Proceedings

of the Tomsk Technological Institute

of Emperor Nicholas II

Vol. 11. 1908. No. 3.

IV.

P. A. Kazansky.

Preliminary Report on the Geological Excursion of 1904

1–11.

PRELIMINARY REPORT

on the geological excursion of 1904

Last summer I made an excursion, using funds from the Tomsk Technological Institute (400 rubles), along the lower Volga, the Ural Mountains, and partly in Western Siberia. My excursion had a twofold aim: 1) geological investigations in the area of development of Mesozoic deposits along the lower Volga, and 2) the collection of paleontological material in localities already studied geologically, in order to supplement the Institute’s collections.

The plan originally laid out for my excursion was rather extensive. It was intended to visit almost all points of geological interest between Tsaritsyn and Simbirsk; in the Ural Mountains the stations Asha, the Sim Plant, Sergievka, Vyazovaya station, Aleksandrovka—in Ufa Province, and the Tirlyan Plant—in Orenburg Province—had been selected; east of the Urals it was intended to visit the town of Verkhneuralsk, the Ilyinsky settlement on the Miass River, Kurgan and several points in its district, Omsk, Petropavlovsk, and the village of Simonovo near Achinsk.

The appropriated funds and a small sum (15 rubles) from my own personal resources were not sufficient to carry out this plan, and therefore I was obliged to reduce it considerably; namely, along the lower Volga I visited the town of Kamyshin, the village of Nizhnyaya Bannovka, the town of Saratov, Volsk, the village of Kashpur, the town of Simbirsk, the village of Polivna, and the village of Gorodishche; in the Ural Mountains: Sergievka, Aleksandrovka, and the Tirlyan Plant; beyond the Urals: Verkhneuralsk and several points in Kurgan District. At Asha station, which I visited in addition to these points, I was unable to work, since my arrival there happened to coincide with the arrival of His Imperial Majesty in Zlatoust, and the guards stationed along the railway line could not allow me to work in the cuttings nearest to the line. Efforts to obtain permission to work, involving a trip to Ufa, or waiting for the guards to be removed, would have cost too much, and therefore I had to give them up.

Since I worked in localities that had already been visited earlier by geologists, naturally the greater part of the scientific results could—

work can be reported only after the processing of the material, not all of which is yet in my hands. For the present I can communicate only some things that may be said “at a glance.”

1. The town of Kamyshin and its environs. At the town itself, near the wharves, there is a rather good exposure of Tertiary (Paleocene) rocks. In the lower part of the steep bluff, siliceous clays are exposed, overlain by yellow and gray sandstones. In the literature these rocks are assigned to the Syzran and partly to the Saratov stages of the Volga Paleocene. I saw these rocks not only at the above-mentioned locality, but also traced them along a ravine that enters the Volga below the town. I could not establish a regular superposition of the gray sandstone (in the literature, the lower part of the Saratov stage) upon the yellowish one (the upper part of the Syzran stage). The color of the rock and the details of its petrographic features present a much more complex succession, for the detailed elucidation of which I did not have sufficient time. I found no fossils in the indicated rocks, unless one counts indistinct brown spots reminiscent of the nuclei of lamellibranchs. Lower down the Volga, about 10 versts from Kamyshin, lies the village of Sestrenka, and near it there begin to occur along the bank the so-called “korovai”—sandy concretions of the upper part of the Saratov stage. About 5 versts below Sestrenka these korovai break off, and therefore the exposures here are more convenient for observation. In situ I saw the korovai only at a certain height above the base of the bluffs and farther upward to their very top. In the sandstones (yellowish) composing the lower parts of the bluffs, I saw a bed consisting entirely of oysters (Ostrea Sinzowi Netsch.). Above it, in the “korovai,” the most common finds were: Cardita Volgensis Barb., Cucullaea Volgensis Barb., Cytherea Takonensis Oppenh., Ostrea Beussi Netsch., and others. Higher still, representatives of various species of Turritella began to occur more frequently, and still higher bryozoans predominated (Heteropora Eichwaldi Netsch.). Such a succession in the distribution of fossils was observed by me over a distance of about 1/2 verst. The absence of suitable exposures did not allow me to trace this succession farther. I can only say that the horizon with bryozoans occurred to me also along ravines about 5 versts nearer to the town. From the “korovai” I collected rather abundant material, for the most part still unidentified.

