McGee — Southern Extension of Appomattox Formation. 25 



localities, notably at Eutaw. Here it diverges from the usual 

 character in two respects, each of which indicates an intimate 

 relation to a subjacent and much older formation : north and 

 east of Eutaw the deposit is exceptionally sandy and friable 

 and the bedding is frequently obscure ; and in numerous 

 exposures on the A. G. S. railway and along the wagon road 

 between Eutaw and the Tuscaloosa or "Warrior river it may be 

 seen to merge into the stratified sands of the Eutaw, and in 

 general to take on the features of that Cretaceous formation ; — 

 in short it is as evident here that the Appomattox is made up 

 in part of the' immediately subjacent formation as it is in the 

 numerous contacts with the Potomac (Tuscaloosa) formation at 

 Lively, Macon, Columbia, and other points at which the ma- 

 terials obviously intergraduate. Southwest of Eutaw a change 

 in the composition and general behavior of the deposit quickly 

 supervenes; only scattered ridges and irregular patches of the 

 formation now remain overlying the peculiar middle Creta- 

 ceous formation which Smith and Johnson now designate the 

 Tombigbee chalk (the " Rotten Limestone " of the books) ; in 

 these outliers the deposit exhibits the usual characteristic features 

 of the deposit ; but on close examination the sands and clays of 

 which it elsewhere consists are found to be intermixed with 

 calcareous particles, while toward the surfaces it loses the 

 peculiar massive aspect and dull glaze so commonly character- 

 istic of the formation, and commonly breaks down into sandy 

 red clays. Over the Tombigbee chalk in this vicinity the 

 prevailing colors are lighter and grayer, and over the Eutaw 

 sands darker and browner, than those displayed toward the 

 fall-line or generally elsewhere. 



It is in Alabama that the Appomattox formation has been 

 found nearest the coast : between St. Elmo and Grand Bay, in 

 the extreme southwestern corner of the state, two strongly 

 contrasted types of surface appear. The first comprises the 

 smooth, sensibly horizontal pine-clad sands or a pine meadows" 

 of the coast ; and the second consists of undulating bosses, 

 knolls, and plateaus rising above and evidently protruding 

 through the sand. The sand plains and pine meadows repre- 

 sent the local phase of the Columbia formation ; while the 

 protruding knolls and plateaus of ancient topography consist 

 of regularly and rather heavily bedded loams, sands, and clays, 

 commonly orange-hued but weathering to dark reds and browns, 

 and evidently represent a somewhat erratic phase of the Appo- 

 mattox. The deposits are erratic, first, in the complete assort- 

 ment of materials, the sands and clays being separated and laid 

 down in alterating layers ; second, in the fineness of the materials, 

 clay forming the predominant element and the pebbles being- 

 represented only by bits of quartzite or chert seldom over a 



