments of the Appalachian Plateaus or Pottsville terrace to 

the Berea terrace. It occupies an area of considerable size between 

the Cuyahoga River and the West Branch of the Rocky River, in the 

southwestern part of the Cleveland quadrangle and southeastern part 

of the Berea quadrangle. Owing to heavy drift covering and to high

altitude only the headwater portions of the streams lie across it, so 

that good exposures are scarce, and no continuous section exists within the quadrangles. The best sections are those on Baker Creek, Big 

Brook, branches of Chippewa Creek, and small runs tributary to the 

Rocky River in Royalton Township. East of the Cuyahoga River 

the formation is much thinner than on the west side, and there are no 

exposures worthy of the name.

The thickness of the formation increases rapidly and unevenly from 

east to west. In Northfield and Warrensville Townships it is less 

than 100 feet; in Brunswick and Strongsville it is 200 feet or more. 

This variation is due to unequal pre-Pottsville erosion. (See section 

on unconformity at the base of the Sharon conglomerate, pp. 56-57.)

Character. The Meadville consists of alternating beds of shale and 

sandstone. The shales range from soft clay shale to very sandy shale. 

The clay shales are generally blue to blue-black and fissile, but some 

beds are blocky and show little tendency to split. They are quite
CAKBONIFEROUS SYSTEM 53

like the similar shales of the Bedford and Chagrin formations and 

were evidently deposited under similar conditions. The sandy shales 

are grayish blue and well laminated. Many layers of flattened hard 

lime-iron concretions, blue within but weathering reddish, alternate 

with these shales and are especially abundant in the lower 100 feet of 

the formation. Many of these concretions are exceedingly fine grained 

and flinty, and they are usually unfossiliferous; others are of somewhat coarser texture, and many of these contain excellently preserved 

fossils.

The flagstones throughout the formation are blue to gray, thin bedded, in places laminated, and generally micaceous. In the lower 100 

feet they are subordinate in quantity to the shales, but in the higher 

part of the formation they equal or exceed the shales. Associated 

with them are beds of calcareous sandstone or sandy limestone, rather 

fine grained, usually very hard, gray to blue, but in may places tinged

with red and weathering to red or yellow-brown. The more sandy 

beds weather to brown porous sandstones; the more calcareous beds 

to weak, friable fragments of iron-stained sand. These beds together 

with the flagstones constitute tjae bulk of the upper part of the formation.

Fossils. The Meadville shale, unlike all other formations in these 

quadrangles, is very fossiliferous at many horizons. It contains an 

abundant and varied marine fauna or rather series of faunas, for there 

are several faunal zones in the formation, and many of the fossils are 

in an excellent state of preservation. They are less abundant in the 

lower beds than in the upper and occur chiefly in the concretions and 

the calcareous layers, but the soft shales and sandstones carry them 

also. The soft blue shales above the Sharpsville sandstone carry a 

fauna in which many of the species are very close to if not identical 

with the Bedford shale forms. Others are like the Sharpsville fossils. 

The faunas have never received thorough study, and the list of forms 

is therefore provisional and is not divided into zones. It is a long 

list yet is far from complete. Fragments of land plants are not uncommon in the same beds that contain the marine fossils.

Productella newberryi. 

Productella aff. P. concentrica. 

Productus ovatus. 

Productus sp. 

Productus n. sp. 

Chonetes logani. 

Chonetes cf. C. illinoisensis. 

Leptaena analoga. 

Schuchertella? sp. 

Rhipidomella sp. 

Spirifer centronatus. 

Spirifer aff. S. centronatus. 

Spirifer aff. S. striatiformis.

Cyrtina burlingtonensis. 

Camarotoechia sp. 

Hustedia sp. 

Ambocoelia sp. 

Reticularia sp.

Cliothyridina cf. C. obmaxima. 

Centronella? cf. C. julia. 

Cranaena sp. 

Grammysia sp. 

Edmondia burlingtonensis. 

Edmondia sp. 

Cypricardinia consimilis? 

Sphenotus cf. S. valvulus.
54 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

Palaeoneilo truncata.

Palaeoneilo sp.

Nucula sp.

Nuculana sp.

Schizodus sp.'

Mytilarca cf. M. occidentalis.

Pernopecten cf. P. cooperensis.

Pterinopecten cariniferus.

Aviculipecten sp.

Limatulina sp.

Oracardia? sp.

Buchanopsis sp. 

Loxonema? sp. 

Pleurotomaria textiligera. 

Euomphalus sp. 

Platyceras cornuforme. 

Platyceras sp. 

Platyceras sp. 

Conularia newberryi. 

Orthoceras sp. 

Brachymetopus sp. 

Dictyospongia sp.

Tropidodiscus cyrtolites.

In addition Bryozoa of several species are very numerous, and 

crinoids are abundant in places. Sixteen species of crinoids described 

from Richfield 4 may have been found within the south boundary of 

the Cleveland quadrangle and certainly were obtained within 3 or 4 

miles of this boundary.

PENNSYLVANIAN SERIES 

SHARON CONGLOMERATE

Definition. The Sharon formation, of sandstone and conglomerate, 

which directly overlies the Mississippian rocks in Ohio and western 

Pennsylvania is the basal part of the Pottsville. It was named by 

the geologists of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania from 

the exposures at Sharon, Mercer County, Pa.

Distribution and occurrence. The Sharon conglomerate is found 

in disconnected patches or outliers that cap the highest hills in the 

quadrangles those whose altitude exceeds 1,100 feet. Three such 

outliers are found on the east side of the Cuyahoga Valley one in 

Warrensville, one in Northfield, and one in Boston; west of the 

valley are several in Brecksville, Richfield, Royalton, Hinckley, and 

Brunswick Townships. Many of them are very small islandlike

remnants left behind in the general erosion of the formation and lie 

in front of its main mass, which is found in the quadrangles to the 

south and east. As the formation resists erosion much better than 

the Meadville underneath, these outliers stand boldly above the 

surrounding country, with steep fronts, along which many low ledges 

occur. Glacial drift is heavily banked against many of these f-ronts, 

especially on the north. The summits are thinly drift covered but 

in general sufficiently to hide the rock.

The best exposures of the Sharon within the. quadrangles are those 

on the front of the promontory on the Strongsville-Brunswick township line, which are well shown along the Cleveland-Medina road as 

it climbs onto the Sharon surface. There are good exposures along 

the west bank of Furnace Run, in Brecksville, and along the East 

Branch of the Rocky River, in Hinckley. Other exposures show only 

a slight thickness of the formation. Far better ones occur just out-

« Ohio Geol. Survey, Paleontology, vol. 2, pp. 162-179,1875.
CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM 55

side the quadrangles, and of these the Boston Ledges, just south, 

and the Chesterland Caves, a few miles east, are the most noteworthy.

The Sharon is heavily charged with underground water, and the 

springs that issue from its base along the outcrop fronts slowly 

weaken and wash away the shale beneath, slightly undermining the 

conglomerate, huge blocks of which settle somewhat. Frost action 

aids in pushing these blocks apart, cracks are widened into caves, 

and a tangle of blocks results, separated by passages of uneven widths. 

On the steep valley wall of the Cuyahoga at the Boston Ledges is a 

wonderfully fine example of the results.

Character and thickness. The Sharon is composed of indurated 

sand and gravel. The ratio between the two varies greatly from 

place to place, but on the whole sandstone much exceeds conglomerate in quantity. The conglomerate is chiefly basal and exceptionally has a thickness of 50 feet, but it also appears as local lenses 

in the sandstone. (See pi. 9.) In some sections no conglomerate 

whatever appears and the formation consists of sandstone throughout. 

The upper portion is invariably sandstone. The sandstone is medium 

coarse, quartzose, and gray to brown. On the average it is a little 

coarser, more porous, and when freshly quarried less well cemented 

than the Berea. Much of it is irregularly bedded, and cross-bedding 

is common, both hi the sandstone and in the conglomerate, which is 

massive and very poorly and unevenly bedded.

The conglomerate consists of rather well assorted pebbles, with the 

interstices filled with sand, except in a very few places. The pebbles 

are almost exclusively white quartz, not one in a- hundred being of 

other material. The general size is 1 inch or less in diameter, and 

in a given bed there is a marked tendency for all the pebbles to approximate the same size. There is, however, much variation in abundance 

of the pebbles; in some beds they may not even be in contact, but may 

be embedded in sand; in others, especially in beds of small pebbles, 

they are so closely packed that there is but little interstitial sand. 

The cement in general is silica, but the basal bed is more commonly 

cemented by an iron mineral, limonite or pyrite, than it is by silica. 

Rarely the base has a calcareous cement. In places this bed has a 

thickness of many feet, particularly in channel fillings. The pebbles 

in it range from a diameter of 3 inches down to those of the smallest 

dimensions. Pebbles of other material than white quartz and variations in spacing are most common in this bed.

None of the pebbles in the conglomerate, could have been derived 

from any of the local rocks beneath the conglomerate, in which white 

quartz of the type composing the pebbles is entirely absent. The 

nearest known source for them is the area of crystalline rock of 

Ontario, many miles to the north. They could also have come from 

the Piedmont rocks of Appalachia, but that source is still more remote.
56 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

Most of the conglomerate seems to occur as channel fillings in the 

sandstone, though in places it is difficult to recognize this form in the 

rather widespread basal conglomerate. In the higher beds of the 

formation, however, many channels of small size and unmistakable 

nature occur. Good examples of such channels occur within the 

Cleveland district, but others in the Mentor quadrangle, just to the 

east, are much better exposed. At Scotland, 2 miles east of Gates 

Mill and the Chagrin Valley, a quarry and a long road cut expose a 

thickness of nearly 50 feet of the Sharon, the section beginning at or 

near the base of the formation. The lowest beds are shown in the 

quarry (pi. 9) and have a thickness of 15 feet, the lower half to twothirds of which consists of massive cross-bedded conglomerate, which 

passes into sandstone above. The road cut goes some 10 feet into 

the rock and is on a rising grade, so that altogether 35 feet of beds 

above those in the quarry are shown by it. Here the rock is chiefly 

sandstone, but from time to time while it was being deposited strong 

currents cut channels in the sand and filled them with gravel. These 

currents then shifted or ceased, and the deposition of sand was resumed and overspread the gravel-filled channel. The south edge of a 

channel 10 yards wide, whose bottom is below the level of the road 

gutter, is shown in Plate 10. Its sides have a slope of about 30° and 

border on sandstone for the full height of the cut, so that the depth of 

the channel must exceed 15 feet.

Here and there in the midst of the gravel in the channels balls of 

hard blue clay occur; the largest observed are 3 inches in diameter. 

They were clearly deposited at the same time as the pebbles and by 

the same agent.

As the Sharon is the summit formation of the district, its entire 

thickness is nowhere exposed; only the lowest 50 feet is to be seen. Its 

thickness is somewhat variable and is not accurately known; it certainly reaches 100 feet, perhaps 150 feet.

Fossils. No fossils have been found in the Sharon in the Cleveland 

district except, plant fragments, which are generally broken and waterworn. A few specimens that may be definitely referred to Lepidodendron or to Sigillaria have been seen.

Unconformity at base of Sharon conglomerate. The break between 

the Sharon conglomerate and the Mississippian formations beneath 

is the most conspicuous unconformity in the district. The conglomerate rests on the eroded edges of the slightly warped Mississippian 

beds. Throughout the Cleveland district it rests everywhere on the 

Meadville shale but on very different beds in different places. East 

of the Cuyahoga River, in Warrensville and Northfield Townships, 

only the lower 75 feet of the Meadville is present underneath the 

Sharon, whereas in Brecksville and Royalton Townships there is 

nearly 200 feet of the Meadville, and in Brunswick 250 feet. This 

discordance becomes more impressive when traced beyond the dis-
TJ. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

WEST CONTACT OF BEREA SANDSTONE ON BEDFORD RED SHALE IN CUT O

WEST OF BROOKLYN

View looking north. On the right the base of Ihe Berca is almost al the track level and 

left (west) it steadily rises until a height of 15 feet above the track is attained, and th

westerly slope.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 8

.4. OKANGEVILLE SHALE CLIFF ABOUT 50 FKET HIGH, ON BRANDYWINE CREEK 

1 MILE BELOW LITTLE YORK

Shows the homogeneous character of the shale and the manner in which it becomes gullied by

rainwash.

B. SHARl'SN 11.Li; S\NDSTONE ON BRANDYWINK CREEK AT LITTLE YORK

Shows the sandstone of the upper part, of the formation and the upper layers of the alternating

shales and flags below.
tl. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

11\SAL PORTION ()! S1IARON CONGLOMEHATK IN QUARRY AT SCOTLAND, 

View looking norlli. Exposure consists cliicily of conglorneruLc but wiLli sandstone 
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

VIUW IN ROAD CUT A SHORT DISTANCE NORTH OF THK QU

View looking east. Shows a thickness of 12 feet of somewhat higher beds; sandstone on 

the southern portion of a large gravel-filled channel in the sand 10 yards in width, with 

excellently in the cut but can not be photographed as a whole.
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 57

trict. In the Chagrin Valley region, a few miles to the east, the 

Sharon rests on the upper part of the Orangeville shale, only 100 feet 

above the top of the Berea, and the Meadville and Sharpsville are 

absent. A little farther east the Meadville and Sharpsville reappear, 

and the interval between the Berea and the Sharon steadily increases 

eastward. Southwest from Cleveland this interval also becomes 

greater, and in Medina and Wayne Counties, within 25 miles of the 

south margin of the district, two additional formations, the Black 

Hand and the Logan, come in above the Meadville, and the interval 

between the Sharon and the Berea has expanded to about 1,000 feet, 

ten times its thickness in the Chagrin Valley.

The surface on which the Sharon rests also shows local irregularities, 

the conglomerate filling small channels cut in the underlying beds, of 

the usual type of the channels at the base of the Berea sandstone.

QUATERNARY SYSTEM 

By FBANK LEVERETT 

PLEISTOCENE SERIES 

GENERAL FEATURES

As the Cleveland district lies within the glaciated region of North 

America its indurated rock formations are mantled more or less 

completely by glacial deposits, consisting of till or boulder clay and 

associated beds of sand and gravel. (See pi. 21.) A part of the district was for a time covered by the waters of glacial lakes, which were 

held between the retreating ice border and the divide that now separates the St. Lawrence or Great Lakes drainage from that of the Ohio 

River. At the shores of the glacial lakes ridges of sandy gravel were 

formed, and on their beds deposits of sand and silt were laid down.

In the glacial epoch there were at least four distinct stages of 

glaciation, separated by' intervals of deglaciation, in which the ice 

sheets withdrew. Each of these glacial stages is marked by a deposit 

of glacial drift, and the intervals of deglaciation are marked by soils 

and weathered surfaces of the several drifts. The oldest drift carries 

different names in the several parts of the glaciated region. It is 

called. Jerseyan in the part east of the Alleghenies, and this name 

would probably apply in the Cleveland district, as it embraces drift 

that covered the district between the Alleghenies and Mississippi 

Valley as well as that in the district east of the Alleghenies, both laid 

down by ice from the Labrador part of the ice sheet. In the district 

west of the Mississippi the oldest drift has been called sub-Aftonian, 

pre-Kansan, and Nebraskan; the second is generally known as Kansan 

drift; the third from the Labrador part of the ice sheet, Illinoian, the 

third from the Keewatin part, lowan; and the drift of the latest 

glacial stage is called the Wisconsin. 

2953 31 5
58 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

PRE-ILLINOIAN DRIFT (KANSAN?)

An old drift is exposed in northwestern Pennsylvania 4a outside the 

later drifts, but its relation to the Jerseyan drift remains to be determined. Its degree of erosion and weathering seems to be about the 

same as that experienced by the Kansan drift and less than that 

displayed by the Jerseyan. The glaciation that laid down this drift 

probably covered the Cleveland district, but its drift in this area is 

buried beneath that of later glacial stages, the Illinoian and Wisconsin, 

which are well displayed here. This ice invasion seems to have crossed 

the Erie Basin from north to south, whereas the Illinoian and Wisconsin invasions each had an axial movement lengthwise of the Erie 

Basin. It was probably this glaciation that brought in copper ores 

from the Lake Superior Basin, now found in the drift of central and 

northern Ohio. There may be remnants of the resulting drift in the 

Cleveland district below the level of the streams and in the Erie Basin.

The data afforded by borings along the Cuyahoga Valley throw 

very little light on the question of the presence of pre-Illinoian drift. 

In none of the deep borings has a buried soil been reported. The 

drillers report the occurrence at various depths of a blue puttylike 

clay, gumming badly on bits, which is interbedded with more stony 

clay. The thickness of the soft clay beds is 25 to 30 feet or more, 

and there are two or three such beds in some of the wells. These 

beds appear to be ponded-water deposits rather than alluvial material, 

and they can scarcely be cited as evidence of interglacial stream 

work. The excavations for the Cleveland waterworks tunnel were 

reported by Newberry to have been in a pebbly blue clay that contamed striated rocks and thus differed from the nearly pebbleless clay 

exposed in the ravines in the southern part of the city and in places

along the lake shore. These excavations were carried in places to a 

depth of more than 100 feet below Lake Erie and reached the bedrock. 

They may therefore have passed through the oldest drift. A boring 

made by the Standard Oil Co. at the mouth of Kingsbury Run, in 

Cleveland, was reported by Newberry to have struck rock at a level 

of 228 feet below the surface of Lake Erie. In a depth of 238 feet 

the drill section shows 222 feet of blue clay and 16}£ feet of sand and 

gravel in eight separate beds, each only a few inches thick. The 

great preponderance of clay characterizes nearly all the borings in the 

Cuyahoga Valley. Some of the borings, as indicated in the discussion 

of the bedrock surface (pp. 21-24), penetrated nearly to sea level before 

striking rock.

The exposed part of the pre-Illinoian drift in northwestern Pennsylvania481 varies greatly in constitution, being governed largely by the

< tt Further study of the pre-Wisconsin drift in northwestern Pennsylvania since the above was written 

has led Mr. Leverett to regard it as of Illinoian age. W. C. Alden.
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 59

nature of the drainage near the ice border. Where the ice caused a 

ponding of water in valleys that drained toward it a clayey drift was 

laid down, but where the water was free to escape from melting ice 

the drift is loose textured because of partial removal of the fine material. In the Cleveland district there was probably a general ponding 

of water along the ice border, as all the streams drained toward the 

ice, so that clayey drift is to be expected. What little sand and 

gravel are present seem likely to be referable to the action of water 

under hydrostatic pressure within the ice sheet rather than to free 

drainage outside.

As the ice movement that brought in copper ores appears to have 

crossed the Erie Basin in a north-south direction, it may have produced the north-south striae in northern Ohio and on islands in the 

western part of the Erie Basin noted by Newberry, Gilbert, and Winchell, as reported by Newberry,5 who says that the glacial marks 

that have a nearly north-south trend are nearly obliterated by the 

stronger, fresher, and more numerous grooves whose bearing is nearly 

east-west.

ILLINOIAN DRIFT

The Illinoian ice sheet is the earlier of the two that moved westward through the Erie Basin and spread southward into Ohio. In the 

eastern part of Ohio its southern limit is nearly coincident with 

that of the latest or Wisconsin glaciation, but in central and western 

Ohio (pi. 18) it extended farther south than the Wisconsin ice. The 

Illinoian drift is exposed in a narrow strip outside the later drift from 

a point near Mansfield southward along the west edge of the Muskingum drainage basin to Ross County and thence southwestward to 

the Ohio Eiver in Adams County. It nowhere extends far beyond the 

Ohio River. It reaches about 10 miles beyond the river opposite Cincinnati and about the same distance near Bedford, Ky.

In the Cleveland district the Illinoian drift is exposed along the 

shore of Lake Erie east of the Cuyahoga River at many points, and 

it is slightly exposed where the old Rocky River came into the lake 

west of its present mouth. Exposures where recent excavations had 

been made north of Collinwood, examined by the writer in 1920, 

show a very hard blue till thickly set with small pebbles and traversed 

by joints and deeply weathered seams that are oxidized to a deepbrown color. This till is about as solid as frozen earth, and its removal by the pounding of the waves of Lake Erie is about as slow as 

that of the shale formations along the shore west of the Cuyahoga. 

In places the entire lake bluff is composed of fresh and easily excavated till, referable to the latest, or Wisconsin glaciation. In places 

there are overlying lake deposits. This part of the shore, therefore, 

affords interesting sections for study and comparison of both drifts.

 Newberry, J. S., Geology of Ohio, vol. 2, p. 10, 1874.
60 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The Illinoian drift probably forms a considerable part of the 

filling in the ancient Cuyahoga and Rocky River valleys, but like the 

pre-Illinoian drift it has not been fully separated from overlying 

drift of later age.

POST-ILLINOIAN LOESS

Where the Illinoian drift is exposed outside the limits of the Wisconsin drift in Ohio it is covered by a thin deposit of silt loam known 

as loess, which was laid down by the wind. That this loess deposit 

is much younger than the Illinoian drift is known from the fact that 

the surface of that drift had become greatly eroded and weathered 

before the loess was laid down. The loess is of pre-Wisconsin age, for 

it occurs beneath the Wisconsin drift in southwestern Ohio. The 

loess may have extended over northern Ohio, but no exposures have 

been noted within the Cleveland district. Its thickness in central 

Ohio is usually less than 10 feet. It is dark brown and seems to have 

been completely leached of its calcareous material. Molluscan 

remains have been noted in buried portions of the loess under Wisconsin 

drift in southwestern Ohio, but none have been observed in the part 

outside the Wisconsin drift, perhaps because they have been leached 

out.

LATEST OE WISCONSIN DRIFT

General jeatures. In the latest or Wisconsin glaciation the limit of 

the ice in eastern Ohio was between 60 and 75 miles south of the shore 

of Lake Erie (pi. 18), which was beyond the divide between the Erie 

drainage and the drainage to the Ohio River. The water from the 

melting ice therefore had free discharge southward along various 

lines to the Ohio. The valleys of these streams are filled for long 

distances with sand and gravel that consist of the same rock materials 

as are found in the glacial deposits and that are very different from

the formations bordering the streams.

The edge of the drift has a general east-west course from the 

Pennsylvania line to the vicinity of Mansfield, Ohio. It there turns 

abruptly southward (pi. 18) because of an extension of the ice into 

the Scioto Basin and runs along on or near the divide between the 

Scioto and Muskingum Rivers to Ross County, keeping a few miles 

farther west than the edge of the Illinoian drift in this interval. From 

Ross County its general course is westward through the southern part 

of western Ohio. It comes within 12 miles of the Ohio River near 

Cincinnati, and it passes into Indiana directly west of Hamilton.

When the ice sheet had its greatest extension it was so thick that 

the underlying basins and ridges were wholly concealed by it, but 

as it became reduced in thickness from melting, the ridges and highlands became uncovered. As a result the edge of the ice took on a 

lobelike form. One of the lobes occupied the Grand River Basin in 

eastern Ohio (pi: 18 and fig. 8), and the ice [spread from this basin
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 61

Reward the highlands on the east, south, and west. At that time the 

Cleveland district was being overridden by ice that was moving in a 

direction east of south toward the same highlands over which the Grand 

River lobe was spreading on its west border. There was a coalescence 

of this ice with that of the Grand River lobe for a few miles south of 

the shore of Lake Erie, but a great reentrant angle between the two 

masses of ice soon developed on these highlands. The water from 

the melting of the ice then issued into this angle and found a southward egress through the lowest places among the ridges and hills into 

the drainage channels that led to the Ohio River. The ice border stood 

so long on certain lines that morainic belts developed. These belts 

indicate how the ice border became changed from its general east-west 

course to the much more sinuous course around the basins and over 

the intervening highlands.

At a certain stage in its retreat the ice that moved across the Cleveland area came to have its border on the present divide between the 

St. Lawrence and Mississippi Basins, at the site of the city of Akron. 

At that time there issued from it a great volume of water, which 

flowed southward across this divide into the drainage tributary to the 

Muskingum River near Massillon. Its course is marked by a welldefined river channel, which is not now occupied by a stream. The 

head of this channel at Akron is about 390 feet above the level of Lake 

Erie, or 963 feet above sea level. Moraines showing the position of 

the ice border at that time extend into Akron from the east and west 

and pass the head of this channel.

Up to this time the water from the melting ice had an outlet to the 

south, and the moraines are made up largely of loose-textured drift, 

from which a considerable part of the fine detritus that had been contained in the ice was carried by the outflowing streams. When the 

ice border had retreated to a position within the present Lake Erie 

drainage basin, the water could not escape freely but became ponded, 

especially in the Cuyahoga Valley, and the ponding reached a sufficient height to give an outflow across the divide. Under these conditions the fine material contained in the melting ice was not carried 

away but was deposited where the ice melted. As a result the glacial 

deposits let down on this slope of the Erie drainage basin are very 

largely of a clayey character, though in places sand and gravel are 

found underneath a surface deposit of clayey drift. The moraines 

that were developed where the ice front halted in the course of its 

retreat are very weak and in places are difficult to trace. Parts of 

their lines, however, are sufficiently well defined to show the sinuosity 

of the ice border, with recesses on the uplands on each side of the Cuyahoga Valley and a great protrusion of ice into the valley.

The part of the Cleveland district that was uncovered earliest seems 

to lie in Richfield Township, Summit County, and neighboring parts
62 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

of Hinckley Township, Medina County, and Royalton and Brecksville 

Townships, Cuyahoga County. It is a very high area, much of it 

between 1,200 and 1,300 feet above sea level. At about the same 

time a narrow strip of upland along the east border of the Cleveland 

quadrangle became free from ice.

The first-named area is limited on the east, north, and west by the 

Defiance moraine, there having been a great recess in the ice border 

here when that moraine was forming. The second area lies east of the 

moraine in a recess east of the Cuyahoga Valley. There are a few 

places in the southern part of the Cleveland quadrangle, outside the 

Defiance moraine, where the drift surface is somewhat more undulating than the ordinary ground moraine for example, immediately 

west of Furnace Run along the south edge of the Cleveland quadrangle and around the corner of Medina and Summit Counties. 

There is also a group of knolls south of the county line \% miles west 

of this corner. Between these knolly spots the surface is generally 

smooth, like the ordinary ground moraine. There is a strip of knolly 

drift in northeastern Richfield Township about 2 miles long and a 

quarter of a mile wide, formed by a lobe of ice that lay in the Cuyahoga 

Valley. It stands about 100 to 150 feet higher than the border of the 

neighboring part of the Defiance moraine, which runs parallel to it less 

than a mile to the east. No continuation was found west of the 

Brecksville road. A well on this strip just east of that road and others 

midway of its length have reached depths of 50 feet or more without 

striking bedrock. Although it is not definitely connected with the 

knolly spots above noted, this strip is like them in being older than the 

Defiance moraine.

Aside from the places where the drift is aggregated in knolls, it is 

generally but a few feet to bedrock in the part of the Cleveland

quadrangle outside the Defiance moraine. The drift is generally a 

clayey till of fresh appearance. On the east side of the Brecksville 

road north of Furnace Run is an exposure of rusty gravel which may 

be of pre-Wisconsin age, but no other exposures of old-looking drift 

were seen.

