DEPAETMENT OF THE INTEEIOB

BULLETIN

OF THK

UNITED STATES

4=3

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE

18 8 7

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SOHVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. 1

" sff^*1^/' //"*l^"'^©^w// '/'"I?''^S')r>%VJ f'1 i\ys^i\TT"^''5lvri"'\Ol1i 'T-v-^"""?5'^""* _- -* " --- .. - -

 tfj&M, £^^^^'ii^iJ.^;''j^^l^Zfe^>^'-: C^-CT llZ'*0^ - r-"n-^.ka""~l ~ -^r- :^^4Si^7frt-^^2fe:>aw^^S j*tttt(«- ''' . ,'. __^_-_--^-^^v

1. Red loam with pebbles and sand. 2. White limestone. 3. Scutella, Lyelli bed, with subjacent ferruginous sands. 4. Claiborne sand. 5. Calcareous clay etc.

(O. sellceformis). 6. Calcareous sand. 7. Blue clay with greensand.

CLAIBORNE UPPER 1 ANDING, Al ABAMA RIVER.
\
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY

J. W. POWELL, DIRECTOR

TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA

OF THE

Y TUSOALOOSA, TOMBIGBEE,.AND ALABAMA RIVERS

EUGENE A. SMITH

AND

LAWRENCE C. JOHNSON

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1887
\
CONTENTS.

Page.

Letter of transmittal........................................................ 11

Preface.................................................................r--- 13

Introduction................................................................ 15

I. TERTIARY STRATA.

§ 1. The White Limestone.......'............................................ 19

Divisions of the White Limestone ....................................... 20

Section at Baker's Hill, Tombigbee River.............................. 22

Section at Choctaw Bluff, Clarke County, Alabama River............. 23

Section of White Limestone strata, Alabama River.................... 24

§2. The Claiborne...v....................................................... 25

Section of the Claiborne Bluff, Alabama River ....................... 28

Detailed section of the Claiborne Bluff, Alabama River .............. 29

Section at Lisbon Bluff, Alabama River .............................. " 30

Section at Rattlesnake Bluff, Alabama River......................... 31

Section at Coffeeville Landing, Tombigb%e River..................... 32

y §3. The Buhrstone .................. ....................................I.. 34

' Section at Lisbon Landing, Alabama River............................ 36

Section at the Lower*Salt Works, Clarke County ..................... 38

§ 4. TheLignitic.................................................... ........ 38

(1) The Hatchetigbee series ................................... .....'..... 39

Section at Hatchetigbee, Tombigbee River........................... 40

Section at White Bl uff and Davis's Bluff, Tombigbee River............ 41

Section at McCarthy's Ferry, Tombigbee River ...................... 41

(2) The Wood's Bluff or Bash i series ................................. ^... 43

Section at Wood's Bluff, Tombigbee River............................ 44

Section near Wood's Bluff.............................. . ............. 44

Section at Yellow Bluff, Alabama River.............................. 45

(3) The Bell's Landing series ............................................ 46

Section at Bell's Landing, Alabama River...... ...................... 47

Section at Gregg's Lauding, Alabarc a River.......................... 47

Section at Peebles's Landing, Alabama River ... .................... 48

Section at Lower Peach Tree, Alabama River ........................ 48

Section at Picken s's Landing, Tombi gbee Ri ver...................... 49

Section at Tuscahoma, Tombigbee River ............................. 50

, Section at Turner's Ferry, Tombigbee River.......................... 50

Section at mouth of Shuquabowa Creek, Tombigbee River............ 50

Section at Barney's Upper Landing, Tombigbee River................ 51

(4) The Nanafalia series, including the Coal Bluff Lignite................ 51

Section in Grampian Hills, No. 1..................................... 52

Section in Grampian Hills, No. 2..................................... 53

Section at Gullette's Landing, Alabama River........................ 53

Section from Williams's Gin to Gay's Landing, Tombigbee River ...... 54

Section at Lett's Ferry, Tombigbee River ............................ 55

Section at Nanafalia Landing, Tombigbee River...................... 55

Section on Pursley Creek, Wilcox County............................ 56

(157) 5

/
CONTENTS.

§4- The Lignitic Continued.

Section between Parsley Creek and Coal Bluff, Alabama River........ 57

Section on Landrum's Creek, Marengo County ..........'............. 57

(5) The Nahefila and Matthews's Landing series.......................... 57

Section at Naheola, Tombigbee Eiver ................................ 58 . .

Section at Matthews's Landing, Alabama -River...................... 60 ~*

(6) The Black Bluff series ............................................... 61

Section at Black Bluff, Tombigbee River............................. 61

(7) The Midway series............................. ...................... 62

. The Oak Hill and Pine Barren profile............ .................... 63

Section near Oak Hill, Wilcox County............................... 63

Section on Graveyard Hill. Sec. 5, T. 11, R. 10 E .................... . 63

Section from base of Graveyard Hill to Pine Barren Creek ............ 63

The Bladen Springs boring........................................... 67

§ 5. Summary of the leading features of the Tertiary strata of Alabama....... 68

(1) The White Limestone................................................ 68

(2) The Claiborne. ....................................................... 68

(3) The Buhrstone....................................................... 69

(4) The Lignitic......................................................... 69

(a) The Hatchetigbee section................ ........................ 69

(&) The Wood's Bluff or Bashi section ................................ 69

(c) The Bell's Landing section ....... .......................... ^...., 69

(d) The Nanafalia and Coal Bluff section ............................. 70

(e) The Naheola and Matthews's Landing section..................... 70 <

(/) The Black Bluff section .............'............................. 70

(#) The Midway or Pine Barren section........!....................... 70

II, CKETACEOUS STRATA.

§ 1. The Ripley formation ..................:................................ 71

Sections of the Ripley formation ........................................ 73

(a) Pine Barren section ............................................... 73

(6) Bridgeport Bluff, Alabama River ................................. 74

(c) Old Canton Landing, Alabama River............................. 74

(d) Section on Foster's Creek ......................................... 75

(e) Section at the mouth of Tear Up Creek ........................... 76

(/) Section four or five miles below the old Canton Landing, Alabama

River...... .................................................... 77

(«/) Section near Mixou's, Alabama River............................. 77

(h) Section at Rocky Bluff, one mile above Prairie Bluff, Alabama River. 77

(i) Section at Prairie Bluff, Alabama River...........,............... 78

0') Section exposed at Moscow and below, Tombigbee River.......... 79

(k) Section near W. S. Purifoy's, near Snow Hill.............. ..'...... 81 \

(1) Section at CarlowvilLe ..................................... ....... 82

(m) Section three miles southwest of Richmond, Dallas County......... 82

§ 2. The Rotten Limestone ............................... ~.......\......... 83

Section of the Rotten Limestone at Livingston, Sumter County ......... 84

Exposures of Rotten Limestone ........................................ 85

$ 3. The Eutaw formation................................................... 86

Sections of the Eutaw formation ...................................... 88

( a ) Section of the bluff at Erie, Tuscaloosa River .................... 89

(6) Section near McAlpine's Ferry, Tuscaloosa River ................. 89

( c) Section at Melton's Bluff and Eastport, Tuscaloosa River......... 89

( d ) Section at Choctaw Bluff, Greene County, Tuscaloosa River....... 90

( e ) Section at Finch's Ferry, Tuscaloosa River....................... 91
CONTENTS.

§ 3. The Eutaw formation Continued.

(/) Section of the Hous*e Bluff, Alabama Kiver....................... 91

(/') Section of the.upper part of House Bluff ...................... ^.. 92

(f2 ) Section of bluff near Washington Ferry, Autauga County ........ 93

(/3 ) Section at Montgomery........................................... 93

>- ( g ) Section at Merriwether's Landing, Tuscaloosa River.............. ' 94

( Ji) Section at the head of Long Bend, Tuscaloosa Eiver ............... 94

( i ) Section at Hickman's, Tuscaloosa River ................ ......... 94

(j ) Section at the head of Big Log Shoals, Tuscaloosa Eiver.......... 94

III. OTHER MESOZOIC STRATA, PROBABLY CRETACEOUS.

$ 1. The Tuscaloosa formation............................................... 95

(1) Summary of previous observations and opinions ..................... 95

(2) Observations from 1883 to 1885 of occurrences on the Turacaloosa...... 104

(a) Section at White's Bluff, Greene County.......................... 105

(6) Section at Steele's Bluff, Tuscaloosa River........................ 106

. (c) Section above Saunder's Ferry, Tuscaloosa River ................. 107

(d) Section in Tuscaloosa. .................................-... > 107

(3) Observations from 1883 to 1885 of occurrences away from the Tuscaloosa. ' 108

(a) Section of gully, 10 miles west of Tuscaloosa ..................... 109

(&) Section two miles south of Havana, Hale County ................. Ill

(c) Section on Big Sandy Creek, Tuscaloosa County.................. 112

,, (d} Section on Little Sandy Creek, Tuscaloosa County................ 112

/ (e) Section near Col. J. W. Lapsley's, near Vineton, Autauga County,

No.l...................................|......................... , 113

(/) Section near Col. J. W. Lapsley's; near Vineton, Autauga County,

No. 2. ......................................................... 113

(g) Section near Col. J. W. Lapsley's, Bear Vineton, Autauga County?

No. 3 .......................................................... 113

(Ji) Section at Ocher Beds near Vinetou, Autauga County:............ 113

(i) Section on Mulberry Creek, near Vineton, Autauga County ....... 113

(j) Section at Soap Hill, 7 miles east of Centreville, Bibb County ..... 114

(fc) Section 4 to 5 miles east of Centreville, Bibb County.............. 114

(I) Section 10 miles east of Tuscaloosa ................................ 114

(4) Observations in Mississippi.......................................... 115

i

IV. SUMMARY OF THE LEADING FEATURES OF THE CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA.

Cretaceous strata ........................................................... 116

Strata of undetermined age, probably Cretaceous ...........\................. 117

V. UNDULATIONS AND FAULTS IN THE TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF 

/ ALABAMA. 

Tertiary strata.............................................................. 117

(1) The Lower Peach Tree anticline ..................................... 118

(2) The Hatchetigbee anticline.......................................... .-121

Section on Billy's Creek, Choctaw County ........................... 124

Section near Jordan's mill........................................... 125

(3) Othei Buhrstone displacements ...................................... 128

«(4) Eastern extension of the Buhrstone .................................. 130

Cretaceous strata ........................................................... 131

(1) Canton Landing, Alabama River............................... ....^. 132

Section at Canton Landing...... ...... .............................. 132

(159) 
8 CONTENTS.

Cretaceous strata Continued.

(2) Prairie Bluff, Alabama River. ........ ...... ................ ...... .... 132

(3) Moscow, Tombigbee River.. ................/.. ....................... 133

Section near Moscow, Tombigbee River...... ........................ 133

VI.

The formations...................... :.................... .................. 133 **

The genesis of the formations...... ...... ...... .............................. 136

Index ....:.................. ............................................... 185

(160)

\
ILLUSTRATIONS.

Pages. 

PLATE 1. Claiborne Upper Landing...... 1.................................. 3

II. St. Stephens Bluff............................ ............ .... .... 22

III. Claiborne between Upper and Lower Landings.................... 29

IV. Cbffeeville Landing, &c ................................ .......... 32

V. Hatchetigbee upper end of bluff ...... ...'.*....:.................. 40

VI. Wood's Bluff,'looking down the river.............................. 44"

VII. Yellow Bluff Landing............................................. 45

VIII. Nanafalia Landing ............................................... 56

I.. Gully in aands of the Tuscaloosa formation. Near Havana, Hale Co. Ill

X. Exposure of Eipley strata near Moscow ........................... 133

XI. Outline map of Alabama showing the distribution of Cretaceous

and Tertiary strata............................................. 134

XII. Sections of the White Limestone on Alabama and Tombigbee Eivers. 143

XIII. Sections of the Claiborne strata, Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers... 147

XIV. Sections of the Buhrstone strata .................................. 151

XV. Hatchetigbee section of the Liguitic, with parts of the Buhrstone and

Wood's Bluff.............................................. ..... 155

XVI. Wood's Bluff or Bashi section and Bell's Landing sections of the

Liguitic. ...................................................... 159

XVII. Nanafalia and Coal Bluff sections of the Lignitic .................. 163

XVIII. Oak Hill, Pine Barren series ,of the Lignitic, which includes the 

Naheola and Matthews's Landing, the Black Bluff, and the Midway sections.................................................... 167

XIX. Ripley group of the Cretaceous formation......................... 171

XX. Phosphatic greensauds at the base of- the Rotten Limestone, together 

with the upper strata of the Eutaw group of the Cretaceous formation ........................................................ 175

XXI. General section of Tertiary and Cretaceous strata of Alabama, as

exposed along the Alabama, Tombigbee, and Tuscaloosa Rivers.. 183

FIG. 1. Displacement at Canton Landing .................................... 132

(161) 9

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA, 

, . Tuscaloosa, Ala,, November 30,1886. 

SIR : I have the honor* to transmit herewith a report on the observations of Mr. L. C. Johnson, of the U. S. Geological Survey, and myself 

on the Tertiary and Cretaceous strata exposed along the Tuscaloosa, 

, Tombigbee, and Alabama Eivers in this State, made under instructions 

I from you during the summer of 1883, together with my own subsequent 

observations.

Although the report is a preliminary one and further investigations 

in the same region are now in progress, recent publications have excited 

such interest in the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations in the Southern 

States as to justify immediate publication.

I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, very truly yours,

EUGENE A. SMITH,

State Geologist of Alabama. 

Hon. J. W. POWELL,

Director U. 8. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.

(163) 11

PREFACE.

During the summer of 1883 a trip was made by the authors, in a small 

steamer, down the Tuscaloosa (also called Black Warrior or Warrior) 

Eiver, from Tuscaloosa to its confluence with the Tombigbee, down the 

latter stream to its confluence with the Alabama, down the Alabama 

and Mobile Rivers to the head of Mobile Bay, and thence up the last 

two rivers to Prairie Bluff. This route, the localities of the accompanying detailed sections, and other points mentioned in the text are indicated in the accompanying geologic map of Alabama forming Plate XL 

The trip by steamer was made at the joint expense of the U. S. Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Alabama.

The first draft of this bulletin was prepared with the data collected 

during this trip, there being added thereto information gathered by 

myself in 1872,1880,1881,1882, and 1884 for the Geological Survey of 

Alabama and for the Tenth Census of the United States^and iuformatioii obtained by Mr. L. 0. Johnson in 1881,1882, and 1883. The bulletin was not completed until I had gone over the whole ground again, in 

the summer of 1885, in company with Messrs. T. H. Aldrich and D. W. 

Langdon, of the Geological Survey of Alabama. Finally, the results 

of my investigations in the same region during the summer of 1886 

have been in large part incorporated. Though it is believed that the 

accompanying sections of the Tertiary and Cretaceous strata of Alabama are much more nearly complete and more trustworthy than anything hitherto published, it should be said that the paleontologic material has not yet been fully examined, and that the Ripley, Eutaw, and 

Tuscaloosa formations require some further investigation. The present 

report must, therefore, be regarded as a preliminary one.

The photographic views from which some of the illustrations have 

been prepared were taken during the summer of 1885. It is greatly to 

be regretted that some of the photographic plates of important localities were spoiled by dampness before prints could be obtained from 

them.

The authors desire to express their indebtedness to Mr. W J Me-. 

Gee, of the U. S. Geological Survey, for assistance kindly given in the

(105) 13
14 PREFACE.

preparation of the present report, and particularly for the discussion of 

the age of the Tuscaloosa formation and for the re"sum6 of results.

Both authors co-operated in the field work and in the preliminary 

discussion of the observations; but the present writer is responsible for 

the arrangement of the matter of the report, the plates, and the maps. 

The manuscript, however, has received the approval of the associate 

author, . ,

EUGENE A. SMITH.
TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF THE TUSCALOOSA, TOMBIGBEE, AND ALABAMA RIVERS.

BY E. A. SMITH AND L. C. JOHNSON.

INTRODUCTION.

In a memoir on the geological history of the Gulf of Mexico, published in 1871, Dr. E. W. Hilgard gives in descending order the following subdivisions of the Tertiary and Cretaceous in the Gulf States: 1

Eeet! 

Post-Eocene Tertiary ....... Graiid Gulf group (brackish) ...... 250

fVicksburg.O f 120 

Red Bluff... j j 12 

Jackson .... v, Marine group....... <^ 80

Eocene Tertiary .... ....< Claiborne -.1 60

Bubrstoue. . j i. 150 

Lagiauge... ) 

.Flatwoods.. pgnitio group...... 450

f Ripley group ..................... 350

Cretaceous ............... ^ Rotten Limestone group........... 1,200

[Coftee(or Eutaw) group .......... 300-400

Professor Angelo Heilprin,2 using the publications of E. W. Hilgard, 

M. Tuoiney, T. A. Conrad, C. S. Hale, C. Lyell, and A. Winchell, and 

manuscript notes furnished by the writer in 1873, has compiled the following section of the Eocene strata in Alabama : 3

, Feet. 

White Limestone (Jacksonian) .................»..'................ 50

Claibornian....................................................... 17

Buhrstone (Silicious Claiborne of Hilgard) ..'...................... 250

Wood's Bluff and Bashi (Eolignitic)........ ......................... 50?

Our observations compel us to modify slightly the nomenclature of 

these authors and to modify materially their estimates of the thickness 

of the formations.

We are led to revive Tuomey's term White Limestone,3 and apply it 

to the Vicksburg, Ked Bluff, and Jackson divisions of Hilgard, since

1 Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. XX, p. 222, 1871; also Am. Jour. Sci.,,3d ser., Vol. 

II, p. 391 and map, 1871.

2 Contrib. to the Ter." Geol. and Pal. of U. S., pp. 29, 30, 1884. 

3 First Bien. Rep. Geol. Ala., p. 154, 1U50.

(167) 15
16 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

the collections recently made by Mr. T. H. Aldrich, but not yet described, show that there are very few fossils severally peculiar to any 

of'these quasi-formations j and we ar.e disposed to refer the several 

strata to the Upper Eocene. We are also led to divide the Glaiborneof Hilgard into two formations, corresponding to his Calcareous Claiborne and Silicious Claiborne, respectively, and to restrict the term 

to the upper. We follow Tuomey1 and others in denominating the 

lower formation the Buhrstone. Again, we are unable to discriminate 

the Lagrange and the Flatwoods of Hilgard; and we find the formation 

including these divisions to include also several beds containing marine 

fossils.2

The three Cretaceous formations are easily distinguishable along bur 

rivers as distinctive rock masses; but in constructing our sections we 

have been constantly confronted with the difficulty of fixing their boundaries with precision, since they appear to shade into one another, lithologically at least, by almost imperceptible gradations. Thus we are not 

sure that any of the outcrops along either of. the rivers show the con. 

tact of the Eipley beds with the upper part of the Eotten Limestone. 

The contact of the lowermost strata of the latter formation with the underlying sandy beds is clearly enough seen at several places, at Erie and 

Choctaw Bluff, Tuscaloosa Eiver, and at House Bluff, Alabama Eiver, 

&c.; but below the first 15 or 20 feet of these sands the strata for nearly 

300 feet (and, indeed, to the base of the Tuscaloosa formation, perhaps 

1,000 feet lower still) are exceedingly poor in fossil remains, except those 

of vegetable origin, and even these are almost indeterminable. Dr. 

Hilgard considers these fossiliferous sands (his Tombigbee Sand group) 

as more nearly allied to the Eotten Limestone than to the Eutaw group, 

and if we class them with the former then the line between the Eotten 

Limestone and the Eutaw groups will come somewhere within the first 

20 feet or so below the base of the calcareous part of the Eotten Limestone. The limit between the Eutaw and the Tuscaloosa formation, in 

like manner, is ill defined. It may further be mentioned that we have 

not seen in Alabama any beds which we can identify as belonging to the 

Grand Gulf age.

Our estimates of thicknesses vary considerably from those of Hilgard, partly, at least, because his estimates do not represent the thick1 First Bien. Rep. Geol. of Ala., p. 143, 1850.

2 This formation has been denominated Eolignitic by Heilprin (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

Phila., p. 159, 1881); but the law of priority demands the retention of the name Lignitic, which was used in the same sense by Hilgard in 1860 or earlier. Once more, 

we feel compelled to restrict the name Eutaw to the glauconitic sands, laminated 

clays, micaceous sands, &c., beneath the Tombigbee sand and above the Big Log 

Shoals horizon. And, finally, for reasons stated fully 011 a subsequent page, we 

apply the-nauie Tuscaloosa formation to the fossiliferous clays, purple clays and associated rocks exposed on the Tuscaloosa River from Tuscaloosa to White Bluff and 

at many localities between the Tnscaloosa and Alabama Rivers.
THICKNESS OF THE TERTIARY. 17

ness at any one locality, but the maxima in the Gulf States, and partly 

because our estimates are based on careful measurements of actual exposures of which only a part have hitherto been examined.

Since our route described two approximately parallel lines at right 

angles to the strike of the strata, we have generally been able to supply 

the breaks in continuity of exposures along one river by satisfactory 

exposures at corresponding stratigraphic horizons on the other, or at 

some points inland but contiguous to the water courses.

In the Tertiary formations at two horizons only have we been unable, 

by the combination of undoubtedly overlapping sections, to perfect our 

stratigraphic column. These breaks, which, upon an assumed uniform 

dip of 30 to.40 feet to the mile, cannot involve more than 50 feet each, 

probably much less, we have left blank. The black clays at the base of 

the T rtiary are exposed along the Tombigbee River from Black Bluff 

to Nalieola, a distance which, with such a dip as that assumed, would 

correspond to a thickness of 260 feet. 1 These clays are much thinner 

on the Alabama River, and in the Bladen Springs boring, as we interpret 

it, the thickness is about 100 feet, which we have adopted in our section. 

The apparently much greater thickness indicated by the exposures 

along the Tombigbee is probably due to undulations in the strata.

Our estimate of the total thickness of the Tertiary formations, ranging from 1,630 to 1,700 feet, is considerably larger than any hitherto 

made. It is, however, a minimum, as may be seen from our plates giving the overlapping sections from which the stratigraphic column has 

been constructed. This estimate finds a strong corroboration in the records of borings made in Meridian, Miss., and at Bladen Springs, Ala. 

The former boring was commenced in the upper strata of the Lignitic, 

just beneath the Buhrstone, and it is certain that the Rotten Limestone 

of the Cretaceous was not reached at a depth of 980 feet. At Bladen 

Springs the surface rocks are the Hatchetigbee beds, immediately underlying the Buhrstone. In this boring the Rotte.-r Limestone was 

reached at 1,220 feet and the boring terminated in that formation at 

a depth of 1,345 feet. Accordingly, while our estimates of the aggregate thickness >of the Tertiary formations of the Alabama and Tuscaloosa Rivers doubtless include minor errors, we have, we believe, a 

nearly complete and generally accurate section of the strata exposed 

on these rivers.

In the case of the Cretaceous our observations have less completely 

povered the ground, and we have'been forced in some instances to rely 

upon estimates based upon an assumed seaward dip of the strata of 40 

feet to the mile. This rate of dip agrees with the average of our obser1 A re-examination of the exposures of these black clays.in the summer of 1886 has 

convinced me that no reliance can be placed upon the dip in estimating the thickness, 

for the clays undulate very considerably. One bed in the black clay, for instance, 

was traced down the river (across the strike) for several miles, with scarcely any 

change in its height above the water level. E. A. S.

(169) 

Bull. 43 2
18 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

 vations and is corroborated by the record of the boring for an artesian 

well at Livingston,iii Sutnter County. The thickness of Eotten Limestone penetrated in this boring is 930 to 950 feet, and the width of the 

belt in which this is the surface rock in this part is about twenty-four 

miles across-the strike of the strata. In the llipley division we have, 

we think, a nearly complete section from our observations. In the 

Eotten Limestone we hav.e the record of the Liviugston well. In the 

Eutaw formation we have to rely in some degree upon estimates, though 

we have at Eutaw, on the Tnscaloosa, and at House Bluff and at Cunningham Bluff, on the Alabama, as we believe, nearly if not quite the 

complete series.

The materials of the Tuscaloosa formation, clays and loose sands, 

make comparatively little show along the Tuscaloosa Eiver. Our column of this formation is accordingly very imperfect, and the estimate 

of thickness is based altogether upon an assumed dip of the strata of 

40 feet to the mile.

The following table exhibits, in condensed form, our subdivisions of 

the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations of Alabama as exposed along 

the Tuscaloosa, Tombigbee, and Alabama Eivers, together with the

 carefully estimated thickness of each:

	Feet.

S Coral Limestone ^Vicksburg ?).... 150

Vicksburg (orbitoidal) ............ 140

Jackson ........................... 60

J Claiborne .......................................... 140-145

I Buhrstouo.......................................... 300

f Hatchetigbee.................... 175

Wood's Bluff ............. ........ 80-85

Bell's Laudiug .................. 140

Lower....Lignitic. ........< Nanafalia ....................... 200

j Matthews's Landing and Naheola. 130-150

I Black Bluff............. ......... 100

^ Midway ......................... 25

f Ripley .............................................. 250-275

Cretaceous ........< Rotten Limestone................................... 1,000

( Eutaw .........................'...................... 300

Cretaceous (?)...-...Tuscaloosa.......................................... (?) 1,000

Our investigations relate chiefly to the formations below the White 

Limestone, anymore especially to those underlying the Buhrstone, of. 

which, so far as we are aware, no connected account has hitherto been 

published.

Our itinerary notes have been assembled and digested and the vasrious exposures of the two water ways are described together in the 

inverse order of antiquity. The leading phenomena are recapitulated 

in the description of the general section*

(170)

(Uppe

Tertiary 

(Eocene).

Middle.

\
DEFINITION 0V THE WHITE LIMESTONE. 19

I. TERTIARY STRATA. 

§1. THE WHITE LIMESTONE.

As already stated, we include in this formation both the Vicksburg 

and the Jackson group of Conrad, Hilgard, and others, as well as the 

Eed Bluff group of Hilgard, if it is developed in Alabama. The recent 

very extensive collections of Mr. T. H. Aldrich have shown that, with 

very few exceptions, the same shells are common to the Vicksburg and 

to the Jackson bed. Certain lithological and paleontological differences 

may easily be observed in the different parts of this formation, as set 

forth below, but these differences do not, in our opinion, justify us in 

dividing a formation which, in Alabama, so clearly presents itself as a 

unit. The term White Limestone has been used by Professors Tuomey 

and Winchell and by other geologists as representing both of the above

groups, though most of the writers on Alabama Tertiary geology have 

called attention to certain differences existing between the upper and 

the lower parts of the formation as exhibited at the bluff at St. Stephens.

The term, moreover, is popularly used to designate this whole series 

of limestone rocks throughout the region in which it occurs. As above 

stated, it is in this sense that we als.o wish to use it, and we do not intend to confine the term, as does Heilprin, to ithe lower 60 feet, which 

corresponds to the Jackson division.

The thickness of the White Limestone in Alabama we believe to be 

not less than 350 feet, and our estimates are based upon the following 

facts: About half a mile from the Claibprue bluff, on the road to Perduo 

Hill, White Limestone filled with Orbitoides Mantelli Mort. occurs at 

least 200 feet above the base of the argillaceous White Limestone (Jacksou) which immediately overlies the Claiborne fossiliferous sands. At 

this locality, therefore, we have undoubtedly 200 feet of limestones belonging to this division of the Tertiary. At Salt Mountain, 150 feet of 

a coral limestone overlies the uppermost of the beds with Orbitoides 

Mantelli, and this, added to the orbitoidal,and argillaceous limestones 

seen at Claiborne, gives what we consider to be the minimum thickness 

of the White Limestone.

As regards the classification of the White Limestone in the Tertiary 

series, opinions vary. Conrad says: 1 "The Claiborne group I regard 

as newer Eocene, the Jackson as older Oligoceue, and the Vicksburg 

group as newer Oligocene."

Heilprin2 also puts the Vicksburg and the Jackson together as Oligoeene, though elsewhere in the same volume he speaks of the Vicksburg 

a/lone as Oligocene and places the Jackson with the Eocene as its uppermost member.

1 Geol. N. C., Vol. 1, Appendix A, p. 25, 1875.

 Contrib. to the Tert. Geol. and Pal. of the U. S., p. 33.
20 TERTIAKY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. i-a..-.:,43.

The view of Conrad was at first adopted by us, but subsequently the 

study of extensive collections made by Mr.- Aldrich at Jackson and 

Vicksburg, the finding by him of Venericardia planicosta in the uppermost beds of the White Limestone near Claiborne, and other circumstances have led us to think that there is no good reason for separating 

any part of our White Limestone from the Eocene, and we have no 

strata in Alabama which we regard as Oligocene.

It is to be remarked that nowhere in Alabama have any deposits 

yet been found comparable with the fossiliferous beds of Jackson and 

Vicksburg in Mississippi, as regards either the excellence of preservation or the number and variety of the fossils; for, with the exception of 

Orbitoides Mantelli, Pecten perplatius Mort.. Zeuglodon cetoides, and a few 

others, fossils are comparatively rare in the Alabama White Limestone.

DIVISIONS OF THE WHITE LIMESTONE.

The few forms, however, which do occur here appear to be generally 

restricted to a definite horizon, and we'recognize in every locality of its 

occurrence two divisions of the White Limestone, and in one place three 

divisions, each distinguished by peculiarities in its lithological characters and in its fossils.

The uppermost division, 150 feet in thickness, has as yet been observed 

in one locality only, viz, at Salt Mountain at the Middle Salt Works in 

Clarke County. The rock here, is a hard, white limestone, composed 

in great measure of masses of corals partly silicified. Near the base of 

this rock there occur great numbers of the spines and plates of echinoderms.

The middle division of the White Limestone has a thickness of at 

least 140 feet. Lithologically it varies considerably, being in part a 

hard, crystalline limestone weathering into rough, irregularly shaped 

pieces, which have suggested the name "horsebone" rock, popularly

used to designate it. Another variety is a soft, sometimes pulverulent 

mass of nearly pure carbonate of lime, which is everywhere quarried for 

building purposes. When fresh, this rock may easily be cut with an ax 

-or a' saw, but it hardens on exposure to the air and lasts for many years 

in chimneys and pillars to houses. This part-of the White Limestone 

contains as a characteristic fossil Orbitoides Mantelli, often in such iiuinbers that the rock is little more than a mass of the disks of orbitoides 

packed in soft, white carbonate of lime. The orbitoides are most abundant in the upper two thirds of this division, becoming less and less 

abundant below this.

The lower division of the White Limestone, about CO feet in thickness, 

is in general terms a light colored, argillaceous limestone resembling 

the Rotten Limestone of the Cretaceous formation both in the character of the rock and in that of the soils to which it gives rise on disintegration. It is traversed by thin( bauds of tolerably pure, white limestone and by beds of slightly calcareous clay, the latter often iinpreg-

(172)
6JOHNSON. vR Dl DIVISIONS OF THE WHITE LIMESTONE. 21

nated with gypsum. la places it is strongly glaucouitic. This division 

contains a greater variety of fossils than either of the other two, though 

probably a smaller number. The fossils appear in general to be much 

more abundant in the upper half of the rock, where the more commonly 

, occurring species are Pecten perplanus Mort., Spondylus dumosus Mort.,

- Ostrea cretacea Mort., sharks' teeth, bones of Zeuglodon cetoides, and 

Terubratula lachryma Mort. This upper and most highly fossiliferous 

part holds calcareous clays which are strongly phosphatic and occasionally \vell filled with phosphatic or coprolitic nodules. The lower 

half of this division, while less fossiliferous than the preceding, has in 

nearly every locality examined a bed near its base at least three feet 

in thickness holding vast numbers of Scutella Lyelli Con. This, which 

we have called the Scutella bed, has often served us as a guide in the 

study of this formation in the field, since it overlies by a few feet only 

the Claiborne fossiliferous sands.1

This lower division of the White Limestone has usually been con. 

sidered the equivalent of the Jackson, and the overlying orbitoidal 

rock (middle division) the equivalent of the Yicksburg group of Mississippi, and there seems to be no reason to doubt the correctness of 

^ the identification. The uppermost division has been observed or recog- 

. nized only atone locality (Salt Mountain), but it will probably be found 

to belong to the Yicksburg group. 

The following sections (see Plate XII, p. 143) exhibit the characters of

( two phases of the White Limestone as they are exposed along the two

I rivers, and a third phase seen in the lower part of Clarke County

\ between the rivers.

(a) About six miles south of Jackson, in Clarke County, at the Central 

o Salt Works, I obtained iu the summer of 1885 a section of the uppermost of the White Limestone rocks which overlie the orbitoidal rock, 

These rocks, which are seen in actual contact with the orbitoidal limestone, form the summit of the White Limestone formation in Alabama, 

so far, at least, as our observation goes. At this locality, Salt Creek 

flows at the base of a hill rising 150 feet above the water level and composed of limestone in which the only recognizable fossils are spines 

, and plates of echinoderms and great masses of corals. These corals

s make up a very considerable proportion of the hill. A few hundred 

yards from the base of the hill a thickness of about twenty feet of the 

orbitoidal rock, such as is used iu the vicinity for building purposes, 

is exposed, and in such position as to show unmistakably that it underlies the coral rock of the hill just mentioned, which has the local name 

of Salt Mountain. (See Plate XII, Fig. 1, p. 143.)

1 The rocks of the Claiborue group aro distinguished from those of the White Limestone by the presence of glauconite iu large proportion, and this Scutella bed is the 

first of the ferruginous beds of the Tertiary. We are undecided whether this Scutella bed should go with the White Limestone or with the Claiborne, since the fossit 

is found in. both formations.

(173) . ' -
22 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [Buu.431

(&) The bluff at Saint Stephens on the Tombigbee Eiver (Plate II), 

about one hundred feet inheight, exhibits both of the commonly occurring 

phases of the White Limestone, viz, the middle and lowermost. (See 

Plate XII, Fig. 2, p. 143.) The uppermost 70 feet of this bluff consists of 

the soft White Lioiestone, which is extensively quarried for building 

chimneys. Orbitoides Mantelli occurs throughout this rock, but is particularly abundant in the uppermost 20 or 30 feet. Below the orbitoidal 

rock to the water's edge the limestone is rather argillaceous and holds in 

places great numbers of Spondylus (Plagiostoma) dumosus and other 

fossils which are usually considered characteristic of the Jackson group. 

In this part of the bluff, Mr. D.-W. Laugdou, jr., of the Alabama Geological Survey, in 1884 discovered phosphatic nodules and a phosphatic 

marl, a more detailed description of which will be found in a forthcoming Alabama State Geological Report. In this connection it may 

be proper to say that in the summer of 1885 we found that a phosphatic 

marl occurs in the lower or Jackson division of the White Limestone 

everywhere in Choctaw, Clarke, and Monroe Counties.

(c) About half a mile above Saint Stephens Bluff, and in plain sight 

of it, is Gopher or Baker's Hill, wb<>re the actual contact of the limestones of Saint Stephens Bluff with the ferruginous sands of the Claiborue formation may be clearly seen.

The following section of Baker's Hill should set forever at rest the 

question of the relative positions of the strata concerned (see Plate 

XII, Fig. 3, p. 143).

Section at Baker's Hill, Tombigbee River.

1. Orbitoidal limestone forming summit of the hill. This limestone is the same as 

that forming the' upper part of the Saint Stephens Bluff, half a mile distant ...............................................................20. to 30 feet.

2. Argillaceous limestone with Pecten per plants Mort. and Pecten Poulsoni Mort. in its 

upper part aucl with hard ledges in lower part ....................55 to 60 feet.

This rock is the same as that at the base of Saint Stephens Bluff, but only 15 

to '20 feet of it are to be seen above water at the latter place.

3. Bed with Soutella Lyelli in great numbers, 1 foot seen, at other points ......3 feet.

4. Coarsegrained, ferruginous sands, passing downwards into reddish, ferruginous 

sands, with the characteristic fossils of the Claiborne sands, viz, Melongena alveata Con., Crepidula lirata Con., Infimdibulum trocliiformis Con., Corbula Murchisoni Lea, Tarritellalineatal^Qa, Cytherea (equorea Con., Oliva Alabamensis Con., 

Turbinellapyruloides Con., Turbinolia JLfachtm Lea, Voluta Defranckii Lea, Astarte 

sulcata Lea, &c........................................... __ ....15 to 18 feet.

5. Bluish green, glamxmitic sands and clayey sands containing a Flabelluin Similar to 

that found at Claiborne and at Coffee ville ..........................8 to 10 feet.

6. Hard ledge at water's edge at upper end of bluff...i...................'... .1 foot.

(d) During the summer of 1835 many localities were visited in Choctaw and°Clarke Counties where the White Limestone and the Claiborne 

sands are to be seen in contact, so that there can be no possible doubt 

as to their relative position, unless we assume that the strata have 

been overturned, and of this there is not a shadow of pro of. Some of 

the localities were also visited by Professor Tuorney and by Prof. A.

(174)
U. 8.'GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. II

tfh . VTv'V'*' '- N i,,! -^r ,11 ' ta "I '" V \~L: ^T^ 'I - ^ 1 ' '---

ST. STEPHENS BLUFF, TOMBIGBEE RIVER.
SJO SONU ] WHITE LIMESTONE AT GAINESTOWN & CHOCTAW BLUFF. 23

Winchell, while some have not yet been referred to in any published 

document. These localities will be given below, under Claiborne group.

Professor Tuomey 1 says that the Buhrstone, after dipping below the 

surface in the upper part of Clarke County, emerges again at the Lower 

Salt Works, in the southern part of the county. Our visit to this place 

in 1883 confirmed this statement of Professor Tuomey, but there were 

many things observed in the distribution of the rocks in Clarke and 

Choctaw Counties which were difficult of explanation so long as we 

confined our attention to the banks of the rivers. :

During several excursions by land through these counties previous 

to 1883 and again in the summer of 1885, the present writer was able 

to collect the data which prove that the basin in Clarke County, referred 

to by Professor Tuoiney, is by no means a simple syucline, but includes 

several undulations, by which the Buhrstone rocks are .again brought 

to the surface of the country at several points to the southward of the 

line where they first dip below it. It is by reason of t hese irregularities that the southernmost exposures of the Tertiary rocks along the 

rivers are not made by the uppermost rocks of the White Limestone 

series, but in the case of Choctaw Bluff, at least, by those of the Jackson 

or lower division of the White Limestone.

Section at Choctaw Bluff, Clarke County.

1. Drift, pebbles and sand, capped with red loam............................20 feet.

2. Bluish clay................................................................ 5 feet.

3. Greenish clay ....................................................±....... .5 feet.

4. White argillaceous limestone or indurated marl, containing many large specimens 

of Ostrea G-eorgiana, Soutella Lyelli, Pecten Poulsoni, many tubes of Asperyilium or 

allied genus, and obscure casts of other fossils ...........................5 feet.

The bluish clay (No. 2) contained in many places lignitized or half 

liguitized stumps, while the underlying greenish clay contained no 

fossils.

At Gainestowu, a few miles above Choctaw Bluff, there is another ex-, 

posure of the White Limestone. The principal rock at this place is a 

heavy bedded, yellowish limestone with Orbitoides Mantelli. This rock 

has been quarried for building purposes, and several large blocks of it 

are to be seen on the river bank at Choctaw Bluff, whither they were 

carried during the war. -The tubes of Aspergillum'are also to be seen 

at several places near Gaiuestown, and some of the clays there hold a 

very considerable amount of gypsum crystals, as described by Mr. Eo 

Q. Thoruton,2 who also says that the bones of Zeugloclon have been found 

a few miles from the Gainestown Lauding. From these circumstances 

it appears that a part, at least, of the strata at Gaiuestown is of the 

Jackson horizon.

(e) From Marshall's Landing, some miles above Gaiuestown, up to 

Claiborne, the bluffs on both sides of the river give a very complete

t< »First Bieu. Rep. Geol. Ala., p. 150,1850. 

3 Second Bien. Rep. Geol.'Ala., pp. 250 251, 1858.

(175)
"24 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

;and almost uninterrupted section, with none of the irregularities noticed 

 on the Tombigbee, since ail'the strata show a gentle southerly dip.

At Marshall's Landing1 , the upper part of the bluff consists of the 

orbitoidal limestone, tbe lower part of the argillaceous limestone of 

Jackson age, and from this point up to the mouth of Cedar Creek the 

other beds of the Jackson series form the low bluffs of the river,from 

which a very good section has been made, as follows:

Section of White Limestone strata, Alabama River.

1. Orbitoidal White Limestone of the usual character...... ................. 10 feet.

2. White Limestone containing Scutella Lyelli in numbers............ ......10 feet.

This is tbe base of the Vicksburg or Orbitoidal Limestone, which, as we have 

seen at Claiborne, has a thickness of 140 feet,"and ,at Salt Mountain has 150 feet 

of a coral limestone above it. '

3. Effervescent or calcareous, joint clay, iu two beds, each 5 or 6 feet in thickness, 

separated by 3 feet of soft, earthy White Limestone; below this a harder ledge 

of limestone, and then about 8 feet of blue clay, passing into a blue, calcareous 

clay or marl, making in all........................................ about 24 feet.

4. Earthy white limestone, resembling tbe Rotten Limestone of the Cretaceous formation ............................................................ about 25 feet.

(This limestone has at intervals of 3 or 4 feet, ledges of similar but harder material projecting slightly from the faces of the bluff. These ledges vary from one 

to three feet in thickness.

5. Scutella bed (S. Lyelli), consisting of 3 layers: (a) a limestone, with a few Scuttllas 

(S. Lyelli), 1 foot; (&) a ferruginous sand filled with the same Scutella, Ifoot; 

(c) a white limestone bed similar to (a) and 1 foot thick.................. 3 feet.

Beneath this is a bed of coarse grained, ferruginous sand, extending down to the 

water ..............................................................1 or 2 feet.

This bed is seen at Rattlesnake Bluff, Claiborne.

These relations are shown in the section. (See Plate XII, Fig. 4, p. 

143.)

(/) The upper part of the l>luff at Claiborne is also composed of the 

argillaceous White Limestone of the Jackson age, and as we ascend the 

hill back of Claiborue, leading up to Perdue Hill (2 miles), the orbitoidal 

limestone appears in gullies and wherever the surface soil has been removed, up to an elevation of 90 or 100 feet above the top of the river 

bluff. This is precisely the position which the White Limestone occupies 

with reference to the Claiborne sands at Baker's Hill on the Tombigbee, 

as well as at other localities in Clarke County, referred to above. (See 

Plate XII, Fig. 5, p. 143.)

The White Limestone is the surface rock over a very considerable 

part of Choctaw, Washington, Clarke, Monroe, Conecuh, Covington, 

and Geneva Counties.- Where the lower or more argillaceous portion 

of it forms the surface, it gives rise, upon disintegration, to a limy 

soil, very similar to that of theEotten .Limestone of the Cretaceous 

group, but the topography is much more broken, justifying the name of 

Lime Hills, which I have given to this region in the Eeport of the 

Geological Survey of Alabama for 1881-'82. These Lime Hills may be 

followed from Choctaw and Washington Counties, without a break, into
*

THE CLAIBORNE STRATA. 25

Mississippi, and there can be no doubt as to their identity with the 

Jackson prairies of Professor Hilgard.

It is in these Prairie Hills that the Zeuglodon bones are always found. 

Other commonly occurring fossils are Pecten perplanus, Spondylus dumosus, Scutella Lyelli, a species of Ostrea,, and a Cassis similar to one 

occurring at Bed Bluff in Mississippi.

§2. THE CLAIBORNE.

The beds which in Alabama intervene between the base of the White 

Limestone and the top of the Lignitic division, and which are at least 450 

feet in thickness, may be divided into two groups, of very unequal 

thickness, which exhibit very marked differences in their lithological 

features and in the relative abundance and varietj', though perhaps'not 

in the specific characters, of their fossil contents.

The upper group, 140 to 150 feet in thickness, constituting the Claiborne beds proper, consists of ferruginous sands, calcareous sands, and 

calcareous clays, generally glauconitic. These beds are mostly loose 

and incoherent, crumbling easily and giving rise to no marked topographic features in the region which they immediately underlie'. This 

whole group is distinguished by the abundance and the variety of its 

fossils. Near the top of the series is the bed of ferruginous sand which 

has furnished the greater part of the celebrated Claiborue fossils. The 

calcareous sands underlying for 60 feet the ferruginous Claiborue sand 

above named are clearly marked by the great numbers of the shells of 

Ostrea sellcvformis which they contain. Below these beds are glauconitic 

sands and clays holding a great variety of well preserved shells.

The lower group, about 300 feet thick, consists of silicious and aluminous sandstones and indurated clays, with occasional glauconite beds; 

all, except a few thin beds with marine shells, containing very little 

lime and, by comparison with the preceding group, very few fossils. 

These rocks are mostly hard and resistant and form some of the highest 

and most rugged hills in the southern part of the State. To this series 

of rocks Professor Tuomey1 has given the name Buhrstone, and has 

pointed out their identity with the Buhrstone rocks of South Carolina 

and Georgia.

Prof. E. W. Hilgard 2 placed these two together under the head of the 

Claiborne group, distinguishing the upper and lower divisions as the 

Calcareous and the Silicious Claiborne strata, respectively. From the 

section given in Hilgard's Eeport,3 it seems that the middle part of what 

we have called the Claiborue series, containing the great numbers of 

Ostreasellceformis, are the beds of the Calcareous division, best developed 

in that State. The Silicious Claiborne or Buhrstone strata are found in

1 First Bieu. Rep. Geol. Ala., p. 150, 1850.

3 Rep. on Geol. aiicl Agric. of Mississippi, pp. 108, 123, aaiU26, 1860.

3 Rep. on Geol. and Agric. of Mississippi, pp. 126, 127,1860.

(177)
f

-26 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

great thickness in Mississippi and present practically the same features 

as in Alabama. The rugged Buhrstone hills of Clarke, Lauderdale, 

Newton, Kemp.er, !N"eshoba, and Leake Counties, in Mississippi, have 

their counterparts in Choctaw, Clarke, and Monroe Counties in Alabama.

The fossiliferous greensands mentioned by Professor Hilgard,1 in connection with the Silicious Claiborne, were afterwards (1871) traced by 

the writer from Marion, in Mississippi, across the State to the Mississippi bottom in Holmes and Carroll Counties.

As already indicated above in our tabular presentation, we adopt 

here Professor Tuomey's division of these strata into Claiborne and 

Buhrstone.

The lithological aud other characters of the Claiborne beds have been 

stated above in the most general terms. A few additional details will 

suffice to give a fair conception of the general features of the Claiborne 

formation. Near, the top of the series we find a bed varying from 

15 to 17 feet in thickness, which, at Claiborne, Gosport, Rattlesnake 

Bluff, and Baker's Bluff, is a reddish yellow, ferruginous sand, literally 

packed with the most beautifully preserved fossils. In many parts 

of Clarke and Monroe Counties, where this bed has undergone less 

change from exposure to the atmospheric agencies, these sands are 

mixed with a very considerable proportion of glauconite, and the color 

is a very decided dark green, instead of reddish yellow. This bed we 

have called the Claiborne Fossiliferous Sand. Below it are some GO 

feet of calcareous clays and calcareous sands, the former making the 

upper 25 feet, characterized by a bluish color, shading into light gray 

below. The calcareous sands make up the lower 35 feet, and they are 

of a light yellowish color. The whole of this 60 feet of strata, except 

perhaps some 10 feet of blue clay near the top, is distinguished from 

all the other beds of the Claiborne formation by the great numbers of 

shells of Ostrea sellceformis Con. which it holds. These shells are found 

more abundantly in the hard, sandy ledges which occur at intervals of 

a few feet through the whole thickness of these beds. This part of the 

Claiborne formation, contrary to the experience of Professor Winchell,2 

we find to be the most widely distributed of any. We have identified it 

within two miles of Nicholson's Store in Choctaw County; at several localities on Souilpa Creek, in the same county;- at Coffeeville; near Old 

Clarkesville; on Stave Creek; and near Lisbon Lauding, in Clarke 

County; at Claiborne; near Monroeville; aud at several places on 

Limestone Creek, in eastern Monroe County. It is described by Professor Hilgard 3 as occurring on Falling Creek, near Quitman, and on 

Suanlovey Creek, west of Enterprise, in Clarke Couuty, in Mississippi, 

and it has been observed by Mr. Johnson in Wahtubba Cut, 5 miles

!Rep. on Geol. aud Agric. of Mississippi, pp. 118, 119, 121, 122,123,124,125, 1860.

2 Proc. Am. Ass. Adv. Sci., Vol. X, Part IT, p. 8f>, 1856.

3 Rep. on Geol. and Agric. of Mississippi, pp. 126, 127, 1860.

(178)
BMITH 

JOH"SON"] GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF CLAIBORNE BLUFF. 27

southwest of Enterprise, Miss. We have not yet followed it further east 

than Evergreen, Conecuh County, though we have goo d reason for believing that it occurs near Elba, in Coffee County, and probably still 

further eastward. Below these Ostrea sellocformis beds we find at Claiborne and at Lisbon some 50 feet or more of sandy and clayey beds, in 

many cases strongly glauconitic, and holding a grea t number as well 

as a great variety of well preserved fossils.

Such are a few of the most obvious characters of the beds which we 

here wish to include in our Claiborne formation. The pr ecise details of 

the structure and composition of these beds may be gathered from the 

sections which follow.

The rocks of the Claiborne formation proper occur at Claiborne, G-osport, and Rattlesnake Bluff, on the Alabama River, and at many other 

localities in that vicinity. They also occur on the Tombigbee River at 

Baker's Bluff (a short distance north of Saint Stephens) at Coffeeville 

and at very many points away from the rivers in Monroe, Clarke, Wash-, 

ington, and Choctaw Counties. We are at this time concerned only with 

the occurrences along the two rivers.

(a) The bluff at Claiborne affords one of the best exposures of the 

rocks of the Claiborne formation, as well as of part of the overlying 

Jackson strata, and we have therefore been at considerable pains to 

get a correct and detailed section of this celebrated .bluff. It will be 

understood by every field geologist that no two observers will ever 

make the same grouping of the strata in a detaifed section, and for this 

reason sections of the same bluff by different observers will often seem 

to beat variance with one another. The same bed, moreover, in different parts of a long bluff will often vary considerably in thickness and 

in other characteristics. Thus, along the road leading to the ferry at 

Claiborne, the ferruginous sands are less than ten feet in thickness and 

are overlaid with laminated clays holding leaf impressions, but these 

clays thin out rapidly going down the river and disappear altogether 

in less than a quarter of a mile from the ferry road. Our section, therefore, does not profess to be a section at one point only of the long Claiborne bluff, but we have examined and given the details of the different beds wherever they are most clearly exposed, from below the lower 

landing up to the ferry.

In this part of the State the Alabama River depressi on exhibits at 

least two well 'defined terraces; the upper one, from one hundred and 

seventy-five to two hundred feet above low water mark ; the lower, from 

thirty to fifty feet above the same mark. The upper terrace is formed 

by the Tertiary rock's, which are, however, covered by thirty to forty 

feet of the'sands and pebbles and loam of the drift. Upon this terrace, 

about a mile wide, the town of Olaiborne stands. The second or lower 

terrace, in great measure above overflow, except in extremely high water, 

is formed of ancient river deposits to which the name " second bottom " 

has been given. Opposite Claiborne the second bottom is some three

(179)
28 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA.

miles wide, and the river pursues its winding course in a channel cut 

into these second bottom deposits, impinging first against one side of 

the bordering Tertiary bluffs, whence it is deflected across the wide second bottom to strike then the opposite border. At Claiborne the river 

flows at the base of the southern Tertiary border of its ancient plain; 

next it turns across this plain and strikes the northern Tertiary bluff at 

Gosport; it is then deflected to strike the southern margin again at 

Rattlesnake Bluff.

The feature of the Claiborne bluff which first attracts the eye of the 

observer from a distance is the existence of. nearly horizontal parallel 

stripes or bauds which mark the limits of the different materials that 

make up the bluff. These bauds, which are pretty well brought out in 

tbe views, are marked off approximately in the second vertical column 

of Plate XIII, Fig. 3, p. 147, and, if we neglect the minor details, they 

may be described as follows:

Section of the Claiborne Blvff, Alabama River.

1. A bed of very variable thickness, consisting of sand, pebbles, and red loam, which 

forms the surface over a great part of the State. The average thickness of this 

bed along the bluff may be put at .................................35 to 40 feet.

2. A band of White Limestone containing glauconite grains, forming vertical faces 

usually striped by thin projecting ledges ......................... about 45 feet.

3. A band showing two very distinct parts, viz, an upper part, a bed holding great 

numbers of Scutella Lyelli, 3 feet thick ; and a lower part, '6 feet thick, of coarse, 

ferruginous sands which are indurated at the base and form a very marked projecting ledge....................................................... ......9 feet.

4. A baud of very uniform appearance of reddish yellow or buff color, co nsisting-of 

a mass of shells embedded in red sand. This is tbe celebrated Claiborne sand. 

It weathers very smoothly and is less projecting than the ledges above and below 

it ................................................................15 to 17 feet.

5. A band of light gray, calcareous clay with a few sandy stripes and indurated 

ledges..... ......................................................25 to 28 feet.

All these beds make up the nearly vertical part of the bluff near and 

between the two landings. Below these to the river level the slope is 

almost entirely covered by the loose fragments rolled down from above, 

so that the underlying stratified rocks are discovered only where these 

loose'materials have been removed. Between the upper landing and 

the ferry these lower strata of the bluff are more clearly exposed to 

view.

6. A baud of light yellowish gray, calcareous sand, striped with a number of hard 

ledges of similar sandy material. This band is a very prominent part of the 

bluff, but is in many places, as above stated, much obscured by tbe fragments of 

the other beds which have rolled down from above.......... ...... about 35 feet.

7. A band of dark, bluish green color, consisting of clayey sands and clays passing 

downwards into a greeusaud bed 6 to 8 feet thick, which appears, however, above 

water only above the upper lauding ........................ ......about 12 feet.

The upper part of this baud, at the lower landing, appears only two or 

three feet above the low water mark, and it is consequently best seen 

farther up the river. Between the two landings these beds, where they,

(180)
tT. 8. GEOLO3ICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. Ill

1 Drift. «;. White limestone. t fcuteUa bed etc. 4. Fossiliferous sands. o. Ostrea selloeformis beds.

Cl AlBORME RETV^EEM UPPE ::: AMD LOV/ER LANDINGS. ALABAMA RIVER
- DETAILED SECTION OF CLAIBORNE BLUFF. * 29

are above water, are generally covered with debris. The second of the 

bands above named is the lower part of the Zeuglodon bearing bed of 

this part of the Stare, which has generally been considered as of Jackson age. The third baud is also probably a part of the Jackson limestone, but we are not sure that some of it, especially the lower five or 

six feet, should not be placed with the Claiborne division. At any rate 

the line between the Claiborne and the Jackson falls somewhere in 

this band (Flute I, p. 3, and Plate III, p..29). 

Given more in detail, the section of the Claiborue bluff is as follows:

Detailed section of Claiborne Bluff, Alabama River. (Plate XIII, Fig. 3,j?. 147.) >

1. Drift deposits, consisting of sand, pebbles, and red loam of variable thickness ..............................................................35 to 40 feet.

2. Argillaceous, white limestone, with grains of glaucouite, veryfew fossils.. 45 feet.

3. Scutella bed; light colored, calcareous materials, holdi ug great numbers of Scutella

LyelliCou ..............................................................3feet.

4. Coarse, .ferruginous sand, with glauconite, fossiliferous, passing below into more 

calcareous material, which is indurated and projects from face of bluff.... 6 feet.

5. Ferruginous sand, holding vast numbers of comminuted as well as well preserved 

shells. Near the center of this there are, in places, thin bands of lignite, and 

along the ferry road the upper part of it is composed of laminated gray clays 

filled with leaf impressions. This is the source of the celebrated Claiborne fossils, and we shall call it the Claiborne Fossiliferous Sand. In many parts of Monroe and Clarke Counties, where this bed is more protected, the material in which 

the shells are embedded is seen to be a greensand, while at the Claiborue bluff 

and vicinity, and at a bluff just above Saint Stephens, it is completely oxidized 

into a red, ferruginous sand. Thickness about Claiborne............15 to 17 feet.

6. Bluish green, glauconitic, sandy marl, with Ostrea sellceformis, usually somewhat 

indurated above, and forming a hard projecting ledge............ ....3 to 4 feet.

7. Calcareous clay or clayey marl, of gray color when dry, but bliie when wet. It 

contains a few badly preserved chalky fossils, Sulla and small Turritellas. 

This bed becomes sandier below, as well as glauconitic and highly fossiliferous, 

the principal shells being Ostrea sellaiformis and a few Pectens. The clayey and 

sandy parts, together.............................................about 18 feet.

8. Light gray, calcareous clay, similar to the upper part of the preceding bed, with 

hard sandy ledges at top and bottom .....................................7 feet.

9. Light yellowish gray, calcareous sands, with Ostrea sellceformis and Pectens; the 

lower half indurated and full of the molds or casts of univalve shells...... 5'feet.

10. Light yellowish gray, calcareous sands like those which make the upper half of 

bed No. 9. This bed has several hard projecting ledges of the same sandy material and contains a number of fossils: Ostrea sellceformis, fragments of Scutella 

Lyelli, Scalpellitm Eocense Myer, Pecten Deshaycsii Lea, &c. The sandy parts of 

this bed are loose, crumbling easily between the fingers. There are thin beds of 

more clayey texture, one of which, about the center of the stratum, holds a number of irregularly shaped, concretionary masses of clay. Near the base are one or 

two indurated ledges of glauconitic sand and shells of Ostrea selkeformis. .27 feet.

