I 

I 

Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential of 

Seven Roadless Areas in the Apalachicola 

National Forest, liberty County, Florida 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1587 
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Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential of 

Seven Roadless Areas in the Apalachicola 

National Forest, Liberty County, Florida 

By SAM H. PATTERSON, CORNEliA C. CAMERON, 

and WAlTER SCHMIDT 

Elevations of the Mineral Potential of the Post Office Bay, Black 

Creek Islands, Bay Creek, Providence, Mud Swamp-New River, 

long Bay, and Gum Bay Roadless Areas 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1587 
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

DONALD PAUL HODEL, Secretary 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

Dallas L. Peck, Director 

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1986 

For sale by the Books and Open-File Reports Section, U.S. Geological Survey, 

Federal Center, Box 25425, Denver, CO 80225 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 

Patterson, Sam H. (Sam Hunting), 1918- Geology and 

mineral resource potential of Seven Roadless Areas 

in the Apalachicola National Forest, Liberty County, 

Florida. 

(U.S. Geological Survey bulletin ; 1587) 

Bibliography : p. 20 

Supt. of Docs. no.: I 19.3:1587 

1. Geology-Florida-Apalachicola National Forest. 2. 

Mines and mineral resources-Florida-Apalachicola 

National Forest. I. Cameron, Cornelia Clermont, 

1911- . II. Schmidt, Walter, 1950- . Ill. Title. 

IV. Series. 

QE75.B9. no. 1587 557.3 s 8~00225 

[QE100.A62] [553' .09759'923] 
STUDIES RELATED TO WILDERNESS 

STUDY AREAS 

Under the provisions of the Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577, September 3, 

1964) and related acts, the U.S. Geological Survey has been conducting mineral 

surveys of wilderness and primitive areas. Areas officially designated as "wilderness," "wild," or "canoe" when the act was passed were incorporated into the 

National Wilderness Preservation System and have been studied. The act provided 

that areas under consideration for wilderness designation should be studied for 

suitability for incorporation into the Wilderness System. The mineral surveys constitute one aspect of the suitability studies. The act directs that the results of such surveys 

are to be made available to the public and be submitted to the President and the 

Congress. This report discusses the results of mineral surveys of the Post Office Bay 

(Forest Service number 08-1 00), Black Creek Islands (08-1 01 ), Bay Creek (08-1 02), 

Providence (08-1 03), Mud Swamp-New River (08-008), Long Bay (08-1 04), and 

Gum Bay (08-1 05) Road less Areas in the Apalachicola National Forest, Liberty 

County, Florida. The Mud Swamp-New River Roadless Area was established as a 

Wilderness by Public Law 98-430, September 28, 1984. The other six areas were 

classified as nonwilderness during the Second Road less Area Review and Evaluation· 

(RARE II) by the Forest Service in January 1979. 

Studies Related to Wilderness Ill 

CONTENTS 

Mineral-resource potential summary statement 1 

Introduction 1 

Previous investigations 1 

Present investigation 10 

Acknowledgments 10 

Geology 10 

Stratigraphy 10 

Mesozoic Era 10 

Cenozoic Era 12 

Structure 13 

Assessment of mineral-resource potential 14 

Fuller's earth and other clays 14 

Heavy minerals 15 

Limestone 16 

Peat 16 

Phosphate 16 

Sand 16 

Assessment of oil and gas potential 18 

References cited 20 

FIGURES 

1. Location of the Roadless and Wilderness Areas in the Apalachicola National Forest, 

Liberty, Leon, Franklin, and Wakulla Counties, Florida 2 

2. Location of the Apalachicola National Forest, Florida 2 

3. Surficial geologic map of the Post Office Bay Roadless Area, Apalachicola National 

Forest, Florida 3 

4. Surficial geologic map of the Black Creek Islands Roadless Area, Apalachicola 

National Forest, Florida 4 

5. Surficial geologic map of the Bay Creek Roadless Area, Apalachicola National 

Forest, Florida 5 

6. Surficial geologic map of the Providence Roadless Area, Apalachicola National 

Forest, Florida 6 

7. Surficial geologic map of the Mud Swamp-New River Roadless Area, Apalachicola 

National Forest, Florida 7 

8. Surficial geologic map of the Long Bay Roadless Area, Apalachicola National 

Forest, Florida 8 

9. Surficial geologic map of the Gum Bay Roadless Area, Apalachicola National 

Forest, Florida 9 

10. Location of drill and auger holes and geologic sections in and near the Seven 

Roadless Areas in the Apalachicola National Forest, Florida 13 

11. Locations of industrial mineral pits, mines, quarries, plants, and phosphate exploratory drill holes in the Big Bend region, Florida 17 

12. Locations of dry holes in the Big Bend region, Florida 19 

Contents V 
TABLES 

1. Acreages of the Seven Roadless Areas, Apalachicola National Forest, Florida 2 

2. Generalized stratigraphic section in the region of the Apalachicola National 

Forest 11 

3. Grain size and heavy-mineral content of sand and gravel in the region of the Seven 

Roadless Areas and comparative samples from the Roberts Sand Co. pit 18 

4. Selected exploratory oil and gas data for the Apalachicola National Forest and 

surrounding region 2 0 

VI Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential of Seven Roadless 

Areas in the Apalachicola National Forest, Liberty County, 

Florida 

By Sam H. Patterson 1, Cornelia C. Cameron 1

, and Walter Schmidt2 

Mineral-Resource Potential Summary Statement 

The Post Office Bay, Black Creek Islands, Bay Creek, 

Providence, Mud Swamp-New River, Long Bay, and Gum Bay 

Roadless Areas, which will be referred to as the "Seven 

Roadless Areas" in this report, are underlain by sedimentary 

rocks having low potential for oil and gas minerals. The low 

potential for oil or gas notwithstanding, the possibilities for 

discovery cannot be ruled out because the Seven Roadless 

Areas and nearby lands have not been explored thoroughly. No 

minerals have been mined within the Seven Roadless Areas, 

and the only production in the Apalachicola National Forest in 

recent years has been the digging of clayey sand used in road 

construction and in stabilizing U.S. Forest Service roads. 

Fuller's earth, quartz sand and gravel, clayey sand, and common clay presently are produced elsewhere in the region, and 

limestone and peat have been produced in the past. No clay 

suitable for structural clay products or fuller's earth is present 

in the Seven Roadless Areas; however, a bed of quartz sand 

and gravel of excellent quality was penetrated by drill and 

auger holes in the region. Although this bed is coarser grained 

and, therefore, is more suitable for many uses that the sand 

deposits worked elsewhere in the Big Bend region, its mineralresource potential is reduced by the thickness of overburden 

above it and by its distance from markets in population centers. 

The Apalachicola National Forest has been explored for phosphate and reconnoitered for heavy minerals, but no valuable 

deposits of either have been found. 

INTRODUCTION 

The Seven Roadless Areas are in the southern part of 

the western one-half of the Apalachicola National Forest 

(fig. 1), which is in the Big Bend region of the Florida 

Panhandle (fig. 2). Of the Areas, Gum Bay is the largest, 

and Bay Creek is the smallest (table 1). Florida Highway 65 

1

U.S. Geological Survey. 2Florida Bureau of Geology. 

extends between the Post Office Bay and the Black Creek 

Islands Areas. The southern boundaries of both areas are 

less than 1 mile (mi) north of the town of Sumatra, which 

is on Florida Highway 65. Florida Highway 67 extends 

along the eastern boundary of the Long Bay Area, which is 

the easternmost of the Seven Areas. These Areas (figs. 3-9) 

can be reached by State highways and U.S. Forest Service 

roads, which extend along the boundaries of nearly all the 

Seven Areas. 

