150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1895. 



cretaceous shore line undoubtedly stood at a slightly higher elevation 

 and extended many miles to the southward of where we now find its 

 outcroppings. The "islands" or isolated patches of beds belonging 

 to that age, found in the salines of Smith, Vanzandt and Anderson 

 Counties then formed an integral portion of the uppermost cretace- 

 ous beds. In front of this line and extending from 75 to 100 miles 

 still farther south and seaward, there was a subcoastal plain or sub- 

 merged plateau lying at no great depth below the waters of the gulf 

 and probably more or less subject to exposure at low tide. 



With the exception of the Brazos and Trinity Rivers no large 

 streams broke the coast line but numerous smaller water courses, cor- 

 responding to such streams as the Angelina, Nelus, San Jacinto and 

 others, in times of freshets, poured their torrents of muddy debris- 

 laden waters into the shallow sea, covered the subcoastal plain with 

 a varied assortment of sand, mud, leaves, branches and trunks of 

 trees and quantities of other vegetation and probably animal remains, 

 and in periods of dry weather dwindled down to shallow 7 pools and 

 sluggish bayous in which their waters scarcely moved. 



Although the land stood higher than at present this was essentially 

 a period of subsidence and denudation. So far as we can see, the 

 currents must have set in from the southwest and the waters along 

 the western side of the tertiary areas were deeper and stronger than 

 those along the northern coast. A deep channel from 15 to 20 miles 

 wide appears to have been excavated along the eastern cretaceous 

 shore, cutting off the cretaceous islands now found, and in place of 

 the deposits removed, left behind the 260 feet of laminated clays, 

 sands and limestones now known as the "Wills Point" or "Basal 

 Beds." 



The presence of this channel and the subsequent deposition of 

 these basal beds is indicated by the existence of the same character oi' 

 deposit showing a return, or northwestern dip at several points along 

 the eastern side of the channel. This is clearly shown at Grand 

 Saline, in Kaufman and in Anderson County. 



The materials forming the new deposits were largely derived from 

 the destruction of the old. This is shown in the chemical composi- 

 tion of the two 78 and besides the new or basal Eocene sands^contain 

 many rounded boulders of limestone containing cretaceous fossils. 



7 " Science, Vol. XXII, No. 565, Dec. 1st., 1893, pp. 2<J7-300. 