11. Layer of comminuted shells of Ostrea sellceformis, together with perfect shells of 

some other species embedded in glauconite or greensand............ ...... 3 feet.

12. Dark bluish black, sandy clay ...........................................2 feet.

13. Bluish green, clayey sauds with few fossils in the upper part, but becoming more 

clayey below and highly fossiliferous; Venericardia planicosta, V. rotunda, Nucula 

magnijica, Area rhomboidella, Ostrea sellceformis, Valuta Sayana, Turritella lineata, 

T. bellifera Aldrich, besides species of Katica, Corbula, Cytherea, Lucina, &c. 

This bed averages 10 feet or more in thickness.

(181)"
30 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. |nuLL.43.

14. Dark green, sandy marl, glauconitic ; grayish, above, bluish below. This bed Is 

sometimes badly weathered and of more brownish color. It holds a number ot 

fossils, among which the most noticeable are a peculiar small form of Venericardia 

planicosta Larn. and large Turritella Mortoni Con. This bed, which is the lowest 

at Claiborne, may be seen between the upper lauding and the ferry, and its exposure is from sis to eight feet, according to the stage of the water.

(&) A few miles above Claiborne, near Lisbon Lauding, we find the 

continuation of the Olaibome beds down to the top of the Buhrstone, 

and there is no doubt as to the geologic horizon of the Lisbon section, 

since the two lowermost beds of the Claiborne section appear at the top 

of the Lisbon bluff, the peculiar association of the shells making the 

identification easy and certain. In the folio wing full section at. Lisbon 

the bracketed numbers show the relations of the Lisbon beds to those of 

Claiborne, as indicated in Place XIII.

Section at Lisbon Bluff, Alabama Elver.

1. Drift and loam .................................................... ......20 feet.

2. [13] Brown, sandy clays, difficult to describe more closely, as they are badly weathered and contain very few fossils................................. ......10 feet.

3. [14] Dark brown, sandy clays, badly weathered, highly fossiliferous, containing 

the same shells as beds Nos. 13 and 14 at Claiborne, viz, the peculiar small 

variety of Yenericardia planiscosta Lain., large Turritella Mortoni Con., Area rhomboidella Lea, Lucina compressa Lea, Nucula magnified Con., Turritella bellifera 

(Aldrich), &c. This bed becomes more sandy below ................8 to 12 feet.

4. [15] Hard projecting sandy ledge. .........."............................8 inches.

5. [16] Calcareous, clayey sands, ligbt yellow when wet, nearly white when dry, 

glauconitic, forming smooth vertical bluff"........... ................6 to 8 feet.

6. [17] Coarse grained, sandy, glauconitic bed with comminuted shells and many 

finely preserved shells of uncommon occurrence ..........................3 feet.

7. [18] Light yellow, glauconitic sands capped with hard ledge .............15 feet.

8. [19] Bine, glauconitic sands, probably the same as No. 7 above, but less completely 

oxidized, lowest of Claiborne strata .....................................5 feet.

9. Bluish black clay, 8 feet actually seen, below which, to the water, 5 feet, all the 

strata are covered by fragments of the concretionary sandstone described below.

In the clay immediately below the glauconitic sands, No. 8, concre. 

tionary masses are formed, which resemble a tangled mass of roots or 

branches, exposed in high relief upon a plate or block of sandstone. 

These root-like concretions lie strewn upon the lower strata of the bluffs 

about Lisbon, and seem to be somewhat characteristic of this particular horizon, which we place at the very summit of the Buhrstoue division, the Claibome proper extending to and including No. 8 [19] of the 

above section.

The combined sections of the Claiborne Bluff and the Lisbon Bluff 

show the whole of the Claiborne formation, which, according to our 

division, extends from the White Limestone down to the top of the 

Buhrstone and includes about 140 feet of strata, of which 106 are to be 

seen in place at Claiborne, while the rest may be seen a few miles above 

Claiborne at Lisbon.

The fossiliferous sands (No. 5 of Claiborne section) have furnished 

the greater part of the beautiful Claibome shells. The uppermost five

(182)
TO'H.NSON"] CLAIBORNE SHALES AT EATTLESNAKE BLUFF. 31

or six feet of this bed are made up chiefly of the shells of Cytherea 

cequorea Con., Pectunculus Broderipii Lea, and Crassatella alta Con., 

90 per cent, of the shells belonging to the first named species. The two 

feet next below contain not only many of the Cythereas but great 

numbers of other shells also, the most prominent of which are Turritella 

lineata Lea, Rostellaria velata Con., Crepidula lirata Con., Turbinella 

pyruloidcs Con., Valuta Defrancldi Lea, Monoceros armiyerus Con., Melongena alveata Con., Ancillaria subglobosa Con., &C. 1

The strata below the Claibome sands are much less fossiliferous and 

more sandy, Ostrea sellceformis being by far the most abundant shell 

down to the black clay stratum near the base of the bluff. The greensand beds at the base of the Claiborne bluff and at the top of the Lisbon bluff contain many of the rarer forms. The marl bed No. 6 of the 

Lisbon section promises to yield a rich harvest of novelties.

The collocated sections on Plate XIII give the details of the preceding drawn to scale. For the sake-of comparison we give on the same 

sheet the sections of Professor Tuoiney2 and of C. S. Hale.3 Hale's No. 3 

corresponds with our Nos. 14 and 15. His No. 4 and Tuorney's bed 6 

are represented by our Nos. 12 and 13 and part perhaps of 11. Hale's 

beds 5 and 0 and Tuomey's c are oar numbers 6 to 11, iaclusive. The 

correspondence of the rest of the sections is easily seen.

Some of the more important exposures of the Claiborne beds elsewhere 

are the following:

(c) A few miles below Claiborne, at Gosport landing, there is substantially the same section as that at Claiborne.

(d) At Rattlesnake Bluff, below Gosport, there is the following section (see Plate XII, Fig. 4, p. 143):

Section at Rattlesnake Bluff, Alabama Biter.

1. Ferruginous sands, becoming more calcareous below and terminating with a hard 

ledge.................................................................. .'6 feet:\

2. Claiborne fossiliferous sands........................................ 10 to 12 feet.

3. Calcareous clay or hard clay marl, with an indurated ledge in the middle.... 6 feet.

4. Clay marl, with Ostrea sellcvformis, with four or five hard, projecting ledges, 

about............................................................... , ... 10 feet.

5. Greensaucl, indurated at top but softer below, extending dowu to the water, 

about.. .................................................................2 feet.

(e) On the Tombigbee River, half a mile above Saint Stephens, there 

is a good exposure of the Claiborne sands, with some 10 to 12 feet of the 

next underlying beds, already given above in a section illustrating the 

White L'imestone. (See Plate XII, Fig. 3, p. 143.)

1 Aware of the fact that most of these shells have synonyms, we have in most cases 

giveu our authority for the names used by us, leaving the question of priority to be 

decided hereafter.

2First Bieu. Rep; Geol. Ala., p. 153, 1850.

3 Geology of South Alabama, Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., Vol. VI, p. 354, Nov., 1848.

(183) ' ' .
32 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

(/) Still farther up the river, at Coffeeville lauding, the Ostrea selIwformis beds of the Claiborne profile form the river bluff, as may be 

seen from the following:

Section at Coffeeville Landing, Tombigbee River. (Plate XIII, Fig. 4, p. 147.)

1. Light yellowish sands, with Ostrea sellcuformis, partly indurated, forming sandy 

ledge ..................................................... I.............3 feet.

2. Loose, yellowish, calcareous sands, with Ostrea sellceformis, indurated, sandy ledge 

at base .................................................................Gfeet3. Loose, yellowish gray, calcareous sands, highly fossiliferous, especially in lower 

part; Ostrea sellceformis the principal form; separated from next bed by sandy 

ledge................................".................................. 10 feet.

4. Bluish, sandy clay or clayey sand, with Ostrea sellceformis and aflabelluin ; in two 

parts, separated by a hard ledge, the upper part 8 feet, the lower 3 or 4 feet, 

in all .................................................................. 12 feet.

5. A bed of glauconitic sand filled with shell fragments and perfect shells : Ostrea 

sellwfonnis Con., Crassatella alta Con., a flabellum, Venericardia rotunda Lea, Corbula Murchisoni Lea, Pecten Deshayesii Lea, Area rhoniboidella Lea, Nucula magnificaCon., &c ......................................................2 to 3 feet.

6. Dark bluish clays, nearly black, non-fossilifefous, breaking into cuboidal 

blocks .................................................................. 2 feqt.

7. Dark greeuish, clayey sand, like that near the base of the Claiborne Bluff, about 

5 feet showing above the water. «

The accompanying view of Coffeeville Landing (Plate IV) shows well 

the general character of the lower Claiborue beds. The lowest wood piles 

rest upon the black clays, No. 6, equivalent to No. 12 of the Claiborne 

Bluff section. The main fossil bearing bed, No. 5, is immediately over 

this, between it and the first (lowest) of the projecting ledges seen in 

the plate.

Hale states 1 that his bed 'No. 4 occurs also at Coffeeville^with the 

same fossiliferous characters, and a comparison of the Claiborne Bluff 

section with the above shows very clearly the correspondence of the 

two. The bed No. 5 above is identical with No, 11 at Claiborue, except 

that it holds Crassatella alta and a few forms which we have not seen at 

the same horizon at Claiborne; but the underlying black clay (No. 0) is 

equivalent to No. 12, and the overlying bluish and yellowish, fossiliferous sands (Nos. 1-4) are identical with Nos. 9 aud 10 of our Claiborne Bluff section. These relations are shown in the sections, Plates 

XII and XIII.

There are no other exposures of the Claiborne beds along the two rivers, but in Washington, Clarke, and Monroe Counties we have recently 

(summer of 1885) visited a number of localities where the Claiborne 

beds are to be seen often in contact with the overlying White Limestone.

(g) Thus, north of Bladen Springs, on descending the hill towards 

Souilpa Creek, yellowish sands, with Ostrea sellceformis^ the counterpart 

of. our Nos. 9 and 10, are passed over along the road, while above them, 

near the top of the hill, is a fossiliferous bed holding forms common both to 

the Claiborne sands and to the marls at tbe base of the Claiborne Bluff.

lAm. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., Vol. VI, Nov., 1848. 

(184)
D. 8. OEOLOOICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. IV

COFFEEVILLE LANDING, TOMBIGBEE RIVER.
LOCALITIES OF CLAIBORNE OUTCROPS. 33

(Ji) At tho Barry to a mill on Oaktuppah Creek, three miles northeast 

of the village of Barry ton, there is a bed of greeusand filled with broken 

arid perfect shells of Ostrea sellwformis, identical with No. 11 of our Claiborne Bluff section, and above it, as atClaiborne, a series of bluish and 

yellowish sands, with Ostrea sellccformis.

(i) About two miles northward from this mill the Claiborne fossiliferous sands occur, and at Wornack's Hill, still farther northward, the 

White Limestone caps the hill.

(j) The yellow sands, with Ostrea sellceformis, are also seen at a mill on 

the headwaters of Oaktuppah Creek, in the western part of Choctaw 

County, Sec. 8, T. 11 K., E. 4 W., and again within two miles of 

Nicholson's Store, on Billy's Creek, where they are exposed at the base 

of a hill capped with the White Limestone.

(k) Thirteen miles west of Bladen Springs, D. W. Langdou, jr., of the 

Geological Survey of Alabama, saw in 1884 an outcrop of greenish, 

argillaceous sand, weathering red and containing a number of shells 

peculiar to the Claiborne sands, such as Crepidula lirata, Corbula Alabamensis Lea, and others commonly found in the Claiborue sand but noc 

peculiar to it, This bed also was beneath the White Limestone.

(1) In the northern part of Washington County I saw, in 1882, an outcrop of marl containing Turrltella Mortoni Con., Ostrea sellceformis Con., 

Valuta Sayana Con., &c., on Dry Creek, Sec. 6, T. 8, E. 2 W.

(m) In Clarke County, near the site of Old Clarkesville, in Sec. 23, T. 

9 K, R. 2 E., there is seen in the bed of a branch a greensand containing all the peculiar shells of the Claiborne fossiliferous sands, and on 

the hills above White Limestone containing bones of Zeuglodon.

(n) In Sec. 18, T. 9 K, E. 3 E., the same beds occur, and in the same 

relations to the White Limestone.

(o) On Stave Creek, in Sees. 8 and 9 of T. 7 N., E. 2 E., and in other 

localities in the immediate vicinity, the Claiborue sands, with all their 

easily recognizable and unmistakable shells, are at the water level in 

the creek banks, while the White Limestone outcrops on the hillsides 

hard by, with orbitoidal limestone on the summits.

(p) D. W. Langdon, in 1884, observed the Claiborue sands also nine 

and a half miles south of west of Grove Hill and fifteen miles east of 

Coffeeville, in both cases underlying the White Limestone. The locality 

on Stave Creek was visited by Prof. A. Wiuchell1 and the localities 

near old Clarkesville were seen by Professor Tuomey2 and by Professor 

Winchell3 also.

(q) In Monroe County the yellow sands, with Ostrea sellceformis, occur 

in sections 25 and 31 of T. 7 N., E. 8 E., and in sections 19 and 30 of T. 

7 K, E. 9 E., partly on the land of Mr. T. A. Eumbly.

 Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. ScL, Vol. X, Part II, pp. 84, 85, 1856.

2 First Bieu. Rep. Geol. Alabama, p. 149.

3 Proc. Am. Assoc* Adv. ScL, Vol. X, Part II, p. 86, 1856.

Bull. 43 3 (185)
34 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

(r) la Sec. 2, T. 7 K, R. 7 B., occur the yellow saiids, with Ostrea 

sellceformis, as at Ruinbly's, and in Sec. 12, T. 7 N,., R. 7 B., the Claiborne 

greensand, with all the characteristic shells, occurs in the branches of 

the creeks, while the White Limestone occupies the summits of the hills.

Our observations correct a statement of Professor Wiuchell 1 that the 

calcareous beds underlying the Glaiborne sands are not seen elsewhere. These beds are now known to occur from the western part of 

Choctaw to the Sepulga River, in Conecuh County, and probably still 

farther eastward.2

Other occurrences of the Claiborne beds, observed in 188G, will be 

found described below in the chapter on undulations &c.

§3. THE BUHRSTONE.

The fossils of this subdivision, as has already been suggested by Dr. 

Hilgard, do not appear to differ essentially from those of the calcareous Claiborne strata above described, yet the lithological character is 

so entirely different as fully to justify the division here made.

The rocks of the Buhrstono formation in Alabama, as well as in 

Mississippi, consist of aluminous and silicious materials, partly glauconitic, and in places interstratified with thin beds of greensand. The 

chief varieties of these rocks, in the order of their relative abundance, 

are the following :

1. Gray, aluminous sandstone, often glauconi tic, with numerous galls or concretions of pure whitish clay and traversed throughout with streaks of yellowish, hydrated oxide of iron. In this rock are occasionally fouud impressions of shells. In 

the upper part of the formation, upon the surfaces of this sandstone irregularly 

branching, cylindrical elevations of slightly harder texture, hut apparently of similar composition, are sometimes seen. These ridges have in some cases the appearance 

of being organic remains (fucoidal), but are more probably concretionary. These are 

best seen at Lisbon Landing on the Alabama River, and west of Bladen Springs, in 

Choctaw County, and at other points along the southern line of this formation.

2. Indurated, white clay, forming a rock, which is, however, quite light and easily 

broken. This indurated clay has joint planes approximately at right angles to one 

another, the planes of separation being mostly stained red or yellow with hydrated 

ferric oxide. Fragments of this claystoue worn into rounded pebbles are of common 

occurrence in most of the creeks and branches flowing through the Buhrstone hills, 

both in Alabama and in Mississippi. The claystoues are often silicious.

3. Hard, coarse grained, glaucomtic sandstone.

4. Hard, yellowish, silicious, or aluminous sandstone, streaked with a darker shade 

of yellow.

5. A white, silicious rock, almost a quartzite, varied by spots of leaden gray color. 

This rock has often furnished the material for Indian lance and arrow heads. It occurs near the base of the series, associated with a hard, silicious sandstone.

The prevailing color of the rocks of this formation is light gray, often 

nearly white, and, on account of their hardness and resistance to decay.

. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. X, Part II, page 86, 1856. 

2 D. W. Langdon, jr., has also traced these sandy Ostrea sellceformis beds into 

Mississippi, as far as Suanlovey Creek, near Garlandsville, in Newton County, a locality already recorded by Dr. Hilgard. See paper " On the Tertiaries of Mississippi 

and Alabama," in Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., Vol. XXXI, Mar., 1886. See, also, pp. 25- 

33 and foot-notes.

(186)
THE BUHESTONE STEATA. 35

the country which they make is very broken and rugged. The high and 

often precipitous hills of the Buhrstone are usually called mountains in 

Clarke, Monroe, and Ohoctaw Counties, in this State, and in northeastern Clarke, Lauderdale, Newton, and Neshoba Counties, in Mississippi. 

The soil, where it is derived from these rocks, is, of course, poor, and 

mostly timbered with loii£ leaf pine, and the* country is generally very 

sparsely settled.

It is impossible as yet to give with absolute certainty the thickness 

of this division of the Tertiary. During the summer of 1885, I measured with the aneroid barometer at one locality, near McCarthy's Ferry 

in Chbctaw County, 270 feet of Buhrstone rocks, and, as this section did 

not include the uppermost beds of the formation, we are safe in placing 

300 feet as the minimum thickness. I. am strongly inclined to the opinion that the real thickness, in some cases, will rise to 400 feet. In the 

section we give, the lower limit, 300 feet.

In general, the uppermost beds (fifteen to twenty feet) are composed 

of joint clays, which, when indurated, form tolerably firm rocks. Near 

the base of the formation similar clays or claystones are usually seen. 

In many places, there is a bed several feet in thickness of a hard, silicious, or flinty sandstone, almost a quartzite, just at the base of the 

Buhrstone. I have noticed this rock a few miles north of Bladen 

Springs, also near McCarthy's Ferry, and south of Pushmataha, in Choctaw County. In Choctaw and Clarke Counties it is not unusual to find 

spear or arrow heads made of this material, which is easily recognized. 

The great bulk of the Buhrstone, as already said above, consists of 

aluminous sandstones.

Inasmuch as we have not yet been able to point out any characteristic distinction, based upon organic remains, between the Buhrstone and 

the Lignitic, we have thought it best to draw the line between them 

upon lithologic grounds, and our justification in this course is found in 

the following considerations: In the strata which we have called Lignitic, the material, as compared with that of the Buhrstone, is more 

sandy and 'calcareous and at the same time more fossiliferous.. The shells 

iii many cases are decayed and the calcareous matter of the same often 

appears to have been leached out and diffused through the surrounding 

sands, occasionally cementing them together and forming calcareous 

sandstone. These sandstone beds always show a tendency to weather 

into rounded, bowlder-like ma.sses, which project from the faces of the 

bluffs or, broken off, roll down, forming a talus. When broken open, 

these bowlders usually show a nucleus of thoroughly decayed shells or 

of ferruginous, liguitic matter'.

A ledge of calcareous sandstone of this kind is found about twenty 

or thirty feet below the lowermost of the aluminous rocks, which we consider as characteristic of the Buhrstone, and similar calcareous sandstones weathering into bowlders occur at intervals throughout the underlying lignitic strata.

(187)
36 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. ' I BULL. 43.

The aluminous rocks we assign to the Buhrstone, while the sandy 

rocks, with the intercalated beds of calcareous matter, we place with the 

Liguitic.

This division based upon lithologic characters can be consistently 

carried out in Alabama, at least in the region contiguous to the two 

rivers, since the indurated clays and aluminous sandstones of the Buhrstone are in general easily distinguished from any of the other strata 

of the Tertiary formation. None of the beds of the underlying Lignitic 

have even a remote resemblance to the Buhrstone rocks, except certain 

indurated clays which overlie the Gryplma £/wmj beds in the Grampian 

Hills of Wilcox County and their prolongation into Butler County. 

Even in this case the distinction between the two can readily be discovered, as the indurated clays of the Lignitic are, in some of the beds, 

quite full of shell casts, principally Turritellas and Cythereas, and the 

material itself, upon close examination, does not.so strongly resemble 

the Buhrstoue as upon first sight appears. Then the circumstances 

that these lignitic claystoues lie over 300 feet below the Buhrstone, are 

by no means so thick, and are in most, if not all, cases in immediate 

contact with the Gryphcea tMrsce beds greatly diminish the chance of 

any confusion between the two series.

On the Alabama River the uppermost of the Buhrstone beds are well 

exposed at Lisbon Landing, and the lowermost, a short distance above 

Hamilton's, whence they extend across Clarke County westward or 

northwestward to White Bluff and McCarthy's Ferry and thence in a 

northwesterly direction across Choctaw County, just south of Butler. 

On the eastern side of the Alabama Eiver they appear in the hills south 

of Bell's Landing, and across Mouroe County north of Kempsville and 

south of Turnbull, turning a little to the northward in the eastern part 

of the county. To the eastward they may be seen again near Ozark, in 

Dale County, and near Abbeville, in Henry County.

Iu general we have not attempted in the following sections to give 

the exact sequence of the different materials which form the Buhrstone 

beds. In most cases they are merely alternations of indurated clays, 

with aluminous sandstones of varying degrees of hardness. While in 

the extremes of pure clay and almost pure quartz the materials of this 

formation differ widely, the formation as a whole leaves upon the mind 

of the observer a lively impression of the uniformity in the lithological 

structure and general appearance of its constituent strata.

Although the best natural sections of the Buhrstone are perhaps to 

be found in the hills away from the riveo, we shall here describe only 

the exposures along the banks or in the immediate vicinity of the two 

water courses. The sections on the Alabama Eiver are as follows :

(a) Section at Lisbon Landing, Alabama Eiver. (Plate XIV, Fig. 1, p. 151.)

1. Yello-\vish, sandy 111 arl, lowermost of the Claiborne beds...... ............ 20 feet.

2. Bluish black clay, massive, jointed or breaking into cuboidal blocks, 8 feet seen, 

 but to the water's edge......................................about 15 to 20 feet.

(188)
SJXOH"SONB] EXPOSURES OF BUHRSTONE STRATA. 37

Immediately beneath the sands which form the lowermost beds of the 

Claiborne formation in this section concretions are formed whiohv resemble a mass of tangled and matted roots. Blocks of sandstone with these 

concretions cover all the lower part of the section at Lisbon and they 

seem to be more or less characteristic of the uppermost beds of the 

Buhrstone.

(b) At Hamilton's Landing, 6 miles above Lisbon, is an exposure of 

75 to 80 feet of light colored, indurated clays or clayey sandstones with 

two or three indurated, projecting ledges, all characteristic Buhrstone 

rocks. (See Plate XIV, Fig. 2, p. 151.)

The positions of the outcrops of the Buhrstone rocks on the Tombigbee Rivet present apparent anomalies which, at the time of our 

visit in 1883, we could not explain. The later observations, however, 

made by myself in 1885 have cleared up many of the obscurities, and the 

structure of the two counties of Clarke and Ghoctaw in its main features 

is pretty definitely made out. This will be set forth in detail in a forthcoming report of the Geological Survey of Alabama, while at this time 

we need only give the sections exposed on the river banks and in the 

immediate vicinity. As stated above, the regular line of outcrop of the 

Buhrstone rocks extends from near Hamilton's Lauding, on the Alabama, 

across to the Tombigbee at White Bluff' and McCarthy's Ferry. At 

both these localities we have very good sections of the lower beds of the 

formation.

(c) At White Bluff there is a clear exposure of these rocks in a cliff 

of about 115 feet. They are light colored, aluminous rocks, which, however, could not be closely examined because of the precipitous nature 

of the bluff. (See Plate XIV, Fig. 4, p. 151.)

(d) At McCarthy's Ferry the immediate bluff of the river is made of 

the clays which underlie the Buhrstone, but on the hills just back of 

the river we get a section of nearly 300 feet of Buhrstone rocks. (See 

Plate XIV. Fig. 3, p. 151.)

(e) Down the river from these localities the Buhrstone rocks dip beneath the surface, the overlying Claiborue beds forming the river banks, 

as at Coffeeville, &c., already mentioned, but just south of Coffeeville, 

at Hatchetigbee Bluff, the Buhrstone is again seen, and the lowermost 

beds at that, as shown in the section (see Plate XIV, Fig. 5, p. 151). The 

exposures at White Bluff and at the Hatchetigbee Bluff both show the 

contact of the light colored claystoues with the underlying sandy clays 

&c. of the Lignitic. but at the former locality all except the uppermost 

20 feet or so of the Liguitic are obscured by land slips and rubbish of 

all sorts. These sections will be given in detail under the next heading.

(/) Still farther down'the Tombigbee River these rocks sink again below the surface, for at Sain-t Stephens, and just above, the Claiborne 

sands and the overlying White Limestone make the river bluffs, as before stated. At the Lower Salt Works, however, we have the Buhrstone
38 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

rising agaiu to the surface, as described by Professor Tuoiney. 1 During 

the summer of 1885 I ascertained that these rocks appear at the surface at an intermediate point, viz, near Jackson. The Lower Salt 

Works are situated near the center of T. 5 K, E. 2 E., and the rocks exposed along the road which ascends the hill just south of the works are 

as follows:' '

i Section at the Lower Salt Works, Clarice County.

1. Orbitoidal limestone forming the upper part of the hill, thickness not determined.

2. Between the orbitoidal rock and the topmost bed of the continuous section below given there is a space iu which the rocks are covered with soil, undetermined 

thickness.

3. Argillaceous White Limestone or clayey marl, with several indurated ledges of 

similar material............................................about 18 to 20 feet.

4. Coarse grained, ferruginous sand, with harder ledge at base and above. This bed, 

as well as the harder portions, contains fossils, the most conspicuous of which are 

Scutella Lyelli and Pecten perplanus. This bed is strongly glauconitic near the 

base...................i.......................................... about 9 feet.

5. Greenish clay passing at bottom into a ledge of hard claystono, the first of the 

Buhrstone formation .................................................... 3 feet.

6. Aluminous saudstonesor indurated claystones of the usual Buhrstoue character to 

the base of the hill........................... ^................. GO feet or more.

About half way down the hill there is a bed of greensand holding a 

good many fossils.

That which most strikes the observer in this section, is the absence of 

the sands and marls of the Claiborue formation. The glauconitic sands 

with Scutella Lyelli and Pecten perplanus, supposed to be of Jackson age, 

immediately overlie the greenish clays of the Buhrstone, while at Claiborne the two are separated by at least 130 or 140 feet of other strata.

Professor Tuomey1 called attention to the fact that the Buhrstone 

beds, after dipping beneath the surface in the upper part of Clarke County, 

appear again at the Lower Salt Works, the White Limestone and other 

calcareous strata occupying a basin in the Buhrstoue formation. Our 

own observations on the river in 1883, and later in 1885 iu the western 

part of Clarke County and iu Choctaw County, have shown that the 

Buhrstone rocks appear at at least two intermediate points between 

the two limits observed by Professor Tuomey, viz, at Hatchetigbee and 

at Jackson.

§ 4. THE LIGNITIO.

All the strata lying between the Buhrstone and the Cretaceous, representing a thickness of 850 to 900 feet, have been classed by Dr. Hilgard under the two names of Lagrange (or Lignitic) and Flatwoods. 

Lately, Prof. Augelo Heilprin has proposed the name Eolignitic for 

botli these divisions ; but, since Dr. Hilgard had already used the name 

Lignitic in the same sense, that term, has priority and must be retained,,

1 First Bieu. Rep. Geol. Ala., p. 150, 1850.
8]Ssos?] GENERAL. CHARACTERS OF THE LIGNITIC. 39

The greater part of this subdivision is made up of laminated clays 

and laminated and cross bedded sands of a prevailing gray color, except 

immediately below the Buhrstone, where for 200 feet or more they are 

of dark brown, often purplish colors. With the above mentioned laminated clays and sands are iuterstratified several beds of lignite and several beds holding marine fossils and usually characterized by the presence of glauconite or greensand.

The lignite beds appear to be more numerous and thicker towards the 

west, and especially in Mississippi, while 'eastward of the Alabama 

River they become, as a rule, inconspicuous. Only one of these lignites, 

viz, that which nppears at Coal Bluff, on the Alabama River, is of very 

considerable sizei, six or seven feet; they possess no very well marked 

characters by which they may be distinguished from one another; they 

are traced with difficulty across the country, since, being softer, they are 

more easily eroded than the associated rocks. On the other hand we 

have found the marine beds to retain their characteristic features to a remarkable degree: each has its peculiar association of fossils, most of 

them are also easily recognizable by lithologic and structural characters, and some of them may be followed with the greatest ease across 

at least three counties. These circumstances have led us to use the marine beds instead of the lignites for marking the different horizons of 

the Lignitic division, and provisionally we have thus used the seven following marls, each marking a well defined horizon and each presenting its easily recognized paleontologic character:

1. The Hatchetigbee marls.

2. The Wood's Bluff or Bashi marl.

3. The Bell's Landing series.

4. The Nanafalia or Gryphosa tliirsca marl.

5. The Matthews'8 Landing and Naheola marls.

6. The Black Bluff beds.

7. The Midway or Pine Barren beds.

Our account of the stratigraphy of the Lignitic division of the Alabama Tertiary will be more intelligible and more easily followed if we 

describe the strata in sections, each corresponding to and including one 

of the seven marl beds above enumerated.

(1) THE IIA.TCIIKTIGBEE SERIES. (PLATE XV.)

In this we would include all the strata intervening between the base 

of the Buhrstone .and the uppermost of the Wood's Bluff' fossiliferous 

beds, aggregating about 170 to 175 feet, as may be seen by consulting 

the engraved sections of Plate XV, especially Fig. 1, p. 155.

By far the greater part of the beds here included are sandy clays or 

clayey sands of brownish gray colors, alternating with bands of dark 

brown or purple color, the whole forming a .tolerably well marked 

and in most cases easily recognized group. Where these brown clays 

have been much exposed to the action of the atmosphere, and conse-

(191°)
40 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [HULL.43.

quently thoroughly leached, as occurs wherever they lie high up on 

the hills, they exhioit very much lighter and less characteristic colors. 

The best exposures of these beds are to be seen at the localities more 

particularly described below, and at one of them, White Bluff and 

vicinity, the whole series occurs in actual superposition, only about 

sixty-five feet of it being somewhat obscured by slides. The distinctively marine deposits of this series consist of three or four shell or marl 

beds, separated by non-fossiliferous sands and clays (Plate V).

(a) Section at Hatcheligbee, Tombigbee Rivei'. (Plate XV, Fig. 2, p. 155.)

1. Light colored, alumiuouwsandstones and indurated clays, forming a vertical 

escarpment back of the main bluff................................20 to 30 feetThese light colored claystones we consider to be the lowermost of the Buhrstone formation, and all the iinderlyiugto be Lignitic.

2. Sandy clays of brown, yellowish, and reddish colors interstratified. These are 

dark blue when moist, but of lighter colors when dry....... ......15 to 20 feet.

3. Heavy bedded, dark brown clays, somewhat like No. 2, but of darker color when 

dry ................................................................... 10 feet.

4. Yellowish, glauconitic marl.... .\.................................... 2 to 3 feet.

This bed shows a tendency to form at intervals hard concretionary ledges, 

which on weathering break off and roll down the bluff and are piled in great 

numbers at its base. 1 Some of these bowlders have a nucleus of shells, which, 

however, are not usually very well preserved.

5. Purplish brown, sandy clays, in the middle of which is a projecting ledge of dark 

colored clays which are harder but break up into small prismatic fragments upon 

drying and on exposure to weather ...... .................... .......... 15 feet.

6. Yellowish gray sands, striped with thin streaks of brown, sandy clay. These 

sands form, at intervals along the blnff, indurated, concretionary, rounded 

masses ............................................................5 to 6 feet.

7. Bluish brown, sandy, clay marl, containing many new forms of shells. The upper 

part more fossiliferous ............................ ..... ............ 5 to 6 feet.

8. Laminated, grayish sands, interstratifled with thin beds of brown or black, lignitic 

clay. These sands form rounded, concretionary masses-, which project from face 

of bluff .............................. ..I.....!..... .................4 feefc.

9. Heavy bedded, gray, sandy clays with streaks of brown 'clay.............. 8 feet.

10. Reddish, sandy marl, highly fossiliferous, forming concretionary bowlders. Remarkable for the great numbers of Venerlcarclia planicosta Lani., but containing : 

also many other forms, such as Atlileta Ttiomeyi Con., and Fusus pagodiformis ( 

Heilprin...........................................................4 to 5 feet.

11. Dark gray to brown sandy clays to water................................15 feet.

Beds No. 8 and 9 above form very conspicuous parts of the bluff, as 

they are striped with dark brown, nearly black, bands of clay and resemble strongly a part of the section at McCarthy's Bluff described 

below.

'Between our joint visit in 1883 and my second in 1885 the appearance of the bluff 

was very materially changed by a landslide. In 1883 we saw about six feet below 

the marl bed No. 4 another of very similar character, which I have now reason to 

think was a mere repetition of No. 4, since I was unable to make out two such beds 

in 1885. I have, therefore, given only one in the section, though convinced of the 

existence of tsvo at the tiino of our first; visit.

(I9LM
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. V

t^-'Vif '-.# "J.-W' -'f^yr-^-; -

l^\s-' "^.t" iff i_If "-"!/" ^, v I ftl"" '"'' /*" ,' s

.^-- ~-^^^^^,*yj^;^?w^ - ^--. :- vS v^,^v^:;uV:^v^/^_i;-^

^S^-^^^^^^111 - 1 ' ^^^.^

ITilil'iiii^iy^lliilfi'i 1 :

5. Lower part of purplish brown, sandy clays. 6. Yellowish gray sands. 7. Bluish brown, sandy marl.

(The human figure stands upon the bed wh:!ch we call the middle marl. References are to the sections.on p. 40, and also to Fig. 2 of Plate XV.) 

HATCHETIGBEE-UPPER END OF BLUFF, TOMBIGBEE RIVER.
N. J

SECTIONS OF HATCHETIGBEE BEDS. 41

(b) At White Bluff", on the Tombigbee, as above stated, there is another exposure of the contact between the Buhrstone and the underlying Lignitic, which, however, includes in continuous exposure only the 

uppermost 25 feet of the latter formation. From the top of White 

Bluff down to the river level the distance is 275 feet by barometric 

measurements made at several different times. Of this, the uppermost 

140 feet are shown in a clear perpendicular bluff and consist of 115 feet 

of the light colored claystones of the Buhrstone formation and 25 feet of 

sandy clays of tie Lignitic. The strata composing the rest of the slope 

of White Bluff are so much obscured by landslides that it is impossible 

to make them out satisfactorily, but the lowermost 70 feet of the beds 

which make this slope are well exposed on the banks of Witch Creek 

and at Davis's Bluff, near by. Between these two parts of the section 

there are some 65 feet of strata not seen here, which include the 

Hatchetigbee marls &c, In proof of this, I found on the slope, a few 

feet below bed No. 3 of the accompanying section, a fragment of hardened, glauconiti.c tnarl with a few badly preserved fossils. The marl resembled that described in No. 4 of the Hatchetigbee section above. 

The fossils were, however, too obscure to be identified.

All this is shown in the following section and in'Plate XV, Fig. I,p.l55:

Section at White Bluff and Davis's Hluff, Tombigbee River.

1. Aluminous sandstones and claystones, of light color, forming a vertical bluff, the 

details of which it is impossible to examiue closely, Buhrstone rocks ....115 feet.

2. Grayish, sandy clays, with a layer about 18 inches in thickness at its base, containing fragments of liguitized stems and twigs..........................20 feet.

3. Sandy clays, with a layer at bottom about 8 inches thick,consisting of alternating layers (one-fo'urth of an .inch in thickness) of lignite and sand.......5 feet.

4. Strata not seen,covered by landslides 1 ......;........................... 65 feet.

5. Gray, sandy clays, striped with brownish purple bauds of clay, containing few if any 

fossils, except, that about 12 feet above the water there occurs a thin bed with a few 

fossil shells, find some 12 feet above this a single specimen of Athlela Taomeiji was 

found sticking in the clay 2 ...... ................................... ....70 feet.

White Bluff is in the southwestern part of Sec. 14, T. 11 N., E. 1 W., 

just below the mouth of Witch Creek.

(c) Above this, the river bends towards the west, and in the ndrthwestern part of Sec. 6, T. 11 K, E. 1. W., at McCarthy's Ferry, the strata 

which make the lower part of the ; preceding section are again exposed, 

as may be seen from the following section :

Section at McCarthy's Ferry, Tombigbee River. (Plate XV, Fig. 3, p. 155.) 

1. Sandy clays iuterlaminated Avith clays less sandy, all of light gray colors, but along 

the whole longth of the bluff there are parallel bands of much darker clays, 

which make a very conspicuous marking ..........................50 to 55 feet.

1 A fragment of glauconitic sandstone with fossils was picked up from the surface 

in this part of the section a few feet below the base of No. 3.

2 These beds, a,s well as those included in No. 4, are covered by the d6bris of landslides at White Bluff, but they are well shown in the banks of Witch Creek, which 

washes the base of White Bluff, and at David's Bluff, half a mile above, where we get 

the lower 70 feet of the section (No. 5).

(193)
42 TERTIARY' AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. lnuLL.43.

2. Laminated clays aucl sands, firm and compact at base, forming a projecting ledge 

which divides the bluff into two parts........................... ....4/to 5 feet.

3. Pyri.tous, sandy clays, with two or three bands of darker color; the sands are indurated in places, forming bowlder-like masses ....................20 to 25 feet.

The dark bands which mark the bluff and which look at a distance 

like lignite beds are found upon closer inspection to consist of thin layers of dark bluish gray clays interbedded with thin streaks of gray 

sand. The whole 75 feet of this section appear to be barren of fossils.

At the base of the bluff lie great numbers of fragments of the silicious and aluminous rocks which characterize the Buhrstone formation 

and which have rolled down from the hills that rise a short distance 

back of the immediate bluff of the river. These hills are composed entirely of the Buhrstoue rocks for a vertical distance of 270 feet. (See 

Plate XIV, Fig. 3, p. 151.) This is the greatest thickness of Buhrstoue 

rocks that has been measured in one section, except at one other place 

in the same range of hills.

Above McCarthy's Bluff I failed to find any outcrop of the Hatchetigbee marls, but a short distance northward, on the road to Mount 

Sterling, some 10 to 11 miles south of Butler, the road descends over 

250 feet of Buhrstoue rocks, below which I saw in 1885 an indurated 

greensaud marl with fossils embedded in brown sandy clays. This is 

doubtless one of the Hatchetigbee marls.

The position of the,McCarthy's Bluff beds with reference to the Buhrstoue and to the Davis's Bluff beds is shown on the general section 

in Plate XIV, Fig. 3 (p. 151), and in Plate XV, Fig. 3 (p. 155).

Up the Tombigbee Hi ver from White Bluff and Davis's Bluff to Wood's 

Bluff, similar dark gray, sandy clays with darker bands are displayed 

in the river banks. The thickness of the strata between the Buhrstone 

and the top of the Wood's Bluff marl is about 175 feet, of which the 

lower 109 feet are well characterized by a prevailing dark brown or 

slightly purple color and by the absence of fossils, except an occasional 

band of lignitic clay or a sandier band with a few marine shells. The 

upper 75 feet are more fossiliferous and varied in appearance.

In these lower, dark, sandy clays there occur concretionary masses 

of silicious matter, sometimes almost a flint of approximately spherical shape, and made up of concentric layers or shells. These concentric shells are usually separated by a thin layer of pure quartz of 

fibrous texture, the fibers' being perpendicular to the surfaces of the 

spheres. These concretions are very commonly looked upon as petrified 

turtles by the people of the vicinity. They vary from 6 inches to 4 or 5 

feet in diameter. In other places the clayey sands themselves are cemented together into rounded concretions, with a nucleus of black 

lignitic matter.

Where the dark brown or purple, clayey sands above described occur 

at considerable elevations above the water and have been thoroughly 

leached and desiccated, they exhibit very much lighter colors. They are

(104)
R?OHNSOND] WOOD'S BLUFF STRATA. 43

seen under su.ch condition on the hills back of Yellow Bluff, on the Alabama Eiver, a,nd in the country between the two rivers. It is only along 

the river bluffs and low places, where they are kept more or less moist, 

that the dark purple and brown shades are so characteristically displayed.

(2) THE WOOD'S BLUFF OR BASHI SERIES. (PLATES XV AND XVI.)

The first beds of marine^ fossils of any consequence below the series 

of brown and purple clays above, mentioned occur at Wood's Bluff, on 

the Tombigbee, and just below Johnson's Island,.on the Alabama River; 

also, on Bashi Creek and its tributaries in Clarke County, and at numerous other localities to be given below. We have given to these beds 

the name of the Wood's Bluff or Bashi Marl. They are from 15 to 20 

feet in thickness, are highly fossiliferous, hold a very considerable percentage of greensand, and the marl has a tendency to become indurated 

by carbonate of lime into rounded, bowldor-like masses of glauconitic, 

fossiliferous limestone. These bowlders may be formed in any part of 

the beds, but are more commonly seen in the upper half, and when this 

is the caso the loose greensand marl below is easily washed out, giving 

rise ( to the formation of caves, sometimes of considerable dimensions. 

Immediately below this marl, and usually within 25 feet of it, are at least 

four or five thin seams of lignite, varying from a few inches up to 18 

inches in thickness. ;

All these characters render the Wood's Bluff marl easily recognized, 

and it has been traced by me from the western part of Choctaw across 

to the eastern part of Monroe County without any essential change in 

its qualify. It has become one of our most important geologic landmarks.

Some 35 to 40 feet below the lowermost of the thin, liguitic beds immediately underlying the Wood's Bluff marl, and separated from it by 

yellowish, cross bedded sands, is another lignite, about two feet in thickness, at the base of which we wish to draw the line between the Wood's 

Bluff and the'Bell's Landing series. As thus defined, the Wood's Bluff 

series 'includes the strata intervening between the purplish brown, 

sandy clays, above described, immediately overlying the Wood's Bluff 

marl, a,nd the two feet of lignite. The thickness represented is about 

80 feet. The most complete section of the whole series is at Yellow 

Bluff, on the Alabama Eiver. (See Plate XVI, Fig. l', p. 159.)

The best exposures of the marl bed are to be seen at Wood's Bluff, on 

the Tombigbee Eiver, and on the tributaries of Bashi Creek in Clarke 

County, in the immediate vicinity of Wood's Bluff, although, as stated 

above, the marl may be readily traced across Choctaw, Clarke, and Monroe Counties, exhibiting at many places away from the rivers very fair 

sections. On the immediate banks of the Alabama Eiver the marl 

does not make much show, though it may be seen below Johnson's 

wood yard.

(195)
44 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

We give here only three sections, showing the details of. the marl bed 

and of the strata underlying down to the top of the next, or Bell's Lauding, series.

(«) Section at Wood's Bin/, Tomligbee River. (Plate XV, Fig. I, p. 155, and Plate XVI,

Fig. 7, p. 159.)

Orange sand or stratified drift......................................20 feet or more.

1. Dark brown or bluish black, laminated clays, breaking up into small fragments, 

 6 to 8 feet, at the upper end of the bluff, but rising to 10 feet or more farther 

down. These clays are identical with "jhose at the base of the White Bluff section ........................................................8 to 10 feet or more.

2.. Dark bluish, sandy clay, turning red 0:1 exposed and weathered surfaces and 

capped with a hard ledge which may bo easily traced down the river nearly to 

Davis's Bluff 1 ...........................................................3 foct.

3. Bluish, laminated clay or sandy clay, very much like No. 2 in color and texture, 

but containing no fossils, or very few, and not appearing red at the surface, of 

variable thickness ...................................'..... ...>..... .5 to 8 feet.

4. Bluish or greenish, sandy clay, somewhat indurated, of decidedly reddish color 

on the surface, highly fossiliferous, characterized by Turritella lineata Lea and 

Denta.litim microstriatum Heilpr.,but containing also Ancillaria staminea Con., a 

small Natica Pyrula midtangulata Heilpr., Corbula oniscus, Infundibulum trochiformis Lea, a Phorus, and a small oyster. The lower part of this bed passes gra'dually into the greensand marl No. 5 and is the best collecting ground, as the 

material is less indurated and the shells are more easily removed. ....3 to 4 feet.

5. Greensand marl to the water's edge.................................10 to 12 feet.

The upper part of this marl is quite soft and friable, but just above 

the water's edge i't becomes indurated and shows a disposition to form 

rounded, bowlder-like masses, quite hard and firm and resembling a 

limestone. That this indurated part is of the same nature as the softer 

greensand above and below it, is seen from the circumstance that the 

indurated bowlders are sometimes near the top, sometimes near the 

bottom of the greensaud stratum. The accompanying view (Plate VI) 

shows well the large, bowlder-like masses of the indurated greensaud, 

No. 5. Passing through the central part of this marl bed is a layer of 

Ostrea compressirostra Say, with very thick and ponderous shells.

(b) About two miles from" Wood's Bluff, oa the banks of-Bashi Creek, 

there is the following exposure (Plate XVI, Fig. 7, p. 159):

Section near Wood's Bluff.

1. Yellowish gray limestone or indurated marl, like that seen at the base of the 

Wood's Bluff section ............................................. ......10 feet.

2. Greenish blue, fossiliferous sands 2 .........................................8 feet.

3. Seam of lignitic clay, laminated and jointed ............................6 inches.

4. Brown, laminated, joint clay, passing below into n, greenish, uou-fossiliferous 

sand.................. .................. ...... ..........................4 feet

1 This bed is highly fossiliferous, containing LcGvibuccinum striatain Heilpr. (which 

appears to be confined to this particular horizon), Alhleta TuomeyiCon., Fnsuspatjodiformis Heilpr., Venericard{aplanicosta~L&m., ActwonpomiUns, Con., a small Natica, Pleurotoma acuminata Sow., sharks' teeth, Ancillaria staminea COM., a small Cytherea, &c.

2 These sands are frequently washed out from beneath the limestone or indurated 

marl, forming caves which are to be seen wherever tihe Wood's Bluff marl occurs.

(196)
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SDKVET BULLETIN NO. 43 PL VI

r w^w^^~^r3P

1. Dark gray clays. 2. Bluish, sandy clay, fossiliferous. 3. Bluish, sandy clay, non-fossiliferous. 4. Greenish, sandy clay, highly fossiliferous. 5. Greensand mart.

(The figures refer to sections on p. 44, and also to the section given in Fig. 7 of P.ate XVI.)

WOOD'S BLUFF, LOOKING DOWN THE TOMBIGBEE RIVER.
U. 8. 9EOLOQICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. VII

YELLOW BLUFF LANDING, ALABAMA RIVER.
SJSOH"SON D ] SECTION AT YELLOW BLUFF. 45

5. Laminated, greenish gray clay, alternating with thin seams of dark purplish, 

 lignitic clays, giving the exposure a beautiful and regularly striped appearance1 .............. ................................................. ----5 feet.

6. Thin layer of lignite............................................about 12 inches.

7. Gray clay to the water's edge.

(c) The strata which intervene between the Wood's Bluff ami the 

Bell's Landing series of marls, together with 130 feet of the beds overlying the former, are to be seen in a continuous section of 250 feet at 

Yellow Bluff and in the hill which lies just back of the bluff (Plate VII). 

Here all the strata between the two marl beds mentioned are exposed in 

actual and unmistakable contact at the river bluff, where there is an 

uninterrupted section of 120 feet. This is one of the most important 

sections we have, and it was obtained in the summer of 1885.

'Section at Yellow Bluff, Alabama Elver. (Plate XVI, Fig. 1, p. 159.)

1. Laminated, gray, sandy days of ligbt color, variously interstratified with sands; 

in places there is a white or very light colored clay, and in Other places CIOS8- 

bedded sands, interlaminated with thin sheets of white clay; reddish sand abundant near the top of the section, which is one mile back from the river. Thickness by barometer.................................................... 130 feet.

These.beds are the same as those shown on the Tombigbee River below Wood's 

Bluff, at Davis's Bluff, and at White Bluff, and belong to the Hatchetigbee series; 

but, lying high up on the hills and exposed to sun and weather, they are uniformly 

much lighter in color than on the Tombigbee Eiver, where they are near the 

water level. Below this we have a gentle slope, along which about fifty feet of 

beds are exposed (Nos. 2 to 4), and below that the perpendicular bluff of the 

river, some seventy feet (Nos. 5 to 10).

2. Greensaud marl, with Wood's Bluff fossils (summit.of the Wood's Bluff series), with 

indurated, rounded masses above, and loose marl below............about G feet.

3. Blue clay ....................-...-...-.-....-.-..--....------ --'.----.-1 foot.

4. Gray, sandy clays with a slight tinge of purple, holding four or five thin seam's of 

lignite, each one foot or less in thickness. The actual positions of these lignite 

beds are slightly obscured by landslides ........................... 40 to 50 feet.

5. Reddish, cross bedded sands.............................................20 feet.

6. Lignitic clay and lignite (base of Wood's Bluff series) .......................2 feet.

7. Reddish sands slightly laminated................................ ........15 feet.

8. Laminated, sandy clays in perpendicular cliff...................... 20 to 25 feet.

0. Greeusaud marl in two parts separated by one foot of sandy clay without fossils. 

The upper part, one foot thick, holds chiefly Ostrea compressirostra and Venericardiaplanicosta, while the lower part, six feet thick, contains all the characteristic fossils of the Bell's Landing scries, Valuta Newcombiana, large Turritella Mortoni, Eostellaria trinodifera, &c. This upper part shows strong tendency to harden 

into round, bowlder-like masses; in all ............................about 8 feet.

This bed, No. 9, is very clearly marked in the accompanying view (Plate VII) 

by the line of bowlders near tho water's edge. The lignite, No. 6, occurs near the 

top of the cliff, but does not show out in the picture.

10. Greenish, ferruginous sands iuterlamiuated with thin sheets of clay, passing into 

u dark blue, sandy clay at the water level ............................... 7 feet.

In this section the beds numbered 5 to 10, inclusive, are seen in the 

actual bluff of the river about half a mile or less below the steamboat

1 The dark clays in this stratum appear .ti> resist denudation better than the greenish 

clay,, so that they project slightly from tho faco of tue bluff.

 ' (19?)
46 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43,

landing. The beds numbered 2 to 4, inclusive, together with about forty 

feet of the lower strata of No. 1, are seen on the top of the bluff, along 

the road leading up the hill, and they directly overlie the beds exposed 

in the river bluff. JSTos. 2 to 6, inclusive, represent the Wood's Bluff 

series.

From the sections represented on Plates XV and XVI it will be seen 

that the Wood's Bluff marl lies embedded in a great thickness of clays 

and clayey sands, a circumstance which has an important bearing upon 

its economic value. The disintegration of the clays produces heavy 

clay soils, which are thoroughly marled by the Wood's Bluff beds, 

and they form in consequence some of the most productive and lasting 

soils of the Tertiary group. We have as instances the heavy, calcareous, clay soils which occupy a broad belt north of. Butler, in Choctaw 

County; the productive soils of parts of the Tallahatta and Bashi Creeks 

region ; the clay hill soils of the eastern part of Clarke and the western part of Wilcox Counties, between Choctaw Corner and Lower Peach 

Tree; the celebrated Flat Creek lands of Monroe County, &c. Some 

descriptions of these soils, with analyses, were presented in the Report 

of the Geological Survey of Alabama for 1SS1-'S2.

. ' '

(3) THE BELL'S LANDING SERIES. (PLATE xvi, FIGS. 1 TO 6, p. 159.)

This series includes two important fossiliferous beds, separated 

by about twenty-five feet of gray, sandy clays. Between the lignite, 

which forms the base of the preceding division, and the upper marl of 

this series there are some forty feet of reddish sands and laminated, gray, 

sandy clays, and below the.lower marl about sixty feet of sandy clays 

of the prevailing gray color, rather massive in the lower part. About 

fifty feet below the lower of the two marl beds, and ten feet above the 

base of this series, there is a third small greensand bed one foot or less 

in thickness containing fossils. The entire series comprises about one 

hundred and forty feet of strata, which, as a whole, are gray, sandy clays, 

becoming more and more massive toward the base, while they are more 

thinly laminated and more mixed with sands near the summit of the section. The strata which lie between the Wood's Bluff marl and the uppermost of this series are about sixty feet of sandy clays, containing 

several thin seams of lignite, all of which are exhibited in direct superposition at Yellow Bluff, and have been placed, as above shown, with the 

Wood's Bluff' series. The upper marl bed, which is the Bell's Landing 

marl bed proper, is some ten feet thick, contains greeusand, and indurates 

into bowlders, fine examples of which are to be seen at the base of the 

bluff at Bell's Landing. This marl is characterized above all others in 

the Tertiary of Alabama by containing gigantic specimens of shells 

which at other localities are of moderate size. The lower bed, known as 

the Gregg's Landing marl from its occurrence at the landing of that 

name, is four or five feet in thickness and is of clayey material. It has 

a peculiar group of fossils,

(198)
SECTION OF BELL'S LANDING BEDS. 47

o

The fossil bearing beds of this series are best exposed along the 

banks of the Alabama River at Bell's Landing, Gregg's Landing, Peebles's Landing, Lower Peach Tree, and Yellow Blnff; and on the Totnbigbee at Tuscahoina, Tamer's Ferry, near the month of Shuquabowa 

Creek, and at Barney's Upper Lauding. The exposures on the Alabama are niuch'more satisfactory.

. Unlike the Wood's Blnff marl, the marls of this series make compara 

tively little show inland from the rivers and exercise little, if any, influence upon either the soils or the topography of the country in which 

they come to the surface, I am not certain that either the Bell's Landing marl or the Gregg's Landing marl has been identified at any distance from the rivers, while the Wood's Bluff marl can be followed with 

ease from the Mississippi line as far eastward as we have been.

The following sections illustrate the occurrences of the Bell's Lauding beds along the two rivers :

(a) Section at Bell'8 Landing, Alabama River. (Plate XVI, Fig. 2, p. 159.)

1. Yellowish red, cross bedded sands........................................15 feet.

2. Lignite ........................................................... about 2 £eet.

3. Laminated, sandy clays, with a few largo, bowlder-like concretions.. ....10 feet.

4. Yellow, stratified sands alternating with grrty, sandy clays... ............15 feet.

5. Gray, sandy clays.......................................................15 feet.

6. Greensand marl forming large concretionary bow.lders and holding gigantic specimens of Rostellaria trinodifera, Turbinella pyruloides Con., Fusiis paqodiformis 

Heilpr., Valuta Newcomliana Whitfield, &c. The bowlders cover all the lower 

 part of the slope below the landing. The marl beds ......... about 0 to 10 feet.

7. Dark gray, laminated, sandy clays, black when wet, but light gray when dry. .25 feet.

8. Bluish green, sandy clay marl ............ ............................1 to 2 feet.

9. Dark gray, sandy clay to water level ...................................... 4 feet.

Above Bell's Landing the strata of this series are exposed along the 

river as far as Yellow Bluff, and the most important localities are given 

below.

(6) Section at Gregg's Landing, Alabama River. (Plate XVI, Fig. 4, p. 159.)

1. Greensand marl with concretionary bowlders, the same as No. 6 at Bell's Lauding.... ................................................................ :f> feet.

2. Gray,,sandy clays ...................................................20 to 25 feet.

3. Dark gray or bluish, sandy clay or clayey sand containing well preserved fossils, 

many of which are peculiar, and some identical with those at Wood's Bluff, such 

as Pyrula multangulata Heilpr. and Fusus subsvalarinus Heilpr. This bed has an 

indurated ledge of variable thick'ness at the base and is iu all... about 4 to 5 feet.

4. Laminated, sandy clays to the Avater level.......................... abou 110 feet.

This bluff extends at least one mile down the river from the lauding, 

and along this whole distance there have been landslides, and the two 

marl beds have in consequence been thoroughly mixed up. In some 

places the upper marl has slid down and completely covered the lower; 

in other places the lower marl is in its proper position, but the upper 

lias slipped down below it; sometimes the two are in direct contact, the 

upper above; but in all cases a careful inspection of the original bluff

(199) .
48 TERTIARY AND CKETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. Luuu,43.

p

a short distance back from this river slope will reveal the true relative 

position of the two beds. I am particular in calling attention to these 

circumstances because at many points these broken off parts of the 

bluff appear to be in place, and where the two beds, apparently in place, 

are thus brought into contact or their relative positions are reversed 

the commingling of the two sets of fossils would lead tHe incautious observer far astray.

The next exposure is about a mile below Lower Peach Tree, at Peebles's 

Landing.

(c) Section at Peebles's Landing, Alabama Elver. (Plate X7I, Fig. 3,p. 159.)

1. Yellow sauds ............................................................ 1 foot.

2. Lignite and liguitic clay . ...... ....................................about 2 feet.

3. Keddish, laminated sands................................................10 feet.

4. Dark gray clays and sauds intorstratided .............................. 1.30 feet.

5. Greeusaud marl, No. 6of Bell'8 Lauding section. .................. .... ....8 feet.

G'. Dark gray clays and sauds variously iuterstratified ................ ......25 feet.

