l-± GEOLOGICAL REPORT. "IX'.t. I'.to 1 



Thus far, it is only in S. Lauderdale and N. Clarke, that 1 have examined the 

 rocks of this group somewhat specially. At Marion, as before stated, we find a 

 stratum only a kw teet thick, of rather nurse sandstone, of variable degrees of 

 hardness within its mass, and containing silicified fossils of the flower) Claiborne 

 age, overlying immediately the Lignitic strata, as seen in Spears' cut (« 

 Some portions of this rock arc of excessive hardness, from .niters, the sdicificd 

 shells can be picked by hand, and in weathering, the shells arc lefl 

 above the surface, as in the Turritella Limestone of Tippah En dew of the 

 impossibility of obtaining fragments of any considerable liform hard- 



ness, the supposed adaptability of this rock to the manufacture of buhrstones 

 is somewhat Utopian. The softer varieties disim iiy, and more 



especially under the influence of fire. It appears that many of - in the 



neighborhood of Marion were once capped with ledges of ime are 



even now; for on some o1 these, especialh W. of the town (as for instance, on 

 S.3.J, T. 7, R. 17, and ridges connecting ('Herewith) we find imbedded in the 

 soil and subsoil great numbers of silicified shells, which seem to have been 

 gradually washed down from above. They are generally in a poor state of 

 preservation, with the sole exception, perhaps, o inicosta, of 



which I have obtained large, well preserved specimens at the locality mentioned; 

 of the univalves ( Vol Pyrula) only the columella is commonly 



preserved, and decay has often brought out prominently the lines of o TO wth 

 where the rest of the shell is extant. When freshly dug from the soil, these 

 shells are often quite soft and friable, but harden by exposure. The so 1 is, of 

 -•ourse, largely composed of the coarse sand which forms the body of the rock. 



189. The rock is not on the whole very common in S. Lauderdale ; it is com- 

 monly found on the hilltops and crests of ridges, in limited deposits, the greater 

 portion having, probably, been unable to resist the denuding agencies of the 

 Orange Sand. 



The rock found at Marion, like that of Tippah, contains occasionally ''galls' 

 of gray, fine-grained claystone. On a hillside near the 10 mile post on the 

 Marion and Quitman road, we find a solid ledge of this whitish claystone, about 

 6 m's thick, forming the top ledge of an outcrop of sandstone, some of which is 

 very coarse, slightly glauconitic, and the sand-grains consisting apparently of 

 chalcedony. Other portions of the rock resemble very much the spotted rock 

 at Reeve's, Tippah county («Tl68), and all are slightly fossiliferous. 



Southward of the point mentioned, these rocks are very common on the 

 ridges— mostly, however, poor in fossils ; consisting of ledges 6 in's. to 2 feet 

 thick, each of which is slightly different from the others. Such is the case on 

 the S. bluff of Dry Creek, where 18 feet of the rock appear, and here may be 

 seen underlaid by a gray sand, similar to some seen at Spear's cut. S. of the 

 N. half of T. 1, R. 16 E, however, no more of the rock is to be seen ; Orange 

 band hills with Longdeaf Pine cover the face of the country, and deep wells 

 reach nothing but yellow and red sand. 



190i Westward of the line of travel just described, we find a good opportunity 

 for the study of this formation, on Chunkey Creek ; in the cuts of the M. & 0. 

 R. R. ; and on the banks of the Chickasawhay, at Enterprise. 



I regret being unable, in consequence of the disappearance of the field notes 

 relating to d, to give in detail the highly interesting section occurring in a R. R. 

 cjit on S. 33, T. 5, R. 15, Lauderdale county, about 5 ms. N. E. of Enterprise. 

 Here the white claystone mentioned above is largely developed ; as in the other 

 cases, it forms the highest stratum, is sometimes seen in solid ledges several 

 teet in thickness, and is remarkable, when dry, for its extraordinary lightness. 

 at- ;; .? 0t T r,ch m shells > ifc contains fine casts of a Lecla, and of Oardium 

 UicoUeti /—In its upper portions, this bed passes into yellowish sandstone re- 

 sembling that of S. Neshoba, and sometimes into a hard cherty rock, which 

 forms huge, rounded nodules. 



Below it, at the N". end of the exposure, lies a green clay almost destitute of 



