ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT I 7 



B. Hopkins, and other members of the United States Geological 

 Survey, Department of the Interior, in co-operation with the 

 Florida State Geological Survey, may have some \a\ue in future 

 exploration. 



The geologists of the United States Geological Survey are not 

 very hopeful that oil will be found anywhere in the Atlantic Coastal 

 Plain, because the stratigraphy and the structure of the beds of 

 rock in that area are in many ways different from those of the 

 beds in the Gulf Coastal Plain, where oil has been found. 



GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS IN FLORIDA. 



The intelligent selection of a location for drilling- a test well 

 involves the consideration of ( i ) the character of the formations 

 tl>at underlie within a reasonable drilling depth the area to be 

 tested and (2) the structure of the beds, which controls the ac- 

 cumulation of oil. The beds in Florida lie nearly flat and are 

 poorly exposed at the surface, so that the information thus far 

 obtained in regard to both these features is meager. The forma- 

 tions that underlie the center of the peninsula of Florida at a 

 relatively shallow depth do not. so far as known, appear anywhere 

 at the surface in the State, but beds of the same age outcrop 250 

 miles to the north, in central Georgia. As these formations vary 

 widely in character from place to place the only knowledge of 

 their character in this part of Florida must be obtained from 

 well borings. 



The Ocala limestone, of Eocene age, found near Ocala. in 

 central Florida, is the oldest formation exposed in the State. Oil 

 will probably not be found in it or in any of the other younger 

 formations that outcrop in Florida, for none of them contain 

 much bituminous matter. They consist largely of limestone. The 

 formations below the Ocala, which have been drilled into at a 

 number of places, consist chiefly of white limestone, of Lower 

 Cretaceous age. At Bushnell more than 2,800 feet of limestone, 

 interbedded with thin beds of fine sand, of Lower Cretaceous age, 

 has been penetrated by the drill. These limestones are probably 

 underlain in this part of Florida at no great depth by old crystal- 

 line rocks, such as form the Piedmont 'area of northern Georgia. 