In addition, in the environs of Kamyshin I also visited the mountains known in the literature as “Ushi,” situated about 7 versts from the town. The road to “Ushi” is not rich in exposures. The plain, cut by ravines, along which this road runs, does not now fully correspond to the name usually applied to it in the literature—

…to the name “sandy steppe.” Feather grass has survived on it only in a small area, while the immediate environs of “Ushi” are cultivated fields. The exposures along the ravines consist of yellowish sandstones, usually very weak, often almost sands, sometimes with black spots. The “Ushi” themselves are two, or perhaps three (one of the two itself being double), mountains rising in isolation above the surrounding plain. The larger double “Ukho,” which I shall call the western one, is divided into two parts by a dol, along which a carriage road passes. The smaller eastern “Ukho” is a single mountain and lies 1–1/2 versts from the western one. The “Ushi” are composed of friable quartz sandstone, which on weathering turns into white sand and is being intensively worked for the needs of the railway. Impressions of leaves, for which this sandstone has become famous, are not especially frequent. I was at the “Ushi” twice, each time for eight hours, and was able to collect only about a dozen and a half of these impressions. The greater part of the material I brought from here was purchased from the workers. I cannot provide lists of the forms from here because of the absence of suitable literature for determination. At sight, leaves of Quercus, Magnolia, and some monocotyledons can be recognized. The number of species collected by me will probably prove to be between ten and twenty.

2. The village of Nizhnyaya Bannovka (Kamyshin uezd, Saratov Province).

In the environs of Nizhnyaya Bannovka, exclusively Cretaceous deposits are developed, representing the Cenomanian, Turonian, and, in part, perhaps also the Senonian stages. One verst below the village I observed the following sequence of bedding:

For the lower part of the cliffs it was not possible to establish in detail the sequence of occurrence of the individual beds, owing to the absence of connected exposures along the 4–5 versts of bank that I traversed.

Bringing the preceding section together with other data, one may establish the following, though not continuous, sequence:

In layer g I found: Rhynchonella plicatilis Sow., Ostrea vesicularis Lam., species of Inoceramus, Avicula, Pecten.

In layer f there occur belemnites, sponges (Coeloptychium, Ventriculites), and fragments of large Inoceramus.

In layers e—c I found no fossils, while in the exposures of the lower sands and sandstones I collected a rather rich fauna, from which I can now name the following: from the sandstone rich in phosphorites: Ostrea conica d’Orb., belemnites, shark teeth, the bone of some saurian; from the greenish-yellow sandstone: Janira quinquecostata d’Orb., Ostrea conica d’Orb., Inoceramus latus Mont., Pecten orbicularis Sow., Pecten hispidus Gldf., Schloenbachia inflata Sow., Schloenbachia Coupei Brngut, Cadoceras, Avicula, Belemnites, Trigonia, and others.

This sandstone is not everywhere homogeneous. In the less distinctly bedded sandstone the predominant forms are Ostrea conica d’Orb. and Inoceramus latus Mont.; in the more bedded sandstone Spirorbis predominates. I was unable to trace the stratigraphic relationships between the two varieties of sandstone.

3. The city of Saratov and its environs. In the vicinity of Saratov I visited four localities. Sokolovaya Gora, situated below the city, is of little interest from a geological point of view. The exposures on it are rare and poor, and consist of yellow-brown and gray clays without fossils. The first of these is probably of post-Pliocene or alluvial origin; the second is probably of Aptian age, judging by analogy with what I saw above the city.