Other areas in the Apalachicola National Forest have 

been investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 

and the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM). During the last 

several years, the Savannah (Patterson, Schmidt, and Crandall, 1982) and Clear Lake (Hendry and others, 1982) 

Roadless Areas and the Bradwell Bay Wilderness and the 

Sopchoppy River Study Area (Cameron and Mory, 1977) 

have been studied. 

The Roadless Areas are in a flat swampy region of the 

Coastal Plain. The highest point in the Seven Areas is the 

70-foot (ft) altitude along the northern boundary of the Long 

Bay Area (fig. 8). The lowest altitudes are a little less than 

20 ft where Black Creek crosses the southern boundary of 

the Black Creek Islands Area (fig. 4), where the New River 

crosses the southern boundary of the Mud Swamp-New 

River Area (fig. 7), and where Juniper Creek crosses the 

southern boundary of the Gum Bay Area (fig. 9). The New 

River and the large creeks in the Seven Areas are anastomosing streams choked with vegetation. The swamps support cypress, black gum, white cedar, titi with cypress, and 

grass vegetation types. The scattered dry and intermittently 

dry areas are characterized by pine-palmetto and savannah 

vegetation. 

Previous Investigations 

No detailed geologic studies had been made in Liberty 

County before the thorough investigations by the Florida 

Bureau of Geology that began with a drilling program in 

summer 1981. Crystalline rocks at depth in the region are 

discussed by Milton (1972) and outlined by Purl and Vernon 

Introduction 1 
30"20' 

30"00' ~ Sev~n areas discussed in 

LD th1s report 

~ 

~ Areas discussed in other reports 

0 5 MILES 

0 5 KILOMETERS 

National Forest boundary 

84"20' 

Figure 1. Location of the Road less and Wilderness Areas in the Apalachicola National Forest, Liberty, Leon, Franklin, and Wakulla 

Counties, Florida. 

N 

t 

0 50 100 MILES 

I I I I I 

0 50 1 00 KILOMETERS 

iami 

Figure 2. Location of the Apalachicola National Forest, 

Florida. 

Table 1. Acreages of the Seven Road less Areas, Apalachicola 

National Forest 

[Source: U.S. Forest Service, Tallahassee, memorandum, September 16, 

1983] 

Area 

Area 

number 

Post Office Bay .............. 08-100 

Black Creek Islands .......... 08-101 

Bay Creek .................. 08-102 

Providence .................. 08-103 

Mud Swamp-New River ...... 08-008 

Long Bay ................... 08-104 

Gum Bay ................... 08-105 

Total .................. . 

Gross 

acres 

7,489 

8,426 

5,513 

6,681 

8,018 

8,055 

8,513 

45,206 

Net 

acres 

7,219 

8,270 

5,513 

6,681 

8,0181 

8,005 

8,513 

45,050 

1Public Law 98-430, September 28, 1984, gives the area in the Mud 

Swamp-New River Roadless Area as approximately 7,800 acres. 

2 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
T 4 S 

T 3 S 

30"05'00" 

30"02'30" 

R 8 W 85"00'00" 

EXPLANATION \-_()_~ D Swamp underlain by humus 0.5-3 ft thick h 0 

overlying sand, supporting bay, cypre~ and \~ 

titi vegetation. Contains no peat having ash ~ 1 . 

content less than 25 percent by dry weight ,~ 

CJ] Dry and intermittently dry area underlain by ( • 34 

. sand, 

vegetation 

s~pporting pine-palmetto and savannah 

~ 

~ 

o Site where humus was probed with a peat t.. ~ -

R;~~m::~Y ='Y·33 ~,£ .•. ~.-..•. ~ .. e •.•• ~.~...... •331; 

33x Altitude, in feet :·· ·.. 1 

BM33 

0 

0 1 MILE 

0 1 KILOMETER 

Planimetric base adapted from Humus mapped by Cornelia C. Cameron 

U.S. Geological Survey 1 :24,000 

Orange, 1945; Kennedy Creek, 1945; 

Wilna, 1946; Sumatra, 1946 

Figure 3. The Post Office Bay Roadless Area, Apalachicola National Forest, Florida. 

Introduction 3 
30"07'30" 

30"05, ()()'' 

T4S 

r·3 s 

30"02'30" 

RBW R7W 

Planimetric base adapted from 

U.S. Geological Survey, 1:24,000 

Sumatra and Wilna, 1946 

D 

84"55'00" 

EXPLANATION 

Swamp underlain by humus 0.5-3 ft thick 

overlying sand, supporting bay, cypress, and 

titi vegetation. Contains no peat having ash 

content less than 25 percent by dry weight 

~ 

~ Dry and intermittently dry area underlain by 

sand, supporting pine-palmetto and savannah 

vegetation 

o Site where humus was probed with a peat 

auger 

• Drill hole 

1 • Auger hole 

Roadless area boundary, approximately located 

32. Altitude, in feet 

0 1 MILE 

0 1 KILOMETERS 

Humus mapped by Cornelia C. Cameron 

Figure 4. The Black Creek Islands Roadless Area, Apalachicola National Forest, Florida. 

4 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
T 3 S 

T 4 S 

30"07'30" 

84°52'30" R 6 W 

EXPLANATION 

D 

Swamp underlain by humus 0.5-3 ft thick 

overlying sand, supporting bay, cypress, and 

titi vegetation. Contains no peat having ash 

content less than 25 percent by dry weight 

o Site where humus was probed with a peat 

auger 

Roadless area boundary, 

approximately located 

Planimetric base adapted from 

U.S. Geological Survey, 1 :24,000 

Queens Bay, 1944; Owens Bridge and Wilna, 1946 

D 

Dry and intermittently dry area underlain by 

sand, supporting pine-palmetto and savannah 

vegetation 

® Auger hole 61 x Altitude, in feet 

Humus mapped by Cornelia C. Cameron 

Figure 5. The Bay Creek Roadless Area, Apalachicola National Forest, Florida. 

Introduction 5 
R7W R6W 84"52'30" 

30"07'30" 

T4S 

T5S 

D 

Swamp underlain by humus 0.5-3 ft thick 

overlying sand, supporting bay, cypress, and 

titi vegetation. Contains no peat having ash 

content less than 25 percent by dry weight 

o Site where humus was probed with a peat 

auger 

Roadless area boundary, 

approximately located 

Planimetric base adapted from 

U.S. Geological Survey, 1:24,000 

Wilna, 1946; Queens Bay, 1944; 

Sumatra, 1946; Owens Bridge, 1946 

Dry and intermittently dry area underlain by 

sand, supporting pine-palmetto and savannah 

vegetation 

• Auger hole 

0 

I 

0 

31X Altitude, in feet 

1 MILE 

I 

KILOMETERS 

Humus mapped by Cornelia C. Cameron 

Figure 6. The Providence Roadless Area, Apalachicola National Forest, Florida. 

(1964, pl. 1). Schmidt and Clark (1980) presented the results of a thorough study of the geology of Bay County, 

Fla., which is about 25 mi west of the Seven Roadless 

Areas, and Hendry and Sproul (1966) outlined in the geology of Leon County to the northeast of the Areas. Some 

information on the stratigraphy of the region is contained in 

publications covering the entire State by Purl and Vernon 

(1964) and Chen (1965). A report by Applegate, Pontigo, 

and Rooke ( 1978) summarized information on the oil and 

gas potential of the Big Bend region. 

