30 MISSISSIPPI STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY [Bull. 
dinate divisions within the ..ustroriparian Area, based mainly 
upon soil differences. 
The regions recogniz:c are the following: 1, Tennessee 
River Hills; 2, Northe:..ciu Prairie Belt; 3, Pontotoc Ridge; 
4, Flatwoods; 5, North Central Plateau; 6, Jackson Prairie 
Belt; 7, Loess or Bluff Hills; 8, Yazoo-Mississippi Delta; 9, 
Long Leaf Pine Belt; 10, Coastal Pine Meadows. 
'Tennesee River Hills—Consulting the accompanying 
sketch map, it will be seen that in the extreme northeast corner 
of the state a small narrow division, embraced mostly in four 
eounties, is marked off and called the Northeastern or Tennes- 
see River Hills. The area is one of high, broken topography— 
the highest point being 800 feet above sea level. This was 
originally a plateau lifted upon the southern flank of the great 
Appalachian fold, and sloping gently toward the south, but its 
surface is now much cut up by erosion into steep hills and 
ridges. The steep slopes and cliffs bordering the valley of the 
Tennessee River and its tributaries for a few miles south of the 
river, exhibit everywhere the outcropping limestones, shales 
and chert beds of the Carboniferous formations, from 50 to 75 
feet of the tops of the hills and ridges being capped by Creta- 
ceous gravel deposits. Farther south the gravel deposits are 
largely covered by sandy soils of Cretaceous age, the old Car- 
boniferous rocks rising to the surface here and there along the 
larger streams. The soils of this region, as would be expected, 
are light, sandy, and infertile, except in the stream bottoms. 
This region in topography and geology represents a transition 
from the old Appalachian uplift to the Coastal Plain; we would 
therefore expect to find a similar transitional character in the 
flora of the region, and such is found to be the case. 
The hills and slopes of this region were originally clothed 
with forests, and in the more broken parts still remain in forest, 
though the large timber has been mostly removed. The most 
abundant trees of the hills are short-leaf yellow pine and loblol- 
ly pine, much of the latter in thick stands of second growth. 
Mixed with these, and especially on the lower slopes of the 
ridges are various species of oak, black jack, post oak, Spanish 
oak, and white oak. A common oak on the cherty and gravel- 