Defiance moraine. The Defiance moraine, named from the city of 

Defiance, in northwestern Ohio (fig. 8), enters the Cleveland quadrangle from the east a short distance south of the northeast corner. 

It is here separated into two distinct strips of knolly drift, between 

which is a narrow smooth strip. The two knolly strips become united 

about lM miles north of Randall. The moraine passes over a prominent sandstone ridge, 1,200 to 1,240 feet above sea level, in the northeastern part of the Cleveland quadrangle. On the west slope of this 

ridge the moraine, in a short distance, drops below the 1,100-foot 

contour. For about 4 miles north of Bedford the moraine controls 

the course of a northern tributary of Tinkers Creek, which follows the
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 63

outer border of the moraine southward. On crossing Tinkers Creek, 

south of Bedford, the moraine follows its south bluff south west ward 

for 2 miles and then takes a southward course past Northfield to the 

limits of the Cleveland quadrangle. The south end of the morainic 

loop is only a mile farther south, at Peninsula. The moraine there 

crosses to the west side of the Cuyahoga River and doubles back to 

the north, into the Cleveland quadrangle. It crosses from Summit 

into Cuyahoga County near the northeast corner of Richfield Township, takes a northwest course to Chippewa Creek at Brecksville, and 

follows the south side of that creek to the west line of Brecksville 

Township. The moraine is ill-defined for about 2 miles west of this 

line but becomes more definite near the headwaters of Chippewa 

Creek, about 1% miles southwest of Walling Corners, and follows the 

general course of the road that leads from Walling Corners to North

Royalton, being nearly on the brow of the Pottsville escarpment. It

turns southward near North Royalton, and for 3 miles determines the 

southward course of the East Branch of the Rocky River, which 

follows its outer edge. In Hiricldey Township this branch of the 

Rocky River turns to the north, and the moraine crosses its valley 

near Hinckley village, about a mile south of the south edge of the 

Cleveland quadrangle. Its course is thence westward through the 

southern part of the Berea quadrangle for about 6 miles before it 

passes into the Medina quadrangle. The main part of the moraine 

lies south of Big Brook, in Hinckley Township, but in the vicinity of 

Bennetts Corners there is an inner ridge along the north side of Big 

Brook, which is traceable from the area near the head of the brook 

eastward for 2 miles.

The course of the Defiance moraine is controlled very largely in 

the Cleveland district by the topographic conditions, there being a 

great protrusion southward into the Cuyahoga Valley, forming a lobe. 

about 8 miles long, which tapers from a width of 6 miles at the north 

to about 3 miles at the south end. The uplands on each side of the 

Cuyahoga Valley cause pronounced reentrants in its course. The 

moraine is about 950 feet above sea level at the end of the lobe in the 

Cuyahoga Valley and rises northward on each side of the valley to 

more than 1,200 feet at the reentrant angles. On the east side it 

reaches an altitude of fully 1,240 feet, and on the west side, north of 

North Royalton, the measured altitude of one point on it is 1,265 

feet. On the high land west of the East Branch of the Rocky River, 

in the southeastern part of the Berea quadrangle, it is slightly less 

than 1,200 feet, although in northern Brunswick Township the moraine 

passes south of a ridge of Sharon conglomerate which is 1,220 feet 

high. It is only about 900 feet above sea level in the valley of the 

East Branch of the Rocky River near Hinckley village.

The thickness of the drift in this moraine is somewhat greater than 

on the level tracts on each side, the difference corresponding nearly
64 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

to the relief of the moraine, which is 20 to 30 feet above the bordering tracts. The drift varies in thickness also to correspond with the 

relation of the moraine to preglacial valleys and ridges. On the preglacial ridges the thickness of drift is generally not less than 30 feet, 

but on the bordering level tracts it may be less than 10 feet. Where 

the moraine crosses valleys the thickness is usually very great, because 

the preglacial streams had cut to a much lower level than the present 

drainage lines, whose grade is adjusted to the level of Lake Erie. As 

indicated elsewhere the rock bed of the preglacial Cuyahoga is about - 

down to sea level in the north half of the Cleveland quadrangle and is 

below the level of Lake Erie through its entire course across the quadrangle. There is probably at least 500 feet of drift at the place where 

the Defiance moraine crosses the preglacial Cuyahoga near Peninsula. 

At the south line of Cuyahoga County borings in the preglacial Cuyahoga channel have shown the rock floor to be about 175 feet below 

the level of Lake Erie, or 400 feet above sea level, whereas the Defiance 

moraine which borders this portion of the valley, is 950 to 1,000 feet 

above sea level.

The till in the moraine is shown by well borings to be oxidized to 

yellowish brown to a depth of 10 to 15 feet or more, below which it is 

blue or gray. Near the south end of the morainic loop, in Boston 

Township, and in the southern part of Northfield Township the till 

along the course of the moraine is in places underlain at a depth of 25 

to 30 feet by a nearly pebbleless blue clay. There are good exposures 

of this clay where Brandywine Creek passes through the moraine, 

near the line between Boston and Northfield Townships, and on 

streams farther south. The upper part of this clay appears fresh 

and seems to have been laid down in ponded waters just before the 

ice made a readvance to the position marked by the Defiance moraine.

It should not, however, be inferred that all the silt in the Cuyahoga 

Valley was laid down at this time. In the deep gullies leading into 

the Cuyahoga east of Boston, exposures of a much indurated brown 

silt are found below this fresh blue silt.

Ground moraine or till plain north of the Defiance moraine. A till 

plain occupies the part of the Berea, Cleveland, and Euclid quadrangles between the Defiance moraine and the shore line of glacial 

Lake Maumee, except in the eastern part of the Euclid quadrangle, 

where the Euclid moraine is present, and at a morainic strip in Brooklyn Township. This plain occupies fully two-thirds of the area of 

the Berea quadrangle, about half the area of the Cleveland quadrangle, and one-third the area of the Euclid quadrangle. Its surface 

is remarkably smooth, there being very few drift knolls on it that are 

as much as 10 feet high, and not many that reach 5 feet. It rests, 

however, on a surface that slopes steeply toward the Cuyahoga Valley and toward Lake Erie. By reference to the contour maps it will
QUATERNAEY SYSTEM 65

be seen that a difference in altitude of 100 feet in a mile is not 

uncommon. In the Berea quadrangle, however, southwest of the village of Berea, there is a wide area of till plain in which the slope is 

very gentle from south to north, in places less than 10 feet to the mile. 

A strip of similar slope stretches from Berea northeastward into 

Brooklyn Township, crossing Middleburg and West Park Townships. 

This part with the gentle slope is on the Erie Plain, and the other with 

steeper slope is on the border of the Appalachian Plateaus. In both 

situations the sheet of till is very thin, except where old valleys are 

crossed, rock being usually found at depths of less than 20 feet. The 

drift is very clayey, with few if any deposits of sand or gravel on its 

surface.

Where valleys have been filled deposits of gravel of considerable 

depth are found in places under a thin coating of clayey till. Such

deposits along Mill Creek east of the insane asylum have been opened 

extensively for sand and gravel. The excavations are in places 60 

feet deep. These deposits show remarkable variation in coarseness, 

ranging from cobble beds to fine sand. The bedding is very discordant, some beds having been partly washed away and a filling of material of different texture brought in. As there is enough lime in the 

deposits to cement them to some extent, the walls of many pits present nearly vertical faces, even where they consist of fine sandy 

material. A view in one of these pits north of Mill Creek and west 

of Henry Road is shown in Plate 17, A.

Beds of sand and gravel of this sort appear to have been laid down 

underneath rather than outside the ice, in places where there was 

sufficient hydrostatic pressure to produce strong currents, with enough 

difference in strength to determine the many differences that the 

deposits exhibit. The bedding is not so regular as in outwash deposits 

laid down beyond the limits of the ice. Furthermore, it is unlikely 

that there was free drainage outside the ice at the level of these 

deposits. They are considerably lower than the southward-draining 

channel at Akron, being about 840 to 900 feet above sea level, whereas 

the bed of the channel at Akron is above 960 feet. It is also unlikely 

that there was at this time a westward line of escape, for in order to 

form such a feature the ice border must have been below the Berea 

escarpment west of the Cuyahoga and must have uncovered the entire 

lower course of Mill Creek. The sand and gravel deposits were probably laid down while the limit of the ice was at or near the Defiance 

moraine, and the clayey till that covers them was probably deposited 

while the ice was melting back from the moraine toward the basin of 

Lake Erie.

Euclid moraine. The Euclid moraine comes into the eastern part of 

the Euclid quadrangle as far as Euclid village, along the north side 

of an eastern tributary of Euclid Creek. The morainic features do not
66 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

continue beyond Euclid, but the ice border probably extended southwestward into Cleveland along the edge of a shale escarpment that 

formed the limit of subsequent glacial-lake action. The waters of the 

glacial lake may have removed any morainic deposits laid down along 

the face of the escarpment.

Within the Euclid quadrangle the Euclid moraine is only half to 

three-quarters of a mile wide, and the drift on it is only a few feet 

thick. The surface, however, has the swell and sag morainic topography, and the moraine becomes much stronger to the east, in the 

Mentor quadrangle. It is composed of very clayey till. There 

probably was some ponding of water on its outer border when it was 

being laid down.

Moraine in Brooklyn Township. A weak moraine runs across the 

southern part of Brooklyn Township from the Cuyahoga Valley to the 

west edge of the Cleveland quadrangle, in a course slightly north of 

west. A tributary of Big Creek is held to a westward course for about 

3 miles by the moraine, and another small stream leads in the opposite 

direction to the Cuyahoga, on the outer side of the moraine. The 

moraine is about half a mile wide where best developed and stands 

about 20 feet above the edge of the plain on the south. It has a swell 

and sag topography of mild expression. The drift is of moderate 

thickness and composed of clayey till. This moraine may be correlative with the Euclid moraine, although this correlation is different 

from an earlier one made by the present writer. 6 Its altitude is very 

nearly the same as that of the west end of the Euclid moraine, the 

highest points being about 800 feet above sea level. It is slightly 

higher than the brow of the shale bluff in the eastern part of Cleveland, 

which seems not to have been surmounted by the ice when the Euclid 

moraine was being formed, Although it seems strange that this

bluff was not surmounted if the ice was up to this moraine in Brooklyn 

Township, the conditions are about the same as are shown by the 

Defiance moraine in the Cleveland quadrangle. That moraine 

reaches fully as high an altitude near North Royalton, in the southwestern part of the quadrangle, as it does in the northeastern part, 

and it is at a decidedly lower altitude in the intervening part near 

the Cuyahoga Valley.

The course of Mill Creek below the falls in the southeastern part of 

Cleveland may have been determined by the border of the ice at about 

the time the Euclid moraine was being formed. It turns abruptly 

southward instead of continuing directly westward into the Cuyahoga 

River. The ridge on the west side of Mill Creek is a gravelly bar 

formed by glacial Lake Maumee, but there is a heavy deposit of till 

beneath it, and this may partly bridge the gap between the Euclid 

moraine and the moraine in Brooklyn Township.

« Leverett, Frank, Glacial formations and drainage features of the Erie and Ohio Basins: U. S. Geol. 

Survey Mon. 41, p. 619, pis. 13 and 15,1902.
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 67

As to thej continuation of the ice border from the west end of the 

moraine in^Brooklyn Township, the evidence is not clear. For 3 miles 

westward the drift is very thin and the rock surface is higher than in 

the district immediately south. The area to the south is flat as well as 

low and shows no indication of a continuation of the moraine. On 

the wesi, near Kamms, there is a gently undulating drift surface, 

and a stlrip of land along the highway from Kamms to Berea stands 

slightly higher than the land on the east, drained by a tributary of 

Big Creek, and the drift is much thicker than it is east of Kamms. 

It requires close scrutiny and the aid of the topographic map to discover that there is a ridge along this highway, or that it has any more 

undulation than the plain on the east. It is therefore merely suggested 

as a possible course of the ice border. West of Berea, along and near 

the New York Central Railroad (Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 

line), the surface seems to be slightly more undulating than it is on the 

South. But here, as in the district between Kamms and Berea, there 

is merely a suggestion of the course of the ice border and not clear 

and satisfactory evidence.

THE GLACIAL LAKES

General features. As the ice melted out of the Maumee and Erie 

Basins in northern Ohio and neighboring parts of Indiana, Michigan, 

and Ontario, ponding of water began with a small lake at the extreme 

west end of the Maumee drainage basin and other small lakes in the 

southern tributaries of Lake Erie, including one in the Cuyahoga 

Valley. As the melting of the ice continued, these small lakes were 

drawn down to the level of a large lake known as glacial Lake Maumee 

(pi. 11), which at first discharged into the Wabash Valley past Fort 

Wayne, Ind., and later across the Thumb of Michigan into the Grand 

River Valley and thence into the Lake Michigan Basin. The ice 

covered.the Cleveland district while the lake discharged past Fort 

Wayne, but by the time that the outlet across the Thumb of Michigan 

was opened, the ice had disappeared from this district. A lake then 

extended from northeastern Ohio westward into Indiana and northward to the southeastern part of Michigan, as well as over the present 

area of Lake Erie. Its altitude was 760 to 765 feet above sea level, 

or 190 feet above the present level of Lake Erie. Its outlet on the 

Thumb of Michigan was controlled by the position of the ice border 

and was the lowest available place outside the edge of the ice. The 

lake appears to have discharged by this outlet for a considerable 

time, for the rivers that came into the lake formed good-sized deltas 

at its level.

The ice then readvanced and moved southward upon the Thumb of 

Michigan, blocking this outlet and causing the lake to rise to the 

level of a slightly higher passage across the Thumb, which it utilized as
68 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO,

a line of discharge. The effect of this advance of the ice, was manifested all around the shore of the lake, for the lake deposits of this 

later stage reach an altitude about 20 feet higher than these of the 

preceding stage. The Cleveland area is an excellent place for studying the evidence of this rise of the lake, for it shows the strong wave 

effects at about 760 feet above sea level, with definite banks rising 

about 20 feet higher. When the rise of water occurred the slopes 

of these banks became coated with beach material, and the waves 

built beaches at the top of the bluff or cut notches near the level 

of the top to correspond with the new altitude that the lake had 

assumed. The outer beach, therefore, in much of its course across 

the Berea and Cleveland quadrangles, is the product of two lake 

stages, the steep bluff being formed by the lower and earlier stage 

and the gravel coating along or on it by the later one.

Later fluctuations of the ice border on the Thumb of Michigan 

brought the lake at first down to about 710 feet above sea level and

then raised it to about 735 feet. The Cleveland area furnishes clear 

illustrations of this fluctuation of lake level, for the beach at 735 feet 

is along the top of a bluff that had previously been cut down to about 

710 feet.

The lake levels were next affected by the melting away of the ice 

in western New York, which opened a passage near Syracuse into the 

Mohawk Valley, and the lake was drawn down from 735 feet to 660 

feet. Then the ice readvanced in western New York and crossed this 

outlet, causing the water to return to the western outlet through the 

Grand River, in Michigan, at an altitude of 680 feet. The Cleveland 

area also shows definite evidence of this fluctuation of the lake, for the 

shore line at 680 feet is along the bluff that had previously been cut 

to about 660 feet. During this lake stage the outlet through the 

Grand River was lowered to 670 feet or slightly less. In the Cleveland area the Woodland Avenue beach marks the level of the lake 

when it stood at 680 feet, and the Euclid Avenue beach marks the 

altitude when it had been lowered to 670 feet.

The ice in New York then melted back, and again opened an outlet 

into the Mohawk Valley, which was about 640 feet above sea level 

and a little later was reduced to 620 feet. There are weak shore 

lines in the Cleveland district corresponding with each of these levels 

of the outlet. A little later the ice receded sufficiently to drain the 

Erie Basin to the level of the present outlet at Buffalo and to initiate 

the Niagara Falls at Lewiston.

Glacial Lake Cuyahoga. The name Lake Cuyahoga was applied by 

Claypole 7 'to the ponded waters held between the retreating ice border 

and the divide at Akron that separates the Lake Erie from the Ohio 

River drainage. The lake deposition was- thought to be restricted

7 Claypole, E. W., "Lake Cuyahoga"; a study in glacial geology [abstract]: Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci. Proc., 

vol. 36, p. 218, 1888.
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 69

to the material laid down in these ponded waters during the final 

recession of the ice border in the Wisconsin stage of glaciation. The 

conditions were evidently much more complex than Clay pole set 

forth, however, and ponding of this sort appears to have occurred 

several times. In each of the glacial invasions the Cuyahoga River 

was probably ponded in front of the advancing ice until the ice had 

reached the divide. At the time of the earliest invasion the divide 

was probably much farther south than Akron, and it may also have 

been farther south in the Illinoian stage. It did not become located 

at Akron until near the end of the Wisconsin stage. As a result of 

this ponding during and after each glaciation, together with the deposition of glacial material, the valley filling is very complex.

The final ponding of the Cuyahoga appears to have been of very 

moderate length and the amount of deposition in the valley rather

slight. So far as known to the writer this final stage is not marked 

by definite shore features but is more clearly shown in the outlet channel that leads through Akron, the head of which is about 390 feet 

above Lake Erie and 963 feet above sea level. This channel, however, 

served as a glacial drainage line before it became the outlet of Lake 

Cuyahoga.

Each of the branches of the Rocky River probably held a similar 

lake. The one on the West Branch apparently discharged to the 

River Styx at an altitude slightly above 1,000 feet, and the one on 

the East Branch reached 1,060 feet, at the present head of that 

stream, and discharged into the headwaters of Yellow Creek, a tributary of the Cuyahoga.

Maumee beaches. The Maumee beaches within the Cleveland district have their best development in the Berea quadrangle. They are 

much interrupted in the Cuyahoga and Euclid quadrangles. At the 

west edge of the Berea quadrangle, near Fields, stand two ridges, 

locally known as Butternut Ridge and Chestnut Ridge. Butternut 

Ridge is a complex shore line in which each of the two beaches is 

represented. Chestnut Ridge is an offshore bar of the lower Maumee 

beach. The portion of the outer shore between Fields and the place 

where the Cleveland Southwestern Railway & Light Co.'s electric 

line comes to it is notably prominent, with a relief on its northwest 

side of 20 to 25 feet. The base of this bluff marks the level of the 

lowest stage of glacial Lake Maumee, 760 feet above sea level, and the 

bluff seems to have been cut while the lake was at this low stage. On 

top of the bluff, is a gravelly deposit at 775 to 780 feet, which was 

formed when the lake rose to the higher level as a result of the advance 

of the ice on the Thumb of Michigan.

While Lake Maumee was cutting this bluff the offshore bar, Chestnut Ridge, was formed about a quarter of a mile out in the lake. 

This bar is composed mainly of fine sandy gravel, but when the lake
70 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

rose to the higher level a finer sediment was laid down upon it, so the 

ridge has now a loamy soil. It is thus in striking contrast to the 

higher beach, Butternut Ridge, the gravel of which has very little 

clay or loam admixture.

A little farther east the Maumee beaches take on unusual complexity. The lower Maumee beach follows the base of the lake bluff to 

North Olmsted and seems to have continued eastward to the Rocky 

River bluff along the 760-foot contour. Later it developed a strong 

bar, which is followed by the electric railroad from North Olmsted 

to the Rocky River. It is not a simple bar but has hooks, forks, and 

other complexities. It seems to have been a long time in forming and 

to have been built from the west end, near North Olmsted, eastward 

until it had reached a length of 5 miles. Back of it was very shallow 

water, extending to and beyond the valley of the Rocky River.

There is a conspicuous gravel bar a mile east of Dover, which probably was formed while Lake Maumee was at this low level. It is 

entirely isolated from the shore south of it, and was apparently built 

up on a shallow place in the lake. Its altitude is between 750 and 760 

feet, and it stands 8 to 12 feet above the bordering clay plain. A 

gravel pit on a high part of the bar shows the deposit of gravel to be 

about 12 feet thick. This bar has hooks running eastward from each 

end, showing that it was built by waves rolling in from the west.

East of the Rocky River, along the Warren Road, from a point near 

the line of Rockport and West Park Townships southward, stand clay 

ridges which correspond in altitude with the low level of Lake Maumee 

and have about the breadth and height of a shore line but in which 

there appears to be no sand or gravel. They are in a district in which 

clay shale is close to the surface, and possibly there was no other 

material for the waves of Lake Maumee to work upon to form a beach

deposit. They are not distinguished on the map from the lake-bed 

clays.

The higher shore of Lake Maumee is marked by great complexity 

from North Olmsted eastward, there being several strong bars that 

radiate toward the valley of the Rocky River. The southernmost of 

these bars is far outside the others and has a lower altitude, for it does 

not quite reach the 770-foot level. It lies along a road that branches 

from the road leading south from North Olmsted and runs southeastward to the bluff of the West Branch of the Rocky River a mile north 

of Olmsted Falls. The low altitude of this bar may perhaps be due to 

its having been formed while Lake Maumee was rising from the 760- 

foot to the 780-foot level. That it was submerged after its sand and 

gravel had been deposited is indicated by the presence of a thin coating 

of loam. The depth of submergence was only 10 to 12 feet.

The main work of the higher lake stage in the vicinity of North 

Olmsted consisted in the development of a strong gravel bar for about
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 71

2 miles southwest of that village and a series of radiating bars extending eastward from the village. The outer radiating bar is only a mile 

long and dies out before reaching the bluff of the Rocky River. Two 

others are strongly developed clear to the river bluff near Olmsted, a 

distance of about 2 miles. The southern one was formed first. The 

amount of work done here at this higher stage seems to demand a 

considerable duration of tune.

On the east side of the Rocky River a strong gravel bar sets in 

directly east of Abram Creek and runs along the road northeastward 

for about 2 miles, to a place where another eastern tributary of the 

Rocky River comes in. This bar is in places fully one-eighth of a 

mile wide, and the gravel is several feet deep. It seems to have been 

developed entirely at the higher lake stage, its altitude-being about 

780 feet above sea level.

North of this small eastern tributary another large gravel bar

appears and runs northeastward about 1% miles. Large pits have 

been opened in this bar to obtain gravel for roads. Its altitude is that 

of the higher stage of Lake Maumee, and it seems to have been entirely 

developed at that stage. There are other gravel bars along the east 

bluff of the Rocky River near Kamms, developed at the same stage.

From Kamms eastward the electric railroad runs for about 1% miles 

along a gravelly bar built at the higher stage of Lake Maumee. Outside of this bar, setting in at the New York Central Railroad and 

running northeastward, is another gravel bar, which terminates at 

the bluff of a small western tributary of Big Creek, a short distance 

north of Lorain Avenue.

The gravel bars just mentioned are on the prominent shale area 

north of a western tributary of Big Creek. There was a submerged 

area south of them, but the water was too shallow for effective wave 

action, so the limits of the lake south of this submerged area must be 

arbitrarily placed along or near the 780-foot contour. The waters of 

Lake Maumee at the lower lake stage seem to have had their limit on 

the northern slope of this prominent shale area. A gravel bar is 

developed along part of this slope from the New York Central Railroad 

eastward, but the shore is mainly a lake cliff west of the railroad.

Near Lorain Avenue the gravel bar becomes split up. An outer 

bar runs directly south to North Linndale and is paralleled by another 

bar a short distance to the east. The main bar runs southeastward 

and crosses the Big Four Railroad near the east edge of the Berea 

quadrangle. The mam bar appears to have been begun at the lower 

lake stage but was built up to a higher level during the succeeding 

higher lake stage. The bar continues into the Cleveland quadrangle 

about a mile and terminates at the north bluff of Big Creek.

South of Big Creek Lake Maumee at the lower stage made a definite 

lake cliff on the north slope of the moraine in Brooklyn Township for
72 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

3 miles westward from Brooklyn, or to the line between the Cleveland 

and Berea quadrangles. When the lake rose to the higher stage a 

gravel deposit was spread in places on the slope of the moraine up to . 

a level about 20 feet above the foot of the bluff that had been cut at 

the lower stage. The gravel coating is usually not more than 2 to 5 

feet thick and forms a veneer on the clayey till of the moraine. The 

moraine becomes so low a short distance east of Brooklyn that the 

lower Maumee beach is found along its crest. This beach extends 

only a short distance into Independence Township, where the moraine 

drops too low to catch it.

The beach sets in on the east side of the Cuyahoga Valley, on 

Warner Road east of Mill Creek. A bar and hook curve around to 

the east at its south end. This bar appears to have been built during 

the higher stage of Lake Maumee, for its altitude is a few feet above 

the level of the lower lake stage. The shore line of Lake Maumee 

runs along the east side of Mill Creek from its mouth northward to 

the falls near the crossing of the Pennsylvania Railroad. On the west 

side of the creek for about a mile below the falls there is a gravel bar 

at the height of the lower Lake Maumee shore.

Northward from the falls of Mill Creek the Maumee shores at both 

lower and higher stages are ill defined or are represented by a steep 

shale bluff. There is a slight deposit of gravelly material around 

which Giddings Brook makes 'a bend as it passes below the 780-foot 

level. This deposit is traceable for about half a mile southward along 

the brow of a shale bluff, the base of which seems to have been washed 

at the lower lake stage. The bluff directly back of Fairmount Reservoir may have been steepened somewhat by the action of Lake 

Maumee. In the Euclid quadrangle no other features than the steep 

shale bluff were recognized that seem referable to Lake Maumee. 

The effect of the lake may have been merely to increase the steepness 

of this bluff and not to have determined its presence. As a feature 

of relief it probably antedated the glacial epoch.

Work of Cuyahoga River at time of glacial Lake Maumee. While 

Lake Maumee was developing its shore lines the Cuyahoga River 

graded its channel to a corresponding altitude, and along its border 

remnants of the stream bed of Maumee time can still be traced. 

One of the best-preserved remnants lies back of Brecksville station, 

where an area of more than half a square mile is covered with river 

rubble. There is a continuous coating with pebbles and cobblestones, 

the largest 6 inches or more in diameter, extending from 760 feet up 

to about 790 feet above sea level. There is no terracing of the slope 

between 790 and 760 feet, which is thought to indicate that the 

deposit of river rubble was built up with the rise of the lake level. 

If so the rubble at about 790 feet was laid down later than that 

lower on the slope. This veneering with rubble ends just east of
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 73

the forks of the road midway between Brecksville village and the railroad station. For nearly a quarter of a mile farther west and up 

to an altitude 10 to 15 feet higher the slope is coated with a clay 

deposit, which may have been laid down at flood stages. The river 

rubble seems to represent work along the bed of the stream and not 

the full upper limit of the water. Remnants of the valley filling of 

the Cuyahoga on each side of the mouth of Tinkers Creek have about 

as great extent as those near Brecksville station and are of similar 

character. There are smaller remnants scattered along the valley 

down about to the place where the Maumee beaches cross the valley. 

The northernmost place noted is on the east side of the Cuyahoga 

about a mile south of the mouth of Mill Creek, where a spur projects 

into the valley. This spur drops below the level of Lake Maumee, 

but the part above 760 feet is coated with coarse river rubble, some

stones being a foot in diameter. This deposit is exposed along the 

Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad (not shown on the map) for about 

a quarter of a mile farther north and is from 2 to 6 feet deep.