6 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
30"07'30" 

T 4 S 

T 5 S 

30"02'30" 

1 MILE 

KILOMETER 

Planimetric base adapted from 

U.S. Geological Survey, 1 :24,000 

Owens Bridge, 1946; Sumatra, 1946; 

Wilna, 1946 

R 7 W R 6 W 84"52'30" 

EXPLANATION 

D 

Swamp underlain by humus 0.5-3 ft thick 

overlying sand, supporting bay, cypress, and 

titi vegetation. Contains no peat having ash 

content less than 25 percent by dry weight 

Dry and intermittently dry area underlain by 

sand, supporting pine-palmetto and savannah 

vegetation 

0 

Site where humus was probed with a peat 

auger 

• Auger hole 

321( 

Altitude, in feet 

• Drill hole 

Roadless area boundary, approximately located 

Humus mapped by Cornelia C. cameron 

Figure 7. The Mud Swamp-New River Roadless Area, Apalachicola National Forest, Florida. 

Introduction 7 
84°45'00" R 5 W 

T4S 

30"07'30'' 

EXPLANATION 

Swamp underlain by humus 0.5-3 ft thick 

overlying sand, supporting bay, cypress, and 

titi vegetation. Contains no peat having ash 

content less than 25 percent by dry weight 

0 

Site where humus was probed with a peat 

auger 

Roadless area boundary, 

approximately located 

Planimetric base adapted from 

U.S. Geological Survey, 1:24,000 

Queens Bay, 1945; Smith Creek, 1945; 

Thousand Yard Bay, 1945; Owens Bridge, 1946 

Dry and intermittently dry area underlain by 

sand, supporting pine-palmetto and savannah 

vegetation 

0 

0 

® 

Auger hole 

1 MILE 

KILOMETER 

)(52 

Altitude, in feet 

Humus mapped by Cornelia C. Cameron 

Figure 8. The Long Bay Roadless Area, Apalachicola National Forest, Florida. 

8 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
30"02'30" 

R 5 W 

EXPLANATION 

D Swamp underlain by humus 0.5-3 ft thick overlying sand, supporting bay, cypress, and titi 