Much more interesting is the hill “Zaton,” situated above the city. Its upper part is composed of yellow-brown clays. Beneath them lies a weak, dark-colored argillaceous shale, and still lower a bed of dense pyritous marl with Hoplites Deshayesi Leym. and Amaeltheus bicurvatus Mich. The same ammonites, together with lamellibranchs not yet determined by me, are also found in pyritous concretions occurring in the underlying gray clay. Downward, this latter clay becomes yellow and sandy and passes into yellowish, indistinctly bedded sands. In the yellowish clay and sands there occur ferruginous concretions with as yet undetermined lamellibranchs and bryozoans, and with Hoplites Deshayesi Leym. In the sands I also found a large specimen of Pecten crassitesta Röm.

Lysaya Gora, situated far from the Volga on the western side of the city, presents a rather complex composition. Its upper part is composed of gray sandstone with brown spots. In places in this sandstone there occur casts of lamellibranchs, among which there prove—

among other things, a Paleocene form, Cyprina Morrisi Sow. In the thick bed of gray siliceous clays lying below I found no fossils. Beneath these clays there lies a yellowish-gray sandstone with dark specks, with belemnites, baculites, and oysters, already belonging to the Cretaceous system. Under the sandstone is a siliceous gray marl, then a white marl with Inoceramus and sponges, and finally sandstones and sands with phosphorites (probably Cenomanian); the lower-lying beds are not exposed here, but are visible in the already described outcrops of Mount “Zaton” (Aptian stage).

From Saratov I traveled by rail to the village of Razboishchina, lying 15 versts from the city. Unfortunately, during my stay in Razboishchina, to which I could devote only one day, rain fell almost without interruption, and walking through the clayey ravines was extremely difficult, and at times altogether impossible. In all the outcrops of that somewhat lowered plain on which the village is situated, a dark-gray clay is exposed, containing ammonites of the genera Cardioceras, Aspidoceras, and other mollusks of the genera Arca, Pecten, etc. This clay belongs to the Oxfordian stage of the Jurassic system. The hills surrounding this plain were not examined by me in detail and apparently consist of Tertiary and Cretaceous rocks. In Razboishchina, owing to the above-mentioned unfavorable circumstances, I was able to collect only a small amount of material.

4. Town of Volsk (Saratov Province). Having stopped for two days in Volsk, I visited only the artificial exposure (quarries) of white chalk at Glukhoozersky’s cement plant. In the chalk exposed here I was able to distinguish two beds: the upper one—with less distinct bedding, and the lower one more distinctly bedded.

In both beds I collected quite a large amount of paleontological material, which, unfortunately, has not yet arrived in Tomsk. From the upper bed I can now name: Baculites gigas Sintz., Parasmilia centralis Mant., Ananchytes ovata Gldf., Scalpellum fossula Paru., and others. In the lower bed the predominant forms are: Rhynchonella plicatilis Sow., Terebratulina gracilis Schloth., various lamellibranchs, etc. In both beds I encountered Ostrea vesicularis Lam., Belemnitella mucronata d’Orb. All identifications are preliminary, since the material is not yet in my hands, and the lists are taken simply from my notebook.

5. Village of Kashpur (Syzran Uyezd, Simbirsk Province). This classic locality for the upper part of the Lower Volga mountain has already been described more than once in the literature. The most interesting part of the section can conveniently be observed about 3 versts below the village, along the bank of the Volga. Beneath a thick bed of dark-blue Neocomian clay with Simbir-

skites; here there occurs a weak, damp, greenish sandstone with Belemnites subquadratus Phill. Beneath it lies a sandy gray clay, and then a thin phosphorite bed with aucellas and the same Belemnites subquadratus; then, under a layer of dark-gray sand, lies a weak sandstone with the same belemnite and Aucella Volgensis Loh. Then follows a bed, very constant throughout this locality and easily recognizable, of very dense bituminous shale. Beneath this shale occur marly-sandy beds, usually without sharp petrographic distinctions, now more, now less calcareous and glauconitic, with numerous fossils. In their upper parts there are frequent Craspedites Kaschpuricus Trautsch., Oxynoticeras subclypeiforme Nik., Belemnites russiensis d’Orb., aucellas, and other forms. Lower down this fauna is replaced by a fauna with Craspedites Okensis d’Orb., Subditus Trautsch., and others. Still lower, the rock becomes strongly glauconitic; phosphorite nodules appear in it, and the fauna changes sharply and consists of Olcostephanus giganteus, Perisphinctes Nikitini Mich., and other “Lower Volgian” ammonites. Lower still, in the same rock, Virgatites virgatus Buch. appears, and still lower occur gray clays interbedded with bituminous (combustible) shales with Virgatites virgatus Buch., Discina latissima Sow., belemnites, aucellas, sea-urchin spines, and other forms. The Kashpur material has likewise not yet arrived in Tomsk, and therefore the forms cited have been determined only provisionally.

