*0 NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



sandy deposit, which, if mineralogical characters may be re- 

 lied upon, would be referred to the green sand which is now 

 under consideration. They contain the green sand grains, 

 but the characteristic fossils are absent except in one or two 

 localities. The formation in question exjsts beneath the white 

 or brownish shell marl at Mr. Flowers, Bladen county, King- 

 ston, Lenoir county, on the Neuse, and at Tawboro', on the 

 Tar river, and at many intermediate points on the banks of 

 the creeks and ravines. It always occupies a position inferior 

 to the shell marl, but as the latter are frequently absent, beds 

 of sand and clay immediately succeed it. The green sandy 

 beds at Mr. Flowers, beneath his shell marl, contain a few 

 specimens of the Ostrea falcata, and at one or two of the bluffs 

 above Mr. Flowers, on the Cape Fear, I found the vertebra 

 of a large saurian, which I am confident belongs to the green 

 sand, but in both of these cases their occurrence in these beds 

 may have been accidental. I am inclined, however, in view 

 of the few facts which bear upon the question of age, to refer 

 these green sandy beds to the cretaceous system, occupying 

 probably a position above these beds which have been de- 

 scribed at Blackrock. 



The predominent element of these beds is sand : if a sample 

 is washed, a coarse sand remains, which amounts to two- 

 thirds or three-fourths of the whole quantity employed. The 

 quantity, in a few instances, may not exceed 60 per cent. 

 Notwithstanding the large percentage of sand, it has been 

 successfully employed as a fertilizer. I have, therefore, sub- 

 mitted several specimens to analysis, taken from different 

 beds extending from the waters of the Cape Fear to the 

 Tar. 



A representation of the composition of this formation, as 

 it exists at Mr. Flowers, in Bladen, and at Kinston, on the 

 Neuse, is given in the following analysis. 



68. The Kinston green sand marl is of a dark green color 

 in the bed, but becomes lighter when dry. Imperfect speci- 

 mens of an Ostrea occur in it, but too much broken to be de- 

 termined. It contains: 



