94 GEOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF ALABAMA CLAYS. 



about thirty or forty feet thickness of purple clays is 

 seen along the hillside. 



Some twelve miles east of Tuscaloosa the grayish 

 purple clays appear in many places along the slopes 

 of the hills. The following general section of strata 

 in this vicinity will give a good idea of the formation : 



Section 1012 miles East of Tuscaloosa. 



1. Purple massive clays 5 feet 



2. Ferruginous sandstone crusts 6 to 8 inches 



3. Variegated clayey sands holding small pieces 



of purple clay 10 feet 



4. Purple clays with partings of sand 10 " 



5. Ferruginous crust 1 " 



6. Laminated gray and yellow sandy clays .... 6 to 8 " 



7. Lignite with pyrite nodules 2 to 6 inches 



8. Dark gray somewhat massive clays 6 to 8 " 



9. Strata obscured by debris from above 20 " 



10. Purple clay at base of hill, thickness undermined. 



Along the A. G. S. E. E. beyond Cottondale, Ithe 

 cuts show many varieties of materials of this forma- 

 tion, among them beds of purple clays, sometimes 

 massive, sometimes laminated. Just beyond Cotton- 

 dale the clays gave much trouble many years ago at 

 what was known as the "Sliding Cut." 



A mile or two beyond Vance's Station, a bed of these 

 clays is now being worked for material to use in the 

 manufacture of fire brick at Bessemer. 



Southward fro'm Tuscaloosa the clays are seen in 

 most of the hills bordering Big Sandy Creek, and 

 judging from the width of the outcrop along the hill- 

 sides there can not be less than fifty feet thickness of 

 them. 



The same clays show along the A. G. S. railroad at 

 Hull's Station, and all that vicinity, and Dr. Eies pre- 

 sents an analysis, together with the physical tests, 

 of a sample of this clay, No. B., which he classes as a 

 refractory or fire clay. 



A characteristic section of these clays exposed 