6. The city of Simbirsk and points near it (the villages of Polivna and Gorodishche).

The section between Simbirsk and the village of Gorodishche also belongs among the classical ones in the literature and therefore, like the Kashpur section, does not require a detailed description. Near Simbirsk, the lowermost bed of this section is represented by Neocomian bluish-gray clay with pyritous concretions; farther upstream along the Volga, older “Volgian” (Portlandian) beds also crop out near Polivna, 7 versts above Simbirsk, and Kimmeridgian beds near Gorodishche, 30 versts above Simbirsk. With regard to the stratigraphy, I can note only one somewhat strange observation: the Neocomian (Simbirsk) clay, which at Polivna lies at a considerable height above the level of the Volga, 8 versts above Polivna was observed very low, at this very level, and moreover its occurrence was so regular that it would have been difficult to assume a landslide. If this is in fact not a landslide, then it remains to suppose that, in this given stretch, the fall of the course of the Volga River is greater than the general southern dip of the beds. In the Simbirsk clay I collected a fairly large paleontological material, in which, besides

alongside the usual Simbirskites versicolor Trautsch., Astarte porrecta Buch., Inoceramus aucella Trautsch., Nucula planata d’Orb., Avicula cornueliana d’Orb., Protocardia concinna Buch., Corbula polita Trautsch., and many other forms, there proved to be, apparently, species of Pinna, Leda, and Pecten not yet described from here. Beneath this clay lie sandy beds with Craspedites Okensis d’Orb. I did not see the upper beds of Kashpur Hill here, and in this respect, as also with respect to the Kashpur section, I can only confirm the accuracy of Prof. Pavlov’s observations. Beneath the bed with Crasp. Okensis d’Orb. lie two phosphorite beds, separated by an interbed of green sand with Perisphinctes Nikitini Mich. and Virgatites; farther on follows an alternation of oil shales with dark-gray clays and with Virgatites virgatus Buch. and other accompanying forms, as at Kashpur. The horizon with Olcostephanus giganteus is well expressed faunistically here too, but petrographically it is closely adjoining the horizon with Craspedites Okensis d’Orb. and Subditus Trautsch. The light-gray clays lying below the oil-shale horizon, and below almost white in color, contain in their upper parts a peculiar and as yet little-known fauna, and in the lower parts—Kimmeridgian forms, chiefly various species of Aspidoceras. The interbeds with a mass of Exogyra virgula, mentioned by Prof. Pavlov, I did not find, which is probably explained by the poor condition of the corresponding part of the exposures at the points along the shore that I visited. From all the beds mentioned, I collected a fairly large amount of material, which I have not yet had time to sort out.

1. The village of Serpievka (Ufa uyezd and guberniya) on the Sim. Near Serpievka exclusively Middle Devonian deposits are developed. The village is situated on a spring stream flowing into the Sim River. The beds dip against the current of this stream, and therefore, upstream along the stream, increasingly younger deposits are encountered. On the Sim, near the mouth of the stream, a series of beds is exposed in which I found no fossils: these are, from bottom to top, a dark sandy platy limestone, then a conglomerate of quartz pebbles with a calcareous cement and a somewhat crystalline light-gray limestone. Then follow dark-gray limestones with a mass of Atrypa, with Atrypa aspera Palm. predominating below, and Atrypa desquamata Sow. above. More rarely Pentamerus baschkiricus Vern. occurs here. Farther on follows a dark limestone with rare fossils, then light-colored limestones with a rich fauna: Cyathophyllum caespitosum Gldf., Cyathophyllum ceratites Gldf., Orthis striatula Schloth., Productus subaculeatus Murch., and others; and still higher a clayey limestone with a mass of Spirifer Anossofi Vern. Besides this section I also examined an exposure—

