328 



THE BEGOLITH 



The lithological and chemical character of deposits of this 

 nature have been but little studied, and we are here able to give 

 only the two analyses on p. 327, in which, however, it is probable 

 that the matter tabulated as insoluble silica includes as well all 

 silicates insoluble in acid. 



Column I of the table is mud from the marshes of Newport 

 River, a few miles above Beaufort, in Carteret County, North 

 Carolina. This marsh, formed by the filling up of the old river 

 channel, several miles wide, is continually enlarging at the 

 expense of the water surface; similar formations, to the extent 

 of hundreds of square miles, are accumulating in very many 

 shallow bays and sounds and rivers near the sea. Column II is 

 the sea mud or slime which is deposited in the shoal waters of 

 Beaufort Harbor and along the sounds and estuaries of the North 

 Carolina coast. It is a fine, dark-colored salt mud, formed of the 

 silt brought down by the rivers, mixed with decaying vegetable 

 matter and animal remains.^ 



Mechanical Analyses of Swamp Deposits 



Diameter 



Conventional JSTames 



I 



II 



III 



IV 



PARTICLUa 













Soil 



Sub-soil 



Soil 



Sub-boil 



mm. 





0-6 inches 



6-9 inches 



0-6 inches 



6-9 inches 



2-1 



Mne gravel 



0.00% 



0.00% 



0.00% 



0.00% 



1^.5 



Coarse sand 



0.71 



0.08 



1.36 



0.14 



.5-.25 



Medium sand 



2.70 



0.25 



5.18 



0.43 



.26-.1 



Pine sand 



0.83 



0.13 



1.69 



0.23 



.1-.06 



Very fine sand .... 



0.37 



0.15 



0.71 



0.26 



.06^.01 



Silt 



10.32 



13.97 



19.79 



24.30 



.01-.006 



Fine silt 



6.32 



7.10 



10.20 



14.09 



.005-.0001 



Clay 



Total mineral matter . . 



31.90 



34.85 



61.17 



60.65 





62.15% 



56.53% 



100.00% 



100.00 % 





Organic matter, water loss 



47.85 



43.47 









100.00 % 



100.00 % 







Loss by direct ignition . 



47.36 



39.65 







placed for irrigation. South of the New England shore the marsh area 

 is much more extensive than in that region. It is probable that the im- 

 provable marshes of the Atlantic coast amount to at least 3,000,000 acres 

 and they may exceed double this amount. (Shaler, p. 380.) 

 ^ Geology of North Carolina, Yol, I, 1875, p. 214. 



