CURIOUS EROSION FEATURE IN WEST TENNESSEE 



CLAYS 



ROLF A. SCHROEDER 



Tennessee Geological Survey, Nashville 



Recently the writer had occasion to observe a rather odd and 

 striking phenomenon. The clay strata of West Tennessee he in 

 nearly horizontal beds of unconsolidated sands of the Ripley and 

 Lagrange (Wilcox) formations and are very liable to active ero- 

 sion. During torrential rains, which are common in this region, 



P^;^,; .^;-^ 



Fig. I. — Miniature erosion pillars in clay. (Scale, i inch=i foot.) 



small columns are sometimes carved in the surface of the exposed 

 clay. These have been termed ''miniature hoodoos" by the 

 writer, for they are in fact small editions of the pillars or "hoo- 

 doos" so well known in Monument Park, Colorado, and have 

 the same origin. They are rarely more than six inches high, are 

 circular or elHptical in horizontal section, and generally closely 