Work of Rocky River at time of glacial Lake Maumee. When Lake 

Maumee was at its lowest level the Rocky River entered the lake 

immediately north of Olmsted. For 3 miles farther down the river 

there is on the left or northwest bank a deposit of sandy gravel similar 

to a natural levee which may have been brought in by the river to 

fill a lagoon south of the Maumee bar along which the electric railroad 

runs from North Olmsted eastward. It is probable that this deposit 

was not extended down the valley until the bar had been developed 

as far down as the vicinity of the line of Dover and Rockport Townships, for up to that time the lake waves were free to extend clear 

to the river. When the bar had been developed, the shallow waters 

of the lagoon were entered by the strong current of the stream, and 

the stream then extended its deposits into the lagoon and thus built 

the supposed natural levee. In doing so it reworked some of the 

material that had been developed by the lake, so that this strip of 

sandy gravel is a combination of lake and stream work.

When the lake rose to the higher level the water covered this part 

of the Rocky River Valley and extended up both branches of the 

river to 775 or 780 feet above sea level. On the East Branch its 

limit was at Berea; on the West Branch it was as far up as Westview. 

The stream at this higher lake stage made no conspicuous deposits 

where it entered the lake, though a thin deposit of pebbly material 

is found on the till about half a mile above Westview on the west 

side of the West Branch. On the East Branch in Berea, near the 

falls by the railroad bridge, there is also more or less waterworn 

' 2953 31 6
74 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

material, which was probably laid down by the river while the lake 

stood at its highest level.

All the other streams that entered Lake Maumee were very small, 

and their delta deposits have been largely removed by later streams.

Lake bed between shore lines of glacial Lake Maumee and those of 

glacial Lake Whittlesey. In the Berea quadrangle the portion of the 

bed between the shore lines of Lake Maumee and those of Lake 

Whittlesey is composed almost entirely of stiff clay, which seems to 

have been formed partly from till and partly from the underlying 

shale which was cut into by the lake. There is some sandy loam in 

the part traversed by the preglacial Rocky River.

In the Cleveland and Euclid quadrangles the space between the 

Maumee and Whittlesey shore lines is very narrow, and from the 

eastern part of the Cleveland quadrangle northeastward it is occupied 

nearly everywhere by an outcrop of shale. On the border of the 

Cuyahoga Valley and eastward to the border of the uplands the 

space between the shore lines is filled in with clayey material instead 

of sand and gravel. The deposits of clay, sand, and gravel are 

indicated on the geologic map.

Shore of glacial Lake Arkona. The next lake stage after the higher 

Lake Maumee is termed Lake Arkona, from a town in Ontario where 

it was first studied. This lake as a whole, because of a recession of the 

ice border to the northeast, covered a much larger area than Lake. 

Maumee, though at va lower level, about 710 feet above sea level,, 

but it was cut 15 feet lower during the life of Lake Arkona. In 

consequence of this lowering the Arkona beach is separated into 

two or three ridges differing slightly in altitude, the highest being 

at about 710 feet and the lowest a little below 700 feet. The lower 

beaches in the Erie Basin were to a great extent washed away when 

the water later rose to a higher level. Where they are 'of exceptionally coarse material they are best preserved. Elsewhere their 

positions are identifiable by the occurrence of more sandy and gravelly 

soil along the lines that they occupied than on the bordering areas. 

When the rising lake washed these ridges it removed the fine material 

and flattened them but did not scatter all the coarse material.

In the Cleveland district the waters of Lake Arkona probably did 

most of the cutting of the steep bluff along Middle Ridge, in the Berea 

quadrangle. The base of this ridge is near the 710-foot contour. 

The ridge has had a similar history to that of Butternut Ridge, the 

lake cliff having been cut by a low stage of water and the gravel deposits on the face and top laid down later by a higher stage of water, 

that of Lake Whittlesey. This bluff is conspicuous for its entire 

course across the Berea quadrangle and to the border of Big Creek 

Valley in the western part of the Cleveland quadrangle. The shore 

line of Lake Arkona crosses to the south side of Big Creek Valley at
QUATERNARY SYSTEM ' 75

Brookside Park. Thence it runs eastward to the Cuyahoga Valley 

about at the line between Brooklyn and Independence Townships. 

East of the Cuyahoga it extends to the foot of the slope below the 

Lake Whittlesey beach, from the Cuyahoga bluff northeastward past 

Burk Branch and Morgan Run and northward close to the 700-foot 

contour in the Cleveland and Euclid quadrangles.

Work of Cuyahoga River at time of glacial Lake Arkona. The Cuyahoga River seems to have cut its valley down to about 700 feet in 

the vicinity of Willow at the time of Lake Arkona and to have deposited gravel beds, now exposed in pits west of the Brecksville Road 

and where the Schaaf Road rises from the Cuyahoga Valley west of 

Willow. These gravel deposits are covered in both places by a few 

feet of clay, which was probably laid down when the lake rose to the 

Lake Whittlesey level. On the east side of the Cuyahoga is a narrow

strip of gravelly land that barely reaches the 700-foot contour. It 

lies along the Independence Road south of the end of the Whittlesey 

beach. All these deposits of gravel are close to the place where the 

Cuyahoga came into Lake Arkona and are better preserved than the 

few deposits made farther up the valley at a level correlative with 

Lake Arkona.

Shore oj glacial Lake Whittlesey. Lake Whittlesey, named in honor 

of Col. Charles Whittlesey,8 a former resident of Cleveland, was the 

successor of Lake Arkona. There is a heavy bed of sandstone at the 

head of the outlet, near Ubly, Mich., which resisted erosion and thus 

held the lake at a constant level. This condition tended to produce 

a shore line of exceptional regularity and strength.

In the Cleveland area the Whittlesey shore line enters the Berea 

quadrangle from the west at the electric railroad. It is known as 

Middle Ridge and takes a northeastward course past Bement and 

Dover to Rockport, on the bank of the Rocky River. In places there 

are two or three parallel gravel ridges, as in the section southwest of 

Dover, but generally there is a single strong ridge. Where this beach 

is exceptionally strong it reaches an altitude of 740 feet, but it seems 

to mark a lake level at about 735 feet.

On the east side of the Rocky River there is a gravelly ridge for 

about a mile, but for the next 2 miles eastward, to the crossing of the 

New York Central Railroad, there is a lake cliff cut in the shale. 

There are scarcely any gravel deposits in this, interval. From the 

New York Central Railroad crossing the beach bears southeastward 

and crosses Lorain Avenue at the west end of Dennison Avenue. It 

follows Dennison Avenue southeastward into the Cleveland quadrangle, a distance of about 2 miles. This part is a conspicuous gravel 

bar standing about 20 feet above the plains on each side. It ends at

 Taylor, F. B., Geol. Soc. America Bull., vol. 8, p. 39,1897.
76 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

the north bluff of Big Creek, about 2 miles west of the Cuyahoga 

River.

The Whittlesey shore sets in on the south side of Big Creek in 

Brookside Park and runs southeastward through Brooklyn and along 

the north side of the Schaaf Road about to the line of Independence 

Township. It then follows the Schaaf Road to the place where the 

road descends to the Cuyahoga Valley at Willow, having in much of 

its course a conspicuous ridge of sandy gravel.

On the east side of the Cuyahoga River the Whittlesey shore is 

represented by two ridges, one of which follows closely the west bluff 

of Mill Creek for about a mile and then continues northward along 

the Brecksville Road into the city of Cleveland. The other ridge 

sets in at the Independence Road about a mile south of Harvard 

Avenue and takes a northeastward course, coming to Harvard Avenue where it touches the south bluff of Burk Branch. The space 

between these two ridges is a clayey plain nearly a mile wide at the 

southwest but narrowing to about a quarter of a mile at Burk Branch. 

On the north side of Burk Branch there is a single ridge between that 

stream and Morgan Run. Thence the beach takes a northward 

course and comes to Kingsbury Run near the place where the Pennsylvania Railroad crosses the stream. North of Kingsbury Run the 

Whittlesey beach runs along the base of a shale bluff in the northern 

part of the Cleveland quadrangle and throughout its course in the 

Euclid quadrangle, there being very few places in which gravelly or 

sandy deposits are present. There is a notch in the cliff, which with 

a terrace in front of it is thought to mark the amount of work done 

by the lake in excavating the shale. The contours on the map show 

that the space between the 720-foot and 740-foot contours is generally 

somewhat wider than that between the contours higher up on the

face of the bluff. This difference in space is the measure of the width 

of the terrace formed by the encroachment of the lake on the bluff.

Work of Cuyahoga River at the glacial Lake Whittlesey stage. Along 

the Cuyahoga Valley there are several conspicuous remnants of the 

river bed occupied during the time of Lake Whittlesey. A prominent 

flat-topped area that extends well out toward the river near Thornburg carries a deposit of river rubble. The highest part of it is 740 

feet above sea level. Other remnants he on each side of Tinkers Creek 

and from Brecksville station north for about IK miles. There appears to have been very little descent in the Cuyahoga from Brecksville station northward, so the deposits just mentioned are the result 

of the filling of a pool that extended up the river beyond the limits of 

the open lake. The valley had been cut down in Arkona time to a 

level so much lower than that of Lake Whittlesey that the rise of the 

water to the Whittlesey level naturally produced slack water some 

distance up the valley, probably as far as Brecksville station. Delta-
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 77

like filling of a pool on a stream where it entered Lake Whittlesey is 

common, especially on the streams of southeastern Michigan.

Whatever deposits were laid down by the Rocky River at the time 

of Lake Whittlesey seem to have been largely removed by subsequent 

erosion, so the work of that stream during this time is not easy to point 

out. The same is true of the smaller tributaries of Lake Whittlesey 

in the Cleveland area.

Lake bed between the Arkona-Whittlesey shore and the glacial Lake 

Warren shore. In the Berea quadrangle the space between the 

Arkona-Whittlesey and Warren shores is about 3 miles wide at the 

western edge but becomes narrowed to about a mile at Dover, and it 

holds about this width to the Rocky River. The soil in this area is 

a heavy clay from the west side of the Berea quadrangle eastward to 

a line within 2 miles of the Rocky River, and shale is found very close 

to the surface. In the 2 miles adjacent to the Rocky River, which

was traversed by the preglacial river valley, the drift deposits are 

thick, and the soil is of much looser texture, ranging from sandy loam 

to finer material.

East of the Rocky River the space between the Arkona-Whittlesey 

and Lake Warren shore lines is less than half a mile wide in most places, 

and the soil is heavy clay, with shale at slight depth, as far east as the 

west edge of the Cleveland quadrangle. In the Cleveland quadrangle 

there is a much wider space between these shores than in the district on 

the west, its width being as much as 5 miles immediately east of the 

Cuyahoga River. This area was filled to a great depth with deposits 

of glacial and lake material. A considerable part of it has a clayey 

soil, and the underlying deposits are pebbleless clay to a considerable 

depth. This clay has been drawn upon extensively for the manufacture of brick and other clay products. In the Euclid quadrangle 

the Whittlesey and Warren shores lie very close together, with only, 

a strip of nearly bare shale between them.

Shore of glacial Lake Wayne. The altitude of glacial Lake Wayne 

where there has been no subsequent uplift of its shore lines was about 

660 feet above sea level, or about 75 feet lower than its immediate 

predecessor, Lake Whittlesey.

In the Cleveland district the shore of Lake Wayne ran along the 

base of the beach that is followed by Detroit Road and Detroit Avenue 

across the Berea quadrangle and the part of the Cleveland quadrangle 

west of the Cuyahoga River. The lake cliff back of it rises abruptly 

to a height of about 20 feet and is largely cut in the shale. For 2 miles 

west of the Rocky River, however, it is cut in glacial deposits. It is 

also cut in glacial deposits from a point near the east edge of the Berea 

quadrangle eastward to the Cuyahoga River.

Immediately east of the Rocky River there is a somewhat distinct 

ridge of Warren shore that lies a short distance back from the top of
78 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

the lake cliff cut by Lako Wayne, but elsewhere the Warren beach is 

near the brow of the cliff cut by the waters of Lake Wayne all the way 

from the west side of the Berea quadrangle to the Cuyahoga River.

East of the Cuyahoga River the Lake Wayne shore crosses a sandy 

and gravelly deposit and lies a short distance north of Euclid Avenue 

along or near the 660-foot contour. From it there is a rise to the shore 

of Lake Warren that is followed by Euclid Avenue through nearly the 

whole interval from the Cuyahoga River to Do an Brook.

Gravel and sand extend but a short distance east .of Doan Brook, 

and shale sets in near Lakeview Cemetery and extends northeastward 

across the Euclid quadrangle. The shore is cut into shale except for 

a short space near Euclid Creek, where there is some stony drift 

material. Because it lies close to the beach of Lake Warren, this shore 

line is commonly referred to as the product of that lake, but probably 

Lake Wayne did the major part of the cutting of the lake cliff that was 

later washed by Lake Warren. What has been taken to be a single 

shore line is really a compound one; part of it was formed by a lake 

that discharged to the Atlantic Ocean and part of it by a lake that 

discharged to the Gulf of Mexico, yet the level of the two lakes differed 

only 20 feet.

Work of Cuyahoga River at the time oj glacial Lake Wayne. It is 

probable that a large part of the sand and gravel bordering the Cuyahoga Valley at an altitude near that of Lake Wayne is due to the action 

of the stream while this lake was forming the shore line just described, 

and that when the water rose to the level of Lake Warren the river 

graded the delta about 20 feet higher. Many years ago the bones of 

an elephant were found at a depth of about 10 feet underneath the 

shore of Lake Warren in the central part of Cleveland.8* It is probable 

that the burial of the bones to this depth under deposits of gravel was 

due to the building up of the delta after the rise of the water from the 

level of Lake Wayne to that of Lake Warren.

Shore of glacial Lake Warren. In the Cleveland area the shore of 

glacial Lake Warren followed North Ridge from the west side of the 

Berea quadrangle eastward to the Rocky River. This ridge is of 

gravelly constitution for about 3 miles in the western part of the 

quadrangle and for a short distance west from the Rocky River, but 

generally it is merely a cut in the shale or the till near the top of the 

lake cliff that had been previously cut by Lake Wayne. East of 

the Rocky River the cuts in the shale made by Lake Warren lie in 

places a quarter of a mile south of the lake cliff cut by Lake Wayne. 

In the eastern part of the Berea quadrangle the shore of Lake Warren 

is close to that of Lake Wayne, but on entering the Cleveland quadrangle the Warren shore takes on a double phase and is represented 

by gravel ridges. The outer ridge lies a short distance north of

Sa Hay, 0. P., Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 322, p. 136, 1923.
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 79

Lqrain Avenue from a point near the west side of the quadrangle 

eastward about to West Forty-fourth Street. It there crosses the 

avenue and lies a short distance south of it to the bluff of the Cuyahoga 

River. .The inner ridge follows the line of Detroit Avenue to the river 

bluff.

East of the Cuyahoga River the Warren shore is represented by 

two beaches, each composed of sandy gravel. The outer one, known 

as the Woodland Avenue beach, runs along or near Woodland Avenue 

from the vicinity of the Cuyahoga River eastward beyond Woodland 

Cemetery and then bears north of east away from the avenue and 

continues for a mile or more farther. It stands about 680 feet above 

sea level.

The inner Warren shore line east of the Cuyahoga River is known 

as the Euclid Avenue beach and runs along or near Euclid Avenue

to a point within a mile of Wade Park. It there takes a course north 

of east a short distance north of the avenue and runs through the 

southern part of Wade Park to a point near the western limit of Lakeview Cemetery as a definite gravelly ridge. From the cemetery northeastward through the Euclid quadrangle there is not so definite a 

gravel ridge as on the west; it is merely a thin coating of sand and 

gravel on a terrace cut in shale. The terrace is utilized by Euclid 

Avenue throughout the distance, so that the name "Euclid Avenue 

beach" is applicable clear to the eastern limit of the Euclid quadrangle.

Lake bed between the Wayne-Warren shores and the Grassmere beach 

of glacial Lake Lundy. Between the Wayne-Warren shores and the 

Grassmere beach there is a strip of land, about 2 miles wide at the 

west side of the Berea quadrangle but narrowing to about half a mile 

at Dover Bay, which has a very heavy clay soil, with shale at slight 

depth. From Dover Bay eastward to the Rocky River, where there 

is a thick deposit of drift in the preglacial valley of the river, the soil 

is of much looser texture. From the east side of the Rocky River 

to the west edge of the Cleveland quadrangle there is also a heavy 

clay with shale at slight depth, extending from the Wayne shore to the 

bluff of Lake Erie, which is there as high as the Grassmere beach. 

From Edgewater Park eastward to the mouth of the Cuyahoga there 

is a heavy drift filling, and the soil is of loose texture, in places sandy. 

Eastrof the Cuyahoga there is sandy soil about to the mouth of Ninemile Creek, but from that stream eastward there is a heavy clay soil 

with shale at a slight depth nearly all the way to the east limit of the 

Euclid quadrangle.

Grassmere beach of glacial Lake Lundy. Glacial Lake Lundy, 

the next lake stage after Lake Warren, takes its name from a beach 

near Niagara Falls, Ontario, along and near which was fought the 

Battle of Limdy's Lane. Its highest shore, the Grassmere beach, 

where unaffected by later disturbance has an altitude of 635 to 640'
80 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

feet above sea level. There is a lower shore line, known as the Elkton 

beach, standing at about 620 feet, which is also referable to Lake 

Lundy, as it pertains to an eastward-draining lake. The lowering of 

15 to 20 feet is due either to cutting down of the outlet or to a slight 

shifting at some place in its course.

In the Cleveland area the Grassmere beach has its best representation in the Euclid quadrangle. A sandy ridge is traceable from 

Doan Brook northeastward past Collinwood and Nottingham to 

Noble. Eastward from Ninemile Creek the sandy strip traverses a 

clay district, but west of that stream the border district is sandy. The 

sandy ridge is not uniform in altitude and is broken and irregular. 

In some places it is below 640 feet and in others as high as 650 feet 

.above sea level. The sand probably was deposited along the lake shore 

at 635 to 640 feet and then shifted by the wind to a slightly higher 

level on the slope back of its shore. The sand is nearly free from 

pebbles and might be easily moved by the wind.

Within a short distance west of Doan Brook the bluff of Lake Erie 

rises above the level of Lake Lundy, and there are a few places between that point and the mouth of the Rocky River where Lake Lundy 

extended beyond the present shore. Westward from the Rocky 

River as far as Cahoon Creek there is a space scarcely a quarter of a 

mile wide between the shores of Lake Lundy and Lake Erie. The 

shore of Lake Lundy thence bears away from Lake Erie and is fully 

2 miles inland at the west side of the Berea quadrangle.

The Grassmere shore is a very faint feature, in places scarcely 

detectable, especially where it is cut in shale. Where sandy the 

ridge is only 2 to 4 feet high. Near the west edge of the Berea quadrangle it presents an unusual phase, being there a very bouldery ridge 

scarcely 3 feet high and about 50 feet wide. There is no sand or

gravel in the ridge but instead a stiff clay, like that of the bordering 

plain. The ridge has a northeast trend and crosses the road leading 

south from Avon Lake about one-third of a mile north of the New 

York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. Its altitude seems to be about 

 635 feet above sea level. It is the only ridge of this sort noted in 

the entire Cleveland district.

Elkton beach of glacial Lake Lundy. The Elkton beach has an 

. altitude of about 620 feet where it is unaffected by differential uplift. 

It lies at this level near the west edge of the Berea quadrangle on the 

road leading south from Avon Lake, two residences standing on it. 

It there consists of a slight ridge that rises about 2 feet above the 

border plain and stands out with remarkable clearness where it crosses 

the road. It is composed of clayey material similar to that of the 

bordering plain but is not bouldery like the ridge on the south. There
QUATERNARY SYSTEM 81

seems to have been no coarse material in the surface deposits here 

for the waves to sort out and concentrate as sand or gravel. The 

plain is low enough to be covered by water at this lake stage for only 

about 2 miles eastward from the west side of the Berea quadrangle,, 

so the beach has but slight representation in this part of the Cleveland 

district. In the Euclid quadrangle, from a point near East One 

hundred and fifth Street eastward to the limit of the quadrangle, there 

is a strip half to three-quarters of a mile wide that is low enough to 

have been covered by the lake at the Elkton stage, but no definite' 

shore features were noted on it along or near the 620-foot contour. 

From Ninemile Creek eastward the soil is clayey, and the beach is 

likely to be difficult to identify now that the surface has been greatly 

modified by ditching and grading.

Lake bed between the Lake Lundy shores and Lake Erie. The lakebed between the bluff of Lake Erie and the shores of glacial Lake

Lundy is generally clayey, but where glacial deposits are thick over 

the old bed of the Rocky River and just east of Eagle Cliff the soil 

is of looser texture and is classed as sandy loam on the map issued by 

the Bureau of Soils.

Early stages of Lake Erie. Lake Erie was established by the separation of its waters from those of the Ontario Basin at the Niagara 

escarpment. The lake endured various further changes before thepresent stage was reached, but the successive bodies of water have 

left little record within the Cleveland area. A general account of 

them is given under the heading "Postglacial lake" (pp. 100-103).

Present shore line of Lake Erie. The contours on the maps show 

that the shore is largely a lake cliff, standing in places 70 feet and 

at few points less than 35 feet above the present lake level. It consists of shale in much of the Berea quadrangle but of glacial and 

lake deposits in the Cleveland and Euclid quadrangles. The rate of 

erosion is a little more rapid where the bluffs are of till in the Berea 

quadrangle than where they are cut in shale. Consequently there 

are slight embayments at the mouth of the old Rocky River and at 

the till bluffs east of Eagle Cliff. The lake is now cutting into its 

shore at a rapid rate, because of the rise on its shore. Whittlesey 9 

stated that from 1796 to 1842 the encroachment of the lake on the 

shore opposite the public square in Cleveland reached 265 feet, or 

nearly 6 feet a year. Soon after this period action was taken by the 

city government, aided by railroad companies, to stop the encroachment in the main part of the city, but it is still going on rapidly at 

points near the eastern and western limits of the Cleveland district.

9 Whittlesey, Charles, Smithsonian Contr. Knowledge, vol. 1, art. 3, p. 25, 1867.
82

STRUCTURE

By H. P. GUSHING

The rocks of northern Ohio are 

little disturbed from their original, nearly horizontal position. 

(See fig. 6.) The dip is very 

slight and variable, both in 

amount and in direction. Owing to convergence of the Berea 

sandstone and the Delaware 

limestone and unconformity at 

the base of the Sharon, the dip 

also varies with the rock horizon. 

The normal dip of the surface 

rocks is southeast, away from the 

Cincinnati dome and from the 

Canadian old land; and this is 

the direction of the dip of the 

Devonian limestones and of the 

still older rocks, as the well records show. In contrast to this 

position the surface rocks in the 

northern portion of the Cleveland 

district dip southwest, and those 

in the southern part south-southeast.

The southerly dip of the rocks 

across the Cleveland district is

about 5 feet to the mile, much

less than the normal southerly 

dip for eastern Ohio, which is from 

15 to 20 feet to the mile. The dip 

rapidly increases, however, to its 

normal amount in the quadrangles next south of this district. 

Such variations indicate slight 

warping or folding of the district 

along east-west axes.'

The westerly component of the 

dip of the Mississippian rocks 

across the district is also variable. 

Across the Cleveland quadrangle
STRUCTURE 83

it is less than 5 feet to the mile. Between Big Creek and the Rocky 

River it steepens abruptly to nearly 15 feet to the mile. West of 

the Rocky River it diminishes again and at the west edge of the Berea 

quadrangle is nearly flat, so that the dip is south instead of southwest. 

Such variations indicate slight warping along north-south axes that 

 cross the other set at about right angles.

Figure 7 illustrates the manner in which the dips vary with the rock 

horizon. In the practically east-west line between Bedford and Olm- 

.sted Falls, a distance of 18 miles, the base of the Berea sandstone 

drops in altitude 150 feet in a westerly direction, whereas the summit 

of the Devonian limestones drops 180 feet in an easterly direction. 

Actually the Berea dips southwest and the Devonian limestones 

southeast. If the base of the Niagara limestone is taken for the datum 

plane instead of the summit of the Devonian limestones the easterly

w.

Olmsted 

Falls .

710', 

I----- --- 

1 

1

1 

420' 1 _

Base of Berea sandstone

Xevel of Lake Erie

Sea, level

_______ Summit of Big lime

"" " ' " - 

E.

Newburg 

 i 860'

1

1

1

1 

1 

 '-600'

10 Miles

FIQUKK 7. Diagram illustrating east and west dips between Bedford and Olmsted Falls. 

Horizontal scale, 1 inch=5 miles. Vertical scale, 1 inch=2,000 feet, thirteen times the horizontal 

scale. Figures at the side represent distances above or below sea level of the Berea base and Big 

lime summit at Olmsted Falls on the left and at Newburg on the right

dip is found to be still greater. It is the rapid thinning of the shales 

of Portage age and the overlying Chagrin shale in a westerly direction, 

more than 300 feet in the 18 miles, that accounts for this difference in 

direction of dip between the higher and lower rocks. Likewise it is 

the rapid thinning of the Salina formation toward the west that 

explains the discrepancy in the amount of dip between the summit of 

the Devonian limestone and the base of the Niagara.

The Sharon lies nearly flat across the district, because the increasing 

thickness of Meadville rocks underneath it in passing westward, due 

to unconformity at the top, just compensates for the dip of the Berea 

in the same direction.

These warps have an influence in determining the boundaries of the 

gas territory west of Cleveland. The productive territory occurs in 

areas where the dips in the gas sand are flatter than the normal. 

Such areas, as shown in Plate 19, occur on a broad terrace or nose. 

Across all three quadrangles the southward dip is much less than the 

normal amount for the eastern, half of the State. As the Mississippian 

rocks at the surface dip southwest and the limestones below ground
84 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

dip southeast, it is obvious that a warp that increases the steepness 

of dip of the former must correspondingly diminish that of the latter. 

In other words, where the surface rocks have their steepest southwesterly dips those below ground would have their flattest. Such an 

area of increased southwest dips of the Mississippian rocks occupies 

the eastern two-thirds of the Berea quadrangle, and there the underground limestones must have a corresponding diminution in their 

southeast dip, hence must lie flatter than usual. This is the region 

of gas production, a region where the dip, whether measured along an 

east-west or a north-south line, is much less than the normal.

The soft shales of the district in many places exhibit minor disturbances, both folding and thrust faulting. These are all of small 

extent, some of them are old and some very recent, and they have 

arisen from different causes. The shales at the base of the Berea are 

very liable to be disturbed, especially in the vicinity of the large channels. They are variously tilted and in some places are faulted. These 

disturbances were effected by the currents that brought in the Berea 

sands, the underlying mud being shifted about and slumping along 

the channel sides. The recent disturbances are all very local and 

surficial and may be due to expansion brought about by weathering. 

Their cause is not definitely known.

GEOLOGIC HISTORY

Beyond the bare statements that the Cleveland district had a preCambrian history whose records are wholly buried beyond our reach; 

that it no doubt shared in the general uplift of the continent at the 

end of pre-Cambrian time and remained a land area for a long interval; 

that it became submerged beneath the shallow waters of an Upper 

Cambrian sea; and that this submergence was followed by others in 

Ordovician time, nothing can be said as to its early geologic history. 