vegetation. Contains no peat having ash 

content less than 25 percent by dry 

weight 

33 x Altitude, in feet 

33 

\I 0 

o Site where humus was probed ~----A-;-+:.~ 

with a peat auger 

®Auger hole 

0 

35 

0 

~~ 

~~~~---------r~~-------------------~--------------------~---------------------

» 

33~ ~'\ 5 c;\; ~1 • 

Planimetric base adapted from 

U.S. Geological Survey, 1:24,000 

Thousand Yard Bay, 1945; 

Owens Bridge, 1946 

BM29 

0 KILOMETER 

Humus mapped by Cornelia C. Cameron 

Figure 9. The Gum Bay Roadless Area, Apalachicola National Forest, Florida. 

Introduction 9 
Present Investigation 

C. C. Cameron and Paul Schruben made surficial 

geologic maps of the Seven Roadless Areas (figs. 3-9) from 

field observations in December 1980 and December 1983 

and unpublished soils maps prepared by James Hart (written 

~ommun., 1980). Cameron and Schruben's field work included probing peaty material at localities shown on figures 

3-9 with a Davis peat sampler, which is a tubular piston 

device. S. H. Patterson reviewed the literature on the geology of the Apalachicola National Forest, reconnoitered the 

region, searched reports and records of the Florida Bureau 

of Geology for information on oil and gas in spring 1980, 

and worked on the drilling program in 1980 and the augering, which was completed in 1983. 

In a joint program of the USGS and the USBM, one 

hole was drilled in the Savannah Roadless Area and one in 

the Mud Swamp-New River Roadless Area (fig. 7, hole 

1M) in October 1980. Cores and cuttings were logged at the 

drill hole sites and samples were collected and later investigated in the laboratory. Walter Schmidt supervised the 

drilling program of the Florida Bureau of Geology and correlated the rocks penetrated, providing much of the information discussed in the text and on which figure 10 is based. 

Schmidt also participated with Patterson in the augering of 

nine holes (fig. 10) in December 1983. 

The information on dry holes given in this report is 

based primarily on published reports and records on file with 

the Florida Bureau of Geology. The term "dry hole" is used 

according to the definition meaning no significant amounts 

of oil or gas were found. 

No geochemical survey was necessary during the 

work leading to this report because stream-sediment and soil 

sampling would have yielded no information of value in 

appraising the nonmetallic mineral potential of the Seven 

Roadless Areas. The metallic and other heavy minerals occurring in strata near the surface are not in sufficient concentrations to form valuable mineral deposits. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The authors are grateful for the cooperation of the 

Florida Bureau of Geology and the U.S. Forest Service. 

David Curry and Felipe A. Pontigo, Jr., of the Florida 

Bureau of Geology aided in gathering information on oil and 

gas. Tim Smith and Larry Thornton of the Apalachicola 

Ranger District, Apalachicola National Forest, provided 

maps and storage facilities for drilling equipment and samples. U.S. Forest Service personnel-William R. Waite, 

soil scientist, Forest Supervisors Office, Tallahassee, Fla., 

James Hart, soil scientist, Wakulla Ranger District, Crawfordville, Fla., and Edward W. Read, geologist, Region 8 

Office, Atlanta, Ga.-provided soils and boundary maps 

and other information during the investigation. The USBM 

cooperated in the drilling program. 

GEOLOGY 

The Seven Roadless Areas are blanketed entirely by a 

veneer of unconsolidated sediments that overlie a thick sequence of sedimentary rocks deposited in the Apalachicola 

embayment. The "A" horizon soil covering the dry parts of 

the Seven Roadless Areas is rarely more than a foot thick. 

It consists chiefly of slightly clayey sand containing minor 

amounts of organic matter and root remains. Surficial soil 

and swamp deposits are underlain by a blanket of Pleistocene and Holocene unconsolidated sand, gravel, and clay 

that is 15ft or more in thickness. The underlying Pliocene 

Jackson Bluff Formation, which is the uppermost bedrock 

unit, also extends over the entire area. It, in tum, is underlain by a thick sequence of older rocks described in the 

following sections. 

Stratigraphy 

Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks ranging in age from Precambrian to Cenozoic (table 2) arealmost certainly present at depth in the Seven Roadless Areas. 

A well drilled offshore about 30 mi southeast of the Seven 

Roadless Areas intersected 10 ft of diabase at a depth of 

10,460 ft (Milton, 1972, p. 31). This diabase is overlain by 

pinkish quartzitic sandstone and underlain by diabase fragments admixed with sandstone. Sills or dikes or mafic igneous rock have been found in Triassic sedimentary rocks 

penetrated by a few dry holes in the region (Applegate, 

Pontigo, and Rooke, 1978, p. 81). One dry hole, 25 mi 

southwest of the Seven Roadless Areas, passed into an 

arkose (F. A. Pontigo, oral common., 1981). Another dry 

hole, about 25 mi northwest of the Seven Roadless Areas, 

penetrated quartzite and metamorphosed shale of probable 

Paleozoic age. A Hunt Oil Co. dry hole, about 30 mi westnorthwest of the Seven Roadless Areas, penetrated a Precambrian granite (F. A. Pontigo, oral common., 1981). 

Mesozoic Era 

Mesozoic strata in the Apalachicola embayment have 

a total thickness of about 10,000 ft. They generally extend 

from 3,000 to about 13,000 ft below sea level and include 

rocks of Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous age. 

Triassic rocks consist of indurated micaceous sandstone and shale that are commonly red. Triassic beds exceed 

1,950 ft in thickness in southeastern Leon County, about 40 

mi east-northeast of the Seven Roadless Areas. 

Five major stratigraphic units of Jurassic age occur in 

the region of the Seven Roadless Areas. The lowermost, the 

Louann Salt, is distributed irregularly and consists of salt 

with minor impurities. One dry hole, located 4 mi north of 

the Seven Roadless Areas, bottomed in salt after penetrating 

34ft (Applegate, Pontigo, and Rooke, 1978, p. 82), but the 

1 0 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
Table 2. Generalized stratigraphic section in the region of the Apalachicola National Forest• 

~!-otS~ !-o~<~ 

Q <~~< ~~u 

< 0 

ROCK UNITS OR FORMATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS 25z;:Jrl) ~ 1-4 EPOCH >(-cno ~ ~ ~ ox~r-o 

~ ~!-oO!-o ~~~ 

~ ~ ~.0 Cl=~ 

~ HOLOCENE 

z Undifferentiated quartz sand 

I¥ PLEISTO- § CENE 

Of 

Undifferentiated day, sand, and gravel 

100 

JACKSON BLUFF FORMATION Gray-olive-green, clayey, sandy, shell marl 

PLIOCENE 

INTRACOASTAL FORMATION Gray-olive-green, sandy, argillaceous, poorly ~ (Schmidt and Clark, 1980) consolidated, very microfossiliferous calcarenite z 

~ 

0 UPPER 

0 300 

~ UNNAMED DOLOSIL TSTONE Unconsolidated silt-sized dolomite crystals 

z ~ u z BRUCE CREEK LIMESTONE White to light-yellow, moderately indurated, granutar 400 

0 - ~ MIDDLE (Huddlestun, 1976) limestone 

N u 

0 CHIPOLA FORMATION Sandy, very light orange, fossiliferous limestone 0 

z -

~ 

~ LOWER u ST. MARKS FORMATION Sandy, micritic, white to light-gray limestone 500 

SUWANNEE LIMESTONE Light -graL to yellow-gray, dolomitic limestone, often 

OliGOCENE highly a tered, sucrosic, altered fossil types 

MARIANNA LIMESTONE Lifiht-gray, massive, chalky, "auco!li~ic, slighdy sandy 1mestone, abundant large oram1mfera 700 

~ OCALA LIMESTONE Light-orange to white, hiih-porosity limestone, small 

z UPPER amounts of sand and c ert; glauconite in lower facies 

~ abundant microfossils 

0 ~ LISBON FORMATION Li~test ~ay, gl<~.uc~mltlc, sandy limestone; light-gray 0 z c y so 1 : ~r:gc limestone; gray, calcareous, ~ ~ MIDDLE ~a comt1c n 1,000 ~ u Lightest gray, glauconitic sandy, clayey limestone and 0 T ALAHA TT A FORMATION 

< lrav, sandy, calcaJ:eous d<!Y ~ ~ WILCOX FORMATION 

LOWER (Chen, 1965) 

Sandy lightest gray, glauconitic limestone; calcareous 

sand; gray, pasty limestone; micaceous day 

~ALEOCENE MIDWAY FORMATION Gray, micaceous, sandy day; with seams of sandy, soft 

(Chen, 1965) limestone 3,000 fJ) SELMA GROUP Marl, calcareous day, and limestone; interbedded sand, ::::> 

0 glauconitic micaceous 

~ UPPER 

u EUTAW FORMATION Calcareous sandstone, sandy chalk 