7. Dark bluish gray, clay marl, Grcgg's Lauding ...................... ......2 feet.

8. Dark gray sandy clays extending to the foot of hill, 20 feet above the river

level...................... .......... ............................ about 14 feet. '

The next locality is Lower Peach Tree, where we have a repetition of | 

the above section, together with beds extending some 45 to 50 feet 

lower.

(d) Section at Lower Peacli Tree, Alabama Riccr. (Plato XVI, Fig. 5, p. 159.)

1. Saudy, laminated clays at the top of the bluff......................about 10 feet.

2. Greensand marl containing the characteristic fossils of the upper bed at Bell's 

Lauding........................................................... 8 to 10 feet.

3. Sandy, laminated clays, of gray color, but with some reddish layers..20 to 25 feet.

4. Bluish, sandy, clay marl containing a number of peculiar fossils. To this bed we 

have given the name of Gregfs Landing Marl, as it is seen at Gregg's Lauding better than elsewhere...... .................. ...^......................... .5 feet.

5. Saudy clays of prevailing gray color, varying in degree of sandiness and coarseness of lamination, without'fossils so far as we could discover............50 feet.

G. Coarse grained greeusaud marl, indurating into bowlders in places, containing 

some fossils, which are also in the bed No. 4, above.... ...................1 foot.

7. Gray, sandy clays to water level.........................^..............:.10 feet. ,

The last exposure of the beds of this series up the Alabama River is j 

seen at Yellow Bluff, the section of which has already been given 

(Plate XVi, Fig. 1).

The exposures at Lower Peach Tree and at Yellow Bluff, in p^art overlapping, give us a continuous section of some 250 feet, and the two, 

taken with the exposures at Wood's Bluff, Davis's Bluff, White Bluff, 

and Hatchetigbee, all of which overlap in some parts, afford a series 

which is "without a break from the base of the Buhrstone down 390 to 

400 feet. It would be impossible to find anything more satisfactory for 

making out the stratigraphy of this part of the Tertiary group.

On comparison of all these sections it will be seen that the Bell's Landing marl, at Bell's Landing, is about 30 feet above the river level; at 

Gregg's Lauding, about 40 feet; at Peebles's Landing^ a.bout @Q feet;

(200)
SECTION AT PICKENS'S LANDING. 49

'at Lower Peacli Tree, 85 feet or more; while at Yellow Bluff it is only 

about 7 feet above the river level. The beds rise with tolerably uniform inclination (40 feet to the mile) up to the Lower Peach Tree, and 

then sink rapidly, Lower Peach Tree being, about on the summit of 

the anticlinal or roll. As a consequence of this undulation the beds 

involved are spread in a north and south direction over a much greater 

extent of surface than is usually the case where the average dip is uniformly southward some 30 or 40 feet to the mile. This roll in the strata 

may be traced from Choctaw County to Monroe County, but seems to 

be most pronounced in the lower part of Mareugo County and the upper 

part of Clarke County. In the southern part of Wilcox County and 

the northern part of Monroe County the undulation involves in general 

a lower series of rocks, to be mentioned presently.

On the Touibigbee River the strata between the Wood's Bluff marl 

and the Bell's Lauding marl afc Tascahoina are not well exposed, and 

it would have been impossible to get any clear understanding of the 

stratigraphy from the bluffs of that river alone. It is fortunate that 

the section, here so faulty, is so complete and satisfactory on the Alabama Eiver.

The few localities where Tertiary strata make the banks of the river, 

from Wood's Bluff up to Tuscahoma, are given below.

Across a narrow neck of land from Wood's Bluff afc Cade's Bend, the 

Wood's Bluff marl is again seen in the river bluff.

At the mouth of Bashi Creek, as above shown (see Plate XVI, Fig. 

7, p. 159), the lower strata of the marl, as well as two of the underlying 

lignites, are exposed. *

Two others of these lignites are seen a little higher up the river, at 

Pickens's Landing, where we have the following section:

/ (e) Section at Pickentffs Landing, Tonibigl)ee Elver.

1. Gray, laminated, sandy clays ....................................I.......10 feet.

2. Lignite..........................................................12 to 18 inches.

3. Bluish, clayey sands with yellowish division planes.................... 6 to 8 feet.

4. Lignite ..................................................................2 feet.

5. Gray, sandy clays to water level......................................1 to 2 feet.

The beds are undulating and in some places show a,dip towards the 

northwest, but the general dip of the surrounding strata is southwest.

Above Pickens's Landing gray, sandy clays are shown in the river 

banks at Magnolia Landing and one or two other points; but these 

clays contain no fossils, so far as our observations went. The Pickens's 

Lauding lignites are found in the hills about the headwaters of Horse 

Creek and elsewhere in the lower part of Marengo County.

At Tuscahoma we have the first considerable bluff above Wood's 

Bluff. In the section below given we include not only the strata actually appearing in the bluff at the landing, but also those which make 

the bank for half a mile or more down the river. This section, as will 

be seen, is about the equivalent of that at Yellow Bluff on the Alabama. 

Bull. 43 4 (201)
50 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

(/) Section at Tuscalioma, Tombigbee River. (Plate XVI, Fig. 6, p. 159.)

1. Indurated sands, with a line of bowlders at the base. This stratum is eight to ten 

feet thick at the warehouse, but down the river it thickens to twenty feet or more, 

and a second line of ferruginous, indurated bowlders appears about ten feet above 

the first. The strata above this upper string of bowlders are more distinctly 

laminated and interbedded with thin sheets of clay. This is most clearly shown 

about six to eight feet above the upper line of bowlders. Taken all together 

there are .......................................................... about 30 feet.

2. Light bluish gray, sandy clays, which are somewhat striped with harder projecting seams ....................... ............................ .....35 to 40 feet.

3. Sandy marl, containing the Bell's Landing fossils, but in badly preserved condiotion .................................................................... 2 feet.

4. Dark blue, massive clay.......................'................. ......3 to 4 feet.

5. Thin streak of greensaud, with Venericardia planicosta and other Bell's Lauding 

fossils to water level ..........................................6 inches or more.

About half a mile below the landing there, is a low bluff capped by 

the upper string of bowlders above mentioned, which form a little terrace forty or fifty feet wide, the farther limit of which is made by 

another low bluff of second bottom deposits.

The lignite which occurs about thirty-five to forty feet above the marl 

bed at Yellow Bluff and at Bell's Landing-was not observed at Tuscahoma, those parts of the bluff where it would be looked for being badly 

weathered.

The massive clay, No. 4, which separates the two parts of the marl bed, 

is everywhere perforated by pholas, and in most of the perforations their 

shells are still to be found. Mr. T. H. Aldrich, who mado this observation, also saw these shells in the clay which occurs below the lower marl 

bed at Bell's Landing.

The Tuscahoma (Bell's Landing) marl, with its accompanying beds, 

may be followed up the river without essential interruption to Barney's 

Upper Lauding, as shown in the following sections (l.'late XVI, Fig. 0, 

p. 159):

(</) Section at Turner's Ferry, Tombiybee River .

1. Indurated sands, No. 2 of the Tuscahoma section...........................5 feet.

2. Marl with badly preserved shells .... .................................. 3 to 4 feet.

3. Bluish clay, becoming sandy below ...........................3 to 4 feet or more.

From Turner's Ferry these beds rise, going up stream, and at the 

mouth of Shuquabowa Creek they give the folio wing, section:

(7i) Section at mouth of Shuquabowa Creek, Tombiabee River.

1. Greensand marls .... ................................................3 to 4 feet.

2. Dark bluish black, massive clay........................................... 2 feet.

3. Hard sands, passing into sandy clay below.................................5 feet.

4. Light colored, nearly white, cross bedded sands, about 3 feet, with 3 to 4 feet below 

it of sands with clay partings, in all ................................. 6 to 8 feet.

Above this place the strata sink towards the north, and at Barney's 

Upper Landing only three feet of the beds immediately below the marl 

are above the water, as seen below.

(202)
THE NANAFALIA SERIES. . 51

(i) Section, at Barney's Upper Landing, Tomligbee River.

1. Laminated, s mdy clays, striped with somewhat harder and more clayey seams, 

in all ........................... ..................................15 to 20 feet.

2. Sandy, fossiliferous bed, with greeusand in the lower parts, more clayey above.

 The fossils in this bed are badly preserved, as Avas the case also at Tuscahoma,

Turner's Ferry, &c., but are the characteristic Bell's Lauding forms ......5 feet.

3. Dark bluish to gray clays to water level...................................3 feet.

From Barney's Upper Lauding to the inouth of Horse Creek no Tertitiaiy strata appear on the river banks, but just above that point the 

river bank is formed .by dark gray, clayey sands or sandy clays, whichcontinue up to Williams's Gin, where they overlie the first of the beds 

containing Gryplicca iliirsce Gabb, and in consequence may be better 

classed with the next section.

(4) THE NANAFALIA SERIES, INCLUDING THE COAL BLUFF LIGNITE

The series of strata to which the Nanafalia marl has given the name, 

broadly considered, is susceptible of threefold division upon the basis 

of lithological and paleoutological characters, viz :

First. Forty feet or more of indurated, gray'clays and sandy clays, in 

( part glauconitic and rather closely resembling some of the materials. 

-/ of the Buhrstoue. Near the base of this first division there are hard, 

sandy clays filled with shell casts, chief among which are Turritellas 

and Cythereas. «

Second. Seventy-five to eighty feet of yellow and reddish and whitish sands, alternating with greeusaud beds, highly fossiliteroas. The 

characteristic shell in both the sands and the greens auds is Gryphcea 

tliirsce Gabb. In the upper fifty or sixty feet qf this division this shell 

is found either in thin greeusand beds or sparingly distributed through 

the other sands. In the lower twenty feet there are thick greensand 

beds literally packed with these shells. The greater part of the exposure at Nauafalia Landing consists of greeusand beds filled with Gryphcva thirsce and other forms, the. first named making perhaps 90 per 

cent, of the whole.

Third. Below the Gryphcea thirsce beds follow some eighty feet or more 

©f sandy clays and sands, variously iuterstratified, cross bedded sands 

passing near the base of the division into greensands which overlie a 

bed of lignite varying from four to seven feet in thickness.

It is easily possible to obtain overlapping sections which embrace the 

whole series of about two hundred feet; thus in the bluff at Gullette's 

Landing, on the Alabama River, nearly the whole of the two upper 

divisions are represented, while on Pursley Creek, a few miles eastward, 

the lower part of the second division and the whole of the third are 

shown in direct contact, the whole series being thus represented at two 

localities.

Between the heavy bedded, sandy clays exposed at the base of the 

Lower Peach Tree Bluff and those which are seen at the top of the 

bluff at Gullette's Landing there is a series of glauconitic clays and

(203)
52 TERTIARY .A NO CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. (BULL. 43,

clayey sands which have a tendency to harden into pretty firm rocks, 

having a striking resemblance to some of the materials of the Buhrstone 

formation, but which are readily distinguished from the latter, by one 

familiar with both of them. These rocks are shown in the hills which 

rise immediately back of Gullette's Landing and Black's Bluff (Alabama 

Eiver) to the height of two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet 

above the river level, and they are seen again in the Grampian Hills of 

Wilcox County. We have not as yet been able to connect the beds at 

Lower Peach Tree with those at Gullette's Lauding by an overlapping 

section which includes a part of each, and there is therefore a little uncertainty as to the precise thickness of these beds, though none as to 

their quality. There is very little doubt that the lower beds of the Lower 

Peach Tree Bluff are exposed in the hills back of Gullette's Landing and 

Black's Bluff, but, as already said, this identity is not absolutely made 

out. The uncertainty, however, cannot concern more than twenty or 

thirty feet of- strata, if so much. Still, it is much to be regretted that 

even this slight hiatus exists, since from the top of the White Limestone 

down to this point every foot of the strata has been exhibited in overlapping sections, so that there js not the slightest room for doubt as to 

their relative position or thickness, nor is there the slightest room for 

doubt as to relative position here, but only as to exact thickness.

Before giving the section at Gullette'* Bluff Landing, some notes concerning the indurated clays and sands that immediately overlie the rocks 

at the last named locality, and which are seen in the Grampian Hills, 

will serve to bring out their peculiarities, especially the points of resemblance between them and certain of the materials of the Buhrstone.

About three miles south of Camden, in the Grampian Hills, we find

the following:

(a) Section in Grampian Hills, No. 1.

1. Light-colored, argillaceous, sand rock, containing casts of Cytherea, Tiirritella, Vo~ 

Intel, &C. This passes below into a clayey stratum, which in turn rs underlaid 

by a hard, sandy rock containing many shell casts, particularly of Turritella Mortoni Con....................................................".............5feet.

2. Gray, clayey beds, breaking into small angular bits........ ...............5 feet.

3. Ledge of glauconitic, clay rock, sandier below and breaking by joints into large 

cuboidal blocks of tolerably hard sandstone, containing also a great number of 

shell casts ............^....................t........................... .2 feet.

4. Gray clays resembling those, of the Buhrstoue, but softer aud crumbling more 

easily ................................................................. 15 feet.

5 . Glauconitic sands, indurated, filled -with casts of Gryphcea thirsw (first of ike 

Gryphcea tliirscv leds) ....................................................2 feet.

6. Greensand beds, -with perfect shells of Gryplma thirsce ................. 7 to 8 feet.

7. Dark gray clays ......'.................................... .......... .2 to 3feet.

8. Yellowish, calcareous sands, with Gryphcea thirsce,' Fldbellum, Yenericardia planicosta, &c........................................................... 4 to 5 feet

9. Bed of Gryphcea shells..................................................... 1 foot.

10. Yellowish, calcareous sands, with, concretionary bowlders, containing Gryphcea. 

iliirsw and casts of other shells.. .... .................................6 to 8 feet.

Haifa mile farther south, other beds overlying No. 1 of the aboveare seen, as shown below.

(204}
BJMOHNSONU] NANAFALIA STRATA IN WILCOX COUNTY. 53

(&) Section in Grampian Hills, No. 2.

1. Whitish,-sandy rock, indurated, containing shell casts......... ...........1 foot.

2. Whitish clay rock. .....................................'............. ....1 foot.

3. Hard ledge of sandy rock, with qasts of Turritella, Cytherea, &c...... ....2 feet.

4. Gray clays, indurated, and greatly resembling some of the Buhrstoue clays,

10 to 15 feet.

5. Ledge of indurated glauconitie clay, the lower 12 or 18 inches of which are sandier' 

and filled with shell casts, mostly of Turritella Mortoni Con., same as No. 1 of 

preceding section...... ...........................................3 to 4 feet

6. Gray, crumbling clays, with indurated ledge of hard, glaucouitic clay in center ...................................................................G feet.

7. Hard ledge of glauconttic clay or sandstone breaking by joints into large cuboidal 

blocks .......................................................4 feet or more.

8. Laminated gray clays resembling those of the Buhrstone, breaking up into small 

bits ..................................................................12 feet,

9. Glaucouitic sands, indurated, containing casts of G-ryplicea thirsce iu the upper part 

and perfect shells of the same in the lower part.............! ........... 1 foot.

10. Greensand, with occasional shells of Gryphcea thirsce.'. ..................... 5 feet.

11. Yellowish sand filled with shells of Gryphcea thirsce.......................I foot.

12. Laminated, yellowish sands, with a few shells of Gryphcea ihirsce .......... 4 feet.

The relations between these two sections and the others which exhibit the same strata are more clearly seen in Plate XVII, Fig. 2, p. 

163, which is a representation of the two preceding profiles combined.

The Grampian Hills extend westward to the river at the Lookout, 

which is a cliff reaching fully 275 feet above the river leyel. This cliff 

is half a mile or more above G-ullette's Landing, and iu its lower half 

the beds which, make the bluff at G-ullette's Landing are exposed by a 

landslide in a perpendicular section of nearly 150 feet. Above this a 

very steep, almost precipitous hill rises 125 feet higher. In this upper 

part of the hill the rocks are not clearly exposed, but they consist of 

gray, laminated clays, iuterstratified with heavy bedded, massive clays, 

such as are seen in the lower part of the Lower Peach Tree Bluff, with 

which they are probably, in part at least, identical. No fossils were 

discovered in these clays, which include in places indurated bowlders 

of calcareous sand. In the lower part of the hill, hard, glaucouitic, 

sandy clays with shell casts are abundant arid correspond in position, 

as well as in other respects, to those represented iu the upper members 

of the two preceding sections.

At Gullette's Lauding a cut has been made for the cotton slide and 

tramway down to the river level through the strata of the bluff, which 

are thus very clearly exposed almost as if iu a vertical wall. .

(c) Section at Gullette's Landing, Alabama Eiver. {Plate XVII, Fly. 1, p. 1C3.)

1. Drift and loam...... ................'................................. ..10 feet.

2. Indurated, glauconitie clay, forming ledge .................... ............^ feet.

3. Gray, sandy clays, thinly laminated and heavy bedded alternating..... .12 feet.

4. Glauconitie saud, very green in places.................................... 2 feet.

5. Gray and sandy clays, like No. 3........................................20 feet.

6. Glauconitie. sandy ledge, fosKi]\fei:o\is (the first of the G-ryphcea thirsce beds).. 3 feet.

7 Compact; yellowish sands holding Gryphcea thirsce, and. forming a vertical cliff,

capped with an indurated led^e a foot in thickness......................13 feet.

(205)
54 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA QF ALABAMA. [BULL.4?.

8. indurated sandy ledge................................................... 2 feet.

9. White, cross bedded sands ..............................................12 feet.

10. Bluish sands, forming a vertical cliff. These contain numbers of Gryphcea tliirsoe 

and have an indurated ledge in the midst of the bed, and one at the bottom...... ...... ........................................................20 feet.

11. Bluish, clayey sands containing a few Gvyphwa.... ......................10 feet.

12. Sands containing Gryphcea thirsce, traversed by several indurated projecting 

ledges; materials are of darker color and more clayey below to water level.. 20 feet.

. At Black's Bluff, Alabama Kiver, about a mile or less below Gullette's Landing, there is a similar section, which, however, is not so 

clearly exposed. Above the warehouse at this landing, the strata are 

the same as those at the top of the bluff at Gullette's Landing, but 

there have been many landslides, by which'the relative thickness and 

positions of the beds here are obscured. Between these two places 

the river flows approximately along the strike of the strata, which, 

however, do not lie horizontal, but show one or two undulations with 

twenty or thirty feet wave height.

The actual contact of the strata of the Bell's Landing and the Nanafalia series fails to appear in the bluffs of the Tombigbee Eiver also, as 

may be seen in what follows. From Barney's Tipper Landing, described 

in the preceding section, up to the mouth of Horse Creek, no Tertiary 

beds appear in the river banks.' Just above the mouth of this creek 

grayish, sandy clays occur similar to those which make up the lower 50 

feet of the Lower Peach Tree Bluff, and these clays may be traced 

foot by foot up the river or northward to Williams's Gin, half a mile or 

so below Gay's Landing, where they are seen overlying the first of the 

beds holding Gryphcea thirsce. A section of these strata is given below. 

(See Plate XVII, Fig. 4, p. 163.)

The grayish, sandy clays which overlie these Gryphaea beds are undoubtedly the same as those at Lower Peach Tree, but here also the 

exact thickness cannot be measured because of their failure to appear 

in the banks of the river. Still, unless iu this short distance of less 

than a mile there is a fault or a very violent, decided change in the dip 

of the strata, the thickness of the beds not exposed on the river cannot 

be much more than fifty feet, if so much.

The strata exposed at Williams's Gin and along the river for half a 

mile up to Gay's Landing are as follows (see Plate XVII, Fig. 4, p.. 1G3):

(d) Section from Williams's G-in to Gaifs Landing, Tombiybee Rivtr.

1. Gray, sandy clays, thin bedded, reddish on joint planes, passing b.elow into an. 

indurated ledge of lighter color .....:.........'......... .................8 feet.

About 20 feet more of similar sandy clays appear in the banks of the river, 

between the mouth of Horse Creek and Williams's Gin, as above mentioned, 

making the whole thickness actually exposed on this river, between the top of the 

Gryphsea beds and the bottom of the Bell's Landing marl at Barney's Upper Landing, about thirty feet. l

1 In bed No. 1 above I found a specimen of Valuta Newcombiana Whittield, which 

heretofore was seen only in the Bell's Landing inarl bed and which seemed to be 

characteristic of it. E. A. S.

(206)
SJMOH"SOND ] NANAFALIA STRATA ON THE TOMBIGBEE RIVER. 55

2. Indurated, glaucouitic bed, with Gryphcca thirsce ............ ...... .... ....2 feet.

3. Dark blue, nearly black, jointed clays, with thin, hard ledges.... ..........6 feet.

4. Indurated, sandy, fossiliferous bed, with a few Gryphcea and other forms.2 to 3 feet.

5. Bluish black clays, with ferruginous concretions at base ...................3 feet.

6. Greensand bed, with Gryphcea thirsce to water .............................3 feet.

Above Gay's Landing there is a long stretch of several miles in which 

no Tertiary rocks show on the river banks; but at Lott's Ferry the 

Gryphsea beds' make their appearance again and may be followed thence 

without material interruption to Eureka Landing and to Nanafalia, a 

distance in all of perhaps two miles.

These exposures exhibit the-following details:

*> 

(e) Section at Lott's Ferry, Tombigbee River. (Plate XVII, Fig. 4, p. 163.)

1. Dark gray, nearly black, sandy clay, weathering light gray, containing a few 

fossils,,... ................................................. ............-.5 feet.

2. Indurated, sandy marl, containing Gryphcea in places. This bed varies, being in, 

part a cross bedded saud devoid of fossils ........ ...... ..................3 feet.

3. Dark, sandy clays, with a few very badly preserved, fossils ............2 to 3 feet.

4. Glauconitic, sandy beds, with Gryphcea thirsce. This bed is only a few feet thick 

/ at Lott's Ferry, but just above shows ........ ...... ......... ..1...20 to 30 feet.

/ All the Tertiary beds about Lott's Ferry exhibit decided undulations. 

Bed No. 4 of the preceding section sinks entirely below -the water and 

rises again 20 feet or more above it within the distance of a few hundred yards. All these beds probably overlie the section at Nanafalia 

below given.

At Eureka Landing there are some 20 to 25 feet of'a glauconitic, 

sandy marl (probably the same as part of the upper bed at Nanafalia) 

filled with Gryphcea thirsce, associated with very few other forms. This 

makes a tolerably firm rock, which appears in vertical blufls, usually 

capped by hard ledges of the same material, and these ledges are mostly 

strongly phosphatic. 1 ' .

At Nanafalia we have the lowermost of the Gryphsea beds, as shown 

in the following section :

(/) Section at Nanafalia Landing, Tombigbee River. (Plate XVII, Fig. 4, p. 163.)

' 1. Greensaud marl, highly fossiliferous, containing chiefly Gryphcea thirsce Gabb, but 

holding also Turritella Morioni Con., Flabellmn, and a few other fossils. This 

marl makes a tolerably firm rock, with a line of indurated, projecting bowlderlike masses 12 to 18 inches thick of nearly similar material along the whole 

length of the bluff and near the middle of the bed................about 20 feet.

2. Dark blue, almost black, laminated clay, devoid of fossils, but passing below gradually into a bluish, marl .............................'................J^to 4 feet.

3. Bluish greeusand marl, with a few shells in the upper 3 or 4 feet, but more highly 

fossiliferous below. This bed contains a great variety of beautifully preserved 

and easily detached fossils. The fossils can be collected only during very low 

stages of the water ................................................ 8 to 10 feet.

1 Specimens of the indurated ledges of the Gryphcva thirsce beds from Nanafalia and 

Eureka Landing, collected in 1884 by Mr. Laugdon, prove to be very decidedly phosphatic; one of tbeN specimens analyzed quantitatively contained 6.7 per cent, of 

phosphoric acid.

(207)
-56 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS .STRATA OF ALABAMA. [HULL.43.

. The view (Plate VIII) shows clearly the greensand No. 1, with its 

line of indurated bowlders along the center. The large rocks in foreground are part of this indurated marl.

The Nauafalia marl, like that of Wood's Bluff, is one of our most important geological landmarks, both because of its tendency to form 

by induration tolerably firm and weather resisting rocks and because 

of the influence which it exerts upon the soils. If there were any doubt 

as to the agricultural value of either the Wood's Bluff or the E"anafalia 

marls, it would be dispelled by an inspection of the fertile, naturally 

marled soils produced where these beds come to the surface across the 

country.

About CO feet below the lowermost of the beds containing Oryphcea 

thirsce, above described, there is an important bed of lignite, which shows 

a thickness of 4 feet at Coal Bluff, on the Alabama Eiver, and of 7 feet 

at Landruin's Creek, in Marengo County, near Nanafalia Landing. This 

lignite appears also at many localities in Marengo and Wilco x Counties, 

e. g., near Shiloh, Magnolia, Hampden, &c., always in connection with 

the Gryphaea beds, the latter on the summits of the hills; the former 

60 feet below in the branches; and, as the Gryphasa marl usually produces very characteristic limy soils, it is not difficult to trace it, as well 

as the lignite, across the country.

Between the Gryph&a beds and the lignite, the strata are chiefly 

sands, mostly glauconitic, alternating with sandy clays of grayish colors. 

The greensands when weathered appear as yellowish or ferruginous 

sands, and this is the prevailing color upon the hills, while some shade 

of green or blue characterizes them near the drainage level, where oxidation is1 less complete. None of these beds are seen on the immediate 

banks of the Tombigbee River, and only about 30 feet immediately 

overlying the lignite occur on the banks of the Alabama; but they may 

all be seen in direct- superposition in the hills which border Parsley 

Creek on the south, where they are laid bare by the road leading from 

Black's Bluff to Camden.

This section is complete, as may be seen below.

(0) Section on Pursley Creek, Wilcox County. (Plate XVII, Fig. 3, p. 163 )

1. Drift and loam and other beds, much weathered and not further particularized .............................................................. 10 to 15 feet.

2. Dark colored, crumbling clays ............................................ 5 feet.

3. Sands containing G-ryplicea tliirsce and afew other fossils ...................5 feet.

4. Thin bedded sands and sandy clays, partly glauconitic, with "a few obscure 

fossils ...................................................... ...... 15 to 20 feet.

5. Yellowish gray, cross bedded sands, with concretionary bowlders of the same material. These sands hold also at intervals lenticular sheets of gray clay. 25 to 30 feet.

6. Interstratified sands and clays, of grayish color with a shade of yellow, ratherthiu 

bedded...........................................................10 to 15 feet.

7. Gray, sandy clays, exposed iu the immediate banks of Pursley Creek below the 

bridge................ ............................ .....l ............6 to 8 feet.

8. Lignitic clay, thickness not determined.

(208)
D. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. VI1[

NANAFAL1A LANDING,. TOMBIGBEE RIVER.
'8JcS»8os.D ] NAHEOLA AND MATTHEWS's LANDING SERIES. 57

Along the Alabama Biver no Tertiary strata are to be seen from near 

Gullette's Bluff to the mouth of Pursley Creek. Just above the last 

named point, however, there is a continuous exposure of these strata up 

to Coal Bluff, as shown in the following :

(/i) Section between mouth of Pursley Creek and Coal Bluff. (Plate XVII, Fig. l,p. 163.)

1. Greeusand at'inouth of Pursley Creek ....................................5 feet,

2. Sands, with an indurated ledge one foot thick at top.......................3 feet.

3. Laminated, clayey sands, with a hard projecting ledge at top and one or two lower 

ones'..................:...-.................................-...-....... 6feet.

4. Indurated greensaud, forming a ledge .....................................3 feet.

5. Greensaud of softer texture, easily washed out by the waters and forming shallow caves below the preceding ..... ...... ...............................5 feet.

6. Greensaud of firm texture, with a bed of brownish sand one foot thick at the 

base....................................................................8 feet.

7. Lignite of Coal Bluff..................................................... -4 feet.

8. Firm, sandy clays appearing just above the Coal Bluff Landing............10 feet.

These beds, as exposed on Landrum's Creek (Sec. 23, T. 14, E. 2 E.), 

are as follows:

,' (i) Section on Landrum's Creek, Marengo Count)}. (Plate X7II, Fig. 4, p. 163.)

1. Bluish green, micaceous sands ......................................12 to 15 feet.

2. Lignite.................................................................. 7 feet.

3. Dark gray, sandy clay....................................................2 feet.

The lignite here also is 60 feet, by barometric measurement, below 

the lowermost of the Gryphsea beds, which may be seen on all the hills 

in the vicinity, where they produce limy soils of great fertility. In 

most of these limy Soils are embedded rounded or water worn fragments 

of indurated marl.

In many places in Marengo County and elsewhere the greensands 

overlying the lignite are thoroughly oxidized into a brown .iron ore. 

This may be seen near Magnolia, near Hampden, and near Duuias's 

Store.

(5) THE NAHEOLA AND MATTHEWS'3 LANDING SERIES.

The strata which make .up this series are mostly gray sandy clays

' alternating with cross bedded sands, with a bed at the base of the sec-

' tion containing marine fossils, and consisting of glauconitic sands and

dark gray, nearly black, sandy clays. The thickness of these strata

varies from west to east, being 150 feet or more on the Tornbigbee

Eiver, and not more than 125 or 130 at Oak Hill, in Wilcox County.

In 1883 we failed to establish the identity of the Naheola marl on the 

Tombigbee with that of Matthews's Landing on the Alabama, for the 

reason that at the former place the upper part of the marl is most conspicuous, and was the only part examined by us, while at Matthews's 

the bluff is made up of the black or dark gray sandy clays which form 

the lower part of the marl bed. In the summer of 1886 I made n reexamination of the exposures along the Tombigbee Eiver, and found at

(209)
58 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43,

Naheola the black, clayey marl, identical both in material and in fossil 

contents with that at Matthews's.

On the Tombigbee Eiver there are no Tertiary rocks exposed in the 

river bluffs between Nanafalia, which lies near the base of the preceding 

section, and the mouth of Beaver Creek, a distance of about four miles. 

With an assumed uniform dip of some 30 feet to the mile, this would 

indicate a thickness of about 120 feet of strata. But from the undulations seen at Lett's Ferry (below Nanafalia) and elsewhere along this 

river, it is known that the dip is not uniform, and the thickness of the 

missing beds is probably less than the estimated 120 feet.

From the mouth of Beaver Creek to Naheola there is an almost continuous exposure of Tertiary rocks along the river bank, embracing 

about 80 feet of strata, making, with the 120 feet estimated above, 200 

feet intervening between the base of the Nanafalia marl and the top of 

the Naheola marl. Of these 200 feet we know from exposures on 

Landrum's Creek, in Marengo County, and on Pursley Creek, in Wilcox 

County, the uppermost 60 feet (viz, from the base of the Nanafalia marl 

down to the Coal Bluff lignite), while at Oak Hill (see below) we have a 

clear profile embracing at least 130 feet immediately overlying the 

Naheola marl. This would leave only about 10 feet of unknown beds at 

the top of our Naheola section, and it is altogether probable that the 

Pursley Creek and Oak Hill sections embrace the entire series.

The strata which make all the bluffs between the mouth of Beaver 

Creek and Naheola, as well as the upper part of the bluff at the last 

named place, consist, in descending or<1er, of about 20 feet of coarsegrained micaceous sands, with projecting, indurated bowlders of sandstone (no fossils observed), with thin clay partings at intervals; below 

these, about 10 feet of strongly cross bedded sands, seen in the bluffs j ust 

below Tompkinsville, and underlying this to Naheola, laminated sandy 

clays traversed by layers of lighter colored, sandier, and indurated 

materials; no fossils observed. It is difficult to give a close estimate of 

the thickness of these last named beds, but it is not less than 50 or GO 

feet, and may be 80.

The section (see Plate XVIII, Fig. 3, p. 167) represents the succession 

and quality of the beds along this stretch of the river.

The lowest of these gray sandy clays are seen at the top of the bluff 

at Naheola, a few miles above Tompkinsville, where they are underlaid 

by a marl, and black shaly clays at Naheola, as shown in the following 

section:

Section at Naheola, Tombigbee River, Sec. 31, T. 15, E. 1 E. (Plate XVIII, Fig. 3, p. 167.)

1. Laminated, gray, sandy clays, with two or three indurated ledges eight to ten 

inches thick, of lighter colored, sandier materials................-.18 to 20 feet.

2. Ledge of greensand, oxidized into a brown iron ore of irregular thickness,

3 to 6 incheso 

(210)
NAHEOLA STRATA ON TOMBIGBEE AND ALABAMA. 59

3. Black, shaly, sandy clay..................................................3 feet.

4. Ledge like No. V, oi irregular thickness ..................... '............ 6 inches.

5. Greensand marl, the upper part indurated, forming a kind of limestone. Both 

the indurated marl and the limouite, or oxidized greensand above it, hold fossils, prominent among which are an Area, a Vtnvs, Pectiincnlus Broderipii Lea, 

Turritella Mortoni Con., Cardita alticosta Con., and Venericardia rotunda Lea, 

Eostellaria trinodifera, &c. All the fossils are badly preserved. Thickness of 

bed .............................................................. about 3 feet. 1

6. Black, slaty clay like that occurring on the river above this point to Black 

Bluff...................... .......................................10 to 15 feet.

Haifa mile or so below Naheolajust below Marengo Shoot, the marl 

bed No. 5 occurs at the water level, and at Kemp's Landing, a short distance above oSTaheola, the marl, with its overlying.ferruginous concretions, is again seen.

On the Alabama Elver the Tertiary beds, corresponding to those just 

described in the vicinity of Tompkiusville, occur between Coal Bluff" 

and Clifton, a distance, by the river, of 10 or 12 miles. On this river 

there are many interruptions in the continuity of the Tertiary bluffs, 

so that it would be impossible, from the exposures along the river alone, 

to get any clear idea of the stratigraphy. All this, however, is made 

good, as will be seen above, in the sections obtained at Oak Hill and 

on Pine Barren Creek, in eastern Wilcox County.

The Tertiary beds make the bluff's of the Alabama Eiver at a few 

localities mentioned below and exhibited in Plate XVIII, Fig. 2, p. 167.

At Burford's Landing, NW. J of Sec. 5, T. 11, E. 7 E., and just above 

it in Sec. 32, T. 12. E. 7 E., there are low bluff's of laminated and cross, 

bedded sands, alternating with thin seams of gray clay.

At Walnnt Bluff, below the mouth of Turkey Creek, the banks are 

of light colored, yellowish, cross bedded sands, and above Turkey Creek 

a laminated,, sandy clay like so much of the material occurring about 

Tompkinsville. These clays are devoid of fossils and continue up to 

Clifton, with very variable dip, the beds being sometimes horizontal, 

sometimes strqngly inclined (nearly one foot in ten), but the average 

dip is much less, probably somewhere near one in two hundred. It 

thus becomes very difficult to sum np the thickness of these sandy 

clays, both because of variable dip and'because the bluff's are not continuous.

At Clifton the bluff is 75 feet or more in height, the greater part of 

the slope being of drift sands, &c,, while the Tertiary clays at the base 

of the hill are onJy about 10 feet in thickness.

1 During the summer of 1886 this bed was more closely examined than in 1883, 

with the result of finding in its lower part a great number of the characteristic Matthews's Lauding fossils. Wherever this bed has been exposed to the weather it 

crumbles down, liberating the shells 'exactly as at the last-named locality. In 1883 

our attention was confined to the upper part of the Naheola bed, with its badly-preserved shells in a greensand matrix ; and thus the identity of this bed with that at 

Matthews's Landing was not so clearly seen.

(211)
60 TERTIARY AND .CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. luuLL.43.

- About one mile above Clifton, on the left bank of the river, there is 

a low bluff of black clays, which extends about a mile up the river. 

These clays have not been closely examined, but they appear quite similar to those better seen higher up, at the mouth of Dickspn's Greek,

 where a bluish black, micaceous, sandy clay, holding many finely preserved fossils, forms the right bank of the river. This is the same bed 

as that which makes the top of the bluff at Matthews's Landing, a mile 

or two higher up the river, where we get the following good section of 

this important deposit:.

(a) Section at Matthews's Landing, Alabama River, northern part of Sec. 12, T. 12, £. 

6E. (Plate XVIII, Fig.2,p. 167.)

1. Bluish or greeuish black, micaceous, clayey sand, with finely preserved fossils, 

very dark when wet, but becoming grayish blue on drying; crumbles upon 

exposed slopes, liberating the fossils, which lie in. the crumbs tbus produced. 

This is capped by an indurated, sandy, concretionary ledge. 1 The thickness 

of the marl deposit is......................1................about 5 to 6 feet.

2. Gray sands with a slightly yellowish cast, showing a great tendency to indurate 

into lens-shaped bowlders, 1 to 2 feet thick and 3 to 4 feet wide. The sands 

are also fossiliferous, but much less so than the preceding; the fossils are difficult to get out because of' the hardness of the material.............3to 4 feet.

3. Bluish, micaceoiis, clayey sand, much like No. 1, but not holding all of its characteristic fossils. Where this stratum lies exposed to the suii and weather upon 

flat or nearly horizontal benches, it disintegrates, like No. 1, into crumbs, in 

which the liberated fossils lie loosely, but where it forms vertical bluffs, it is 

firm and compact and resembles black clay ........................7 to 8 feet.

This Idwermost bed is sandy above and clayey below, and the material of the whole bluff might be better described as a bluish black, 

sandy clay, divided into two parts by a bed of calcareous sand, which 

reaches up into the upper clay bed and down into the lower by gradual 

transition. The beds which compose this bluff are seen along the river 

for a mile or more, and are approximately horizontal in position, since

the river in this part of its course runs in the direction of the strike of 

the beds.

The Matthews's Landing marl bed is seen eastward of the Alabama 

Eiver at very many places in .Wilcox County, and it holds usually a 

number of well-preserved fossils. Near Mr. Clarence Jones's, 7 miles 

east of CamdeUy on the Allenton road, there are a good many exposures of this marl bed in the gullies, and we get a very fair section 

of some 30 feet of the underlying rock. At Oak Hill and in Dale's 

Branch (see below) we have other good outcrops of the marl. The 

consideration of this, fine section, which includes also the underlying 

beds down to the base of the Tertiary, we shall leave till after the description of the occurrences along the two rivers.

1 This is probably one of the glaucon.itic, concretion-forming sauds which are so 

characteristic of the marl of Naheola.

(212)
SMITH ANDT TIT A PIT PT TTFP fit JOHNSON..] BLACK BLU-bt. 01

(6) THE BLACK BLUFF SERIES.

This section has been named from its most characteristic exposure at 

Black Bluff, on the Tombigbee Eiver, in Sec. 12, T. 16, E. 1 .W., in 

Sumter County, which is as follows:

(a) Section at Black Bluff, TomUglee Eiver. (Plate XVIII, Fig. 3, p. 167.)

*

1. Yellowish clay, which makes the basis of the Flat woods, occupying top of

bluff ........................................./...-.......about 20 to 25 feet.

2. Black, slaty clay,, fossiliferous............................. ....... 40 feet.

3. Brownish shale or clay to water level.............................. 8 to 10 feet.

The black clay, No. 2, contains marine fossils, the most prominent 

among which are a little coral, an Area, fragments of the shells of a 

large Nautilus, parts of crabs, &c.

The lower part of the bluff at this place is covered with singularly 

shaped concretionary masses of lifflonite. The surfaces of these concretions are marked off into rhomboidal plates, like the' markings on 

an alligator skin. The shales or black clays are strongly calcareous, 

which accounts for the limy character of some of the soils derived from 

them in Marengo and Wilcox Counties.

In Suinter County a bed of lignite is found near the summit of the 

black clays, aud just beneath the yellowish clays of the above section.

All the bluffs from Black Bluff down to Naheola, above described, 

are composed of a black clay in most respects similar to No. 2 of the 

above section.

The fossiliferous bed of Black Bluff may be seen at any of the exposures as far down the river as Griffin's Landing, 7 or 8 miles, nearly 

along the strike of the strata. Below Griffin's, down to Naheola, the 

black clay of the bluffs is quite hard and compact, breaking with 

conchoidal fracture aud resembling very closely the black shale of the 

Devonian formation. No trace of a fossil could be detected in the black 

clay along this long stretch of the" river. At Lewis's Lower Landing, 

Beckley's, Oakchia, Steiner's, Kemp's, and Naheola the clays are usually 

covered with the singular lirnonite concretions remarked upon at Black 

Bluff.

The distance across the strike of the rocks, from .Black Bluff to Naheola, is about 7 or 8 miles, and through this distance the only Tertiary 

rocks which appear on the river banks are black clays. Upon the assumption that the dip of these rocks is uniformly about 30 feet to the 

mile, this would indicate a thickness of nearly -00 feet. But we have 

seen above that undulations are not rare in the Tertiary rocks, so that 

the actual thickness is probably very considerably less than 200 feet. 

The Bladen Springs boring (Plate XXI, column 4, p. 183), shows, according to our interpretation of it, only about 100 feet of black clays 

above the Kotten Limestone, and a part of this may belong to the Ripley 

group of the Cretaceous,

(213)
62 TERTIAEY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

As to the equivalence of this black clay group, there is no doubt that 

it in part represents the Flatwoods group of Dr. Hilgard, because these 

Flatwoods, so well developed in Mississippi, extend down into Sumter

 County, in Alabama, and across it to the Tombigbee, and thence across 

Marengo to the Alabama, which they touch at Midway, a short distance 

l)elow Prairie Bluff. So far as I am aware, they have not been identified in Wilcox County*, although the fossiliferous stratum of the Black 

Bluff group is very characteristically developed across this county, as 

may be seen from the sections still to be given.

These Black Bluff clays in Sumter and Marengo Counties contain 

very little liine, and form Post-Oak Flatwoods with stiff clay soil, while 

east of the Alabama River they become more and more calcareous, and 

form the basis of the prairies in Wilcox County and eastward. Even 

in Marengo County the lower part of the Black Bluff clays is much more

 calcareous than the upper, and we find a narrow belt of black prairie 

land lying just north of the Post-Oak Flatwoods. This prairie soil 

merges by almost imperceptible gradations into the genuine Flatwoods.

7. THli; MIDWAY SERIES.

Between Matthews's Landing, above described, and Midway there 

are no Tertiary rocks exposed along the banks of the Alabama River.

The bluff at Midway is half a mile or more in length, the dip of the 

strata quite variable, but very considerable, in places as much as one 

in thirty, and in some places the beds are nearly horizontal. At the 

lower end of the bluff appear black clays similar to those at Matthews's 

Landing or Black Bluff, a few feet only showing, and these apparently 

without fossils. These clays overlie about 10 feet of light colored 

.argillaceous limestone, with projecting hard ledges. This limestone 

contains the large Nautilus (Enclimatoceras) which characterizes the 

lowermost Tertiary beds about Pine Barren Creek below mentioned,

and it is no doubt identical with the ^Nautilus rock of eastern Wilcox.

This Nautilus rock has been recognized in that part of Wilcox County 

lying west of the Alabama River, and it has been traced thence across 

Mareugo County to Moscow, on the Tombigbee River. Southward of 

the localities where it forms the surface appears always a strip of black 

prairie soils, derived from the disintegration of the calcareous clays 

{of Black Bluff, group), which immediately overlie the Nautilus limestone, and southward still of this prairie belt lies the belt of Post-Oak 

Flatwoods, the soils of which come from the disintegration of the non- 

.calcareous clays of the Black Bluff group. The Flatwoods belt, as has 

already been intimated, does not appear to extend beyond the Alabama 

River towards the east,-while the prairie belt attains to greater and 

greater importance in that direction.

Midway is some 4 miles down the river from Prairie Bluff, where 

occurs the first outcrop of Cretaceous rocks on the Alabama.

(214)
OAK HILL AND PINE BARREN CREEK. 63

Between these two points there are none but comparatively recent 

deposits along the river banks.

The position and character of the Tertiary rocks exposed at Midway 

may be seen on Plate XVIIT, Fig. 2, p. 167.

THE OAK HILL AND PINE BARREN PROFILE.

This profile embraces the strata of the Naheola or Matthews's Landing, the Black Bluff, and the Midway sections above described, and 

gives. us a continuous view of all the strata from just below the Coal 

Bluff lignite down to and including the uppermost beds of the Cretaceous. Our three lowest sections of the Lignitic'might with propriety 

be classed together as the Oak Hill Pine Barren group.

About half a mile to three-quarters west of Oak Hill, in Sec. 16, T. 

11, K. 10 E., in Wilcox County, the Allenton and Camderi road descends 

a long hill, where at least 150 feet of the Tertiary strata are laid bare.

(<i) Section near Oak Hill, Wilcox County. (Plate XFIII, p. 167.)

Red loam, pebbles, &c. of the Drift. 

1. Cross bedded sands and thinly laminated clays, much decayed and difficult at

times to distinguish from the overlying red loam ................... 25 feet.

.2. Gray, cross bedded sands, alternating with thin lamiuso of gray' clay; general

aspect of the whole, gray ............... ........ ...................... 40 feet.

3. Bed of yellowish gray, cross bedded, and laminated sand .............. 18 inches.

4. Thinly bedded, gray clays, interstratih'ed with thin ledges of cross bedded 

sands...... .................................................... ......30 feet.

5. Sands 1 foot, clays 1 foot, sands 1 foot ...................;............... 3 feet.

6. Gray clays, interstratified with cross bedded sands ........ ............ ...6 feet.

7. Gray, cross bedded sands with very little clay .......................... 3 feet.

8. Gray clay breaking up into cuboidal blocks, iuterstratified with sandy 

ledges ................... .......... .......... ............ ...... . . . . . .15 feet.

9. Black to gray micaceous sands, with the fossils of Matthews's Landing.... .7 feet.

This bed is darker at top and lighter colored at bottom. In Dale's Branch, close

by, the same bed occurs with glaucouite in part of it. It is quite possible that

part of this bed may be identical with the Naheola marl. At other localities,

. iiear Oak Hill, this bed has a greater thickness, and the above may be taken

as the lower limit. According to the observations of Mr. Johnson, in a well

bored at W. W. McCounico's, the thickness goes even to 20 feet, thus approximating the thickness at Matthews's Lauding.

10. Hard ledge of calcareous glauconitic saud .............................. I foot.

11. Yellowish, calcareous sands, with white lime concretions and one or two harder 

ledges. ............................................................ 12 feet.

12. Glauconitic sands with indurated ledge at top...... .................... 10 feet.

13. Sandy shales, with indurated ledge ................................... 5 feet.

14. Hard, yellowish, sandy limestone, with phosphatic nodules, appearing also in the 

Graveyard Hill section, No. 3 .... ........... T..... .............. ....2to3feet.

This bed is a very conspicuous feature in all this vicinity; it may be 

seen on the sides and summits of most of the low hills, where, breaking 

 off in consequence of joint planes, it appears like a low stone wall running around the hills. From the locality above given to the Graveyard Hill this stratum can be followed with certainty, and appears as 

above stated in the accompanying section.

(215)
64 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [uuLL.,43.

(ft) Section on Graveyard Hill. (Sec. 5, T. 11, R. 10 E.)

1. Grayish white,'calcareous sands, with small phosphatic nodules, characterized hy 

an abundance of crustacean remains ................................... 5 feet.

2. Whitish, calcareous sands, with several harder ledges which shale off in weathering .................................................................20 feet.

3. Hard, yellowish, sandy limestone, containing small phosphatic nodules. This is 

the rock which forms the walls around all the low hills in the vicinity .2 to H feet.

4. Yellowish, calcareous, clayey sand, with white lime concretions, becoming grayer 

in color and more clayey, and containing numerous fossils identical with those 

found at Black Bluff ........................ ......................... .15 feet.

5. Black, calcareous clays, yellowish gray on weathered surfaces, also containing the 

Black Bluff fossils, bnt less abundantly than the preceding bed.20 feet or more.

This black clay and the overlying bed yield the prairie soils of this 

section of Wilcox County. These soils are exceedingly fertile, as may 

be seen by the fine crops which grow upon them and by the immense 

height of the weeds which spring up by the roadsides.

Graveyard Hill, like all the others in the vicinity, slopes off into the 

prairie fields which border Prairie and Pine Barren Creeks. In the 

lower parts of these fields we come always upon a ledge of rocks, 

decribed below, which forms the continuation of the section above 

given. Below this rocky ledge occur sands and sandy shales, which 

undoubtedly belong to the Cretaceous formation.

The whole thickness of the clays, &c., which form the prairies here 

is about 30 to 35 feet,-so that what follows is only the direct continuation of the preceding section.

(c) Section from l)ase of Graveyard Hill to Pine Barren Creek.

Black clays, weathering yellow, basis of prairies, No. 5 of the preceding section.

6. Hard, grayish white limestone, characterized by great numbers of a large Nautilus 

(Enclimatoceras Ulrichi), and hence known as the Nautilus Rock., about 10 feet.

7. Calcareous sands forming basis of the black, sandy prairies of this vicinity.. 6 feet.

8. Hard, yellowish white, crystalline lime rock, sandy in places and filled with red

specks, highly fossiliferous, containing - Turritella in great numbers; also 

Carditas, a Rostellaria, Ostrea, and two or three species of coral. This is one of 

the most persistent of the lower Tertiary rocks towards the east.... ....8 feet.

9. Yellowish, micaceous sands, with Cretaceous fossils.... ...... ............. 55 feet.

10. Bluish gray, calcareous sands, with two very prominent ledges 4 feet apart, and 

two or three smaller ledges. Thickness to water level below Palmer's 

Mill .........................................j.......................15 feet.

These three sections are illustrated in Fig. 1 of Plate XVIII, p. 167.

It may be remembered that from the summit of the White Limestone 

down to the base of the Bell's Landing section of Lignitic, representing 

about 1,200 feet, our geological column is uninterrupted and is covered throughout by overlapping sections. '

Below the Bell's Lauding section occurs the first hiatus or break in 

this column, the first place where we have as yet been unable to connect two contiguous divisions by overlapping sections.

(216) '
COMPLETENESS -OF THE OAK HILL SECTION. 65

Immediately below the Coal Bluff lignite of the preceding section 

there is a second gap, the exact dimensions of which we have as yet 

not been able to ascertain. Making the highest estimate (based upon 

an assumed uniform dip of the strata of 30-feet to the mile), the thickness of the beds here concerned can hardly be more than 50 or 60 feet, 

for the missing beds should outcrop along the Tornbigbee River between 

Nanafalia Landing and the mouth of Beaver Creek, a 'distance of 4 

miles, corresponding to a thickness of 120 feet. We know, from exposures on Landrum's Creek and Pursley Creek, all the beds below the 

Nanafalia marl down to the lignite, 60 feet below, so that the missing 

beds would constitute the other half of this estimated 120 feet.

On the Alabama River,, likewise, we see some ten feet of strata below 

the lignite, after which follows a barren stretch of river bank which 

shows no Tertiary beds at all for two or three miles.

In the Pine Barren profile, which gives so complete a view of the 

lower part of the Tertiary formation, the lignite is not seen in actual 

contact with the beds of this section, so that here, also, we have the gap 

unfilled. From the occurrence of the lignite, however, a short distance 

south of Oak Hill, which makes the summit of the Pine Barren section, 

the thickness of the beds involved in this gap is here also shown to be 

not very great, except upon the assumption of a very abrupt change in 

the dip of the strata, which is wholly unauthorized by any facts which 

have come under our observation.

Geologically below this gap, from the mouth of Beaver Creek, on the 

Tombigbee, to Black Bluff (up the river), there is an almost continuous exposure of Tertiary beds along the river banks, but there is difficulty in getting the exact thickness of the beds thus exposed.

On the Alabama River the exposures are much less continuous, and 

the thickness of the beds correspondingly more difficult to ascertain.

It is therefore fortunate that we have, in the Pine Barren region, a 

continuous section of 240 to 250 feet, embracing all the beds below the 

gap or hiatus named, down to the top of the Cretaceous formation.

This section is exposed at two localities, above given, viz: Along 

the Camden road, about half a mile west of Oak Hill, and at the 

Graveyard Hill in Sec. 8, T. 11, R. 10 E., the lower beds of Oak 

Hill appearing in the upper part of the Graveyard Hill. The lower 

portion of the section appears at the base of the latter hill and'along 

the low grounds of Prairie breek down to Palmer's mill on Pine Barren 

Creek. All the lower part of this section, up to the Bale Branch or 

Matthews's Landing marl, was very carefully worked out in 1883 by Mr. 

Johnson, and the section continued by estimates up to the Nanafalia 

beds, which appear at Eggville, in Sec. 22, T. 11, R. 10 E. To Mr. Johnson also belongs 0 the whole credit of determining beyond doubt the 

exact limit between the Tertiary and Cretaceous rocks in eastern Wilcox.

He has shown that the Nautilus (Enclimatoceras) Rock, which had, 

up to 1883, been considered Cretaceous, overlies a crystalline limestone 

Bull. .43 5 (117)
66 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. {BULL.43.

holding Turritellas, Carditas, a Rostellaria, and other Tertiary species. 

The measured section from Chambers Creek across Pine Barren Creek 

up to the summit of the Graveyard Hill profile (see Plate XVIII, Fig. 1, 

p. 167) was also made by him.

In the summer of 1885 these localities were visited by the present 

 writer, when the measured part of Mr. Johnson's section up to the Dale 

Branch orMatthews's Lauding marl was fully verified and extended by 

the addition of some 125 feet of strata exposed along the Camden road, 

near Oak Hill, and in direct superposition over the Dale Branch marl. 

Notwithstanding the 125 feet thus transferred from "estimated" to the 

firm.ground of " measured" strata, there still remains, as above stated, a 

gap not covered by overlapping 'sections between the_ top of the Oak 

Hill section and the Coal Bluff lignite. c

It would be manifestly a serious omission on our part not to speak in 

this connection of the observations of Prof. Alexander Winchell, made 

in 1856 in eastern Wilcox County. 1

This author recognized as Tertiary, and described in sufficient detail 

to render their identification easy, several of the beds included in our 

Pine Barren sections below given, notably No. 3 of the Graveyard Hill 

and the underlying marls containing Black Bluff fossils, and also the 

Turritella rock which lies at the base of our Tertiary section, and he 

rightly extends the line between the Tertiary and Cretaceous to a point 

eight and a half miles north of Allenton.

These rocks he, however, places iu the Buhrstone, and above h'is Buff 

Sand, which he considers the lowermost of the Tertiary rocks. By comparing our Nanafalia sections and Professor WiuchelPs description, it 

will be seen that his Buff Sand overlies (at Black's Bluff on the Alabama Eiver) the beds with Gryphcva thirsce, which at that time was generally considered a Cretaceous species. These beds we now know are 

some 300 feet above the top of the Cretaceous.

Notwithstanding some mistakes in fixing the relative positions of 

rocks observed at widely distant localities, mistakes which were probably unavoidable without long-continued observations, we find recorded 

in this pioneer work of Professor Winchell a host of sagacious observations which have been fully confirmed by those who have since gone 

over the same ground.

In this part of the Tertiary the variations in the thickness of the beds 

and the quality of the material as we go from west to'east are more 

striking than in the overlying strata. Thus, on the Tombigbee Eiver, 

near the base of the Tertiary, there is a great thickness of black, sandy 

clays (80 feet or more in one place, Black Bluff), which extend down 

the river for many miles, to Naheola, while on the Alabama the only 

rocks seen of this kind are at and near Matthews's Landing, which is 

near the top of the series; and in the Pine Barren section in eastern

1 Proceedings Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Part II, pp. 87-89, 1856. 

(218).
6j soND] BLADEN SPRINGS BOEING. 67

Wilcox County, where all the strata are shown, the whole thickness^ 

including the Matthews's Landing marl, is not greater than 75 feet.

On account of these differences it becomes impossible, without further 

comparison, to correlate some of the beds of the Tombigbee section with , 

those .exposed at Oak Hill and on Pine Barren Creek.

In the vicinity of Palmer's Mill (Smith's bridge), on Pine Barren 

Greek, in Wilcox County, .we have the lowermost of the Tertiary beds 

in direct contact with the uppermost of the Cretaceous. At this place 

the beds of the two formations appear to be strictly conformable with 

each other. Here, also, the lower Tertiary beds have a very striking 

resemblance in lithological characters to some of the Cretaceous beds ; 

but the fossils, as Mr. Johnson has shown, leave no room for doubt as 

to the age of the beds.

This resemblance is most pronounced in the case of the shaly sandy 

beds of Graveyard Hill, which might easily be mistaken for similar

beds occurring at Canton Landing and back of Prairie Bluff. The latter 

are of Eipley age, while the Graveyard Hill rock overlies sandy clays 

holding Black Bluff fossils. So, also, the Nautilus rock might well pass 

for Cretaceous, except that it overlies a limestone holding Turritellas, 

Carditas, and other fossils which Mr. Johnson has identified as Tertiary. 

No one can fail to be impressed with the similarity-in general aspect, if 

not in the organic contents, of the contiguous beds of the two formations.

THE BLADEN SPRINGS BORING.

In the years 1884 and 1885 a boring was made at Bladen Springs, in 

Choctaw County, in search of petroleum. The carefully kept record 

was obtained from Captain Trowbridge, who had charge of the boring.

The surface rocks at the place of boring are either the lowermost of 

the Buhrstone or, more probably, the uppermost of the Hatchetigbee, 

the loose surface materials hiding the Tertiary rocks at the locality. 

