The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1912-09-26
Il GREAT ON0NDAGA STA.

ltlbas been shown by biologists
thatIat various times during the
more ancient eras ofthe earth's his
Dry great seas, diverse in size and
form existed in regions now lying
il the interiorof the constituent Of
North America, These great seas,
SEINE Of which had outlets to the
ocean Of the Arctic and others were
connected by straights with the
d Atlantic, Or possiblyopened out into
a great gulf to the south, were con
stantly changing, in accordance
with the deep-seated earth move
ments Of the continent. Complicated
and always varied varying Of the
eyrth's crust, combined with the
downward or upward thrnsts Of the
land masses, accomplished sweeping
changes in the geography, some-
times burying large regions below
sea level and leaving only remnants
skeletons of the land, asst we're
Of large portions Of the old con
tinent surrounding interior seas. At
other times the land rose, more
varying took place, the seas were
banished from the interior regions,
and the continent stood larger aa&
n dgher even than it does now.
Even at tie present mon ent
large stretches Of CIR coasts are sub
siding sea level:
The history Of this earth moyel
ment and the conditions surround
ing the different invasions 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 10 period,
differing in each Of the inland seas,
it is particularly to the study Of these
fossils that biologists owe their know
ledge Of the time relations ST each
period in geologic chronology. The
fossils show the climatic conditions,
the nature of the shores, and the
depths to the oceanic connections.
An important addition to our
knowledge of one Of these very an
cient seas-the Onondaga has been
made by E. NJ. Kindle, in a paper
Just published by the United States
Geological Survey as Bulletin sos.
This sea, which is very far from be-
ing one of the most ancient of the
Paleozoic, though it.dates back prob
ablo more than a hundred times as
far as the great Ice Age, is known
as the Onondaga, because the critic
ria revealing and characterizing il
were first brought to light in Onon-
daga County, in northern New York
Mr.. Kindle shows that the pecul-
lar forms inhabiting the Onondaga
sea extended through Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia for hund-
reds 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 southwest
ern Virginia this shore line appears
to have trended westward not fal
from the Kentutky- Tennessee line
as far as the present valley Of Ten
nessee River and at some point was
connected with the great inland sea
covering the present Mississippi Val
ley. Tie Onondaga waters were
warm, as is shown Of corals anC
other tropical or subtropical type.
of sea life. The technical descript
ious of these fossils compose thu
main part Of the bulletin, which il
of interest especially to those con
cerned with the study of the extinc
mouuscan faunas.
The great basin occupied by tn,
Onondaga sea was later warped anc
greatly changed and its eastern por
tions were filled to a thickness of 5
900 to 10000 feet by sediment
mostly derived from the elevated bu
comparatively narrow remnants 0
the continent lying east of the pre-
sent Blue Ridge. If these sediment
were piled upon a level plain the.
would form a mountain range eqnal
-. ~ Lai,rb+ o,,d ox,4o,,4-4I CT.