NJGS- Report on the Geological Survey of the State of New Jersey

REPORT ON THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY. BY HENRY D. ROGERS, PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA; MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHIL. SOC.; OF THE ACADEMY OF NAT. SCIENCES; FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON, &C. PHILADELPHIA: DESILVER, THOMAS & CO. 1836. NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Trenton, 16th Feb. 1836. To the Legislative Council and General Assembly: I have just received from Professor Rogers, who was appointed under an act of the last session, to make a geological survey of the state, a detailed report of his operations during the past sea- son; and I have great pleasure in presenting it, with the accom- panying map and profiles, to the legislature. The work has been accomplished, thus far, to my entire satis- faction; and I entertain a confident hope that the result which is now submitted to you will meet your approbation and be favour- ably received by our constituents. P. D. VROOM. HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY OF NEW JERSEY. February 17, 1836. Extract from the Minutes of the House. “The Speaker laid before the House the following communica- tion from his Excellency the Governor, accompanied by the report of Professor Rogers, appointed to make a geological survey of the state. “Ordered, that one thousand copies of the said report, with the map and profiles attached thereto, be printed under the super- vision and direction of Professor Rogers, for the use of the Le- gislature.” Attest. RICH’D P. THOMPSON, Clk. of Assembly. NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY REPORT. To His Excellency Peter D. Vroom, SIR,—In compliance with the appointment which I had the honour to receive from you under the date of April the 24th, 1835, to make a Geological and Mineralogical Survey of the State of New Jersey, as ordered by act of the Legislature, I beg leave to submit the following Report: Bearing in mind your instructions as to the scope and object of the survey, namely, to bring to light the native mineral productions of the State, in a manner to make the examination as serviceable as possible to the interests of its agriculture and other branches of industry, I beg permission to state that I have di- rected my more especial attention to those points in the Geology of each district, immediately connected with the developement of these resources. The various tracts of Marl, Limestone, and other mineral substances useful as agents for fertilizing the land, the numerous ores, sands, clays, building materials, and substances of value in the arts have been explored and examined, while no pains were spared to trace them in their range across the State, as minutely as was consistent with the design of a general survey, and the time allotted to the duty. It being impracticable, with the means at command, to investi- gate in detail, every portion of so large a territory, a plan of survey was adopted, intended to unite a considerable share of re- search, respecting those points of chief utility alluded to, with a general study of the Geology of the State at large. This plan consisted in laying down upon the Map of the State, (Gordon’s) a series of straight lines, five in number, so drawn as to cross, nearly at the same angle, all the various formations. The NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 6 regions adjacent to these lines, embracing a width of several miles on both sides of each, were then selected for more particular and detailed examination, and the extent and boundaries of the several formations as far as determinable, were delineated upon these por- tions of the map. The five geological sections or profiles thus surveyed embrace all the strata, and afford a general insight into the principal features of the stratification, of the State. During this examination, specimens of the materials susceptible of useful application, have been gathered from the districts ad- joining these profiles, and likewise from much of the intervening country, all the most important localities throughout which were visited for that purpose. Such of these substances, as seemed to require a minute investigation, have been submitted to Chemical analysis in the hope that the precise information, thus procured of the composition and properties, of the several mineral productions of each region, may tend to incite a spirit of wholesome enterprise to their developement in the useful arts: such enterprise will extend itself, in proportion as the latent resources of the State, are made known to its citizens, and it will be sound, just in proportion to the degree of care and accuracy employed in the development. In accordance with this plan, I have explored more minutely than in other parts of the State, the Geology of the five following tracts, the structure of which will be better understood by refer- ring to the profiles constructed to elucidate them. First, a line of country extending across Bergen and Sussex counties, from the vicinity of Fort Lee, on the Hudson river, to near Dingman’s Ferry, on the Delaware. Secondly, a tract stretching from the sea-shore, in Monmouth, to the Water Gap of the Delaware, in Warren. Thirdly, a tract extending from the bend of the Delaware, at Easton, parallel with the general course of the river to Trenton, and thence prolonged to the sea-shore, south of Barnagat. Fourthly, a section across Gloucester county, reaching from the Delaware river, at Camden, to the sea-shore, near Leed’s Point. Fifthly, a tract traversing Salem, Cumberland, and Cape May counties, from the Delaware to the sea-coast. NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 7 Besides exploring systematically the regions lying within several miles of the profile lines here laid down, various other exami- nations were made by tracing the formations in the longitudinal direction, or in other words, along the boundaries which separate each two contiguous strata. This was done more especially in the survey made of the green sand or marl formation, passing through Monmouth, Bur- lington, Gloucester, and Salem counties. The country lying both upon the N. W. and S. E. of this tract, was in many places care- fully explored, in order to trace the prolongation of the marl, beneath the surface, and ascertain its existence over wider limits than were before supposed to exist. Nearly all the important localities, moreover, in the green sand district, were visited with a view to make selections for analysis of the several varieties of this substance, which, from its rare powers as a fertilizing agent, seems to claim especial and minute investigation. On both sides of the tract where the green sand marl is found naturally ex- posed, I have in part succeeded in following the stratum to where there was but little previous confidence that it extended. The utility of these researches to the agriculture of the districts interested, may hereafter be considerable, especially should the depth at which the marl spreads itself below the soil, be determined with any approach to accuracy. The chemical investigation of the several qualities of the marl, will, it is believed, result in some useful information, tending not only to direct a proper selection of the material, but to guide the agriculturist in the manner of applying all the several varieties of it to the soil. NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY INTRODUCTION. General View of the Formations comprised in the State. IT is apparent to even a casual observer, looking at the surface of New Jersey, that its area is pretty equally divided into two very dissimilar regions, whether we refer to their physical geography, their mineral strata, or overlying soils. The boun- dary line which separates the whole territory of the State into these two districts, which both in geological structure and agri- cultural character may be regarded as so strongly contrasted, will, it is believed, be found, when more accurately determined at some future day, to be a somewhat undulating line, extending from the Delaware river, at Bloomsbury, below Trenton, across to the river Raritan, below the mouth of Lawrence’s Brook. To the south and east of this division line, the strata of the rocky or consolidated sort are extremely few, the deposits being chiefly loose sands and soft clays of various composition, while the pre- vailing soil is sandy and the surface flat. To the north and west of the same limit, the strata are all, on the contrary, of the stony character, or what in ordinary phrase is meant by rocky, and each set or formation is covered by its peculiar class of soils in which the predominant character is less sandy than in the other section of the State. These differences result from and point to a wide natural disparity in the materials composing the two regions, in the period when their component strata were brought together, or in other words, their geological age. They are likewise significant of a no less important difference in some of the causes that have operated in impressing so strong a contrast in their external features upon the two sections. The rocks to the north-west of the limit alluded to, belong in part to the stratified primary class, in part to the lower groups of the secondary series, or that which embraces the non-fossiliferous and fossiliferous strata, lower in the list of our formations than the anthracite coal of this country. The district in question embraces likewise numerous ridges and outbursts of rocks of the Trap class, more recent, in all proba- NEW JERSEY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 9 bility than the rocks above-mentioned, though still of an obviously remote age.

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