The boring penetrated through the underlying Tertiary rocks, through 

the Eipley, and 125 feet (as we interpret it) into the Eotten Limestone of 

the Cretaceous. We have inserted this record, drawn to scale, in its 

proper place in the general section (see Plate XXI, column 4, p. 183), 

where it will be seen the thickness revealed by the boring corresponds 

very well with that established by our measurements. It is, however, 

difficult to correlate with any certainty the beds penetrated by the boring with the strata of the general section, since an accurate determination of the lithological and other characters of the beds from the loose 

and mingled materials brought up by the auger is manifestly impossible ; still, we have felt warranted in several instances in pointing out the 

probable equivalences. In the lower part of the boring, especially, we 

think that the black or dark blue clays and clayey sands of the Black 

Bluff and Eipley sections are unmistakably shown, as is also tho Eotten 

Limestone, although in the boring there appear only 17 feet of sands at

.(219)
68 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

base of the Eipley, while in some places, as at Prairie Bluff, the thickness is at least 60 feet.

In 1884, while the boring was still in .progress, Mr. D. W. Langdon, 

jr., visited Bladen Springs, and, upon the authority of our much less 

perfect river section, predicted that the Eotten Limestone^would be 

reached at 1,200 feet. In reality it was reached at 1,220 feet.

§ 5. SUMMARY OF THE LEADING FEATURES OF THE TERTIARY STRATA 

OF ALABAMA (PLATE XXI).

With a brief review of the distinguishing characteristics of the divisions of the Tertiary above made, we conclude this part of our subject.

The whole thickness of the strata of the Tertiary group of Alabama 

occurring in the vicinity of the two rivers is between 1,620 and 1,700 

feet. This estimate is based upon actual measurement, except at one or 

two horizons, and even in these places we are able to give a close estimate of the thickness of the strata not measured.

We have adopted the following fourfold division of the Tertiary:

(1) The White Limestone,

(2) The Claiborne,

(3) The Buhrstone, and

(4) The Lignitic.

In all that follows, the strata are' described in descending order.

(1) THE WHITE LIMESTONE.

This subdivision is calcareous throughout, but the lowermost 60 feet 

are more argillaceous than the rest. The minimum thickness is 350 feet, 

of which the uppermost 150 feet consist of a tolerably pure but somewhat silicious limestone, filled with coral masses. The next succeeding 

140 feet or more are made up of a soft, white limestone, often quite 

pure and filled with Orbitoides Mantelli. The lowermost 50 feet are of 

impure, argillaceous limestone, which in disintegrating yields a black, 

calcareous soil similar to that derived from the Eotten Limestone of 

the Cretaceous. This lower portion of the White Limestone surpasses 

the others in the variety of its fossil contents.

(2) THE CLAIBORNE.

The thickness is 140 to 145 feet, the materials are sands and clays, 

which are generally calcareous and often glauconitic. Near the top of 

the subdivision is a bed of glauconitic sand 15 to 17 feet in thickness, 

filled with shells in a perfect state of preservation. The sandy clays 

forming the lower 50 feet are likewise filled with a great variety of 

shells in a good state of preservation. The intervening calcareous clays 

and calcareous sands are distinguished by the great numbers of shells 

of Ostrea sellceformis which they hold, as well as by the comparative

rarity of other forms.

(220)
SUMMARY OF THE TERTIARY. 69

(3) THE BUHRSTONE.

The minimum thickness of this formation is 300 feet; the materials are almost altogether aluminous and silicious, consisting of aluminous sandstones, claystones, and quartzitic sandstones, with occasional thin beds of glauconitic sand. The few fossils which have been 

-obtained from this division are mostly in the form of casts. They do 

not appear to differ specifically from those of the overlying division.

(4) THE LIGNITIC.

This is the most massive of the subdivisions of the Tertiary, having 

a thickness which can hardly be less than 900 feet. Ifc also presents 

a greater variety in mineral composition, as well as in fossils, than 

the other divisions. In the most general terms, the Lignitic strata are 

cross bedded sands, thin bedded or laminated sands, laminated clays

and clayey sands, and beds of lignite, as well as the lignitic matter 

which merely colors the sands and clays. With these are found interbedded, at several horizons, strata containing marine fossils. For the 

sake of greater convenience and clearness of description we present 

the Lignitic in seven sections, each of which is characterized by one or 

more beds of marine fossils included in it. ' These sections are as follows :

(a) The Hatchetigbee section. This section is 175 feet in thickness, 

made up of sandy clays of prevailing brown or purplish color, containing three or four beds of marine fossils in the uppermost 75 feet, and of 

somewhat similar purplish brown, sand£ clays nearly devoid of marine 

fossils in the lower 100 feet. All these brown, sandy clays become much 

lighter colored upon drying and exposure to the weather.

(&) The Wood's Bluff or Bashi section. This is 80 to 85 feet in thickness. The uppermost 30 feet of the section consist of dark brown clays 

passing into a greeusand, which holds a great variety of finely preserved 

marine shells. 'Below this greensand marl are gray, sandy clays, with 

four or five thin beds of lignite within the first 25 feet, succeeded by 

about 30 feet of cross bedded sands, with a two foot seam of lignite at 

the base.

(c) The Bell's Landing section. This is 140 feet in thickness, and includes two important marine beds, and a third, quite small and apparently unimportant/ These fossiliferous beds are interstratified with 

yellowish sands in the upper and rather heavy bedded, sandy clays in 

the lower part of the section. The upper marine bed, called the Bell's 

Landing marl, is about ten feet in thickness and has 40 feet of 

sandy strata above it. The middle bed is called the Gregg's Landing marl, and it is twenty to twenty-five feet belo w the preceding j it 

is about five feeb in thickness. The lowermost of the fossiliferous beds 

of this section is only about one foot in thickness and lies about fifty

(221)
70 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

feet below the Gregg's Landing bed. It is highly glauconitic, but does 

not contain any great variety of fossils. The Bell's Landing marl is 

distinguished from all others in Alabama by the great size of the shells 

 which it contains.

(d) The Nanafolia and Coal Bluff section. The strata of this section 

are 200 feet in thickness and consist of about fifty feet of gray sandy 

clays at top, which show a tendency to indurate into tolerably firm 

rocks resembling very closely some of the strata of the Buhrstone. 

Below this, about eighty feet of sandy beds, often strongly glauconitic, 

characterized throughout by shells of a small oyster, Gryphaia thirscv, 

Near the base of this sandy division there is a bed about twenty feet 

thick, literally packed with these shells. Below the Gryphcea thirsce 

beds follow some seventy feet of cross bedded sands, glauconitic and 

apparently devoid of fossils, including, about ten feet from the base of 

the section, a bed of lignite which varies in thickness from four to seven 

feet.

(e) The Nalieola and Mattheivs's Landing section. It is difficult to give 

the precise thickness 'of this section, since it varies on the two rivers. 

We have placed it at one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty 

feet; the strata are gray, sandy clays in the main, alternating with 

cross bedded sand. The beds of dark, sandy, and glauconitic clay, containing marine fossils, lie at the base of the section. At Naheola on 

the Tombigbee the upper and more glauconitic part of the bed is most 

prominent, while at Matthews's Landing on the Alabama, the lower 

part of the bed, dark gray sandy clay forms the bluff,

(/) The Blade Bluff section. Here again we have difficulty in determining the exact thickness, since on the Tombigbee the strata of this 

section are spread over an extent of surface which would, with uniform 

dip, correspond to a thickness of over two hundred feet, while on the

Alabama, and more particularly inland in the eastern part of Wilcox

County, the thickness is not greater than thirty-five or forty feet. Since 

80 feet of these beds are seen in superposition at one locality (Black 

Bluff), we think that the maximum thickness cannot be less than one 

hundred feet. The characteristic strata which compose nearly the 

whole of this section are black or very dark brown clays, which are in 

part fossiliferous. o

(g) The Midway or Pine Barren section. Thickness, 25 feet. The strata 

are: a white, argillaceous limestone holding a large nautilus, which is 

characteristic of the horizon, 10 feet; calcareous sands and a yellowish, 

crystalline limestone, with Turritellas, Oarditas, and corals, the sands 6 

feet, the limestone 8 or 9 feet. This section is best seen in eastern 

Wilcox County on Pine Barren Creek, but the upper or Nautilus rock 

occurs at Midway, on the Alabama River, and westward across Marengo 

Couufcy. No exposure was noticed on the Tombigbee, but it will probably be found a short distance below Moscow,

(222)
DIVISIONS OF THE CEETACEOUS. 71

II. CRETACEOUS STRATA.

The Cretaceous formation in Alabama exhibits three well marked 

divisions, which, in descending order, are as follows :

First. A series of yellow sands, dark gray or bluish, sandy, micaceous 

clays, impure limestone, and sands again, in all between two and three 

hundred feet in thickness. This has been called the Eipley formation 

by Hilgard, and the name is retained for Alabama.

Second. An impure, argillaceous limestone of tolerably uniform composition and about one thousand feet in thickness, known as the Eotten 

Limestone.

Third. A series of laminated sands and sandy clays at least three 

hundred feet in thickness which has been named the Butaw formation.

All these strata, especially the calcareous parts, are more or less perfectly exhibited in the bluffs of the two rivers.

It will be seen below that we have not as yet been able to construct 

the column of strata of this formation with as great a degree of completeness as has been done for the Tertiary, but' this want of completeness is in the figures showing the thicknesses of the several strata 

rather than in the succession and quality of these beds.

§1. THE EIPLEY FORMATION.

The character of the uppermost beds of this formation immediately 

underlying the Tertiary was first clearly determined by Mr. Johnson 

in the Pine Barren section, in the eastern part of Wilcox County, already 

given above. These uppermost beds were afterwards traced by him 

westward to the Alabama Eiver and eastward to Clayton and Bufaula. 

The relation of the Bridgeport horizon to the yellow sands was also 

first determined by him. In 1885 the strata connecting the Bridgeport 

section with the Prairie Bluff section were determined by Mr. Laugdon 

and myself, and it is believed that we now have the complete section of 

the Eipley strata along the rivers, except that the actual contact with 

the Eotten Limestone of the sands forming the lower part of Prairie' 

Bluff, has not come under observation. The uppermost beds of this 

formation were also examined in 1885 by Mr. Langdoii and myself in 

Marengo County, south of Dayton, as described below.

The strata of the Eipley formation; according to the investigations 

above alluded to, are as follows :

First. Fifty-five feet of yellow sands, not recognized on the Tornbigbee Eiver, but constituting the upper part of the bluff at Bridgeport^ 

on the Alabama Eiver, and much better developed in the hills immediately back of the bluff. From here they may be traced across the 

country for a great distance eastward. Mr. Johnspn has probably 

identified this sand at Clayton, in Barbour County, where it constitutes

(223) '
I

72 'TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STARTA OF ALABAMA.

the basis of the fields on the south side of Barbour Creek. In this sand 

on the road between Eufaula and Clayton were found decayed shells of 

a small oyster, and with them Exogyra costata Say in a pretty good 

state of preservation. The same oyster, without the Exogyra, was seen? 

in the eastern part of Wilcox County, on Prairie Creek.

Second. About one hundred feet of bluish, micaceous, sandy clays,, 

somewhat calcareous, marked at intervals of ten or fifteen feet throughout the whole thickness by the occurrence of indurated ledges, usually 

of rather sandier texture. These ledges appear occasionall y as shaly 

sandstones of very little hardness, flaking off readily into sheets under 

the influence of the weather. Our observations in the Canton Bend 

and in the hills between Prairie Bluff and Rehoboth, and also westward 

towards Linden, in Marengo County, and eastward in Dallas and Wilcox Counties, have shown that these sandy clays, where they lie high 

above the drainage and well exposed to the action of the weather, lose 

altogether their bluish color and appear in all shades of yellowish gray. 

This difference in color, depending upon the degree of oxidation of certain constituents of the strata, especially the iron bearing materials, has 

not unfrequently been observed in tbe strata both of the Tertiary and 

of the Cretaceous groups. The most striking instance of this sort 

is to be seen at Prairie Bluff, where the sands forming the lower part of 

the bluff exhibit a dark blue, almost black color near the water's edge, 

 while the same stratum, is seen to be a white sand where it outcrops at 

the top of the bluff higher up the river.

Later observations in 1886 by Mr. Langdon and myself have shown 

clearly that the differences in these yellow sands and bluish micaceous 

sandy clays arise merely from different degrees of oxidation. In some 

of the outcrops observed by us, e. g., in Little Texas, Butler County, and 

in Lowndes County, bluish, micaceous sands, identical in appearance 

with those making the lower part of the Bridgeport Bluff, aro seen along

the banks of Cedar Creek directly underlying the Nautilus rock and 

Turritella limestone which lie at the base of the Tertiary. The same 

thing may likewise be seen in the upper part of Marengo County, where 

it has been found impossible to separate the yellow sands from the bluish, sandy clays.

Third. Calcareous beds some twenty feet in thickness, holding great 

numbers of Cretaceous fossils, some well preserved, others only in casts, 

which in every case appear to be very strongly phosphatic. One of the 

layers of this section is a sandy limestone containing a large percentage 

of phosphoric acid (see details below). These beds appear in a small 

bluff at the mouth of Tear Up Creek, above Bridgeport, which has been 

studied by Mr. Johnson; also in localities recently examined by Mr. 

Langdon and myself, viz, in the bluff at the old Canton landing; on 

Foster's Creek, in Gee's Bend; near Snow Hill, Wilcox County, and

(224) .
SECTION OF EIPLEY STKATA, 73

Minter, Carlowville, and Eichmond, in Dallas County; the four last 

named localities were also visited by Mr. Johnson in 1883.

Fourth. From sixty to one hundred feet of sand, with indurated 

bands of calcareous sand passing through it. These hard, projecting, 

sandy layers are usually filled with the shells of large Exogyra costata 

Say and Gryphcca mutabilis Mort, The thickness of these sandy beds, 

which apparently immediately overlie the Rotten Limestone, has not 

yet been accurately determined, but we see some fifty feet or more of 

them at Prairie Bluff.

Prof. A. Winchell l considers the rock at the base of Prairie Bluff as 

the topmost of the Eotten Limestone formation, and if this supposition, 

be correct we have the complete section of the Eipley formation. We 

were, however, unable to satisfy ourselves of the identity of any of the 

rocks at Prairie Bluif with the Eotten Limestone, though we are convinced that the top of the latter formation does not lie far belo\v the lowermost of the Prairie Bluff strata, since Eotten Limestone appears in 

the hills near the river a short distance above Prairie Bluff.

1 SECTIONS OF THE RIPLEY FORMATION.

In the subjoined sections and in the figures on Plate XIX we have 

given in detail the characters of the strata making up these subdivisions 

of the Eipley formation. These sections are given in descending order, 

that is, beginning with that one which shows the uppermost of the 

strata, and in the figures of Plate XIX the equivalence of the several 

sections is indicated as nearly as it can be made out. In most cases the 

equivalence is very clearly seen.

Near Palmer's Mill, on Pine Barren Creek, in the eastern part of Wilcox County, Mr. Johnson in 1883 obtained the following satisfactory section showing the actual contact of Tertiary and Cretaceous strata. The 

locality was also visited by myself in 1885, as mentioned above.

(a) Pine Barren section. (Plate XVIII, Fig. 1, p. 167, and Plate XIX, Fiy. 1. p. 171.)

1. Hard, grayish white limestone, character} zed" by great numbers of a large Nautilus 

(Enclimatoceras Ulrichi White), and hence designated by us as the "Nautilus 

Rock".............................................................. ....10 feet.

2. Calcareous sands forming the basis of the sandy prairies of the vicinity.... .6 feet.

3. Hard, yellowish white, crystalline limestone, sandy in places and filled with red. 

specks. Highly fossiliferous, a Turritella, closely related to T. Mortoni, being, 

the chief fossil, along with a Cardita, two or three species of coral, and numerousoysters. This is one of the most persistent of the lower Tertiary rocks towards, 

the eastern part of the State. - - ..........................................S feet:

4. Yellowish, micaceous sands, with Cretaceous fossils.......................55 feet.

5. Bluish gray, calcareous sands, with one or two very promiueut hard ledges 4 feet 

apart, and two or three smaller ledges of similar character. Thickness seen at 

Palmer's Mill........i..................................................15 feet.

'Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. X, Part II, p. 91, 1856.

(225)'
74 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

In this section the lowest Tertiary bed is No. 3 and the uppermost 

Cretaceous No. 4, as is very clearly shown by the included fossils of 

each, and as the two are in direct contact there can be no question of 

their relations.

Bridgeport. On the way from Cam den to Bridgeport the road descends a long clay hill, in which the clays of the Black Bluff horizon 

form the surface (see Pice Barren section, under the Tertiary, Plate 

XVIII). At the foot of the hill is the yellowish white, crystalline limestone, No. 3 of the preceding section, and below that yellow, micaceous 

sancjs to the landing. At the Bridgeport Landing these yellow sands 

form the upper part of the bluff, though their whole thickness is not 

seen in the immediate bluff of the river, but may be seen at the base of 

the hills immediately back of the river bluff.

The section at Bridgeport is as follows:

(1)) Section at Bridgeport Bluff, Alabama Elver. (Plate XIX, Fig. 2, p. 171.)

1. Yellowish, clayey sands, probably reworked.............................. 10 feet.

2. Coarse, yellow sands.... .............'....................................10 feet.

3. Laminated, gray clays.....................................................Ifoot.

4. Projecting ledge of sandy clay of dark gray color ..........................1 foot.

5. Dark gray, nearly black, sandy, and in some parts micaceous clays, in beds about 

3 feet thick, separated by hard projecting ledges of sandier material and of 

lighter color and averaging 8 to 10 inches in thickness ..................22 feet.

=6. Projecting ledge of light colored, sandy material, forming a pretty firm sandstone. 

This ledge breaks off iu cuboidal blocks, which roll down and cover the slope below it............................................................... 18 inches.

7. Dark gray clays..........................................................3 feet.

8. Projecting sandy ledge.................. .................................1 foot.

9. Dark, sandy clays, with two or more harder ledges, down to the water level. .10 feet.

The ledge No. 6 makes a very prominent mark along the face of the 

bluff, as it is more persistent, harder, and more rock-like than the others. 

No distinct and well defined fossils were found at this place in the micaceous clays, but in one.or two of the harder ledges below No. 6 were 

found a few friable shells of Ostrea, one Pecten quinqueco status £ow., 

and a few indistinct impressions of other forms, two of which, if Mr. 

Johnson is not mistaken as to trheir characteristics, he was enabled at. 

Bufaula to identify as Nautilus Deltayi Mort. and Placuna acabra Mort.

Canton Landing. A short distance below Bridgeport there is an exposure of Cretaceous rocks at the old Canton Landing arid in the hill 

which comes down nearly to the river bluff at that place. This locality 

was examined by Mr. Laugdon and myself in the summer of 1S85. It 

presents the following:

(c) Section at the old Canton Landing, Alabama River. (Plate XZX, Fig. 3, p. 171.)

1. Yellowish gray, calcareous, clayey sands in beds 3 to 5 feet thick, separated by 

harder projecting ledges of somewhat samdier material averaging perhaps afoot 

in thickness....................,............_.........................100 feet.

The hard ledges named have a tendency to flake off on weathering into sheets 

,as wide as the hand. They often also break off into fragments which are of very

- (226)
EIPLEY STRATA, CANTON AND GEE'S BEND. 75

irregular shape and of rough surface. All these beds make up the hill, appearing at intervals through the overlying debris, but no continuous section is exposed. In some places the clayey sands lying immediately below one of the hard 

ledges have the bluish black color which characterizes the whole of the lower part 

of the Bridgeport bluff, with which there seems to be very little doubt that these 

are identical.

2. Yellowish, calcareous, sandy clays like the preceding, with a hard, sandier ledge 

above and below, making top of immediate bluff of the river............. 10 feet.

3. Bluish, micaceous clays, the counterpart of those at Bridgeport, with two or more 

indurated ledges.........................................................12 feet.

4. Light gray, calcareous sands, with an indurated ledge of nearly pure sandstone at 

the base. The upper part of this bed is disposed to form rough, indurated masses 

holding phosphatized shell casts andphosphatic nodules..................6 feet.

5. Bluish gray, sandy clays, much more clayey than the preceding bed, about 5 feet 

in thickness, passing below into a more sandy bed 3 feet thick, containing numerous shell casts and nodules...............................................8 feet.

6. Bluish, argillaceous limestone, containing great numbers of Exoyyra, costata Say, 

Grypliaa, mutaUlis Morfc., and phosphatized shell casts................... 3 feet.

7. Bluish, calcareous sands containing many well preserved shells, prominent among" 

which is a Spondylus; Pecten quinquecostatus Sow., together with phospbatized 

casts of Nautilus Dekayi Mort., turreted shells, &c. This bed goes down to 

water level ..............................................................3 feet.

At this bluff there is a very distinctly defined fault, where some fifty 

yards of the face of the bluff have slipped down a distance of five or six 

feet. The lines of fault on each side of this piece are marked by broken 

fragments of the beds or so-called "fault rock" (see Fig. 1, p. 132).

In this section, beds Eos. 2 and 3 are entirely similar in mineral composition and appearance to part of the Bridgeport bluff, and the overlying beds are also similar in composition, though of much lighter yellowish color, which is in all probability due to their greater degree of 

exposure to the oxidizing action of the weather. This bluff is only a 

mile or so distant across the strike of the rocks from Bridgeport, and 

there seems to be no reason for doubting that the bluish, micaceous 

clays and sands of Bridgeport are identical with the yellowish, sandy 

clays with indurated ledges which form the upper members of the Canton section. The beds numbered from 4 down we consider the same as 

those appearing at the top of the bluff'at Prairie Bluff, to be presently 

described.

Foster's Creek. The beds above described at Canton landing continue 

across the bend lying to the east and known as Gee's Bend, where they 

may be seen in the banks of Foster's Creek, on John H. Pettway's land.

(d) Section on Foster's Creek. (Plate XIX, Fig. 4, p. 171.)

1. Yellowish, calcareous, clay soil supporting a vegetation almost exclusively of cedars.

2. Dark gray, sandy, micaceous clays like those at Bridgeport lauding, in beds of 5 to 

f 6 feet thickness, separated by harder ledges of lighter colored and sandier material .....................- ...................................._..._.... 30 feet.

In the lower part of these beds were collected by myself some of the small 

Gryphoeas, probably Gryphcea vomer Mort., first seen by us at Moscow, on the 

Tombigbee River.

(237)
76 TERTIARY-AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [HULL.43.

3. Creami colored, impure limestone, glauconitic, liolding some phosphatized shell 

casts ...................................................................5 feet.

4. Ledge of coarse grained, calcareous sandstone.............................2 feet.

5. Bluish, clayey limestone, no fossils at the top, but filled in its lower parts with 

fossils -which are in many instances only the phosphatized casts of the shell. 

Among the forms collected here we have identified the following: A Spondylus, 

same as that at Canton; Grryphcea mutabilis Mort., Exogyra costata Say, Scaphites 

Conradi Morfc., Nautilus Dekayl Mort., &c ............................... 20 feet.

6. Dark brown, crystalline, phosphatic limestone ............................ 1 foot.

7. Yellowish white limestone down to water ................................. 1 foot.

In another part of .the same plantation, on what is called Livingston 

Hill, the phosphatic limestone and accompanying rocks may again be 

seen. From the geographical position of the beds represented in the 

above section, there is every reason to think that they underlie the visible portion of the bluff at Bridgeport. The identity of the lower 20 feet 

or so of this and of the Canton section is sufficiently clear. 

- Tear Up Creelt. A few miles above Bridgeport, at the mouth of Tear 

Up Creek, Mr. Johnson obtained in 1883 a good section of the beds underlying those of the Bridgeport bluff and was able to traca the connection between the two.

(e) Section at the mouth of Tear Up Creek. (Plate XIX, Fig. 5, p. 171.)

1. Ferruginous, sandy marl full of Cretaceous fossils.........................3 feet.

2. Very firm, white limestone, no fossils seen............ .................... .6 feet.

3. Firm limestone, with a few fossils ........................................2 feet.

4. Sandy,calcareous beds, with fine Ammonites ..............................4 feet.

5. Sandy, indurated limestoue forming a broad ledge .................... 1 to 2 feet.

6. Argillaceous limestone, with Exogyra costata, &c..........................8 feet.

The fossils of this bluff are plainly Cretaceous and resemble the finest 

of those occurring at Prairie Bluff. There is good reason for thinking 

that most of the fine specimens of the old Tuomey collection labeled 

"Bridgeport" have come from this locality (L. C. J.). The dark, micaceous clays of Bridgeport are easily recognized in the bed of Tear Up 

Creek between its mouth and its source under McNeill Mountain, as 

shown in Plate XIX, Fig. 5. As has already been pointed out, they are 

seen also in the banks of Pine Barren Creek, at Palmer's Mill. The fossiliferous portion of this bluff is undoubtedly equivalent to thefossiliferous beds occurring on Foster's Creek and at Canton Landing, above 

described, as also to those at the top of ttie Prairie Bluff, given below.

During the summer of 1886 Mr. Langdon and myself went in a skiff 

from Bridgeport to Prairie Bluff and saw no Eotten Limestone in any 

of the river bluffs, all these exposures representing the Bridgeport and 

Prairie Bluff strata only.

The principal exposures are the following: From Bridgeport the 

bluff extends about a 'mile down the river, and then after a barren.

(228) '
SMITH 

JOHNSON NSOND] RIPLEY STKATA, BRIDGEPORT AND PKAIRIE BLUFF. 77

stretch of two miles or more come the bluffs at the old Canton Landing 

described above, and below that the following:

0

(/) Section four or five miles below the old Canton Landing, Alabama River.

1. Sandstone ledge, fossiliferous, yellowish, and wearing into very irregular shapes,

1 to 1£ feet.

2. Highly fossiliferous, blue saud, becoming light gray below, containing Ostrea 

larva, Exogyra costata, T'ltrritella, &c., very much resembling specimens from 

Eufaula............................................................ 5 to 6 feet.

Two hundred yards down the river other underlying beds are to bt 

seen, as follows:

3. Sandstone ledge.....................................................1 to 1^ feet.

4. Light colored sands, no fossils observed...................................20 feet.

At an old abandoned landing just above Mixon's we get a very good 

section, as follows:

(g) Section near Nixon's.

1. Yellow sands making top of the bluff back of the immediate river bank, at least 

30 feet exposed, but apparently forming the whole slope of 60 feet.......60 feet.

2. Blue, micaceous sands, with the same fossils as No. 2 of the preceding section,

6 to 8 feet.

3. Sandstone ledge .....................................................1 to 1-Jfeet.

4. Light colored sands ......................................................30 feet.

5. Hard sandstone ledge ....................................................1 foot.

6. Blue, micaceous, sandy clays (few fossils).................................10 feet.

A mile or two above Prairie Bluff there is a high bluff very much resembling that at the former locality. The strata are undulating, at the 

lower end of the bluff dipping down stream at the rate of 1 foot in 10, 

at the upper end lying nearly horizontal. The beds here are as follows:

(/t) Section one mile above Prairie Bluff (Rocky Bluff), Alabama River.

1. In the cliff just back of the immediate bluff of the river there are about 40 feet 

of strata, light colored, calcareous sands, with indurated bands, as at Prairie 

Bluff ............................................ ......................40 feet.

2. Dark blue, sandy, micaceous clays, with a few fossils, chiefly Anomias ....20 feet.

3. Hard, yellow, sandy .ledge, the broken pieces of which cover the slope of No. 4. 

It dips below water at the lower end of the bluff ........................ 1 foot.

4. Grayish, fossiliferous sands, full of shells of Pectcn qtiinquecoatatus, which, how- 

. ever, are very friable....................................................8 feet.

5. Hard, yellowish, sandy ledge like No. 3...................................1 foot.

6. Bluish .gray, calcareous sands, with some fossils .......................... 10 feet.

In all these bluffs the indurated sandstone ledges are of very irregular thickness and lateral extent and are probably only local deposits-in 

the regular strata or local indurations of the sands.

Prairie Bluff, This locality has been visited by Professor Tuomey, 

Professor Winchell, and others.1 We have very little to add to their 

descriptions, except to point out the probable equivalences of the beds

described in First Bieii. Rep. Geol. Ala., 1850, and Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 

Vol. X, Part II, p. 90, 1856.

(229)
78 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. |BULL.43.

occurring here with those just described. The bluff shows the following:

(i) Section at Prairie Bluff, Alabama Mver. (Plate XIX, Fig. 6, $. 171.)

1. Bluish limestone-containing Exogyra costata,, Gryphceamutabilis, and great numbers 

of shell casts, which are mostly phosphatized. This limestone has two hard 

ledges passing through it. Professor Winchell gives 6 feet as the thickness of 

this limestone, but we include with ifc some overlying fossiliferous, sandy beds 

and make the thickness1 .............................................. 20 feet.

Among the forms recognized in casts or otherwise from this stratum may be 

mentioned Gryphcca convexa, Placutm scabra, Scaphites Conradi, and Natttllus De~ 

"kayi. Besides these there are very many other turreted shells not fully identified. The association is the same as at Canton Lauding, Foster's Creek, Tear Up 

Creek, &c.

2. Sandy beds, with bands of hardened sand passing through them; these harder 

ledges are usually fossiliferous, the commonest forms being Exogyra costata and 

Gryphaia mutabilis.- These sands form all the lower part of the bluff. .50 to 60 feet.

The upper sandy beds contain great numbers of Ostrea falcata Mort. 

The lower beds are of dark blue color, but they bleaeh out to nearly 

white sand where they come to the top of the bluff, a short distance up 

the river from the landing.

The dip of the strata at Prairie Bluff is very considerable, being as 

high as 300 to 350 feet to the mile. Between Prairie Bluff and Eehoboth the hills are formed of the strata overlying the limestone No. 1 of 

the section. These are yellowish, micaceous sands, in beds 5 to 6 feet 

in thickness, separated by sandy ledges, and in all respects similar to 

the upper 100 feet of the section at the old Canton Landing. In structure 

and general appearance they are like the dark colored, sandy clays of 

Bridgeport, but the color is much lighter, due, as we believe, to the 

more complete oxidation of the materials. In these sands there are, in 

some localities, great numbers of irregular calcareous concretions. All 

the shell casts occurring in the upper calcareous part of Prairie Bluff,

! In the summer of 1886 Mr. Langdon gave this bluff a closer examination. He 

subdivides that part of No. 1, immediately above the sands, as follows :

1. Shaly, calcareous sands, yellowish gray on weathered surface; contains a seam of 

phosphatic greensand at the top, immediately underneath the warehouse. .4 feet.

2. Pseudo-Rotten Limestone, i. e., calcareous clay............................3 feet.

3. Shell conglomerate..................................................3 to 4 feet.

4. Light colored sands &c., No. 2 of the section in the text above.

Mr. Laugdon makes the additional important observation here that the very rapid 

dip down stream is confined to the sandy strata No. 4, and is not shared byNos. 2 and 

3, which half a mile below the warehouse are only about ten feet nearer water level 

than at the warehouse, while the uppermost indurated ledge in the sands No. 4 dips 

below the water within a distance of 200 yards, a descent of some 40 or 50 feet. This 

observation would show an unconformity between the calcareous and the sandy parts 

of the strata at Prairie Bluff.

Our discovery of the phosphatic greensand here fixes its position in the geological 

scale. The bed at Coatopa, iu Sumter County, seems to have a similar position, but 

it appears now probable that there are at least two of these phosphatic greensands in 

the Ripley formation.

(230)
TOHSSOH?] EIPLEY STKATA, MOSCOW. 79

together with the calcareous sandstone which is included in the limestone, are very strongly pbosphatic, as has been shown by the recent 

investigations of the Geological Survey of Alabama.

In the foregoing sections the calcareous and fossiliferous parts, about 

20 feet in thickness, appearing at the mouth of Tear Up Creek, on Foster's Creek, at the base of the Canton Bluff, and at the top of Prairie 

Bluff are, we think', the same; for, though there seem to be slight differences in the succession of the different materials which constitute these 

beds, these differences are in many cases due to differences in the groupings. The general impression made upon the mind in inspecting them 

is that they are identical; they contain the same fossils and in the same 

state of preservation; they hold strata of sandy .limestone, or, rather, 

of calcareous sandstone which is very highly phosphatic j in some instances, where analyses have been made, they hold from 10 to 15 per 

cent, of phosphoric acid, Iu all cases they are overlaid by micaceous,

clayey sands, traversed by indurated bands of similar, but rather more 

sandy, material. These overlyiyg beds differ sometimes conspicuously 

in color, which at Bridgeport, near the water level, is a dark blue, while 

on the hills back of the old Canton Landing and back of Prairie Bluff 

the color is a yellowish gray. This difference can be accounted for by 

differences in degree of oxidation, for where the color at the surface is 

yellow we have noticed that upon digging into the beds a few inches the 

dark color may be seen in most cases. In our min'ds there is no doubt 

of these equivalences. Prof. A. Wiuchell is of opinion that the lower 

beds of the Prairie Bluff section belong to the Eotten Limestone, but 

we were unable to discover anything there which we could identify with 

the Eotten Limestone. There is no doubt, however, for reasons above 

given, that the Eotten Limestone is not far below the lowest of the 

Prairie Bluff sands.

Moscow. On the Tombigbee Eiver we have seen only one locality 

where the strata of this division of the Cretaceous appear, and that is 

at Moscow, a mile or two above Black Bluff, already described.

(?) Section exposed at Moscow and below, TomUgbce River. (Plate XIX, Fig, 7, p. 171.).

1. Black, shaly clay, devoid of fossils, but containing a few rounded, concretionary 

masses like fucoids. This stratum appears below the Moscow Landing and intheprincipal stratum at the mouth of Sucarnochee Eiver. Thin layers of calcite lie 

upon this clay, having been weathered out from between the layers of clay, in 

all..................................................................6 to 8 feet.

2. Dark blue, shaly, argillaceous limestone, with thin, projecting ledges of harder 

material, 10 to 12 fe«t thick near Moscow, but down the river thickening 

up to .............................................................20 or 30 feet.

S.tThin ledge made up almost entirely of the shells of the small Gryphaja (Qryplima 

vomer), noticed also at Foster's Creek, in Gee's Bend..............8 to 12 inches.

4. Hard, white, argillaceous limestone, with Exogyra costata, Gh'yplicca mutabilis, 

' &c....................................................................10 feet.1

1 Near the landing this bed is not less than 25 feet. E. A. S. 

(231)
80 TERTIAEY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

This stratum is indurated near the top, forming a hard ledge which 

is highly fossiliferous, containing Exogyra, Gryphsea, Nautilus Delcayi, 

Baculites, and univalve shells in phosphatized casts. Many of these 

casts are covered with little lumps of reddish, phosphatic, clayey material, which has replaced the whole of |;he original matter of the shells. 

Oasts of this kind have been noticed in the strata of this horizon all 

across the State to Barbour County and seem to be quite characteristic.

In this argillaceous limestone there is, near the top, a very irregular, 

hard ledge consisting in the main of comminuted shells embedded in a 

sandy matrix. This ledge is very variable in. thickness, ranging from, a 

mere line up to 10 feet, and is not conformable with the rest of the strata, 

but appears to form irregular concretionary or segregative masses in the 

limestone. It contains a considerable percentage of phosphoric acid. 

A similar phosphatic sandy bed appears at-top of Prairie Bluff, at the 

base of the Canton Bluff, and in the bank of Foster's Creek, above 

described.

The dipt of the strata at Moscow is very rapid down the stream, and 

at the same time irregular, being in places as much as 350 feet to the 

mile, in which respect it agrees with the dip at Prairie Bluff. It is 

to be remarked that the dip of the Tertiary beds nearest to these two 

sections, viz, Black Bluff on the Toinbigbee and at Midway and at Matthews's Landing on the Alabama, is very much less, being, only about 

thirty to thirty-five feet to the mile. The dip of the Eipley beds, indeed, 

especially near the top, seems to be considerably greater than-that of 

the underlying Eotten Limestone and other Cretaceous strata.

In the summer of 1886 Mr. Langdou and myself made a more careful 

examination of the bluffs between Moscow and the cut off, just above the 

mouth of Sucamochee Creek, a distance of a mile or two. We found 

the strata not only strongly undulating, but in six or eight places very 

distinctly faulted, with a displacement of perhaps ten feet maximum.

' Good photographs were obtained of two of these faults, and diagrams 

were made of several others. A very careful measurement of the thicknesses of the several strata exposed here confirms the estimates above 

given in the Moscow section, except that the black clays may be a little 

thicker, and the white, argillaceous limestone, No. 4, is at least 25 feet 

thick at the landing. Our former measurement was made a short distance below, where only 10 feet of it were seen.

The pockets of cross bedded, sandstone which are noted as occurring 

at irregular intervals in this limestone are of very limited extent and 

of varying thickness. In one or two instances they have been broken 

by the faults above noted. (See Plate X, p. 133.)

That 'which we find most difficult of explanation at Moscow is the 

passage from the undoubted Eipley limestone, which appears to be the 

same in horizon with the beds at the old Canton Landing, in Gee's Bend, 

at the mouth of Tear Up Creek, &c., to the black clays of the Black

(232)
RIPLEY STRATA, SNOW HILL AND MINTER. 81

Bluff section (Tertiary), without any show of the Bridgeport sandy 

clays and the Nautilus and the Turritella rocks. And as the black clays 

and the Cretaceous limestone are in actual contact, visible to the eye, 

we cannot explain the failure of these beds to appear here, by interruptions in the continuity of the river bluffs. It is possible that the black 

clays may be the representatives of the Bridgeport beds, but it is not 

probable, for the reason that they are lithologically identical with the 

clays of Black Bluff, which is hardly more than a mile distant.

For the sake of greater completeness, we give below a few sections 

obtained in the southern part of Dallas County where the Eipleybeds 

are exposed. These localities have acquired a practical interest from 

the circumstance that they include a bed of phosphatic greensand 

which has been used with profit upon the soil as a fertilizer. In addition to this greensand bed, there is also a sandy, phosphatic limestone 

which may some day be utilized, since it holds a very considerable percentage of phosphoric acid.

Snow Hill to Minter. The town of Snow Hill occupies the summit 

of a long ridge, at the southern end of which the Nautilus and the Turritella rocks of the lowermost Tertiary form the surface, while at the 

northern end of the ridge the underlying yellow sands are the surface 

materials. Descending this ridge towards the north, one passes over 

yellowish gray, micaceous sands, alternating with hard, sandy ledges 

which flake off under the action of the weather. These strata are the 

same as those exposed on the hillside near the old Canton Landing and 

on the hill north of Prairie Bluff. Near the residence of Mr. W. S. 

Purifoy, a mile or so from Snow Hill, we see some fifty or sixty feet of 

these sands and shales overlying a bed of phosphatic greensand three 

feet or more in thickness. The section here exposed is the following:

(fc) Section near W. S. Purifoy's, near Snoiv Sill.

1. Yellowish, micaceous sands, in beds four or five feet thick, separated by ledges of 

sandier material, which flakes off in weathering...................50 to 60 feet.

2. Phosphatic greeusand, holding concretions of white carbonate of lime and a good 

deal of soft, white lime.................................................. 4 feet.

This greensand contains from 1.5 to 2 per cent of phosphoric acid. It lies 

very favorably at the foot of the hill, and at the level of the cultivated fields, and 

can be dug and spread upon the land with very little trouble or expense.

3. Hard, reddish or yellowish, phosphatic limestone, forming very irregular, concretionary masses .......................................................1 foot.

4. Yellowish, calcareous clays containing great numbers of large Exogyra costata, 

GrypJicca mutabilis, &c..................................................20 feet.

5. Impure, argillaceous limestone, containing numbers of the shells above named,

10 to 15 feet.

This greensand has been tested practically by Mr. Purifoy, and with 

the most flattering results.

On Col. N. H. E. Dawsou's place, adjoining Mr. Purifoy's on the north, 

the same beds are to be seen, together with some still lower. Below the 

greensand bed there are some sixty to seventy feet of calcareous, san4y 

Bull, 43 6 . (233)
82 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

beds with hard ledges, and near the base of the series an impure limestone weathering into calcareous clays, in which are embedded great 

numbers of JExogyra costata, Gryplicca mutabilis, and phosphatized shell 

casts, prominent among which are Nautilus Dehayi, and Scaphites Con. 

radi. This shell deposit lies about six feet above a bed of hard, silicious, 

phosphatic limestone or calcareous sandstone, which is the lowest of 

the strata here exposed.

Garlowville. At Carlowville there is substantially the same section.

(I) Section at Carloivville, Dallas County.

1. A bed of phosphatic greensaucl holding much lime, iu small concretions and in 

soft lumps easily crushed between the fingers..................... 4 feet or more.

2. A clayey, glauconitic limestone, which has been quarried for the purpose of build- 

. ing culverts on the railroad........................................... ....3 feet.

3. Yellowish, calcareous, sandy shales with hard sandy ledges. The color of this material, where wet and not exposed to the weather, is dark blue like that at Bridgeport ................................................................... GO feet.

In the lower part of this there is an impure, argillaceous limestone which holds 

a great number of the two shells above named, together with casts (phosphatized) 

of others.

4. Hard, coarsegrained, silicious limestone or calcareous sandstone ..........2 feet.

.Richmond. A. few miles southwest of Richmond, on the laud of Dr. J. 

P. Keyser, we get a more complete section embracing beds which overlie the preceding, viz: 

(m) Section 3 miles southivest of Richmond, Dallas County.

1. Sandy shales, hardening into a shaly sandstone, forming a conspicuous ledge along 

the hillsides. This is underlaid by about 20 feet of calcareous sandy clays, similar to those near old Cantoii Landing....................... ........... .20 feet.

2. Calcareous, sandy ledge somewhat like the preceding, but perhaps more calcareous. 

This also overlies a series of calcareous shales, 35 feet or more............ 40 feet.

3. Bed of phosphatic greensaiid, with lumps of soft white limestone and concretions of 

lime ....................................................................4feet,

4. Impure, clayey, glauconitic limestone, making a shelf or ledge around the hill, 

sides.................. --..----..----..-....--.............-.....-..3 to 5 feet5. Calcareous shales interstratified with beds of sandier material v/hich form projecting ledges. These beds correspond in appearance to those forming the hill back 

of old Canton Landing, and where less exposed to the weather they still retain the 

dark blue color which is characteristic of them at Bridgeport. They hold the 

usual fossils in their lower strata, and in weathering give rise to the formation 

of a calcareous, clayey soil ........................................ 60 to 70 feet.

6. Hard, silicious limestone, coaitse grained.and phosphatic, appearing near the water 

level at base of the hills. ................................................3 feet.

We have not yet given these localities the close examination which 

would enable us to say with certainty what their equivalents are; .yet, 

from the position of the fossiliferous, impure limestone containing Exogyra costata, Cfryphcea mutabilis, and the phosphatic shell casts above 

mamed,it seems quite probable that this greensand lies some 50 feet or 

nore above the fossiliferous beds of old Canton Landing and of Prairie, 

Bluff, I Skould al§o a<W that, below the phosphatic, silicious rock at;

(234) -
ROTTEN LIMESTONE. 83

the base of the preceding sections, we have seen at other localities a 

yellow sand which is traversed by bands of silicious sandstone precisely 

as is the case at Prairie Bluff, so that we have very little doubt of the 

equivalence, although it is not certainly -made out.1

These Upper Cretaceous rocks belonging to the Eipley formation have 

recently acquired a new interest from the circumstance that they are 

throughout the State very generally impregnated with phosphoric 

acid, often to such a degree as to render them available as materials 

for the manufacture of fertilizers. Thus the rock at Moscow and westward to Coatopa and Livingston and thence traced to Shuqualak, Miss., 

by Mr. Johnson, has been found to be phosphatic, and the same is true 

of the hard ledges of limestone rock occurring in the Canton bend, and 

thence eastward to Minter, and on to Fort Deposit, and thence to Chunnenugga Eidge and Union Springs. The occurrence and the characters

of these pliosphatic rocks will be more fully described at another place.

§2, THE ROTTEN LIMESTONE.

The next subdivision of the Cretaceous group, viz, the Eotten Limestone, extends for many miles along both the rivers, and, assuming 

a uniform dip of 25 to 30 feet to the mile, its thickness cannot be much 

less than 930 to 1,200 feet. The rock is of comparatively uniform composition, being a gray to bluish colored, argillaceous limestone, traversed at intervals by beds of purer limestone which is at the same time 

usually a little harder in texture. In some places the material is a 

dark bluish clay marl, in appearance not altogether unlike some pf the 

blue or black clays at the base of the Tertiary group. The fossils of 

the Eotten Limestone are principally Exogyra, Gryphsea, and Ostrea, 

but in the upper and lower parts other forms become more abundant, 

forming transitions to the overlying and underlying subdivisions, 

i The best general view of the strata of the Eotten Limestone is affordedvby the record of a boring for an artesian well at Livings ton, 

Sumter County. The town is situated on the line of junction.of the 

Eotten Limestone and Eipley formations, and the boring, therefore, 

passes through the whole of the former into the underlying E utaw greensands. The boring was made from December, 1854, to March, 1857, and 

the record was carefully kept by Dr. E. D. Webb> The thickness of 

Eotten Limestone proper penetrated by this boring is 930 feet, the underlying sands and greensands belonging probably, for the most part, 

to the next division. The uppermost 20 feet are certainly in part drift 

and probably in part Eipley formation, though there are no fossils'to 

decide the matter definitely.

'A bed of phosphatrc greensand was discovered in 1886 by Mr. Langdou and myself 

at Prairie Bluff just overlying the limestone strata. Whether this is the same as the 

bed above desQrib.ed gr a. different one, we are not yet prepa.re$ to sav.TE, A- §«

(336)
84 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [uuw»45.

Section of the Rotten Limestone at Liviugston, Sumter County. (See Plate XXI, Column 4,

p. 183.)

Materials. Depth 

in feet.

1 Sandy loam, 1 foot................................................... 1

2 Coarse, dry sand, stratified, 12 feet.................................... 13

3 White quicksand (liad to be curbed), 7 feet ........................... 20

4 Soft, rotten, blue limestone, thickly set with shells and containing iron

5 pyrites, 180 feet ........................ ........................... 200

White limestone, harder than the preceding, with very few if any shells 

or pyrites, 50 feet................................................... 250

6 Hard, blue limestone, .so hard that the auger cuts it with difficulty, clear

of shells and pyrites, 7 feet.......................................... 257

7 Bluish Avhite limestone, not so hard as the preceding, clear of shells and

pyrites, 68 feet...................................................... 325

 8 Very hard, white limestone, 55 feet.................................... 380

At 330 feet, passed through a stratum of oyster shells from which a specimen very much resembling an egg was brought up.

9 Light blue limestone, not so hard as No. 8, but harder than No. 4,. 47 feet. 427

10 Bluish brown rock, filled with small shells. In this there was more sand

than in the blue or white varieties of rock, 58 feet.................... 485

11 Hard, white rock, 105 feet. ......1..................................... , 590

12 Soft, reddish brownrock, 2feet...... .................................. ' 592

13 Soft rock of deep blue color, 20 feet.................................... 612

14 Brownish blue rock, moderately soft, 78 feet................! ........... 690

15 Hard, gritty, bluish colored rock, so hard that it had to be drilled, G or 8

inches.............................................................. 690

16 Dark bluish colored rock, easily cut by auger, 10 feet .................. 700

17 Soft, whitish limestone, with occasional slight change in hardness and

color, 250 feet ...................................................... 950

18 Hard sandstone, 6feet................................................ 956

19 Sand, in which, at 964 feet, a small stream of water was reached, which

ntu feebly from the top of the well, 10 feet............................ 966

20 Sand rock, 1 foot............ .......................................... 967

21 Coarse greensancl, in which a larger stream of water was reached at 1,005

feet depth, 38 feet .................................................. 1,005

22 Sandstone, 2 feet......................... ............................. 1,007

23 Greeusaud, 25 feet .................................................... 1,032

24 Sandstone, 2 feet...................................................... 1,034

25 Coarse greensaud, 18 feet ..........................;.................. 1,052

26 Flint rock (crystallized), 1 foot........................................ 1,053

27 Very fine greensaud, 9 feet............................................ 1,062

In this greensand the well was stopped at a depth of 1,062 feet.

In the following notes are given the characters of the Eotten Limestone as shown in a few prominent bluffs along the rivers, without any attempt to fix absolutely their position in the vertical scale of the boring.

The great degree of uniformity in the lithological characters and fossil contents of the different parts of the Botten Limestone makes it impossible as yet to give the precise place in the vertical section of its ex-

(236)
EXPOSURE OF ROTTEN LIMESTONE. 85

posures described below, with the exception of those which include the 

phosphatic greensands immediately below the limestone proper. We 

have, therefore, not attempted to represent the main body of the limestone except in the single plate illustrating the boring at Livingston ; 

but in Plate XX we have given several figures illustrating the contact 

of the Eotten Limestone with the underlying, sandy beds. 

EXPOSURES OF ROTTEN LIMESTONE.

About eight or nine miles above Moscow landing there is at Barton's 

Bluff an exposure of about sixty feet, consisting of dark bluish, clayey 

limestone, or perhaps .better described a blue marl, with several harder 

ledges projecting from the face of the bluff. These ledges hold a good 

many fossils, the principal forms being Ostrea falcata in the upper ledges 

and large Gryphsea and Exogyra in the lower ones. These dark, clayey,

limestone bluffs continue up the river to within nine miles of Demopolis. 

They are probably represented by No. 4 of the boring.

On the Alabama a similar material makes the bluff at Lexington 

Landing, and it holds also a large number of shells, especially those of 

Exogyra and other oysters.

At Demopolis the bluff is made of a very compact, light blue or gray 

limestone, which does not seem to be very highly fossiliferous. A similar limestone makes the bluffs for several miles down the river, nearly 

to Barton's Bluff, where, as already stated, it is more argillaceous and 

darker in color.

On the Alabama the counterpart of the Demopolis Bluff may be seen 

at Elm Bluff and at White Bluff.

The same rocks may also be seen on the Upper Tombigbee Eiver 

(above the mouth of the Tuscaloosa) at Jones's Bluff,' where the railroad 

bridge crosses the river.

Underlying the Demopolis limestone there is a stratum of undetermined thickness of a tolerably pure limestone of light yellow color, filled 

with concretionary lumps, cylinders, &c., of clay. When this clay 

washes out it leaves the limestone perforated in every direction, which 

circumstance is referred to in the name " bored rock." Below Arcola 

this bored rock is quite thick, and has bedding planes two or three feet 

apart, which cause the rock to break up into large cubical blocks.

At Arcola and at Hatch's Bluff, on the Tuscaloosa, the bored rock is 

near the top of the bluff, and underlying it is softer and crumbling Eotten 

Limestone of the usual character. The bored rock has sometimes been 

burned for lime, and its outcrop may be followed westward as far at 

least as Sherman, in Suinter County. It forms a rocky ridge wherever 

it comes to the surface.

The limestone underlying the bored rock for many feet is tolerably 

uniform in composition and resembles that of the Demopolis Bluff, except that it is, if anything, rather more argillaceous and less compact, 

 A - (237).
86 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [HULL. 43.

being rather a white, calcareous clay than a limestone. There is noth-. 

ing of interest to record at any of the bluffs of the river from Hatch's 

Bluff up to Wolf's Bluff, just above Cowan's Landing.

Here come in the strata, still better exposed higher up at Erie and at 

Choctaw Bluff, which form the transition between the Eotten Limestone 

and the sands of the Eutaw formation, and which probably represent 

the Tombigbee Sand group of Dr. E. W. Hilgard, if this group has its 

counterpart on the Tuscaloosa Eiver.

Characteristic fossils of this horizon appear to be certain reptilian 

bones, Mosasaurus, the curious Hippurites, teeth of sharks, and large 

palatal teeth (Ptychodus Mortoni and others).

The lowermost strata of the Eotteu Limestone (calcareous clays) also 

contain many of these fossils, and in addition to those mentioned, shells 

of Inoceramus in great numbers and of great size. These shells are of 

fibrous texture, the thickness of the shell (half an inch or less) forming 

the length of the fibres. In consequence of this structure the shells are 

very fragile and it is impossible to take them out unbroken except by 

removing a block of the matrix rock with them.

In no localities have I seen them in greater numbers and of larger 

size than in the long bluff at Fairfield, on the Tombigbee Eiver, in the 

southern part of Pickens County, and in the fields back of House Bluff, 

on the Alabama Eiver, in Autauga County. In the former place they are 

perfectly preserved, and many of them are more than a foot in diameter.

Near House Bluff they are seen in the old fields, associated with 

Leiodon bones, sharks' teeth, and phosphatic greensands. In the 

weathering of rock they break into fragments which, though slightly 

separated, retain their relative position and preserve the outline of the 

shell. In many cases these fragments cover a space three feet in diameter, indicating the size of the shell as at least two feet in diameter.

These would probably form the first of the transition beds above

mentioned.

On the Alabama Eiver these beds make their appearance above the 

latitude of Selma at'Cunningham's and House Bluffs. Inasmuch as 

their paleontologic relations have not yet been determined and as they 

are more closely related in lithologic character to the Eutaw, we have 

thought it best to combine them with the latter formation in our description. The first five sections in the next division exhibit the Eotten 

Limestone in connection with the next underlying beds.

§3. THE EUTAW FORMATION.

As noted above, the sandy, fossiliferous strata lying beneath the argillaceous and calcareous rocks whose lithologic character is so well 

defined by the name of Eotten Limestone.are referred by us to the Eutaw 

formation. In striking contrast with the Eotteu Limestone, this series 

of deposits consists of sands and clays with little or no calcareous

(238)
GENERAL CHAEACTEES OF THE EUTAW. 87

matter except in the uppermost 25 or 30 feet spoken of above as forming a transition between the Eotten Limestone proper and the sands 

of the undoubted Eutaw.

This upper member of the Eutaw formation consists at the summit 

of a bed 5. feet in thickness of indurated, calcareous sands, with numerous fossils and irregularly shaped nodules of nearly pure phosphate of 

lime, together with many highly phosphatized shell casts, and in addition the sand itself is very generally phosphatic. Below this bed there 

are 15 feet of sand with comparatively few fossils, except in a thin layer 

of compacted shells at the base and in two or three similar shell layers 

dividing the sand at different horizons. These shell beds are also usually phosphatic.. Beneath the lowest comes a bed of greensand 6 to 8 

feet in thickness, which is distinguished by its high percentage (5 per 

cent, and above) of phosphoric acid. These phosphatic and calcareous 

beds have been less closely examined on the Alabama Eiver than on the 

Tombigbee, where they appear to be somewhat thicker.

The bulk of the lower and principal member of the Eutaw formation 

consists of cross bedded sands, with subordinate beds of pebbles and of 

thinly laminated clays with sandy partings in many alternations. The 

exact sequence of these beds is known only for about 80 or 90 feet below 

the phosphatic strata above mentioned. (See profile at the House 

Bluff, Alabama Eiver, PI. XX, Fig. 5; p. 175.)

The most striking peculiarities of the various beds of the lower member of the Eutaw formation are found in the abrupt changes which they 

undergo in both the vertical and horizontal directions. The dark gray, 

laminated clays with sandy partings seen at Finch's Ferry, Tuscaloosa 

Eiver, may also be seen farther up the river at Semple's Bluff and at 

Brown's Bluff, and with nearly the same characters in all three localities. With this exception, however, I know of none of the Eutaw beds 

which preserve their characters with anything like uniformity for more 

than a few rods. Laminated clays pass into cross bedded sands or 

rather are replaced by them; cross bedded sands thin out abruptly, as 

if forming lenticular masses; the pebble beds thicken up and thin downrapidly within a few yards' distance; and indeed it is impossible to follow 

any of the beds with certainty from one end of a long bluff to the other, 

and it would be well .nigh impossible to get two vertical sections of a 

bluff, 100 yards apart, which would exhibit the same sequence of materials. Two examples will illustrate my meaning. At Stave Bluff, Tuscaloosa Eiver, half a mile long, we see at the upper end and near the 

center of the bluff a preponderance of laminated clays with thin intervening sheets of cross bedded sands, but at the lower end of the bluff 

the clays disappear or cease, not, however, by dipping below the water 

level, but abruptly, and they are replaced by thick beds of yellow sand 

which neither overlie nor underlie the clays, but are substituted for them 

on the same horizon. Again, at Merriwether's Landing, farther up the 

river, where the bluff is perhaps half a mile long, at the landing (upper

(239)
88 TERTIARY ANft CRETACEOUS STRATA OI1 ALABAMA. lutiLL.43.

end of the bluff) we find the bluff made up of laminated clays with sand 

partings, the sand partings becoming thicker and thicker as we descend, 

and assuming within 10 feet of the water the character of cross bedded 

sands with thin clay sheets following some of the lines of false bedding. 

One hundred yards or less below the landing the whole bluff appears to i 

be cross bedded sands with clay seams, including, about twenty feet 

above the water, a 10 foot bed of sand. These change again, not 

because of the dipping of the strata below the river level, but because 

of the replacement at the same horizon of one set of beds by another.

The great mass of the Eutaw formation seems to have been deposited 

jn shallow water by ever varying currents.

The absence of all fossils except an occasional lignitized tree trunk and 

the lack of any persistent or easily identified beds of any kind make it 

impossible for us here to sum up the thickness as we have done in the 

Tertiary group, and we are therefore compelled to rely either upon 

width of outcrop across the country of the beds of this formation or 

upon the borings for artesian wells. The thickness of the beds of this 

formation, estimated from their outcrop along the banks of the Tuscaloosa Eiver from Finch's Ferry to Big Log Shoals, on an assumed uniform 

dip of 40 feet to the mile, is about 200 feet; but this estimate is probably -y 

too small. Between Big Log Shoals and White's Bluff no Cretaceous 

. rocks are exposed on the river, but they may be seen upon the neighboring hills, and recent observations of Mr. Langdon and myself indicate that this stretch of the river is almost entirely underlaid by 

the beds of the Eutaw formation; and if this is so their total thickness can hardly be less than 300 feet. This estimate is confirmed by 

the width of the outcrop of the Eutaw beds upon the hills on both sides 

of the Tuscaloosa Eiver. On the eastern side, in Hale County, they are 

found from three miles south of Havana down to Greensborough, and on 

the western side, in Green County, from just south of Knoxville down to 

Eutaw, or in each case about 10 miles in a direct line across the strike. 

