137 Midway Stage 23 



collection here which included Venericardia planicosta var. , Cucul- 

 Icea saffordi, Cassatella gabbi, etc. 



At Chalybeate, two or three miles east of Walnut, a Midway 

 limestone appears bearing Turritelltz in abundance. The spring 

 (Fig. 2") from which this place takes its name issues from imme- 

 diately beneath this limestone or from the Cretaceous Owl creek 

 marl. The limestone layer was not all seen in any one section, 

 but did not appear to have a maximum thickness of over 

 10 fe^it. Ferruginous sands at least 20 feet thick were seen to 

 overlie this limestone. In but one place in the vicinity were 

 fossils obseirved in this arenaceous deposit. They consisted of 

 very poorly preserved Venericardia. 



Farther east, xY-z miles N. N. E. of Chalybeate, on Mr Bobo's 

 land it was observed that the Midway Turritella limestone was 

 cemented below to a similar appearing rock, but replete with 

 Bacidites and many other typical Cretaceous forms. The dividing 

 line between the two formations was indicated by a line of coarse 

 pebbles. The lack of care in distinguishing between these two 

 calcareous deposits may have caused Hilgard and others to regard 

 the whole as Cretaceous. 



Ripley ajid vicinity. — The sequence of Midway strata in the 

 vicinity of Ripley is shown in the following section: 



a. Reddish sand, omnipresent. 



b. Fine, crumbling bituminous shale, as seen on top 



of hill I Yz miles N. W. of Ripley, - 20 feet. 



c. Bed with Venericardia et al., - - - 2-4 feet. 



d. Ivight gray and slate colored clay with conchoidal 



fracture, in places with a few fossils, ( Memphis 



road, leading N. W. from Ripley,) - _ _ 75-100 feet. 



e. Light gray, indurated, residual clay containing 



fine, glauconitic particles. Y^ mile N. of Ripley, 4-6 feet. 



/. Red, rather coarse sand. - - - 25 feet. 



g. The Turritella rock of SafFord, Y^ mile S. of Rip- 

 ley, and also many points i to 2 miles E. of 

 Ripley, resting on Owl creek marl, - 5-10 feet. 



It may be here remarked that the Cretaceous group crops out 

 nowhere in the village of Ripley, and its presence is known only 

 from material obtained from wells dug to depths of 20 to 40 feet 

 according to their location. Moreover almost the whole surface 

 of the country for two miles farther east is of Midway Eocene. 

 Hence the name Ripley group when applied to the uppermost 

 Cretaceous is to some extent misleading. The famous Ripley 

 (Owl creek) exposures are about 3 miles to the northeast. 



At the forks of the road leading southward from Ripley, per- 

 haps >2 mile south of the Court House, a blufE occurs made up of 



