The New York herald., 1850-08-29
American Scientific Convention, st -ew



The following was omitted from our last rrports-
ITot. w H. koGEEs oiirr some remarks upon
the position and geological age ot the belt ~
sedencHtby rucks, mt uuonsd IN the preceding com
mupicauon. Referring To the map, he first traced
the prolOnpAtOn through Nlrqniti Ot the belt
which corresponds to the HO.Cillsd new red sand.
stone of Connecticut, New Jersey aud pennsy.
wanna, ana which, with but slight interruption,
he has found to extend for some distance inlo
North Carolina. This, which has 4 general course
from northeast 20 southwest, nearly parallel with
the Blue Ridge, and not very remote from ne
taiteTn hank, lies much more Tow ards the west
Than d0,s thr line of position oi the belt referred
to by Prot Johnston. Prof. Rogers thea pointed
out The position O the coal rocks OF Eastern Ntr-
giIia. ira cing them from the Potomac, near Mount
Vernon. "a direction nearly due south. inio The
rems fkHily productive coal hCld ne tf Richmond
and Petersburg, IN Virginia. This belt, Prof X
regarded as lying N a meridian more to thu east
than the belt IA North Carolina, which Prot John
sioa had described. But he pointed to a small
intermediate belt IN Virginia, consisting of similar
sedsneniary rocks, which appfars To- CORRESPOND
more exactly with the direction Of the basin IN
North Carolina This, which occupies a part Of
Cumberland, Buckingham and Prince Edward
couniies, has been found TO contain one or two
sma seams Of bnuminous coal But, although
u has been mined at one more points. ~ has
never yielded any considerable guantIty Of coal
In the belt lying more 10 the west Of that Of the
so-called new red sandstone, thin seams of coal
have been found At various places IN Penns, wanna
aud Nirsinis: hat there can be no hope of had'ng
any ihihk hht M dataoif coti sraih IN Nhlslofult
ton.
Prof RoaERs stated that the belt IN North Caro-.
lima. Of which Prof Johnston had been treating,
and Of which a delinesiiou was gwen many years
ago by Prot Mitchell, ~ that STATE. IN hi- olo-
eicsl msp, had long been known to contain some
coal lie regarded the observations Of Prof Iohn-
sion a. imyoItant, because they were likely to IN
yite geologist to further examination. Bat he
thought IL premature and unsafe io speak of this
area coal basin. The discovery, at one OF
more distant spots, sf a thin seamof cod, did not
warrant iBferrng the existence there of large
deposit ~ economical value. II was more probable,
although yet not certain, that these local de-
veloInents of coal were ofincousiderabe extent
A. to the geological age of these rocks in North
Car Ohns, Prof Rogers remarked that h. considered
them A. unquesfiopsbly mesozoic, and of age
most probably corresponding to that VI the isirr.
mediate bel Of ofVrgna. As yet there are bu i'm
perfect means of conpsring the age ~ the coal
measures ~ Eastern Virginia with that ofthe sad
stones ~ the intermediate small bslt, and ~ me
long interrupted area Of the new red sandstone
which lie stll further west. The num~rols and
very perfect vegetable impressions of M iifsi o'
these areas. led Prof X many wears ago, =" ritce
this qrouu ~ rocks NJ the hsse of ihe ooe -eiies
! The hshes Of the Richmond coal measures aus
! the so r. Ned new red sandstone have been -hg~n,
1 by Nj Rsdfsld 10 be closely alped and froi X
| hss found shell (posdovia) common :" 'he 'hrr-
prof believes thst thee deposits viii be
ea,d hereafter 10 be closely spnt gaous IN geology
eel sc,usssinr by grsdstion from the base Of the
ool,te to the up,er via kic group