Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1920-11-26
MARL BEDS GREAT
New Jersey Has Much Wealth IN
Its Possession.
Formed Ages Ago When the Atlantic
Coast Was Marsh and S"armed
With Gigantic Reptiles.

The trctaceous period may~seem re-
mote from the present, and In point
| of time it is. 1t was good many ages
ago wnen. the Atlantic coastal pam
was under water and when glgahtlc
saurians swarmed in ocean and marsh:
But natural processes that were I'M
der way during this period are al
fecting odr present civilization very VI
tally. They touch our food, our
| clothing, our industries-in fact, every
phase of life, Herschol Bickell tells the
Brooklyn Eagle. For it was during
the eretaceous period that Mother Ma
ture was storing up coal and lignites,
petroleum and marls, especially a
greersand mari which has recently
been brought prominently to the atten-
tiun of Americans by the discovery
that 1t is rich in potash.
The chief constituent of greensand
| is d mineral called glauconite, which,
in technical terms, is dull green
anonymous silicate of iron and potas-
| stun. Glauconite contains from 6 to
Der cent of potash. This is removed
by treating the mineral with milk OF
| lime under pressure, the result being
pure caustic potash, which is the base
| for all the many potash chemicals used
| in industry and alSO-evan more impor-
| tant at the present time-for the best
commercial fertilizers.
The exact origin Of glauconite Is not
| vet known, although scientists have es-
| tablished the fact that its formation
is continuing today at the bottom OF
the sea-. in some places from 200 to
| 1000 fathoms deep although II seems
to be especially favored by shallower
| water Of about 100 fathoms.
The fact that it occurs in rounded
Jumps, surrounded in many instances
by shells of the fOraninifera, minute
organisms of the bottom Of the ocean,
| has given rise to the theory that in
some little understood way the decom-
position of the bodies of these AMI
| mails brought about the chemical re-
| action that resulted in glauconite..
It Is crystalline in form but Is rare
| ly found in anything like perfect crys-
tails, usually occurring in minute par.
| ticles, which react feebly with polarized
light. Often free glauconite Is found
| without traces of the shells mentioned,
and it is believed that this occurs be-
| cause ocean currents have washed
away the heavier minerals from fts
| surrounding calcareous formation. The
| shells tend to become very friable, aRd
| the whole mass Of glauconite and
shells may easily be crushed between
the fingers. ... -s-
The mari beds of New Jersey have
| been known and used as sources OF
fertilizers for as many years as the
state has been settled. Until recently,
however, 1t was for the phosphoric
acid and carbonate Of lime, both OF
which they contain, that the marls
were used. Their richness in potash
content, while known vaguely, had new
er been regarded as of first import
ance, because no satisfactory process
for separating the potash had been
found. ...-
These beds cover large area which
stretches obliquely across the state
from Raritan, bay and the Atlantic on
the southwest. a distance of 100 miles.
They vary from nine to nineteen miles
in width and the. average depth of the
deposit is 80 feet.
According to figures compiled by the
geological survey, square mile or
greensand-there are approximately
1850 square miles of it in New Jer-
sey-will yield, from thickness Of one
foot, $4,000 tons of potash, and 20
foot bed that covers an area Of q
square mile will yield 100000 tons.
New Jersey is not the only state.
however, that has rich greensand de-
posts. The mari beds run through
Delaware. across the District Of Co
lumhia and down into Virginia, taper
ing TO point short distance south
of Petersburg. They are slightly wider
in their southern reaches.
Experts estimate that there Is sutfi-
cient raw material in the New Jersey
and Delaware beds TO furnish potash
for the United States these next 5000
to 1000 years. T.. .....