ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 79 



DISTRIBUTION AND CHARACTER OF THE 



EOCENE DEPOSITS IN EASTERN 



NORTH CAROLINA, 



W. C. KEFvR. 



In the report of the writer on the Geology of North Carolina, 

 published in 1875 (Geology of N. C, Vol. I, pp. 149 and 150) the ex- 

 posures of eocene deposits in eastern North Carolina are stated to be 

 confined to a few outcrops along the banks of streams between the 

 Neuse and Cape Fear rivers, and outside this area two small patches 

 capping hills — one in Wake and the other in Harnett county, (in- 

 correctly Moore Co. in report). Over the larger part of this area the 

 eocene (Testiary) deposits were described in the text (p. 156) and rep- 

 resented on the geological map accompanying the report as being 

 covered • ver (if they exist there at all) by the sands gravel 

 and clay of the Quaternary. It was suggested in that re- 

 port, (p. 150), however, that the eocene caps on the hills of Wake 

 and Harnett counties showed these deposits to have had»at one time 

 a vastly greater horizontal extent than at present. And this view 

 has been confirmed by observations made in Harnett, Moore and 

 adjacent counties during the winter of 1883-'84. These with other 

 recent observations lead the writer to the conclusion that not only 

 the isolated fossiliferous patches capping these few hills, but also 

 that the surface deposits over this section of the State, between the 

 Neuse and Cape Fear rivers, are ecocene and not Quaternary, as 

 was formerly supposed. The facts which lead to this conclusion are 

 brought out in this paper. 



The patch of eocene rock capping a hill in Wake county is to be 

 found 7 miles east of Raleigh, near the railroad, at an elevation of 

 about 350 feet above sea level. The rock is a shell conglomerate, 6 

 to 10 inches thick, covering two third acres in extent. Fossils col- 

 lected from this rock were identified as eocene by Conrad several 

 years ago. The other of these caps mentioned is situated near 

 Spout Springs, a station on the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Rail 

 way, in the southern part of Harnett county, on an elevated sandy 

 ridge or small plateau, elongated in a nearly north and south direc- 

 tion, between Upper and Lower Little rivers. Capping a part of 

 this sand ridge is a nearly or quite horizontal layer, 3 feet and more 

 in thickness, of a light, porous or spongy chalk rock, white and 

 brown colors, containing many prints of shells and echinoderms — a 



