H. W. Fairbanks — Wallala Beds as a Division, etc. 473 



Art. LVI. — The Validity of the so-called Wallala Beds as 

 a Division of the California Cretaceous /* by Harold W. 

 Fairbanks, F.G.S.A., Berkeley, Cal. 



The classification of the California Cretaceous, as given by 

 Dr. C. A. White in Correlation Papers — Cretaceous, is as 

 follows : 



T ^ o, . ^ Knoxville Beds. 



Lower Cretaceous. Shasta Group. ghasta Bedg 



TT -, , Wallala Beds. 



Upper Cretaceous. ™ • 



The designation Wallala as applied to a supposed new 

 division of the California Cretaceous was given by Drs. White 

 and Becker to some beds discovered during the investigations 

 for the monograph on the Quicksilver Deposits of the Pacific 

 Slope. These occur on the coast of Mendocino Co. near Ft. 

 Ross, and consist according to Dr. Becker of a series of shales, 

 sandstones, and conglomerates, some thousands of feet in thick- 

 ness, and in character closely resembling the Chico as it is 

 known in other parts of the State. Dr. Becker states that the 

 beds rest unconformably on the Metamorphic Series, but that 

 the stratigraphical position with reference to the Chico is not 

 shown. According to Dr. White the beds are older than the 

 Chico but younger than the Shasta Group. The evidence with 

 regard to the exact position of the strata is wholly paleonto- 

 logical and it is on this that he has established the division. 



The fossils found were in bad condition but the following- 

 genera were made out : Ostrea, Inoceramus, Pecten, Cylich?ia, 



* Since this article was prepared for publication there appeared in the American 

 Geologist a resume of a paper read at the last meeting of the Geological Society 

 of America in Ottawa, Canada, by J. S. Diller, entitled: The Cretaceous and Ter- 

 tiary of the Pacific States ; and also of one by T. W. Stanton on the Faunas of 

 the Shasta and Chico Formations. The authors of these papers arrived at sub- 

 stantially the same results as I have expressed in this article with regard to the 

 validity of the Wallala beds. This is interesting because of the different fields 

 studied and of the entire independence, each of the other, in the conclusions 

 reached. I was not aware that any one else was engaged in such a study. 



Literature. 



Mesozoic and Cenozoic Paleontology of California, Bull. U. S. Geol. Sur., No. 

 15. C. A. White. 



Notes on the Stratigraphy of California, Bull. U. S. Geol. Sur., No. 19. G. F. 

 Becker. 



On New Cretaceous Fossils from California, Bull. U. S. Sur., No. 22. C. A. 

 White. 



Geology of the Quicksilver Deposits of the Pacific Slope, by G. F. Becker. 



Geology of Baja, California, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., 1888, by W. Lindgren. 



Correlation Papers — Cretaceous, Bull. IT. S. Geol. Sur., No. 82, by 0. A. White. 