The lower 1,170 feet of rock in the Lorain well is of Ordovician age, 

but just what Ordovician groups are represented there it is impossible 

to say. The well record shows that the district was submerged during 

much of the Ordovician period and that a large thickness of deposits 

was formed. -Probably the Trenton, Utica, Eden, and Maysville are 

all represented by deposits, showing submergence of the region during

those epochs.

PALEOZOIC EBA

By H. P. GUSHING 

ORDOVICIAN PERIOD

The oldest of the underground formations that is recognizable with 

any degree of certainty is the red shale, which is probably referable to 

the Queenston shale, of Richmond age, a formation whose nearest surface outcrops are those along the Niagara River and in Ontario.
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 85

These red shales are unfossiliferous and seem to represent a near-shore 

phase of the Richmond, laid down in shallow water on a slowly subsiding bottom, under conditions very unfavorable to life. The typical 

Richmond rocks, which are widely exposed in the region around 

Cincinnati, where they are full of marine fossils, were deposited 

farther offshore.

At the end of the Ordovician period the Cincinnati arch was domed 

and elevated above sea level as part of a general withdrawal of the 

sea that then took place. This arch has since remained as a positive 

feature of the continent, continuing as°a land area or a submerged 

shoal throughout the remainder of the Paleozoic era. That the Cleveland district was also brought above sea level at this time is not definitely known, though regarded by many geologists as highly probable. If it was, the land was low and was not greatly eroded.

SILURIAN PERIOD

Whether the Silurian should be considered to begin with the Richmond or with the succeeding formation is a question upon which 

geologists are not entirely in accord. The United States Geological 

Survey, following the general practice, includes the Richmond in the 

Ordovician.

Above the red Queenston (?) shale of this area come alternating 

sandstones, shales, and thin limestones which are called the Clinton 

formation and which include the so-called Clinton gas sand but are 

probably referable in whole or large part to the Albion sandstone, a 

formation that underlies the true Clinton formation of New York. 

It is not known whether true Clinton beds are present or not, nor 

whether the district was continuously submerged or emerged one or 

more times during the interval. If it was emergent, depression followed, and clear, open marine conditions prevailed, during which the 

considerable thickness of limestones of Niagara age was laid down. 

This subsidence was long continued and widespread, and the clear 

waters of the sea were thronged with numerous and varied forms of 

life.

After the Niagara epoch the sea largely withdrew, and the district 

was occupied by landlocked waters, presumably near or at sea level, 

surrounded by very low lands. The climate became arid and caused 

the conversion of the water bodies into one or more salt lakes in 

which mud and thin beds of limestone were deposited, then beds of 

gypsum, and, in local areas where there was great concentration of 

the saline waters, beds of rock salt. The series of deposits is repeated 

several times and suggests corresponding variations in concentration 

of the waters, possibly due to fluctuation in the amount of rainfall. 

Under such conditions the Salina beds, of early Cayugan age, were 

laid down. The Salina waters covered a large part of New York and
86 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

Pennsylvania and also northeastern Ohio. The characteristic deposits cease a few miles west of the Cleveland district. Whether the 

waters were there but deposited no salts, or whether western Ohio was 

above the water level of the time and received no deposits, as the 

writer thinks, is a matter upon which geologists disagree.

After the Salina epoch the climate became less arid and the submergence more extensive, and under these conditions the water limes, 

and some gypsum beds of the Bass Islands dolomite were deposited. 

The gypsum beds show that the climate was still arid, but the waters 

never became as concentrated as during the Salina and were often 

fresh enough to support a fauna, which however, was not a normal 

marine fauna but one of a few types that were adapted to thrive in 

the unusually salty waters of the basin.

DEVONIAN PERIOD

Sylvania and Lucas submergence. The succeeding Sylvania sandstone testifies to a great change in physical conditions. The excellent 

sizing of the grains, together with their rounded shapes and etched 

surfaces, certainly indicates that the sand was blown by winds and 

suggests desert conditions on neighboring lands and the continuance 

of climatic aridity. Whether the sand was deposited in water or on 

dry land is not certainly known, but the great contrast between the 

sandstone and the limestone above and below demonstrates a great 

change in physical conditions and argues for emergence of the district 

during the Sylvania epoch.

Renewed depression brought on the deposition of the Lucas dolomite. This also suggests deposition in a partly inclosed basin during 

climatic aridity and mostly in shallow water. In the upper part of 

the formation beds of limestone carrying a marine fauna appear. The

district came above sea level at the end of the Lucas epoch and 

existed as an area of low land for a long tune.

Onondaga submergence. The Onondaga sea of the Middle Devonian was the next marine water to overspread the district. The land 

had been thoroughly base-leveled during the emergent period just preceding, so that the shallow Onondaga seas spread rather widely. The 

lands that bordered it were low and incapable of supplying much land 

wash, so that the waters were clear and peopled with an abundant 

marine fauna and supported extensive local coral reefs. The reefs 

indicate warm waters and supply part of the evidence that the marine 

invasion came from the south.

Hamilton submergence. The limestone of Onondaga age terminates 

rather abruptly and is directly followed by the blue to brown beds of 

the Delaware limestone. Conditions in surrounding territory must 

have changed, as the beds of Hamilton age contain more land wash 

than those of Onondaga age; hence, the bordering lands must have
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 87

been more elevated. The land wash may have come from distant 

AppalaAhia or from the Cincinnati dome, nearer at hand. The supply 

was intermittent, especially at first, during the Delaware epoch, 

but was considerably increased during the succeeding part of < the 

Hamilton epoch. An abundant fauna swarmed in the waters and on 

the bottom, consisting of Hamilton forms with which ate mingled 

survivors of the Onondaga fauna. The Onondaga forms are abundant in the Delaware, but few remain in the overlying shale of Hamilton age.

Portage and Chagrin sedimentation. The deposition of the beds of 

Hamilton age was followed by a break in the sedimentation; there 

was also oscillation of seas, and under the new conditions the formation of the considerable thickness of alternating black and blue 

shales in the Cleveland district was begun. The abundant land 

wash, the lack of limestone, and the high content of carbonaceous 

material show that the bordering lands were even more elevated 

than in the Hamilton epoch, that the waters were muddy and unfit 

for abundant life, and that during much of the time the bottom was 

foul with decaying organic matter. These shales are the thinned 

westward extension of the Portage formation of New York, and their 

muds were derived from lands on the north and east and perhaps 

also from the Cincinnati dome, though there is difference of opinion 

as to whether the dome was unsubmerged at this time or not. There 

is also difference of opinion in regard to the extent of this sea, some 

geologists believing that it extended west to and even over the 

Cincinnati dome and that these shales are the equivalent of the lower 

part of the Huron shale of northern Ohio and of the New Albany 

shale of Indiana and others, including the writer, thinking that the 

typical Huron is a younger formation that has nothing to do with the 

black shale of Portage age of the Cleveland district and that the 

Portage sea did not extend as far west as the Huron River. It 

must be left for the future to determine which of these conflicting 

views is true.

The black mud of the Portage sea was succeeded by the gray and 

blue mud of the Chagrin shale, deposited in the west end of the basin 

in which the Chemung rocks of New York and Pennsylvania were 

laid down. There was some oscillation preceding the Chagrin epoch, 

the bordering lands on the east were raised still higher and supplied 

coarser land wash to the basin of deposit, and the bottom also cleared, 

so that black mud ceased to be formed. In New York subsidence of 

the bottom of the basin was more pronounced than in the Cleveland 

district and conditions were more favorable for the existence of 

marine life, so that a much greater thickness of deposits accumulated, 

holding an abundant fauna from bottom to top. At Cleveland the 

mass of the formation is barren of fossils; the fauna did not come
£8 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

into the district until near the end of the period and got no farther 

west at any time. «

DEVONIAN OR CARBONIFEROUS SUBMERGENCE

X

The events that directly followed Chagrin deposition in northern 

Ohio are hot established beyond controversy. According to one 

view, uplift followed the Chagrin epoch, and the entire district became a land area of low altitude and so remained for a long time, 

during which its surface was gently beveled off by erosion. The 

break is held to be the most significant one within the general series 

and to mark the line of division between the Devonian and Carboniferous systems. It is the writer's belief that when subsidence recommenced and deposition of the black mud of the Cleveland shale began, 

the marine invasion came from the south into western Ohio, where 

the Huron shale was deposited in a narrow bay along the east side of 

the Cincinnati dome. The waters slowly spread eastward, depositing 

the lower division of the Cleveland shale upon the Huron and farther 

east upon the Chagrin, and last of all laid down the upper division of the 

Cleveland in waters that rapidly spread farther east. Even at this 

greatest extent, however, the waters did not reach into Pennsylvania.

According to the other view there is no break, or none of much 

extent, between the Chagrin and Cleveland shales, but they are 

held to be deposits from the same body of water, blue Chagrin shale 

being deposited on the east while black Huron shale was forming at 

the west, and as Chagrin time went on black shale gradually spread 

eastward at the expense of the blue shale. The basis for this view 

is the fact that the blue shale grades into black shale toward the 

west, and the black shale is therefore held to be of late Devonian 

age.

Cleveland sedimentation. Deposition of the black mud of the 

Cleveland shale began earlier in the Berea quadrangle than in the 

Cleveland and slowly spread eastward. The adjacent lands were 

low but high enough to furnish a supply of mud to be laid down 

in the subsiding basin. The bottoms were foul with decaying organic 

matter, and the marine forms that live on the bottom and subsist 

on such matter were therefore absent, and their fossil remains are 

not found in the shales. The surface waters were purer, and life 

swarmed there, notably the fishes, large and small, whose remains 

are found in the shales.

Bedford sedimentation. Sedimentation was interrupted at the end 

of the Cleveland epoch, and some warping took place in the adjacent 

lands, which became higher locally and capable of furnishing coarser 

land wash. Possibly the sea withdrew and then returned, but no 

conclusive evidence has yet been found that it did so. The stagnant
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 89

and foul bottom waters, however, became stirred and purified by 

stronger currents than had existed in Cleveland time, and these 

currents locally stirred up the black mud and relaid it as the initial 

deposit of the Bedford. With the sweetening of the waters a bottom 

fauna entered the basin and lived most abundantly where the bottom 

mud was least stirred by currents. But the organisms were mostly 

small forms with thin shells that were badly broken up by the moving 

water. Soon the rate of the coming of mud into the basin increased, 

and locally stronger currents swept in and deposited great lenses of 

fine sand. The muddied waters disagreed with the fauna, which 

dwindled and vanished rather early, so that the waters of the basin 

during the greater part of Bedford time held but little life. The 

waters probably entered from the south, and the basin was landlocked 

on the west, north, and east sides. Neither the formation nor its 

fauna are known in western Pennsylvania. Rapid deposition seems 

to have quickly shallowed the basin, and the upper part of the Bedford, particularly the red Bedford, suggests deposition on shallow 

mud flats during climatic aridity.

CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD 

mSSISSIPPIAN EPOCH

Berea sedimentation. At the end of the Bedford epoch an uplift of 

the lands on the north and west carried the Cleveland district above 

sea level and converted it into a low plain but with a surface gradient 

sufficiently steep and with bordering lands sufficiently high to enable 

the streams to bring down quantities of sand. The transporting 

currents channeled away the underlying muds of the Bedford and 

filled the excavations with sand, the channels being deepest where the 

land was highest that is, at the northwest. The sands were spread 

broadly over the low plain that formed the general delta region. 

Abundant fragments of land plants were brought down by occasional 

floods and buried in the sands, and lumps of wet clay were also transported and deposited. Floods also brought down schools of freshwater fishes, some of which became stranded in pools on the delta 

surface as the flood waters fell, were killed by the drying up of the 

pools, and were covered by the sands of another flood and preserved 

as fossils. The numerous specimens of the fossil fish Gonatodus 

brainerdi found on the surface of a single layer in a single locality at 

Chagrin Falls are to be accounted for by some such process.

While the delta formation was being laid down in the Cleveland

district the southeast slope of the land caused the deposits to be

made beneath sea level in that direction, and this delta formation

thus grades laterally into a finer-grained sandstone that carries marine

2953 30 7 >
90 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

fossils, as the Berea does in western Pennsylvania and in southern 

Ohio. During Berea time slow subsidence was in progress, and the 

sea came nearer and nearer to the Cleveland district, so that in the 

final stages of the deposition the delta surface was approximately 

at sea level, and storm waves could occasionally sweep in over this 

surface and bring a few worn marine shells to be deposited upon and 

be covered by the sand.

In contrast with that of the Bedford the Berea climate seems to 

have been moist and cool, as suggested by the abundant plant fragments and their carbonized condition and by the clay lumps found 

in the sands.

Orangeville sedimentation. Continued depression, which lowered 

the adjacent lands, brought about a cessation of the sand supply and 

terminated Berea deposition. A renewal of marine conditions in 

northern Ohio followed. The waters slightly reworked the surface 

material of the Berea and produced from it a thin sandy stratum that 

subsequently became cemented by pyrite and forms the peculiar 

black layer of sand that is everywhere the Orangeville base. There 

was a break in sedimentation as one set of conditions passed into 

the other, but only for a short time. Then mud began to be washed 

into the subsiding basin, but the process was soon interrupted for a 

brief time by the incursion of sand that forms the thin Aurora sandstone near the base of the formation. The deposition of mud was 

quickly resumed and continued with little variation until the full 

thickness of the formation had been deposited. The conditions 

were those of black shale formation, including quiet water and foul 

bottom from decaying organic matter. Bottom life was scarce, but 

swimming forms, including large sharks, thrived, especially early in 

the epoch.

Sharpsville and Meadville submergence. The black shales of the 

Orangeville are followed by the sandy beds of the Sharpsville. The 

change in sedimentation indicates oscillation and increased, altitude 

in the bordering lands. The sharpness of the break suggests a pause 

in sedimentation, though there is no evidence of uplift, and the interval 

seems to have been very brief. The Sharpsville currents cleared out 

the foul waters of the Orangeville basin, and a fairly abundant 

fauna came in. Fragments of land plants are common, showing 

that the northern shore of the Sharpsville basin was not far away. 

The basin gradually deepened, and the sand was followed by the mud 

of the Meadville shale, with occasional incursions of sand that became 

more frequent in the later stages of Meadville time. Conditions 

were more favorable for an abundant marine fauna than any that 

had prevailed in the district since Onondaga and Hamilton time, 

and they became steadily more favorable as Meadville time went on. 

Yet barren beds alternate with the fossiliferous beds,|hence it is.
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 91

evident that conditions varied and the fauna increased or diminished 

as they changed.

Nothing positive can be said concerning the climatic conditions that 

prevailed in the district during Orangeville and Meadville time. In 

discussing beds of about the same age in Michigan, Lane 10 states 

that "the abundance of mica and sand indicates rapid land waste and 

rock decay, while the abundant bits of vegetation show that there was 

abundant plant life. Both facts point to a relatively humid climate." 

These conclusions seem probable and applicable to the Meadville, 

whose climate was very likely moist and cool, though less markedly 

so than that of the Berea. It was tending toward the arid condition 

that followed.

Later Mississippian time. In the Cleveland district no record 

remains of any deposits that may have been formed between the end 

of the Meadville and the beginning of Sharon deposition. The Black

Hand and Logan formations of central Ohio lie above the Meadville, 

and their character indicates increased slopes in bordering lands, so 

that the streams carried coarser, often much coarser material. As 

these formations are present 25 miles to the south, it is possible that 

they were deposited over the Cleveland district and then worn away 

before the Sharon was laid down. It is also possible that the sea was 

withdrawn from the district at the end of the Meadville epoch and so 

remained during Black Hand and Logan time. The former alternative requires more erosion than the latter to produce the surface upon 

which the Sharon was deposited and allows less time in which to do it. 

The sea was certainly withdrawn at least as early as the end of the 

Logan epoch, the entire district becoming land.

A later Mississippian submergence, which was most prolonged in 

the region of the Mississippi Valley, involved southern and central 

Ohio for a time, and a thin deposit of calcareous mud, now the Maxville limestone, was laid down in a clear, shallow sea, but there is no 

evidence that this invasion reached as far north in Ohio as the Cleveland district. During this later part of the Mississippian epoch the 

climate became arid, and there was a salt lake in the Lower Peninsula 

of Michigan, where gypsum and rock salt were deposited during part 

of the time. At the end of the Mississippian epoch the sea was withdrawn over a wide area. The Cleveland district had become gently 

warped along an axis of elevation that coincides with the Chagrin 

Valley, and the warped beds were deeply truncated by erosion during 

this interval. The entire thickness of the Meadville shale was worn 

away along the axis of the warp, and much of its thickness elsewhere. 

If the Black Hand and Logan were deposited in the Cleveland district 

they were completely eroded away at this time..

1° Lane, A. C., Michigan Gcol. Survey, vol. 7, pt. 2, p. 23, 1900.
92 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

PENNSYLVANIAN EPOCH

Pottsville time. Eastern Appalachia increased in altitude as a 

phase of the uplift that ended the Mississippian sedimentation, and 

from this elevated land great quantities of gravel and sand were carried Odown and spread out on the lower grounds on the west, beginning 

the Pottsville deposition. These early continental deposits of the 

Pennsylvanian epoch were confined to the Appalachian troughs but 

slowly spread westward and in the latest part of Pottsville time 

reached Ohio, and the gravel and sand that now form the Sharon conglomerate were then laid down. The deposit is distinctly of continental, not marine nature. The method of formation of this coarse 

gravel, whose pebbles must have come from a great distance, has 

never been satisfactorily explained. It bears a resemblance to some 

glacial gravel, and Newberry long ago invoked glacial ice as the agency 

for the transportation of the material. The explanation is possible, 

but the proof is yet lacking.

After the deposition of the gravel and sand swamps covered much 

of the district, and the vegetal accumulation that now forms the 

Sharon coal was deposited. This was followed by recurrent deposition 

of sand, mud carrying many lime-iron concretions, marine limestone, 

coal, and iron carbonate. These upper formations have since been 

entirely eroded away from the Cleveland district but are found in the 

quadrangles next to the south and unquestionably were originally 

deposited here.

Remainder of Pennsylvanian time. During the remainder of Pennsylvanian time eastern Ohio was flat and close to sea level, most of the 

time above but occasionally somewhat beloWj it. Deposits of lime 

mud and of clay mud were laid down in the periods of submergence, 

in part in marine waters, in part in brackish waters of estuaries. At

other times, possibly in periods of emergence, sand deposits were laid 

down, probably as deltas. There were times also when large parts of 

the surface were covered with swamps, in which plant debris accumulated. Streams crossing the swamps, occasionally washed away the 

debris from their channels, to be deposited elsewhere, and filled the 

channels with sand. With the passage of long time these vegetal 

accumulations have become altered into the coal beds.

In eastern Ohio and Kentucky, western Pennsylvania, and West 

Virginia such beds, each of slight thickness, were deposited before the 

end of Carboniferous time, making a total thickness of nearly 3,000 

feet. The surface of the accumulating mass maintained its closeness 

to sea level throughout, so that it must have undergone a slow, progressive subsidence, which about kept pace with deposition. Eastern 

Ohio was in the western part of the basin and received a small thickness 

 of such deposits. The Clevelandfdistrict may^have been near enough
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 93

to the western margin to receive only a very little material or even no 

deposit at all, though its altitude was probably very low. Denudation of the surface since Carboniferous time has removed all trace of 

beds later than the Sharon conglomerate, and it is very problematical 

how great a thickness of later beds was ever deposited here. The 

deposits were sufficiently heavy, however, to crush some of the quartz 

pebbles in the Sharon.

In strong contrast to the climatic aridity of late Mississippian time, 

the Pennsylvanian climate must have been moist in order to permit 

the abundant and varied terestrial vegetation.

DEFORMATION OF THE STRATA

The final stages of the Paleozoic era witnessed a great deformation 

in eastern North America, which consisted of folding and faulting in

the Appalachian region and of uplift and slight folding in the region 

to the west. This deformation but slightly affected the Cleveland 

district, except that it carried the area well above sea level, where it 

has remained ever since. The amount of uplift is unknown but was 

at least several hundred feet. The warping of the rocks was slightly 

increased beyond that which they suffered at the end of the Mississippian epoch and earlier. The chief effect was to uplift the region 

bodily, in diminishing amount from east to west, giving it a general 

slope to the northwest and west and causing the original streams of 

the time to flow in the same directions.

MESOZOIC ERA

By H. P. GUSHING

In the Cleveland district all the topographic features produced by 

the erosion of early Mesozoic time seem to have been obliterated by 

later wear, and the general course of events must be inferred from that 

of other parts of the Appalachian province, where such features yet 

remain. At the beginning of the era the surface of eastern Ohio 

must have stood at least several hundred feet above sea level and 

sloped to the west or northwest. The main streams had their sources 

far to the southeast, near the axis of uplift, and flowed across the district in a general westerly or northwesterly direction. The time was 

long, and the district seems to have been worn down to a nearly 

featureless plain that lay not far above sea level, to have been reelevated, and to have been once more worn down. There is no evidence 

that it passed beneath sea level during this time, and no trace of the 

earliest Mesozoic plain remains in the district. The second plain, 

which was formed by erosion during the Cretaceous period, is approximately represented by the summit levels of the remnants of the
94 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

Appalachian Plateaus of northern Ohio. Near the end of Cretaceous 

time this peneplain was again uplifted, forming a low plateau, and 

the rejuvenated streams immediately set to work to dissect it.

CENOZOIC ERA

TERTIARY PERIOD 

By H. P. GUSHING

Erosion of surface. The record of Tertiary time in the Cleveland 

district is wholly a record of erosion. The uplift of the Cretaceous 

peneplain seems to have been greatest toward the northeast, so that 

the new plateau had a tilt more to the southwest than its predecessor. 

But the uplift appears to have been so gradual that the streams cut. 

down their beds as fast as the land rose and thus maintained their 

previous northwesterly courses. This long-continued erosion ao^ 

greatly dissected the plateau that, in the Cleveland district, onlyXhe 

high-level tracts which are capped by the Sharon conglomerate can 

be considered to represent remnants or approximate remnants of its 

original surface. All the rest of the district had its surface considerably worn down, the new base-level was the level of the Erie Plain, 

and all the surface of this plain that was underlain by softer rocks 

was reduced to this new level, 400 feet or more beneath the level of 

the plateau, which is composed mainly of more resistant rocks. The 

present bedrock topography of the district is substantially that produced during this period the base-leveled Erie Plain on the north 

and the broadly dissected plateau on the south, with wide valleys, 

low divides, gentle slopes, and rolling surface.

Late Tertiary elevation. Toward the end of the Tertiary period 

the region was again broadly elevated, and the streams sunk their 

valleys well below the level of the Erie Plain, many of them much 

below present drainage level, so that the base-level of erosion was 

certainly lower than the present lake level and the land was probably 

so high that a valley was present where Lake Erie now lies. The 

interval was too short to change materially other features of the 

topography. The rocks were deeply weathered, and the surface was 

mantled by a considerable thickness of soil and rock waste.

During the Tertiary period the streams of northern Ohio were 

much larger than their modern successors, and their sources were 

more remote. The largest of these streams was the one that flowed 

northward through the present Grand River Basin and probably 

carried the whole Monongahela drainage. The Cuyahoga was perhaps next in size and probably carried much of the present Tuscarawas drainage to the north. The Rocky and Chagrin Rivers probably 

rose farther south and had greater volume than they do to-day.
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 95

QUATERNARY PERIOD

By FRANK LEVERETT

PLEISTOCENE EPOCH

INITIATION AND STAGES OF GLACIATION

Early in the Quaternary period, in what is termed the glacial 

epoch, a great ice sheet was developed in the northern part of the 

North American Continent. From a center on the Labrador Peninsula 

the ice extended southward into the United States, reaching as far 

southwest as the Mississippi River. At the maximum extension the 

ice also crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky near Cincinnati and at 

points below., (See pi. 18.)

The glacial epoch was marked by several stages of glaciation, 

during which the ice sheets enlarged and spread southward. Between 

these invasions were stages of deglaciation, when the ice sheets were 

melted back. Three such glacial invasions of the Ohio region are 

known to have occurred, with two intervening stages of deglaciation, 

and there probably have been four glacial invasions. These are 

designated as follows, beginning with the oldest:

Jerseyan stage of glaciation. 

Aftonian stage of deglaciation. 

Kansan stage of glaciation.

Illinoian stage of glaciation. 

Sangamon to Peorian deglaciation. 

Wisconsin stage of glaciation.

Yarmouth stage of deglaciation.

In the Cleveland district the drifts of two of these stages have been 

distinguished, but deposits of the earlier stages appear to have been 

largely removed by erosion or completely buried beneath the later 

drifts. Nearly all the drift of the Cleveland area now open to study 

pertains to the Wisconsin stage. Interpretations of the conditions 

that prevailed during the advance of the earliest ice sheets or the 

recession of their borders must therefore be based chiefly on conditions 

attending the last ice extension and the succeeding present stage of 

deglaciation, for conditions similar in general must have characterized 

the earlier stages.

ADVANCE OF THE ICE 

Mapping the course of the tfe%ninal moraines has shown that the 

configuration of the margin of the ice sheet of the Wisconsin stage 

was lobate (pi. 18), with extensions into lowlands and recesses on the 

uplands. The divergence of striae toward the morainic loops also 

throws light upon the direction in which the ice advanced across any 

particular area. In the Cleveland district the striae are found on 

the exposed surfaces of the sandstones, the shales being too soft to 

retain them. From the bearings of the striae and from the distribution 

of the moraines, as shown*n Plate 18, it will be seen that the ice that
96 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

covered the Cleveland district was spreading southeastward toward 

an interlobate morainal tract between the Grand River lobe on the 

east and a shoulder of the Scioto lobe on the west.11

DEGLACIATION

In the course of the melting and disappearance of the ice sheet 

there were oscillations of the ice front forward and backward and not 

a continuous shrinking of the ice. Some moraines appear to mark 

positions reached by the ice after a forward movement rather than 

pauses in the course of the retreat. Several moraines were formed 

before the ice border had shrunk within the limits of the Cleveland 

district. The Defiance moraine represents the last notable stand of 

the glacial front in this region. (See fig. 8.) The Euclid moraine, 

which has strong development eastward from this area, represents a 

later position of the border of the Erie lobe.

HISTORY OF THE GLACIAL LAKES

The long and complicated history of the glacial lakes that occupied 

the Huron and Erie drainage basins has been set forth in Monograph 

53 of the United States Geological Survey. Only a bare outline is 

therefore given in this place. The relations of the several lake levels 

along the water front in the Cleveland district, are illustrated in 

Figure 9.