… along the Sim River below the village, consisting of dark-colored limestones with Atrypa reticularis L.; and, lower down along the Sim, a higher bed of gray limestone with corals and Stromatoporoidea; and, finally, an exposure of dark limestone with corals along the ravine of Sukhoy Dol. Faunistically, these beds correspond to the beds of the section at Klyuch: in the limestones on the Sim I encountered Pentamerus baschkiricus Vern., and along Sukhoy Dol the same accumulation of Atrypa.

1. The village of Aleksandrovka (Zlatoust District, Ufa Province). Aleksandrovka, on the Yuryuzan River, is a point of some special interest, owing to the discrepancy in the information about it in the literature. As I indicated as early as 1900, the list of forms from Aleksandrovka given by F. N. Chernyshev proved to be at variance with material brought from the same place by M. E. Yanishevsky to Kazan University and worked up by me and N. Bogatyrev (Proceedings of the Kazan Society of Naturalists, vol. 34, issue 2, pp. 23–27). In F. N. Chernyshev’s list there was not a single form in common with my list, whereas—on the other hand—my list proved to be almost identical with the lists cited by Prof. Stuckenberg from several other points in the Urals. This list was characterized by an abundance of crustaceans of the genus Leperditia, stromatoporoids, and corals, in Prof. Stuckenberg’s opinion of Middle Devonian character. Not having had the opportunity at that time to visit the locality myself, and having in hand material from only a small number of points, I could then only point out the fact and cite Prof. Stuckenberg’s opinion, who had formed, from the limestones with Leperditia and corals, a new horizon which he assigned to the base of the Middle Devonian. Subsequently Mr. von Peetz returned to this question; in giving a review of my work in the Yearbook of Geology and Mineralogy of Russia (vol. V, pp. 16–18), he reproached me, among other things, for adhering to Prof. Stuckenberg’s opinion without taking into account that the peculiarities of the fauna of the limestones with Leperditia and corals might be explained as facial. Mr. von Peetz himself inclines to the latter explanation. At that time, of course, I could not adhere to any opinion, since neither in the literature nor in my own possession did I have data for deciding this question. I could only quote opinions and state facts. This is what I did in my article, without taking any definite point of view, as for some reason it seemed to Mr. von Peetz. Now, having visited Aleksandrovka, I can add something new. On the present excursion I visited, near Aleksandrovka, three points with different faunas. The dam of the Beloretsk works, 7 versts above Aleksandrovka, …

along the Yurezani River—the locality of which I have already spoken in the article cited—yielded a fauna (a small one) consisting of Lower Devonian brachiopods. Near Aleksandrovka itself corals predominate almost exclusively, together with Leperditia Barbotana Schmidt, along with Meristella didyma Palm. and Actinostroma clathratum Nich. Finally, about 2 versts below Aleksandrovka, on the left bank of the Yurezani, I encountered a strongly bituminous, fetid limestone with Atrypa aspera Palm., Pentamerus fascicularis Tschern., Spirifer cicero Eichw., and others, which I cannot yet name, since I have not yet sorted all the material. If we take into account that the dip, where I was able to observe it, is directed upstream near Aleksandrovka, while above the village I was unable to determine its direction, then the limestone with brachiopods below the village must be older than the limestone with corals and ostracods, and lithologically belongs to a lower horizon. As regards the limestone near the dam of the Beloretsk works, I can say nothing from a stratigraphic point of view, since it is exposed only over an insignificant extent. In order to avoid misunderstanding, I must say that here I confine myself to the statement of facts. I agree that the brachiopod limestones and the coral limestones are undoubtedly different facies, but I maintain that the coral limestones exposed near Aleksandrovka are not simply another facies of the brachiopod limestones exposed near that same village, but belong to another horizon, the brachiopod facies of which I do not know. As for the misunderstanding with the data of F. N. Chernyshev, it is apparently explained by the fact that F. N. Chernyshev’s material was collected below the village (there, incidentally, I saw an abandoned quarry), whereas M. E. Yanishevsky collected material in the village itself.

