ANDERSON COUNTY. 305 



A few low outcrops were also seen on the south side. In appearance it 

 greatly resembles the Austin chalk, except that it contains specks of green- 

 sand. On subsequent examination I found just below the top a glaucon- 

 itic seam with numerous shells, among them an oyster,* of distinctively pe- 

 culiar form. The outcrops are cut irregularly by seams of calcite. These 

 seams vary in width from one-half inch to twelve inches, and many of the 

 fragments which lie scattered over the hillside so closely resemble silicified 

 or agatized wood that it is readily mistaken for it. Some of the calcite is 

 fibrous, the crystals running at right angles to the crevice. In other in- 

 stances there is no such regularity of arrangement, but one set of crystals is 

 attached to the next at various angles. 



The Saline itself is a flat irregular depression, longest from north to south, 

 being possibly a mile in length, but not more than one-half mile in width. 

 During the winter months it contains some water, but in the summer it is 

 dry, and there are small patches scattered here and there on which an in- 

 crustation of salt appears. The soil of the Saline has the same appearance as 

 that of the "black waxy" or Ponderosa clays soil. The timber appears to be 

 encroaching on it gradually. The drainage from the surrounding hills builds 

 delta-like formations further and further outward, and the trees push out to 

 the edges of these. 



About six miles north of this the Ponderosa clays were observed. They 

 are in the northward extension of the valley in which the Saline occurs. Here 

 the soil has its characteristic black waxy appearance, and the exposed clays 

 their yellow color. They contained yellow calcareous nodules and many fine 

 specimens of Exogyra ponderosa, Roemer, accompanied by Gryphcea vescularzs, 

 Lamark. The highest beds were found to contain a decided intermixture of 

 limestone in small fragments, below which was an arenaceous bed containing 

 fragments of a small thin-shelled oyster of which no specimens could be 

 secured sufficiently perfect for identification. 



The clays themselves are yellow on exposed surfaces, showing lamination 

 in places. Where they are dug into they are of a slaty blue color. The in- 

 cluded limestone nodules and bowlders are septarious and semi-crystalline, 

 and often contain fossils. In one place an almost vertical dyke of limestone, 

 some five or six inches in thickness, was observed cutting the clays, and quan- 

 tities of calcite similar to that occurring in the drift at the Saline were found 

 in the drift at this place also. In addition to this a few fragments of clay 

 ironstone were found. To the north this is overlaid directly by the lignites 

 and clays of the Timber Belt beds in such manner as would suggest the ex- 

 istence of this Cretaceous inlier as an elevated land area at the time of their 

 deposition. 



* Ostrea salinerms, Dumble, sp. n. 



