OF ARKANSAS. 



37 



had a better opportunity of inspecting the ehaly rocks of the subcarbo- 

 niferous group, than in Shield's bluff, where they are too much concealed 

 by debris washed from above. At this locality, 1 found the following sue- 

 ion under a ledge of sandstone: 



Buff, earthy limestone 10 feet thick. 



Mudstone G inches thick _ 



Brown shale 4 « 



Black shale 3 « 



Limestone in pavement form 2 " 



«< 

 it 



Black shale 



Brown shale r, « « 



J " a 



Brown mudstone 4 « G i nc i ies « 



Black shale 5 « « 



Calcareous septaria (hydraulic) 1 « 6 inches " 



Brown shale 3 « « 



Black shale at base (thickness?) at an elevation 20 to 25 feet above the 

 adjacent bottom. 



Above these strata is apparently mostly sandstone, but much of it is 

 out of place, having rolled down from a former higher elevation; there is 

 evidently, however, a great thickness of millstone grit in the upper part 

 of the adjoining ridges of 150 to 200 feet. 



Four miles south-east of Batesville, a great mass of red shale crops out, 

 which disintegrates rapidly to red clay. This underlies the above mill- 

 atone grit rock. 



The hills increase in height from the locality where the preceding sec- 

 tion was taken towards Batesville; there a lower mass of intercalated 

 sandstone rises from beneath these shales, shaly limestone, and septaria. 

 The soil immediately over this sandstone is, as usual, thin, and supports a 

 growth of stunted oak. 



From Miller's creek up to Batesville, the hills are from 130 to 240 feet 

 in height. Red shales, running downwards into brown and black shales, 

 with calcareous septaria, occupy the base of the hills around Batesville; 

 these shales are surmounted by 150 to 180 feet of sandstone. 



The black shales of the above series have given rise to expectations for 

 the discovery of coal in their vicinity; but, occupying, as they do, a geo- 

 logical position in the subcarboniferous group entirely below the mill, tone 

 grit, and Archimedes limestone, there is no prospect of finding any thing 

 but perhaps a few inches of coal associated with these shales, which can 

 be of no practical value. 



Between Batesville and the " Big Spring," there are high ridges elevated 

 about 450 feet above White river, composed in their upper part of both 