Glacial Lake Maumee. When the ice border in the northwestern 

part of Ohio held the position marked by the Defiance moraine, 

the waters ponded in the west end of the Erie Basin discharged to 

the Wabash River by an outlet leading past Fort Wayne, Ind., commonly known as the Fort Wayne outlet. (See pi. 11.) This early 

stage of Lake Maumee did not extend eastward as far as the Cleveland 

district, for the ice still persisted there on all the area below the level of 

that lake, and Lake Cuyahoga was restricted to the part of the valley south of this area. This highest level of Lake Maumee, about 

790 feet above the sea^ was maintained until the melting ice on the 

Thumb of Michigan, west-of Saginaw Bay, opened a lower outlet, 

through which the water was drav^, down about 30 feet. At the 

same time the marginal waters were extended eastward, and Lake 

Cuyahoga and the lakes in the branches of the Rocky River were 

merged with Lake Maumee. It was then that the beach known as 

the lowest Maumee beach was formed. It is represented by Chestnut Ridge in the Berea quadrangle and associated beach deposits at 

about 760 feet above the sea. The location of the outlet of this lake 

stage is difficult to determine, because it was subsequently covered

» Leverett, Frank, U. S. Geol. Survey MOD. 41, pp. 401-405, 1982.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 11

EXPLANATION

Areas covered by the lakes shown by shading 

Lake outlet _ 

Glacial drainage 

Successive ice borders..............

(Ice borders in New York largely -Af ^~"~~ 

conjectural

Corrective moraines from Wisconsin 

westward not shown)

GLACIAL LAKES MAUMIjE, SAGINAW, AND CHICAGO

Horizontal shading indicates earlier stages of the lakes; oblique shad.ig indicates later stages. By Frank B. Taylor nd Frank Leverett, 1910.
TJ. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 12

EXPLANATION

Areas covered byihe lakes shown by shading 

Lake outlet 

Glacial drainage 

Correlative ice border.

^ % r^.

%&*&*&** 

GLACIAL LAKES WHITTLESEY, SAGINAW, AND CHICAGO

By Frank B. Taylor and Frank Leverett, 1910.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 13

EXPLANATION

Areas covered by the lakes shown by shading1 

outlet ____________________________ _______

Correlative ice border.............jW^*== = ^

( From Mich igan westward not shown)

. j---..:&V. ^., ,-v" *-*'-'T" NS. "*'"~^.i> \,

\ -.; i1

GLACIAL LAKES WARREN AND CHICAGO

By Frank B. Taylor and Frank Lcverett, 1910.
U. B. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 14

Areas covered by the lakes shown by shading 

(Shore lines incompletely traced)

Lake outlet

Correlative ice border.._.....Af 

(ice border largely conjectural 

and tentative)

300 Miles

GLACIAL LAKES LUNDY, CHICAGO, AND DULUTH

By Frank B. Taylor and Frank Leverett, 1913.
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 15

90

80' 75'

*x»

\%--x

^

'\ i*r4f

/

&

ty

^

Marque

'\ /

+

._La Cross,

§ *'

yfrubuq

IdiL

Ttodii

lison

iue<

?(Rockfor

'V

A

Q

Grand

/

Peoria 

N 0 I S

xN D 

.^

Fort Way

H

EXPLANATION

Areas covered by the lakes shown by shading 

Shore removed by modern lakes... xLake outlet---.......................

Glacial drainage.....................

-4. Successive Algonquin ice borders

Successive Iroquois ice borders

.* sz-~.

A

4*C^ r - .-s. «IE-«^ >C

£kfi-dd I\\

on

1

JW£ZTS<?i7G

A

^

Jlociies 

^>

Jbauy^

(i i T"^~^^\ c

 V I

I 0? »

^.l

PEN

/

Y L

'V

1 A

rpittsbtfr^1 )HarrisbMrg 

s. ma

90 c 80' 75°

300 Miles

GLACIAL LAKES ALGONQUIN AND IROQUOIS, LAKE ERIE, AND CHAMPLAIN SEA

By Frank B. Taylor and Frank Lcverett, 1910.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 16

shown by shadin 

yet determined

too 200 800 Miles

NIPISSING GREAT LAKES

By Frank B. Taylor and Frank Leverett, 1911.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 17

A. COMPLEX VARIATION OF GRAVEL AND SAND IN PIT ON MILL CHEER NEAR 

GAHFIKLD PARK, CLEVELAND

The irregular bedding suggests thai they were laid down underneath the ice.

B. VIKW LOOKING SOUTH AT TIIK JUNCTION OF THE EAST AND W KST 

BRANCHES OF THE ROCKY RIVER

The postglacial valleys of these streams shown in the view have narrow flat bottoms and are 

bordered by steep bluffs of Cleveland shale.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 __ 18

SUCCESSIVE POSITIONS OF THE ICE BORDER IN OHIO AND NEIGHBORING REGIONS

By Frank Leverett and Frank 11. Taylor, 1910. Data for eastern Wisconsin from Aldcn and Weidman.
FIGURE 8. Defiance moraine in Ohio, shown by barbed line. Names of published topographic maps show

the course shown in U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 41, pis. 13 and 15
98 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

by a readvance of the ice, which raised the water about 20 feet to an 

outlet leading past Imlay, Mich. Then was formed the highest 

beach in the Cleveland area, the Butternut Ridge of the Berea quadrangle and the Leipsic or Middle Maumee beach of the Maumee 

Basin. The level of this shore line in the Cleveland district is 770 

to 780 feet above the sea. At this stage the lake extended eastward 

to the ice border in the vicinity of Girard, Pa.

Glacial Lake Arkona. The next well-marked step of the ice retreat 

caused a still greater lowering of the glacial lake waters. The ice 

withdrew entirely from the Thumb of Michigan, so that the lake 

east of it fell to the level of a small lake in the Saginaw Basin (Lake 

Saginaw) and merged with that lake. The resulting lake, called

i (Highest Maumee

Maumee

785-795

Lowest Maumee 

760-770

Lake Erie,540-55oHElE 

Low level during Kirkfiela 

stage of Lake /Ogonquin

FIGUKE 9. Falling and rising stages of lake waters in the Erie Basin. Oldest at left. Benches submerged by later expansion of the ponded uaters indicated by dottud pattern

Lake Arkona, extended from the vicinity of Gladwin, Midi., to a 

point at least 40 miles east of Buffalo, N. Y., aiid covered a considerable part of southern Ontario as well as the entire Erie Basin. It found 

an outlet westward through the Grand River Channel ^fcto the Lake 

Michigan Basin and thence by the Chicago outlet InttBfco Illinois 

and the Mississippi. Its altitude above sea level was at J^B^IO feet, 

but by deepening of the outlet it was lowered to about t?Tif3et. To 

this lake is referred the cutting of the lake cliff in the 

at the base of the Whittlesey beach.

Glacial Lake Whittlesey. This low-water stage was followed 

notable advance of the ice front; connections with glacial Lake 

naw were severed by the ice crowding upon the Thumb of Micr 

and the waters of the Erie Basin were raised to the lc,vel of an -

by a 

Sagiigan, 

lutlet
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 99

near Ubly, Mich., whence they discharged down the Cass River, with 

a descent of 35 to 40 feet, to glacial Lake Saginaw, thence westward 

to glacial Lake Chicago in the Lake Michigan Basin, and thence to 

the Illinois River by an outlet near Chicago. (See pi. 12.) This stage 

of the lake is known as glacial Lake Whittlesey, and its shore line, the 

Belmore or Whittlesey beach, is marked in the Cleveland district by 

the Middle Ridge of the Berea quadrangle and associated littoral 

deposits at a level about 735 feet above the sea. The bases of the 

wave-cut cliffs of this stage are at about 720 feet.

Glacial Lake Wayne. When the recession of the ice front again 

lowered the waters there was a fall of 75 to 80 feet from the Lake 

Whittlesey level. To this low stage the name Lake Wayne has been 

given. Lake Wayne was the first of the glacial lakes in the Erie 

Basin to have an eastward discharge. Its waters extended along the 

front of the Ontario ice lobe eastward past the Finger Lakes of western New York to a channel near Syracuse that discharged eastward 

down the Mohawk and Hudson Valleys to the Atlantic Ocean. To 

this lake is referred the cutting of the lake cliff under the North Ridge 

of the Berea quadrangle. It was largely obliterated in the Cleveland 

and Euclid quadrangles by the rise to the Lake Warren stage.

Glacial Lake Warren. By an advance of the ice in New York the 

outlet near Syracuse was closed, and the water level was raised so 

that it again reached the Grand River outlet. Glacial Lake Warren 

occupied the Saginaw Basin, the Erie Basin, the intervening low 

areas on the border of Lake St. Clair, and the southern part of Lake 

Huron. (See pi. 13.) Its extent was nearly the same as that of Lake 

Arkona, and it had the same outlet, through the Grand River Valley to 

Lake Chicago, in the Michigan Basin. It was about 15 feet lower 

than Lake Arkona, because the discharging waters of Lake Saginaw 

had deepened the Grand River outlet that much during Lake Whittlesey time. The reversal in the direction of discharge from an eastward 

course to the Atlantic to a westward course to waters that drained 

to the Gulf of Mexico was caused by the advance of the Ontario 

ice lobe in western New York across the line of eastward discharge. 

At this stage was formed the Warren or Forest beach, which on the 

map of the Berea quadrangle is designated North Ridge. West of 

the Cuyahoga River little more of the Cleveland district was submerged than at the preceding Lake Wayne stage. East of the river 

the lake extended to the Woodland Avenue beach, about 680 feet 

above sea level.

Glacial Lake Lundy (Elkton, Dana}. When the waters were again 

lowered below the level of Lake Warren they halted first at the 

Grassmere beach, at about 640 feet above sea level, and later at the 

Elkton beach, at about 620 feet, each marking short transitional stages 

before the waters of the Erie Basin became finally separated from those
100 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

in the Huron and Ontario Basins. (See pi. 14.) There has been 

little study of the beaches formad at these stages east of Michigan, 

partly because they are weak and difficult to identify. The outlet at 

both stages appears to have been eastward near Syracuse, N. Y., and 

thence down the Mohawk and Hudson Valleys to the Atlantic. The 

sandy strip along St. Clair Avenue in the Euclid quadrangle about 

640 feet above sea level may represent the Grassmere beach. Only 

faint traces of the shore were found west of Cleveland. The Elkton 

beach is faintly developed in the northwestern part of the Berea 

quadrangle, but most of it has been cut away by the encroachment' 

of the present Lake Erie, whose bluffs now rise above the, 620-foot 

contour throughout much of the Cleveland area. The operiing of the 

Mohawk outlet lowered the lake to a level below the Niagara escarpment and restricted the waters in the Erie Basin to about their present 

area. (See pi. 15.)

POSTGLACIAL LAKE

Lake Erie. When the ice had receded in western New York 

sufficiently to allow water to escape along its southern edge through the 

low plain between the Niagara escarpment and the shore of Lake Ontario into the Mohawk Valley, the level of the lake waters east of 

the Erie Basin was drawn down below the level of the Niagara escarpment, and the remaining body of water had about the extent of the 

present Lake Erie. The Niagara River connected the two lakes, 

and Niagara Falls became operative and began their recession. With 

the institution of these features the direct influence of the oscillating ice dam on the lake in the Erie Basin ceased, and its postglacial 

history began.

There has been a slight differential uplift since that time at the 

east end of the lake, which raised the outlet and caused the waters 

to extend a little farther west, but, in general, the first stage of 

Lake Erie was nearly of the same area and extent as the present lake. 

When Lake Erie became an independent body of water the ice still 

covered the greater part of the Lake Huron Basin and discharged its 

waters southward to Lake Erie along the line of the present drainage 

from Lake Huron to Lake Erie (pi. 15), but as the ice melted back in 

the Huron Basin an^ in the district on the east an outlet for the waters 

was opened, leading from a place near Kirkfield, Ontario, down the 

Trent River Valley into a lake in the Ontario Basin known as Lake 

Iroquois. \ By this change the Erie Basin had its drainage area much 

reduced, and the level of the water in it became correspondingly 

lower. It is estimated that its level may have been at least as low 

as 560 feet above the sea, or 13 feet or more lower than the present 

level of the lake. After a long period of eastward discharge through 

the Kirkfield or Trent River outlet the region through which that 

outlet passed was uplifted so that it could no longer carry the water 

from the Huron Basin. (See figs. 10 and 11.) This uplift caused 

the water to rise again to a sufficient height at the south end of Lake
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 101

Huron to discharge southward along the present line of drainage to 

Lake Erie. $y this time the ice had been melted away from the 

Michigan and Superior Basins also, and the water from these three 

great lakes was turned into Lake Erie. This accession of water appears to have brought the lake up practically to its present height, 

573 feet above sea level. The Erie Basin drained into the Atlantic 

by way of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. For a time after the 

St. Lawrence region was free of ice its altitude was below sea level,

FIGURE 10. Hinge lines of Lakes Whittlesey, Wayne, and Warren

and an arm of the ocean extended westward into the Ontario Basin. 

(See pi. 16.) At that time Lake Erie was again slightly lower than 

now, for the waters of the upper lake basins, comprising the Nipissing 

Great Lakes, flowed eastward from Georgian Bay by way of the 

Ottawa River into the St. Lawrence arm of the sea.

The Sandusky River at that time ran across what is now Sandusky 

Bay. The old channel is traceable through the bay, and its banks
102 GEOLOGY OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

are less than 10 feet below the surface of the bay. From this evidence 

it appears that the level of the river at ordinary stage was probably 

but little more than 10 feet below the present level of Lake Erie, or

about 560 feet above sea level. This low stage of Lake Erie was 

maintained until an uplift in the region traversed by the Ottawa River 

raised the head of the outlet to a level high enough to cause the withdrawal of the sea from the Ontario Basin and the discharge southward
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 103

into the Erie Basin from the basins of Lakes Superior, Michigan, and 

Huron to be resumed.

Studies of the Niagara Gorge and the rate of recession of the falls 

indicate that the lake has been at this higher level for less than 4,000 

years. 12 The present stage of Lake Erie is thus of relatively recent 

date. Yet in this brief period the lake appears to have cut back its 

coast line in the Cleveland district more than the amount of cutting 

accomplished in this area by any of the glacial lakes.

The level of Lake Erie is determined by the rock bed at the head 

of the Niagara River, its present outlet. Since the separation of Lake 

Erie from the waters on the northeast the falls have cut back about 

7 miles, with a much smaller flow than at present for a considerable 

part of the time. There remains about 18 miles for the falls to cut 

back to the edge of Lake Erie. It is estimated that the present rate 

of recession of the main or Horseshoe Fall is fully 4 feet a year. At 

this rate it will not be many thousand years until the cataract reaches 

the head of the outlet. The lake will then be partly drained and 

become smaller.

POSTGLACIAL STREAMS

Since the Wisconsin ice sheet disappeared from the Cleveland 

district the streams have been subject to several distinct base-levels, 

owing to the changes in the level of the lake( waters described above. 

At each succeeding lower stage the streams were extended to the new 

position of the shore line. At each succeeding rise in the lake level 

the lower courses of the streams directly tributary to the lake were 

flooded and probably partly refilled with sediment, and the opening of 

valleys was by so much retarded. Owing to the complexity of the 

relations between the streams and the shifting base-level it is difficult 

to differentiate clearly the history of each stream at each stage of the 

lake. The valleys of to-day represent the net result of the process 

of development.

The Cuyahoga River has cut a crooked flat-bottomed valley 100 to 

180 feet deep, bordered by steep bluffs and ranging in width from about 

a mile down to scarcely one-fifth of a mile. Most of this cutting has 

been done in unconsolidated material, a large part of which is laminated clay. Only at three places near Boston, Brecksville Station, 

and Tinkers Creek is the preglacial rock bluff exposed. North of 

Brecksville Station the valley cuts across a projecting rock point, and 

there its trough is very narrow.

The Rocky River has worked mostly in shale. Except where the 

river follows or crosses its preglacial valley, it occupies a narrow, 

steep-walled channel. (See pi. 17, B.) Down to relatively recent

» U. S. Oeol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Niagara folio (No. 190), 1913.
104

time the junction of the East and West Branches was-north of two 

rock prominences north of the road running east from Olmsted. The 

channel west of these prominences, about 100 feet deep, was probably 

cut by the West Branch and later abandoned. The diversion through 

the gap at the road east of Olmsted is said to have occurred at about 

the time the first settlers came to this region. The diversion through 

the passage between the rock prominences was evidently much earlier. 

The erosion on tributaries of the Cuyahoga and Rocky Rivers has 

been relatively slight, except in the lower courses, where they are 

coming into adjustment with the deep valleys of the major streams. 

There are usually cascades where the streams pass from sandstone to 

shale formations. Such cascades are conspicuous where the streams 

pass out of the Berea sandstone. Excavation in the rock formations 

has been very slight except as stated above. The drainage of the 

elevated upland is to a great degree rudely coincident .with the preglacial lines, but on the lowlands the preglacial drainage channels 

have been so completely filled with drift deposits that most of the 

present streams follow new courses.

ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

By FRANK ROBERTSON VAN HORN

The mineral resources of the Cleveland, Berea, and Euclid quadrangles consist of clay and shale, building stone and grindstones, salt, 

natural gas and petroleum, sand and gravel, and road material. 

These substances are named in the probable order of their commercial 

value. Other natural resources are peat, water, and the soils.

CLAT AND SHALE

The clay industry in Cleveland and vicinity includes the manufacture of common brick; vitrified brick, which embraces face brick, 

sewer brick, and paving block; and hollow ware, such as hollow brick,, 

fireproofing, conduits, and a small quantity of draintile.

Clay. The clays of the region are chiefly transported material of 

glacial origin. They are either yellow or blue, and the beds range in 

thickness from 3 to 75 feet. In one place, however, borings indicate 

a thickness of more than 150 feet. The blue clays are very dense and 

tough, and dynamite is sometimes employed in mining them. Boulders usually occur in the clays but in places are practically absent. 

They consist of granite, gabbro, anorthosite, gneiss, schist, and several 

kinds of limestone. The limestone is especially detrimental in brickmaking, as on burning any particles present are converted into lime, 

which will absorb moisture and cause the brick to chip off or even 

break into pieces. Some alluvial clay is found along the streams, but
CIAY AND SHALE 105

none is used for manufacturing. The nearest approach to a residual 

clay in the region is the so-called DeKalb clay,13 found in a strip a 

quarter of a mile to a mile wide and parallel to the shore of Lake Erie 

from Dover Bay through Lakewood and Nottingham toward Wickliffe. It has been formed largely by the weathering of the Chagrin 

shale, although probably added to by wave action when Lake Erie 

stood at a higher level. An ultimate chemical analysis of this clay 

and of one of the common blue clays called "Erie clay" by Newberry 

follow:

Analyses of clays from the vicinity of Cleveland

Silica(SlOj)...... ...... ._ .. ...... ....... ... .- ......

Iron oxide (FeaOa).... _ ... ______________________ . ...........

Magnesia (MgO)...... ................................ ..............................

Soda(NaaO)............. ............. ..-......... ..-.. .... ...

Potash (KjO)... .................... .............. ..................................

Combined water (HjO). ___________ . ______ . ____________

Sulphur trioxide(S03). 

1

62.25

20.35

5.30

1.01

.60

} 2.46

7.25

.34

99.56

2

59.70-

14.80

4.60-

5.14

8. 90,

. w

4.00.

100. 54 .

1. DoKalb clay (residual) from John Kline Brick Co., Wickliffe, Ohio. Analysts, F. J. Peck & Co.

2. "Erie" clay, a blue drift clay used by some of the brickmakers of this vicinity. Ohio Qeol. Survey, 

vol. 1, p. 177,1873. Analyst, T. O. Wormley.

Comparison of analysis 1 with that of the Chagrin shale (No. 3, 

p. 106) shows a great similarity save for the increase of silica in the clay, 

which might be expected. The DeKalb clay shows a slight loss of" 

soluble constituents alkalies, lime, magnesia, and iron. It is utilized 

only incidentally as it falls into the pit of Chagrin shale, which is 

used at Wickliffe for the manufacture of vitrified brick and paving 

block. If, however, the clay were present in sufficient quantity, it 

could be used for brickmaking, for which it is well adapted. The 

sulphur shown in the analysis comes from undecomposed pyrite concretions in the shale. Analysis 2 shows a large percentage of magnesia 

and lime, which probably originate in part from the limestone pebbles that generally occur in the drift.

Shale. The shales of the region that are utilized for clay products 

are the Chagrin, Cleveland, Bedford, and Orangeville. The Chagrin 

shale is predominantly grayish blue; the Cleveland shale is commonly 

black, although some layers are dark blue; the Bedford shale is part 

red and part blue; and the Orangeville shale is near black, although 

usually not so dark as the Cleveland. Most of the shales contain 

concretions of pyrite, and in some beds of the Chagrin clay-ironstone

'»Lapham, J. E., and Mooney, C. M., Soil survey of the Cleveland area, Ohio, p. 19, U. S. Dept. Agr... 

Bur. Soils, 1906.

2953 31 8
106 MINERAL EESOUECES OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

concretions are very abundant. Several ultimate analyses of the 

shales were obtained from the brick companies and are given below.

Analyses of shales from the vicinity of Cleveland

Silica (SiOs)......-... _ .,

Lime (CaO).__... ___ ......

Soda (NajO).... ..............

Potash (KjO). ....... 

Combined water (HaO)__ .....

Sulphur trioxide (S03). ... .

Silica (SiOs). ...... ..........

Soda (Na2 0).... ........ ..

Potash (KjO)... . .. ....

Carbon (C)._. ........ __ ..

1

58.71 

21.90 

4.55 

2.00 

1.67

6.64 

2.57 

.00

98.04

11

56.10 

17.18 

4.42 

1.24 

.15

} 2.67 

6.49

11.01

99.26

2

56.40 

23.02 

4.50 

1.64 

.85

5.91 

.86 

.00

93.18

12

58. 10 

15.50 

4.22 

1.08 

.05

2.91 

7.02

10.50

99.38

3

57.80 

21.11 

5.80 

1.73 

.80

2.95

6.01 

1.22 

.00

97.42

13

55.10 

20.86 

4.30 

1.46 

1.80

7.30

3.13 

5.85

99.80

4

61.20 

19.21 

4.55 

1.46 

2.00

9.13 

.43 

.00

97.98

5

61.90 

21.55 

4.25 

1.44 

1.50

4.96 

.20 

.00

95.80

14

59.90 

26.28 

4.35 

1.84 

.60

5.40

1.67 

.32

100. 36

6

62.60 

21.10 

4.40 

1.40 

1.54

4.12 

1.05 

.00

96.21

15

62.77 

24.93 

4.55 

1.40 

.92

4.35

.96 

.00

99/88

7

59.35 

20.05 

8.05 

1.51 

1.20

4.11 

5.30

.40

99.97

16

58.60 

19.50 

6.05 

1.11 

1.10

3.36

7.08

3.28

100.08

8

55.13 

19.99 

5.28 

1.33 

.44

3.37 

6.66

7.14

99.34

17

57.28 

21.13 

8.52 

2.13 

5.79

5.22

100. 07

9

60.26 

20.57 

4.00 

1.85 

.48

3.34 

3.52 

4.47

98.49

18

57.40 

21.20 

6.57 

1.40 

1.00 

/ 4.10 

I 1.00 

7.75

100. 42

10

59.85 

18.60 

4.50 

1.40 

.40

6.23 

2.05 

3.93

96.96

19

56.61 

21.63 

7.08 

1.41 

1.11 

3.51 

.48 

6.53 

2.00

100. 36

I, 2. Chagrin shale, blue, Cleveland Brick & Clay Co. F. J. Peck & Co., analysts.

3. Chagrin shale, blue, John Kline Brick Co. F. J. Peck & Co., analysts.

4. Chagrin shale, brown, Newburg Brick & Clay Co. F. J. Peck & Co., analysts. 

5,6. Chagrin shale, blue, Newburg Brick & Clay Co. F. J. Peck & Co., analysts. 

^7j_ Chagrin shale, blue, Ohio Clay Co. Oscar Textor, analyst. 

' 8. Cleveland shale, black, Cleveland Brick & Clay Co. Oscar Textor, analyst.

9,10. Cleveland shale, black, Cleveland Brick & Clay Co. F. J. Peck & Co., analysts.

II,12. Cleveland shale, black, Brower farm, Ohio Clay Co. Oscar Textor, analyst.

13. Cleveland shale, black, Newburg Brick & Clay Co. F. J. Peck & Co., analysts.

14. Green repressed paving block of the Cleveland Brick & Clay Co., made from Chagrin and Cleveland 

shales with very little glacial drift. F. J. Peck & Co., analysts.

15. Green repressed paving block of the Newburg Brick & Clay Co., made from Chagrin shale with a 

little Cleveland shale but more glacial drift. F. J. Peck & Co., analysts.

16. Average of seven samples taken in proportion to the thickness of strata from the side of a cliff consisting of Chagrin and Cleveland shales with glacial drift. Analyses made for the Ohio Clay Co. Oscar 

Textor, analyst.

17. Bedford shale, northern Ohio, presumably from South Park or Independence, Cuyahoga County, 

(Ohio Geol. Survey, vol. 7, pp. 133-134,1893. Analyst not stated.)

18. Bedford shale, northern Ohio; same as 17 but different sample and analyst.

19. Average of 10 samples of shales, chiefly of Carboniferous age, used for making vitrified brick, block, 

and sewer pipe elsewhere than in the Cleveland district. (Ohio Geol. Survey, vol. 7, pp. 133-134,1893.)

The analyses given above were made for commercial work, and the 

determination of certain substances only was asked for, which accounts for the fact that several constituents were not determined 

and that very few analyses have a total of 100 per cent. In analysis 

3 the water was determined by ignition with a deduction for the sulphur, and in analyses 7, 8, 11, 12, and 16 a similar calculation was 

made for the carbon. Comparison of the several analyses shows a 

marked similarity in the composition of the three shales (Cleveland, 

Chagrin, and Bedford) used most in the region for brickmaking, 

although they are of different geologic age. This similarity, however,
CLAY AND SHALE 107

is to be expected, as shale represents a definite product from a definite 

series of geologic processes, just as sandstone does.

The silica, alumina, magnesia, and lime tend to be slightly higher 

in the Chagrin shale than in the Cleveland. The Cleveland is always 

immediately recognized by the amount of carbon present. The 

percentage of iron seems to be somewhat higher in the Bedford, and 

this might be expected because this shale is generally red. The constant amount of sulphur trioxide (S03 ) is due to the presence of pyrite 

(FeS2 ). In analyses 7, 8, lly 12, and 16 sulphur was certainly present 

and has been included with water as driven off by ignition. Analysis 

19 indicates that the shales of the district conform closely to the composition of other shales used in Ohio for the same purpose. Analyses 

14 and 15 show the exact composition of the mixture used in a shale 

brick. Analysis 14 shows by the amount of carbon present that

less than 20 per cent of Cleveland shale must have been used. In

the shale bank of the Cleveland Brick & Clay Co. about 3 feet of 

glacial drift overlies 2 to 3 feet of blue Bedford shale, beneath which 

is 18 to 20 feet of Cleveland shale and about 88 feet of Chagrin shale. 

The section used for making the brick analyzed in No. 15 consists 

approximately of 16 feet of drift clay, 6 feet of Cleveland shale and 

113 feet of Chagrin shale. The glacial clay undoubtedly contained 

some quartz sand, which made it richer in silica than any of the 

shales. In fact, there are many gradations from clay to sand and the 

reverse in all the glacial deposits of the region. The 6 feet of Cleveland shale, however, was not sufficient to make any impression on 

the analysis, if the carbon content is taken as an indication.

BUILDING STONE

The quarry rocks of the Cleveland district are only two the 

"Euclid bluestone" and the Berea sandstone or "grit," as it is generally called.

