THE CRETACEOUS FORMATION".. 



99 1 . The territory occupied in Mississippi by the several stages 

 of the cretaceous formation may be briefly defined as comprising 

 (with the exception of a few townships in E. Tishomingo, occupied 

 by the carboniferous rocks) all that portion of the State lying east 

 of the following approximate line: From the point where Muddj 

 Creek crosses the Tennessee line, via Ruckersville to Ripley, 

 Tippah county : thence S. W. nearly to the line between ranges 2 

 and 3 E.; thence undulating nearly due S. to Houston, Chickasaw 

 county ; thence S. S. E., with a slight curve towards S. W v t© 

 Scooba, Kemper county, and to the Alabama line. On the map 

 this line is laid down more in detail, the cretaceous formation being- 

 represented by the several shades of green. 



99 2 . The general dip of the strata is between W. and S. W^ at 

 the rate of from 20 to 30 feet per mile. In the absence of surface 

 levelings in the direction of the dip ; in consequence, also, of the 

 limited extent of the outcrops in the same direction, and the 

 variability of the strata themselves (both as to character and 

 thickness), accurate determinations of the dip are extremely difficult. 

 A number of observations in bored wells in Lowndes comity, 

 collected and discussed by Dr. William Spillman, of Columbus, 

 Mississippi, gave the dip in that region between 25 and 30 feet S. 

 W., which is also the amount currently assumed by the well,. 

 borers in Monroe, Chickasaw and Lowndes. In the counties of 

 Pontotoc, Itawamba, Tishomingo and Tippah, however, the bored 

 wells are so few, and the hilliness of the country renders estimates 

 of comparative surface levels so uncertain ; the strata moreover are 

 so variable, that I have been unable to obtain satisfactory data with 

 reference to dip. It appears on the whole, however, to be rather 

 less than that observed in the more southerly portion, and more 

 nearly due W.; probably, over the whole of the cretaceous belt, at 

 right angles to its W. and S. boundary line, since in Alabama, 

 where the latter runs nearly due E.,), it is mentioned by Tuomej a? 



