IP UTIL IC A IIGOIN.S. 
Report on the Geology of the Coastal Plain of Alabama, Geological 
Survey of Alabama (pp. xxiv—759). By EucENE ALLEN 
SMITH, State Geologist, Montgomery, Ala., 1894. 
This report, which treats of all the post-Palzeozoic formations of 
Alabama, is one of value. It deals with matters which are of impor- 
tance in themselves, and it deals with them in an intelligent way. The 
matter is so presented that those who are interested in the conclusions 
only, can find them without laboring through the details, while those 
whose interests lie in such directions as to make details valuable, will 
not be disappointed. It is interesting to note that Dr. Smith has 
conformed to the recent practice of some other state geologists in 
prefacing his report by an introductory chapter which is intended to 
make the body of the report intelligible to readers who are not geolo- 
gists. ‘This practice is to be especially commended in state survey 
reports. Had it been in vogue since the beginning of state survey 
publications, geological reports would have been much more widely read, 
and read with much more understanding and interest by the citizens 
of the states for whom they are or should be intended. It would 
appear that the coastal plain formations of Alabama have been worked 
out with so much detail that in the future Alabama is likely to be the 
starting point for the correlation of many of the coastal plain forma- 
tions in the gulf region. ‘The formations and their relations are shown 
in the following table: 
POST-TERTIARY-OR QUATERNARY. 
Recent. 
I. Coast sands and alluvium, upper part of the Biloxi— 1o to roo ft. 
N 
. First bottoms and other alluvial deposits of the streams. 
3. Soils and rainwash. 
Pleistocene. 
1. Coast deposits, lower part of the Biloxi, coastal— 150 to 200 ft. 
N 
Mobile Bay formation. (Mon Louis Island), estuarine, undetermined. 
. Second bottom terraces of the rivers, undetermined but over 60 ft. 
& Ww 
. Ozark or Conecuh sands. Sand terraces — undetermined. 
IOI 