"Euclid bluestone." In the immediate vicinity of Cleveland the 

lowermost part of the Bedford shale is replaced by a lenticular mass 

of bluish-gray argillaceous sandstone which was named by Prosser 

the Euclid sandstone lentil. This sandstone has long been quarried 

under the name "Euclid bluestone." It ranges in thickness in the 

quarries from 20 to 30 feet, is dense and fine grained, and is much 

harder, stronger, and less friable than its better-known neighbor, 

the Berea sandstone. In general it is thinly and evenly bedded, and 

on that account it was at first and to a small extent is yet used for 

flagstone without being sawed. In one locality about 20 layers were 

noticed in a thickness of approximately 15 feet, and many of them 

ranged from 2 to 6 inches thick. The specific gravity of one specimen 

was found to be 2.583, hence the stone weighs about 160 pounds to 

the cubic foot.
108 MINERAL RESOURCES OP THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The only quarries worked much are at Newburg in the Cleveland 

quadrangle, and at South Euclid, in the Euclid quadrangle. At 

Newburg are two layers having a thickness of 3% feet each; at 

South Euclid the layers reach a thickness of 5 feet. In places the 

blues tone contains concretions in which is a great deal of pyrite. 

They seem denser and harder than the surrounding rocks and are a 

source of detriment to the stone which becomes stained yellow or 

brown by the oxidation of the iron sulphide to ferrous sulphate and 

finally to limonite. Some of the freshly quarried stone shows no trace 

of the concretions, but on exposure to the weather for several months 

the structure becomes visible. The "Euclid bluestone" is used 

chiefly for flagging, but it is also largely sawed for caps, sills, and steps. 

Perch stone is also furnished for cellar blocks and foundations. It 

is reported that this stone is used for making laundry" tubs after it is 

treated chemically to decrease absorption. A considerable quantity 

is crushed for concrete work, the finer screenings being employed for 

concrete block and mortar sand. To a small extent the stone is used 

in making drives and roads.

Most of the following analyses of the "Euclid blues tone "are only

partial, because only certain determinations were demanded.

i 

Analyses of "Euclid bluestone" near Cleveland

Ume(C&0)-....... ....................

Soda(NajO).-. 

Potash (K2 0)-.... - _.

Loss on ignition........................

Crushing strength in pounds to the

1

79.98

7.66

.24

2.44

1.02

1.56

4.62

97.52

2

95.00

2.50

1.00

1.50

100. 00 

8, 000-16, 000

3

92.60

2.99

.72

96.31 

10, 787

4

93.78

1 fid

2.42

97.84 

8,640

5

89.99

.72

4.28

94.99 

11, 467

6

88.88

73

fi 49

96.03 

5,219

7

84. 3&

.55

5.71

90.62 

12, 316

1. Light bluish gray, Malone quarry No. 2, South Euclid. Collected by Frank E. Van Horn. Analysis 

made for Ohio Geological Survey in 1909 by Prof. N. W. Lord.

2. South Euclid. Analyzed by Edward Orton, sr., former State geologist.

3. South Euclid. William Pate, jr., analyst.

4-7. Light yellow, Burgess quarry, South Euclid. William Pate, jr., analyst.

The analyses show a considerable range in silica, alumina, and iron. 

In analysis 1, which is the most recent, the alkalies were not determined. This analysis likewise shows that most of the iron is in a 

ferrous state in the unaltered rock. The change to a ferric state is 

shown in analyses 5, 6, and 7, where the rock was stained yellow.

In addition to the crushing resistance given with the preceding 

analyses, the following results were obtained on "Euclid bluestone" 

from the quarry of the Caine Stone Co., Newburg, by H. D. Pallister 

at the Case School of Applied Science. The specimens were approximately 3-inch cubes.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 818 PLATE 22

A, B. QUARRY AT BEREA, SHOWING SUNHURY SHALE OVERLYING BEREA

SANDSTONE
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN' 818 PLATE 23

A. QUARRY AT BEREA, SHOWING SUNBURY SHALE OVERLYING BEREA

SANDSTONE

13. WEDGE AND FEATHER SYSTEM OF BREAKING SANDSTONE BLOCKS IN

QUARRY AT BEREA 

Shows Sunbury shale overlying more lhan 30 feet of Berea sandstone.
BUILDING STONE 109 

Crushing tests on "Euclid bluestone" from quarry of Caine Stone Co., Newburg

Do. 

Average 

surface 

area 

. (square 

inches)

9. 1125

9. 4394

9. 1875

9.471

Crushing 

load 

(pounds)

110,490

108, 750

141, 880

158, 540

Pressure 

(pounds to 

the square 

inch)

12,125

11, 521

15, 442

16, 739

These figures show the rather peculiar result that the rock is stronger 

parallel to the bedding plane than perpendicular to it. The stone, 

'however, is very dense and is apparently massive without any trace 

of structure. The stone from this quarry weighs about 160 pounds 

to the cubic foot and has a specific gravity of 2.58.

Berea sandstone. The Berea sandstone or "grit" is a medium to 

fine grained gray, faint yellow, or bluish-gray sandstone and is generally very evenly bedded. The yellowish or bluff colors are always 

found in the upper parts of the quarry, where the iron compounds 

have been oxidized to limonite. This sandstone is the great quarry 

rock of northern Ohio and ranges from 30 to 135 feet in thickness 

within the Cleveland district, although at Amherst, in the Oberlin 

quadrangle, a thickness of at least 225 feet is reached. The rock, 

although all commonly called Berea "grit," differs considerably in 

hardness, texture, and structure in the different strata. Some of the 

differences in structure that are perceptible to the naked eye are 

shown by names used by the quarrymen, such as shell rock, spider 

web, split rock, and liver rock. The shell rock is a cross-bedded rock 

that is also thinly bedded, so that it gives the appearance of a series 

of superposed shells. Such a layer is generally found at the top of 

the formation. Spider web is similar to cross-bedding, but the structure is finer and more delicate. This stone can not be used because 

of the irregularity of splitting, whereas split rock is one in which the 

bedding planes are even and close together, so that the rock may be 

easily split in any desired thickness. The liver rock is the opposite 

extreme from the split rock, and little if any structure or bedding is 

perceptible in it. It is, therefore, more difficult to break into dimension blocks than the split rock. Besides these noticeable differences, 

layers that look alike differ considerably in grain and hardness. Some 

are suitable for grindstone on account of the hardness of the grains 

and the absence of cement, which prevents glazing. Other layers are 

used for building stone, and still others can be employed only for 

bridge stone. In this rock as in the "Euclid bluestone" there is considerable pyrite that oxidizes to limonite, which stains the stone yellow to brown. The specific gravity of the rock ranges from 2.11 to 

2.24, and its weight from 133 to 140 pounds to the cubic foot, depend-
110 MINERAL RESOURCES OP THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

ing upon the weight of water that it carries. The ratio of absorption 

is given as 1:16 to 1:37 with an average of 1:24. 14

At Berea, where the largest quarries are situated (see pis. 22, 23), 

probably 75 acres of stone has been taken out to an average depth of 

30 feet in about 50 years of operation. The quarries are not carried 

deeper because the split rock, the most desirable kind, does not 

extend below that depth. The stone is used chiefly for grindstones, 

curbing, block, bridge, and sawed stone, such as flagging, caps, sills, 

and steps. Some stone is made into moldings, cornices, columns, and 

carvings. Trimmings and refuse are sold for riprap and rubble, if 

possible. The following analyses were obtained:

Analyses of Berea sandstone, Cleveland district

Silica (SiOz) . .. .. ........ .......................

Alumina (Alz03). ....... ....... - ......-... -.-- .

Ferric oxide (FeaOs) _______________________

Ferrous oxide (FeO) _______________________

Magnesia (MgO) ________________________ ..

Lime (CaO).. __ ... ___ ... _ . __ ....... _ ... __ . __

Potash (K2 0) _ . __ ................ __ .....................

1

93.13

3.86

.11

.54

.25

.19

1.43

99.51

2

91.89

3.90

1.50

.29

.67

1.01

99.26

3

96.50

1.66

.50

98.00

4

91.07

} 5.29

.04

1.54

1.85

99.79

5

88.30

f 3.52

1.83

1.18

2.08

.21

.50

2.18

99.80

1. Gray, Cleveland Stone Co., quarry No. 6, Berea. Collected in 1909 by Frank R. Van Horn for th 

Ohio Geological Survey and analyzed by N. W. Lord.

2. Buff, between Lake Abraham and Middleburg Stone Co.'s quarry, near Berea. Crowell & Peck 

analysts.

3. Cleveland Stone Co., Westview quarry No. 3. Edward Orton, analyst.

4. Gray, Amherst Quarries Co., Peninsula, Ohio. Crowell & Peck, analysts.

5. Exact locality unknown. Trace of SOs and PzOs. A. W. Smith, analyst.

The analyses show in general a higher percentage of silica and a 

lower percentage of iron, magnesia, and lime than the "Euclid bluestone." ° The average of all analyses seems to show a larger amount of

alumina than the bluestone. The writer is, however, inclined to put 

more weight on analysis 1, which was made recently on carefully 

selected material. It is a fairly representative analysis except for the 

alkalies, which were not determined. In analysis 5 the alkalies were 

carefully determined, and in this respect the two analyses may be 

used to supplement each other.

The following tests for the compressive strength of Berea sandstone 

were made for the Cuyahoga County engineer's office by Crowell & 

Murray, on 1-inch cubes:

Compressive strength of Berea sandstone, in pounds to the square inch

Source of stone

Do. ........ ..............

Do.......................

Do.......................

Do.......................

Cracked

at 

9,817

9, 326

7, 854

9,820

10,300

Crushed 

at 

10, 799

10, 308

7,854

9,820

10, 300

Source of stone

Do.......................

Do. ......................

Cracked 

at 

10, 800

12, 762

8, 835

9,817

Crushed 

at 

10, 800

12,765

9,817

10, 799

Gillmore, Q. A., Chief Eng., U. S. Army, Ann. Kept., 1875, pt. 2, p. 850..
SALT 111

The following tests were made at the Case School of Applied 

Science by R. G. Dukes on stone from the Berea quarries:

A block 3.875 by 4.2 inches was tested perpendicular to the bedding. Area of 

face, 16.27 square inches; crushing load, 121,610 pounds; crushing strength, 

7,480 pounds to the square inch.

A block 3.81 by 4.38 inches tested parallel to bedding. Area of face, 16.7 

square inches; crushing load, 101,000 pounds; crushing strength, 6,050 pounds to 

the square inch.

These tests show that the stone is stronger perpendicular to the 

bedding.

Although the only rocks that are much used in the region are the 

"Euclid bluestone" and Berea sandstone, glacial boulders from the 

till are also sometimes employed for stone work. They consist of 

granite, diorite, anorthosite, granitic gneiss, mica schist, quartzite, or 

limestone. They are used mostly for cellar blocks, foundations, and

fences but have also been utilized for outside walls in fancy houses, for 

fireplaces, and for monumental work.

GRINDSTONES

As generally used the word "grindstone" is applied to abrasive 

stones of small to medium size, and pulpstone to those of larger size. 

No abrasives are made from the "Euclid bluestone," and only certain 

layers in the Berea sandstone are used. More grindstones than pulpstones are made in the area, and probably the town of Berea produces 

more grindstones than any other place in the United States if not in 

the world.

The smaller grindstones are first sawed like flagging and then 

broken into squares approximately of the size desired. A square 

hole is cut through the middle of the stone with a sharp pick, after 

which the stone is placed on a horizontal shaft in a lathe and rotated. 

As the stone revolves an iron rod resembling a crowbar is kept 

pressed against the side of the stone at the proper distance from the 

center until the stone is partly cut through. The iron bar is then 

held on the opposite side of the stone until the corners are completely 

cut off, after which the edge is made true with the same bar. The 

large pulpstones are sawed and treated in the same manner, but 

sometimes the whole operation up to the use of the turning lathe is 

performed with pick and hammer in a remarkably skillful way. It 

is said that no machines have been constructed that can make as 

good grindstones with as little waste of material as can be'done by 

hand.

SALT

Rock salt, which occurs in the Salina formation, is reached only 

by drilling in the Cleveland district, as the formation does not crop 

out in the district. In the vicinity of Cleveland drill records show
112 MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

two to five beds of rock salt, 74 to 168 feet thick, lying 1,950 to 2,500 

feet below the surface. Salt was first discovered in Cleveland in the 

Newburg district about 1886, when the Cleveland Rolling Mill Co., 

now the American Steel & Wire Co., was drilling for natural gas, 15 

"rock salt and shale" being penetrated between 1,990 and 2,154 feet 

and rock salt between 2,250 and 2,300 feet. The record shows three 

beds, 50, 20., and 5 feet thick, in addition to the 164-foot bed just 

mentioned. In conformity with the usual order of precipitation from 

:saline solutions, all the salt beds are underlain by anhydrite, which 

the drillers termed "shale."

The first salt plant in the region was that of the Newburg Salt Co., 

which was started in 1889 and was last operated by the United Salt

 Co. Two wells were drilled in Mill Creek Valley south of Harvard 

Road, and brine was also piped to the plant from the original well of 

the Cleveland Rolling Mill Co. The plant was 'operated until 1902 

but was dismantled in 1905.

The plant of the Cleveland Salt Co., at the corner of Ashland Road

 and Central Avenue, 4 miles north of the site occupied by the Newburg Salt Co., draws its brines from four wells on the premises. The 

first of the following records is that of well No. 2, which was finished 

November 4,1905, and the second is that cited by Bownocker 16 and

 called well No. 2 but now known as well No. 4. The two wells are 

not more than 500 feet apart. The "limestone" beneath each salt 

bed is probably anhydrite.

Record of well No. 2 of the Cleveland Salt Co.

Glacial drift................

 Shales. 

Thickness 

(feet)

520

480

878

10

Depth 

(feet)

520

1,000

1,878

1,888

Limestone. 

Thickness 

(feet)

10

64

2

Depth 

(feet)

1,898

1,962

1,964

Record of well No. 4 of the Cleveland Salt Co.

Thickness 

(feet)

1,821

10

5

5

5

Depth 

(feet) .

1,821

1,831

1,836

1,841

1,846

Thickness 

(feet)

10

22

72

2

Depth 

(feet)

1,856

1,878

1,95

1,952

The plant of the Union Salt Co., about 2 miles north of the Cleve-" 

land Salt Co.'s wells, at Addison Road and the New York Central 

Railroad, draws its brines from three wells on the property and two 

others a short distance away. The wells range in depth from 1,980

" Ohio Qeol. Survey, vol. 6, p. 352,1888.

i« Bownocker, J. A., Ohio Geol. Survey Bull. 8, p. 36,1906.
SALT 113

to 2,006.5 feet. The No. 2 well, the record of which, with interpretation, follows, has been abandoned. The No. 4 well, the record of 

which also is given, was drilled in 1893.

Record of No. 2 well of the Union Salt Co., Wason Street

Surface and glacial drift: 

Ashes.. _ _

Light shale .............

Devonian and late Silurian

limestones:

Hard light-colored limeWhite sand...... .......

Thickness 

(feet)

80

88

22

66

116

100

296

144

170

80

145

25

Depth 

(feet)

80

168

190

256

372

472

768

912

1,082

1,162

1,307

1,332

Devonian and late Silurian 

limestones Continued.

Salt.-. .............

Salt.... ...... ...

Salt. . 

Thickness 

(feet)

56

69

23

60

144

59

15

5

71

26

35

7

38

40

Depth 

(feet)

1,388

1,457

1,480

1,540

1,684

1,743

1,758

1,763

1,834

1,860

1,895

1,902

1,940

1,980

Record of No. 4 well of the Union Salt Co., Hoyt Avenue

Surface and glacial drift- ... 

Devonianshales. ...........

Devonian and late Silurian

Salina formation (Silurian) :

Salt. ..............

Limestone ______ .

Salt. .. .

Thickness 

(feet)

267 

723

775

16

16

19

4

Depth 

(feet)

267 

990

1,765

1,781

1,797

1,816

1,820

Salinaformatlon (Silurian) 

Continued.

Salt. ... .............

Salt. .............

Salt. . 

Thickness 

(feet)

59

21

37

4

37

16

Depth 

(feet)

1,879

1,900

1,937

1,941

1,978

« 1, 994

 Total depth by steel-line measurement, 2,006.5 feet.

The No. 2 well penetrates a total of 159 feet of rock salt, if the 59 

feet of mixed salt and limestone is omitted. The No. 4 well penetrates a total of 168 feet of salt, which, however, includes some of the 

strata omitted from the estimate for the No. 2 well. Though comparison of the records indicates a difference in the thickness and possibly 

in the number of salt beds within a distance of only a few hundred 

feet, part of the apparent discrepancies are doubtless due to imperfections in the driller's records. Comparison of these records with 

those of the wells of the Cleveland Salt Co. reveals similar apparent 

differences in composition and thickness of the beds at the distance 

of 2 miles that separates the plants. The No. 4 well of the Union 

Salt Co. is plugged at the bottom of the 59-foot bed of salt. The 

Cleveland Salt Co. stops drilling at the bottom of the first thick 

bed, which has a thickness of 64 to 72 feet. At the site of the Union 

Salt Co. this bed is 59 to 71 feet thick. Evidently there is about 74 

feet of salt that is not tapped by the wells of the Cleveland Salt Co.
114 MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

The salt is raised by pumping into the wells fresh water, which 

becomes a saturated artificial brine and is forced to the surface by 

additional pumping. Commercial grades of salt are manufactured

 at Cleveland from the artificial brine by both the vacuum-pan and 

the grainer process. Dairy and table salt are made, but the largest 

part of the product is made by the vacuum-pan method and is sold as 

No. 1 common fine, which is shipped loose and is loaded on cars

 direct from the curing floor.

NATURAL GAS AND PETROLEUM

Two general modes of occurrence of natural gas are usually distinguished. Gas is found in shale and is called shale gas; it occurs

 also in sandstone, conglomerate, and dolomitic limestone, and 

this is known as rock gas. Both types are recognizable in the Cleveland district, and a third type is also present, which might be called

 drift gas.

DRIFT GAS

The drift gas is the least abundant in the area and exists only 

in pockets in glacial clay or in layers of sand and gravel that lie 

"between beds of such clay. Possible sources of this gas are the 

decomposition of organic matter either in the glacial drift or in the 

Cleveland and underlying Devonian shales, from which it may ascend 

into the drift. At least three occurrences of drift gas can be mentioned. One is in well No. 4 of the Union Salt Co., at Addison Road 

and the New York Central Railroad, where there is 267 feet of drift. A 

flow of gas of considerable volume was reported at. 150 feet, and flows

 of lesser volume were obtained at 242 and 306 feet. The two higher 

iflows were in drift, and the third was found 39 feet down in the Cleveland and underlying Devonian shales. The second occurrence is in

well No. 2 of the Cleveland Salt Co., at Ashland Road and Central 

Avenue SE., which penetrated 520 feet of drift. At 445 feet gas was

 encountered in sufficient quantity to lift the drilling tools and prevent 

further drilling for a short time. A second well was driven alongside 

the salt tube to tap the gas supply, which, however, was soon exhausted. Layers of sand and gravel in the drift undoubtedly served 

as the reservoir for the gas tapped by these wells. A third occurrence 

of drift gas was found on the property of the late Thomas H. White, 

8218 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, where a shale-gas well that is still in 

use was driven about 1890. At a depth of 125 feet a pocket of drift 

gas was encountered, which blew boulders out of the well. A second 

pipe was put down beside the shale-gas pipe, and the gas supply thus 

obtained was sufficient for lighting, cooking, and heating for two 

years.
NATURAL GAS AND PETROLEUM 115 

SHALE GAS

Shale gas ranks second in value in this district, but it is used more 

on a small scale by individuals than in industry. On account of one 

of its characteristic features shale gas is sometimes called low-pressure 

gas. Other characteristics are that the pressure is variable; the 

volume is small; the occurrence is not limited to any definite horizon 

and in many places is independent of oil; and the flow is likely to 

persist for a long time and is not dependent to any great extent on 

the structure of the rocks. Several hundred gas wells in the Cleveland 

district draw their supply from the shales, which have a thickness of 

about 1,250 feet. The wells range in depth from 400 to 1,840 feet, 

but most of them are completed at about 800 feet. This practice 

indicates that all the wells pass through the Cleveland and Chagrin

-shales into the shale of Portage age, which has commonly been called

Huron shale. Although the shale of Portage age seems to be the

 chief source, it is known that the entire thickness of the Chagrin and 

Cleveland shales contains small quantities of oil and gas. Lord 17

 states that the black shales contain one-fifth of 1 per cent of petroleum 

and that'an average thickness of 1,000 feet of shale would contain 

more than 10,000,000 barrels of petroleum to the square mile. However, the .oil is present in such minute quantities and is so widely

 distributed that it can not be profitably extracted. It is possible 

that this oil by decomposition forms the gas and that the gas, being 

more volatile than oil, is able to work its way along bedding planes,

-cracks, joint planes, and pores, in which it finally accumulates in

-small quantities when further migration is arrested.

The flow from a single shale-gas well is commonly ample to furnish 

light for one or more houses for a long period. Some wells furnish 

sufficient gas for light the entire year and for fuel in the summer,

-and a few supply enough for light and heat throughout the year. 

Pressures in the region range from 3 to 135 pounds to the square inch, 

the high limit, however, being .exceptional. A well is considered

 good if the initial pressure is above 50 pounds and if it produces 

50,000 cubic feet of gas daily. The daily open flow is generally less 

than 20,000 cubic feet, but the wells are comparatively long lived, 

some of them producing for 20 years or more. Near Lake Erie, 

especially west of the Cuyahoga River, a well driven to a depth of 

800 feet is generally successful in finding gas. The writer's list of 

wells shows that more lie west of the Cuyahoga than east of it, especially along the lake. Near Berea many farmers have one or more 

wells, which furnish light and in some places heat. In that neighborhood the writer knows of no unsuccessful wells, but in Parma and 

Brecksville Townships several wells ranging in depth from 800 to

7 Lord, N. W., Ohio Qeol. Survey, vol. 6, p. 413,1888.
116 MINERAL RESOTJBCES OF THE CLEVELAND DISTEICT, OHIO

1,329 feet were drilled without striking gas. In the southern townships east of the Cuyahoga Eiver, including Bedford, Northfield, and 

Boston, there are also successful wells about 800 feet deep. In 

the southern tier of townships west of the Cuyahoga River, however, 

including Columbia, Strongsville, Royalton, Brecksville, and the 

northern townships of Medina and Summit Counties, the number of 

gas wells is much smaller. The wells are also much deeper, owing to 

the southeasterly dip of the rocks, some being 1,200 to 1,300 feet deep, 

and gas is not always obtained. Royalton Township has two successful wells that are only 228 and 397 feet deep. The shallower well 

yields sufficient gas to light and heat one house all the year. It is 

believed that the gas originates in the Meadville or the Orangeville 

shale, or possibly in the Berea sandstone, rather than in the Cleveland 

and underlying Devonian shales.

The oldest shale-gas well in the Berea quadrangle, if not in the 

district, is in Rockport Township and was drilled in 1883 for H. A. 

Mastick. 18 This well, which is still in use, is 527 feet deep and when 

opened yielded 21,643 cubic feet of gas daily.

ROCK GAS

Rock gas is generally a high-pressure gas and occurs in large volume at a definite horizon. Oil may or may not be associated with 

rock gas, and in most regions in which it is found the geologic structure is of great significance. Gas of this type occurs in all large 

fields, such as those of West Virginia, which have been furnishing 

the entire supply for Cleveland until the recent discovery of local 

gas at great depths in commercial amounts. In the Cleveland 

district rock gas, which is deep seated, was first developed about 

1912 and is the most valuable natural gas in the region.

HISTORICAL NOTES

The oldest well in the district that produces rock gas was drilled 

in 1886, in Newburg, for the corporation then known as the Cleveland Rolling Mill Co. It has already been mentioned in the section 

on salt. This well was 3,000 feet deep and was thought to have 

reached the Trenton horizon. Two "sands" showing small amounts 

of oil were recorded in the Niagara limestone at depths of 2,658 and 

2,686 feet. This is about the horizon of the so-called Newburg sand, 

which recent drilling operations have proved to be of some value as a 

source of gas and oil. The rock pressure was reported to be 400 to 

500 pounds to the square inch, but the volume was only 14,000 to 

16,000 cubic feet daily.

The discovery of gas and oil in Clinton (?) rocks in central Ohio 

between 1900 and 1907 proved an incentive to the continuation of

"Ohio Geol. Survey, vol. 6, p. 432,1888.
NATURAL GAS AND PETROLEUM 117

prospecting northward, and as a result several thousand acres west of 

Kamms and Berea was leased for gas and oil rights between 1905 

and 1907 by the East Ohio Gas Co. and the Logan Gas & Fuel Co. 

The former company did most of the drilling and was still at work in 

1908. It also purchased the site of the Newburg Salt Co. in Mill 

Creek Valley, and in 1907 and 1908 it deepened the old salt wells to 

the horizon of the Clinton (?) beds, which are now generally considered 

to be older than the true Clinton of New York. In most places the 

wells were unsuccessful, and few of them were even capped. One of 

these wells was fairly successful, however, and furnished the second 

example of deep-seated reservoir gas in the district. This well was 

drilled by the East Ohio Gas Co. at North Ridgeville, Lorain County, 

and was finished in June, 1908. It was sold to A. L. Mills, who 

furnished the drillers' record, which has been interpreted as follows:

Partial record of well drilled in June, 1908, at North Ridgeville

Drift................................. ................................... .........

Devonian and late Silurian (Cayugan) limestones (water In limestone at 1,300 feet).. 

Salina formation (upper part) _____________________________ ..

Salina (?), Niagara, and older (?) limestone (show of oil at 2,200 feet; water in limestone 

at 2,250 feet)........ ....... .................................... -..,..... ...........

Basal part of Albion (?) sandstone __________________________ ..

Thickness 

(feet)

18

1,032

563 

80

825

8

44

47

Depth 

(feet)

18

1,050

1,613 

1,693

2,518

2,626

2,570

2,617

At the time of casing the rock pressure was 840 pounds to the square 

inch, and the open flow of gas was reported to be 250,000 cubic feet a 

day. The supply from this well was used to light and heat several 

houses. The "show of oil" at 2,200 feet is undoubtedly at the horizon 

of the Newburg sand of present operations.

The next development in deep drilling for gas in this district, so far 

as the writer knows, was on October 17, 1911, when the Newburg 

Brick & Clay Co., near Warner and Canal Roads, South Newburg, 

"brought in" a gas and oil well at a depth of 2,520 feet. It was found 

in a "sand" between limestones of Niagara age, and this bed has since 

been called the Newburg sand. The well was still yielding both gas 

and oil in December, 1915.

