CRETACEOUS FORMATION. 95 



along the hillsides, just south of Big Sandy, where 

 the Greensboro road passes, is given below : 



Section on Big Sandy Creek, Tuscaloosa County. 



1. Purple or mottled clays, like those occur 



ring at Steele's Bluff, on Warrior 



river 30 feet 



2. Light yellow sands with pebbles, also sim- 



ilar to those seen at Steele's and 



White's Bluffs 10 to 15 feet 



3. Gray, laminated clay, enclosing a ligni- 



tized tree trunk at base of hill 4 to 5 feet 



Further south the nlaterials of the Tuscaloosa for- 

 mation seem to be more sandy, and the proportion of 

 clays is small. 



Along the banks of the Warrior river below Tusca- 

 loosa, the clays show up in many places, especially in 

 the vicinity of Saunders' Ferry. 



At the Snow place, above the ferry, there are some 

 great gullies, in which these sands and clays of the 

 formation are exposed. In some of the clay beds 

 many leaf impressions have been obtained, which 

 have assisted in the determination of the geological 

 horizon of the Tuscaloosa formation. 



A short distance above the ferry, and adjoining the 

 Snow place, there is a bluff about 140 feet high which 

 shows the clays and other beds of this formation 

 very clearly. The section is as follows : 



Section above Saunders' Ferry, Warrior River. 



1. Massive clays of greenish and purple colors, 

 breaking with conchoidal fracture. 

 On drying these clays become hard and 

 rock-like. When wet by the winter 

 rains, they soften and slide down the 

 slopes, covering them completely 

 in places. Thickness 40 feet 



2. Laminated sandy clays, gray, with sand 



partings 5 feet 



3. Gray cross-bedded sands, with partings of 



clay along many of the planes of 



false bedding 25 feet 



4. Gray cross-bedded sands and blue mica- 



ceous sands 23 feet 



