C. H. Gordon — Chalk Formations of Northeast Texas. 369 



Art. XXIX. — The Chalk Formations of Northeast Texas /* 

 by C. H. Gordon. 



It has long been known that deposits of chalk occur in 

 northeast Texas, but writers are not in accord as to the relations 

 of these formations. In a paper read before the Geological 

 Society of America by Mr. R. T. Hill in 1893,f which was 

 the successor to a number of papers on the Cretaceous of the 

 Arkansas-Texas region by this author during the preceding 

 six or seven years, mention was made of the occurrence of 

 chalk in the southern part of Lamar county, and its identity 

 w T ith the chalk of the White Cliffs of Arkansas was asserted. 

 This chalk, which Mr. Hill states is "called the AnonaJ chalk 

 in Texas," is regarded by him as distinct from the Austin chalk 

 of central Texas and as belonging to a higher horizon. He says: 

 " It is not known what has become of the Austin chalk in this 

 section, but my hypothesis, backed by some evidence, is that to 

 the southward it has been faulted down. The Anona (White 

 Cliffs) chalk is an entirely distinct and higher bed, for it is 

 underlain by the Taylor (Exogyra ponderosa) marls which 

 overlie the Austin chalk." It is stated that the Austin chalk 

 reappears in its normal position to the eastward, at Rocky 

 Comfort in Little River county, Arkansas, on the north side 

 of the Red River. 



In a paper on the chalks of southwestern Arkansas, published 

 in the 22d Annual Report of the U. S. Geological Survey 

 (p. 698), Mr. J. C. Taff refers to the Texas deposits and says : 

 " The white chalk is exposed from Austin northward to Sher- 

 man, Texas, through a distance of nearly 250 miles, without 

 appreciable change in its thickness of nearly 600 feet, and with 

 very slight variation in texture, color, and nature of material. 

 * * * In the vicinity of' Sherman, a few miles south of Red 

 River, the chalk formation turns eastward and continues down 

 the south side of the valley through Grayson, Fannin, Lamar, 

 and Red River counties, and into the northwestern part of Bowie 

 county. From the last locality the chalk passes beneath the 

 bottom land of the Red River to Rocky Comfort, Arkansas. 

 Farther east it comes to the surface at White Cliffs, on Little 



* Read before the Geological Society of America at the Baltimore meeting, 

 1908. Published by permission of the Director of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, During a part of the time devoted to field study in north- 

 east Texas, the author was assisted by Mr. L. F. Russ of the University of 

 Texas. 



f Bulletin Geological Society of America, vol. v, pp. 297-338, 1893. 



^Hill's spelling of "Anona" was corrected by Veatch to Annona. See 

 Professional Paper No. 46, U. S. Geological Survey, p. 25 (footnote). 