<( 

TUSCALOOSA FORMATION Marine and nonmarine sand and shale u f-< 

~ - I¥ LOWER UNDIFFERENTIATED Reddish-brown shale and sandstone 0 u N 7,000 

0 COTTON VALLEY GROUP Varicolored mudstone and sandstone tr.J 

~ HAYNESVILLE FORMATION Red-gray, calcareous shale, sandstone, micrite 

::E JURASSIC SMACKOVER FORMATION Limestone, dolomitic limestone 

NORPHLET FORMATION Red sandstone, siltstone, and shale 

LOUANN SALT Salt with minor impurities 10,000 

TRIASSIC EAGLE MILLS FORMATION Micaceous sandstone; argillaceous siltstone; wellindurated shale; often contains sills and dikes of 

s~ '\. igneous rocks 1 11,000 

CAMBRIAN Quartzite and metaarkose 

~2 p.. 13,000 

PRECAMBRIAN GRANITE "Basement"? 

'Modified from Schmidt and Clark (1980, fig. 16). 

Geology 11 
formation is known to be much thicker farther east. The 

overlying Norphlet Formation is mainly red sandstone, siltstone, and shale that has a total thickness ranging from 0 to 

300 ft. The third unit, the Smackover Formation, consists of 

limestone, dolomitic limestone, siltstone, and sandstone. 

The Smackover was found to be 186 ft thick where penetrated by a dry hole located 6 mi south of Mud Swamp-New 

River Roadless Area, and this formation extends northward 

(Applegate, Pontigo, and Rooke, 1978, fig. 1) under all the 

Seven Roadless Areas except the Long Bay and Gum Bay 

Areas. The fourth Jurassic unit, the Haynesville Formation, 

is present locally above the Smackover and consists of red 

siltstone, shale, and sandstone. The uppermost Jurassic 

Unit, the Cotton Valley Group undifferentiated, is a sequence of varicolored mudstone and coarse sandstone and 

has a total thickness of as much as 2,600 ft. 

Lower and Upper Cretaceous rocks occur in the 

Apalachicola embayment. The Lower Cretaceous rocks 

consist of an undifferentiated sequence of sandstone and 

shale and have a total thickness of 5,000-6,000 ft (Schmidt 

and Clark, 1980, p. 28). The overlying Upper Cretaceous 

Tuscaloosa Formation is made up of the following three 

members: A lower nonmarine sand and variegated shale 

member, a middle member of glauconitic hard shale, and an 

upper member of calcareous sandstone. The Tuscaloosa is 

variable in thickness but locally is more than 700 ft thick. 

The Eutaw Formation, above the Tuscaloosa, consists of 

gray to light-gray sandstone that changes downdip to soft, 

pasty, sandy chalk. The beds above the Eutaw consist of 

undifferentiated marls, calcareous clays, and limestones interbedded with glauconitic, micaceous sands that make up 

the Selma Group (table 2). The total thickness of the Upper 

Cretaceous beds is 1,800-2,000 ft. 

Cenozoic Era 

Paleocene beds in the Florida Panhandle rest unconformably on the Cretaceous formations and are assigned to 

the Midway Formation (Chen, 1965, p. 44-47, figs. 21-24, 

26, 41). Chen's (1965) figure 24 shows the Midway to be 

300-400 ft thick in the vicinity of the Apalachicola National 

Forest. The lithology of the Midway below the Seven 

Roadless Areas is probably similar to that in Bay County to 

the southwest where it was described by Schmidt and Clark 

(1980, fig. 16) as listed in table 2. 

The lower Eocene is represented in the region of the 

Apalachicola National Forest by a sequence of glauconitic, 

calcareous sandstone and greenish-gray, micaceous, calcareous, glauconitic, silty shale that Chen (1965, p. 53-54, 

fig. 30) assigned to the Wilcox Formation. According to 

Chen's figure 30, the Wilcox Formation is approximately 

700 ft thick in the region of the Seven Roadless Areas. 

Middle Eocene strata underlying the Apalachicola 

National Forest are probably similar to those in Bay County 

to the southwest where Schmidt and Clark (1980, p. 31) 

have recognized the Tallahatta and Lisbon Formations. The 

Tallahatta, the lower of the two formations, is composed of 

light-gray, glauconitic, sandy, clayey limestone and gray, 

sandy, calcareous clay. The Lisbon is similar to the Tallahatta, but it contains light-gray clay, soft pyritic limestone, 

and glauconitic sand. The combined thickness of the two 

middle Eocene formations is about 800 ft. 

The upper Eocene Ocala Limestone consists of limestone beds containing large foraminifers and a few megafossils. The Ocala underlying the Seven Roadless Areas is 

probably about 300 ft thick. 

Oligocene strata in the region of the Seven Roadless 

Areas are assigned to two formations. The lower unnamed 

formation is a light-gray chalky limestone that possibly 

correlates with the Marianna Limestone exposed in Jackson 

County about 40 mi northwest of the Seven Roadless Areas. 

The upper formation, the Suwannee Limestone, is generally 

a buff, dolomitic limestone, but, locally, it is chiefly 

dolomite. The combined thickness of the two Oligocene 

formations is 175-200 ft. 

Several Miocene carbonate formations occur in the 

region of the Apalachicola National Forest. The lower 

Miocene St. Marks Formation probably underlies some of 

the Seven Roadless Areas, but it is known to be missing in 

parts of the region. Its absence is likely due to erosion before 

the deposition of younger beds. Where present, the St. 

Marks is sandy, micritic, white to light-gray limestone. In 

places, the St. Marks is as much as 100ft thick. 

The middle Miocene strata in the region of the Seven 

Roadless Areas are classified in three stratigraphic units and 

the lower part of the Intracoastal Formation (Schmidt and 

Clark, 1980). The lower unit, the Chipola Formation, like 

the St. Marks Formation, is distributed irregularly and is 

likely to be missing in the subsurface of the Seven Roadless 

Areas. Where present, the Chipola typically consists of very 

light orange limestone containing clear crystal, finely crystalline, and pellet grains of carbonate. Foraminifers, corals, 

and mollusks are commonly present. The Chipola is generally about 50 ft thick. The third unit is the Bruce Creek 

Limestone of Huddlestun (1976) as described by Schmidt 

and Clark (1980, p. 38-40). Bruce Creek beds penetrated 

by drill holes Fl and F2 (fig. lOA) consist of light-gray 

indurated limestone contammg pellets, mollusks, 

foraminifers, echinoids, and bryozoa fossils. Beds penetrated by drill hole F3 (figs. lOA, B) were more dolomitic 

than the limestone found in the core from holes F 1 and F2 

(figs. lOA, B). Drill holes Fl-3 passed through algal beds 

in the upper part of the Bruce Creek Limestone. The Bruce 

Creek is overlain by an unnamed stratum of dolostone. This 

dolostone is claylike in appearance, but, when examined 

with a microscope, it was found to consist of uncemeneted 

dolomite rhombohedra. The dolosiltstone is 5-20ft thick. 

The uppermost middle Miocene and the upper 

Miocene beds in the region of the Apalachicola National 

Forest form the lower and middle parts of the Intracoastal 

12 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
Formation; the upper part of this formation is thought to be 

Pliocene. The Intracoastal Formation, as used by Schmidt 

and Clark (1980), was penetrated by drill holes Fl-4 (fig. 

10). It consists mainly of fme to very coarse sand-sized 

foraminifers and shell and echinoid fragments and also 

contains minor amounts of calcareous clay, quartz sand, 

phosphate pellets, glauconite, and miscellaneous heavy 

minerals. 

The upper Pliocene Jackson Bluff Formation, which 

overlies the Intracoastal Formation, consists mainly of unconsolidated light-gray, coarse sand- to gravel-sized mollusk fragments, forming a shell hash, and some clay. A 

dark-gray, very sandy clay as much as 4 ft thick occurs 

locally in the upper part of the Jackson Bluff Formation. The 

shell hash contains minor amounts of quartz sand and traces 

of phosphate pellets, glauconite, and miscellaneous heavy 

minerals. 

As much as 100 ft of unconsolidated clastic sediments 

and surficial soil and peaty material blanket the region of the 

Seven Roadless Areas. The clastic sediments contain variable minor amounts of heavy minerals and traces of phosphate pellets. The clastic sediments are thought to be chiefly 

Pleistocene in age; however, some of the lower beds may be 

as old as Pliocene. The oil and peaty material as well as the 

uppermost clastic beds are probably Holocene in age. The 