This with a uniform dip of 30 feet to the mile would correspond to a thickness of 300 feet, and with a dip of 40 feet per mile to 400 feet j 300 feet 

may therefore be given as the minimum thickness of these beds along the 

Tuscaloosa. A boring now in progress at Eutaw reached the purple v 

clays of the Tuscaloosa formation at a depth of 400 feet j which indicates a thickness for the formation nearly the same as that estimated 

from the width of outcrop and dip. The corresponding portion of the 

course of the Alabama Eiver i. e., between Selma and Montgomery 

is such that the lowermost members of this formation are not there 

exposed.

SECTIONS OF THE EUTAW FORMATION.

The following sections illustrate fairly well the lithologic and other 

peculiarities of the Eutaw formation, including the transitional beds, 

which may hereafter, upon paleontologic grounds, be classed with the

Eotteu Limestone.

(240)
EUTAW STKATA, 89

(a) Section of the bluff at Erie, Tttscaloosa River. (Plate XX, Fig. 1, p. 175.)

1. Eotten Limestone of usual character .....................................30 feet.

2. Indurated ledge of calcareous sand, containing grains of glancouite, strongly phosphatic and in part filled with oyster shells ..........................5 to 8 feet.

3. Yellowish sands containing shells in the upper part, and thus forming a continuation of the preceding...... ...............................................8 feet.

4. Projecting hard ledge filled with small bivalve shells, chiefly oysters, 8 to 12 inches.

5. Yellowish sands, with some glauconite, becoming more and more glaucouitie as we 

descend ............................................................ 5 to G feet.

The lower part of this stratum, say one or two feet, is kiduratcd, shells become 

more abundant, and there is thus a gradual transition into the next underlying 

bed. In these sauds, which are hollowed out from beneath the preceding ledge, 

there are embedded some curious stalagmitic formations, of indurated calcareous 

sand, which stand up like small pillars. These are strongly phosphatic, and have 

much the appearance and composition of the ledge No. 4.

6. Indurated ledge of sand, greensaud, and shells, mostly oysters, like that at Choctaw Bluff ............................................................. 1 f00t.

7. Greensancl, cross bedded................................................3 to 4 feet.

8. Laminated, blue clay, in several distinct layers,. Avhich project from the vertical 

faces formed by the greensand above and below it ....................... 2 feet.

9. Greensaud like No. 7, but with more glauconite to water's edge; contains much 

phosphoric acid........................................ .................1 foot.

Just above Erie there is a great south west ward bend in the river, by 

reason of which only the Rotten Limestone appears in the river banks, 

the greensands being all below the water level. This condition of 

things continues up to McAlpiue's Ferry, where we have the following;

 (b) Section near HcAlpintfs Ferry, Tuscaloosa Kivcr. (Plate XX, Fly. 2, p. 175.)

1. Rotten Limestone of variable thickness, with a covering of drift above it.

2. Calcareous sands, indurated and glauconitic, partly tilled with shells, mostly 

oysters .............................................................6 to 8 feet.

3. Sands...............................................................8 to 10 feet.

4. Greensand to water's edge ........................................ 6 feet or more.

From Eastport, just above MeA.1 pine's Ferry, up to Melton's Bluff 

the course of the river is nearly along the strike of the strata, and we 

have practically the same beds as those above described at Erie along 

this.stretch.of the river. The undulations which are usually observed 

along the outcropping edges of our Tertiary and Cretaceous strata may 

be seen here also.

(c) Section at Mellows Bluff and Eastport, Tuscaloosa River. 

1. Cross bedded sands, grading off below into greensaud ..................... 10 feet.

2. Greensand, forming a bench or ledge 6 to 8 feet broad and 3 feet thick down to the 

water's edge.

Between Melton's Bluff and Choctaw Bluff another great southwestward bend in the river causes the greensands to disappear below the 

water level, to reappear near the last named bluff, where we get the 

following very interesting section, which, however, embraces practically 

the same beds with the Erie bluff, the two -places being situated from 

each other in the direction of the strike of the strata.

(241)
90 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43

(d) Sectional Choctaw Bluff, Greene County, Tuscaloosa River. (Plate XX, Fig. 3, p. 175.)

1. Rotten Limestone of the usual appearance, with a cover of drift or second bottom 

deposits. The rock contains some fossils, Inocerami, and bones of reptiles,

20 feet or more.

2. Indurated, calcareous sands, with some glauconite, filled with shells, mostly Exogyra, forming a projecting ledge, which is a very prominent and persistent 

mark along the face of the bluff 1 ...... ...... ...... ...... ....... ......6 to 7 feet.

3. Yellowish, cross bedded sands, shading off above into the fossiliferous ledge. These 

sands become more and more glauconitic and devoid of fossils below. ....15 feet.

4. Indurated ledge of glauconitic sands and small oysters, slightly effervescent, phosphatic...... .................................................... ........ 1 foot.

5. Highly glauconitic sands, strongly phosphatic. These sands show above the water 

at the upper end of the bluff 6 to 8 feet, but sink below the water at the lower 

end, making a dip of about 20 feet to the mile along this stretch of the river.

This section shows well the point of contact of the Botten Limestone 

with the glauconitic beds below it. The beds immediately under the 

Eotten Limestone are coarse, calcareous sands, somewhat indurated and 

filled with the shells of Exogyra, No. 2 above. Both the Rotten Limestone and the ledge are filled with nodular masses of iron pyrites. One 

mile below this, at Stevens's Bluff, the sands are all below the water, 

and only the Kotten Limestone above it; the same is true of the bants 

at Hamlet's Shoals. These beds, as above intimated, have acquired 

a considerable interest from the fact that most of them are strongly 

impregnated with phosphoric acid. This seems to be particularly the 

case with the glauconitic sands, especially when they are indurated; and 

in many cases the induration seems to be due to the formation of phosphates. Wherever the beds immediately underlying the Eotten Limestone have been examined, from the Mississippi line eastward to Wetumpka, and even farther toward the Georgia line, they have been 

distinguished by containing very notable quantities of phosphate of 

lime, either impregnating the greensands in a general way or concentrated into irregularly shaped nodules of nearly pure phosphate of lime. 

These3 should they ever be found in sufficient quantity, will be of great 

value as an article of export. The phosphatic greensands, without the 

least doubt, can be very profitably used as fertilizers where they are convenient to transportation. This subject, however, will be more specially treated in the report of the Geological Survey of Alabama.

At Finch's Ferry, near Eutaw, on the Tuscaloosa Eiver, there is a 

bluff which varies from 50 to 75 feet in height, in which strata underlying the phosphatic sands of Choctaw Bluff are seen. The upper 25 to 

40 feet of this bluff (according to locality) consist of yellowish, cross 

bedded sands, in which a few indistinct fossils have been found, and 

below this some 25 feet of alternating blue clays and cross bedded sands ;

bed has been called "Concrete- Sand" by Prof. A. Winchell, and the next 

below it, " Loose Sand" (Proceedings Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. X,PartII, p. 92, 1856). 

He, however, limits the former name to the first 2 or 3 feel; below the Rotten Limestone.

(242)
EUTAW STRATA. 91

then, forming base of the bluff, about 20 feet of laminated, blue clays, 

with partings of sand. No fossils have yet been observed in these 

lower beds.

(e) Section at Finch's Ferry, Tuscaloosa River. (Plate XX, Fig. 4, p. 175.)

1. Yellowish, cross bedded sands, with indurated bands at intervals. This sand contains 

a few casts of shells, mostly oysters, and pieces of silicified wood..25 to 40 feet.

2. Laminated, blue clays, with partings of sand..:.......................... 10 feet.

3. Alternations of cross bedded sands and blue, laminated clays...............5 feet.

4. Bluish, glauconitic sands ................................................ 10 feet.

5. Laminated, blue clays, the laminae separated by thin sand partings... ....20 feet.

The exact position of this section with reference to that at Choctaw 

Bluff is not-certaiuly made out, but it is quite possible that some of the 

lowermost of the Choctaw Bluff beds may appear in the highest parts 

of the bluff at Finch's Ferry. At all events the two sections are very 

nearly conterminous.

(Jn the Alabama Eiver the same beds are seen at the Batte Smith 

Bluff, Cunningham's Bluff, and the House Bluff.

At the last-named locality we have perhaps the best section of the 

transition beds between the Eotten Limestone and the Eutaw formations to be seen in the State.

This bluff, gapped by ravines, forms the northern bank of the river 

for a mile or more at the top of one of those long bends made by the 

Alabama in this part of the State. Near the lower or western end of 

the bluff, where these gaps are close together, the sharp crested, interjacent ridges come out to the face of the bluff in cross section like the 

gable ends of a house, whence the name of the bluff.

The uppermost (i. e., most eastern) of these bluffs has about thirty 

feet of Eotten Limestone on top, and the washings from this have 

whitened all the underlying red and yellow sands, so that if not closely 

examined the white bluff would easily be mistaken for limestone throughout. The next bluff below separated from, this by a narrow ravine only, 

and of nearly the same height, consists of yellow, cross bedded sands to 

the very top. The absence of the Eotten Limestone on top of this second bluff and its presence on top of the next succeeding or third bluff 

are due to undulations in the strata. The contrast between the first 

two bluffs is very striking. The uppermost bluff is probably the highest of the set and is about one hundred and fifty feet high, and the 

strata exposed in it are the following:

(/) Section of the House Bluff. ( Plate XX, Fig. 5, p. 175.)

1. Rotten Limestone..................................................20 to 30 feet.

2. Greensaud, with phosphatic nodules........................ ............. ..4 feet.

3. Conglomerate of shells embedded in loose sand............................. 1 foot.

4. Light colored sands, with irregular deposits of shells and a six inch layer of 

shells at bottom...................................................."..... 5 feet.

5. Sands 8 feet, with a layer of shells at bottom, 1 foot, in all.................9 feet. 1

1 Nos. 2 to 5, inclusive, constitute the " Concrete Sand" of I)r. Winchell.
92 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

6. Alternating beds of horizontally laminated aud cross bedded sands, yellow (glauconitic); the separate beds from 1 to 2 feet thick. These beds are marked with 

numerous streaks deeply colored with iron.........................40 to 50 feet.

7. Laminated clays (soapstone), devoid of fossils............................ 10 feet.

8. Blue, micaceous sands, no fossils .........................................15 feet.

9. Light colored sands, witb large, bowlder-like concretions of concentric layers...... ..............................................................20 feet.

10. Alternations of the laminated clays and blue sands above described down to 

the water level. . 

The great irregularity in the stratification of the sands of this formation is well exhibited in the House Bluff, where hardly any two sections 

will show the same sequence of beds. The following section of this 

bluff was taken by rne in the summer of 1886, and shows the stratification of the first quarter of a mile of the bluff rather than that of a single 

locality:

(f1 } Section of the upper part of House Bluff.

1. Rotten Limestone, including near the base a bed of phosphatic greensand four and 

a half feet in thickness..... ............................................30 feet.

2. Ledge of oyster shells embedded in sands, forming a hard ledge.......... 8 inches.

3. Whitish sands............. ..........................................8 to 10 feet.

4. Ledge of shells like No. 2.......................................... 8 to 11 inches.

5. Yellowish, cross bedded sands, indurating into rounded, bowlder-like masses of 

concentric structure. On the weathering and caving of the bluff, these bowlders 

break off and roll down to the water's edge and cover all the slope below them. 

The two hard ledges of shell conglomerate also break off in a similar way, and 

their fragments also cover the slope below............... .... ...... 50 to 60 feet.

6. Yellowish, cross bedded sands like the preceding, except that they are traversed 

by clay bands and partings of very irregular thickness and extent.......10 feet.

7. Compact sands, making a smooth, perpendicular face....... ..............15 feet.

8. Cross bedded sands, the lower part containing gray clay partings, and in the lowermost 5 feet merging into bluish gray, laminated clays...... ...........15 feet.

9. Blue sands to the water's edge ............................................5 feet.

The resemblance between this section and those of Choctaw Bluff 

and Finch's Ferry, Tuscaloosa River, is sufficiently strong to justify us in 

correlating them in a general way, though we cannot, of course, expect 

to find absolute identity in the individual beds.

The two ledges of shell conglomerate appear in the hills in many 

places westward of this bluff. Between the two Mulberry creeks, one 

and a half miles west of Statesville, they are nearly at the general level 

of the high table lands; and everywhere about seven or eight feet above 

the upper of these ledges, appears the bed of phosphatic greensand, so 

well known in the vicinity of Hamburg, in Perry County. These beds 

rise toward the north and appear in several places in Autauga County, 

high up on the hills. In the vicinity of the old Slaton place and the 

old Jim Brown place, the shell conglomerate and the greensands are 

exposed over a large territory,

All the bluffs of the Alabama Eiver, from House Bluff up to Montgomery, show more or less of the House Bluff beds, according to the 

windings of the river. At Washington Ferry the banks are made of

(244)
' EUTAW STRATA. 93

the laminated gray clays with interbedded sands, which are seen near 

the base of House Bluff. About two hundred yards above the Washington Ferry there is a high red bluff showing the following:

(/2 ) Section of Huff near Washington Ferry, Autauga County.

1. Drift and red loam ........................... ^.....................W to 15 feet

2. Cross bedded, yellow sands, stained deep red by the washings from No. 1..50 feet.

3. Laminated clays and sands ..............................................50 feet.

No. 2 above corresponds with No. 5 of my House Bluff section, while 

$0. 3 corresponds to the rest of the House Bluff.

The river bluff, just below the steamboat landing at Montgomery, 

shows the following:

(/3 ) Section at Monigomenj.

1. Drift (very closely resembling what we have called second bottom deposits),

15 to 20 feet.

2. Laminated, gray sands, with gray clay partings...........................3 feet.

3. Gray clayey sands, with white and gray 'clay partings..................... 4 feet.

4. Bather compact, yellow sands with small, lens-shaped, spherical, and other irregularly shaped masses of pure, gray clay scattered through the mass of sandsThese form the greater part of the perpendicular bluff to the river below the drift 

deposits, and extend to the water's edge ........................... 25 to 30 feet.

Where the Kotten Limestone is seen at the summit of the bluff, as at 

Choctaw Bluff and at House Bluff, the geological horizon of the underlying beds of the section is at once determined. The uncertainty is 

felt only in regard to the exact relative position of the Finch's Ferry 

beds and those where the Rotten Limestone is absent. 

. Between Finch's Ferry and Big Log Shoals, a distance of four and a 

quarter miles or a little more, across the strike, which corresponds to a 

thickness of about one hundred and fifty feet of strata, the banks of the 

river are composed of laminated, bluish clays and cross bedded, glau-. 

conitic sands, in many alternations. Interbedded with these, at two or 

three points, are thin beds of pebbles, from eight to twelve inches tjiick, 

and thin layers of lignitic matter, consisting of lignitized sterns, twigs, 

and other fragments, embedded in bluish sands. In addition to these, 

lignitized trunks of trees are not infrequently seen at many of the exposures. Occasionally, also, a silicified trunk is to be found lying upon 

the bluff, but whether derived from the Cretaceous or from the overlying drift deposits is still a matter of doubt.

It has as yet been impossible to ascertain the actual sequence of these 

different beds for the whole distance mentioned above, but the following detailed sections will probably cover nearly their entire thickness.

Immediately below the laminated clays which form the base of the 

exposure at Finch's Ferry, come alternations of similar laminated clays, 

with cross bedded sands many feet in thickness, which are to be seen 

at Semple's Bluff, just above the railroad bridge, and at Collins's wood 

yard, where about ten feet of thickness are to be seen,

(245)
94 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

CUlds's Ferry. At Glrilds's Ferry similar strata are exposed, the bluff 

being some thirty feet high. The lower part of this exposure consists, 

without doubt, of the same beds as those at the top of the bluff at Merriwether's Landing, given below :

(g) Section at Mermvether's Landing, Tuscaloosa River.

1. Laminated clays and sands; the sands are bluish green in color when freshly exposed, but become yellowish on weathering... ..................... 10 to 15 feet.

2. Sands ...............................................................7 to 8 feet.

3. Laminated sands and clays again to the water's edge............20 feet or more.

Much of the blue clay in the lower part of this bluff breaks up on drying 

into small chips, which are covered with white efflorescence derived from the 

oxidation of iron pyrites, nodules of which are of common occurrence in the 

clay. Along the bluff are to be seen many trunks of trees, either lignitized or 

silicified..

The lowermost five or ten feet of the beds exposed at Merriwether's 

are seen again at the top of the bluff at Long Bend, where the following 

section is exposed:

(70. Section at the head of Long Bend, Tuscaloosa River.

1. Cross bedded sands forming top of bluff.............................J5 to 10 feet.

2. Laminated, blue clays................................................2 to 3 feet.

3. Bed of quartz pebbles................................................2 to 3 feet.

4. Laminated, blue clays again, containing galls or concretions of pure, light colored 

clay................................................................4'to 5 feet.

5. Coarse grained, yellowish sands, strongly cross bedded, running down to the water 

level............................................................5 feet or more.

Hickman's. At Hickman's, below Big Log Shoals, the bluff is made 

up of laminated clays alternating with cross bedded sands in the most 

irregular manner. The thickness of these beds was not estimated, but 

their relative position is as follows: '

(i) Section at Hickman's, Tuacaloosa River.

1. Cross bedded sands of yellowish color on exposed surfaces, probably 10 feet or 

more in thickness.

2. Laminated, blue clays, more or less sandy and containing lignitized tree trunks, 

which are, in general, pyritous. The laminated, blue strata in the upper part of 

this division are much more clayey thau those in the lower part, and mark the 

bluff with parallel and approximately horizontal stripings, probably 5 to 10 feet.

3. Cross bedded sands again down to the water's edge.

At the head of Big Log Shoals we have another section of ten or 

twelve feet, as follows:

(j) Section at the head of Big Log Shoals, Tuscaloosa Eiver.

1. Compact, blue, micaceous sands......................................3 to 4 feet.

2. Laminated sands ....................................................3 to 4 feet.

3. Lignitic stratum, consisting of lignitized twigs, stems, and other fragments, embedded in bluish sands..................................................1 foot.

4. Alternating layers of blue clay and bluish, micaceous sands, the latter including 

8 bed, °f pebbles. 8 $Q 10 inches in thickness.... .. ,,. .,, .....,.. ,...4 to 5 feetj.

(246)
GENERAL CHARACTEES OF TUSCALOOSA FORMATION. 95

This section represents the lowermost of the blue clays and cross 

bedded sands, which we have considered as belonging to the Eutaw 

formation of the Cretaceous group, leaving undetermined some seventyfive feet from this to White's Bluff. At the latter begins what we shall 

now call the Tuscaloosa formation.

III. OTHER MESOZOIC STRATA, PROBABLY CRETACEOUS. 

§ 1. THE TUSCALOOSA FORMATION.

Underlying the strata last described, and forming all the country 

between White's Bluff and the city of Tuscaloosa, are beds whose age 

has not been certainly determined.

The most conspicuous'rocks are purple and mottled clays interstratified 

with white, yellowish white, pink, and light purple, micaceous sands, and 

near the base of the formation dark gray, nearly black, thinly laminated

clays, with sand partings. Typical sections of the mottled clays and 

white sands may be seen at Steele's Bluff and at White's Bluff on the 

Tuscaloosa River; and a beautiful section of the pink, micaceous sands 

is exposed in two large gullies below Havana, in Hale County, near the 

residence of Hon. A. M. Avery. The dark gray, laminated clays are 

well seen near and in the city of Tuscaloosa.

All the beds of this formation, being of loose clays and still less coherent sands, have suffered a great amount of denudation, and in consequence they form the banks of the river at only a few points.

(1) SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS OBSERVATIONS AND OPINIONS.

The peculiar formation above described appears to have been observed 

a third of a century ago by Prof. L. Harper, then State Geologist of 

Mississippi, and by Prof. Alexander Winchell.

In 1856 Professor Harper described three specimens of Ceratites, which 

he called C. Americanus,1 found by him in 1853 in the bed of the Tuscaloosa (or Warrior) Eiver near Erie, and pronounced by the elder 

Agassiz "closely allied to Ceratites Syriacusof L. v. Buch," from the 

Cretaceous rocks of .the Caucasus. Professor Harper considered it 

" somewhat doubtful" whether this was a Cretaceous fossil, and suggested that it was w ashed out from the formation underlying the known 

Cretaceous beds of that section of Alabama. He adds: " What formation this is seems difficult to decide, it being devoid of fossils. It must, 

of course, be one of the older formations intermediate between the coal 

[Carboniferous] and the lime [Cretaceous], and I should not at all be 

astonished if a careful examination should give the result of its classification among the poikilitic rocks, to which this variegated clay bears 

great resemblance." 2 Subsequently, in his Eeport on the Geology of

~~ 'Proc. Acad.Nat. Sci. Phila., Vol. VIII? pp.

»Ibid., p. 28.

,(247)
96 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [Duu.43.

Mississippi,1 he speaks of the occurrence of a clay of greenish blue color 

with red streaks, penetrated by a boring for an artesian well at Columbus, Miss., and he looks upon the occurrence of this clay as an evidence 

that " there exists between the Cretaceous and the Carboniferous formations an intermediate one, perhaps the Permian;" and in the same connec- i 

tion he again mentions the occurrence of great beds of variegated clays 

below the greeusaud of the Cretaceous formation above the town of Eutaw, in Alabama, and repeats his suggestion that the three specimens 

of Ceratites were "most probably washed out of a formation underlying the Cretaceous formation." With respect to the age of the infracretaceous formation he adds: " The Ceratites being especially a fossil of 

the Triassic formation, it is possible that this formation underlies the 

Cretaceous." 2

In 1856, also, Professor Winchell mentioned the beds of sand and clay 

which underlie the sands of Finch's Ferry, remarked upon the variegated and mottled colors of the clays and also of the red sandstone, and 

added that in Greene County many of the artesian wells which penetrate 

these beds furnish a constant supply of salt water (showing the occurrence of local deposits of salt), while the deeper borings brought up an 

abundance of quartzose pebbles; all of which he considers compatible 

with.the supposition that these deposits are of Triassic age.3 This sup- -- 

position is still further strengthened by the occurrence of "remains of 

vegetables appearing like the stems and leaves of dicotyledonous plants, 

* * * some specimens of which appeared to me indistinctly allied to 

stems of Equisetites." Professor Winchell also remarks upon the great 

scarcity of any organic remains in all these beds, extending to the 

very suburbs of the city of Tuscaloosa, which, he says, "renders the determination of their age extremely doubtful;"4 and he is evidently not 

fully convinced of the Triassic age of the beds, since in his table of 

principal strata,5 he includes them in the Lower Cretaceous.

From these extracts it seems certain that both Harper and Winchell 

were aware of the existence of this formation as early as 1856, if not in 

1853. No unmistakable reference to these strata has been found 

in Professor Tuomey's writings, though he must have known of 

the observations of the two gentlemen above named. It must be remembered, however, that at the time of his death Professor Tuomey 

had a large number of unpublished notes on the geology of Alabama, 

many of which have been lost. It is true that in 1850 Tuomey described certain "superficial beds of red loam," &c.,6 and that as early 

as 1846 Lyell mentioned " great beds of gravel and sand " in the vicinity

1 Prcl. Rep. Gebl. and Agric. Miss., p. 279, 1857.

2Ibid., p. 280.

3 Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. ScL, Vol. X, Part II, p. 92, 1856,

4 Ibid., p. 93.

6 Ibid., p. 84.

c First Bion. Rep. Geql. Ala., p. 164, 185Q,

(248)
EARLY OBSERVATIONS OF TUSCALOOSA FORMATION. 97

of Tuscaloosa;1 but these great beds of gravel, sand, and loam which 

constitute so large a proportion of the surface material about Tuscaloosa 

are undoubtedly, as Professor Tuomey has said, of comparatively recent 

age, though possibly derived primarily from a Mesozoic formation. 

Certainly neither Lyell's nor Tuomey's description applies to the predominant beds of the Tuscaloosa formation, and it appears equally 

certain that, when their descriptions were written, neither of these 

authors had in view the laminated and mottled clays of the formation, 

which appear only here and there in comparatively insignificant exposures in a few of the gullies back of the city, the majority of these 

gullies exposing only post-Tertiary gravels and sands.

The age of the various Mesozoic deposits of Alabama was discussed 

at great length nearly thirty years ago by Hall, Meek, Conrad, Hay den, 

and others.

In 1855 Hall aud Meek, referring to Tuomey's publications, classed

the various Mesozoic strata of Alabama as Cretaceous. 2 Two years later 

Meek and Hay den, making use of the information published by Tuomey, 

Harper, aud A. Winchell, together with additional matter privately 

communicated by the last named gentleman,3 correlated the lower portion of the Alabama Mesozoic4 with the lowest Cretaceous formation 

of New Jersey and Nebraska and the lower strata of Pyramid Mountain, New Mexico (regarded by Marcou as Jurassic and Triassic).5 Among 

their conclusions are these:

7th. There is at the base of the Cretaceous system, at distantly separated localities in Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Alabama, and New Jersey* 

if not indeed everywhere in North America where that system is well developed (at 

any rate east of the Rocky Mountains), a series of various colored clays aud sandstones, and beds of sand, often of great thickness, in which organic remains, except, 

ing leaves of'apparently dicotyledonous plants, fossil wood, and obscure casts of shells, 

are very rarely found, but which everywhere preserves a uniformity of lithological 

and other characters, pointing unmistakably to a similarity of physical conditions 

during their deposition over immense areas.

8th. Although the weight of evidence thus far favors the conclusion that this 

lower series is of the age of the Lower Greensand, or Neocomian of the Old World, we 

yet want positive evidence that portions of it may not be older than any part of tho 

Cretaceous system.6

1 Quar. Jour. Geol. Soc., Vol. II, p. 280, 1846; Second Visit to North America, Vol. 

II, p. 79, 1855.

2 Trans. Am. Acad., Vol. V, p. 380, 1855.

3 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Vol. IX, pp. 117-133, 1857.

 Described (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Vol. IX, p. 126,1857) as "beds of dark blue, 

soft shale or indurated clay, alternating with strata aud seams of white and mottled 

clays, green and ferruginous sand, and dark, pyritiferous shale. No organic remains, 

but stems and leaves of apparently dicotyledonous plants aud a few obscure casts of 

other fossils. Ceratites Americana of Harper, is, however, supposed to hold a position 

somewhere in this series."

5 Pac. R. R. Rep., Vol. Ill, R6surn6 aud Field Notes, p. 137, 1853-'54,

e Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Vol. IX, p. 133, 1857. - *

(249) . 

. 43 T
98 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA "OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

Later, in the same year, Hall1 pointed out that Marcou's erroneous 

reference of the Pyramid Mountain beds to the Jurassic and Triassic 

was at least partly due to mistaken identification of certain fossils, 

and followed the former authors in definitively referring the several 

formations in question to the Cretaceous, of which the lower division 

is " represented by No. 1 of the Nebraska section, and including the 

various sandstones and shales or clays at the base of the formation in 

the Llano Estacado and other portions of New Mexico; and probably 

equivalent to the lower clay beds of New Jersey [and Alabama],2 in 

which the only fossils yet known are of vegetable origin,"3 while Conrad was of the opinion that the Cretaceous deposits of Alabama form a 

passage or intermediate stage between the Cretaceous strata of Texas" 

and those of New Jersey.4 Subsequently Hilgard (who was unquestionably familiar with the suggestions of Harper and Winchell as to the 

pre-Cretaceous age of the clays and sands resting upon the Carboniferous strata in Alabama and Mississippi) united the beds immediately 

beneath the Tombigbee sands and the subjacent highly colored clays 

and sands, applied the name Eutaw group to the formation thus defined, and referred it to the Cretaceous.5 In the following year Meek 

and Hayden re-expressed their convictions as to the age of the lowest 

Mesozoic beds of Alabama, correlated the beds subsequently described 

by J. S. Newberry6 and B. F. Shurnard7 with the formation to which 

they had already referred these deposits, and applied to it the name 

Dakota group.8 In 1869 Safford followed Hilgard in uniting the 

lowest Mesozoic beds of Western Tennessee with the immediately superjaceiit strata containing Cretaceous fossils; and to the formation thus 

defined he gave the name Coffee Sand.9 The latest specific expression 

on the subject known is that of Meek, who, in 1876, with the entire 

information available before him up to the initiation of the investigations

herein described, maintains liis opinion that the beds, of dark; blue,

soft shale or indurated clay &c. of Alabama, the plastic clays of New 

Jersey, and the yellow and brown sandstones and green shales of New 

Mexico, to which he added the Eutaw group of Mississippi, are Cretaceous and the equivalent of the Dakota formation of Dakota, Nebraska, 

and Colorado;10 but Lesquereux has recently correlated the Dakota

1 Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., Vol. XXIV, pp. 72-86, 1857; also Rep. U. S. and Mex. Bound. 

Surv., Vol. I, Pt. U, 1857.

3 Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser.", Vol. XXIV, p. 75,1857. 

 'Ibid., p. 83.

4 Rep. U. S. and Mex. Bound. Surv., Vol. I, Pfc. II, p. 141, 1857. 

fi Rep. Geol. and Agr. of Miss., p. 61, 1860.

"Rep. Expl. Exped. 1859 under Macomb, p. 52, 1876; Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., Vol. 

XXIX, p. 208, 1860.

'Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, Vol. I, pp. 582-590, 1&56-1860. 

8 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Vol. XIII, pp. 419-421, 1861, 

s Geol. of Tenn., p. 411, 1869. 

>° JJ. S. Geol, Surv. Terr., Vol. IX, pp. 38-42, 1876,,

,(250)'
EARLY OBSERVATIONS OF TUSCALOOSA FORMATION. 99

group of Meek and Hayden -with the Cenomanian of Europe, 1 thereby 

increasing the probability that the formations subjacent to the Eutaw 

or other well denned portions of the Dakota group may belong to the 

Cretaceous.

Examination of their literature shows, however, that these geologists 

failed to discriminate the poorly fossiliferous beds denominated Eutaw 

in Mississippi and Alabama and Coffee Sand in Tennessee from the 

subjacent and apparently much older formations now in question; 

and, since their determination of the age of the entire series of strata 

rests on the evidence of the fossils from the admittedly Cretaceous 

Eutaw group, their opinion as to the age of the subjacent formations is 

of little value.

Although the poverty of the formation in organic remains precludes 

the possibility of determining its precise position in the geologic series, 

its relation to other Mesozoic formations of the eastern United States is

suggested by its attitude, its lithologic character, and its stratigraphic 

position.

On comparing it with the Red Sandstone of New Jersey and Connecticut (generally regarded as Triassic, though W. M. Fontaine has recently 

pronounced certain bodies of it Bhaetic < Lower Liassic2) marked 

differences are found to exist. Thus the deposits of the Tuscaloosa 

formation are seldom lithified. while those of the Bed Sandstone are, in 

general, firm sandstones, conglomerates, and shales; the strata of the 

Tuscaloosa formation are little disturbed (having only a gentle inclination of thirty or forty feet per mile to the seaward), while the Bed 

Sandstone is everywhere highly tilted, faulted, slickensided, and sometimes contorted; the former formation has never been affected by intrusives, while the latter is intersected by trap dikes and interbedded 

with trap sheets; vegetal matter in the formation exposed along the 

Tuscaloosa River is comparatively little altered, and often retains its 

woody texture, although it is usually converted into lignite, while the 

carbonaceous matter of the Bed Sandstone on Deep and Dan Bivers 

and elsewhere has been converted into true coal. Both formations are 

alike uuconformable to the subjacent and Paleozoic and Azoic formations ; but while the former is sensibly conformable to known Cretaceous formations the latter is apparently separated from the adjacent 

(but nowhere'contiguous) later.Mesozoic deposits by one of the great, 

est unconformities of the American rock series; and finally, while only 

slight and itniform elevation appears to have occurred in the eastern 

part of the continent since the formation of the Alabama deposit, great 

changes in continental configuration have unquestionably taken place 

since the formation of the highly tilted Bed Sandstone of New Jersey 

arid the Connecticut Valley. Accordingly these formations could not

'Rep. U. S. Geol. Snrv. Terr., Vol. VIII, pp. 92, 105, 1883, 

2 MOO. U. S. Geol. Surv., Vol. VI, pp. 96, 128,

'. . (351)
100 TEETIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

legitimately be correlated without the strongest possible paleontologic 

evidence ; and such evidence has not been found.

But on comparing the formation with the younger Mesozoic deposits 

of Eastern Virginia, Central Maryland, Northern Delaware, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and perhaps Central New Jersey and Southern New 

York thePotomac formation of McGee there is found to be so striking similarity in attitude, in composition, in degree of lithitication, and 

.in stratigraphic position, that the description of the .one in general 

terms will equally apply to the other; and this similarity will warrant . provisional correlation of the formations.

The age of the Potomac formation has not, however, been satisfactorily determined, as the following history of opinion concerning it indicates:

It appears to have been first discriminated by R. C. Taylor1 who, in 1835, 

spoke of it in one of its exposures as "The Secondary Horizontal Strata 

of Fredericksburg," and described half a dozen species of fossil plants 

from it, and, on the evidence of the plants, referred it to the " Oolitic 

group of Europe." Its probable equivalent was again separated from 

the fossiliferous Cretaceous deposits in New Jersey in 1840 by H. D. 

Rogers, who denominated it the " Potter's Clay formation," referred 

it to the " Upper Secondary series," 2 (in contradistinction to the ''Middle Secondary series," to which the Red Sandstone was relegated), 

and showed that it passes gradually upward into the greeusand division of the Cretaceous. In the following year it was .specifically designated the "Red Clay formation" in Delaware, and referred to the 

" Upper Secondary formation;" on the ground of its resemblance to the 

"Secondary" formation of Europe; 3 and in the same year it was described in Virginia by TV. B. Rogers, who denominated the formation 

the "Upper Secondary Sandstones and Conglomerates," 4 in contradistinction, to the "Middle Secondary Sandstone" &c. (comprised in 

the Rhsetic of Fontaiue). In 1842, he referred it to the Oolitic 5 and 

again in the same year (as a subsequent publication indicates) " to 

the upper part of the Jurassic series, corresponding probably to the 

Purbeck beds of British geologists." 6 The bases for these references 

appear to have been'(l) the evidence of uudescribed plant and animal 

remains, (2) the lithologic character of the deposits, and (3) the strati- 

' graphic relations of the formation. In 1845, after examining this and 

associated formations in company with Conrad, Sir Charles Lyell 7 

-"arrived at the conclusion that the whole of the New Jersey series [of

!Trans. Geol. Soc. Pa., Vol. I, pp. 320-325,1835.

2 Geol. of N. J., Fiual Rep., pp. 177-179, 1840.

3 Memoir Geol. Surv. Del., 1837-'38, pp. 14-16, 1841.

4 Rep. Prog. Geol. Surv. Virg., p. 29, 1840. ' . 

5 Reprint, Geol. of the Virginias, p. 542. 

- ^Proc. Bos. Soc. Nat. His., Vol. XVIII, p. 104, 1875, 

7 Trav. in N,'A., Vol. I, p. 63,1845. 

(252)
fijoiSsox?J EARLY OBSERVATIONS OF POTOMAC FORMATION. 161

Cretaceous deposits] agrees in its chronological relations with the 

European White Chalk, or, to speak more precisely, with the formations 

ranging from the Gault to the Maestricht beds inclusive;" but his lan. 

guage in another publication suggests that his expression is designed 

to apply only to the fossiliferous formations overlying the plastic clays 

constituting the upper division of the Potomac formation.1 Certainly, 

his conclusion rested in large part on his own observations of conformity 

and collections of shells from the fossiliferous formations. In 1867, as 

already mentioned, Meek and Hayden, after visiting the exposures 

and examining the collections of the State geologic survey and discussing the paleoutologic, lithologic, and stratigraphic evidence then 

available, correlated the plastic clays forming the base of the newer Meso'zoic of New Jersey the "Potter's Clay " formation of H. D.Bogers 

with the European Neocomiau.2 In 1860, Tyson recognized what appears to be the same formation in Maryland, denominated it "Formation No. 21," 3 and, on the questionable evidence of a few imperfectly silicified casts of undetermined fossils, a new genus of Cycas, silicified and lignitized coniferous wood, a fragment of a rib of a whale, and " part of 

the teeth and bones of an herbiferous Saurian," referred it (including 

the " Iron Ore Clays ") to the Cretaceous; but two years later, on the evidence of the cycad alone, concluded (with the expressed concurrence of 

L. "Agassiz) that it ought to be placed " at least as low as the Oolitic 

period." 4 On assuming control of the geologic survey of New Jersey, Cook recognized and repeatedly described the formation constituting the base of the newer Mesozoic series. In 1865 he denominated 

it the ^Fire and Potter's Clays " and definitively referred it to the Cretaceous, 5 though without explicit-statement of the reasons for the 

reference. In the same year Leidy G adopted the taxonomy of Meek 

andHaydeu,aud described and referred to the Cretaceous a reptilian 

tooth (Astrodon Jolinstoiiii} from the ''Iron Ore Clays ' ' of Maryland. In 

1868, Cook substituted the name "Plastic Clays"7 for the formation as 

developed in New Jersey, and correlated it with the Lower G-reensand 

of Europe on paleontologic and stratigraphic grounds. During the 

same year, however, Conrad 8 referred the formation to the Triassic, on 

the evidence of two casts of lamellibranchs (called " Cretaceous species" in the title), and a few plant remains referred to the genus Cyclopteris, which he found within it; while Cope, who.found within it in 

Western New Jersey "leaves of dicotyledonous trees,ctenoid fish scales,

1 Qnar. Jour. Geol. Soc., Vol. I, p. CO, 1845.

2 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila., Vol. IX, pp. 127-133, 1857.

3 First Rep. Agr< Chem. Maryland, pp. 41-43, 1860.

4 Sec. Rep. Agr. Chem. Maryland, p. 54,1862.

?> Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. N. J., p. 24,1864.

o.Smitbsonian Cont., Vol. XIV, Cret. Rep. U. S., pp. 2-4, 1865.

7 Geol. of N. J., pp. 36, 241, 246-248, 1868.

8 Am. Jour. Cone., Vol. IV, p. 279,1868.

(253)
102 TERTIARY AND CRETACfiOtfS STRATA Otf ALABAMA.

and numerous Union idse ia a tolerably good state of preservation," correlated it with Meek and Hayden's "EarlierCretaceous No. 1" (Dakota), 

although the six species of Uaios and Anodoutas contained within it have 

"some analogy with those of the Wealden, procured by Dr. Mantell 

ia England." l In 1875 W. B. Eogers, 2 ref.-rriug to Tysoa's discovery of stumps of cycads ia the formation, relegated it to the horizon 

of the Upper Jurassic rocks, aad suggested that " we may fiad here a 

passage group analogous to the Wealden of British geology." In the 

next year, after an exhaustive review of its paleontologic and stratigraphic relations, Meek3 referred the formation unquestioningly to the 

Cretaceous, and suggested that it represents a " part, if not the whole, 

of the Upper Greeusand." In 1878 Cook retained the name " Plastic 

Clay " for the formation as developed in New Jersey, and, on the authority of Lesquereux and Gabb, who examined, respectively, the plant 

and animal remaios fouad within it, again correlated it with the Lower 

Greensand of Europe.4 Lesquereux remarks that the plant remains 

of the formation have, "so far as they are determinable, the characters of the flora of the Dakota group, or of the Lower Cretaceous of 

Nebraska and Kansas. This is Lower Cretaceous for this country, 

equivalent to a lower member of the Upper Cretaceous of Europe."5 

During the next year Fontaine described the formation as exhibited 

in the Fredericksburg and Petersburg belts, and, on the evidence of a 

moderately abundant flora, correlated the upper division of the strata 

of the former belt with the Wealden6 and those of the tower part 

with the Upper Oolite,7 and referred the whole of the Petersburg 

belt to the Wealden.8 In 1880 ('?) Dana9 adopted the taxonomy of 

Meek and Hayden, and referred the Plastic Clay of Cook and the 

correlative deposits in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia to the Cretaceous, to which he also ascribes the Alabama beds supposed to 

yield Harper's doubtful genus Ceratites. In 1881 this formation was 

recognized in Pennsylvania by C. E. Hall11 (though its existence there 

was long ago denied by H. D. Kogers), 12 who denominated it " Wealden 

Clay" and classed it as " a remnant of the lowest clay beds of the New 

Jersey Cretaceous (Wealden?)." In the same year Britton 13 denominated

'Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Vol. XX, p. 157,18G3. 

2 Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. His., Vol. XVIII, p. 105,1875. 

3 Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., Vol. IX, p. xliv, 1876. 

" 4 Rep. Clay Deposits of N. J., pp. 25-30, 1878. 

5 Ibid., pp. 27, 23.

6 Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., Vol. XVII, p. 156.

7 Ibid., p. 157.

8 Ibid., p. 233.

lJ Man. of Geol., Dana, 3ded., pp. 454-458. 

10 Ibid., p. 468.

ll Sec. Geol. Surv. Pa., Rep.Prog., C6 , p. 19.

12 Geol. Pa., Vol. I, p. 59, 1858. "Tertiary and Cretaceous strata border tlie State upon 

the SE. in New Jersey, but they do not cross the Delaware River into Pennsylvania." 

"Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. II, p. 170, 1882.

(254)
EARLY OBSERVATIONS OF POTOMAC FORMATION. 103

the formation as represented on Staten Island the Cretaceous formation and remarked that ifc is "a direct continuation of the 'Plastic 

Clay' division of the Cretaceous, so named by the New Jersey geologists, and lie[s] at the base of the formation in Eastern North America." 

Newberry1 also, during the same year, expressed the conviction that 

these strata are Cretaceous. In L8S3 Fontaine2 discriminated the older 

Mesozoic and the younger Mesozoic of Virginia, and remarked that 

"the younger Mesozoic strata have very little in common with "the 

older, but expressed no more definite opinion as to their age. In the 

same year Uhler3 described the formation as developed in Maryland in 

a popular address, discussed its flora and fauna, denominated it the 

Wealden, and referred it to the upper part of the Jurassic. A year 

later Chester 4 applied the New Jersey name of Plastic Clay to the formation in Delaware and referred it to the "L'ower Cretaceous (Wealden !)," but upon what basis is not evident. In the same year appeared W. B. Eogers's posthumous geologic map of Virginia and West 

Virginia,5 in which the formation is classed as " Upper Jnrassic passing 

upward into base of Cretaceous." In the same year also McGree,6 after 

assembling and adjudicating the entire available evidence as to the age 

of the formation, provisionally mapped it as Cretaceous.7 One of the 

latest published expressions, and perhaps the most authoritative, is 

that of R. P. Whitfield, who describes five species of lamellibranchiate 

shells from this formation in New Jersey. Whitfield considers that 

"Mr. Conrad may have been mistaken" in regard to the casts of Astarte 

from the ash colored clays of this formation, referred by him to the Triassic, and expressed the " feeling " that the formation more probably 

represents the Jurassic than the Cretaceous. 8 In the same volume 

Cook applies the eminently suitable name Raritan Clays 9 to the formation as developed in New Jersey, and, on stratigraphic grounds, adheres 

to his opinion that the formation is a part of the Cretaceous. Still 

more recently Fontaine 10 has re-examined the various exposures of the 

formation in Virginia and made extensive collections of plant remains 

from them. He finds that while the general facies of the flora is Ne.ocomiau there is a uotable commingling of Jurassic^and even earlier forms. 

Accordingly the precise equivalence of the formation with any of the 

European or western American divisions cannot be established.

1 Trans. N. Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. I, p. 57, 1831-'32.

2 Mon. U. S. Geol. Surv., Vol. VI, p. 2, 1883.

3 Johns Hopkins Univ. Cir., Vol. II, p. 53, 1883. 

"Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., pp. 250-2, 1884. 

6 Reprint Geol. of the Virgs., map, 1883-'84. 

«Fifth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., PI. II, 1883-'84. 

7 Fifth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Survey, PI. II, 1885. 

8 Mon. U. S. Geol. Surv., Vol. IX, pp. 22, 23,1885. 

9 Ibid., p. x. 

10 Sixth Ann. Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv., pp.85 and 8G, 1834-'85.

(255)
104 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOtfS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

y. OBSERVATIONS FROM 1833 TO'1333 OF OCCURRENCES OX THE TUSCALOOSA. .

The recent work upon the basal Mesozoics in Alabama may be summarized as follows: In the spring of 1883 Mr. L. 0. Johnson, while engaged in the work of the U". S. Geological Survey, observed the purple 

and mottled clays, briefly described above, in Dallas County, and on 

Big and Little Mulberry Creeks in Autauga County, and obtained from 

well borers many notes of their occurrence, and conjectured that they 

belonged to a formation anterior to the Cretaceous. I had seen the 

same clays in 1871 on the road between Tuscaloosa and Eutaw, without 

reaching any decision as to their age. In August, 1883, upon the joint 

excursion of which this paper is the record, we had the satisfaction of 

observing every outcrop of these beds along the Tuscaloosa Eiver below 

Tuscaloosa, and in the autumn of 1884, at the joint expense of Mr. T. H. 

Aldrich and the Geological Survey of Alabama, Mr. D. W. Langdon, jr., 

undertook an excursion through Bibb County along the Cahaba Eiver, 

for the purpose of studying this formation there.

In the summer of 1885 the writer had the opportunity of examining 

many exposures of these clays and sands in the interior of Tuscaloosa, 

Hale, Bibb, and Autauga Counties.

In the earl}* part of 1880 we found in the city of Tuscaloosa a flue exposure of dark gray, laminated clays, full of leaf impressions, which 

promise to furnish the 'means of determining definitively the age of the 

formation.

Some leaf impressions collected by Mr. Langdon and the writer in 

Bibb County were submitted to Professor Leo Lesquereux. One of these 

was considered by him to be referable to the genus Podozamites, with 

affinities to P. laneeolatus and P. distans of the Trias or Khsetic, and with 

still closer affinities to P. pulchellus Heer, from the Jurassic of Spitzbergeu. Professor Lesquereux remarks: " I have found some species of

the genus in the Cretaceous, but none with leaves of the same form as 

yours. The P. pulchellus has, like your leaf, distinct, coarse, somewhat 

distant primary nerves, separated by thin, punctate ones."1 This leaf 

impression, so far as it goes, appears thus to confirm the evidence afforded 

by the Ceratites of Professor Harper, and the leaf impressions of Professor Winchell in so far as these indicate a pre-Cretaceous age for the 

formation.

This evidence, unfortunately, is not decisive. The plant remains found 

by Professor Winchell were not determined even geuerically; while the 

specimens of Ceratites were not found in situ in the beds in question, 

but " on a sand bank in the middle of the river * * * [in the area of 

known Cretaceous rocks] among other evidently Cretaceous fossils," 2

1 Six (Rep. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., VoL VIII, pp. 27-30,1883). 

2 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pliila., Vol. VIII, p. 126, 1856.

(256)
TUSCALOOSA FORMATION. 105

and at least one of them has since been pronounced, by no less competent an authority than Meek, " to be a worn specimen of the old genus 

Ammonites.m

Some better specimens from the city of Ttiscaloosa were determined 

recently by Professor Lesquereux. They all point to the Cretaceous age 

of these beds, although the evidence is not yet conclusive.

In view of the diversity of opinion indicated by the foregoing review 

and of the paucity of organic remains in the Potomac formation and 

correlative deposits on the Atlantic slope, and in view of our uncertainty as to the exact equivalence of the deposits exposed on the Tuscaloosa River, we are unwilling to express ourselves decidedly as to the 

age of the formation to which they belong, though we incline to the 

belief that it is Cretaceous.

Since the formation to which the purple clays and associated strata 

belong is clearly distinct from those already recognized and named in 

Alabama and since it cannot be co-ordinated with certainty with any 

other formation in this country, it seems desirable that it should receive 

a specific designation. We therefore propose for it the name Tuscaloosa formation, after the name of the city at which and the river along 

which its typical exposures occur.

The stratigraphic relations of the Tuscaloosa formation may be seen 

by reference to the general section (Plate XXI, p. 185). In constructing this part of the section we have assumed a uniform dip towards the 

southwest of about forty feet to the mile. The indicated thickness is, 

accordingly, only approximate.

Rock Bluff. Between Big Log Shoals and White's Bluff no rocks are 

seen along the river banks, except at Kock Bluff, where a pebbly conglomerate with ferruginous cement forms a bluff and, lower down the 

river, a rocky reef. This rock is underlaid by a gray or bluish clay. 

The position of this stratum is about seventy-five feet below the lowest 

of the Eutaw beds as exposed at Big Log Shoals.

At White's Bluff we see the first of a series of purple and mottled 

clays with iuterstratified sands, which occur at internals as high up the 

river as Mrs. Prince's Landing, near Carthage. At the lowest estimate, 

these cliiys and sands are 275 feet in thickness.

- In detail, the sections exposed along the river, in geologically descending order, are as follows:

(a) Section at White's Bluff, Greene County, Tuscaloosa River.

1. Purple clay, mottled with, irregular patches of gray clay, both purple and gray 

portions sandy ................ ....................................... 10 feet.

2. Micaceous sands of light, nearly whi te color .............................. 1 foot.

3. Light colored sands, with little or no mica............................... 14 feet.

1 Rep. U. S. Geol. Snrv. Terr., Vol. IX, p. 40, 1876. 

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106 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [DULL. 43.

A few miles higher up the river the same beds are again seen at 

Steele's Bluff, as follows:

(b) Section at Steele's Bluff, Tuscaloosa River.

1. Purple and mottled clays ................................................ 10 feet.

2. Light colored, often nearly white, coarse grained sands, holding a few small pebbles in places; the pebbles mostly of cherfc, not quartz............. 10 to 12 feet.

The sands in the above section are in places strongly cross bedded 

and on exposure to the atmosphere show a tendency to harden into a 

pretty firm sandstone, which is, however, quite friable and easily rubbed 

down between the fingers after the thin outside coating of hauler 

material has been removed.

At Battles Landing there is a thin bed of ferruginous sandstone, extremely hard and firm and very similar to the ferruginous rocks so 

often formed in the drift beds.

At Williford's Landing the purple clay shows from the water's edge 

about ten feet in thickness, and over it occur second bottom or river 

deposits. Between the two a great number of bold springs of very 

pure water break out. An artesian well, said to be 400 feet deep, was 

bored at this place thirty or forty years ago, but no record of the boring 

is now to be had. The water flows out at the top and is not salty. 

This is the farthest north of any of the artesian wells of Middle Alabama. The locality is Sec. 31, T. 24 K, E. 4 E., in* the lower edge of 

Tnscaloosa County.

Just above Williford's Landing and at Bealle's Landing there are 

reefs of rock forming shoals at low water. These rocks are sandstones 

and conglomerates, with ferruginous cement, similar to that already noticed at Battle's Landing.

We see the last outcrop along the river of the purple mottled clays 

at Mrs. Prince's Landing,1 where they are about six or eight feet above 

the water's edge.

^ Between Mrs. Prince's Landing and Tuscaloosa the immediate banks of 

the river are with few exceptions formed by the loose materials of the second bottom deposits. At one or two places, however, given below, 

appear exposures of more ancient rocks. With a uniform dip of the 

strata, the distance between Mrs. Prince's Landing and Tuscaloosa would 

represent a thickness of more than five hundred feet, only forty or fifty 

of which are at all exposed along the river.

Saunders's Ferry. At or near Saunders's Ferry, just below the Twelve 

Mile Eock, there is a fine exposure made by a landslide. Here are 

seen about thirty to forty feet perpendicular of thin, laminated clays and 

sands of a dark gray color, containing no recognizable fossils, but many 

small fragments of lignitic matter. Very similar beds have also been 

noticed by myself on the road from Tuscatoosa to Oarrollton.

1 They may be seen, however, above Mrs. Prince's in many places, in the hills a few 

rods back from the immediate banks of the river. See section (c), next page.

(258)
TUSCALOOSA STRATA, TUSCALOOSA EIVER. . 107

At the time of my subsequent visit to this locality certain overlying 

strata omitted in 1883, because considered to be apart of the drift, were 

added, as well as some beds, nearer the water level, at that time hidden 

by alluvial deposits. The full section is as follows:

(c) Section above Saunders's Ferry, Tuscaloosa Eiver.

1. Rather massive clays of greenish and purple colors, breaking w.ith conchoidal 

fracture. On drying, these clays become hard and rock-like, resembling then, 

except in color, some of. the claystones of the Buhrstone formation. These clays 

when Avet soften and slide down the slopes, covering them completely in places. 

In this clay we find many rounded masses of ferruginous and silicious matter of 

oolitic structure. Thickness of the clays ...... ...1........ ............40 feet.

2. Laminated, saudy clays, gray, with sand partings ............ .............5 feet.

This bed is rather more coherent than the underlying and forms a slightly projecting or overhanging ledge.

3. Gray, cross bedded sands, with partings of clay along many of the planes of false

bedding ....*...-..........---........ ........................ 7 ............25 feet.

This and the preceding might readily be considered together as one member, 

more clayey in the upper five feet and sandier below, and this is our grouping of 

1833. In these beds we find a good deal of lignitic matter and some leaf impressions very well preserved.

4. Slope or bench forty to fifty feet wide, covered by red clay and sands, sliddendown 

. from No. 1 and washed out of Nos. 2 and 3...............................3 feet.

5. Gray or whitish, cross bedded sands, forming the immediate bank of the river.15 feet. 

H. Blue, micaceous sands to water level................ ......................5 feet.

This section of 140 feet .is undoubtedly of Tuscaloosa materials.

At Venable>s Landing there is a sandstone bluff 15 to 20 feet high, 

formed of bluish, micaceous sands indurated into a tolerably firm rock 

in places. The bedding planes of this rock are strongly ferruginous 

and numbers of chalybeate springs break out from the sides of the bluff.

About five and a half miles below Tuscaloosa there are to be seen at 

the water's edge some rocks which consist of sandy clays somewhat indurated. These clays are interstratified with thin beds of lignitic matter, with black scales resembling graphite disseminated through it. 

The lignitic matter consists of indistinguishable impressions of leaves 

and stems, and occasionally throughout the ma'ss are nodules of iron 

pyrites, and not unfrequently fragments of stems lignitized or converted into charcoal, coated externally with a thin shell of pyrite.

In the banks of the branch at the University of Alabama there is a 

very similar small remnant of the Tuscaloosa formation, mottled clays, 

embedded in the red loam. The same, mottled purple and gray, appear 

at several places along the road leading from the university to the city 

of Tuscaloosa and in the gullies back of the city toward the river. In 

many of these localities the clays have evidently been partly redistributed, drift fashion, but in one or two places we see the undisturbed beds, 

consisting of dark bluish gray, nearly black clay, in laminae (half an inch 

thick), separated by partings of white sand, six or eight feet thick, with 

white and yellowish, strongly cross bedded sands underlying them. It

'(259)
108 TERTIAEY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA, fBULL. 43.

is difficult to determine the thickness of these sands, as they are so hidden by the debris from above, bat it is not less than 20 feet. 

In one of the gullies back of Tuscaloosa we get the following section:

(d) Section in Tuscaloosa.

 - **,

1. Pebbles, sand, and red loam of the Drift, forming the plateau on which the city of

Tuscaloosa stands .... ............................................. ......15 feet.

2. Light gray, somewhat massive clays, mottled with yellow, but becoming laminated 

below .................................................................. 3 feet.

3. Dark blue, nearly black, laminated clays, laminae half an inch thick, separated by 

thin partings of white sand. Tha clay contains the leaf impressions which 

have been examined .................. .... ............................ ..'3 feet.

4. Yellowish gray, laminated clays, also containing a few leaf impressions, of rather 

variable thickness.......................................................2 feet.

5. Strongly cross bedded, yellowish or nearly white, sharp sand, with a few streaks 

of clay irregularly distributed through it. Thickness uncertain, but not less 

than............................................ .......................20 feet.

We cannot say what lies below the sands, since the strata of this 

formation about Tuscaloosa have suffered a great amount of denudation 

by erosion and their outcrops appear only here and there.- The erosion 

hollows have been filled in with pebbles and sands of the Drift, often to 

the depth of 50 or CO feet. These circumstances aud the fact that the 

clays themselves have in places been broken up and redeposited in 

lumps among the drift pebbles have caused this formation to be overlooked or confounded with the Drift. The dark gray, laminated clays 

above mentioned contain many beautifully preserved leaf impressions, 

which are now being studied and which will probably fix definitely the 

age of the formation.

It will thus be seen that the exposures along the.river give us an insight into the composition of only a very small proportion of the strata 

which underlie the purple clays.

3. OBSERVATIONS JTUOM 1833 TO 1885 OF OCCURRENCES A WAY FROM THE TUSCALOOSA.

The observations made since 1883 by each of us independently and 

by D. W. Langdon, jr., of the Geological Survey of Alabama, have 

confirmed our first conclusion as to the relative positions of the various 

strata of this formation, and at the same time have added to our kuowl- ^ 

edge of its component parts.