Two wells were finished to the so-called Clinton sand, at a depth of 

2,740 feet, in February, 1912, by the National Carbon Co. and the 

Winton Motor Carriage Co., near Highland Avenue, Berea Eoad, and 

the New York Central Railroad. Both wells yielded about 1,000,000 

cubic feet of gas daily, and the pressure was about 1,100 pounds to 

the square inch. There was little drilling from that time until late 

in 1913, when several good wells were drilled in Lakewood. Early 

in 1914 several other successful wells were drilled in Lakewood and
118 MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

West Park, but no actual boom started until January 30, 1914. Onthib date, at the plant of the j. L. & H. Stadler Rendering & Fertilizer 

Co., South Brooklyn, gas was found at about 2,400 feet in the Newburgsand. The initial flow of the well was about 12,000,000 cubic feet, 

and the rock pressure was 950 pounds to the square inch. The production dropped to about 3,000,000 cubic feet within six months, and 

when the service from this well was discontinued in August, 1915, the 

pressure was only about 100 pounds to the square inch. In April,. 

1914, there were already 55 producing wells, 10 of which were in the 

Newburg and the rest in the so-called Clinton sand. Drillers camefrom all parts of the country, and many persons inside the western 

limits of the city of Cleveland as well as in Lakewood and West Park 

insisted on having private wells in their own back yards. As a result, 

of this demand drill holes were placed too near together, and the production of the older wells rapidly decreased. There did not seem to be 

very much decrease in the initial pressure and flow of the newer wells 

when compared with the earlier ones, but there was a notable decrease 

in the life of the newer wells.

The average life of the wells of the district is said by an official of 

the East Ohio Gas Co. to be about eight months; other records show 

that some wells lasted 12 to 15 months.

The record well of the Cleveland area is stated to be the Swift well,, 

in the Newburg sand at Walworth Avenue and West Twenty-fifth 

Street, which had an initial flow of 13,500,000 cubic feet.

PRODUCING SANDS

The chief sands of economic importance have been called the Newburg and Clinton, and of these the Clinton has produced most of the 

gas in the Cleveland district. Some persons have applied the name 

Stadler sand to the Newburg, but the term "Newburg" has priority 

as well as more common usage. There is also one unimportant sand 

called the Stray sand, and the so-called Trenton lime (Trenton? 

limestone) has been prospected to a slight extent. (See pi. 19.)

Stray sand. The Stray sand has been found in at least three places 

in Lakewood, at depths ranging from 1,355 to 1,400 feet, and its position must therefore be in the Devonian or the upper Silurian limestones 

The sand is about 3 feet thick and at two places produced oil. At the 

other place an initial flow of 4,000,000 cubic feet of gas was obtained. 

Water caused more or less, trouble, and after a time the wells were 

abandoned or were deepened to the Clinton sand.

Newburg or Stadler sand. The horizon of the Newburg or Stadler 

sand is found at depths ranging from 2,300 to 2,600 feet. In some 

places the Newburg is said to attain a thickness of 30 feet, but in 

others it is apparently absent. In the Lakewood district its thickness 

is rarely greater than 15 feet, but it becomes thicker to the south and
NATURAL GA.S AND PETROLEUM 119'

east, toward the Denison-Harvard district, where the maximum 

thickness is found. In that vicinity its depth below the surface also 

increases, owing to the southeast dip. According to reports made by 

the East Ohio Gas Co., the Newburg ranges from 3 to 17 feet in thick-- 

ness. At the pioneer well of the Newburg Brick & Clay Co. the sand 

was penetrated to a depth of 15 feet, a total depth of 2,520 feet being 

reached. The gas sand from this well was grayish, soft, and brittleand showed abundant cleavage planes. In polarized light even the 

smallest fragments showed high interference colors, which characterize certain minerals of very high double refraction. This sand 

dissolved almost wholly in cold dilute hydrochloric acid, and the 

solution showed little if any trace of iron. The properties noted 

previously are those of a fairly pure limestone, composed of calcite 

or dolomite. Another specimen of Newburg sand was grayish red 

and contained grayish, reddish-brown, and grayish-black particles,, 

so that it might have been a mixture of three rocks. This sand was 

easily crushed, but some of the particles were hard enough to scratch 

glass. The grayish particles showed high double refraction and dissolved readily in cold dilute hydrochloric acid. The reddish-brown 

particles dissolved less readily, and the other particles were insoluble;; 

the solution was colored yellow with iron chloride. This sand was 

calcareous but certainly originated from a more impure limestone than 

that obtained from the Newburg Brick & Clay Co.'s well.

The Newburg sand is therefore a calcareous or dolomitic limestone,, 

more or less pure, and not a quartzose sandstone like the Clinton 

sand. It probably consists of a porous limestone similar to the 

Trenton (?) limestone of the Findlay-Fostoria region. The Newburgsand occurs in what is called the Big lime and belongs to the Niagara 

epoch of the Silurian. The horizon probably corresponds to that of 

the Lockport dolomite. Some of the wells that have been drilled to 

this sand without rinding gas were continued down to the Clinton 

sand. Chemically the gas from the Newburg sand is said to be little 

if any different from the Clinton gas, an analysis of which is given on 

page 121. The Newburg has been most successfully prospected in the 

southern and southwestern parts of Cleveland, known as Newburg 

and Brooklyn, especially in what is called the Denison-Harvard 

district , where the sand is thickest. One of the largest wells to produce gas from the Newburg sand was the Stadler well, at Denison 

Avenue and the Belt Line, which really started the gas boom in the 

Cleveland territory. Although this well came in with 12,500,000 

cubic feet of gas, at a rock pressure of 950 pounds to the square inch, 

it lasted only from January 30,1914, to about August, 1915. Because 

of the general interest in this well, its log as given by the drillers, with 

a geologic interpretation, is appended.
120 MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

v Log of Stadler well, Denison Avenue and Belt Line, Cleveland

Gas.... __________ . ____ .

Through lime __________ - _

Salt..........-.... .............

Salt....... ...... ................

Slate.. ................ ... ......... .

Gas.......... ....................

Depth (feet)

70 

70-1, 106 

1,106 

1,360 

1,395 

1,415 

1,555 

1, 555-1, 725 

1, 725-1, 915 

1,915-2,010 

2,010-2,025 

2,025 2,070 

2,070-2,080 

2,080-2,115 

2, 115-2, 250 

2, 250-2, 260 

2, 260-2, 355 

2,365 

2,375

Formation

Drift . .....-...-.-.._ .._..... 

Devonian and late Silurian (Cayugan)

Niagara limestone above Newburg sand.

Thickness 

(feet)

70 

1,036

} 689

390

240 

20

Clinton sand. Although the sand that occurs from 75 to 150 feet 

below the Niagara limestone has long been known as the Clinton 

sand, it very certainly does not belong to the true Clinton formation 

but to the older beds here called Albion (?) sandstone, which, like 

the Newburg, are of Silurian age. On account of the common use of 

the term "Clinton," however, it is here used for the convenience of 

students of the economic geology of the region. The sand is found 

at depths ranging from 2,700 to 2,900 feet. In the northern part of 

the Cleveland district it is reached constantly at a depth of about 

2,750 feet, but toward the south and east the depth increases, owing 

to the dip of the rocks hi those directions. According to reports, its 

thickness ranges from 5 to 50 feet. The East Ohio Gas Co. gives 

figures ranging from 5 to 35 feet. At the plant of the Cuyahoga 

Brick & Shale Co. in Parma Township, between Ridge and Pearl 

Roads, the top and bottom of the Clinton sand were reported at 

2,823 and 2,867 feet, respectively, giving a thickness of 44 feet. The 

Twin City Oil & Gas Co., at West One Hundredth Street near Bertha 

Avenue, drilled from 2,737 to 2,765 feet in the Clinton, a distance of 

28 feet, but reported that "the Clinton here is 50 feet deep, which is 

about double the normal thickness." The thickness most commonly 

given is about 20 feet. J. C. Gillette, of the National Carbon Co., 

states that one of the reasons for differing reports is that some drillers 

include in the Clinton certain rocks that do not belong there. In 

his experience he finds, on approaching the Clinton, first a layer of 

reddish clayey sand, ranging from a mere film to 12 feet in thickness, 

which contains some gas. Below this sand lies 3 feet of shale, and 

then comes about 20 feet of gray, faint pink, or whitish sand, which is 

the chief gas reservoir. If these three strata were all included as 

Clinton, they would make up a thickness approaching 35 feet.

Two specimens of pink and gray or white Clinton sands have been 

investigated. They consist of quartz sand stained more or less with
NATURAL GAS AND PETROLEUM 121

iron oxide, which even in the white sand dissolves in cold dilute 

hydrochloric acid and stains the solution yellow with ferric chloride. 

Neither sample showed any traces of lime, and the white sand originated from a grayish porous, friable quartzose sandstone, particles 

of which could be seen in the sand and were hard enough to scratch 

glass. Two other specimens of grayish color were examined, but 

these contained limestone fragments along with the sandstone and 

consequently effervesced easily with acid. The limestone particles 

undoubtedly came from horizons above the sand. Although the 

Clinton sand is generally porous, it is sometimes reported as very 

dense and hard, so as to require shooting in order to open up the flow 

of gas. The two following analyses were furnished by the East Ohio 

Gas Co.

Analyses of natural gas from Cleveland and West Virginia

1

0.0

.2

.1

.6

95.5

1.6

2.0

100.0 

1,105

2

0.2

.3

.15

.5

93.6

1.65

3.6

100.0 

1,095

 1. Clinton gas. 

2. West Virginia gas used in Cleveland, for comparison.

Several hundred wells have been drilled to the Clinton sand, about 

a fourth of which have been dry or gave so little gas that their production was not utilized. A comparatively small number of wells 

have yielded an initial flow of 10,000,000 cubic feet or more each, and 

a few of these started, according to reports, with about 13,000,000 or 

14,000,000 cubic feet daily. Like most wells in the Newburg sand, 

many Clinton wells have declined rapidly in production. The record 

of a well in the Clinton sand as given by the drillers, with an interpretation, follows:

Log of Winton Gas Engine Co.'s well, West One Hundred and Sixth Street, between 

Madison and Western Avenues, Lakewood

8^-inch casing. . -.. _______

Water........ ......... ........ _ ..

Salt......... . __________

Slate.. ____ . __________

Top of little lime. ..... .......... 

Through little lime .................

Slate _____ ..................

Top of Clinton sand ...........

Gas............ . ................

Eed sand ___ .. ................

Slate. _ . ____ . _____ ......

Depth (feet)

60

1,140

1,450

1,650

1, 750-1, 850

1, 850-2, 590

2, 590-2, 660

2,660 

2, 660-2, 680

2, 680-2, 704

2,704

2,704-2,706

2, 706-2, 713

2, 713-2, 721

2, 721-2, 749

Formation

Drift........... ......................

Albion (?) and Queenston (?) formations.

Thickness 

(feet)

60

1.080

510

200

OOA

69

2953 31-
122

Trenton (?) limestone. Because of the importance as a source of 

gas and oil in western Ohio of the Ordovician limestone that is commonly called Trenton limestone two wells have been drilled to that 

formation in the Cleveland district. They were both put down in 

the eastern part of Cleveland, and both were unsuccessful. One was 

drilled by the Park Drop Forge Co. at East Seventy-ninth Street and 

the New York Central Railroad, and the other by the Cleveland 

'Twist Drill Co. at Lakeside Avenue and East Forty-ninth Street. 

In the latter well a small flow of gas was found in the so-called Trenton, and the highest rock pressure observed was only 37 pounds to the 

square inch. An analysis of this gas, furnished by Mr. J. V. Emmons, 

follows:

Analysis of natural gas from Trenton (?) limestone at Cleveland

Carbon dioxide......__________________________________ 1. 4

Heavy hydrocarbons (illuminant)_______________________ .8

,Oxygen___-______________________.___________________ . 4

Carbon monoxide___..____:____________________________ . 6

Methane.___________________________________________ 95. 7

Hydrogen_____ _ ___________________________ .0

Nitrogen.._ __________________________________________ 1. 1

100. 0

A condensed record from this well, in which the top of the Trenton 

(?) limestone was reached at 4,445 feet, follows:

Partial record of well of Cleveland Twist Drill Co., Lakeside Avenue and East Fortyninth Street, Cleveland

Drift....... -. . ....-.. .. .....- -... - -..... ........_.....

Devonian and late Silurian limestones (Biglime).. ________________

Shale and sandstone (Queenston ?) ______________ . ....................

Thickness 

(feet)

200

760

1,722

102

36

360

1,265

132+

Depth 

(feet)

200

960

2,682

2,784

2,820

3,180

4,445

4,557

Pressures. The largest authentic rock pressure reported in the 

Cleveland district was in a well of the National Carbon Co., which 

registered 1,120 pounds to the square inch. One of 1,250 pounds 

was reported, but it was probably not authentic. The usual initial 

pressure for wells in the Lakewood area was about 1,100 pounds. 

In the West Park area the initial pressures were about 1,000 pounds. 

The Stadler well decreased from 950 to 100 pounds during its period 

of service of about a year and a half.
NATUKAL GAS AND PETROLEUM 123 

PETROLEUM

Although there are vast amounts of petroleum in the Devonian 

shales, it is disseminated through them in such small quantities 

that it is not obtainable economically. At many places in the 

district are so-called oil springs. The "Euclid bluestone" at some 

localities contains a little oil, which comes to the surface along 

cracks and bedding planes. The oil, however, probably originates 

in the shales immediately underneath. The Mills well, cited in 

the discussion of rock gas (p. 117), showed oil at 2,200 feet, at a position in the Niagara limestone of the Big lime. This is probably 

the horizon of the Newburg sand. Several wells that were drilled 

and abandoned by the East Ohio Gas Co. in 1907 and 1908 were 

left uncapped, and oil either flows out at the top or can be obtained 

at a depth of a few feet, where it probably floats on water. During 

the gas boom, in 1914 and 1915, about 30 wells are reported to have 

found showings of oil. Two of these wells found oil in the Stray 

sand at a depth of about 1,400 feet, four in the Newburg sand, and the 

remainder in the Clinton sand. Several wells were reported to flow 

30 to 40 barrels daily, some before and some after shooting, but most 

wells came in at 10 to 20 barrels, and practically all were short lived. 

Most of the wells of the Cleveland field after producing a few barrels 

for a month or so have ceased pumping. It is therefore evident 

that any hope of an oil boom in the Cleveland district was disappointed. Probably the best oil well is that of the Newburg Brick & 

Clay Co., which was the real pioneer of the district. (See p. 117.) 

This gas and oil well came in on October 17, 1911, with a natural 

flow of 35 to 40 barrels. After it was shot it produced 100 barrels 

daily for a time. The oil was struck at a depth of 2,520 feet in the 

Newburg sand; it is said to contain little gasoline.

The results of three distillation tests, made by the National Refining Co., of crude oil from the Cleveland district, all of which 

probably came from the Clinton sand, are given below.

Distillation test of 16,000 cubic centimeters of crude oil, with a gravity of 41-%°

Baume, from Lakewood

Product Per cent

17. 185

34.375

12. 500

15. 625

20. 315

100. 000

Gravity 

(°Baum6)

71. 4-56. 8

55. 1-41. 0

40. 6-36. 7

36. 1-30. 9

Flash 

point 

("Foster)

120

260

330

This crude oil contains a large percentage of high-grade waterwhite oil, which can be refined for market without the use of lead. 

The percentage of sulphur is very low.
124 MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

Distillation test of 11,000 cubic centimeters from a S-gallon sample of crude oil having 

a gravity of 41-1° Baume, from West Park

Product

Residuum _______ ____ .. _________________

Per cent

18.18

31. 815

13. 635

13. 635

22. 735

100. 000

Gravity 

(°Baume)

80. 5-57. 2

53. 7-40. 9

38. 6-35. 7

38. 6-30. 4

Flash 

point 

("Foster)

 130

345

365

Distillation test of 16,000 cubic centimeters of crude oil having a gravity of

Baume, from Cleveland

Product

Gas oil fraction __________ . __ ...... .......... ......

Per cent

20.31

31.25

12.5

15. 625

20.315

100.000

Gravity 

(°Baume)

79. 4-55. 8

54. 6-41. 2

40. 3-37. 7

35. 8-31. 8

Flash 

point 

("Foster)

122

280

355

EFFECT OF STRUCTURE AND OF PHYSICAL CHARACTER OF THE SAND ON 

ACCUMULATION OF OIL AND GAS

In general the accumulation of shale gas in the vicinity of Cleveland is only slightly if at all affected by underground structure. 

Small terraces and local anticlines in the shales have long been 

known, and Orton 19 has mentioned one place where an arching of 

the shales along an axis trending N. 40° E. has possibly caused an 

accumulation of gas. The Mastick well, mentioned in the discussion 

of shale gas, was driven on the apex of this fold, but as the fold is 

believed to have resulted from only a surface disturbance, its influence on the accumulation of gas at depth is considered slight. 

In general, it is believed that these structural features have little if 

any relation to the occurrence of shale gas in the district as a whole.

The factors in the accumulation of oil and gas in the sands of the 

Cleveland gas field are discussed as follows by Rogers: 20

In attempting to find extensions of the Cleveland field or new pools in this 

region a knowledge of the factors that have influenced the accumulation of the 

gas is very desirable. It is a common belief, especially among oil and gas operators in northern Ohio, that geologic structure has had little to do with the position 

of pools in the Clinton sand and that variation in the porosity of the sand itself 

is the controlling factor. On the other hand, it is held by many that accumulations in the Clinton are controlled by terrace structure or by minor undulations 

in the monoclinal slope, and it has recently been shown that the pools near

« Orton, Edward, Ohio Geol. Survey, vol. 6, p. 432,1888.

M Eogers, G. S.f The Cleveland gas field, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, with a study of rock pressure: U. S. 

Geol. Survey Bull. 661, pp. 27-30, map, 1918.
NATURAL GAS AND PETROLEUM 125

Wooster, 50 miles south of Cleveland, are closely associated with small anticlines.21 If in the Cleveland region the texture of the sand is the controlling 

factor, a large number of dry holes must be expected in efforts to discover extensions of the field; but if structural conditions have played an important part, 

prospecting may be conducted more intelligently.

The Clinton sand is exceptional among important oil and gas reservoirs in that 

it does not crop out in the vicinity of its productive area. It rises from a great 

depth beneath the Appalachian coal basin, becomes somewhat thinner toward 

the west, and feathers out in central Ohio, where it approaches nearest the surface. The tendency of gas to migrate up the rise is generally considered the ultimate cause of its accumulation near Cleveland as well as in the great belt to the 

south, for it is in this general zone that its upward migration is stopped by the 

thinning out of the sand. The sand does not disappear completely along a single 

regular line; there is a border zone in which it is present only in small irregular 

areas, some of which, like that at Oberlin, may prove productive. As the logs of 

a number of wells a short distance west of the Cleveland field report the sand as 

absent, the field appears to be on the eastern edge of the zone in which the sand 

is irregular.

Although the feathering out of the sand has determined the general position of 

the great Clinton gas fields, structural conditions have undoubtedly operated to 

localize the accumulations. In many of the southern fields and as far north as 

Wooster the gas is not accumulated directly at the edge of the sand but has been 

trapped in structural irregularities a short distance below. In the writer's opinion structural conditions have also controlled the accumulation of gas near Cleveland. The field as now developed is confined entirely to a very gentle structural 

nose or bulge; most of the oil occurs below the gas and approximately at one 

structural level, and below this level the sand appears to be practically barren 

of either oil or gas. Aside from this local structure, the marked change in the 

strike of the Clinton, forming an elbow or pocket near Cleveland, has probably 

also furthered the accumulation of gas in this locality. [See pi. 19.]

A third condition affecting the accumulation of the gas is variation in the 

porosity of the sand, and this factor seems to have controlled very largely the 

detailed, outline of the productive area and the position of the richer territory 

within it. In fact, the outline of the productive area is so irregular that at first 

sight it appears to have little relation to geologic structure. For example, the 

narrow and sharply defined strip of barren territory separating the West Park 

and Lakewood pools and extending at right angles to the strike can not be explained on structural grounds, nor can the irregular barren area on the minor 

structural terrace in the central part of Middleburg Township. These local variations must be attributed to the character of the sand, and it is only when the 

field is viewed broadly that the true significance of the structure becomes apparent.

As accumulations of gas in areas near by have probably formed under conditions similar to those in the Cleveland field, the foregoing conclusions furnish 

several suggestions for prospecting. It is evident, in the first place, that the 

Cleveland field is near the western limit of the general productive belt and that 

the sand becomes irregular and discontinuous to the west. Productive areas 

may be discovered west of the Cleveland field, but such areas are likely to be 

small, and prospecting for them will probably involve a number of dry holes. 

The zone in which the sand dies out trends somewhat west of south/ however, 

and as prospecting continues south it may therefore be extended farther west. 

The eastern limit of th(3 general productive belt can not now be determined.

" Bonine, C. A., Anticlines in the Clinton sand near Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Bull. 621, pp. 87-98,1916. \
126 MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

Although in the Cleveland field the territory below the 1,000-foot contour seems to 

be practically barren, farther south productive areas have been found at lower 

levels, correspondingly farther from the thin edge of the sand. The pools near 

Wooster, for example, extend at least as far down the dip as the 600-foot contour (2,400 feet below sea level). Furthermore, as the strike of the Clinton 

turns to the east near Cleveland, the sand may be found along the lake shore to 

the northeast at depths of 2,000 to 2,400 feet below sea level. This area has not 

been seriously tested, and although such results as have been attained are chiefly 

negative the district should not be condemned without further exploration. 

Southeast of the Cleveland field the depth of the Clinton sand increases rather 

rapidly, and prospecting can not extend many miles in that direction.

The most favorable localities for prospecting within the area just outlined are 

those in which the dip of the Clinton changes in degree, and the larger accumulations of gas will probably be found in the structural irregularities so formed. 

The pools near Wooster are closely related to rather sharp anticlines; in the 

Cleveland district the structure is more gentle, but the field as a whole is confined 

to a broad nose. As the southern edge of this nose seems to be at Berea, the 

development on this particular structural feature may be regarded as already 

well outlined. Little is known of the detailed structure between Berea and 

Wooster, but it is highly probable that other noses, anticlines, or terraces exist. 

A sufficient number' of wells have already been drilled in certain parts of this 

district to make possible a general comparison of the altitude of the sand at 

different points, and a study of this kind, supplemented if possible by an examination of the surface geology, would doubtless prove a valuable aid in prospecting. 

In the district east and northeast of Cleveland nothing is known of the detailed 

structure, and prospecting offers less chance of quick returns than in the area to 

the south.

Although structural conditions undoubtedly control the general position of 

the pools, it should be borne in mind that the character of the sand itself determines their detailed outline. One or two unsuccessful wells in an area of favorable structure do not necessarily condemn it; several of the earliest wells in the 

Cleveland field, put down close to what has proved highly productive territory, 

were dry. As a general rule the more pronounced the structure the more closely 

is the distribution of the gas related to it; where the structure is broad and gentle, 

as in the Cleveland field, the character of the sand becomes a more important 

factor.

SAND AND GRAVEL

The large population of the district requires a great amount of 

sand and gravel for many purposes, the chief uses being for making 

mortar and concrete. Other uses are for gravel roofs, railroad ballast, 

and surfacing roads and walks. Minor uses are for molding in foundries, in sanding molds for soft mud brick, and as an abrasive for 

sawing stone. The sand and gravel of the district are composed of 

fine and coarse particles of quartz, feldspar, garnet, and magnetite, 

as well as pieces of granite, diorite, anorthosite, granitic gneiss, various 

schists, quartzite, and limestone. Some of it may have originated 

in each of four ways, and consequently four kinds of sand or gravel 

may be distinguished glacial, lake, river, and artificial. The largest 

deposits in the district are of glacial origin and are found along 

the electric railroad connecting Akron, Bedford, and Cleveland and 

along the Pennsylvania Railroad near Garfield Park, where they
PEAT 127

reach a thickness of more than 60 feet. Glacial sand is generally 

called bank sand but consists of alternate layers of sand and gravel. 

Next in abundance comes lake sand, which was formed by Lake Erie 

at its present and higher levels, where it makes up the different lake 

ridges and beaches. It is also obtained from the present lake bottom, 

from which it is drawn up into scows by means of pumps called "sand 

suckers." The lake sands are apparently more rounded and worn 

as well as better sorted by constant wave action than the glacial or 

river sands. River sands are found on the flood plains and deltas of 

the streams. A large part of the city of Cleveland, which covers 

more than 25 square miles, stands on an old delta of the Cuyahoga 

River. The material of this delta consists of about 20 to 30 feet of 

sand and gravel. Artificial sand and gravel are made in two ways. 

The Sharon conglomerate, which consists of nearly pure white or lightyellow quartz particles very loosely cemented together, is crushed and 

screened and makes a fine-appearing gravel for walks and drives. 

It is also used with good effect as a facing for concrete bridges and 

buildings, and another use is in the foundation work for brick pavements. Artificial sand and gravel is also obtained by screening 

crushed "Euclid bluestone." In order to compare natural sand with 

this artificial material for use in concrete, several tests for compressive 

strength were made for the Euclid Concrete Co. at the Case School of 

. Applied Science on 4-inch cubes. The figures given below are the 

average from six samples of each variety of sand. The tests were 

made when the concrete was three months old.

Crushing strength of concrete made from various sands at Case School of Applied

Science, Cleveland

Kind of sand Crushing strength (pounds to 

the square inch of surface)

3:1

2,621 

2,714

5:1

1,813 

2,051 

1,305 

856 

2,046

870

7:1

940 

1,299

These results show that "Euclid bluestone" screenings are superior 

to both bank and lake sand for making mortar and concrete. This 

is probably due to the more angular shape and the greater range in 

the size of the bluestone particles.

PEAT

Peat is partly decomposed vegetable matter and consists of remains 

of plants of all kinds that have either grown where the deposits are 

found or have been brought there. The plant accumulations are
128 MINERAL RESOURCES OP THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

preserved from decay by being saturated with water, and hence peat 

usually occurs in undrained and swampy places. In the Cleveland 

district peat is found on the sites of many lagoons or ponds that were 

wholly or partly inclosed by bars and spits when Lake Erie was at 

the higher levels that formed the several lake ridges and beaches. 

When pure or when mixed with earthy matter peat forms a type of 

soil commonly called muck by farmers. There are about 11 places 

in the district where patches of muck are found, covering a total area 

of 768 acres.22 In some of the local deposits the depth does not reach 

beyond the 3 feet that is customarily tested for soil and subsoil. That 

there is not very much mineral matter in some muck is shown by the 

fact that it burns readily when set on fire and is very difficult to extinguish. The muck areas of the district are situated as follows: 4 north 

and east of Berea, 1 of them somewhat large around Lake Abraham; 

2 northeast of North Olmsted, 1 being rather large; 2 south of Middle 

Ridge, west of Dover; 1 southeast of Fields, on the Cuyahoga-Lorain 

county line; 1 southeast of Columbia Center, Lorain County; and 1 

southeast of Northfield that is very large.