lower part of the clastic sediments is chiefly light-gray, 

medium to fme quartz sand. The middle part of the clastic 

sediments in the Post Office, Black Creek Islands, Bay 

Creek, Providence, and Mud Swamp-New River Roadless 

Areas consists of as much as 40 percent angular to subangular, very coarse quartz sand and gravel, and the remainder 

is fme to medium sand. The upper clastic sediments are 

chiefly yellow and brown, fme to medium quartz sand containing minor amounts of clay. The "A" horizon soil in the 

higher parts of the forest is generally less than a foot in 

thickness. This horizon is chiefly sand and contains minor 

amounts of clay and organic materials. Peaty material occurs in swamps scattered throughout the Seven Roadless 

Areas. 

Structure 

The Seven Roadless Areas are located in the central 

part of the Apalachicola embayment, a deep structural basin 

that was formed by the depression of crustal rocks. The 

embayment was filled with Triassic to Quaternary sediments 

having a total thickness of more than 14,000 ft. Deep rocks 

along the axis of the embayment plunge about 65 feet per 

mile to the west-southwest (Applegate, Pontigo, and Rooke, 

1978, p. 80). Shallow rocks, which were deposited after the 

embayment was almost filled, dip only a few feet per mile 

toward the Gulf of Mexico. 

No faults have been recognized in the Seven Roadless 

Areas. However, minor disturbances of strata caused by 

Figure 10. location of drill and auger holes and geologic sections in and near the Seven 

Roadless Areas in the Apalachicola National Forest, Florida. 

84°45' ---------

E X PLA N A T I 0 N I 

o Drill hole. Holes Fl, F2, F3, and F4 drilled 1

1 

by Florida Bureau of Geology. Holes 

lS and 1M drilled this study. Holes 1-9 1

are auger holes 1 

I r----+--7~---4_.;;...---~r---_--~~-- ------1 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I ---~ ~--- I 

I I 

I 9 I 

I I 

I I 

30°00' 

R 8 W R 7 W R 6 W R 5 W R 4 W 

0 5 10 MILES 

1 

I I 

0 5 10 KILOMETERS 

A 

Figure 10A. locations. 

Geology 13 
Figure 10. Location of drill and auger holes and geologic sections in and near the 

Seven Road less Areas in the Apalachicola National Forest, Florida- Continued 

FEET 

42-t'~---------~r---~F4---

SEA 

LEVEL 

100 

200 

300 

400 

~.ot'e .tt'es ~ ~ \,.\ g16 0 ee t' '\ ~(\)ce o\es\\) I 

\\'\\)0 

/ 

~s\O~ ~' ........::;: ~\('(\ t'ee ~.,et' 

EXPLANATION 

~:.)~:::;;1 Coarse sand and gravel 

0 

0 

B 

I 

5 

5 10 MILES 

I 

10 KILOMETERS 

FEET 

42 

SEA 

LEVEL 

100 

200 

300 

400 

F1 

Bruce Creek Limestone 

(Huddlestun, 1976) 

---- -"Suwannee ----Limestone(?) 

TD 502 

Figure 108. Geologic sections Fl-7 and Fl-2 near the Seven Roadless Areas, 

Apalachicola National Forest, Florida. 

slumping into solution cavities no doubt have occurred in a 

few places. Rock displacements of this type involve breakage and differential movement but ordinarily are not considered to be structural features. 

ASSESSMENT OF MINERAL-RESOURCE 

POTENTIAL 

Fuller's earth, common clay, sand and gravel, and 

clayey sand are produced in the Big Bend region, and limestone was quarried and peat dug in the past. The region also 

has been explored for phosphate and reconnoitered for 

heavy minerals, but no commercial deposits have been 

found. No mining activity has occurred within the Seven 

Roadless Areas, and the only production nearby has been 

the digging of clayey sand used in stabilizing Forest Service 

roads and highway construction. 

Fuller's Earth and Other Clays 

A large district leading the world in the production of 

palygorskite (attapulgite)-type fuller's earth straddles the 

boundary of Florida and Georgia northeast of the Seven 

Roadless Areas (Patterson, 1974). The closest active processing plant is at Quincy, Fla., about 40 mi north-northeast 

of the Seven Roadless Areas. 

14 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
Figure 10. Location of drill and auger holes and geologic sections in and near the Seven Roadless Areas in the Apalachicola 

National Forest, Florida- Continued 

BLACK CREEK ISLANDS 

POST OF~ I \,----?P-N~ RIVER 

c 

SEA LEVEL 

50 

100 

150 

200 

TD 262 

PROVIDENCE 

BAY CREEK 

FEET 

~ 2 3 

50 

SEA LEVEL 

1

\ MN~~ S:'AMP-

~IVER 

Jackson Bluff 

Formation 

SEA 

LEVEL 

50 

100 

EXPLANATION 

h?:.:}).~ Coarse sand and gravel 

0 5 10 MILES 

0 5 10 KILOMETERS 

LONG BAY 

/\ 

6 Holocene and Pleistocene 

---=""~--Jackson Bluff Formation 

_ _ -----Intracoastal Formation 

__ = = = ~ (Schmidt and Clark, 1980) 

Unnamed dolomite siltstone 

Bruce Creek Formation 

(Huddlestun, 1976) 

TD 212 

Figure 10C. Geologic sections 1 S-9, 2-1M, and F4-8 in and near the Seven Roadless Areas, Apalachicola National Forest, 

Florida. 

The fuller's earth occurs in the Miocene Hawthorn 

Formation, which is not present in the Roadless Area, and 

no fuller's earth was found in the core from five drill holes; 

therefore, we conclude the Seven Roadless Areas have no 

potential for fuller's earth. 

The only current mining of common clay in the Big 

Bend region is at the Apalachee Correctional Institution 

plant south of Chattahoochee (fig. 11). This plant, which is 

operated by the State of Florida, uses clayey and silty alluvium from the flood plain of the Apalachicola River to make 

common construction brick. 

Very sandy plastic clay was penetrated by the drill 

hole in the Mud Swamp-New River Roadless Area (fig. 10, 

hole 1M) at a depth interval of 23-29.5 ft, but it has little 

value for use in brickmaking. The clay minerals in this clay 

are chiefly kaolinite and minor smectite (montmorillonite). 

In addition to being very sandy, it contains shell fragments 

that are undesirable in raw materials used for brick. Whereas 

the alluvium used at the Apalachee Correctional Institution 

plant is at the surface, this clay is under overburden that 

would have to be removed if it were to be used. The clay in 

the Seven Roadless Areas is also at excessive distances from 

markets. No other deposits of common clay are known to be 

present in the Roadless Areas. 

·Heavy Minerals 

Several reconnaissance studies of the heavy minerals 

in sands in the Big Bend region have been made, but no 

valuable concentrations have been found. The studies inAssessment of Mineral-Resource Potential 15 
elude M.S. theses on heavy minerals in Leon and Wakulla 

·counties (cited by Schmidt and Clark, 1980, p. 72). In the 

work leading to the present report (table 2), heavy-mineral 

determinations made were those of samples from the depth 

intervals 3-15 ft containing 0.4 percent and 15-20 ft containing 0.14 percent in the drill hole 1M (fig. 7). These 

concentrations are far too low for profitable recovery, inasmuch as heavy-mineral deposits being mined in Florida 

contain an average of 4 percent heavy minerals (Garner, 

1981, p. 30). Heavy minerals identified in samples from the 

Apalachicola National Forest include biotite, muscovite, 

ilmenite, tourmaline, staurolite, sillimanite, rutile, leucoxene, kyanite, chlorite, garnet, and phosphate. The wide 

range of mineral species present, rather than concentrations 

of such valuable minerals as ilmenite, rutile, and zircon, 

further detracts from the heavy-mineral potential of the 

sand. 

Limestone 

Several inactive quarries, where limestone was obtained for stabilizing secondary roads, are scattered throughout the Big Bend region. The largest one is in sec. 4, T. 3 

S., R. 1 W., which is about 20 mi east-northeast of the Long 

Bay Area, the easternmost of the Seven Roadless Areas. 

The workings of this quarry, which has not been operated 

for many years, extend over more than 40 acres. Another 

old quarry is located in sec. 12, T. 4 S., R. 2 W., 2.3 mi 

south of Crawfordville (fig. 11). The limestone in both 

quarries is in the lower Miocene St. Marks Formation. Marl, 

a soft impure calcareous rock, also was dug for roadsurfacing material in western Leon County and east-central 

Franklin County. 

Very large quantities of limestone are present below 

the surface of the Seven Roadless Areas, but they have no 

· economic value. The limestone is under excessive thickness 

of overburden, whereas virtually unlimited quantities at 

sites in other parts of the Big Bend region are more favorable for quarrying and closer to markets. 