The observations of Mr. Johnson have extended over parts of Autauga and Dallas Counties, on the waters of Mulberry Creek, and, in 

1881, to Tishomingo and Itawamba Counties, in Mississippi. Those of 

the writer and of Mr. Laugdon have extended over parts of Tuscaloosa, 

Hale, Bibb, and Autauga Counties.

To these observations are added those of Prof. A. Winchell, who 

describes the formation under discussion in the following terms i 1

1 Proc. ASM. Assoc. Adv. Sci., Vol. X, Part II, p. 93,1856. 

(2GO)
6j'c>HXBOND ] TUSCALOOSA STRATA INLAND. 109

At about eight miles above Eutaw the shale becomes softer, the lamination disappears, and we have beds of light clay, mottled curiously with blue, red, aud yellow, 

reminding one forcibly of the Keuper of the Germans. More than this, we find along 

the roadsides and the- margins of ravines in the upper part of Greene County largo 

masses of red andpoikilitic sandstone, exceedingly compact, and used for underpinning buildings. Add to this that very many of the artesian wells in Greene Countyi 

which penetrate these beds, furnish a constant flow "of salt water, showing the occurrence of local deposits of salts, while the deepest borings have brought up abundance of quartzose pebbles, and we have four well established facts compatible with 

the supposition of the Triassic age of these beds, without mentioning the occurrence 

of vegetable remains, some specimens of which appeared to. me indistinctly allied to 

sterns of Equiaetites.

These beds continue without much change to the very suburbs of Tuscaloosa; and 

. a very good section is seen at Foster's Ferry, within a few miles of town.

The almost total absence of organic remains from these shaly and poikilitic deposits renders the determination of their age extremely uncertain.

It seeing probable that the red sandstone mentioned by Professor Wincbell is the same as that occurring at Battle's Gin, on the river, and at 

Havana, presently to be described.

On going by land from Tuscaloosa to Eutaw, on the western side of 

the river, in 1886, we have been able to repeat the observations of Professor Winchell. Two miles west of Saunders's Ferry and about ten 

miles west of Tuscaloosa, the road passes by the edge of a great gully 

washed out of materials of the Tuscaloosa formation. This gully is of 

nearly 100 feet perpendicular depth, and the bottom slopes then very 

gradually down 40 or 50 feet more.

(a) Section of gully 10 miles west of Tuscaloosa,

1. Drift and red loam............... ....... *.... ...... .... .................. 10 feet.

2. Sharp, yellowish, cross bedded sands, with strings of light yellow, chert pebbles," 

snbangular and in many cases showing casts of encriuital buttons and bryozoaus 

and other sub-Carboniferous fossils ...............................20 to 25 feet.

3. White and red, laminated clays of very irregular thickness, often discontinuous .......................J....................................... ......5 feet.

4. Firm, yellowish sands ............................................!......12 feet.

5. Bed of subangular, white and yellow chert pebbles; with sub-Carboniferous fossils ........................:...................................... ....2£feet.

6. Red clay in irre'gular beds or pockets.......... .................. about 3 to 4 feet.

7. Yellowish white sands, with thin streaks of pebbles ........................8 feet.

8. Red clay and sand .......................................................I foot.

9. Strongly cross bedded, yellow sands, with thin, irregular sheets of clay following 

some of the lines of false bedding ....................................... 35 feet.

Below this, cross bedded sands with clay partings continue to the 

lowest part of fhe gully, probably 40 feet below the above section.

From this place down to Knoxville nearly every hill reveals the materialsof this formation, consisting mainly of yellowish and reddish, cross 

bedded sands, with clays (red and purple) sparingly interspersed. The 

section of the gully above given might be taken as typical of the strata 

exposed over this'en tire distance.

In places thtf sands are cemented by iron into quite firm sandstones, 

which are quarried for rough work. The rock can be easily cut wh,en,

(261)
110 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

freshly dug, but it soon hardens on exposure. I am strongly inclined 

to believe that the red sandstones and conglomerates seen at Battle's 

Gin, above Williford's Landing, near Havana, &c., are bedded rocks 

of this formation; at any rate the constituent sands are of this age, 

while the induration into rocks, by the ferruginous solutions may have 

occurred in comparatively-recent times.

A short distance south of Kuoxville we lose sight entirely of the 

red and purple clays which have been to us a characteristic of the Tuscaloosa formatioD, and begin to encounter the glauconitic, cross bedded 

sands, laminated clays, and other materials which we have classed with 

the Eutaw formation. If we assume a dip of 30 or 40 feet to the mile, 

estimating from the width of outcrop, there will be some 900 feet or more 

of the Tuscaloosa and 300 to 400 feet of the Eutaw formation. In both, 

these materials have been deposited under almost identical conditions, 

except that at the base and at the summit of the Tuscaloosa formation 

we find heavy beds, 40 feet or more in thickness, of massive clays of red, 

purple, and greenish colors, and also sparingly interspersed through 

the whole of the formation are thinner beds of similar clays. No beds 

of this character have been observed in what we have called the Eutaw 

formation, the only beds of which, other than sands, are thin, laminated, 

gray clays, with partings of sand.

The pebbles of the Tuscaloosa formation are, as a rule, subangular, of 

chert, and in many cases fossiliferous; those of the Eutaw, well rounded, 

of quartz, and non-fossiliferous, so far as our observations go. The 

cross bedding of the sands in the Tuscaloosa formation is much.less 

pronounced than in the Eutaw, as if effected in less rapidly flowing 

waters. The two formations are further alike in the circumstance that 

their only fossils are leaf impressions and lignitized trunks, the marine 

fossils in the sands just below the Eotten Limestone characterizing the 

transition beds which have been named "Tombigbee Sand "by Dr.

Hilgarcl. t

One may well hesitate to separate very widely these two formations, 

whose strata were deposited continuously and under very similar conditions and contain the same character of fossil remains, until a thorough 

study of the leaf impressions and other fossils shall have established 

their positions in the geological scale. In our southern post-Tertiary 

Drift, our Eutaw, and our Tuscaloosa formations we have three groups 

of very similar strata, whose distinctive characters it is difficult, if not 

impossible, to describe in words, since there are cross bedded sands with 

interspersed sheets and beds of clay and pebbles in all three; yet in the 

field the differences are so easily recognized in the topography, the timber, in the color and other qualities of the soils, &c., that we are never 

long in doubt as to which formation we have under consideration.

A few miles south of the village of Havana on the Greensborough 

road begin the yellowish red, glauconitic, cross bedded sands of the 

Eutaw group, which extend down to Greensborough,

(262)
U. b. UEOL331CAL SJRVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. IX

GUl.l.Y IN SANDS OF THE TUSCALOOSA FORMATION, NEAR HAVANA, HALE COUNTY
TUSCALOOSA STRATA INLAND. Ill

Just north of the first appearance of these cross bedded, glaucouitic 

sands, near the residence of Hon. A. M. Avery, there are several very 

deep gullies near the road where the upper beds of the Tuscaloosa formation are beautifully exposed (Plate IX). These beds are as follows:

(Z>) Section two miles south of Havana, Hale County.

1. Red surface loain, forming exceedingly fertile soil.................. 10 to 15 feet.

2. Yellow sands and pebbles, conformable in stratification wifch the underlying 

strata ........................................................... .10 to 12 feet.

3. Purple and pink, micaceous, argillaceous sands, most beautifully cross bedded,

20 to 30 feet.

That these deposits lie very near the summit of the Tuscaloosa formation is evident from the fact that the cross bedded, glauconitic sands of 

the Eutaw formation occur at the surface only a very short distance to 

the southward. The red loam forming the uppermost of the section

resembles-in some degree the usual red loam of much of the southern

part of the State, except that it is of much deeper color and apparently 

more fertile than most of these loams. It may be derived from the disintegration of the glauconitic sands of the Eutaw. formation or from the 

uppermost of the Tuscaloosa formation. The pebble bed No. 2 resembles also in some degree the pebble beds of the Drift, but as it is entirely conformable in stratification with the underlying beds (a circumstance of rare occurrence in the Drift) I am inclined to consider this 

bed also as a part of the Tuscaloosa formation. The sands No. 3 differ 

from anything which occurs in the Drift, and I have seen the like only 

at one other place, viz, on Mulberry Creek, in Autauga County, near 

the residence of Hon. James W. Lapsley.

North of Havana the underlying beds of this formation are exposed 

in the following order: At Havana, and appearing at intervals for several miles northward, there is a thick bed of ferruginous conglomerate, 

best seen in a ravine back of the town of Havana, where it forms perpendicular bluffs ten to twelve feet in height at the top of the ravine. 

Large masses of the rock have split off from time to time and have rolled 

down into the gorge below.1 It has been impossible thus far to determine whether to refer this conglomerate to the Drift or to the Tuscaloosa formation. Its great extent and its persistence seem to favor the 

supposition that it belongs to the older formation, yet it is in appearance quite similar to a conglomerate of very common occurrence in the

1 Underneath the ledge of rock shallow caves have been washed out, and in these 

flourish several rare ferns, especially Aaplenium ebcnoides Schw., which was discovered 

here by Miss Julia Tutwiler and is interesting from the fact that it is known to occur 

elsewhere only along the banks of the Schuylkill River. Besides this fern, there are 

Camptosorus rhizophyllus or walking leaf, Trichomanettradicans, and Aspediummarginale. 

The appearance of this conglomerate and the ferns growing in the shallow caves beneath it recall very forcibly the Carboniferous conglomerate which forms the surface 

over so great a part of the counties-of Marion and "VYlnston.

(263)
112 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

Drift everywhere. I do not know, however, of any similar Drift formation approaching this in the thickness of the rock. 1

On the south side of Big Sandy Creek we get again a very good section of the purple clays which form the lower members of the Tuscaloosa formation, as follows:

(c) Section on Big Sandy Creek, Tuscaloom Count;/.

1. Purple and mottled clays like those occurring at Steele's Bluff, on the Tuscaloosa 

River..................................................................30 feet.

2. Light yellow sands, with pebbles, also similar to those seen at the above named 

locality and at White's Bluff .................. ...................10 to 15 feet.

3. Gray, laminated clay, inclosing a liguitized tree trunk, at base of hill.. .4 to 5 feet.

Farther along the road the thickness of the purple clays is seen to be 

at least 50 feet and they crop out along the hillsides for a good many 

miles. It is easy to recognize them even without close examination, 

for wherever they come to the surface in the roads it is necessary in 

wet weather to lay down a causeway, since the tenacity of the clay is 

so great that the road would otherwise be impassable.

About seven and .a half miles from Tuscaloosa, where the Greensborough road crosses Little Sandy Creek, we get an exposure of what 

we suppose to be still lower members of the formation. This section 

was first examined in 1884 by Mr. Langdon. It is as follows:

(d) Section on Little Sandy Creek, Tascaloosa County.

1. Micaceous, yellow sands, including a thin streak of gray, liguitic clay, with small 

pieces of liguitic matter...... .................. ....... ............... ..10 inches.

2. Gray, laminated clays, highly micaceous...................................6 feet.

Between the two branches of Sandy Creek the purple and mottled 

clays appear upon nearly every hillside. North of Little Sandy Creek 

we see no more of the strata of this formation along this road.

In November, 1884, D. W. Langdon, jr., made a study of this formation in Bibb County, and in 18S5, in company with Mr. Langdon, I examined its outcrops in the western part of Autauga County and the 

adjoining parts of Dallas and in those parts of Bibb and Tuscaloosa 

Counties lying between the towns of Tuscaloosa and Eandolph.

In the western part of Autauga County, near the post office, Vineton, 

there are several exposures of the upper beds of the Tuscaloosa formation, shown in the following sections:

(e) Section near Col. J. W. Lapsletfs, near.Vinelon, Atitauya County, No. 1.

1. Stratified clays of white, pink, and purple colors, iuterlauunated with thin sheets 

of yellow sands; the lower 8 feet of this bed-have a larger proportion of 

sands................................................................. 10| feet.

2. Gray, laminated clays, with partings of purple sands .....................5 feet.

3. Yellowish -white, laminated clays, with purple and other bright colors on the dividing planes, 5 feet showing; but the same beds appear to continue down the hill 

for at least 10 feet farther ..............................................15 feet.

1 A careful comparison of the pebbles should be made, 

* (264)
SMITH 

JOH "HONN"] TUSCALOOSA STRATA, AUTAUGA COUNTY. 113

At another locality near Colonel Lapsley's, in a gully, we see the folio wing section:

(/) Section near Col. J. W. Lapsley's, No. 2.

1. Yellowish sands, beautifully cross bedded .................................4 feet.

2. White arid pink clays, iuterbedded with yellow sands. ..........'....,.....10 feet.

Along the road leading from Colonel Lapsley's to the railroad station (Jones's switch), we get another section of the strata represented 

in the first section above, together with some underlying beds. In the 

upper part, these beds, being exposed along a road, are much stained, 

so that it is impossible to correlate them, foot by foot, with those exposed in Section 1, although they have about the same altitude and 

are distant from each other only about half a mile.

Below some 40 or 50 feet of red loam containing fragments and 

bowlders of ferruginous sandstone, such as characterizes the Drift formation we get the following section:

(0) Section near Col. J. W. Lapsley's, No. 3.

1. Purple clays, interbedded with reddish sands............................ ..6 feet.

2. Mottled (red and yellow), sandy clays, partly obscured by overlying drift, pebbles, 

aud sands.............................................................. 12 feet.

3. Red sands, containing small, lenticular bits of yellow clay ................5 feet.

4. White aud yellow laminated clays..........'........................ ..6 to 8 feet.

5. Strata iiot seen ................................................ ....10 to 15 feet.

6. Variegated, micaceous, and slightly argillaceous sands, strongly cross bedded; 

colors, bright and sharply defined, pink, dark purple, yellow, aud red..5 to 6 feet.

The strata of bed No. C are identical in appearance and in composition with the variegated sands exposed in the gullies at Mr. Avery's, 

near Havana, in Hale County, above described. I did not notice here 

the yellow sands with pebbles immediately over the variegated sands, 

but they may have been in the division No. 5, here obscured by surface materials.-

Across a small ravine from this section, the yellow sandy clays have 

been washed for yellow'ocher, the beds occupying about the same position as Nos. 2, 3, and 4 of the preceding:

(7i) Section at the ocher beds, near Vineton.

1. Yellowish red, cross bedded sands, inclosing thin streaks of purple clay .. ..6 feet.

2. Yellow, sandy clay, from Avhich the ocher is obtained.....................16 feet.

The sand makes about 80 per cent, of'the above bed, and the ocher 

is obtained from it by washing. The ocher is of excellent quality and 

of bright yellow color.

Nearly 100 feet below the lowest of the beds of Section 3 we see in 

the banks of Mulberry Creek, just below the iron bridge, the following

section:

(i) Section on Mulberry Creelc, near Vineton, Autauga Cpunty. '

1. Mottled, purple clays, similar to those at Steele's Bluff, on Tuscaloosa River.5 feet.

2. Yellow, cross bedded sands ......................................... .......3 feet.

3. Mottled clays, sandy below................................................ 5 feet.

4. Grayish white, micaceous sands, with irregular patches of red and yellow colors .........................-..--.----.-..---..---...--------. -.4 feet to water.

Bull. 43 S (265)
114 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA [IUJI.L. <:>.

This whole section is identical in appearance with that seen at White's 

Bluff and at Steele's Bluff.

From Yineton up to Randolph very little can be seen of the strata 

of the Tuscaloosa formation until within three miles of the latter place, 

where the dark purplish gray clays, which seem to lie near the base of 

the formation, are encountered. These clays are undistinguishable from 

those above described between the two branches of Sandy Creek in 

Tuscaloosa County.

Between Eandolph and Centreville we get several very good sections 

of the beds under consideration, as follows :

(j) Sectional Soap Hill, 1 miles cast of Centreville, Bibb County.

1. Purple, mottled clays at summit of bill ....................................5 feet.

2. Clayey sands hi several ledges............................................10 feet.

3. Cross bedded, yellowish and whitish sands, traversed at intervals by ledges of sandstone formed by the induration of the cross bedded sands............... .30 feet.

The thickest of the above sandstone ledges is about 3 feet.

4. Laminated, gray clays, with partings of sand.............................10 feet.

5. Alternations of laminated, gray clays and cross bedded sands in beds of 12 to 18 

inches thickness .......................................................40 feet.

6. Yellowish, cross bedded sands, with clay partings.........................20 feet.

7. Laminated, gray, sandy clays, containing a few leaf impressions, which are, however, not distinct enough as a rule to permit perfect identification.. 10 to 15 feet.

8. Grayish white sands ....................... ...... ...^........... ..........8 feet.

In this section the first three members are best seen on the eastern 

slope of the hill and ISTos. 7 and 8 in a gully on the eastern side of 

the hill. The intervening members are most clearly exposed on the 

western descent of the hill, nearly'a mile from the first locality.

Between four and five miles east of Centreville a part of the preceding section is repeated.

(fc) Section 4 to 5 miles east of Centreville, Bill County.'

1. Gray and reddish, sandy clays ...........................................15 feet.

2. Ledge of sandstone showing cross bedding ................................3 feet..

3. Whitish sands and clays..................................................4 feet.

4. Nearly white, cross bedded sands ....................................25 to 30feet.

The hill in the eastern part of the town of Centreville contains a good 

deal of reddish, mottled clays, probably of this formation. These clays 

may be seen again about half way between Centreville and Scottsville, 

where they appear to overlie the strata of the Lower Silurian and Carboniferous formation. Between Scottsville and Tuscaloosa these beds 

are seen at several localities.

About twelve miles east of Tuscaloosa the grayish purple clays similar 

to those described between the two branches of Sandy Creek appear in 

many places along the slopes of hills where they are laid bare by the road.

(?.) Section 10 miles east of Tuscaloosa.

1. Ferruginous sandstone in sheets .... .... ...........................6to 8 inches.

2. Variegated, clayey sands holding small pieces of purple clay. The sands show 

chocolate, purple, red, and yellow colors............................. 6 to 8 feet.

(266)
SJO'I SOND] TUSCALOOSA STRATA, MISSISSIPPI. 115

3. Purple clays, with partings of sand; similar to the purple clays south of Tuscaloosa ................................................................ -.10 feet.

4. Ledge of ferruginous sandstone...............................;....! foot or more.

5. Laminated, gray and yellow, sandy clays or clayey sands, yellow at top and shading 

into gray at bottom.................................................6 to 8 feet.

6. Lignite, witupyrite nodules .......................................2 to 6 inches.

7. Dark gray, somewhat massive clays, becoming lighter below...........6 to 8 feet.

8. Strata obscured by washings from above.................................20 feet.

9. Purple clays at base of hill............ ............................undetermined.

In some places near this, five feet of purple clays are seen overlying 

No. 1 of the section. >

About nine iniles east of Tuscaloosa about 30 to 40 feet thickness of 

purple clays is seen along a hillside. In these clays there are two ledges 

of ferruginous sandstone or, perhaps more properly speaking, of sandy 

iron ore. The clays are a mixture of purple and yellow and appear to 

form the lower Strata Of the hill for 20 or 30 feet below those above described. The iron ore which covers so much of the slope of this hill 

is somewhat sandy, occasionally quite pure and compact, giving a red 

streak. It differs very materially from the usual liinonite of the valleys.

At the Box Spring, about five miles east of Tuscaloosa, the railroad 

cut exposes 6 to 8 feet of laminated, gray clays marked with purple 

streaks. Immediately above these is a very persistent ledge of ferruginous sandstone and over that 10 or 12 feet of drift and loam of recent 

date.

About four miles east of Tuscaloosa we se.e the summit of a rounded 

mass of the strata of this formation, consisting of 2 or 3 feet of purple, 

gray, aud variegated, laminated clays, underlaid by about the same 

thickness of cross bedded sands. This exposure lies plainly unconformably embedded in the red loam of the Drift.

4. OBSERVATIONS IN MISSISSIPPI.

In 1884 Mr. Johnson, on his reconnaissance of Tishomingo and Itawamba Counties,in Mississippi, saw beds of lignite aud tough, laminated 

clays which he, at the time, referred to a formation below the Eutaw 

(our Tuscaloosa). This lignite was traced by him the whole length of 

Keed's Creek (between the Tombigbee at Fulton and Bull Mountain 

Creek). At several localities, viz, at Maxey's Old Mill, Sec. 9, T. 10 S., 

B. 9 E., he collected many fine leaf impressions. The lignite here was 

two feet thick. At Eeed's Mill and at Chaney's, Sees. 20 and 17, in T10 S., E. 9 E., many phytogene fossils were collected, and these localities 

were remarkable for the fine, jet-like appearance of the lignite. A jet of 

this kind was also found by Mr. Langdon in Centreville, Bibb County, 

Alabama. At Barnard's Bluff on the Tombigbee, the lignite appears 

again embedded in characteristic clays of the Tuscaloosa formation.

Mr. Johnson also calls attention to the gravel beds which occur in this 

part of Mississippi, and which, according to my observations, have 

their counterpart in Marion, Colbert, and Fra'uklin Counties, Alabama,

(267) '
116 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OP ALABAMA. l»u LL.43.

The materials of these gravel beds are mostly cherty, subangular, and 

quite different from the usual quartz pebbles of the Drift. Associated 

with these are the so-called kaolin beds and the deposits of pulverulent 

silica. The pebbles as well as the silica are evidently derived for the 

most part, if not entirely, from the fossiliferous chert of the sub-Carboniferous formation of that region. Mr. Johnson expresses the opinion 

that these pebble beds of chert underlie the newer, stratified, glacial 

drift deposits without being a part of the same. Wherever the pebble 

beds occur in the Cretaceous or sub: Cretaceous clays of Tishomiugo and 

Itawamba Counties, in Mississippi, there is a prevalence of these cherty 

characteristics. In this connection we may also refer to the fact that 

the pebbles seen in the Tuscaloosa sands at White's Bluff and at Steele's 

Bluff on the Tuscaloosa were of chert and not of quartz.

IV. SUMMARY OF THE LEADING FEATURES OF THE CRETACEOUS 

STRATA OF ALABAMA. (PLATE XXI.)

Uuder this heading, while making a distinction between the two, we 

include both the strata of undoubted Cretaceous age and those of as 

yet undetermined but probably Cretaceous age.

CEETACEOUS STRATA.

The whole thickness of unquestioned Cretaceous rocks in the western part of Alabama, according to our measurements and estimates, is 

between 1,550 and 1,575 feet, and the group has been divided into three 

formations, which are (1) the Ripley, (2) the Rotten Limestone, and (3) 

the Eutaw.

1. The Ripley formation. We. cannot give the absolute thickness of 

this formation, but it will in all probability fall between 250 and 275 feet. 

The strata arc, first, 55 to GO feet of yellow sands, 1 in some localities containing many Cretaceous shells, followed by 100 feet of dark gray, 

nearly black, micaceous, sandy clays or clayey sands, traversed by hard 

ledges of similar materials, and, along the two rivers at least, not prolific of fossil remains. Then 30 to 35 feet of bluish, argillaceous limestones, with great numbers of Cretaceous fossils, which are, however, 

mostly in the form of casts and generally phosphatic. Below this, 

again, a mass of sands (60 feet or more) of various colors, with indurated bands of sandstone running through it.

2. The Rotten Limestone. In this we have the most massive of the 

calcareous formations of Alabama, outside of the Paleozoic. The thickness is about 1,000 feet, and there is surprising uniformity in the material, which is an impure, argillaceous limestone, merging in places into 

a calcareous clay. Where the clay predominates, we usually find the

1 Wo have recently found conclusive evidence .that the yellow sands are merely a 

modification produced by oxidation of the gray sandy clays next belo\v. E. A. S.,

 (368)
SMITH AN 

JOHNSON,"] SUMMARY OF THE CRETACEOUS &C. 117

greatest abundance and variety of fossils. The strata of the Eotten 

Limestone form the bluffs along great stretches of both rivers.

3. The Eutaw formation. This formation has a thickness of not less 

than 300 feet. At the base of the Eotten Limestone we find some 20 to 

25 feet of calcareous sands and greensands, in part strongly phosphatic, containing a large number of fossils, many of which are in the 

form of phosphatized casts. This bed forms a transition between this 

and the next succeeding formation. We place it with the Eutaw formation for the sake of convenience, with the remark that an examination 

of the fossils may hereafter show that it is more closely related to the 

Eotten Limestone.

Below these phosphatic sands are yellowish, cross bedded sands, 40 to 

50 feet, and laminated, blue clays alternating with glauconitic sands for 

40 feet more. The rest of the strata, to the base of this division, consist of laminated and cross bedded sands and laminated days in many 

alternations, interbedded at intervals with lignitic strata consisting of 

lignitized twigs and trunks of trees, but not, so far as yet known, of 

beds of lignite. With these are one or two thin beds of pebbles. As 

before stated, the exact thickness cannot be given.

STRATA OF UNDETERMINED AGE, PROBABLY CRETACEOUS.

The Tuscaloosa formation. Below the lowermost of the undoubtedly 

Cretaceous beds is found a great thickness of clays and sands of as 

yet undetermined age. These appear at intervals along the banks of 

the Tuscaloosa or AVarrior Eiver from Big Log Shoals up to the city of 

Tuscaloosa. Assuming a uniform dip of some 40 feet to the mile, the 

thickness of this formation will be about 1,000 feet. We cannot as yet 

give the order of succession of the various strata, which are mottled, 

purple, and gray clays, yellowish and gray sands, pink and light purple sands, and thinly laminated, dark gray clays, which contain impressions of leaves in considerable numbers and sometimes in a state of 

preservation perfect as to form and markings.

V. UNDULATIONS AND FAULTS IN THE TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA.

TERTIARY STRATA.

The average seaward dip of the Tertiary strata of Alabama is about 

twenty-five or thirty feet to the mile, but there is at many points a wide 

departure from this uniformity. Professor Tuomey appears to have 

been the first to direct attention to this circumstance. In speaking of 

the Buhrstone at the Lower Salt Works, in Clarke County, he remarks:

We have here, then, an interesting example of the sinking of strata below the surface and of their rising again. The beds exposed at Baker's Bluff, and still higher ou 

the river,.as well as ou Bashi Creek, after being depressed beneath Saint Stephens 

and a portion of Clarke County, make their appearance agaiu at this locality, and 

probably still farther west. 1 . ,

1 First Bieu. Rep. Geol. Ala., p. 150, 1850. 

(269)
118 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

As intimated in another part of the present publication, these observations of Professor Tuomey were confirmed by us in 1883, and my 

subsequent investigations have further shown the existence of more 

than one well marked fold in the strata of this part of the State.

On another page we have said that the Buhrstone rocks which dip X 

below the surface a short distance south of Wood's Bluff, in Clarke 

County, rise again at Hatchetigbee Bluff and at Jackson, and from this 

place an almost continuous outcrop of these rocks may be followed 

southward as far as the Lower Salt Works. These points appear to 

mark the summits of at least two distinct anticlines, and a third is 

marked by Lower Peach Tree, on the Alabama River, while the unequal 

surface distribution of the beds of the Lignitic formation, lying to the 

northward of the localities above named, leads one to suspect the ex- ] 

isteuce of several other folds, notably one involving the black clays of \ 

the Black Bluff group along the Tombigbee Eiver, another concerning 

the Gryphcea thirsce beds in the central part of Marengo County and in 

the Grampian Hills region of Wilcox County.

We have determined approximately the limits of the Hatchetigbee 

anticlinal and of the Lower Peach Tree fold and its associated fault in 

the immediate vicinity of the Alabama River. W e have also followed ~y 

a line of uplift from near Jackson down to the Lower Salt Works in 

Clarke County. In what follows we give some details of the observations on which our knowledge of these undulations is based and we 

also append a few notes concerning, the irregularities in the surface distribution of the Buhrstoue and the underlying beds of the Lignitic in 

Monroe and Conecuh.Counties.

(1) THE LOWER PEACH TREE ANTICLINE.

In ascending the Alabama River we find the Wood's Bluff marl at the 

Water level at Johnson's wood yard, a few miles below Bell's Landing. 

At the latter locality a marl bed, which is about 115 to 120 feet below 

the Wood's Bluff marl, and which we have called the Bell's Landing 

rnarl, is some 25 or 30 feet above water level. Nine miles farther up 

the river, at Lower Peach Tree, this bed is 100 feet above water level, 

while at Yellow Bluff, several miles still farther up the river, it is seen V 

within 10 feet of water level, and the Wood's Bluff marl appears about 

115 or 120 feet above it on the hillside immediately back of the river 

bluff.

Above Yellow Bluff the river makes a bend towards the southeast, 

so that the Wood's Bluff marl is not seen again along its banks in this 

direction; at Bethel, however, a few miles west of Yellow Bluff, we see 

the Wood's Bluff marl and the G-ryphwa tliirsce bt-.ds, which are separated 

by at least 250 and probably by over 300 feet of strata, coming to the 

surface within half a mile of each other and not more than 120 feet 

hypsometrically apart. This disposition of things appears to show that 

just north of Bethel there is either a very abrupt change in the angle °

(270)
"JOHNSON?] LOWER PEACH TREE FOLD. 119

of clip of the strata or a stratigraphic break. I have examined the 

ground very carefully on several occasions, and have failed to see any 

evidence of high angle of dip, but, on the contrary, have obtained the 

clearest evidence of the existence of a fault of nearly 200 feet vertical 

displacement, traced from Bethel across the river to Black's Bluff, and

-^ it probably extends much farther in each direction from these limits. 

We shall call this the Bethel fault and give below some details of its 

occurrence.

The Lower Peach Tree fold. The geographic limits of the Lower 

Peach Tree fold, so far as we have determined them, have been fixed 

by the following data: Across Choctaw County, the Wood's Bluff marl

, occupies a narrow strip of surface; at Wood's Bluff, on the Tombigbee>

i and at Cade's Bend, a mile or two above, it appears at the water level, 

I showing a nearly horizontal position. This may be the beginning of 

the fold, which, beyond Choctaw Corner, eastward, broadens out till at 

the Alabama Eiver it spreads over an expanse, north and south, of 10 

miles or more. In the vicinity of the river, however, its occupation of 

the surface is not continuous, but the underlying beds of the Bell's 

Landing series come in and make the intervening country between its 

two exposures, the one south of Lower Peach Tree, the other in the 

i vicinity of Bethel and Yellow Bluff. In its longer dimension, therefore, this fold appears to rise about the Toinbigbee Eiver near Wood's 

Bluff and to extend with constantly increasing elevation to the Alabama Eiver, Lower Peach Tree occupying the summit of the roll, which 

has its widest cross section along the Alabama Eiver. Eastward from 

this river, I have followed, with the exception noted below, a single 

outcrop only of the Wood's Bluff marl across Monroe County along 

the course of Flat Creek, and this is the continuation of the lower of 

the two outcrops of the bed above spoken of, as exhibited in Wilcox 

County west of the river and south of Lower Peach Tree, while, of the 

northern or Bethel outcrop, I have seen only one occurrence east of the 

river, viz, near Black's Bluff. This is no doubt in great measure due to 

the fact that there is on the eastern side of the river, opposite Yellow 

Bluff, a good deal of low country from which the older strata have been 

t removed by denudation.

/ This fold involves, so far as concerns their surface outcrop, the Bell's 

Landing, the Wood's Bluff, and the Hatchetigbee series of the Lignitic, for the clays of the latter series are to be seen overlying the 

Wood's Bluff marl in the hills west of Yellow Bluff. I have not seen 

any evidence either of the broadening or of the duplication, by reason 

of this fold, of the outcrops of the Buhrstone rocks which immediately 

overlie the Hatchetigbee beds.

To summarize, we can trace this anticline in the direction of its axis 

from Wood's Bluff, on the Tombigbee Eiver, across Clarke County, to 

the Alabama Eiver, where it has its greatest elevation and its broadest 

cross section; beyond the river, eastward, we have traced it as far as

(271)
120 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

Black's Bluff. The northern limit of this fold, in the vicinity of Bethel, 

is a fault of at least 200 feet displacement, length not ascertained, already mentioned above.

The Bethel fault To obtain a clear idea of this fault it is necessary 

to recall the stratigraphic relations of the several subdivisions of the 

Lignitic which it involves. The Wood's Bluff marl, with its indurated -^- 

lirnestone bowlders and it's characteristic fossils, is our best landmark. 

Above this niarl lie the sandy clays of the Hatchetigbee section, 175 

feet in thickness. These latter beds are only slightly concerned in the 

fault. Below the Wood;s Bluff inarl we have about 120 feet of sandy 

clays and clayey sands, the upper 75 feet of which hold several beds of 

lignite, and then another marl bed, the Bell's Landing marl. Below 

this marl we have at Lower Peach Tree about 100 feet of gray sandy 

days containing two marl beds (G-regg's Landing marl being the upper \ 

of the two). In these sections, therefore, we have over 400 feet of 

strata, the exact relations of which are clearly seen at Yellow Bluff and 

at Lower Peach Tree.

The Nanafalia section consists at top of 50 feet or more of gray, sandy 

clays, showing a great tendency to indurate into hard rocks, resembling 

the Buhrstone, to which, for convenience, I give the name pseudo-Buhrstone. Below the pseudo-Buhrstone are at least 80 feet of sandy strata, " * 

characterized by the presence of Gryplicca tliirsce, and below these still, 

about 70 feet of cross bedded, glauconitic sands, with a few obscure fos- ' 

sils in the upper part, and a bed of lignite, from four to seven feet in 

thickness, near the base. As we have already intimated several times, 

we have seen no exposures which exhibit both the Lower Peach Tree 

beds and the pseudo-Buhrstone, so that it has been thus far impossible 

to determine the dimensions of the gap between the base of the Bell's 

Landing (at Lower Peach Tree) and the summit of the Nanafalia section (at Gullette's Landing) ; and the Bethel fault, coming as it does 

exactly at this place in our geological scale, serves to complicate matters still more. In estimating the vertical displacement caused by the 

fault, there is always the unknown quantity embraced in this gap to 

be considered, and our estimates are to be taken as exclusive of this 

unknown quantity. . Following are given some details concerning the fault. At Bethel, ^ 

SW. J of Sec. 35, T. 12 B"., E. 5 E., the Wood's Bluff marl occupies 

the summit of the hills, and about half a mile north we find the 

Grypkcva thirsce beds. The Wood's Bluff marl may also be seen on most 

of the hills between Bethel and Yellow Bluff and at the latter place, 

and a line drawn from Bethel to Yellow Bluff will just abou t define the 

limit of the marl towards the east. As we descend towards the east 

from any of these hills, capped with the Wood's Bluff marl, we come directly, and usually within 50 feet vertical distance, upon the pseudoBuhrstone, and 60 or 70 feet below that upon greensands holding GrycL thirsce. ]S"ear Bethel towards the southeast then the fault brings

(272)
Ijf. J BETHEL FAULT HATCHETIGBEE ANTICLINE. 121

together, or rather within 50 feet of each other, the Wood's Bluff marl and 

the pseudo-Buhrstone, a displacement, taking no account of the gap between the Bell's Landing and Nanafalia sections, of more than 150 feet. 

At Yellow Bluff, as we have seen in foregoing pages, there are exposed 

all the strata from the Wood's Bluff down to the Bell's Landing marl. 

Up the river, within half a mile of the landing, this marl dips below the 

water level. Less than half a mile farther up the river, beds of Gryphcea 

thirsce appear in the left bank. Here some of the beds overlying the 

Bell's Landing marl are brought together with Gryphcea thirsce beds, a 

displacement, as before, of 175 feet or more. Again, across the river, on 

the plantation of Mr. James Tait, Sec. 24, T. 11 N., E. 6 E., near Black's 

Bluff, we find the Wood's Bluff marl forming the second bluff, about 100 

yards from the river, while the lower beds of Gryphcea thirsce marl,Nos. 

10,11, and 12 of the Gullette's Bluff section, make the immediate bank 

of the river. In this case the strata between Wood's Bluff and Bell's

Lauding marls (120 feet), those below the Bell's Landing marl at Lower 

Peach Tree (100 feet), the pseudo-Buhrstone (50 feet or more), and about 

30 or 40 feet of the Gryphcea thirsce beds have been engulfed, a displace, 

ment of not less than 300 feet, leaving out of account, as before, the gap 

mentioned. We have traced thefault from Bethel to Black's Bluff, a distance of 10 miles or more. Eastward from Black's Bluff, near where the 

Camdeii road crosses Gravel Creek, on Yankee Branch, a thick bed of 

lignite (4 feet or more) occurs immediately and to all appearances con- 

.formably below beds of Gryphcea thirsce. The Coal Bluff lignite has 

above it some 60 feet or more of glauconitic sands, separating it from the 

Gryphcea thirsce beds, so that this contact of two unusually widely separated beds (if this be the Coal Bluff lignite) could only be brought about 

by some kind of displacement. And lastly, at Black's Bluff we have a 

thick bed of lignite in contact with the Gryphcea thirsce beds. From its 

close proximity to the Wood's Bluff marl (at the line of fault above described), one would be inclined to consider this as one of the liguites 

of the Wood's Bluff series but for its thickness. The certain identifica-- 

tion of these lignites and their relations to the Bethel fault we have still 

to work out.

(2) THE HATCHETIGBEE ANTICLINE.

The axis of this fold, like that of the preceding, has a northwest-southeast direction. At the southeastern end and also at the northwestern 

it sinks gradually to the level of the undisturbed beds. It may be traced 

from near Mcholson's Store, in Choctaw County, across that county, 

through Bladen Springs, into the northeastern corner of Washington 

County at Hatchetigbee Bluff, and thence across'the river for about ten 

or twelve miles into ClarkeCounty. It is about twelve miles across in its 

widest part, i. e., from. Coffeeville southwestward. It involves, so far as 

concerns their surface exposure, the following strata: The White Limestone, the Claiborne, the Buhrstone, and the Hatchetigbee. beds, aggre-

(273)
122 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

gating, with the exclusion of the White Limestone, about 500 feet of 

strata. It appears to have exerted no influence upon the direction of the 

drainage.

In the following routes we obtain the data from which we have outlined this fold :

First. From Jackson to Ooffeeville and thence northward to Wood's 

Bluff. On this road, 0 miles north of Jackson, the first well defined outcrop of Tertiary rocks is encountered. These rocks belong to the Buhrstone, but before reaching them the presence of the Claiborne beds at no 

great depth below the surface is very clearly revealed in the frequent 

occurrence of patches of the characteristic red, limy clays produced by 

the action of these beds upon the red loam. Beyond this the sands and 

clays of the underlying Hatchetigbee group are seen along the slope 

leading down to the crossing of Jackson's Creek. By turning eastward 

from this place the Olaiborne sands, with their characteristic fossils, can 

be seen on Stave Creek, in Sees. 8 and 9 of T. 7 K, E. 2 E. This I 

take to be the southeastern limit of the anticline, for looking eastward and southeastward from this place we see nothing but the characteristic landscape of the Lime Hills region. Proceeding northward, 

the Buhrstone rocks are again encountered about eight miles from Coffeeville, and they extend thence to within five miles of that place. The 

limit of the anticline in another place, southeast of Coffeeville, is ascertained by going northeastward from Salitpa post office, which is on the 

Hatchetigbee formation in Sec. 31, T. 8 X., E. 1 E., towards Dead 

Level, in Clarke County. In this direction the Buhrstone is crossed 

between three and five miles from Salitpa post office. Coffeeville itself 

is upon the Claiborne, and going northward we pass first into the 

White Limestone, and at Turkey Creek, near the northern limit of T. 

10 1ST., E. 2 W., into the Buhrstone, the Claiborne as usual making 

very little show upon the surface, except in the red, limy clays above

noticed. The Buhrstone ridge just alluded to becomes very prominent 

at White Bluff, and from that place an uninterrupted view may be had 

of all the underlying strata down to the Wood's Bluff group. In this 

route, therefore, we pass over the anticline between Jackson and Coffeeville and over a synclihe, with White Limestone as the uppermost 

formation, between Coffeeville and White Bluff, while by diverging eastward in two or three places the eastern limits of the anticline can be 

pretty accurately determined.

Second. On the western side of the river the anticline is equally 

well marked along the route from Saint Stephens, through Bladen 

Springs, to Butler, in Choctaw County. On this road the White Limestone may be seen to within nine miles south of Bladen Springs; then 

occurs a strip of pine lauds, in which the underlying Claiborne formation 

is not often clearly seen. At one place, however, near the road in the 

northeast corner of Sec. 29 (corresponding to Sec. 27 in the ordinary

(274)
HATCHETIGBEE ANTICLINE. 123

townships)1 T. 8 K, E. 2 W., about a 'quarter of a mile west of the Tony 

Eail place, in the bluff over a spring, about six feet of the Claiborne 

sands are exposed. The upper part of this exposure is a mass of shells 

packed in a yellowish red sand, as at Claiborne.; the lower part at the 

water level is a hard, greensand filled with shells, as at Pugh's Branch, 

in Clarke County. Crassatella protexta is here the commonest shell; 

but Melongena alveata, Monoceros armigerus, Ancillaria subglobosa, A. 

scamba, A. staminea, and other Claiborne forms are also abundant. This 

locality is about a quarter of a mile north of the last Lime Hill. 

Beyond this, towards Bladen Springs, the Buhrstone rocks are first 

seen at the bridge across Sinta Bogue in the northwest corner of 

Sec. 14, T. 8 N., E. 2 W., six miles from the springs, and they Continue 

up to within two miles. About the central part of this outcrop, four 

miles from the springs, there is a marl bed several feet in thickness, 

containing great numbers of a shell closely allied to Ostrea sellaformis.

This marl is found just below a hard ledge of claystone, and in the 

fields near by lie many fragments of rock filled with silicified Claiborne 

shells. The springs are upon the upper Hatchetigbee beds, for going 

northwards the Buhrstone is again met in the hills about two miles 

north of the springs, and outcrops along this road for about four miles. 

Beyond this Buhrstone belt we come upon the Claiborne sands on the 

hill just south of Souilpa Creek, and going down the hill we see the 

Ostrea sellceformis beds, and in the immediate bank of the creek the 

bed of comminuted shells in a matrix of greensand, precisely like that 

in the lower part of the Claiborne bluff and at Coffee ville landing. At 

Barryton Mill, about the northeast quarter of Sec. 13, T. 10 K, E. 3 W., 

about a mile east of the road we are now describing, this bed of comminuted shells, with numbers of large and perfect shells of Ostrea selIceformis, forms the bed and banks of the creek. To the westward also 

of this road the banks and channel of Oaktuppah Creek are formed of 

the lower Claiborne beds, which outcrop again on the hills some four 

miles north of the creek. The belt of Claiborne beds is crossed on this 

road from the southern banks of Souilpa Creek northward about seven 

or eight miles. This great width of outcrop is due to the fact that the 

beds form a shallow synclinal basin. This basin holds a narrow belt 

of White Limestone, which may be traced from Womack Hill, SE. |, Sec. 

4, T. 10 K,E. 2 W., northwestward to the Mississippi line at Nicholson's 

Store. The outcrop of White Limestone at Womack Hill is about two 

miles long and one hundred or two hundred yards wide. Then northwestward in Mrs. Nix's field, Sec. 2,T.10 N., E. 3 W., is another outcrop, 

about a mile long and two hundred yards wide. Still farther northwestward the White Limestone is next seen on the south side of Oaktuppah Creek, on Dr. Gilbert's old place and between that place and 

Mr. Troup Trice's. Then on the north side of Oaktuppah Creek, on 

Messrs. Seaborn Bonner's and Eigby's lands, Sees. 22, 23, 26, and 27,

. 1 In this township the sections are numbered differently from the usual manner.

(275)
124 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OP ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

T. 101ST.. E. 4 W., is a narrow tract, about two miles in width north and

south ; again, still' farther westward, on Mr. James Bonner's laud, 1ST,

W. \ of Sec. 15, T. 11 K, E. 4 W., is about a square mile of the White

Limestone prairie. Beyond this the prairie belt widens out and merges

into the great mass of prairies west of the end of the Hatchetigbee X

anticline. Keturning to our Bladen Springs and Butler road, after

crossing the syncline of Claiborne beds which holds the narrow belt of

White Limestone, we come upon the Buhrstone rocks again some ten

miles south of Butler, and these make the country to within five miles

of that place, where they are succeeded by the Hatchetigbee beds, and i

at Butler by the Wood's Bluff beds.

Third.' Along another route, approximately parallel to the two preceding, but in the western part of Choctaw County, we discover that our 

anticline has sunk beneath the surface, though still impressing itself 

upon the country by keeping the White Limestone as the surface rock 

over a distance north 'and south of more than twenty miles. A very 

similar state of things may be seen beyond the southeastern end of this 

fold in Clarke County, as below noted. The following details will serve 

to make this clear: Three miles south of Pushmataha the Wood's Bluff 

marl is seen on Eabbit Creek, and a mile or two farther south the first Y 

of the Buhrstone, which rock then makes the country south westward 

as far as the SE. £ of Sec. 25, T. 12 N., E. 5 W., near Mr. Johnson 

Alien's. In this vicinity Ostrea selkeformis beds are found upon many 

of the high hills which show Buhrstone rocks at their bases. The line 

between the two formations may therefore be drawn here. Going still 

southward we find the Ostrea sellcvformis or Claiborne beds at lower 

and lower levels, till on Billy's Creek, in Sec. 7, T. 11 ST., E. 4 W., they 

are at the water level, and we get a first rate section extending nearly 

up to the White Limestone.

Section on B'itttfs Creek, Clioctaiv County.

1. Ked, white, and yellow, laminated sands, with yellow clay partings.......15 feet.

2. Laminated, gray clays, with bits of leaves and indistinct leaf impressions,

12 to 15 feet.

3. Greenish yellow, calcareous, glauconitic sands; no fossils..................8 feet.

4. White, calcareous sands, with Ostrea sellivformis ...... ^.................... 6 feet. .

5. Hard, white ledge, with shell casts........................................1 foot.

6. White, calcareous sands, with Ostrea sellwformis, passing below into coarse, yellow 

sands, and then to gray, calcareous sands, holding a few friable shells ;Jiard 

ledges traverse these beds near the top; in. all........................... 12 feet.

7. Highly fossiliferous, gray, calcareous sands, holding Ostrea sellaiformis (small shells),

( Osleodes Wailesii, Turbinolia Maclurei, Nucula magnified, Pecten Lyelli, &c. These

are alternating streaks of barren sands and fossiliferous sands...........20 feet.

8. Gray, laminated clays to base of bluft'..................................... 10 feet.

One of the beds of IsTo. 7 is densely packed with the small form of 

Ostrea sellcvformis (divaricataj, and this is the bed which crops out so 

frequently upon the hills to the northward of this locality. A comparison of the elevations of this bed in different places shows that it dips 

about 50 feet to the mile. South of Billy's Creek we enter upon the.

(276)
JOHKBON"] HATCHETIGBEE ANTICLINE. . 125

wide belt of prairie land (White Limestone) which extends to the northwestern corner of Washington County four or five miles below Isney. 

The line between Kanges 4 and 5 W. marks about the western limit of 

the Hatchetigbee anticline, for east of Push Gush Creek, about Sec. 

17 or Sec. 18, T. 10 N., E. 4 W., the outcrops of the Ostrea selkvformis 

beds are seen.

The map will show that in the western part of Washington and Choctaw Counties and in adjoin ing'parts of Mississippi the width (north and 

south) of the White Limestone belt is much greater than elsewhere, except in the eastern part of Clarke County. This is undoubtedly in 

great measure due to the influence of our Hatchetigbee fold; but there 

is also a very considerable increase in the thickness of the beds constituting the lower or Jackson division of the White Limestone in the 

western part of Alabama and in Mississippi, or perhaps it would be 

more correct to say that there is a very considerable increase in the

thickness of the beds of gypseous clay of the formation in these localities. The " prairie" character of the soils' of this formation is much 

more pronounced in Western Alabama and in Mississippi than elsewhere eastward.

Fourth. The limits of the anticline are also well defined along several roads leading out from Bladen Springs.

(a) On the road from Bladen Springs to Millry, in Washington County, 

the Buhrstone and Claiborne formations are crossed, and at a distance 

of seven or eight miles from the springs appears the first outcrop of 

White Limestone.

(1) On the lower road from the springs to Isney the first outcrop of 

Bubrstone is about one and a half miles and the last about five miles 

from the springs. A very conspicuous bed in these Buhrstone rocks is 

a greehsand, several feet in thickness, of very bright, light green color, 

to be seen on almost every hillside from three to four and a half miles 

from the springs. In many places the upper part of this bed has been 

oxidized .to deep red sand. From the five mile post west of the 

springs out to the lower line of Sec. 15, T. 9 N., E. 4 W., we cross diagonally the outcrop of the Claiborne beds, coming into White Limestone 

at the last named locality, where along a hillside Claiborne beds are 

seen, with White Limestone overlying them. Thence out to Isney (and 

beyond to Mississippi) the country is made by the Wb'ite Limestone. 

A very good section of the Upper Claiborne beds was obtained in Sec.

13, T. 0 K, K. 4 W.

Section near Jordan's Mill.

1. Yellowish, clayey sands, with, some Claiborne fossils in a soft, friable condition; 

lower part .of this bed bluish ........................................25-30 feet

2. Projecting ledge of coarse grained greensaud, with a large number of badly preserved Claiborno fossils ..................................................4 feet.

3. Coarse grained greensand, with Claiborne fossils, compact and hard ......10 feet.

The upper half of No. 3 is coarser in grain and more fossiliferous than 

the lower? but the latter contains a number of the smaller forms. A,

(277)
126 TERTIAKY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. luuLL.43.

little northwest of this, in Sec. 2, T. 9 N., E. 4 W., at Shoemaker's Mill, 

this greensand bed is again seen, holding Crassatella alta. While in 

some respects these two outcrops resemble the Claiborne sands (main 

fossiliferous bed at Claiborne), there are differences observed which lead 

us to think that their position is below these sands. The limit between f 

Claiborne and White Limestone is seen again about half a mile northeast of Fail's Store.

(c) Along the upper road from Isney to Bladen Springs the Buhr. 

stone belt is entered at Powe's Store, about two miles northeast of Silas post office, and from this point on by the Turkey Creek bridge 

(about Sec. 10, T. 9 K, E. 2 W.) we cross only Buhrstone rocks. No 

Hatchetigbee beds are observed. From this circumstance it would seem 

that the outcrop of the last named beds, passing through Bladen Springs, 

does not extend northwest beyond the line running from Silas to Turkey Creek bridge, these two points being on opposite slopes of the anticline. In the piny woods northeast of Isney there are many outcrops of the Ostrea sellccformis beds, betrayed by the appearance of red, 

limy clay spots in the woods. Thus at Singeley & Peel's store, Sec. 

11, T. 10 N., E. 5 W., the immediate surface is sandy and timbered with 

long leaf pine, but prairie spots (White Limestone) occur on the hill- y 

sides in all directions. Two and a half miles due east of this store, in 

the banks of Push. Cush Creek, the Ostrea, sellceformis beds are seen, 

as also at Mr. MarionCarroll's (Sec. 21,T. 10 K, E. 4 W.), and in the piny 

woods southeastward, eastward, and northeastward, for a good many 

miles.

(d) Again, going towards Bladen Landing, Sec. 3, T. 9 K, E. 2 W., 

the road is over Buhrstone all the way, after leaving the immediate 

vicinity of the springs.

(e) And lastly, going from the springs to Coffeeville, after leaving 

the Hatchetigbee clays of the springs, the road passes over Buhrstone 

to the river lowlands; it then follows the river for three miles (no rocks 

seen) to Coffeeville, where the Claiborne rocks are well exposed. At 

Coffeeville Landing these rocks have a very strong dip towards the east 

or northeast, and the White Limestone is encountered within a very 

short distance of the river bluff eastward. Thus, on the road from Cof- v 

feeville to Grove Hill, we see orbitoidal limestone at the level of the 

small water courses, within five miles of the former place, and at six 

miles from Coffeeville this rock forms the banks of Satilpa Creek. This 

marks about the lowest part of the depression, for a mile farther eastward limy clays containing ribs of Zeuglodon are noticed upon a hillside, at some considerable elevation above the level of Satilpa Creek. 

These lime hills continue thence to within a mile of Grove Hill, where 

the Tertiary rocks are concealed by the Drift deposits.

From these details it will be seen that this anticline has been tolerably well defined on all sides by our observations, and its representatives 

on the other map may be taken as fairly correct. In c|escribing the

(278)
HATCHETIGBEE ANTICLINE. 127

limits of this undulation we have made use of the Buhrstone rocks more 

than of other formations, for the reason that the Buhrstone, being in 

general hard and resistant to denudation, may almost always be seen 

along its line of outcrop. The Claiborne beds (sands and clays), on the 

other hand, as a rule, are likely to escape detection. It may, however, 

be of interest to give the following localities of the occurrence of the 

Claiborne along the two sides of the anticline.

The ferruginous sand bed, with the great mass of the Claiborue shells, 

we have seen less frequently than the lower or Ostrea sellceformis beds.

The former has been observed on the southern side of the anticlinal 

on Stave Creek, in the SW. £ of Sec. 8 and in the SE. J of Sec. 9, T. 7 K, 

E. 2 E., in Clarke County; on the Tornbigbee Eiver, half a mile above 

Saint Stephens Bluff; also in Sec. 5, T. 8 K, E. 2 W., and in Sec. 29, 

T. 8 N., E. 2 W., in Washington County. Then in Sec. 13, T. 9 K, E. 

4 W., and in Sec. 2, T. 9 K, E. 4 W. On the northern side of the anticline the ferruginous sand bed has not come under observation except 

on the southern bank of Souilpa Creek, about Sec. 13 or Sec. 25, T. 10 

N., E. 3 W.

Ou the other hand, the lower or Ostrea sellceformis beds are to be 

seen along the whole outline of the anticlinal, and even where the beds 

do not come to actual outcrop their presence is just as certainly revealed 

by the occurrence of what are called "piny woods prairies" that is, 

red, limy, clay spots in the piny woods. A great proportion of the country underlaid by the Ostrea sellceformis beds has a light, sandy soil 

and is timbered with long leaf pine, and the reaction of the calcareous 

sands upon the red loams, which occur in these sandy lands, produces 

the so-called prairie spots. I give a few of the localities of Ostrea sellceformis beds around the anticline, beginning at Coffeeville Landing, 

where there is a fine exposure. Thence northwestward they may be followed up Oaktuppah Creek, on both sides, and forming the bed of the 

creek in many places, out towards Nicholson's store. Thus, on both sides 

of Womack Hill, at Barry ton Mill; on Surveyor's Creek, Sec. 36, T. 11 N., 

E. 3 W.; in the banks of Souilpa Creek, at the bridge, about Sec. 13 or 

Sec. 25, T. 10 N., E. 3 W.; two miles west of Barryton; in~the bed of 

Oaktuppah Creek, about Sec. 28, T. 11 N., E. 3 W.; in Sec. 20, T. 11 N., E. 

3 W., on Bogue Loosa; in many places northward as far as Lusk post 

office, SW. corner of Sec. 9, T. 11 N., E. 3 W.; in Sec. 25, T. 12 N., E. 

5 W.; Sees. 6 and 7, T. 11 N., E. 4 W.; in Sec. 15, T. 11 N., E. 4 W.; 

many places near center and northern part of T. 10 N., E. 4 W.; and 

thence along the southern border of the anticline, i. e., about Sec. 7 or 

Sec. 8, T. 8 N., E. 2 W.; then across the river a few miles north of Jackson, &c. Indeed, with a little practice, the Ostrea sellceformis beds 

are about as easily followed as the Buhrstone. In Clarke County, also, 

as across the river in Choctaw County, in the syncline lying to the 

northeast of the Hatchetigbee anticlinal, the Claiborne ferruginous 

sands are in many places not far below the general level of the country,

(279)
128 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. lmiLL.43.

and are exposed in the beds of the water courses. Examples of this are 

seen in the central part of Sec. 23, T. 9 K, E. 2 E., and in the SE. £ of 

Sec. 18, T. 9 ST., E. 3 E.

It will be noticed that along the sides of this anticline, as well as 

where the Buhrstone first dips below the surface in the northern part X, 

of Clarke and Ohoctaw Counties, the rate of dip is much greater than 

the average of 30 feet to the mile; for the thickness of the Buhrstone 

is about three hundred feet, and its outcrop, with a dip of the strata of 

thirty feet to the mile, would be about ten miles broad, but in the instances cited above this outcrop will not average more than four miles 

in width. A part of this difference is undoubtedly due to the fact that 

the Buhrstone usually forms high hills, with a rather steep escarpment 

looking northward, but a part is also certainly due to the more rapid 

dip along these lines.

(3) OTHER BUHRSTONE DISPLACEMENTS.

A few words respecting the appearance of the Buhrstone rocks at 

localities farther south than the anticline just described may not be 

out of place here. A few miles south of Jackson, on the road to G-ainestown, there is a hill which rises to a height of 300 feet above the ad- \ 

jacent water courses. Upon its summit there is a good outcrop of Buhrstone rocks, and in immediate contiguity with it Orbitoidal White 

Limestone, at the same level. This state of things may be seen also 

southward and northward of the locality named for at least a mile in 

each direction, and southward presumably as far as the Lower Salt 

Works (see below). The locality mentioned is about the corner of the 

four sections 14, 15, 22, 23, T. 6 N., E. 2 E. j and a mile north of it, in 

the Etheridge Old Fields, there is another occurrence of Buhrstone and 

White Limestone in actual contact apparently at the same level, for in 

both these cases, as we go eastward, we find the White Limestone making the country for many miles. In the same range of hills with the 

outcrops above mentioned (but eastward of the Buhrstone occurrences), 

there are places where the ravines have cut down into the Ostrea selIwformis beds of the Claiborne. The Tertiary strata lying westward 

of these localities have generally been removed by denudation, but X 

in one place at least, we find Orbitoidal White Limestone lying to the 

 west of the line of contact of Buhrstone and White Limestone, so that 

to all appearances we have here a narrow belt of Buhrstoue (north and 

south) coming up right in the midst of the White Limestone, and with 

the latter in visible contact with it on its eastern side. When we go a - 

few miles farther south, to what is called the Central Salt Works, in the 

northern part of Sec. 34 or the southern part of Sec. 27, T. 6 ST., E. 2 E., 

we find the Orbitoidal White Limestone at the level of the water courses, 

but a mile east of the Salt Works, up Salt Creek, on ascending a hill 

we pass over what appear to be the Hatchetigbee strata. Of this I could 

not be perfectly sure, as no well defined fossils were obtained } - but on.

