SECTION'S IN THE MEHEERIN RIVER VALLEY. 155 



VI. Section left haul: of Nottoway River about five miles below S. A. L. 



Railroad Bridge. 



Feet 

 Pleistocene Surface covering, not well exposed 4 



Miocene. St. Mary's Blue sandy clay unfossiliferous 3-5 



Total y 



SECTIONS IX THE MEHERRTX RIVER VALLEY. 



The St. Mary's formation is present in the valley of the Meherrin Eiver 

 from the vicinity of Emporia where the stream enters the Coastal Plain to 

 its junction with the Blaekwater River. Good exposures of the underlying 

 strata are rare, however, as the river banks are in most places composed of 

 recent alluvial material. In certain places the river is actively cutting the 

 sides of the valley and Miocene strata outcrop beneath the surficial covering. 



In the vicinity of Emporia there seem to be many isolated patches of 

 St. Mary's strata lying between the Piedmont crystalline rocks and the Pleis- 

 tocene reddish-yellow sands and sandy clays that are so extensively developed 

 in that region. At the mill near Hitchcock shell marl containing Mulinia 

 congesta, Pecten, Venus, Leda, Pol gn ices, Turritella, Dental iuin, Ecpliora, 

 Ostrea, etc., was encountered in two wells at a depth of about 25 feet from 

 the surface. A short distance away granite outcrops showing the Miocene 

 shell marl to be an isolated area deposited in a depression in the irregular 

 surface of the crystalline rock floor. Shell marl was also encountered in a well 

 at the saw mill of J. E. Mayes, 1^2 miles north of Emporia. The marl, 

 which contains specimens of Pecten, Ostrea, etc., occurs 10 to 12 feet from 

 the surface. 



I. Section on Veherrin River about twelve miles southeast of Emporia 



{by wagon road). 



Feet 

 Pleistocene ( ? ) Concealed 18 to 20 



Miocene. St. ]\Iary's Light drab or gray, in places greeenish-gray 



clay, having verj' little sand content at top 

 but gradually becoming more sandy and 

 grading into a light gray fossiliferous sand 

 tine in texture. The fossils are present 

 in the form of casts only and are charac- 

 teristic ^Miocene species. About 7-9 feet 

 above meilium low-water near the base of 

 the bed, the sand is indurated in places so 

 that good specimens were obtained. The 

 following forms were recognized: Pecten, 

 Domnia, Fitlgur (?) Turritella, Leda, 

 Polynices (?), I'anopea ( 1) , Balamt.s,etc. about 33 



Total 53 



