Page:The Habitat of the Eurypterida.djvu/112

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106
THE HABITAT OF THE EURYPTERIDA

more especially due to difference in origin. The sediment of the Bertie and its fossils came from the continent of Atlantica, and those of the Pittsford from Appalachia. This is more fully discussed in a subsequent chapter (see p. 229).


5. THE BERTIE WATERLIME

The Bertie waterlime of Upper Siluric or Monroan age is confined to central and western New York, and the adjacent portion of Ontario, Canada. It is a gray, fine-grained, argillaceous calcilutyte of a remarkably uniform character, showing practically no variation in texture from place to place. Chemical analysis has shown it to be an impure limestone, high in magnesia, silica and alumina. The following analysis is that of an average specimen (39, 101).

Si O₂ 11.48
Al₂O₃ 17.50
Iron 0.90
CaCO₃ 42.75
MgCO₃ 20.35
K₂O 1.00
Na Cl 0.80
Combined water and loss 5.22

A typical section of the Bertie is exposed at Buffalo where Pohlman has recorded the following succession the lower part being obtained from borings. (See also Grabau, 82, 115).

Akron dolomite

Feet
Bertie Waterlime, about 7
Shale and cement rock in thin streaks 25
Tolerably pure cement rock 5
Shale and cement rock in thin streaks 13
 
Camillus Pure white gypsum 4
Shale 2
White gypsum 12
Shale 1
White gypsum 4
Shale and gypsum, mottled 7
Drab colored shale with several thin layers of white gypsum 58
Dark colored limestone 2
Shale and limestone 4
Compact shale 3
Gypsum and shale, mottled and in streaks, approximately 290 plus