(280)
SJOH"SOND] BUHKSTONE DISPLACEMENT, CLARKE COUNTY. 129

another branch of the creek, which flows from the -north, heading nearly 

in the localities first mentioned, we find the Buhrstone making the lowermost forty or fifty feet of the hills in both sides of the branch, while the 

upper strata of the hills were White Limestone, apparently conformably 

overlying the Buhrstone, the strata of the latter at one place, where they 

were clearly shown in a low bluff, being approximately horizontal. This 

locality is near the upper edge of Sec. 35 or of Sec. 36 in T. 6K, E. 2 E., 

or in the lower part of the section lying next towards the north.. At 

Mr. F. Payne's spring, on the NW. £ of NE. £ of Sec. 11, T. 5 N., B. 2 E., 

the Buhrstone is found, while directly west, on the bank of the river, 

in Sees. 1C, 17, 21, 28, and 29 the White Limestone appears. So, also, 

east of Mr. Payue's house there are lime sinks and outcrops of White 

Limestone in Sees. 12, 13, 24, &c. Though not actually seen, it would 

appear that here, also, wo have the White Limestone lying directly upon

the Buhrstone, the strata falling away rapidly westward so as to bring

the former rock down to the river within two or three miles towards the, 

west. A few miles below this, in Sees. 21 and 28, T. 5 N., E. 2 E., at the 

Lower Salt Works, we^ have the section already given, in which the 

White Limestone and the Buhrstone are shown in direct contact, the 

former apparently directly and conformably, overlying the latter, just 

as appears to be the case at Mr. Payne's, at the Central Salt Works, 

and probably also at the first locality mentioned above (Sees. 14 and 15, 

T. 6K,E. 2E.).

I should be inclined to explain these anomalies on the supposition 

that a north and south fault has brought the Buhrstone and the White 

Limestone together, but for the fact that at most of the localities above 

mentioned the White Limestone may be seen directly, and to all appearance conformably, resting upon the Buhrstone. Whether by a fault or 

otherwise,' all the Claiborne strata are wanting at all these localities, 

and my observations show also either that there is an anticlinal axis extending from Sec. 28 in T. 5 N., E. 2 E., a little east of north up to Sec. 

14, T. 6 N., JR. 2 E., which brings the Buhrstone above drainage along 

this line and for this distance, or that this elevation has been brought 

about by a fault. There are great difficulties in the way of making 

satisfactory observations in this part of the State, as thick beds of drift 

and loam (in some places, as at Mr., Payne's, 75 feet thick) cover the 

whole face of the country, except where they have been removed by the 

few streams; but I hope to have this fold or fault fully traced out in 

another season.

The sulphur spring at Jackson comes apparently through the Buhr. 

stone out of the Hatchetigbee strata, as is the case at Bladen Springs, 

Tallahatta-Springs, the Upper Salt Works, the Lower Salt Works, &c. 

The Jackson well, however, is in the low grounds of Bassett's Creek, 

and no Tertiaryrocks show in the immediate vicinity, but the Buhrstoue 

and the Hatchetigbee sands appear on a hill at no great distance 

towards the east.

Bull. 43 9 (281)
130 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [HULL. 43.

As before stated, the White Limestone is the country rock through all 

the lower part of Clarke County, as far south at least as Choctaw Bluff 

and the Lower Salt Works; but away from the streams these Tertiary 

beds are hidden by drift, and their presence is revealed only by the 

numerous lime sinks which are of such frequent occurrence in the piny 

woods of this section. Below the Lower Salt Works the Tertiary rocks 

may be continuously followed down to Oven Bluff, a few miles distant, 

southward of which point they do not appear to come again to the surface. It is probable, however, from the occurrence of lime sinks, that 

the White Limestone underlies the surface at no great depth for many 

miles farther in this direction.

The uplift of the Lower Salt Works is felt across to the Alabama River, 

but not to the same degree as here, for at Gainestown and at Choctaw 

Bluff the lower measures of the White Limestone are at the water level.

It would not b'e correct to say that these undulations are not felt at 

all across the whole of Clarke County; for, although the underlying 

Claiborne and Buhrstoue rocks are not, so far as we now know, lifted 

much1 above the general drainage level in the eastern part of the county 

after having once disappeared beneath the surface, the undulations have 

still been operative in keeping the White Limestone as the surface rock 

over an extent, north and south, of 30 miles. This is well illustrated 

along the meridian of Grove Hill, Clarke County, where we find the 

White Limestone as surface rock from about five miles north of that town 

down to Choctaw Bluff, and the thickness of the formation is not much 

over 300 feet. Moreover, at several localities we find the underlying 

Claiborne beds at no great depth below the general level of the country. 

Now, if we travel southward of this last outcrop of the White Limestone 

at Choctaw Bluff, through Monroe and Escambia Counties, and eastward 

also, in Covington, Coffee, and Geneva Counties, we find the country

generally level piny woods, with a surface mantle of drift, in which,

howeve'r, the frequent occurrence of depressions caused by lime sinks 

reveals the fact that the White Limestone is at no great distance from 

the surface at any place. And, still further, if we pass into Florida we 

find this rock again at the surface over the greater part of the peninsula, although, as recent discoveries of Mr. L. 0. Johnson have shown, 

covered in many places by later deposits of Miocene age.

The elevation of the Florida peninsula was therefore subsequent to 

the deposition of the Miocene beds, and the undulations of the Alabama 

Tertiary may date back to the same epoch. That these disturbances 

antedate the elevation of the Terrace epoch is shown by the circumstance that the Drift (Champlain) deposits rest upon an eroded surface 

of the Tertiary (Eocene and Miocene) rocks.

(4) EASTERN EXTENSION OF THE BUHRSTONE.

By referring to the map it will be seen that the northern line of 

the Buhrstone outcrop, after crossing the Alabama Eiver just below

(282)
FLAT CREEK SANDS CRETACEOUS STRATA. 131

Johnson's wood yard, turns sharply northeastward to a point nearly 

east of Bell's Landing and six or seven miles distant therefrom. Then 

it turns southward six miles, sweeps around eastward and northeastward just south of the lower *prong of Flat Creek, running up as far 

north as Cokerville, near the line between Mouroe and Couecuh Counties. Beyond Cokerville it again makes an abrupt turn southeastward 

and crosses the extreme southwestern corner of Butler County, beyond 

which point it has not been continuously followed. The two extreme 

northern points above noted, namely, that east of Bell's Landing and 

that vat Cokerville, are upon dividing ridges, and this northward extension is no doubt in part due to this circumstance^ but not altogether. 

The course of the two branches of Flat Creek has also much to do with 

this peculiar surface distribution of the strata. These two branches 

rise near Cokerville, in the northeastern part of Monroe County. The 

southern branch flows southward and westward, its channel being 

mostly in the Wood's Bluff strata, while the Hatchetigbee and Buhr* 

stone form an escarpment on the southern border of the creek valley 

clown to its confluence with the northern branch. The latter flows at 

first northward, then westward, and then southward to the point of 

confluence above noted. It thus flows out of the Wood's Bluff strata 

into the Bell's Landing, and even into the Nanafalia beds, coming back 

in its southward course into Wood's Bluff again, six or eight miles above 

the confluence.

Northward of the upper branch of Flat Creek we have a wide area 

of outcrop of the Nauafalia beds in the Grampian Hills of Wilcox 

County, in some places eight or ten miles in width.

Our observations have not given us the complete explanation of any 

of these irregularities, and this mere notice of them must suffice for the 

present.

CRETACEOUS STRATA.

The Eotteu Limestone division of the Cretaceous in Alabama consists 

of about one thousand feet of calcareous strata of very great uniformity 

in lithologic character throughout, and, similarly, the strata of the Eutaw division are cross bedded sands and laminated clays, possessing no 

very well marked features in any part; and the same is true of the 

beds of the Tuscaloosa formation. While, therefore, we might expect 

to find disturbances in the strata of the Cretaceous group, such disturbances are not easily recognized in the two great subdivisions of this . 

.group, by reason of the uniformity in lithological composition above 

noted. In the upper or Eipley formation of the Cretaceous, on the other 

hand, alternations of sandy strata with calcareous and fossiliferous 

strata ar® easily identified, and disturbances in the stratification do 

not so easily escape detection.

While our observations in the Cretaceous territory have not been so 

extended as in the Tertiary, we are yet able to note a'few instances of 

well marked irregularities in the Eipley formation of this group.

(283)
132 TERTIARY AND .CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

(1) CANTON LANDING, ALABAMA RIVER.

In the river bluff at this locality we have the following section of the 

Eipley strata: ,

Section at Canton Landing, Alabama liivcr.

1. Surface beds covering first terrace of the river.....................undetermined.

2. Light gray, calcareous sands, with an indurated ledge of nearly pure sandstone at 

base ..................................................................... 6 feet.

3. Bluish gray, saudy clays, passing dowuwards gradually into a more sandy bed containing numerous phosphatic casts and nodules (sandy bed 3 feet thick) ..8 feet.

4. Bluish, argillaceous, calcareous beds, holding great numbers of Ejcogyra costataf 

Gryphwa, and casts ...................................................... 3 feet,

5. Bluish, calcareous sands containing many fossils, chief among which a Spondylus, 

a Nautilus, and turreted shells, to wat er leyel ............................ 3 feet.

In one place here a block about 50 yards long of the face of the bluff 

has been broken from the rest of the strata and settled down some six to 

eight feet, bringing the base of bed No. 2 of the section down to the top 

of No. 4 of the undisturbed strata.

.- _-----

DOWN STREAM

FIG. 1. Displacement at Canton Landing.

The figure gives an idea of this, and it is to be remarked further that 

the beds of the main bluff at the left of the break are lower than those at 

the right (with reference to the water level) by two or three feet.

(2) PRAIRIE BLUFF, ALABAMA RIVER.

At this place, as noted above, we have at the top of the bluff some 15 

or 20 feet of fossiliferous, calcareous beds, including part at least of those 

just given as occurring at Canton Lauding, aud bnlow these to the river 

level some GO feet of sandy strata traversed by bauds of indurated sands 

containing numbers of large shells of Gryphsea aud Exogyra! These 

sandy strata have a very rapid dip down stream (southward) of some 

300 to 350 feet to the mile; while the calcareous beds at the top of the 

bluff, according to the recent observations of Mr. Laugdon, show a much 

less decided dip, it being only about 30 or 40 feet to the mile. This may 

be and probably is due to the cross bedding on a large scale of the sandy' 

strata.

A mile or two above Prairie Bluff we have another exposure of these 

sandy strata, with similar rapid dip down stream. This dip, if uniformly continued down to Prairie Bluff, would bring these beds 300 to 

400 feet below the visible portion of that bluff, while in all probability

(284)
NO. BULLETIN 

SURVEY GEOLOGICAL 3 D x PL. 43 

n "" 

^^^:>-fej^%/";>i79. p. on section the of 1 No. forming clays shaly black, the overlie which deposits, bottom Second 1. 

- linv the in embedded sandstone cross-bedded of pockets Irregular 3. 79. page on section the of 3 No. shells, Gryphaea of Ledge 2. diagram.) this in beds uppermost the are 79, p. on ssction the of 1 No. clays, shaly (Black, 

diagram.) this of 2 and 1 between included is 79 page on section the of 2 (No. 79. page on section the of 4 Ko. stone 

river-bank.) the of part this in shown are faults (Several 79. page on section the of 4 No. limestone the in embedded sandstones cross-bedded of pockets Irregular 3. 79. page on section the of 3 No. shells, Gryphaea of ledge Thin 2. 

79. page on section the of 4 No. limestone the in embedded sandstone cross-bedded of pockets Irregular 3. 79. page on section the of 3 No. shells, Gryphtea of Ledge 2. 

RIVER. THE DOWN HOUSE) THE BY (MARKED LANDING MOSCOW FROM RlVER, TOMBIGBEE OF BANK RIGHT ON STRATA RIPLEY OF EXPOSURE SHOWING DIAGRAM 
8jOH"soND] RESUME OF THE FORMATIONS. 133

the strata of the two bluffs are, in part at least, the same, anil it is probable that between the two places these strata undulate very decidedly orare perhaps faulted. 

»

(3) MOSCOW, TOMBIGBEE RIVER.

Some of the calcareous beds of the Ripley formation are exposed along 

the right bank of the river from Moscow a mile or two down stream. In 

these bluffs, which are continuous, about fifty feet in all of these strata 

maybe seen, audthereis no difficulty in following any particular stratum 

to its disappearance below the water level. The strata here exposed are 

the following :

Section near Moscow, Tomllgbee Elver.

1. Black, shaly clay like that of Black Bluff, supposed to be Tertiary, but devoid of 

fossils ........................................................ ....10 to 15 feet.

2. Dark blue, argillaceous limestone, with thin, projecting ledges of harder material. 

One of these ledges, about 8 feet below the black clay, is very persistent, and 

easily followed from Moscow down to the cut off just above the mouth of Sucaruochee Creek ................................... ........... ......20 to 30 feet.

3. Thin ledge of shells of a small Grryphcea .............................. 1 to l£ feet.

4. Hard, argillaceous, white limestone, resembling the Rotten Limestone, containing 

many Cretaceous shells, asExogyra costata, Gryplicea mutabili*, &c., especially in 

the upper part, which is indurated ...... ...... ................ ....... ....25 feet.

Near the top of stratum No. 4 there are at several places along the river 

hard, sandy ledges of very irregular shape, and discontinuous. These 

sandstones contain comminuted shells embedded in a sandy matrix. 

The thin ledge of Gryphsea shells (No: 3) and an indurated ledge near the 

top of No. 2. are easily recognized, and they serve to identify the other 

beds.

In going from Moscow down to the cut off we see that the above described strata are not only undulating but at seven or eight places distinctly faulted.

The accompanying diagram of the right bank of the river, carefully 

sketched from nature, shows very clearly the character of these disturbances and renders any further description in words superfluous 

(Plate X).

vi.

THE FORMATIONS. .

The general section forming Plate XXI is so arranged as to exhibit 

in the two inner columns, by conventions and descriptive text, the structure and character of the formations exposed along the rivers traversed 

and our conceptions of their relations. The portions of the sections in 

which the conventions are introduced are constructed from observations recorded in the foregoing pages and the portions left blank represent those parts of our ideal section in which exposures do not occur 

along either river. In the two outer columns are exhibited in similar

('-'85)
134 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [HULL.43.

manner those portions of the formations not actually seen along either 

river, which are either exposed in the immediate vicinity of the rivers 

so clearly as to leave no doubt as to their stratigraphic relations or else 

disclosed by artesian borings. These two columns, therefore,-serve 

either" to fill out the missing parts of the river sections or to confirm the 

measurements made elsewhere.

By reference to the text and to the general section it will be seen 

that in the Tertiary group we have been able to fill up the blanks thus 

occurring along the rivers by direct measurement of the exposures 

seen in the vicinity of the rivers, except in two places, viz, just below the 

Bell's Landing section and below the Coal Bluff section of the Lignitic. 

The stratigraphic column of the Tertiary formation, therefore, with the 

two exceptions noted, is constructed from actual measurements. From 

the known thickness of the several divisions which we have made iu the 

Tertiary and their extent upon the surface, we find, from careful observations made at many points, that the average general dip of the 

Tertiary strata is about 30 feet to the mile towards the southwest. 

There are, however, undulations and variations in the dip, culminating 

in the vjcinity bf the Tombigbee Kiver, where the disturbances are more 

conspicuous than anywhere else in the post-Appalachian elastics of the 

Atlantic and Gulf slopes, so far as known. These have been described 

in the preceding pages.

Similarly in the upper part of the Cretaceous group the stratigraphic 

column has been constructed in great part from actual measurements; 

but in the lower part of the known. Cretaceous and in the whole of the 

Tuscaloosa formation, where our observations have been less numerous 

and satisfactory, we have assumed a uniform southwesterly dip of 40 

feet to the mile, and the thicknesses thus assigned to the imperfectly 

exposed beds are only approximations, though, as we think, close approximations. In the artesian boring at Livingston, which is upon the 

extreme southern border of the Kotten Limestone, the thickness of this 

rock actually penetrated is 930 feet, and as the Eotteu Limestone forms 

the surface between Liviugston and Eutaw, a distance across the, strike 

of 24 miles, the average dip is seen to be about 40 feet to the mile.

Some of the leading structural features of the formations described 

may be recapitulated. - The newest of the formations exposed along our route is the White 

Limestone. It consists chiefly of regularly bedded, impure limestone, 

with intercalated layers of marl, calcareous clay and sand, and some 

ledges of pure limestone. Its upper portion is perceptibly more calcareous than the lower and contains a notably greater proportion of deep 

sea fossils; but neither the lithologic nor the paleontologic features are 

sufficiently distinct to warrant division of the formation. Its position 

and its structure alike indicate that it was laid down in a deep and 

probably deepening sea.

(286)
U.S. &EOLOG-ICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 43 PL. XI

SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION

OF

EUGE'NE A. SMITH

STATE GEOLOGIST.

Scale 1:2, 535. 000 = 40 M: I in

0 25 50
6jMo\ sorD] RESUME OF THE FORMATIONS. 135

The Claiborne, formation is made up of tolerably uniformly bedded, 

calcareous, and generally glauconitic sands and clays, containing rather 

shallow water, but not littoral, fossils mingled with deep sea organisms. 

There is no conformity or clearly marked line of demarkation between 

the Jackson beds of the White Limestone and the upper calcareous beds 

of the Claiborne, the one grading imperceptibly into the other, both 

lithologically and paleontologically.

The Buhrstone deposits are sands and clays variously interstratified, 

generally lithified by silicious cement. Some of the clays are remarkably pare and fine grained. The fauna is meager, but of facies identical 

with that of the Claiborne.

The Lignitic formation comprises three well marked divisions defined 

by color, which is here an index of constitution. The upper oue-'fourth 

consists of irregularly bedded, dark, silicious, and lignitiferous clays 

and heterogeneous sands, approaching the basal portion of the Buhrstone 

formation in composition and structure, interstratified with discontinuous beds of lignite and continuous layers of clay and sand containing 

marine fossils. The medial three-fifths of the formation is made up of 

rather more regularly stratified clays and sands of light color, frequently 

cross bedded, containing occasional beds of lignite and of marine sands 

yielding littoral fossils, one of which (the Gryphwa thirsce bed) is 50 to 

60'feet in thickness. The basal deposits are irregularly bedded, dark, 

or even black, calcareous, shaly or slaty clays, with few fossils or definite 

beds of lignite, though considerable quantities of carbonaceous matter 

are disseminated throughout its mass. *

At the base of the Lignitic there is a rapid change in the character 

of both rocks and fossils, the lowermost 15 or 20 feet of the formation 

being limestonej at first argillaceous, then quite pure, and even crystallii This crystalline limestone rests with apparent conformity upon 

the yellow sands which make the summit of the Cretaceous group.

The materials of the Ripley formation are generally fine and uniformly 

bedded, particularly toward the summit, are predominantly arenaceous 

at top and bottom, though notably calcareous, particularly in the middje 

layers, and are often richly phosphatic. x The formation is characterized 

by littoral or offshore, but not strictly pelagic, fossils.

The Eotten Limestone consists of uniformly bedded and tolerably 

homogeneous, argillaceous, or rarely pure limestones and clay marls, 

with occasional intercalations of clay and sand, sometimes glauconitic. 

Its abundant fauna is pelagic rather than littoral.

The transition beds between this and the Eutaw formation the Tombigbee sand of Hilgard are predominantly arenaceous and glauconitic, 

and speak of shallower waters than those of the Eotten Limestone.

The Eutaw deposits, like those of the Eipley, are usually fine and 

uniformly bedded, though they are more arenaceous than those of the 

latter formation. They consist of alternations of sand and clay, the 

former often cross bedded and glauconitic, and the latter lignitiferous,

(287)
136 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

together with occasional liguitized tree trunks and intercalated beds 

of lignitic matter or pebbles. The rare fossils have a littoral aspect.

No unconformity has been found between the Eutaw and Tuscaloosa 

formations, and the similarity in lithologic character and attitude of the 

two is so close that search, for discordance is unpromising.

The Tuscaloosa formation consists of a great series of irregularly or -^ 

obscurely bedded, quartzitic and micaceous sands, often cross stratified; heterogeneous clays, sometimes carbonaceous or lignitiferous; 

lenticular pebble beds (the pebbles very commonly of chert); aud discontinuous lignitic layers. With the exception of the lignite aud leaf 

impressions, it has yielded no fossils.

The coarse sands and laminated clays forming the base of the Tuscaloosa formation repose unconformably upon the eroded surface of the 

Carboniferous and other Paleozoic rocks.

THE G-ENESIS OF THE FORMATIONS.

A preliminary report on a limited region is scarcely the place for recording a chapter in the evolution of the continent; but we are convinced that, by reason of the poverty in organic remains of many of the 

formations, the paucity of our knowledge of the geographic distribution -^ 

and local variation of their faunas and floras, and the unity and sim. 

plicity of the terrestrial oscillations to which they are referable, the 

Ceuozoic and Mesozoic formations of the Gulf and Atlantic slopes 

must eventually be correlated physically rather than paleoutologically; 

and we at the same time emphasize this conviction and contribute 

toward the chief end of geologic science the c'o-ordination of terrestrial phenomena by setting forth in terms of written language what 

we conceive to be the history recorded in the Cenozoic and Mesozoic 

rocks of Alabama.

At an undetermined epoch in the Mesozoic, the southern extremity 

of the Appalachians, together with the Piedmont region on the east 

and the Cumberland Plateau on the west, was submerged; and the 

^uneven surface sculptured by subaerial erosion formed an irregular 

shore line diversified by a multitude of estuaries aud a highly inclined 

and unequal sea bottom. Within the estuaries and upon the uneven \ 

sea bottom the strong currents, high tides, aud violent waves of a deep 

sea coast washed here and there, assorted rudely, and finally deposited . 

the coarse detritus brought down by numerous streams of high declivity the upper reaches of river courses shortened by submergence 

and steepened by tilting; the strong currents, the constant shifting of 

the littoral deposits, and the variable salinity of the estuarme and shoreward waters (depending upon the seasonal and non-periodic variability in stage of the affluents) were inimical to organic existence; but 

leaves, logs, and other vegetal matters were occasionally swept into the 

sea by the rivers. The downward movement during this epoch was

(288)
TOHXSOND ] GENESIS OF THE FORMATIONS. '137

interrupted and, about the middle of the epoch,-perhaps reversed; but 

in general it went on progressively. With continued deposition a submarine terrace analogous to those now fringing the Atlantic and Gulf 

coasts was apparently developed; and, with the growth of the terrace 

and consequent shallowing of the offshore waters, there was evidently 

a diminution in strength of currents and violence of waves, accompanied by a diminution in heterogeneity and coarseness of sediments. 

The deposits produced by these agencies are those of the'Tuscaloosa 

formation.

During the epoch immediately succeeding that of the deposition of 

the Tuscaloosa formation, so far as our present knowledge indicates, 

there occurred a diminution in the rate or perhaps a cessation of the 

downward continental movement; but there were continued growth of 

the submarine terrace, shoaling of the sea by reason of sedimentation, 

and some recession of the shore line. The shoal water deposits of this

epoch constitute the Eutaw formation.

The Kotten Limestone epoch was apparently inaugurated by a comparatively sudden renewal of the continental depression and rapid 

deepening of the sea. The sands of the Tombigbee were distributed by 

the advancing waves of the encroaching sea, and in the deep waters of 

the succeeding episode the abundantly fossil if erous limestones and 

marls of the later Cretaceous were laid down. During this epoch the 

waves of the Cretaceous probably lapped upon the Appalachians higher 

and farther inland than the Tuscaloosa shore line.

The succeeding epoch was marked by a reversal in terrestrial movement, progressively increasing coarseness and heterogeneity of sediments, rapid retreat of the shore line down the gentle slope of the adolescent submarine terrace, diminution in salinity commensurate with 

the relatively great (though absolutely constant) influx of fresh waters, 

some commingling of terrestrial >plant debris with the sediments, and 

diminution in abundance of marine organisms. The deposits of the 

epoch constitute the Eipley formation and indefinitely mark the closing 

stages of the Cretaceous period..

The.Tertiary was introduced by a continuation of the Eipley elevation sufficient to produce shoaling of the ocean over the then broad submarine terrace, diminished salinity of the littoral waters and consequent 

destruction of marine organisms, and extension of the terrestrial flora 

and commingling of its remains with the littoral deposits. There is 

thus a paleontologic but not (in the portions of the formations that have 

resisted erosion) a physical break in the sequence of events and in the 

continuity of strata. The altitude of the land-with respect to the sea 

was generally persistent throughout the Lignitic epoch, but depression 

apparently went on pari passu with sedimentation, and there were occasional oscillations and consequent incursions of the sea upon the land 

notably those represented by the Wood's Bluff and (rryphcea thirsca 

beds and excursions of the terrestrial flora upon the coastal marshes.

(289)
138 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

The Lignitic formation is the analogue of the Tuscaloosa; but by rea- ' 

son of the less acclivity and the less inequality of the sea bottom and 

the greater regularity of the shores the waves and currents were less 

violent, and in consequence the deposits are more homogeneous. The 

approximate horizontally and the shallowness of the sea bottom are 

attested by the great geographic extent of beds referable to slight 

changes in depth of the littoral waters.

From the initiation of the Tuscaloosa epoch to the close of the Lignitic, the offshore sediments appear to have been pushed progressively 

farther and farther into the sea, and the depression accompanying the 

sedimentation appears to have- been uniform throughout the area over 

which the deposits are now exposed; but the Lignitic epoch was apparently terminated by a depression (perhaps due to its own weight) of the 

margin of the subaqueous shelf thus formed, and a consequent increase 

in depth of the off shore waters and in violence of waves and currents, 

These conditions induced increased heterogeneity and coarseness of deposits, the invasion of a deep sea fauna, and the entombment of its 

remains in littoral deposits. The formation thus developed,we denominate the Buhrstone. The shore probably retreated rapidly and far 

inland during the Buhrstone epoch, particularly in its earlier episodes.

The Buhrstone epoch waned with the cessation of the seaward tilting ; and, with the consequent reconstruction'of a submarine terrace and 

some concomitant depression, there was introduced a slight physical 

change in the character of the deposits, without paleontologic break, 

marking the introduction of the Claiborne. Throughout, the Claiborne 

epoch depression proceeded somewhat more rapidly than sedimentation, and with increasing depth of waters went increasing homogeneity 

and fineness of deposits.

The continuation of ( the Claiborne depression was accompanied by 

gradual modification in physical character of the deposits and by differentiation of fauna, culminating in the latter part of the White LimeStone epoch, when the Tertiary sea reached a depth approaching and 

perhaps equaling the maximum attained during the Cretaceous.

During the Claiborne and the White Limestone epochs the distribution 

of sediments was apparently such as again to bring the sea bottom to 

approximate horizontality; and, with what appears to have been a sud- V 

den re-elevation of the land, conditions similar to those under which 

the Lignitic formation was laid down were once more introduced, and the 

shoal water strata of the Grand Gulf formation the homologue of the 

Lignitic were laid down upon the seaward margin of the White Limestone.

Thus, our preliminary observations suggest the movements and in 

§ome cases the positions of the Cenozoic and Mesozoic shore lines, and 

enable us to say that the breaks in stratigraphic and paleontologic continuity in these formations are apparent rather than real and are due to 

simple and readily determinate continental movements.

(290) '
PLATES XII-XXI,

WITH EXPLANATIONS.

139 

(291)
r
PLATE XII.

SECTIONS OF THE WHITE LIMESTONE ALONG THE TOMBIGBEE AND ALABAMA RIVERS,. 

IN PART SHOWING THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE WHITE LIMESTONE AND THE 

CLAIBORNE BEDS.

FIG. 1. Section of Salt Mountain, Clarke County.

1. White Limestone, forming Salt Mountain. This limestone consists in great measure of masses of partially silicified corals. In the lower strata compact, crystalline limestone occurs, which holds plates and spines of echinoderms... .150 feet.

2. Orbitoidal White Limestone quarried for building purposes ...............20 feet.

FIG. 2. Saint Stephens Bluff, Tombigbee River.

1. Soft White Limestone, with Orbitoides Mantelli. The upper half contains this fossil 

in great abundance, the lower part more sparingly. The lithological character 

of the whole 70 feet is quite uniform. The top of Saint Stephens Bluff is here 

^ represented as equivalent to the top of the Orbitoidal limestone at Salt Mountain, 

giving the minimum thickness of this rock. There may be, however, a greater 

thickness of this rock than here shown .................................70 feet.

2. Indurated bed of Spondylus dumosus........................................3 feet.

3. Light yellowish white marl or argillaceous limestone, containing nodules of phosphate of lime. .The marl itself is strongly phosphatic ..................27 feet.

FlG. 3. Section at Baker's Hill, continuation of Saint Stephens Bluff, showing relative 

positions of the White Limestone and the Claiborne sands, Tombigbee River. 

i »

1. Orbitoidal White Limestone forming summit of hill, passing into the argillaceous, 

limestone below (line between the two here rather arbitrarily drawn) ....25 feet.

2. Argillaceous, glauconitic limestone, with Pecten perplanus, Pecten Poulsoni, &c. 

This is the same rock as that at base of Saint Stephens Bluff, half a mile distant 

and in plain sight. The strata are covered at intervals by debris.

3. Bed with Scutella Lyelli, 1 foot seen ; at other points.......................3 feet.

4. Coarse, ferruginous sands passing downwards to reddish sand, holding the usual 

Claiborne fossils of unmistakable character.........................15'to 18 feet.

5. Bluish green, glauconitic, and clayey sands, containing the Flabellum found at Coffeeville ............................................................8 to 10 feet.

FIG. 4. Strata exposed in continuous bluffs between Marshall's Landing and Rattlesnake 

Bluff, just below Claiborne, showing relative positions of the White Limestone and the 

Claiborne sands, Alabama liiver.

1. Orbitoidal White Limestone of the usual character .......................10 feet.

2. White Limestone, containing great numbers of Scutella Lyelli and other echinodernis ........j.........................................................10 feet.

3. Calcareous clay in two beds of five feet each, separated by three feet of soft, 

earthy White Limestone. Below this, a ledge of hard limestone three feet 

and eight feet of blue clay with fucoids, becoming more calcareous below, in 

all.................................. ............................ about 24 feet.

(293) 141
142 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

4. Ledge of hard, white limestone, followed by twenty feet or more of argillaceous, 

soft, white limestone, with, thin projecting ledges of purer limestone at intervals. 

Resembles the RotteuLimestone of Cretaceous formation ... ......about 25 feet.

5. Bed of Scutella Lyelli, in three layers, the middle one ferruginous..... ......3 feet.

6. Coarse, ferruginous sand, calcareous below, hard ledge at bottom ..........6 feet.

7. Claiborne ferruginous, fossiliferous sands, the counterpart of those at Claiborne 

Bluff ..............................................................10 to 12 feet.

8. Calcareous, sandy clay, with hard ledge in middle ........................ 6 feet.

9. Sandy, clay marl, with Ostrea sellceformis; four onfive hard ledges passing into 

greeusand below. .................... ....^..............................12 feet.

FlG. 5. Section of upper part of bluff at Claiborne and of part of hill lack of bluff, along 

the road to Perdue Hill, Alabama Eicer.

Hill back of river bluff.

1. White Limestone filled with Orbiloides Hantelli, occurring on road to Perdue Hill, 

100 feet or more above top of bluff at Claioorne Landing. Tertiary strata covered by Drift along road leading from Perdue Hill up to Claiborne..90 to 100 feet. 

Tertiary strata covered by Drift, at top of river bluff ...............38 to 40 feet.

Upper part of bluff,

2. White or bright colored, argillaceous limestone with glauconite grains. ....45 feet.

3. Indurated ledge of Scutella Lyelli....... .... .................................3 feet.

4. Coarse, ferruginous sand, calcareous below, indurated at base ........... ...6 feet.

5. Claiborne fossiliferous sands, ferruginous. Lignitic in places above.. 15 to 17 feet.

6. Bluish green, glauconitic, sandy marl, with Ostreaselloeformis, part indurated.4feet.

7. Calcareous, bluish gray clay, fo\v badly preserved fossils, passing below into a 

.greenish, glaucouitic marl containing great numbers of young Ostrea sellcrformis and a few Pectens, together about 18 feet; below this, light gray, calcareous 

clay, similar to top of preceding hard, sandy ledge at top and bottom, 7 feet; in 

all...............................................'.................. .....25 feet.

(29.4)
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. XII

FIG.!.

SECTION OF SALT Mtt 

CLARKE CO.

APPROXIMATC UNC BCTWCCN THt 

OaaiTOIOAL AND CORAL LIMCSTOHCS.

TIG. s. 4 

SECTION/AT CLAI BORNE: E

AND PERDUE HILL. Q 

0

FIS.B.

si STEPHEN'S Bturr.

TOMBISBEE RIVER.

ALABAMA R I V

FIG.*, 

SECTION BET.MARSHALL3

LANDING AND.RAT.TLESNAKE BLUTF.

El R.

eorcuiaaniteuir.

Scale: 1 inch = 40 feet. , 

SECTIONS OF THE WHITE LIMESTONE ON ALABAMA AND TOMRIGBEE RIVERS.

PLATE XIII.

ILLUSTRATING THE CLAIBORXE STRATA AS EXPOSED ALONG THE ALABAMA AND

TOMBIGBEE RIVERS.

FIG. 1. Section by C. S. Hale.

No. 8. White Limestone, thickness not given by Hale.

No. 7. Yellow, quartzose sand, highly fossiliferous; seam of earthy lignite near the

middle..................................................... ............15 feet.

No. 6. Clay bed, with nhells of full grown Ostrea sellceformis ................. 20 feet.

No. 5. Marly, arenaceous beds, with same shells as are common iu the other beds;

thickness not given by Hale. 

No. 4. Argillaceous, inuddy deposits. Fossils mostly oyster, except Venencardiaplanicosta, Area, and Turritella / occurs also at Coffeeville............... 15 to 20 feet.

No. 3. Only a few feet at Claiborne; greensand running gradually into No. 4.

FIG. 2. Section by Professor Titomey.

g. Eed loam, sand, and pebbles..............'................................ 30 feet.

f. White and mottled clay...................................................8 feet.

c. Limestone, with a small percentage of greensand ..................... ... 54 feet.

d. Sandy, fossiliferous bed ..................................................15 feet.

c. Whitish limestone, with bed on top containing Ostrea sellwformis and Scutella 

Lyelli. This bed passes below into a bluish marl with shells ............ 12 feet.

b. Bed of clay, with limestone seam on top. This bed is more calcareous below and contains fossils that, as a group, are peculiar.......................... 15 to 18 feet.

FIG. 3. Section by E. A. Smith and L. C, Johnson.

1. Red'loam, sand, and pebbles.......................................35 to 40 feet.

2. Argillaceous limestone, with greensand grains ...........................45 feet.

3. Indurated ledge, with Scutella Lyelli .....................................3 feet.

4. Coarse, ferruginous sand, calcareous below; indurated ledge at base .....: 6 feet.

5. Claiborne fossiliferous sands; ferruginous sands, with shells; laminated lignitic 

clays, with leaf impressions, and thin seams of lignite in places in upper 

part ........................................................... 15 to 17 feet.

6. Bluish green, glauconitic sandy marl, containing Ostrea sellccformis, in part indurated .......................................................... 3 to 4 feet.

7. Calcareous, bluish gray clay, with a few badly preserved fossils, passing downward 

into a greenish, glauconitic, sandy marl, containing great numbers of young 

shells of Oatrea sellaiformw and a few Pectens, the two together, clay and 

sand .......................................................... about 18 feet.

8. Light gray, calcareous clay, similar to the preceding, with hard, sandy ledges at 

top and bottom, in all............................................ about 7 feet.

9. Light yellowish gray, calcareous sands, with Pectens and Ostrea sdlwformis, the 

lower, half indurated, containing casts of univalve shells ......... about 5 feet.

5ull,43 IQ (297] 145.
146 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. IBULL.43.

10. Light yellowish gray, calcareous sands, with thin beds of more clayey texture 

and with five or six hard, sandy ledges at intervals; the sand is, in places, loose 

and crumbling, and quite fossiliferous, with Ostrea sellcvformis, Pecten Deshayesii, 

fragment ofScutellaLyelli, &c., lower Sfeet abluish, clayey sand.about 27feet.

11. Bed of greensand, with perfect shells and fragments of Ostrea sellceformia

&c............................................................. about 3 feet. /

12. Dark blue, nearly black, sandy clay.......................................2 feet.

13. Bluish green, clayey sands, few fossils above, but highly fossiliferous below and 

rather more clayey, Venericardia planicosta, Nucula magnified, Ostrea sellceformia, 

Area rhombodella,. Volula Say ana, Turritella Mortoni, T. lellifera, &C....10 feet.

14. Dark grayish blue greeusand, peculiar small form of Vinericardiaplanicosta, large 

Turrilella Mortoni, &c., 6 feet at Claiborne, but 10 feet at Lisbon.

15. Hard, sandy ledge.............................:...................... 8 inches.

16. Calcareous, clayey sands, lighter yellowish"to white color-............'.....8 feet.

17. Coarse, ferruginous sands, with numerous fossils..........................3 feet.

18. Light yellow sands, capped with a hard ledge, forming perpendicular bluff. 15 feet.

19. Blue, glauconitic sands, probably a modification of 18.....................Sfeet.

20. Bluish black clay ; top of Bnhrstone contains curious concretions of sandy clay, 

like interlacing roots.

FIG. 4. Section at Coffeeville Landing, TomMglee River.

1. Light yellowish sands, partly indurated, with Ostrea sellaiformis, &c........3 feet.

2. Loose, yellowish, calcareous sands, with Ostrea sellceformis. Indurated sand ledge

at base ................................................................. 6 feet. \

3. Loose, yellowish gray, calcareous sands, highly fossiliferous below, Ostrea sellctformis 

the chief form, separated from next by hard, sandy ledge..... ...........10 feet.

4. Bluish, clayey sand, with Ostrea scllcvformis and Flabellum, in two parts, separated 

by hard ledge: upper part, 8 feet; lower, 3 feet, in all .................. 12 feet.

5. Glauconitic sands, filled with comminuted and perfect sheila of Ostrea selleeformis,

&c. .....................................................................3 feet. ' .

6. Dark bluish black, non-fossiliferous, sandy clays ..........................2 feet.

7. Dark bluish green, clayey sand to water level..............................5 feet.

(298)
D. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO/ 43 PL. XIIJ

A,.U A B A M A . R_J V E R. TOM BifiBEB BIVBB

SECUON BYWOPDICHES 6£CT ON BVtASMITH »

SECTION ay

CJS.HACE.

HUTCH Wffa ,

-,

^

SECTIONAT COrFCEVIU.&WS

Scale: 1 inob = 40 feet.

SECTIONS 01* THE CLAIBORNE STRATA ALABAMA AND TOMBIGBEE RIVERS.


150 TERTIARY AND CfiETACEOUS STKATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

PLATE XIV.

SECTIONS OP THE BUHRSTOSE STRATA WITH THE ADJACENT STRATA OF THE CLAIB'ORNE AND LIGNITIC.

FIG. 1. Section at Lisbon, Alabama Elver. .

1. Light yellow sands, with glauconite, capped with hard ledge, lower 5 feet of bluish 

color, base of Claiborne rocks...........................................20 feet.

2. Bluish black jointed clay, sandy concretions in upper part................15 feet.

FIG. 2. Section at Hamilton's Landing, Alabama River.

1. Light gray, indurated clays and aluminous sandstones, with one or two indurated 

ledges, forming the whole of the bluff at Hamilton's Landing............75 feet.

FIG. 3. Section exposed along road leading up hill west of McCarthy's Ferry, Tombigbee

Eiver.

1. Top of hill west of McCarthy's Ferry, in Choctaw County. On the road down to 

the ferry 250 to 270 feet of Buhrstone rocks are passed over. These consist of indurated clays, claystones, and aluminous sandstones; the relative positions and order 

of succession of the different beds not intended to be represented in figures. 

These rocks appear at the surface at short intervals all the way..exposed 270feet.

2. Ledge of silicious sandstone or quartzite, interstratified with indurated clays.

3. Laminated clays, reddish and yellowish, just below Buhrstone rocks on road 

down the hill; strata exposed just back of bluff of river.

4. Sandy clays &c. (Continuation, see Fig. 3, Plate XV.)

FIG. 4. Section of .upper part of White Bluff, below Wood's Bluff, Tombigbee Eiver,

1 Aluminous sandstones and indurated clays with jointed structure, forming a clear, 

perpendicular bluff................................................ ....115 feet.

2. Grayish, sandy clays, with a layer 18 inches thick at base, containing lignitized 

stems and twigs........................................................ 20 feet.

3. Sandy clays, lignitic layer at base.........................................5 feet.

FIG. 5. Section of the upper part of Hatchetigbee Bluff, Tombigbee Eiver.

1. Light colored, aluminous sandstone and indurated clays..............20 to 30 feet.

2. Sandy clays, brown, yellow, and red, interstratified, bluish when wet, but lighter 

when dry .............................................................20 feet.

3. Heavy bedded, brownish clays, darker than the preceding................. 10 feet.

(302)
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SQRVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. XIV

riG.i.

SECTION AT LISBON, 

ALABAMA RIVER,

rio.3.

SECTION EXPOSED ALON'S ROAD 

UP HILL WEST OF MCCARTHY* f 

TOMBIGBEE, RIVER.

TIG.?- . i

SECTION AT HAMILTON S L 

ALABAMA RIVER.

SfCTiONOf THE UPPER'PARTOF

HATCHETIGBEE BLUFF.

TOMBIEBEC RIVER.

Scale: 1 inch = 40 feet.

SECTIONS OF THE BUHRSTONE STRATA, WITH ADJACENT STRATA OF THE CLAIBORNE AND

LIGNITIC.
V
PLATE XV.

ILLUSTRATING THE HATCHETIGBEE SECTION OF THE LIGNITIC, BUT INCLUDING ALSO 

A PORTION OF THE LOWER PART OF THE BUHRSTONE AND THE UPPER PART OF 

THE WOOD'S BLUFF SECTION.

FIG. 1. Section of White Bluff, Davis's Bluff, and Wood's Bluff, TomUgbee Eiver.

1. Buhrstone roeks, chiefly aluminous sandstones and indurated clays, with jointed 

structure and prevailing light gray colors, forming a perpeudi cular cliff. 115 feet.

2. Grayish, sandy clays, with a layer 18 inches thick at base, containing lignitic 

stems and twigs........................................ ..............20 feet.

3. Sandy clays, with lignitic layer at base .................................. 5 feet.

4. Strata obscured by landslides .......................... ..................65 feet.

5. Dark gray, sandy clays, striped with brownish purple bands of clay containing 

very few fossils, except in a thin baud of marl 12 feet above the water and 

one 24 feet above the water, all exposed in Davis's Bluff.... *........... 70 feet.

6. Dark gray to brown, sandy clays, between Wood's Bluff and Davis's Bluff.. 10 feet.

7. .Bluish, sandy, fossiliferous clay, red on surface, hard ledge at top..... ....3 feet.

8. Bluish, sandy clay, like No. 7, but not fossiliferous, passing into greensaud below. ..................................................................7 feet.

9. Fossiliferous, clayey greensaud....................................... ..'..3feet.

10. Greensand marl, with stratum of ponderous oyster shells, highly fossiliferous; 

tends to form rounded bowlders .............. ...1....................10 feet.

11. Fossiliferous greensand, loose and easily washed out, forming caves under the 

bowlders............ .............................'i.. ............ ...... 8 feet.

12. Thin band of lignite over greenish, non-fossiliferous, clayey sands.......... 5 feet.

13. Lflfffiinated, gray, sandy clays........................................3 to 4 feet.

14. Lignite................................ ............ ..............8 feet or more.

FIG. 2. Section at Hatchetigbee Bluff, Tombigbee Eiver.

1. Drift and surface materials, light colored, aluminous sandstones and indurated 

clays, Buhrstone rocks .......................................... 20 to 30 feet.'

2. Sandy clays of brown, yellow, and red colors, interstratified, blue when moist, 

lighter color when dry ..........................................15 to 20 feet.

3. Heavy bedded, brownish clays of darker color than No. 2................ 10 feet.

4. Yellowish, glauconitic marl..............................................3 feet.

5. Purplish brown, sandy clays, with band of hard, dark colored clays in middle, projecting .........................................'................. ....15 feet.

6. Yellowish gray sands, striped with brown clays, forming bowlders at -intervals ............................... ..........................:........6 feet.

7. Blue clay marl, sandy, many new forms..................................5 feet.

8. Grayish sands striped with brown clay bands, bowlders....................4 feet.

9. Heavy bedded, gray, sandy clays, with brown clay stripes, Indurated at base.8 feet.

10. Eeddish, fossiliferous sand, Venerioardiaplanicosta abundant..............5 feet.

11. Dark gray to brown, sandy clays, to water's edge......... ^.............. 15 feet.

(305) N 153
154 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [HULL.43. 

FIG. 3. Section at McCarthy's Ferry, Tompif/bee River.

1. Biihrstono rocks exposed along road leading xip the hill from McCarthy's Ferry. 

See Fig. 3, PI. XIV.

2. Laminated clays, reddish and yellowish, containing an indurated greensand marl

with Hatchetigbee fossils, exposed in hill above the bluff and intervening between ' / 

the strata seen in the river bluff and the aluminous rocks of the Buhrstone seen . 

higher up the hill.

3. Sandy clays interstratified with clays less sandy, light gray, along the whole length 

of the bluff. There are parallel bands of much darker brown clays... 55 feet.

4. Laminated clays and sands, firm and compact at base, and forming projecting 

ledge....................................................................5feet.

5. Pyritous sandy clays, with two or three bands of darker color, indurated in places, 

forming bowlders ......................................................20 feet.

(306)
O. 3. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL

FIG I.

SECTION OF WHITE BLUFr. I 

OAVIS' BLUFF S WOOD'S BLUFF, 

TOMBlGBCE RIVER.

ft IN THE HILL WEST OF.MS CARWY'SrlRRY. 

TOMBIGBEE RIVER*

rta.s.

'SECTION AT HATCHETIGBCC BLUFR 

TOMBIGBEC RIVCR.

MATCH LCVCL AT HATCHCTieBtt.

 isg? tuna LCVU AT WOODS Biven

Scale: 1 inch = 40 feet.

HATCHETIGBEE SECTION OF THE LIGNITIC, WITH PARTS OF THE BUHRSTONE AND

WOOD'S BLUFF.

PLATE XVI.

ILLUSTRATING THE WOOD'S BLUFF OR BASH! AND BELL'S LANDING SECTIONS OF 

THE LIGNITIC, AND INCLUDING THE LOWER BEDS OF THE HATCHETIGBEE SECTION.

FIG. 1. Section at Yellow Bluff, Alabama River.

1. Gray, sandy clays, with cross bedded sands. Forty feet seen in one exposure in 

river bank and 90 feet more seen on the hills within 1 mile of the river. Only 

the lower 40 feet occurring at river are here shown.................... 40 feet.

2. Greensaud marl, Wood's Bluff fossils.............................6 feetor more.

 3. Blue clay ...............................................................1 foot.

4. Gray, sandy clays of slightly purple tinge, containing four or five thin seams of 

lignite.......................'.....................-....---....-.-... .40 feet.

5. Reddish, cross bedded sand ............................ ..................20 feet.

6. Lignitic clay and lignite.................................................2 feet.

7. Reddish sands, slightly laminated...... .................................15 feet.

8. Gray, sandy clays, laminated, forming perpendicular cliff ..:....... ......25 feet.

9. Greensand marl, indurating into bowlders, Bell's Landing fossils..........8 feet.

10. Greenish, ferruginous sands interlaminated with thin sheets of clay to water 

level..................................................................7 feet.

FIG. 2. Section at Bell's Landing, Alabama Elver.

1. Yellowish, cross bedded sands ............................................ 15 feet.

2. Lignite ..................................................................2 feet.

3. Laminated, sandy clays, with a few large, bowlder like concretions........10 feet.

4. Yellow, stratified sands, alternating with gray, sandy clays............. ..15 feet.

5. Gray, sandy clays, laminated ............................................ 15 feet.

6. Greensand marl, forming bowlders, gigantic shells....................6 to 10 feet.

7. Dark gray, laminated, sandy clays....................... ............ ....25 feet.

8. Sandy, clay marl ......................................... -............ 1 to 2 feet.

9. Dark gray, sandy clay to water level......................................4 feet.

FIG. 3. Section at Peeblcs's Landing, Alabama Elver.

1. Yellowish sands ......................................................1 to 2 feet.

2. Lignite and ligniticclay...................................................2 feet.

3. Reddish sands, laminated................................................ 10 feet.

4. Gray clays and sands, variously interstratified......................about 30 feet.

5. Greensand marl, forming bowlders, Bell's Landing fossils .......... ........8 feet.

6. Dark gray, sandy, laminated clays .......................................25 feet.

7. Strata covered by second bottom deposits, down to water level...... ...... 20 feet.

FIG. 4. Section at Gregg's Landing, Alabama Eiver.

-1. Greensand marl, forming bowlders, Bell's Landing fossils.............8 to 10 feet.

2. Gray, sandy, laminated clays ....................................... 20 to 25 feet.

3. Sandy clay marl, fossiliferous.........................................4 to 5 feet.

4. Laminated, sandy clays to water level.................................... 10 feet.

(309) 157
158 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 48,

FIG. 5. Section at Lower Peach Tree Landing, Alabama River.

1. Saudy, laminated clays, top of bluff ........................... ..... ....10 feet.

2. Greensand marl, forming bowlders, Bell's Landing fossils............. 8 to 10 feet.

3. Laminated, sandy clays of gray color but with reddish, layers ........20 to 25 feet.

4. Bluish, sandy clay marl, Gregg's Landing fossils...................... 4 to 5 feet.

5. Sandy clays of prevailing gray color, varying in degree of sandiness and coarseness 

of lamination. No fossils observed ....................................50 feet.

6. Fossiliferous greensand...... .............................................I foot.

7. Gray, sandy clays to -water level.................................... ......10 feet.

FIG. 6. Section at Tuscahoma Landing and up to Shuquabowa Creek, Tombigbee River.

1. Laminated sands, interstratified with clayey sheets, upper part; lower part, indurated sands with two lines of ferruginous, bowlderlike concretions, one at base, 

the other ten feet above...............................................30 feet.

2. Light bluish gray, sandy clays, striped with somewhat harder projecting bands or 

ledges...........................................................35 to 40 feet.

3. Greensand marl, Bell's Landing fossils; three feet blue clay in middle..6 to7 feet.

4. Bluish black, massive clay................................I................2 feet.

5. Sands passing into sandy clays below .....................................5 feet.

6. Lighter colored, cross bedded sands above, with sands and clay interstratified below...... ...........'............................................... ....8 feet.

FIG. 7. Section at Wood'8 Bluff and Bashi Creek, Tombigbee River.

1. Dark gray to brown and purple, sandy clays, lower beds of Hatchetigbee section.

2. Bluish, sandy, fossiliferous clay, red on surface, hard ledge on top ........... 3 feet.

3. Bluish, sandy clay (like 2), but not fossiliferous, passing into greensand below.7 feet.

4. Fossiliferous, clayey greensand............................................ 3 feet.

5. Greensand marl, main bed, with a stratum of ponderous oyster shells; highly foseiliferous sands forming bowlders......................................10 feet.

6. Fossiliferous greensand, loose and easily washed out, forming cavea below the 

bowlders ..............................................................8feet.

7. Thin bands of lignite over greenish, non-fossiliferous, clayey sands..... ....5 feet.

8. Laminated, gray, sandy clays.........................................3 to 4 feet.

9. Lignite ...................... ............................................1 foot.

(310)


PLATE XVII.

ILLUSTRATING THE NANAFALIA AND COAL BLUFF SECTIONS OF THE LIGNITIC.

FIG. 1. Sections.at Gullette's Bluff'and Coal Bluff, Alabama Eiver. 

Gullette's Bluff.

1. Red loam, sand, &c., of Drift, at the top of the bluff..................... 10 feet.

2. Indurated, glauconitic clay..............................................sfeet.

3. Gray, sandy clays, alternately thinly laminated and heavy bedded or massive ................................................................... 13. feet.

4. Very green, glauconitic sand.............................................Sfeet.

5. Gray, sandy clays, similar to No. 3 above.................................20 feet.

6. Fossiliferous, glaucouitic sand, first of Gryphcea thirsce beds................ 3 feet.

7. Compact, yellowish sands with Gryphcea thirsce, capped by hard ledge, forming vertical cliff............................................................. 13 feet.

8. Indurated sanda................................... ...... ................2 feet.

9. White, cross bedded sanda...............................................12 feet.

10. Bluish sands in a vertical cliff; contains Gryphcea thirsce; indurated ledge in middle and at bottom of the bed..........................................20 feet.

11. Bluish, clayey sands, with Gryphcea. ...................................... 10 feet.

12. Sanda with Gryphcea thirsce, traversed by several indurated ledges down to water 

level; darker colored and more clayey below..........................20 feet.

Between mouth of Pursley Creek and Coal Bluff.

13. Greehsaud, mouth of Pursley Creek .......................................5 feet.

14. Sands capped with indurated ledge....................... ................3 feet.

15. Clayey sands; indurated sandy ledges at top and i n the midst............. 6 feet.

16. Indurated greensand ....................................................3 feet.

17. Softer greensand, out of which caves are washed ......................... 5 feet.

18. Greensand of firmer texture, with 1 foot of brownish sand at bottom.....; 8 feet.

19. Lignite of Coal Bluff.............. .......................................4 feet.

20. Firm, gray, sandy clays appearing j ust above Coal Bluff Landing......... 10 feet.

FlG. 2. Section in Grampian. Hills, 2 to 3 miles' south of Camden, Wilcox County.

1. Light colored sand and clayey rocka 2 feet, and 2 feet sandstone with shell 

casts.................................................... .............4 feet.

2. Gray clays, indurated, closely resembling Buhrstone ............... 10 to 15 feet.

3. Light colored, sandy clay rock, full of shell casts, chiefly Turritella ........5 feet.

4. Gray crumbling clays, weathering into small bits..................... 5 to 6 feet.

5. Hard, glauconitic, sandy clay with shell casts breaking into cuboidal blocks.. 3 feet.

6. Gray, indurated clays, glauconitic in places, and like some of the Buhrstone 

clays....................................................... ....12 to 15 feet.

7. Greensand, with casts of Gryphcea thirsce.... ..............................2 feet.

8. Greensand, in places converted into a yellowish sand, holding the Gryphcea 

ihirsce.. .......................................................... ....10 feet.

Bull. 43 11 (313) 161
162 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL.43.

9. Yellow sands, with Gryphcea ............................................. 5 feet.

10. Bed of Gryphcea shells ....................................................1 foot.

11. Yellow sands, with Gryphcea; and forming bowlders, 6 to 8 feet; in all.. 12 to 14 feet.

FIG. 3. Section on Parsley Creek, Wilcox County, Carriden and Black's Bluff road.

1. Red loam, sand, &c., of Drift.

2. Dark colored, crumbling sandy clays......................................5 feet.

3. Sands, with Gryphcea thirsce and a few other fossils....................5to 7 feet.

4. Thin bedded sands and sandy clays......................................15 feet.

5. Yellowish gray, cross bedded sands, with indurated bowlders of same materials; 

these sands hold also thin, lenticular sheets of gray clay.................25 feet.

6. Interstratified sands and clays of grayish color, with shades of yellow, rather thinbedded ............................................................... 15 feet.

.7. Gray, sandy clays in banks of Parsley Creek................................6 feet.

8. Lignite or lignitic clay, bed of Parsley Creek.

FIG. 4. Strata exposed on Tombiglee River from mouth of Horse Creek up to Nanafalia ; 

also section on Landrum's Creek.

Mouth of Horse Creek to Gay's Landing.

1. Gray, sandy clays, forming banks of river between mouth of Horse Creek and 

Williams's Gin, and directly overlying the bed at the last named place.20 feet2. Gray, sandy clays, thin bedded, and in joint planes, passing below into a hard, 

sandy ledge .............................................................8 feet.

3. Indurated greensand, with Gryphcea thirsts. ...............................2 feet.

4. Dark blue black clays, with thin, firm ledges............ .................6 feet.

5. Indurated sands, with Gryphcea thirsce.......'... ...........................2 feet.

6. Bluish black, sandy clays...................... ...... ...... ..............3 feet.

7. Greeusand, with Gryphcea thirsce, passing below into gray, sandy clay. 5 feet or more.

Lott's Ferry.

