Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-05
MIDDEE STATES
Once UNDER,
SEA

1t has been shown by biologists that
at various times during the more an
cient eras Of the earths history great
seas, diverse in size and form. existed
in regions now lying in the interior OF
the continent of North America. These
great seas, someIof which had outlets
to the ocean or the Arctic and others
were connected by straits with the At
lantic, or possibly opened ont into
great gulf to the south, were constant
II changing,,in accordance with the
deep=seated earth movements OF lie
continent. Complicated, and always
v&ried Warping Of the earth's crust,
combined with downward or upward
thrusts of the land masses, accomp
lished sweeping changes in the geo
graphy, sometimes burying large re-
gionS below sea level and leaving only
remnants skeletons, of the land, AS Il
were of large portions of the Old con-,
tirent surrounding interior seas. A.
other times the land rose, more warp
ing took place, the seas were Danish.
ed from the interior regions, and the
continent stood larger and higher
even than it does now. Even at the
present moment large stretches of our
coasts are subsiding below sea level.
The history of this earth movement
and the conditions surrounding the
different inyasions of the sea into the
continent are revealed by the study OF
the rock strata and their fossils. As
the animal and plant life has changed
from period to period, differing IN
each of the inland seas, 1t is particu-
larly to she study of these fossils that
biologists owe their knowledge OF the
time relations of each period in geolo-
gic chronology The fossils show the
climatic conditions, the nature of the
shores; and the depth to the oceanic
connections. ~..
An important addition to our knowI-
ecge of one of the very ancient seas
the Onondaga-has been made by e.
n Kindle, in a paper just published
DY the United States Geological Sur
yey as Bulletin sos. This, sea. which
is very far from being one of the most
ancient of the Paleozoic, though it
dates back probably more than uhn-
dred times as far as the great Ice Age,
is known as the Onondaga, because
SAS TN lCtCdIAnS dAu
Ing 1t were first brought to light in
CGondaga County, in northern New
York. Mr.. Kindle shows that the peou-
Lar forms inhabiting the Onondaga
sea extended through Pennsylvania,
Maryland and Virginia for hundreds
OF miles in the waters of a sea whose
eastern shore line was not far west
of the site where the Blue Ridge now
stands. From southwestern Virginia
this shore line appears to have trend
ed westward not far from the Ken
tucky-Tennessee line as far as. the
present valley of Tennessee River and
at some point was connected with the
great inland sea covering the present
Mississippi Valley. The Onondaga
waters were warm, as is shown by the
presence of corals and other tropical
Or subtropical types of sea life. The
technical descriptions of these fossils
compose the main part of the bulletin,
which is of interest especially to those
concerned with the study of the ex-
tinct molluscan faunas.
The great basin occupied by The
Onondaga sea was later warped and
greatly changed and its eastern por-
tons were filed to thickness Of 5000
tc 10000 feet by sediment, mostly '!e-
lied from the elevated bat compara-
lively narrow remnants of the coIti-
nent lying eact of the present BlHe
Ridge. If these sediments were piled
upon a level plain they would form
mountain range edualing IN height /
and extent the Sierra Nevada of Calf
fornia
Bulletin sos, which is technical In
nature, may be had free on application
to the Director of the y. S. Geological
Survey, Washington, D. c.