Peat 

Peat is a naturally occurring accumulation of plant 

remains in swamps and marshes. The term "peat," as defined by the American Society for Testing Materials (1969), 

is applied to organic material having an ash content not 

exceeding 25 percent on a dry basis; to have resource potential for horticultural use, it must have a thickness of 5 ft or 

more over an area of no less than 80 acres or 4 ft over several 

hundred acres; for use as fuel peat, it must be at least 5 ft 

thick over large areas. Organic deposits containing more 

than 25 percent ash are referred to as peaty material. 

The peat production closest to the Seven Roadless 

Areas has been near Carabelle, about 15 mi southeast of the 

Areas, where both bulk and packaged peat have been prepared (Cameron and Mory, 1977, p. 29). 

Although no deposits of peat occur in the Seven 

Roadless Areas, thin accumulations of humus peaty material 

(containing more than 25 percent ash) occur in all of the 

Seven Roadless Areas (figs. 3-9). Most of the high-ash 

humus peaty material is in swamps supporting a cypressblack gum with cedar flora. These swamps typically have 

layers of humus 2-3 ft thick. Thicknesses of peaty material 

in swamps having titi with cypress type of vegetation range 

from 0 to about 1 ft. The humus peaty deposits in the Seven 

Roadless Areas are too thin and too impure to be considered 

mineral resources. 

Phosphate 

Very minor amounts of phosphate are present in the 

Pleistocene to Holocene sand, the Pliocene Jackson Bluff 

Formation, and the "Intracoastal Formation" (Schmidt and 

Clark, 1980) underlying the Apalachicola National Forest. 

The phosphate occurs as scattered black, gray, tan, and 

white pellets of very fine to medium-grain size and rarely as 

fossil remains. Some of the phosphatic materials are thought 

to have been reworked from deposits in the Miocene 

Hawthorn Formation farther north. 

Although minor amounts of phosphate are present in 

the strata underlying the Seven Roadless Areas, very little 

possibility exists that commercial deposits are present. Only 

trace amounts of phosphatic material were found in samples 

from the drill core from hole 1M, and, therefore, no tests for 

phosphate evaluation were made. Because of the very small 

amount of phosphate in the strata penetrated by hole 1M and 

the fact that no valuable phosphate deposits have been found 

in the Big Bend region, the Seven Roadless Areas are 

thought to have virtually no potential for commercial phosphate resources. This conclusion is supported by the results 

of exploration programs carried out by two companies in 

and near the Apalachicola National Forest in the 1960's. 

These two fmns drilled 124 holes (some are shown in 

fig. 11), including several along the boundaries of the Seven 

Roadless Areas. One company apparently decided to do no 

analytical testing after examining core samples. The other 

company found that 37 of 52 holes penetrated phosphatic 

material worth sampling. The sample richest in P20 5 (5.45 

percent) was from a 3-ft-thick interval (81- to 84-ft depth) 

penetrated by a single hole. Two other samples from thin, 

deep intervals each contained 4.16 percent P20 5• The remaining 49 samples contained less than 4 percent P20 5, and 

about one-half of them had less than 2 percent P20 5. Phosphate deposits currently being mined contain a minimum of 

28 percent P20 5 (Cathcart, Patterson, and Crandall, 1983). 

Sand 

Sand for construction and miscellaneous uses is produced at several places in the Big Bend region. Sand requirements of the Tallahassee market area are satisfied by 

16 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
Base from U.S. Geological Survey 

Florida State map 1967, 1:500,000 

0 

I 

0 

10 

I 

10 20 

I 

20 

I 

30 40 

30 

I 

I 

40 

I 

50 KILOMETERS 

Roadless area 

Mine active in recent years 

C -Common clay 

F -Fuller's earth 

Inactive mine or quarry 

F -Fuller's earth 

L-Limestone 

P-Peat 

Sand pit 

Plant 

C-Common brick 

F-Fuller's earth 

50 MILES 

I 

Figure 11. Locations of industrial mineral pits, mines, quarries, plants, and phosphate exploratory drill holes in the Big Bend 

region, Florida. 

the Roberts Sand Co. at Norfleet and by two other companies operating nearby (Scott and others, 1980). A pit near 

Panacea, 18 mi east of the Gum Bay Road1ess Area, is the 

source of sand for the market along the Gulf coast. Sand also 

is dredged from the Apalachicola River near Chattahoochee. 

A sand and gravel bed 5 ft thick (depth interval 15-

20 ft) was penetrated by the drill hole in the Mud SwampNew River Roadless Areas (fig. 7, hole 1M). A sample of 

this bed (table 3, sample 3) was found to consist almost 

entirely of angular quartz, with 0.14 percent heavy minerals 

and 4.4 percent very fine sand, silt, and clay. Only 24 

percent of this sand and gravel was fmer than coarse sand, 

and 11.6 percent was gravel. This same sand and gravel bed 

was intersected by hole 1S located about 0. 7 mi west of the 

Post Office Bay Roadless Area boundary. In addition to 

holes 1M and 1S, the sand and gravel stratum was futersected by drill holes F1-3 and auger holes 3, 4, 6, and 8 

(fig. 10). The presence of the sand and gravel were found by 

drilling the widely spaced holes indicates that the deposit 

extends over many square miles in and near the Seven 

Roadless Areas. Although the sand and gravel resources in 

the Seven Roadless Areas would have considerable value if 

Assessment of Mineral-Resource Potential 17 
Table 3. Grain size and heavy-mineral content of sand and gravel in the region of the Seven Roadless Areas and comparative 

samples from the Roberts Sand Co. pit, in percent 

Very fine 

Very coarse Coarse Medium Fine sand, silt, 

Sample Gravel sand sand sand sand and clay Heavy 

number >10 mesh 10-18 mesh 18-35 mesh 35-60 mesh 60-120 mesh <120 mesh Total minerals 

1 28.6 33.2 22.0 9.8 3.4 2.8 99.8 1.8 

2 0.2 5.4 27.0 31.4 15.4 20.0 99.4 .40 

3 11.6 30.6 33.4 15.0 4.6 4.4 96.6 .14 

4 .4 3.8 36.6 47.4 11.4 96.6 2.3 

5 3.2 9.6 20.8 44.6 18.4 3.2 99.8 .12 

6 12.2 13.2 14.6 30.8 24.2 4.6 99.6 .29 

Description of samples: 

1. Drill core of sand and gravel, depth interval 37-50 ft, hole 1S, Savannah Roadless Area. 

2. Drill core of sand, depth interval 3-15 ft, hole 1M, Mud Swamp-New River Roadless Area. 

3. Drill core of sand and gravel, depth interval 15-20 ft, hole 1M, Mud Swamp-New River Roadless Area. 

4. Channel sample of clayey sand 9 ft thick in wall of borrow pit, 2 mi south of Savannah Roadless Area. 

5. Composite of grab samples of upper sand beds approximately 12ft thick in wall of Roberts Sand Co. pit, Norfleet, Fla. 

6. Composite of grab samples of sand beds approximately 5 ft thick, underlying sample no. 5. 

they were close to market, the remote location reduces the 

value. Also, the sand and gravel was found to be 13ft thick 

where intersected by hole 1 S, which suggests that the deposit is thicker west of the Seven Roadless Areas than within 

their boundaries. Furthermore, the overburden above the 

deposits thins southwestward from the westernmost of the 

Seven Roadless Areas, and sand and gravel would be less 

costly to produce outside of the Areas. 

Clayey sand used in stabilizing Forest Service roads 

and highway construction is dug from several pits in the 

Apalachicola National Forest. Sand of this type was intersected by drill hole 1M (fig. lOA; table 3) at the depth 

interval of 3-15 ft. The presence of sand at this locality 

indicates that this sand which covers most of the region also 

is present in the Seven Roadless Areas. Although large 

resources of clayey sand are no doubt present, they have 

little value because virtually unlimited resources of this type 

of sand are present in the surrounding region. 

ASSESSMENT OF OIL AND GAS POTENTIAL 

According to the reports and records of the Florida 

Bureau of Geology, many exploratory wells have been 

drilled in search of oil and gas in the Big Bend region 

(fig. 12; table 4). To date, only a few shows of oil have been 

found, and all have been dry. Of the selected holes listed in 

table 4, 30 were deeper than 5,000 ft, and 15 were deeper 

than 10,000 ft. The deepest hole bottomed at 14,570 ft. 

