LM) PLANT LIKK (>K AI.AliAMA. 



t lie l:il tiT r()fk>. (Iccoiiii )(•>(■(! and coiivTi-tt'd /// sil n itilo st rat iti('(l days, 

 I'oriii tlic (It'cj). warm soil of" a I'cj^ioii iiotrd I'oi- iN I'l-rt Hit y. 



'I'lic iiictaiiiorpliic i'('»;ioii »'.\tcii(U without any iMlciTuptioii Iroiu the 

 central licit ot" saiuU and i;i"a\'cls alon^• the castei'n Wordcr of the State 

 nearh to its noi'thei-n Itoiiiidary. 



KKIMON OK IIIK COAI, MKASl KKS. 



The lare-est poiiion of the northei'n part of theSt;ite is occupied hy 

 the Coal Measures. There are three coal tields i-ecouni/ed, more or 

 h\ss separated hy other formations which will !>«' })i«'seiitly referred to. 

 The most southiu'ii of these tields is the Cahaha coal Held, hejriiniinjr 

 al)o\e the shoals of the C'aiiaba Kiver. This iield is separat«»d from 

 the A\'arrior tield by the Birmingham or .Jones Valley toward the 

 northwest, and from the C-oosa coal tield ]>y the Cahaha Valley toward 

 the southeast. The southern outlines of this region ai'c extremel}' 

 ])roken; the strata of the steep rugged hills disturl)ed l»y many folds 

 and faults are dee})ly furrowed liy erosion. The principal })ai-t of this 

 region is formed b}' the Warrior t-oal tield, a triangular area, wnth the 

 southei'n corner at the shoals of the Warrior near Tuscaloosa. The 

 topographical features of the western field are of much greater uni- 

 formity than those of the Cahaba field. In the lower part of the 

 basin pi'oper, where soft shales overlie tiie lower conglomerate of the 

 Coal Measures, the surface is undulating, the highest swells rising- 

 most frequently to low hills. Toward the north the hills pass gradu- 

 ally into the table-lands formed ])y the heavy bedded sandstones of 

 the upper conglomerate, which exhit)it an almost hoi'izontal stratifica- 

 tion. These table-lands are the flattened summits of the several con- 

 verging spurs of the Appalachian chain, known north of the Tennessee 

 River as th(> Cuml)erland Mountains and south of the river as the 

 Sand Mountains: the latter with escarpments fronting the Tennessee 

 VaUey toward the north, and toward the southeast, Blounts Valley, 

 which is formed l)y the southern extension of the Se<piatchee fold. 

 The tal)Ie-land lying between Blounts Valley and Big Wills Valley 

 in the southeast is known as the Raccoon Mountain. The table-land 

 of the i-ange forming the eastern border of Big Wills A'allev is know^n 

 as Lookout Mountain, the steep escarpment of which fronts the Coosa 

 Valley. 



This highland area of the Coal Measures presents in its general 

 aspect a somewhat rolling plateau. It rises to an elevation of from 

 1,000 to a little over 2,000 feet above the adjacent valleys. It slopes 

 gently awa}' from the greatest elevations in the north to the north- 

 western limits of the region, where the Coal Measures disappear under 

 the deposits of more recent formations; and to the south, where it 

 passes graduallv into the lower hills in the Warrior coal basin proper. 