9. Tirlyansky Works (on the Belaya River, Verkhneuralsk Uezd, Orenburg Governorate). In the environs of the Tirlyansky Works there are developed white and dark limestones—partly bedded, partly reef limestones—occurring in relation to one another in very complex stratigraphic relationships, which I did not have time to unravel: for this it would have been necessary to spend more than one week. Near the village, along the bank of the Belaya, in pits dug for quarrying stone on the hill, by the spring behind the works hospital, there are exposed predominantly coral (reef) limestones with a mass of corals and stromatoporoids. Near the manager’s house on the Belaya there is exposed bedded limestone with Karpinskia conjugula Tschern., Pentamerus optatus Barr., species of Orthoceras, Platyceras, and others. All these deposits are referred in the literature to the Lower Devonian.

10. The town of Verkhneuralsk (on the Ural River, Orenburg Governorate). Near Verkhneuralsk I confined myself to visiting two quarries situated below the town, not far from the women’s monastery. In the first of these quarries, gray, partly crystalline limestones without fossils are exposed. In the second, situated somewhat higher on the hill and away from the carriage road, I found quite a number of Upper Devonian fossils. Among them I can now name: Rhynchonella acuminata Mart., Productus subaculeatus Mart., Clymenia annulata Münst., Phacops batracheus Whidb., Euomphalus articulatus Gldf., Spirifer tenticulum Vern., and others.

11. Kurgan District, Tobolsk Governorate. In the Kurgan District I carried out investigations chiefly in the vicinity of the villages of Chernavskoye and Gledyanskoye, situated at a distance of about 100 versts from Kurgan upstream along the Tobol.

The village of Chernavskoye is situated on the Chernaya River. Three versts upstream from the village, gray clays and yellow sands with river shells (often with terrestrial shells) of a modern type are exposed on the river. These beds compose the steep bank of the river, now being undercut, and thus represent its very newest terrace. Above them lies another terrace, here and there overgrown with grass, but in places presenting respectable exposures. This terrace consists of yellowish-brown clay, and I found no fossils in it. Above this terrace, sometimes approaching the river, sometimes receding from it to a distance of as much as 1/2 verst, rises the bedrock bank of the valley. Its upper part is composed of gray clays, beneath which lie white sands. In general there are no fossils, but in the sands I found a denser bed, representing an almost continuous accumulation of fish remains: shark teeth, vertebrae and bones of bony fishes, scales, and so forth. Shells (cores of Cyprina) occurred only rarely in very dense siliceous interbeds, which rapidly wedge out in a horizontal direction and, perhaps, are of concretionary character. From the village of Chernavskoye I made a trip to the Tobol River, 6 versts from the village, and it turned out that this entire area is composed of freshwater formations of the most recent type. In the village of Gledyanskoye I traced a series of exposures along the Kamennaya River. These exposures consist partly of yellowish-brown clays (Post-Pliocene?), partly of gray clays and white sands with brown siliceous interbeds similar to those mentioned near Chernavskoye, and containing cores of mollusks. The bedrock of this locality was referred by mining engineer Krasnopolsky to the Oligocene. I could not verify his determinations for lack of the necessary

literature. The entire valley of the Tobol River is striking for the powerful development of alluvium. Evidently we are dealing here with a very ancient river system that has reached a very high degree of development. Even the small tributaries of the Tobol, such as the Chernaya River, possess a complex system of terraces and flow within alluvial banks, far from the bedrock sides of their valleys. This general feature of the locality may perhaps be connected with the absence here of an ice cover, which in other places interrupted the normal course of development of river systems.