Surprisingly, two of the shallow dry holes (fig. 12; table 4, 

holes 5, 8) were reported to have good shows of oil (Hendry 

and Sproul, 1966, p. 105). These two wells are located 

about 30 mi east of the easternmost of the Seven Roadless 

Areas. Oil stains also were found in a conglomeratic calcareous sandstone of the Norphlet Formation and in the 

Smackover Formation and in a Hunt Oil Co. dry hole 

(Schmidt and Clark, 1980, p. 73), located 30 mi westnorthwest of the westernmost of the Seven Roadless Areas. 

Although no reasons for optimism about the discovery 

of oil and gas in and near the Seven Roadless Areas exist, 

the possibility cannot be completely ruled out. Oil and gas 

may occur in the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation, 

which is present at depth in the Seven Roadless Areas (Applegate, Pontigo, and Rooke, 1978). Oil and gas are produced from this formation in the Jay field in the westernmost 

Florida Panhandle and in a nearby field in Alabama 

(Babcock, 1972). Therefore, geologists think that this 

formation has potential for oil in the Big Bend region. 

However, the several holes that have been drilled into the 

Smackover in parts of the Big Bend region east, south, and 

west of the Seven Roadless Areas have been dry (Applegate, 

Pontigo, and Rooke, 1978). Other reasons for not ruling 

out the potential for oil and gas discovery in the Seven 

Roadless Areas include the following: ( 1) the shows of oil 

in dry holes in the region, noted in the foregoing paragraph, 

(2) uncertainty as to whether or not formations older than the 

Smackover may contain oil and gas, and (3) the geology of 

the region, which is favorable for the occurrence of both 

structural and sedimentary traps (Applegate, Pontigo, and 

Rooke, 1978, p. 84). 

18 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
Base from U.S. Geological Survey 

Florida State map 1967, 1:500,000 

0 

I 

0 10 

ss'o 

10 

I 

20 

I 

20 

I 

30 40 

Figure 12. Locations of dry holes in the Big Bend region, Florida. 

30 

I 

40 

I 

50 KILOMETERS 

32-¢-

50 MILES 

I 

EXPLANATION 

Roadless area 

-¢-4 

Dry hole 

Number refers to 

table 4 

Assessment of Oil and Gas Potential 19 
Table 4. Selected exploratory oil and gas data for Apalachicola National Forest and surrounding region 

[Source: Florida Bureau of Geology, oil and gas reports and records] 

Florida 

Bureau 

of 

Geology 

number 

305 

149 

246 

696 

W32 

717 

W936 

W12 

W440 

746 

48 

846 

769 

745 

730 

W1469 

957 

277 

40 

W1470 

W914 

960 

814 

134 

Dry hole 

number, 

fig. 12 

1 

2 

3 

4 

s 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

Company or owner's name 

C. E. Prince 

Sun Oil Co. 

Aamingo Oil Co. 

Placid Oil Co. 

Central Aorida Oil and Gas 

Co. 

Phillips Petroleum Co. 

Stanolind Oil Co. 

Bonheur Development Co. 

Ravlin Brown 

Hunt Oil Co. 

Pure Oil Co. 

Exxon Corp. 

Placid Oil Co. 

----------do 

----------do 

Pure Oil Co. 

Mesa Petroleum Corp. 

Gulf Coast Drilling and 

Exploration Co. 

Pure Oil Co. 

----------do 

----------do 

Mesa Petroleum Corp. 

Exxon Corp. 

Pure Oil Co. 

Dry hole or firm name 

Examine Owenby 

# 1 E. L. Jordan, et al 

----------do ---------

Placid Oil Co. No. 1 

USA 27-2 

Rhodes No. 1 

St. Joe Paper Co. #1 

St. Joe Paper Co. 

Cates No. 1 

V. G. Phillips No. 1 

International Paper Co. 

#1 E. L. McMillan 

Neal Lum~r and Mfg. Co. 

Placid Oil Co. No. 1, USA, 

10-3 

Placid Oil Co. No. 1, USA, 

16-2 

Placid Oil Co. No. 1, USA, 

26-4 

Kate Gaskins No. 1 

St. Joe Paper Co. 

Unit 29-4 #1 

Gulf Coast Drilling and 

Exploration Co., No. 1, 

USA 16-2 

St. Joe Paper Co. #3 

Buckeye Cellulose Corp. 

Buckeye Cellulose Corp. 

No. 16-3 

County 

Gadsden 

Calhoun 

Bay 

Wakulla 

Leon 

--do--

-- do--

Wakulla 

--do--

Gulf 

-- do--

-- do--

Liberty 

-- do--

-- do--

Gulf 

--do--

Liberty 

Gulf 

--do--

-- do--

Franklin 

-- do--

Gulf 

Sec. T. 

29 2N 

36 IN 

18 IS 

27 2S 

11 2S 

14 2S 

15 2S 

16 3S 

14 3S 

31 3S 

25 4S 

20 4S 

10 4S 

16 4S 

26 3S 

19 5S 

29 5S 

4 5S 

3 6S 

6S 

6S 

23 6S 

16 6S 

7S 

R. 

3W 

11W 

12W 

3W 

IE 

IE 

2E 

IE 

IE 

11W 

11W 

lOW 

7W 

6W 

sw 

9W 

9W 

7W 

11W 

9W 

9W 

7W 

6W 

9W 

Year of 

completion 

1963 

1953 

1956 

1974 

1924 

1974 

1944 

1919 

1943 

1974 

1947 

1976 

1975 

1974 

1975 

1945 

1979 

1959 

1946 

1979 

1976 

Altitude of 

derrick floor 

above sea 

level (ft) 

197 

100 

134 

99 

50 

33 

41 

17 

28 

81 

44 

59 

75 

74 

62 

43 

47 

49 

11 

33 

32 

87 

so 

21 

Total depth 

of hole (ft) 

7,021 

5,002 

5,000 

12,116< 

3,755 

10,466 

6,520 

2,169 

5,766 

13,284 

5,069 

13,587 

12,654 

12,400 

12,131 

5,606 

14,186 

10,010 

5,025 

7,255 

8,708 

12,885 

11,950 

5,796 

762 

670 

32 

37 

43 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

Charter Exploration Co. St. Joe Paper Co. -- do- - 12 8S lOW 

lOW 

6W 

11W 

1975 

1973 

1946 

1946 

1947 

1968 

22 

34 

15 

14 

10 

37 

14,570 

14,290 

5,060 

5,656 

7,021 

----------do ---------- do --------- --do-- 26 8S 

Pure Oil Co. 

Gulf Oil Co. 

Gex. and Lewin Franklin 3 8S 

Pick Hollinger et al # 1 Gulf 12 9S 

Magnolia Petroleum Co. 

Mobil Oil Corp. 

Aorida State Block 5-B Offshore 

387 # 1 C Aorida State Lease Offshore 14,369 

224-A 

281 31 The California Co.-Coastal Aorida State Lease 224-A 

Petroleum Co. 

293 32 ----------do --------- ----------do ---------

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American Society for Testing Materials, 1969, 02607-69, 

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Applegate, A. V., Pontigo, F. A., Jr., and Rooke, J. H., 1978, 

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p. 80-84. 

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1970: Aorida Bureau of Geology Information Circular No. 

80, 82 p. 

Cameron, C. C., and Mory, P. C., 1977, Mineral resources of 

the Bradwell Bay Wilderness and Sopchoppy River Study 

Offshore 1959 26 7,031 

Offshore 1961 34 10,560 

Area, Wakulla County, Aorida: U.S. Geological Survey 

Bulletin 1431, 37 p. 

Cathcart, J. B., Patterson. S. H .. and Crandall, T. M., 1983, 

Mineral resource potential map of the Natural Area 

Roadless Area: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous 

Field Studies Map MF-1572-B, scale 1:24,000. 

Chen, Chih Shan, 1965, The regional lithostratigraphic analysis 

of Paleocene and Eocene rocks of Aorida: Aorida Bureau 

of Geology Bulletin No. 45, 105 p. 

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America, in Coope, B. M., ed., Proceedings of the 4th Industrial Minerals International Congress: London, Metals 

Bulletin PLC, p. 29-41. 

Hendry, C. W., Patterson, S. H., Crandall, T. M., and 

20 Geology and Mineral-Resource Potential, Seven Roadless Areas, Florida 
Sweeney, J. W., 1982, Mineral resource potential map of 

the Clear Lake Roadless Area, Leon County, Florida: U.S. 

Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map 

MF-1479. 

Hendry, C. W., Jr., and Sproul, C. R., 1966, Geology and 

ground-water resources of Leon County, Florida Bureau of 

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Milton, Charles, 1972, Igneous and metamorphic basement 

rocks of Florida: Florida Bureau of Geology Bulletin 

No. 55, 125 p. 

Patterson, S. H., 1974, Fuller's earth and other industrial mineral resources of the Meigs-Attapulgus-Quincy district, 

Georgia and Florida: U.S. Geological Survey Professional 

Paper 828, 45 p. 

Patterson, S. H., Schmidt, Walter, and Crandall, T. M., 1982, 

Mineral resource potential map of the Savannah Roadless 

Area, Liberty County, Florida: U.S. Geological Survey 

Miscellaneous Field Studies May MF-1470. 

Purl, H. S., and Vernon, R. 0., 1964, Summary of the geology 

of Florida and a guidebook to the classic exposures: Florida 

Bureau of Geology Special Publication No. 5 (revised), 

312 p. 

Schmidt, Walter, and Clark, M. W., 1980, Geology of Bay 

County, Florida: Florida Bureau of Geology Bulletin 

No. 57, 96 p. 

Scott, T. M., and others, 1980, The sand and gravel resources 

of Florida: Florida Bureau of Geology Report of Investigation No. 90, 41 p. 

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