184 PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY OF THE COASTAL PLAIN PROVINCE. 



quantities, or absent altogether, the roads are apt to be very sandy and the 

 soil poor. Much of the Wicomico loam is suitable for the manufacture of 

 conmion brick and has been used for such purposes in many places through- 

 out Virginia. The following section of Wicomico materials is exposed in the 

 pit of the West End Brick Company, one-half mile west of Suffolk. 



Section exposed in clay pit, one-half mile ivest of Suifoll-. 



Feet 

 fellow-clay loam grading downward into a very compact and stiff light-colored 



drab clay containing numerous iron stains 10 



iJlack clay cont uning very fine quartz grains IM; 



Compact drab clay ( exposed) I 



Total 12% 



Stril-e, dip, and thichness. — The Wicomico formation occupies a nearly 

 horizontal position, dipping slightly toward the larger streams and Chesa- 

 peake Bay. The inclination of the beds is due primarily to the inclined 

 slope on which the deposits were formed, although the eastward dip has prob- 

 ably been somewhat accentuated by a slight eastward tilting subsequent to 

 the deposition of the strata. The uneven floor upon which the materials 

 were accumulated evidently accounts for the variation in thickness of the 

 formation although deposition was in most cases greater in the vicinity of 

 the stream mouths. The formation is seldom more than 40 feet in thick- 

 ness and is usually much- less, 



Stratigraphic relatioiis.— -The Wicomico overlies unconformably the 

 various formations of Cretaceous or Tertiary age. It is frequently in con- 

 tact Avith the Sunderland on the one hand and with the Talbot on the other 

 and at the Wicomico- Sunderland escarpment it is not improbable that in 

 places the Sunderland extends below this scarp line and may extend out 

 beneath the edge of the Wicomico formation. It is also possible, as above 

 stated, that the Wicomico in certain places extends out beneath the Talbot 

 formation at the base of the Wicomico-Talbot scarp. 



Paleontologic character. — The character of the Wicomico deposits is 

 such as to indicate unfavorable conditions for the preservation of fossils. 

 No fossiliferous beds have been reported from Virginia, but in Maryland 

 plant beds within the Wicomico formation have been observed in several 

 different places. Sometimes these plant beds form a layer of impure peat, at 

 other times the plant remains are found as impressions only in beds of drab 

 clay. The plant remains are mainly grasses and stems. Among the plant 

 remains a few wing covers of beetles have also been found. 