8. Black, sandy clay, fossiliferous........i.............. ....................4 feet.

9. Sands, with Gryphcea thirsce, cross bedded in places........................ 3 feet.

10. Dark gray, sandy clay, with few fossils....................... ...... ...... 3 feet.

11. Greensand, with Gryphcea thirsce, forming hard bowlders in places........ 10 feet.

Nanafalia Landing.

12. Greensand marl, highly fossiliferous, with Gryphcea thirsce and other forms; line 

o"f indurated, projecting bowlders along central part of bed............20 feet.

13. Dark blue, almost black, laminated clay, devoid of fossils............3 to 4 feet.

14. Bluish greensand marl, highly fossiliferous below, Gryphcea thirsce and other 

forms.............................. ..1............................8 to 10 feet

Landrum's Creek.

15. Bluish, micaceous sands overlying-lignite on Landrum's Creek, near Nanafalia 

Bluff ................................................................15feet.

16. Lignite exposed on Landrum's Creek......................................7feet.

17. Gray, sandy clays .......................................................5 feet.

(314)
NANAFALIA SECTION, INCLUDING COAL BUUFF . LIGNITE:, 2OO 

PLATE XVIII.

ILLUSTRATING THE OAK HILL, PINE BARREN SERIES, WHICH INCLUDES THE NAHEOLA AND MATTHEWS'8 LANDING, BLACK BLUFF. AND THE MIDWAY SECTIONS OF 

THE LIGNITIC.

FlG. 1. Section at Oak Hill and on Pine Barren Creek.

1. Cross bedded sands and thinly laminated clays, much weathered and with difficulty distinguished from the red loam &c. of the Drift-............... 25 feet.

2. Gray, cross bedded sands, with thin laminae of dark gray clay. These beds are much 

the same as the preceding, but are much less weathered................ 40 feet.

3. Cross bedded and laminated sands, yellowish............................H feet.

4. Thin bedded, gray, laminated clays, interstratified with thin ledges of cross bedded 

sands............................................................ ....30 feet.

5. Sands 1 foot, clays 1 foot, sands 1 foot .s..................................3 feet.

(j. Gray clays interstratified with cross bedded sands ....................... 6 feet.

7. Gray, cross bedded sands.................................................3 feet.

^k 8. Gray clay, breaking up into cuboidal blocks, and interstratified with sandy 

ledges............................................................... 15 feet.

9. Black to gray, micaceous sands, with the fossils of Matthews's Landing, dark at 

top, lighter and glauconitic below .....................................7 feet.

10. Glauconitic sandy ledge, calcareous.................... .. ...... ...... ....1 foot.

11. Yellowish, calcareous sands, with phosphatic and white lime concretions; crustacean remains in upper 5 feet; several hard, shaly ledges............. 12 feet.

12. Glauconitic, sandy shales, with indurated ledge at top ...................10feet.

13. Sandy, shaly beds, with indurated ledges ..................... ^........... 6 feet.

14. Hard, yellowish, sandy limestone, phosphatic.............................3 feet.

15. Yellowish, calcareous, clayey sands, with white lime concretions, grayer and 

more clayey below ; Black Bluff fossils abundant..................... 15 feet.

16. Black, calcareous clays, gray on weathered surfaces; Black Bluff fossils, especially in upper part. This forms basis of the prairie soils.............20 feet.

17. Hard, grayish white limestone, used for chimneys, &c., containing a large Nautilus .................................................................10 feet.

18. Calcareous sands forming basis of the sandy T> rairies ......................6 feet.

19. Hard, yellow, crystalline limestone, with Ostrea, TurritelJa Morloni, and Venericar- 

} 'diaplanicosta ..........................................................8 feet.

20. Yellow, micaceous sands, with. Ripley fossils seen on road above Palmer's 

Mill ............................................... ..................55 feet.

21. Bluish gray, calcareous sands, with projecting sandy ledges, on Pine Barren 

Creek................................................................15 feet.

FIG. 2. Section on the Alabama River.

Coal Bluff.

1. Bluish greensand over lignite.

2. Coal Bluff lignite........................................................ 4 feet.

.3. Compact, clayey sand underlying lignite.

(317) 165
166 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

 Burford's. Landing.

4. Gray, cross bedded sands alternating with laminae of gray clay, Burford's Landing...... ............................................................ 10 feet.

Walnut Bluff.

5. Light yellowish, cross bedded sands, Walnut Bluff.

Turkey Creek to Clifton.

6. Gray or bluish, sandy clays, forming river banks from mouth of Turkey Creek 

to Clifton, of variable dip and hence of undetermined thickness.

7. Dark, gray sandy clays at Cliftou and above, nearly to mouth of Dickson's Creek. 

Thebegiuning of the Matthews's Lauding beds .......................10 feet.

Matthews's Landing.

8. Bluish black, micaceous sands, highly fossiliferous ..........'........ .5 to 6 feet.

9. Yellowish gray, calcareous sands, indurating into bowlders............... 4 feet.

10. Bluish black, micaceous sands, fossiliferous, compact and c]ayey below.7 to 8 feet.

Midway.

1 1. Black, calcareous clay overlying the Nautilus Rock...................... 5 feet.

12. Grayj argillaceous limestone, with numerous large Enclimatoceras Ulrichi..lO feet.

FIG. 3. Sections on the Tdnibigbee River. 

Mouth of Beaver Creek' to Naheola.

1. Coarse grained, micaceous sands, with projecting bowlders of indurated sand or 

sandstones, no fossils, thin clay partings at intervals, seen j ust below Tompkinsville.......................'..........................................20 feet.

2. Cross bedded sands, just below Tompkinsville........................... 10 feet.

3. Gray, sandy clays, alternating with ledges of indurated sand and thin clay partings, Tompkinsville Bluff, no fossils...................................30 feet.

4. Gray, sandy clays, with ledges of sandier texture and lighter color...... .20 feet.

5. Black, sandy clay, with indurated ledge of greensand above, in all....... 3 feet.

(?. Greensand marl, capped with hard ledge, ferruginous................... 3 feet.

7. Black, slaty clay, recurring at all the bluffs above this to Black Bluff. ....10 feet.

Black Bluff.

8. Yellowish clay at top of bluff. This clay is the basis of the Flafcwoods..... 30 feet.

9. Black, slaty clay, strongly calcareous, fossiliferous (Black Bluff fossils).. .40 feet. 

The lower part of this division is covered with singularly shaped concretions 

of limonite.

10. Brownish, shaly clay to the water level.............................. ....10 feet.

(318)
S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. XVIII

FIG.I.

SECTION AT OAK HILXAND ON 

PINE BARREN CREEh

FIG. 2.

SECTIONS ON 

ALABAMA RIVtR.,

FIG.3.

SECTIONS ON 

TOMBIGBEE RIVER

Scale: 1 inch =40 feet.

OAK HILL, PINE BARREN SERIES OF THE LlGNITIC, INCLUDING THE NAHEOLA AND 

M'ATTHEWS'S LANDING, THE BLACK BLUFF, AND THE MIDWAY SECTIONS. 

-A- PLATE XIX.

ILLUSTRATING THE RIPLEY FORMATION OF THE CRETACEOUS GROUP, ALABAMA AND

TOMBIGBEE RIVERS.

FIG. 1. Palmer's Mill, on Pine Barren Creek.

1. Hard, yellow, crystalline limestone, with Ostrea, corals, Turritella Mortoni, Venericardia planicosta, &c....................................................8 feet.

2. Yellow, micaceous sands, with Eipley fossils, seen on road above Palmer's 

Mill ............................................. ..-...............:.55 feet,

3. Bluish gray, calcareous sands, with several projecting sandy ledges, to level of Pine 

Barren Creek.....................................................'....15 feet.

FIG. 2. Bridgeport Landing, Alabama River.

1. Yellow, crystalline limestone, seen in Camden-Bridgeport road.

2. Yellowish, micaceous sands, forming basis of the hills back of the Bridgeport Bluff.

3. Yellow, clayey sands, top of bluff at Bridgeport Landing ................ 10 feet.

4. Coarse, yellow sands....................................................10 feet.

^ 5. Laminated, gray clays...... ....................................... ...... 1 foot.

f 6. Ledge of dark gray, sandy clay........... ....^..................... ...... 1 foot.

7. Dark gray, nearly black, sandy, micaceous clays, "with hard, projecting, sandy 

ledges at intervals of 3 to 4 feet........................................22 feet.

8. Projecting, sandy ledge.............................................._..l|feet.

9. Dark gray, sandy clays ...................................................3 feet.

10. Sandy ledge .............................................................I foot.

11. Dark gray, sandy clays, with two hard, sandy ledges, to water level.....: 10 feet.

FIG. 3. Canton Landing, Alabama liiver.

1. Yellow sands, forming basis of the fertile soils of the Canton Bend.

2. Yellowish gray, micaceous, and calcareous sands, in beds averaging 3 to 5 feet in 

thickness and separated by hard, sandy ledges, which shale off on weathering; 

these beds appear at intervals on hillside immediately back of the river bluff, 

being in part covered by d6bris ........................................100 feet.

In places the clayey sands have a dark blue color.

3. Yellow, calcareous, sandy clays, like the preceding, with hard ledges above and below; top of river bluff.................................................10 feet.

\ 4. Bluish, micaceous, sandy clays, the counterpart of those at Bridgeport, with two 

projecting, sandy ledges ................................................ 12 feet.

5. Light gray, calcareous sands, holding indurated, irregular masses, phosphatized 

shell casts, &c.; sandstone ledge at base. ................................6 feet.

6. Bluish gray, sandy clay, 5 feet thick, underlaid by more sandy bed, with phosphatized shell casts, nodules, &c ......................................... ....8 feet.

7. Bluish, argillaceous limestone, with Exogyra, Gryphcca, and phosphatic casts.3 feet.

8. Calcareous sands, with variety of fossils........ .......................... .3 feet.

FIG. 4. Foster's Creek, in Gee's Bend, Alabama River.

1. Yellowish, calcareous, sandy clay soil, with growth of red cedars.

2. Dark gray, micaceous, sandy clays, like those of Bridg eport, with hard, sandier 

ledges of lighter color ab intervals of 5 to 6 feet. The lo wermost of these beds 

contain the small Moscow Gryphwa. .................... ................30 feet,

(321) 169
170 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OP ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

3. Impure limestone, glauconitic, with phosphatized shell casts &c. ..........5feet.

4. Coarse, calcareous sandstone ledge ........................................2feet.

5. Bluish, sandy, argillaceous limestone, no fossils at top, hut filled in its lower and 

middle parts with shells and phosphatized shell casts. The materials of this bed 

vary from argillaceous limestone to calcareous sands....................20 feet.

6. Brown, phosphatic limestone .............................................1 foot.-

7. Argillaceous sandstone....................................................Ifoot.

FIG. 5. Section on Tear Up Creek, Wilcox County, Alabama River.

1. Yellow sands at base of McNeill's Mountain.

2. Dark bluish gray, sandy, micaceous clays, with hard, projecting ledges at intervals of 

3 or 4 feet. These beds are exposed in channel of Tear Up Creek between the river 

and the foot of McNeill's Mountain, distance about 1 mile. The thickness not 

measured, but here placed equal to that noticed at Canton Landing .... 100 feet.

3. Ferruginous, sandy marl, full of Ripley fossils.............................. 3 feet.

4. Firm white limestone; no fossils observed.................................6 feet.

5. White limestone, with a few fossils........................................2 feet.

6. Sandy, calcareous beds, with fine fossils ...................... ............ 4 feet.

7. Sandy, indurated limestone ledge .....................................1 to 2 feet.

8. Calcareous limestone, with Exogyra costata &c ............................8 feet.

FIG. 6. Prairie Bluff and hill to the northeast, Alabama River. !

1. Yellowish, calcareous, and micaceous sands, with hard, sandy ledges at intervals 

of 4 or 5 feet, forming the hill northeast of Prairie Bluff towards Rehoboth. 

In some places, where less exposed to weathering:, the color of the sandy 

clays is dark bluish, like those of Bridgeport. The strata of this hill are in appearance identical with those above the river bluff at the old Canton Landing, 

not a continuous section............................75 to 100 feet, perhaps more.

2. Impure limestone, holding phosphatized shell casts &c., outcropping on the bluff 

north of warehouse; extended thickness...........................12 to 15 feet.

3. Bluish limestone, with shell casts and Exogyra costata, Gryphcea mutabilis, &c~., forming top of bluff below warehouse ; two hard ledges in it ................20 feet.

4. Sands, traversed by indurated bands of calcareous sand, holding Exogyra costata and 

Gryphcea mutabilis chiefly. The sands are white above and dark blue near water

level, but the blue sands become white where they crop out up the river near the

top of the bluff. Sands contain great numbers of Ostrea falcata.... .50 to 60 feet. 

FIG. 7. Below Moscow, on the Tonibigbee River.

1. Black, shaly clay, devoid of fossils, joints filled with ealcite, at mouth of Sucarnochie Creek ...................................................... .,6 to 8 feet.

2. Dark blue, shaly, argillaceous limestone and thin, projecting, harder ledges.. 30 feet.

3. Ledges of small Gryphcea shells ...........................................1 foot.

4. Hard, impure limestones, with Exogyra costata and Gryphcea mutabilis; irregular, 

concretionary, sandy ledge above, with comminuted shells, below which a projecting ledge, with many phosphatized shell casts.......................... 15 feet.

(322)
U. B GEOLOGICAL RtTRVEY BULLETIN NO. 43 PL. XIX

riO.I. FIG.2. 

PALMERS MILL BRIDGEPORT LANDING 

INC BARRCN CREEK. ALABAMA RIVER.

FIS'.S.

CANTON LANDINOi 

ALABAMA RIVER.

FTG.5. 

SECTION ONTEAHUPCRECK

WILCOXCO 

ALABAMA RIVER

FIGA 

FOSTER'S CREEK IN

GEIE'SBEND. 

ALABAMA RIVCR.

FIG.S

PRAIRIE BLUFfANO HIILTO 

THE NORTHEAST. 

ALABAMA RIVER.

Boale 1 inch =40 feet.

RiPLEY GROU.P OF THE CRETACEOUS FORMATION.

PLATE XX.

ILLUSTRATING THE PHOSPHATIC GREENSANDS (TOMBIGBEE SAND) AT BASE OF THE 

ROTTEN LIMESTONE, TOGETHER WITH THE UPPER STRATA OF THE EUTAW FORMATION OF THE CRETACEOUS GROUP.

FIG. 1. Bluff at Erie, Tuscaloosa River.

1. Rotten Limestone of the usual character..................................30 feet.

2. Indurated ledge, calcareous sand, glaucouitic and phosphatic, containing oyster 

shells....................................................................7feet.

3. Yellowish sands, containing shells in upper part...........................8 feet.

4. Ledge of shells ............................................................I foot.

5. Yellowish, glauconitic sands; more glauconitic helow......................5 feet.

6. Sandy ledge, with shells..................................................1 foot.

7. Greensaud, cross hedded..................................................4 feet.

g. Laminated, blue clay, projecting........ .................................2 feet.

9. Phosphatic greensand ....................................................1 foot.

FIG. 2. McAlpin&s Ferry, Tuscaloosa River.

1. Rotten Limestone of variable thickness, with covering of Drift.

2. Calcareous sands, indurated, containing shells, mostly oysters..........6 to 8 feet.

3. Sands. ..............................................................8 to 10 feet.

4. Greensand to water level..................................... ....6 feet or more.

FIG. 3. Choctaw Bluff, Tuscaloosa River.

1. Rotten Limestone, with Inocerami and reptilian bones, covering of Drift ..20 feet.

2. Indurated calcareous sands, full of shells, glauconitic j f upper part = the " Concrete 

Sand" of Winchell.................................................. 6 to 7 feet.

3. Yellowish., cross bedded sands, containing oyster shells in upper part, more glauconitic and devoid of fossils below...................... .............. ..15 feet.

4. Glauconitic sands and small oyster shells ...................»...............1 foot.

5. Phosphatic greensand ............................................ ....6 to 8 feet.

FIG. 4.. Section at Finch's Ferry, Tuscaloosa River.

1. Yellowish, cross bedded sands, with indurated bands at intervals; contains a few 

casts of shells, mostly oysters, and pieces of silicified wood...............25 feet.

2. Laminated, blue clays, with sand between the laminte............'......... 10 feet.

3. Alternations of cross bedded sand and blue, laminated clay.......'......... .5 feet.

4. Bluish, glauconitic sands........................................... .....lOfeet.

5. Laminated, blue clays, the laminae separated by sand ..................... .20 feet.

FIG. 5. House Bluff, Alabama River.

1. Rotten Limestone ...................................j............... ..20 feet.,

2. Greensand, with phosphatic nodules......................................4 feet.

3. Bed of shells in sand......................................................1 foot.

(325) 173
174 TERTIAEY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

4. Light colored sands, with irregular deposits of shells and shell bed at base.5 feet.

5. Sands, with layer of shells at base........................................ 9 feet.

6. Alternating beds of horizontally laminated and cross bedded sands, yellow (glauconitic),the separate beds from 1 to 2 feet thick, marked with streaks deeply 

colored by iron ....................................................... ..40 feet.

7. Laminated clays (soapstone), devoid of fossils............................ 10 feet.

8. Blue, micaceous sands, no fossils observed...... .........................15 feet9. Light colored sands, with large, bowlder-like concretion................. 20 feet.

10. Alternations of laminated clays and blue sands to water level.

(326)

r
U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SUHVEY 

FIG.l.

BLUFF AT ERIC, 

TUSCALOOSA RIVCR.

F1G.S.

MEALPINES TERRY 

TUSCALOOSA RIVCR.

FI6.3.

CHocTAwBLOrr.

TUSCALOOSA RIVER.

rio.4

SECTION AT FI

TUSCALOOSA 

Scale : 1 incb = 40 feet.

PHOSPHATIC GREENSANDS AT THE BASE OF THE ROTTEN 

EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 177

PLATE XXI.

GENERAL SECTION OF TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA, AS EXPOSED ALONG TllK ALABAMA, TOMBIGBEE, AND TUSCALOOSA RIVERS.

COLUMN 1. Exposures inland near Alabama Rivir. (Supplementary to Alabama River

section. )

Hills lack of Yellow Bluff.

1. Gray, sandy clays, alternating withccross bedded sands, seen in hill back of Yellow 

Bluff; barometric measurement.. ...... .............. .... ............ .90 feet.

2. Gray, sandy clays, alternating with cross bedded sands, like the preceding ; seen 

in hill at top of Yellow Bluff ...... ............................ ...... .40 feet.

3. Greensand marl, Wood's Bluff ...................................... 6 to 15 feet.

4. Gray, sandy clays of purple tinge, including four or five thin seams of lignite. Top 

of Yellow Bluff...................... .......................... ....... 40 feet.

Grampian Hills.

5. Gray, sandy clays, indurated, in part glaucouitic, and filled with shell cases, chiefly

of Turritella, in part closely resembling Buhrstoue clays .... .... .47 to 50 feet.

6. Glaucoriitic sands, with Qryphaia thirsce, several indurated bauds ...... .25 feet.

On Pursley Creek.

7. Glauconitic sands, with Gryphwa tliirsw, clayey above ................... 12 feet.

8. Laminated sand and sandy clays ......................................... 15 feet.

9. Yellowish gray, cross bedded sands, indurating, with bowlders, inclosing lenticular 

sheets of clay ....................................................... .25 feet.

10. Gray sands and clays, interstratified, glauconitic; lignite at base; seenN in Pursley 

Creek........................................... .............. .......20 feet.

Oak Hill, Graveyard Hill, and Pine Barren Creek.

11. Gray, samdy clays, cross bedded sands, and thin, laminated clays in many alternations ...I.. .... ....^.... .................................. .....'... .108 feet.

12. Gray clay, breaking into cuboidal blocks, 15 feet, passing into black clay marl, 

Matthews's Lauding ................................................ .23 feet.

13. Yellowish, calcareous sands and sandy shales, with hard ledges and 3 feet hard, 

yellowish, phosphatic, sandy limestone at base ....... ...... ...... ..... 31 feet.

14. Yellow, calcareous clays, passing below into black, all holding Black Bluff 

fossils ...... ......--.........--.....----,.--...----...-............. .35 feet.

15. Argillaceous white limestone; Nautilus Rock 10 feet, with 6 feet calcareous sands 

below ............................................................... 16 feet.

16. Crystalline limestone and Turritella Rock.... ....................... .8 to 9 feet.

17. Yellowish, micaceous sand, with Ripley fossils.... .................. .....55 feet.

18. Bluish gray, calcareous sands, hard, projecting layers .................... 15 feet.

Near Vinton, Autauga County.

19. Thinly laminated, white and pink and purple clays, with small percentage of pink, 

purple, and yellow sand ..............................................30 feet.

20. Purple and mottled clays 12 feet, red sands 5 feet, and white and yellow, laminated clays 8 feet .... .... .... ............. .... .......... .... .... .... .25 feet.

21. Variegated pink and micaceous sands .................................. ..6 feet.

22. Mottled, yellow and purple, sandy clays and sands, on the banks of Mulberry 

Creek/........................................--. .............. ......20 feet.

Soap Hill, Bilb County.

23. Clayey sands in several ledges .... 1 ..................................... 10 feet.

24. Cross bedded, yellowish white sands, indurating into sandstones at intervals ..................... ......................................... ...30 feet.

Bull. 43 12 (329)
178 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OP ALABAMA. fBULL.43.

25. Laminated, gray clay, with partings of sand 10 feet, overlying 40 feet of laminated clays and cross bedded sands .................... .. -........... .50 feet.

26. Laminated, gray, sandy clays, with, leaf impressions, sand at base .......20 feet.

Near Tuscaloosa.

27. Variegated, purple sands, sheet of ferruginous sandstone on top ...........8 feet.

28. Purple clay, with partings of sand.... ...... ........ .....^...............10 feet. ,(

29. Gray, yellow sands and clays, ferruginous ledge on top....................8 feet.

30. Thin bed of lignite in clays, over gray mass. Not seen ............ about 20 feet.

31. Purple clays, with two ledges of sandy iron ore.....................40 to 50 feet.

COLUMN 2. Section exposed on Alabama River.

Marshall's Landing to Lisbon.'

1. Vickaburg. White Limestone, with Orbito'ulcs. ManteUi, hill back of Claiborne, 

also back from river, from Marshall's Lauding to Gainestowu.. at least 140 feet.

2. Jaclcson. Argillaceous White Limestone, with bones of Zeuglodon Cetoides, phosphatic nodules, and marls, from Claiborne to Marshall's Lauding.......60 feet.

3. Scutella bed, followed by coarse, ferruginous sanda, of which 17 feet is highly 

fossiliferous; hard, sandy ledge at base ...............................30 feet.

4. Calcareous clay, alternating with greensand containing Ostrea sellceformis .25 feet.

5. Light gray, calcareous sands, traversed by hard, sandy ledges, clayey in part, Ostrea 

selloeformis, characteristic greensand, and shells at base................35 feet.

6. Blue clay, passing into greensaud, upper half with few fossils, lower half highly

fossiliferous...........'.......................... ................ ....22 feec. -^

7. Calcareous,clayey sands.... ................ ................... ..........9 feet.

8. Coarse ferruginous marl 3 feet, followed by 20 feet of light yellow sands, few fossils............ ......................................................23 feet.

9. Bluish, jointed clay .....................................................12 feet.

Hamilton's Landing.

10. Light colored, aluminous sandstones, claystonos, and silicious sandstones..75 feet. 

Telloio Bluff, Bell's Landing, and Lower Peach Tree.

11. Reddish, cross bedded sands, 2 feet lignite at base........................22 feet.

12. Laminated, sandy clays, gray color......................._ ..............15 feet.

13. Yellow sands, passing below into gray,laminated, sandy clays............25feet.

14. Greensand marl, Bell's Landiug .........................................10 feet.

15. Gray, laminated, saudy clays 22 to 25 feet, passing into clay marl, Gregg's Lauding, 5 feet.... ........................................................30 feet.

16. Sandy clays of prevailing gray color, varying in degree of sandiness and coarseness of lamination, 1 foot greensaud marl at base............ '.......... 50 feet.

17. Gray, sandy clays................ ................................. ...... 10 feet.

G-ullette's Landing. t

18. Gray, sandy clays, alternately thin, laminated, and heavy bedded; indurated by 

glauconitic clay on top and greensaud bed in middle .................. 37 feet.

19. Glauconitic sauds, with Gryphcea thirsw, indurated ledges passing through 

beds.................................................................18 feet.

20. White, cross bedded sands..............................................12 feet.

21. Bluish, clayey, glauconitic sands, with Gryphcea thirsce, several hard ledges.50 feet.

Parsley Creek to Coal Bluff.

22. Glauconitic, clayey sands of varying degree of hardness, bed of lignite. 4 feet 

(Coal Bluff) at base........ ..........................................35 feet.

23. Gray, sandy clays ...................................................... 10 feet.

Burford's Landing.

24. Gray clay, cross bedded sands, Burford's Landing ......................10 feet,

(330)
" EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 179

Walnut Bin/ to Clifton. 

25. Gray, sandy clays, forming river banks from Walnut Bluff to Clifton. ..35 (?) feet.

Matthews'* Landing. 

20. Black, sandy clay marl, micaceous, Matthews's Lauding.................20 feetMidway to Prairie Bluff,

27. Black clay, Midway ............................................... ...... 5 feet.

28. Argillaceous White Limestone (Nautilus Eock) .......................... 10 feet.

29. Crystalline limestone (Turritella) back of Bridgeport.

30. Yellowish, micaceous sand (Ripley fossils) at Bridgeport and hills back of landing...... ............................................................55 feet.

31. Dark bluish gray, sandy, micaceous clays, weathering into yellowish shales, with 

indurated, sandy, projecting ledges at intervals of 5 to 10 feet throughout whole 

thickness, exposed at Bridgport, Tear Up Creek, Canton Landing, and. hills back 

of Prairie Bluff, and in Gee's Bend................................... 100 feet.

32. Bluish, argillaceous limestone, with phosphatized shell casts &c., Ripley formation .................................................. .......... 30 to 35 feet.

33. Sands of various colors, dark blue, gray to white, traversed by indurated bands 

of calcareous sands with Cretaceous shells............................60 feet.

Rotten Limestone, Bridgeport to House Bluff.

34. Highly argillaceous limestone, with ledges holding many shells (Ostrca, Gryphwa, 

Exogyra).......................................................... 1,000 feet.

House Bluff.

35. Hard,calcareous sands, with fossils strongly phosphatic in part........:.20 feet.

36. Alternating layers of horizontally laminated and cross bedded, yellowish (glauconitic) sands............................ ............................40 feet.

37. Laminated, blue clays...... ........................................ ....10 feet.

38. Blue, micaceous sands ..................................................15 feet.

39. Light colored, micaceous sands ...... ...................... .............20 feet.

40. Laminated clays and blue sands, thickness not determined.

COLUMN 3. Section exposed on the TonMgbee (including the Tuscaloosa) River.

St. Stephens and Baker's Bluff.

1. "Viclcslurg. White Limestone, with Orbitoides Mantelli, forms upper 70 feet of Saint 

Stephens Bluff, upper part of Baker's Hill, and greater part of river bluffs, 

down to Oven Bluff.......-..............:..........................140 feet.

2. Jackson. Argillaceous White Limestone lower part of Saint Stephens and Baker's 

Bluffs ................................................................ 60 feet.

3. Scutella bed, underlaid by coarse greensand and Claiborne fossiliferous 

sands ................................................................ 15 feet.

Coffeeville Landing.

4. Yellowish gray, calcareous sands, with Ostrea sellceformis, clayey in part, traversed 

by hard, sandy ledges, greenaaud, with comminuted^ shells at base ...... 35 feet.

5. Bluish clay .............................................................7 feet.

Hatchetigbee to mouth of Bashi Creek.

6. Aluminous sandstones, claystones, &c., of jointed structure, forming at White 

Bluff a perpendicular cliff............................... ...... ...... 115 feet.

7. Brown clays, sandy, non-fossiliferous, 30 feet, followed by 3 feet marl and 15 feet 

purplish brown, sandy clays; then 28 feet of sands, st riped with brown clays 

and inclosing two beds with marine shells; in all.. ............ ..75 to 76 feet.

8. Dark gray, sandy clays, striped with brown or purple, sandy clays. Very few 

fossils exposed at Davis's Bluff, White's Bluff, and McCarthy's Bluff. ..100 feet.

(331)
180 TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. lBULL.43.

9. Clayey marl, passing into a greensaud marl 18 feet thick ................31 feet.

10. Gray, clayey sands, with four or more thin seams of lignite...............25 feet.

Tuscahoma to Shuquabowa Creek.

11. Laminated sands and indurated sands, -with bowlders.................... 30 feet.

12. Gray, sandy clays, striped with somewhat harder, projecting ledges.. 35 to 40 feet.

13. Greensand marl (Bell's Landing) ........................................7 feet.

14. Sandy, laminated clays .................................................15 feet.

Horse Creek io Gay's Landing.

15. Gray, sandy clays,rather thin bedded; hard, sandy ledge at base.........28 feet.

16. Glauconitic sands and clays, with Gryphcea thirsts........................ 18 feet.

Lotl's Ferry to Nanafalia.

17. Glauconitic sands, with Gryphcea thirsce, at Lett's Ferry, Eureka Landing, and 

Nanafalia Landing................................................... 35 feet.

18. Black clay, passing into greensand marl, with Gryphcea thirsoj ...........18 feet.

Landrum's Creek.

19. Black, micaceous, glauconitic sands.....................................15 feet.

20. Lignite 7 feet and 5 feet gray clay below................................12 feet.

Tomplcinsville to Naheola.

21. Gray, sandy clays, cross bedded sands and laminated clays in many alternations ................................................................80 feet.

22. Greensand marl (Naheola), with black clay below ....................... 20 feet.

Naheola to Black Bluff.

23. Between Naheola and Black Bluff, black clays..............thickness unknown.

24. Yellowish clays 30 feet, underlaid by 50 feet of black in dark brown, slaty, fossiliferous clays, Black Bluff fossils........................................ 80 feet.

Moscow.

25. Dark blue or black, sandy clays, witli indurated bands, calcareous below, passing into an argillaceous limestone 16 to 18 feet, with phosphatized shell 

casts ................................................................55 feet.

Rotten Limestone, Moscow to Choctaw Bluff.

26. Argillaceous limestone, with hard ledges, holding many shells ( Ostrea, Exogyra, 

Gryphwa) ......................................... ............ ....1,000 feet.

Choctaw Bluff to Big Log Shoals.

27. Hard, calcareous sands, highly fossiliferous, 6 to 8 feet; thin, yellow, cross "bedded 

sands, 15 feet; and below this a phosphatic greensand, 8 to 10 feet.. about 25 feet.

28. Cross bedded, glauconitic sands, with thin clay partings, yellowish color prevailing .................................................................. 40 feet.

29. Dark gray, laminated, sandy clays, alternating with bluish sands... 15 to 20 feet.

30. Laminated sands and clays, alternating with cross bedded sands...... 40 (?) feet.

31. Compact, micaceous sands, cross-bedded sands, laminated clays, in many alternations, including two small beds of pebbles and thin bed of lignitic matter...... ...............................:............ ..............60(?)feet.

White's Bluff.

32. Purple and mottled clays, 10 feet, with 15 feet of yellow, micaceous sands below...... ............................................................25 feet.

Steele's Bluff.

33. Purple and mottled clays, 10 feet, with 10 feet light yellow, coarse, cross bedded 

pebbly (chert) sands ......................... .............. ..........20 feet.

Williford's.

34. Purple and mottled clays .............. ...... ........................... 10 feet.

(.332)
EXPLANATION OF PLATES. ' 181

' Mrs. Prinw's.

35. Purple and mottled clays...............................................10 feet.

Saundnrs's Ferry to Tuscaloosa.

36. Dark gray, laminated clays, sandy partings, 25 feet, and gray sands, indurated, 15 

feet, at Venable's and near Sauuders's Ferry........................... 40 feet.

37. Sandy clays, with, leaf impressions, black scales like graphite, fragments of liguitized stems.

COLUMN 4. Exposures inland near Tombigbee and Tuscaloosa Rivers. (Supplementary to

the Tombigbee Eiver section. )

Salt Mountain.

1. White Limestone, in part crystalline, filled with masses of coral..... ....150 feet.

2. Orbitoidal White Limestone ........... i............................... .-20 feet.

Hills ivest of McCarthy's Ferry.

3. Aluminous sands, indurated clays or claystones, silicious sandstones, &c., forming hills west of McCarthy's Ferry, in Choctaw County, 270 feet in one exposure, 

 with 15 feet laminated clays at base; in all..........................285 feet.

Bladen Springs boring,

4. Loose surface materials, varying slightly in color and texture...........80 feet.

5. Alternations of blue and sandy marl (clay), with indurated blue ledge 5 feet thick 

at base.............................................................. 81 feet.

(i. Soft, clayey marl.......................................................23 feet.

7. Greensand, with shells, 3 feet, followed by 22 feet alternating hard and soft beds, 

the latter fossiliferous, water bearing ................................ 25 feet.

8. Marls or blue clays.....................................................46 feet.

9. Brown and blue marls (clays) in many alternations (lignitic ?)...........21 feet.

 10. Blue marls or clays, with 2 feet of greensand at base.................... 61 feet.

11. Lignite, 5 feet, followed by 19 feet of brown, tough marl (clay)....... ....24 feet.

12. Blue, sandy marl, wifch many varieties of shells; Venericardia planicosta recognized. ...............................................................23 feet.

13. Blue, sandy marl (clay).................................................58 feet.

14. Brown marl (clay) 5 feet, with 32 feet blue marl below................... 37 feet.

15. Greensand marl, 9 feet, "folio wed by 37 feet of blue marl (clay). At 500 feet water 

was struck, Avhich flowed 10 feet above surface........................ 46 feet.

16. Brown clay marl, 19 feet, followed by 15 feet blue clay, with greensand, containing shells ................................"...................... ......34 feet.

17. Brown marl, resembliugsoapstone; contains shells; stream of water near bottom 

which flowed 30 feet above surface ........... .................. .. ....50 feet.

18. Gray, sandy marl, with shells........................................... 15 feet.

19. Gray, sandy marl, with shells; more clayey than preceding .............. 64 feet.

20. Very tough, blue marl (clay), at base of which a thin layer of white sand and then 

a thin layer of greensand.............................................71 feet.

21. Brown marl (clay) 5 feet, followed by alternating beds of clay and sand, mostly 

sand (first salt water) .................................................20 feet.

22. Alternations of gray and brown sand, with, marl (clay)...................26 feet.

23. Tough, blue marl, clay (big vein of salt water)...... ......................13 feet.

24. Sand and clay alternating..............................................14 feet.

25. A kind of white limestone (?) containing mica, passing below into 3 feet blue, 

samly marl, containing shells ................................... ......28 feet.

26. Blue marl (clay) 14 feet, followed by 14 feet of blue marl and sand, numerous 

shells...... ......................................... ..................28 feet.

27. Marl, 12 feet, with streaks of sand, followed by brown sand and blue marl, 12 

feet.............................. ....................................24 feet.

(333)
182 TERTIARY-AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA. [BULL. 43.

28. Greenish rock, chalky above, hard below......... '. ...................... 11 feet.

29. Sandstone 4 feet, followed by 25 feet quicksand, of white, blue, and gray colors 

(strong stream of salt tvater) ........................................... 29 feet.

30. Marls or clays, mostly of grayish or light brown colors, with several ledges of extremely hard rock, e. g., one 2 feet thick at 966 feet, one 1 foot thick at 971 feet, 

one 3 inches thick at 978 feet, one 1 foot thick at 1,009 feet ........... 137 feet.

31. Tough black clay, 2 feet, followed by 99 feet of dark blue clay, some of it quite 

hard and firm; some very soft and sticky ............................. 99 feet.

32. Snuff colored clay, soft and sticky ......................................13 feet.

33. Gray sand and shells 12 feet, followed by 5 feet soft, sandy clay............ 17 feet.

34. Hard ledge 4 inches at top, below which 125 feet of moderately hard, grayish 

or blue rock, with scarcely any change in color or texture, to'bottom of boring; 

no shells observed; Rotten Limestone ......................probably 125 feet.

Livingston artesian well boring.

35. Soft, blue, argillaceous Rotten Limestone, thickly set with shells and containing 

iron pyrites ......................................................... 180 feet.

36. Hard, white limestone, with few shells.................. ...............50 feet.

37. Hard, blue limestone 7 feet, followed by 68 feet of pure, bluish white limestone, 

with few if any shells .. ......................... ...... ..... ..........75 feet.

. 38. Very hard, white limestone, stratum of oyster shell's near top............55 feet.

39. Light blue limestone, not so hard as preceding.......................... 47 feet.

40. Bluish brown limestone, filled with small shells, rather sandy............58 feet.

41. Hard, white limestone.................................................. 105 feet.

42. Soft, blue limestone, 2 feet brown rock at top............................22 feet.

43. Rather soft, brownish blue limestone....................................78 feet.

44. Very soft, blue limestone, hard ledge at top .............................11 feet.

45. White limestone, moderately soft, with occasional slight changes in color and 

hardness............................................................250 feet.

46. Hard sandstone 6 feet, 10 feet sand, water bearing, and 1 foot sandstone.. .17 feet.

47. Coarse greensand 33 feet, sandstone 2 feet, greensand 25 feet, sandstone 2 feet, 

and greensand again 18 feet, waterbearing at 1,005 feet...............85 feet.

48. Fine greensand, flint layer on top .......................................10 feet.

i

Strata of Tuscaloosa formation. 

Ntar Havana.

49. Yellow sand and pebbles 10 feet, overlying 30 feet of variegated, pink and purple, 

micaceous, cross bedded sands, near Havana ....................... ^.. 40 feet.

Big Sandy Creek. .

CO. Purple and mottled clays seen along road leading up hill from Big Sandy 

Creek ........................ .......................................50 feet.

51. Light yellow sands and pebbles 15 feet, with 8 feet dark gray, laminated clay, 

with lignitized trunk, Big Sandy Creek ...............................23 feet.

Little Sandy Creek.

52. Yellow, micaceous sands, overlying dark gray, micaceous, laminated clays. .8 feet.

53. (Belongs to a recent formation.)

Tuscaloosa City.

54. Dark gray, laminated clays,with leaf impressions....... ............ ......& feet.

55. Light colored, sharp, cross bedded sands ................................20 feet.

(334)
U. B. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

BULLETIN NO. 13 PL. XXI

ALABAMA RIVER

Scale: 1 inch =200 feet.

GENERAL SECTION OF TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS STRATA OF ALABAMA, AS .EXPOSED 

ALONG THE ALABAMA, TOMBIGBEE, AND TUSCALOOSA RIVERS.

INDEX.

A.

Page.

Alabama Eiver, aection on ............. 24

Alabama Tertiary. See Tertiary.

A very, A. M., section of Tuscaloosa strata

near residence of................... Ill

Artesian boring, at Bladen Springs....... 17,67

at Meridian, Miss .................... 17

at Livingston, Sumter County ....... 18,84

B.

Baker's Hill, section at.................. 22

Barney's Upper Landing, Tombigbee .

Eiver, section at................... 51

Barryton Mill, Oaktuppali Creek, Choctaw County, Ostrea sellreformis beds 

at .................................. 33

Battle's Landing, Tuscaloosa Eiver ...... 106

Beaver Creek, mouth of Tombigbee Eiver, 

strata at............................

Bell'sLanding, Alabama Eiver, soctionat.

marl............................45,47,48, 50, 51

Bell's Landing series of the Lignitic.....

character of the beds of ..............

influence of, on soils and topography, 

described in summary................

best exposures of.....................

Bethel fault..............................

Big Log Shoals, Tuscaloosa Eiver, section 

of Eutaw strata at.................

Big Sandy Creek, Tuscaloosa County, section of Tuscaloosa strata on.'.......

Billy's Creek, Choctaw County, Ostrea selIseformis beds near ................. 32,33

section on............................ 124

Black Bluff, section at...................; 61

prairie soils of, in Eastern Wilcox 

County............................. 64

Black Bluff beds, extent of, along Tombigbee Eiver.......................... 61

relation of, to the Flatwoods and prairies ................................ 62

Black Bluff clays, soils derived from..... 61

occurrences of, in Marengo and Wilcox 

Counties ............................ 62

Black Bluff (Tombigbee Eiver) series of

the Lignitic ........................ 61

Black's Bluff, Alabama Eiver, section at. 54 

lignite near .......................... 121

Bladen Springs, artesian boring at....... 17, 67

Ostrea solltoformis bods near......... 32, 33

surface rocks at...................... 67

Bridgeport Bluff, Alabama Eiver, section

of Eipley strata at.. ........... 74

46

46

47

69

147

120

94

112

Britton, quoted ..........................

Buhrstone, occurrence of, in Mississippi., 

division of the Tertiary..............

varieties of rocks ....................

character of scenery of...............

soils derived from....................

thickness of..........................

extent of, in Alabama................

resemblance of, to certain beds lower 

in the Tertiary.....................

exposures of........................ 3(

described in summary................

displacements........ ...............

extension of, east of Alabama Eiver..

Burford's Lauding, Alabama Eiver, strata

at..................................

C.

58 Canton Landing. Alabama Eiver, section 

47 attheold ..........................

phosphatic materials at..............

section four miles below..............

section of Cretaceous strata at.......

fault iu strata at .....................

Carlowville, Dallas County, phospbatic 

. greensand at.......................

section of Eipley strata at...........

Cedar Creek, Clarke County.............

Central Salt "Works, Clarke County......

Centreville, Bibb County, section of Tuscaloosa strata four miles east of.....

Chester, P. D., quoted...................

Child's Ferry, Tuscaloosa Eiver, clays 

and sands at........................

Choctaw Bluff, Clarke County, section at. 

Choctaw Bluff, Greene County, phospatic 

materials of ........................

section of Eutaw strata at...........

Claiborne, subdivisions of the............

general characters of the.............

described in summary................

Claiborne Bluff, Alabama Eiver, described

sections of the .......................

Claiborne fossiliferous sands, defined ....

occurrences of.......29, 31, 33,122,123,

characteristic fossils of...............

list of occurrences of.................

at Jordan's mill......................

at Shoemaker's mill..................

Clifton, Alabama Eiver, strata ..........

Coal Bluff, Alabama Eiver, section near..

Tertiary bods near...................

Coal Bluff lignite ........................

185

(337)

Page.

102

26

34

34,35

35

35

35

36

36 

i, 37,123

69

128,129 

130

59

74

75

77

132

132

82

82

24

21,120

114 

 103

94

23

90

90

25

26 

68 

27

28-30

26-29

125,126

31

127

125

126

59

57

59

39
186 INDEX.

Page. 

Coffeeville Landing, Tombigbee River,

section at .......................... 32

Collins's woodyard, Tuscaloosa River, formations at.......................... 93

Conrad, T. A., quoted...................19,98,101

Cook, George H., quoted............. .101,102,103

Cope, E.D., quoted...................... 101,102

Cretaceous and Tertiary formations in

Alabama, subdivisions of.......... 18

Cretaceous of Alabama, general subdivisions of ............................ 71

summary of 1 eading features of...... 116

undulations and displacements of.... 131

D.

DalVs Branch, "Wilcox County, occurrence

of Nabeolamarl at................. GO-63

Dana, J. D., quoted...................... 102

Davis's Bluff, Tombigbee Eiver, section at 41 

Dawson, N. H. K., section near place'Of. 81 

Dickson's Creek, mouth of Alabama Kiver,

section at .......................... 60

E.

Eastport, Tuscaloosa Kiver, section of

Eutaw strata at.................... 89

Erie, Tuscaloosa Kiver, phosphatic mate-'

rial at.............................. 89

section of Eutaw strata at........... 89

Etheridge Old Fields, Clarke County, occurrence of Buhrstone in........... 128

Eureka Landing, Tombigbee Kiver, Nanafalia beds at...................... 55

Eutaw formation......................... 117

general description of................ 86

phosphatic material in...:............ 86,87

sections of............................ 89-94

F.

Pinch's Ferry, Tusealoosa Kiver, section

of Eutaw strata at ................. 91

Flat Creek, Monroe County, soils and topography of........................ 131

Flatwoods derived from Black Bluff clays 62 

Fontaine, William, quoted............. 99,102,103

Foster's Creek, "Wilcox County, section of

Ripley strataon.................... 75

ph osphatic materials on.............. 76

G.

Gainestown, Clarke County, exposures at

Gay's Landing, Tombigbee Kiver, section

at..................................

Gopher or Baker's Hill, section at........

Gosport Landing, Alabama River, section 

at..................................

Grampian Hills, sections of strata in ....

Graveyard Hill, Wilcox County, sections 

on..................................

phosphatic materials in strata of.....

to Pine Barren Creek, section of....

23

54

22

31

52,53

64

64

61

Gregg's Landing, Alabama Kiver, section

at .................................. 47

Gregg's Landing marl, occurrences of .... 47,48

described in summary.!.............. 69

Gryphtea thirsae beds .................... 51-57

Gullette's Landing, section at............ 53

Gypsum in White Limestone ............ 21,23

H.

Hale, C.S., quoted ....................... 31,32

Hall, C.E., quoted....................... 102

Hall, J., quoted.......................... 97,98

Hamilton's Landing, Alabama Kiver, section at ............................. 37

Hamlet's Shoals, Tuscaloosa Kiver ...... 90

Harper,L., quoted ....................... 95,96

Hatchetigbee anticline................... 121

Hatchetigbee beds, silicious concretions

in .................................. 42

Hatchetigbee Bluff, Buhrbtone rocks in.. 37 

section at............................ 37,40

Hatchetigbee series of tbe Lignitic....... 39

described in summary................ 69

Havana, Hale County, section, of Tuscaloosa strata at...................... Ill

Hayden, F. V., quoted..................97,98,101

Heilprin, Angelo, section of the Eocene of

Alabama by........................ \ 15

quoted ............................ ..16,19,38

Hickman's, Tuscaloosa Kiver, section of

Eutaw strata at .................... 94

Hilgard, E. W., on subdivisions of Tertiary and Cretaceous in Gulf States. 15 

quoted ...............................16, 25, 98

House Bluff, Alabama River, sections of

Eutaw strata at.................... 91,92

phosphatic materials at.............. 91, 92

J.

Jackson, Clarke County, sulphur well at. 129 

Jordan's Mill, Choctaw County, Claiborne

sands near ......................... 125

Kemp's Landing, Tombigbee River, Naheolabeds at....................... 59

L.

Landrum's Creek, Marengo County, section on............................. 57

Lapsley, J. W., sections of Tuscaloosa

strata near residence of........ .111,112,113

Leidy, J., quoted ......................... 101

Lesquereux, Leo, quoted.:............. 99,102,104

Lignite near Black's Bluff, on Yankee

Branch, Wilcox County............ 121

Lignite beds, in Nanafalia series........ 56

occurrences of ................'....... 56,57

on Landrum's Creek ................. . 57

 in Black Bluff clays in Sumter County. 61

Lignitic division, of the Tertiary, denned. 38,39

described in summary................ 69

Lime Hills............................... 24

(338)
INDEX. 187

Lisbon Bluff, Alabama River, section at.

Lisbon Landing, Alabama River, Buhrstone beds at.......................

section at ............................

Little Sandy Creek, Tuscaloosa County, 

section of Tuscaloosa strata on.....

Livingston, Surnter County, artesian 

boring at...........................

section of the Rotten Limestone at...

Long Bend. Tuscaloosa Kiver, section of

Entaw strata at....................

Lott's Ferry, Tombigbee Kiver, section at. 

Lower Peach Tree, Alabama Kiver, section at ..........'...................

anticline .............................

fold..................................

Lower Salt Works, Clarke County, Buhrstone at............................

section at........................ '....

Lyell, C., quoted ........................96,

M.

McAlpine's Ferry, Tuscaloosa River, section of Eutaw strata near...........

McCarthy's Ferry, Buhrstone section 

near................................

section of Lignitic at.................

McGee, "W J, quoted .....................

Marengo Shoot, Tombigbee River, Naheola beds at..........:............

Marshall's Landing, Alabama River......

Matthews's Landing, Alabama River, section at .............................

Matthews's Landing and Naheola series 

of the Lignitic.....................

described in summary................

Matthews's Landing marl, occurrences in 

Wilcox County.....................

Meek, F. B., quoted .................97,98,

Melton's Bluff, Tuscaloosa River, section 

of Eutaw strata at..................

Meridian, Miss., artesian boring at.......

Merriwether's Landing, Alabama River, 

section of Eutaw strata at..........

Middle Salt "Works, Clarke County, "White 

Limestone at.......................

Midway series of the Lignitic............

described in summary...........:...-.

Mixou's Landing, Alabama River, section 

of Ripley strata near ...............

Montgomery, Alabama River, section of 

Eutaw strata at....................

Moscow, Tombigbee River, section of Ripley strata at and below ............

phosphatic materials at..............

irregularities in strata at ............

section of Cretaceous strata at.......

N.

Naheola, Tombigbee River, section at....

Naheola and Matthews's Landing series

of Lignitic .........................

character and thickness of the strata.

described in summary-................

Page. 

30

36

36

112

18,84

84

94

55

48

49,118

119

23

38

97,100

89

30,37

41

103

59

24

57

70

60, C3 

101,102

89

17

94

20

62

70

77

93

Naheola marl ............... '. ............

Nanafalia Landing, Tombigbee River, section at. ...................... 1 ......

Nanafalia marl, soils derived from .......

Nanafalia series, lignite bed in ...........

Nanafalia series of the Lignitic ..........

subdivisions and thickness of ........

described in summary. . ......:.......

Page.

58

55

50

50

51 

51 

70 

Nanafalia strata, exposed ................ 52-57

phosphatic layers in ........ . ........ 57

section on Landrum's Creek......... 57

Nautilus Rock, at Midway ............... 62

in Marengo County .............-..'... 62

on Pine Barren Creek, Wilcox 

County............................. 64

Newberry, J. S., quoted .................. 98,103

Nicholson's store, Choctaw County, White

Limestone at. ...................... 123

0.

Oak Hill, Wilcox County, occurrence of

Naheolamarl at.................... 60

phosphatic material in strata at...... 63

section near.......................... 63

Oak Hill and Pine Barren profile......... 63

Ostreii sellaeformis beds, localities of occurrence. ....................... 25,26, 29,33,127

defined................................ 26

forming limy or prairie soils...... 122,126,127

Oven Bluff, Clarke County, occurrence of

White Limestone at ............... 130

P.

Palmer's Mill, Pine Barren Creek, contact

of Tertiary and Cretaceous strataat- . 67 

section at ............................ 73

Payne, F., occurrences of Wbite Limestone and Buhrstone in Clarko 

County, near residence of,.......... 129

Peebles's Landing, Alabama River, section at.............................. 48

Phosphatic material, in White Limestone- 21,22 

in Saint Stephens Bluff............... 22

in Nanafalia beds .................... 55

in Oak Hill beds ..................... 63,64

in Ripley beds ........ 75,70, 78,79, 80,81,82, 83

in Tombigbee sand (Eutaw) beds.80,87,89,90,

91, 92

Pickens's Landing, Tornbigbeo River, section at.............................. 49

Pine Barren Creek, Wilcox County, soils

Of.....--..--..--------------------. 6*

section from base of Graveyard Hill 

to......- ........................ 64

Pine Barren section (Ripley formation).. 73 

Piny woods prairies, Ostrea sellajformis

beds of.................---..--..--- 127

Prairie Bluff, Alabama River, section one

inile above ....--..-- -..--- --- -- 77

section of Riploy strata at............ 78

phosphatic materials at.............. 78,79

undulations in strata at.............. 132

Prairie Creek, Wilcox County, soils of.. .* 64

(339)
188 INDEX.

Page. 

Prairie or limy soils derived from White

Limestone ........................20, 21', 125

from "Wood'sBluff marl.............. 46

from Gryphaea thirsse or Nanafalia 

beds ............................... 56,57

from BlackBluff clays................ 62

from Claibornebeds.................. 126,127

Prince's Landing, Tuscaloosa River, clays

at.................................. 106

Powe's Store, Choctaw County, Bunrstone

at .................................. 126

Pseudo-Buhrstone defined................ 120

Purifoy, "W. S., section near place of..... 81

Pursley Creek, Wilcox County, section on 56 

section between Coal Bluff and mouth 

of.................................. 57

Push Cush Creek, Choctaw County, Ostrea

sellaeforuiisbeds in................. 126

R.

Babbit Creek, Choctaw County, "Wood's

Bluff marl on...... '.. ............... 124

Rattlesnake Bluff, Alabama River, section

at .................................. 31

Richmond, Dallas County, phosphatic

greensands near.................... 82

section (Ripley strata) three miles .

southwest of....................... 82

Ripley formation, character and thickness

of the strata ....................... 71

sections of characteristic exposures 

1 of .....................................73-82

described in summary ................ 116

River terraces at Claiborne .............. 27

Rock Bluff, Tuscaloosa River, rocks at... 105 

Rocky Bluff, Alabama River, section of

Ripley strata at.................... 77

Rogers, H. D., quoted................100,101,102

Rogers, W.B., quoted ................... 100,102

Rotten Limestone..........'.............. 116

character of the strata and thickness 83

section exposed by boring at LivingI ston................................ 84

exposures of.......................... 85,86

S.

Safford,J. M., quoted....................

Saint Stephens Bluff described...........

Salt Creek................................

Salt Mountain............................

Satilpa Creek, Choctaw County, White 

Limestone on.......................

Saunders's Ferry, Tuscaloosa River, sections of Tuscaloosa strata at........

Scntella bed..............................

Semple's Bluff, Tuscaloosa River, clays at.

Shoemaker's Mill, Choctaw County, Glaiborne sands at.. . ...................

Shumard, B. F.,quoted- ..................

Shuquabowa (Sugar Bower) Creek, section at mouth of....................

Sinta Bogue Creek, Washington County, 

Buhrstone on.......................

98

22

21

20,21

126

100,107

21

93

126

98

50

123

Smith's Bridge, on Pine Barren Creek, 

contact of Tertiary and Cretaceous 

strata at. ........................... 67

Suow Hill, Wilcox County, section of

Ripley strata at .................... 81

phosphatic greensand at .............. 81, 82

Soap Hill, Bibb County, section of Tuscaloosa strata at. ..................... 114

SouilpaCreek, Choctaw County, Claiborne

sands on...................... ...... 123

Steele's Bluff, Tuscaloosa River, section of

Tuscaloosa strata at. ............... 106

Stevens's Bluff, Tuscaloosa River ........ '90

T.

Taylor, R. C:, quoted ...................

Tear Up Creek, Wilcox County, section 

of Riplsy strata at mouth of ........

Tertiary, Alabama, summary of leading. 

features of the .....................

undulations in the ...... .............

rdsum6 of ............................

Tertiary and Cretaceous, subdivisions of, 

in Gulf States......................

subdivisions of, in Alabama ..........

Thornton, E. Q., quoted..................

Tompkinsville, Tombigbee River, section 

at ..................................

100

76

68

.117

133

15

18

23

58

Tuomey, M., quoted.. .15,16,23,25,31,33,38,77,96,

97,117 

Turner's Ferry, Tombigbee River, section

at.................................. 50

Tuscahoma Landing, Tombigbee River,

section at .......................... 50

Tuscaloosa, Ala., section in .............. 108

section of gully ten miles west of .... 109

section of Tuscaloosa strata ten miles 

east of............................. 114

Tuscaloosa formation.................... 117

geological position of................ 95

early observations and opinions on ... 95 

observations on, 1883-1886............ 104

sections of, on Tuscaloosa River..... 105-108

sections of exposures of, away from the 

Tuscaloosa River ............... 109,111-115

6bservations of, in Mississippi....... 115

Tyson, quoted............................ 101

Uhler, quoted 103

Venable's Landing, Tuscaloosa River,

sandstone bluff at.................. 107

Viuoton, Autauga County, sections of Tuscaloosa strata at and near.......... 112,113

W.

59

93

Walnut Bluff, Alabama River, strata at..

Washington Ferry, Alabama River, section of Eutaw strata near..........

Wobb, R. D., record by, of artesian well

boring at Livingston.........'...... 83,84

White Bluff, Tombigbae River, Buhrstone section at.................... 37,41

(340)
INDEX. 189

White Limestone, defined................ 19

divisions of the ......... ............ 20

fossils of....................20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

gypsum in ........................... 21

phosphatic material in............... 22

at Claiborne...'....................... 24

section of strata, Alabama Eiver ..... 24

soil similar to that of Rotten Limestone........................ ....... 24

surface distribution of ............... 24

discussed in summary................ 68

occurrences of........................ 122-125

. on Satilpa Creek ..................... 126

White's Bluff,.Tuscalobsa River, section of

Tuscaloosa strata at................ 105

Whitfield, R. P., quoted ................. 103

Williams's Gin, Tombigbee River, section

from Gay's Landing to ............. 54

Page. 

Williford's Landing, Tnscaloosa River,

shoals at............................ 106

Winchell, A., quoted.'.26,33,34, 66, 73,77,79, 90,95,

96, 97,108 

Womack's Hill, Choctaw County, White

Limestone at.......... ............ 33

. Wood's Bluff, Tombigbee River, sections

at and near......................... 44

Wood's Bluff marl, occurrence on Rabbit

Greek.............................. 124

Wood's Bluff or Bashi series of the Lignitic................................ 43

described in summary................ 69

T.

Yankee Branch, Wilcox County, lignite

Yellow Bluff, Alabama River, section at.

121

45

(341)

O