One area that is rather exceptional covers about 4 to 5 acres immediately south of Fowles Road and the Berea station of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling line). The 

peat is about 30 feet thick, according to A. H. Hudson. In the 

deposit are two buried pine forests with many logs and cones, one 

at a depth of 3 feet and the other at a depth of 6 feet. Matted grass 

or sedge remains were found at a depth of 10 feet. There is no recollection or tradition among the oldest settlers of living pine trees in 

the region. The body of peat around Lake Abraham lies between 

Bagley Road and the road parallel to it a mile to the north. According 

to Dr. D. T. Gould, of Berea, 45 feet of peat was encountered while 

putting in the foundations of a bridge across the stream that drains 

the lake. In testing for a railroad right of way on the southwest 

side of the lake the peat was found to have a thickness of about 70 

feet. In the peat tracts south of Bagley Road and on Taylor Road 

depths of 10 to 12 feet were reported. Although the only present 

use of peat in the region is as a muck soil for growing such crops as 

onions, celery, potatoes, and corn, there is some possibility that the 

larger deposits might be utilized in the manufacture of fuel, either as 

air-dried blocks, as machine-pressed briquets, or as charcoal or coke, 

or in powder for blast-burner firing. Peat is also dried and used somewhat extensively as a fertilizer, either alone or in mixture with other 

fertilizing substances.

ROAD MATERIAL

More than 90 per cent of the surface of the Cleveland district 

consists of clay loam and clay, which make a rather hard road when

" U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Soils, Soil map, Cleveland area, 1906
WATER RESOURCES 129

moderately dry but become dusty after prolonged drought and very 

sticky in wet weather. This defect has been remedied in some places 

by putting on sand. Gravel where accessible has been used as a top

 covering and makes the best dirt roads in the district. The gravel is

 either glacial or lake material, but in some localities, especially on

 drives and walks, crushed Sharon conglomerate has been used. Even 

where thus improved dirt roads generally do not make satisfactory 

travel for six months of the year, so that even in the country districts 

macadam, telford, and brick roads are replacing those made of dirt. 

Cuyahoga County first tried macadam, which was a failure, because 

the clayey soil carried on wheels of vehicles picked up the macadam 

surface. Bitulithic pavement, a mixture of tar and stone, was likewise tried but with little success, so that finally the county commissioners adopted vitrified paving brick laid on a concrete base. Paving

.block has proved to be very satisfactory and furthermore is procured

near at hand from local shale-brick factories. In recent years new 

roads and some old roads as well are being paved with concrete.

WATER RESOURCES

In the Cleveland district the annual precipitation has averaged 

about 35 inches over a period of 40 years. The rainfall is supplemented by the large supply of water in Lake Erie, which is accessible 

to most of the population of the area.

Streams and water power. The streams of the district have been 

noted under the heading "Drainage" (pp. 18-21). The largest 

stream in the whole region is the Cuyahoga River, which for 20 

miles runs across the Cleveland quadrangle, with a fall of about 4 

feet to the mile. In the Berea quadrangle the largest stream is the 

Rocky River, formed by the union of the East Branch and West 

Branch at Olmsted. The East Branch has a fall of 16 feet to the 

mile and the West Branch about 11 feet to the mile. There has 

been very little development of water power in the district, because 

.the fall of the larger streams is too small. ' In a few places on the

 smaller tributaries of the large streams dams have been built to supply 

mills with power. So far as is known the streams are not used as a

 source of water supply.

Lakes. Aside from Lake Erie, which is the chief source of water 

for all uses in and around Cleveland, this glaciated region is remarkable for the absence of lakes.

Public supplies. The public water supply of Cleveland is taken 

irom Lake Erie through tunnels. The water is filtered and chlorin- 

,ated. East Cleveland, Lakewood, and a number of other communities are served with water from the Cleveland supply. The water 

is fairly uniform hi composition from year to year and from season to 

rseason. The following table gives the average of analyses of monthly
130 MINERAL RESOURCES OP THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

composite samples made in the Cleveland waterworks laboratory 

during the year 1921:

Average of analyses of water from public supply of Cleveland

Parts per 

million

Iron (Fe)---_--_--_--__-_--._____--__-______________ 0. 07

Calcium (Ca) ..____..__________._____ 35 

Magnesium (Mg)____________________________________ 8. 4

Sodium and potassium (Na+K) (calculated).___________ 5~ 6

Bicarbonate radicle (HC03)--_._._.__________-________ 113

Sulphate radicle (S04)__._.________________ 25 

Chloride radicle (Cl)._________________________ 11

Total dissolved solids.________________________________ 159

Total hardness as CaC03 (calculated)------.-------.---- 122

Berea, which is the largest town in the district outside of Cleveland 

and its suburbs, pumps its water supply from some of the large 

quarries in the Berea sandstone that have been abandoned by the 

Cleveland Stone Co.

Underground water. Although most of the population of the district is supplied by Lake Erie, the inhabitants of the larger part of 

the territory, probably 400 square miles, are dependent on underground water. There are many alternations of sand and gravel 

with clay in the glacial drift that are capable of storing large amounts 

of water. The contact of the glacial drift with the underlying Bedford, Orangeville, and Meadville shales is also a source of water, 

especially where the drift is thick and consists largely of sand and 

gravel. Other formations are the Sharon conglomerate, the Berea 

sandstone, and the Euclid sandstone lentil, near the base of the Bedford shale. Even in the Cleveland, Chagrin, and underlying shales 

of Portage age there are many water-bearing sandstone strata. In 

the upper part of the Chagrin shale there are several sandy beds 

that are porous enough to contain water. The rocks in this area to 

a depth of more than 1,000 feet, however, are prevailingly shales, 

which contain little water. There is one deep-seated water-bearing 

stratum in the Silurian limestone known as the Big lime, just below 

the Newburg gas sand. It is called the Big Water, is reached at 

depths of about 2,400 to 2,600 feet, and has caused more or less 

trouble in drilling for gas. Another water-bearing layer is reached 

at a depth of about 1,400 feet.

Most of the wells of the district are dug, but a few have been drilled. 

Most of the dug wells do not exceed 30 feet in depth. In places where 

the Berea sandstone approaches the surface the wells are sunk to 

this formation. A drilled well near Columbia Station, Lorain County, 

78 feet deep, goes through 35 feet of drift and extends 43 feet into the 

Berea sandstone. At first it showed some oil, and it still contains
SOILS 131

perceptible amounts of hydrogen sulphide that has probably originated from gas and oil in the Berea itself or in the thick underlying shales. The water table in the area is generally near the 

surface.

Springs. There are many springs in the area, most of which are 

near the contact of the glacial gravel and sand with the Bedford, Cleveland, or Chagrin shales. Water is bottled and sold from Alba, Minnehaha, Rockport, Peerless, and Puritas Springs at Rockport and from 

Purity Spring near Luna Park, Cleveland. As the Berea sandstone, 

Euclid sandstone, and Cleveland and older Devonian shales contain 

considerable pyrite, many spring waters that issue from them contain 

appreciable amounts of iron sulphate, which gives a slightly astringent taste. As the iron is oxidized to limonite when such water 

reaches the surface, the springs have been called "iron" springs. 

Several springs of this type are situated on the Shaker Heights Boulevard, Cleveland. Several springs within the district contain hydrogen 

sulphide. One of these issues from a crack in the Berea sandstone on 

the south side of the viaduct over Tinkers Creek at Bedford.

SOILS

General character. The value of a soil for agriculture depends somewhat upon the climate but more upon its physical and chemical 

properties. The most valuable chemical constituents are silica, 

alumina, iron oxide, lime, magnesia, soda, potash, phosphoric acid, 

and nitric acid. If any of the more necessary of these are scantyt 

the deficiency may be remedied by the addition of fertilizers. The 

physical properties of soil include texture, structure, and of lesser note 

color and weight. By texture is meant the size "of the constituent 

particles, which are classed from coarse to fine as gravel, sand, silt, 

and clay.

The soils of the Euclid, Cleveland, and Berea quadrangles are the 

source of considerable wealth, although the underlying rocks of the 

region are prevailingly shales with some sandstone in the western 

part, and these rocks on weathering do not produce very fertile or 

desirable soils. By far the largest part of the soil of the area is 

transported glacial material derived from the late Wisconsin drift 

sheet. In places where the drift is not thick, the soil is composed 

in part of glacial material and in part of disintegrated shale, sandstone, or conglomerate. Most of the soils of glacial origin have been 

derived from till and have been modified into silty or clayey loams, 

which are cold, heavy, wet soils and cause late crops. The materials 

of this till were transported chiefly from Canada, but as the strike of 

the local shale and sandstone is nearly east or northeast they crop 

out in belts that run in these directions. Consequently some fragments from the more northerly strata find their way along with the 

drift into the belts lying on the south and produce an effect upon the
132 MINERAL EESOUECES OF THE CLEVELAND DISTRICT, OHIO

soil. In some few places where the soil is derived from more or less 

stratified drift, the level surfaces are covered with a clayey or loamy 

soil, and the slopes are more gravelly. Another type of transported 

soil is partly of lacustrine and partly of alluvial origin. Such soils 

consist of loam, sandy loam, and gravelly loam and are found chiefly 

on the terraces, flood plains, and deltas of the streams and on the 

higher beaches of old Lake Erie. The nearest approach to an indigenous residual soil in the district is the so-called DeKalb clay. In 

the areas occupied by this soil the drift is very thin or entirely absent. 

Another indigenous soil in the region is mainly of organic origin and 

may be called a humous soil. It is found in undrained, swampy 

regions, where the growth of vegetation has been rapid and decay 

slow. It is black and of loose texture and is described under "Peat." 

Classification. The soils of the district have been mapped, classified, and described by the Bureau of Soils.23 The soils in all but 

21,888 out of 326,016 acres consist of loams, which are far more 

desirable than clays. However, all the loams except the Dunkirk 

fine sandy loam contain 20 per cent or more of clay, which is sufficient 

to produce a rather heavy cold soil. The Miami clay loam covers 

74.7 per cent of the total area and is a transported glacial soil derived from till and modified by some residual soil. The Dunkirk 

clay is a transported glacial soil consisting of fine material deposited 

in basins with poor drainage. The Miami stony loam is a glacial 

soil derived from till and modified by Berea grit and Sharon conglomerate, and the Dunkirk loam is largely the same material modified by Berea grit. The Dunkirk fine sandy loam and the Dunkirk 

gravelly loam are transported lacustrine and alluvial soils found on 

the old lake beaches and on the terraces, flood plains, and deltas of the 

larger streams, including the Cuyahoga River and the East and West 

Branches of the Rocky River. The gravelly loam consists of coarser 

particles that have been sorted by wave action on the beaches, but 

some has been formed on the slopes and terraces of the valleys from 

coarse material from which finer particles have been washed to lower 

levels. The Dunkirk fine sandy loam occurs especially along North 

and Middle Ridges and on the old Cuyahoga delta, upon which 

Cleveland is chiefly built. The Wabash loam is a transported 

alluvial soil formed as flood-plain deposits along the valleys of the 

streams. The DeKalb clay is a residual soil formed from the disintegration of Chagrin shale. It follows the strike of the shale and 

occurs in a narrow belt from a quarter of a mile to a mile wide, which 

runs parallel to the shore of Lake Erie from Dover Bay through 

Lakewood and Nottingham to Wickcliffe. An analysis of it is given 

on page 105 (analysis 1) and several of the Chagrin shale, which lies

« Lapham, J. E., and Mooney, C. N., Soil survey of the Cleveland area, Ohio, U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur« 

Soils. 1906.
SOILS 133

beneath it, on page 106. A comparison of these analyses shows a 

decided similarity, but the DeKalb clay has lost part of the more 

soluble constituents, including alkalies, lime, magnesia, and iron, as 

would be expected. "Meadow" is a term applied to marsh soils that 

are found in swampy areas occupied by marsh vegetation. For convenience a summary is given below, showing the classification and 

areas of soils of the district and their origin.

Soils of the Cleveland district

Name of soil

Dunkirk fine sandy loam. .

Dunkirk gravelly loam _ ..

Area

Acres

243,456 

27,328

14, 080 

10, 688

9,728 

8,384

8,000

2,880 

768

704

326, 016

Percent

74.7 

8.4

4.3 

3.3

3.0 

2.6

2.5

.8 

.2

.2

100.0

Geologic classification

Transported, lacustrine 

and alluvial.

Transported, lacustrine 

and alluvial.

.....do.. _ __...__...

Marsh soil.. ..............

Origin

Till modified by some residual soil. 

Finer sediments deposited on 

lake beaches, flood plains,, 

and deltas. 

Flood-plain deposits. 

Finer glacial material deposited in basins with poor 

drainage. 

Largely weathered Chagrin, 

shale. 

Coarser sediments deposited 

as lake beaches, flood 

plains, and deltas. 

Till modified by Berea sandstone and Sharon conglomerate. 

Till modified in part by 

Berea sandstone. 

Peaty substance mixed with, 

earthy matter. Caused by 

poor drainage. 

Swampy deposits with 

marsh vegetation.

INDEX

A Page 

Agriculture....-....---.-.-... .. 25-25

Appalachian Plateaus, general features of. 1-2,11-12 

stratigraphy and structure of..._...... 5-6

Arkona-Whittlesey shore, lake bed between

Lake Warren shore and.... ... 77

Auroa sandstone member of Orangeville 

shale, exposure of, on Tinkers 

Creek... pi. 6

B

Bass Islands dolomite, general character of... 31

Bedford sedimentation, character of. 88-89

Bedford shale, analyses of__.-..--.--...- 106

break at base of.....-------.------- 44-45

character of..----------------------- 41-42

contact of, with Berea sandstone, in cut

on Belt Line Eailroad...... _.. pi. 7

definition of...._------- ............ 40-41

distribution and occurrence of.. 4.1

exposure of, in quarry at South Euclid pi. 2

near Brooklyn....... pi. 5

on Euclid Creek.................... pi. 3

on Tinkers Creek..-.....------- pi. 4

fossils of-..-.,. - 43-44

variation of 42-43

Bedrock surface, general form of... 21-24 

Berea, log of deep well at............ 29

Berea quadrangle, map showing areal geology of. ........... pi. 20 (in pocket)

map showing Pleistocene geology of_.. pi. 21

(in pocket)

Berea sandstone, analyses of. 110 

break at base of . 47-48 

channels in._... .-..-. 47-48 

character and thickness of.... 46,109

compressive strength of.... . 110, 111

contact of, with Bedford shale, in cut on

Belt Line Railroad...... ..- pi. 7

definition of..------------ ----- 45

distribution and occurrence of..... 45-46

exposure of, on Tinkers Creek,._.... pis. 4,6

fossils of. .- - 46-47

quarry in, at Berea, views of....._. pis. 22,23

use of, for building stone... 109-111 

Berea sedimentation, character of. 89-90 

Big lime, general character of..._._._ 31-32 

Brooklyn Township, moraine in, general

features of. 66-67

Building stone, resources of ----------- 107-111

Carboniferous time, events of.. .... 89-93

Cenozoic time, events of..____--------- 94-104

Central Lowland, general features of......... 2-4

stratigraphy and structure of............

Page

Dhagrin sedimentation, character of.._... 87-88 

Dhagrin shale, age and correlation of......... 35

analyses of..................._...__ 106

character of.. ...............____ 33-34

definition of....._...__........_ 33

distribution and occurrence of....___ 33

exposure of, in shale bank of Cleveland

Brick & Clay Co.......____ pi. 2

on Euclid Creek........______ pi. l

fossils of.. ....................... 34-36

unconformity between Cleveland shale

and. . . 38-40

variation of_____________. _ 34 

Champlain Sea, map showing........_._ pi. 15

Clays, analyses of__.......___..___ 105

resources of...___.__..____ 104-105 

Cleveland Brick & Clay Co., shale bank of,

view of..._.. ....____.. pi. 2

Cleveland district, general relations of... 1 

population of..___ _ 24

surface features of.._______._... 11-18 

Cleveland gas field, map of, showing geologic

structure....-.-. pi. 19 (in pocket)

Cleveland moraine, general features of___ 14 

Cleveland quadrangle, map showing areal

geology of...... - pi. 20 (in pocket)

map showing Pleistocene geology of__ pi. 21 

(in pocket) 

Cleveland Rolling Mill Co., partial log of well

of . . 30

Cleveland Salt Co., records of wells of._... 112 

Cleveland sedimentation, character of... _. 88 

Cleveland shale, analyses of.,_....._.... 106

character of________________ 36-37 

definition of...._....._ ... 35-36

distribution and occurrence of... . 35-36 

exposure of, in shale bank of Cleveland

Brick & Clay Co...--_....... pi. 2

fossils of............ . - 37-38

unconformity between Chagrin shale and 38-40 

Cleveland Twist Drill Co., partial record of

well of _ 122

Clinton sand, gas in.__ - . -. 121 

occurrence and character of.... ... 120-121

Columnar section of the rocks of the Cleveland district.-__,.______ 28 

Concrete, crushing strength of, made from

various sands... . 127 

Crowell & Murray, tests by.._._._-... 110 

Crowell & Peck, analyses by....._........ 110

Culture, general features of.. -.... .. 10,24-26

Cuyahoga County, population of.... ... 24

Cuyahoga group, general features of.. 48 

Cuyahoga River, general features of..... 1 19-20

postglacial history of .. 103

135
136 INDEX

Page

Ouyahoga River, preglacial valley of____ 21-23

work of, at time of glacial Lake Arkona.. 75

at time of glacial Lake Maumee..... 72-73

at ti me of glacial Lake Wayne_. _ 78

at time of glacial Lake Whittlesey... 76-77

Cuyahoga Valley, general features of._.... 16-18

D

Defiance moraine, general features of ........ 62-64

ground moraine or till plain north of..... 64-65

map showing course of, in Ohio_....... 97

Deglaciation, features of. ....... . 86

DeKalb clay, analysis of..................... 105

Delaware limestone, general character of..... 31-32

Devonian limestones, general character of.... 31-32

Devonian or Carboniferous time, events of... 88-89 

Devonian shales, general character of....... 32

Devonian time, events of.______...... 86-88

Drainage, general features of....__.. . 4,18-19

Drift gas, occurrence of................ . 114

Dukes, R. G., tests by...................... Ill

E

Economic geology of the district.___... 104-133 

Elkton beach of Lake Lundy, general features of.. ....... ........ 80-81

"Erie" clay, analysis of...._________ 105

Erie Plain, general features of....... 2-3,14-16

Euclid Avenue and East Fortieth Street,

log of well near.....__ ..... 32

"Euclid bluestone," analyses of..__....... 108

character and use of, for building stone. 107-111 

crushing tests on.._... ...... 109

exposure of, in old quarry on Euclid Creek pi. 3 

in quarry at South Euclid_____ pi. 2 

Euclid moraine, general features of____ 14,65-66 

Euclid quadrangle, map showing areal geology

of.__.___ . pi. 20 (in pocket)

map showing Pleistocene geology of__ pi. 21

(in pocket)

O

Gas, natural, occurrence of..___ 114-122,124-126 

drift, occurrence of.______ ... 114 

map showing area containing... ..... pi. 19

rock, occurrence of.__________ 116-122 

shale, occurrence of..... __ . 115-116

Geologic history...._...._....__ 6-10,84-104

Glacial lakes, general fetures of.___ .. 67-68

history of.._.____..___...__ 96-100

maps showing____________ pis. 11-16

Glaciation, initiation and stages of _____ 95

Grassmere beach of Lake Lundy, general

features of....._________ 79-SO

lake bed between Wayne-Warren shores

and..... .................... 79

Grindstones, use of Berea sandstone for._.. Ill

Hamilton submergence, conditions during.. 86-87 

Huron Plain, general features of.... ____ 2-3

I Pag&

Ice border, successive positions of, in Ohio

and neighboring regions..___ pi. 18- 

Ice sheet, advance of.___________ 95-96 

Illinoian drift, character of...________ 59-60

K 

Kansan (?) drift, character of________ 58-591

Lake Algonquin, map showing..._____ pi. 16

Lake Arkona, history of _ _________ 98

shore of...... ....................... 75-76

work of Cuyahoga River at time of___ 75 

Lakovborne traffic of the district.----..-... 26

Lake Chicago, maps showing... pis. 11, 12, 13, 14 

Lake Cuyahoga, general features of.____ 68-69 

Lake Dana. See Lake Lundy. 

Lake Duluth, map showing..._______ pi. 14 

Lake Elkton. See Lake Lundy. 

Lake Erie, early stages of._______ 81,100-103 

early stages of, map showing___.___ pi. 15 

lake bed between Lake Lundy shores

and________________ 81

present shore line of.__________ 81

Lake Iroquois, map showing_______... pi. 15

Lake Lundy, beaches of, general features of 79-81

history of________________ 99-100

map showing..... .. . pi. 14

shores of, lake bed between Lake Erie

and____.__________ 81

Lake Maumee, beaches of, general features of. 69-72

history of.......... ...__ __.... 96-98

lake bed between shore lines of, and those

of Lake Whittlesey .. .. 74

map showing_,_____________ pi. 11

work of Cuyahoga River at time of___ 72-73

Rocky River at time of _______ 73-74

Lake Saginaw, maps showing-. ____ pis. 11,12

Lake Warren, history of..__'............... 99

map showing________.___ pi. 13 

shore of--.--.. . 78-79

lake bed between Arkona-Whittlesey shore and.........._____ 77

Lake Wayne, history of...... . 99

shore of, general features of. . 77-78 

work of Cuyahoga River at time of...... 78

Lake Whittlesey, history of. _............ 98-99

lake bed between shore lines of, and those

of Lake Maumee. __.____ 74

map showing_________.____ pi. 12

shore of...________________ 75-76

work of Cuyahoga River at time of__. 76-77

Laurentian upland, rocks of..--..___... - 5

Lorain, log of deep well at __ , 29

Lord, N. W., analyses by... .. ... 108,110

Lucas dolomite, general character of____. 31

Lucas submergence, conditions during___ 86

M

Map, geologic.._______ pis. 20,21 (in pocket)

structure_________ pi. 19 (in pocket)

Meadville shale, character of.______.... 52-53
INDEX 137

Page

Meadvllle shale, definition of... ___ 62

fossils of. ... .. ... ... 63-54

occurrence and thickness of. 52

Meadville submergence, conditions during.. 90-91

Mesozoic time, events of........ 7-8,93-94

Mill Creek, complex variation of gravel and

sand in pit on.__.______ pi. 17 

Mississippian time, events of.......___.. 89-91

N

Natural gas, analyses of........___.... 121,122

effect of structure and of physical character of sand on accumulation of. 124-126 

history of drilling for...........___ 116-118

occurrence of.....____.__ 114-122,124-126

Newburg sand, gas in.._....______. 119 

occurrence and character of______ 118-120

Nipissing Great Lakes, map showing _.. pi. 16

North Ridgeville, partial record of well at... 117

0

Ohio Geological Survey, analyses by..___ 106 

Olmsted shale member of Cleveland shale,

character of..... 37

fossils of____....__..... . ... 38

Onondaga submergence, conditions during.. 86 

Ontario Plain, general features of.. 2-3 

Orangeville sedimentation, character of.__ 90 

Orangeville shale, character of. 49-50 

definition of....... . . .. 49

distribution and occurrence of. _.._.. 49

exposure of, on Brandywine Creek__.. pi. 8

on Tinkers Creek_ . pi. 6

fossils of...__.......................... 50

Ordovleian rocks, general character of....... 29-30

Ordovician time, events of__.... . . 84-85

Orton, Edward, sr., analyses by . 108,110

Paleozoic time, deformation of the strata at

end of....... .... ...... 93

events of......___.... 6-:7,84-93

Pallister, H. D., tests by.................. 108-109

Pate, William, jr., analysis by. .......... 108

Peat, resources of... . .... ... 127-128

Peck, F. J., & Co., analyses by.. 105,106 

Pennsylvanian time, events of... 92-93 

Petroleum, distillation tests of . 123-124

occurrence of.... 123-124

Physiographic divisions of the region.. 1-4 

Pleistocene series, general features of... 57-58 

Pleistocene time, events of............ 8-10,95-104

Portage escarpment, general features of. 12-14 

Portage sedimentation, character of. 87 

Post-Illinoian loess, character of....... 60

Pottsville time, events of .... . 92

Pre-Cambrian time, events of............... 84

Pre-Illinoian drift, character of....... .... 58-59

Q

Quaternary time, events of.. 

2953 31 10

96-104

R Page

Railroads of the Cleveland district........... 25-26

Road material, resources of..______. 128-129 

Rock gas, occurrence of...___._____ 116-122 

Rocky River, East and West Branches of,

view showing postglacial valleys of. pi. 17 

general features of..___________ 20 

postglacial history of__________ 103-104 

preglacinl valley of...._________ 23-24

valley of, general features of.._____ 17-18

work of, at time of glacial Lake Maumee.. 73-74

Rogers, G. S., quoted..................... 124-126

S

Salina formation, occurrence of rock salt in.. Ill, 113 

Salt, resources of______________ 111-114 

Sand and gravel, resources of._____ 126-127 

Sand, effect of physical character of, on accumulation of oil and gas......... 124-126

Sections across Cleveland quadrangle.___ 82 

Shale, analyses of............................ 106

resources of __....___...__.. 105-107

Shale gas, occurrence of_ ______._ 115-116 

Sharon conglomerate, character and thickness

of......... .. . 55-56

definition of.______________ 64 

distribution and occurrence of.____ 54-56 

exposure of, in quarry at Scotland, Geauga

County...._...._....._ pi. 9

in road cut near Scotland, Geauga 

County, showing gravel-filled 

channel in.............._ pi. 10

fossils of _________.___.. 56 

unconformity at base of__ ______ 56-57 

Sharpsville sandstone, character and thickness of....__.. 51

definition of............................. 50

distribution and occurrence of.___.... 50-61

0 exposure of, on Brandywine Creek__.. pi. 8 

fossils of. 51-62

section of, at Little York.._.__..... 61

Sharpsville submergence, conditions during.. 90

Silurian rocks, early, general character of. 29-30

late, general character of . 30-31

Silurian time, events of_______.... . 86-86

Smith, A. W., analysis by............ .... 110

Soils, classification of......... - .- 132-133

general character of 131-132 

Springs, general features of... _... .. 21,131 

Stadlersand. See Newburg sand. 

Stadler well, log of... . 120

Stratigraphy................. ........ 6-6,26-27

Stray sand, occurrence of oil and gas in. 118 

Structure, effect of, on accumulation of oil

and gas___. ______. __ 124-126 

features of.... 5-6,82-84

map showing.................pi. 19 (in pocket)

Sunbury shale, exposure of beds representing,

on Tinkers Creek........... pi. 6

exposure of, in quarry at Berea_.. pis. 22,23 

Sylvauia sandstone, general character of.. 31 

Sylvania submergence, conditions during.... 86
138 INDEX

T page 

Tertiary time, events of... . . ., 94 

Textor, Oscar, analyses by . .. 106 

Topography of the Cleveland district____ 11-26 

Trenton (?) limestone, occurrence and character of._____________ 122

U

Union Salt Co., records of wells of.._____ 113 

Upson Nut Co., record of gas well of____ 30

W

Water, average of analyses of, from public

supply of Cleveland_...__.. 130

Page

Water resources, general features of____ 129-131 

Water supplies, public, general character of. 129-130 

Water, underground, general features of... 130-131 

Wayne-Warren shores, lake bed between 

Qrassmere beach of Lake Lundy 

and.______.__----- .. 79

Wells, depth of drift in........._..... .... 22,23

gas, rock pressures in ____ 122 

Winton Gas Engine Co.'s well, log of 121 

Wisconsin drift, general features of...- 60-62 

Wormley, T. Q., analysis by.________ 105

o