PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT. 
295 
ably indicate ancient peat deposits.* In June, 1909, a resident of 
Enterprise, Volusia Co., sent to the State Chemist for analysis 
a sample of black plastic material which looked like good peat 
(but was found to contain only about 33% of vegetable matter), 
which he stated to have been brought up from 50 feet below the 
surface in driving a well near that place. 
O11 the shores of Apalachicola Bay for several miles west of 
Apalachicola there crops out beneath a few feet of Pleistocene 
sand, a dark brown, almost black substance which is worn by the 
waves into rock-like shapes, and at a little distance looks like 
rock. (Fig. 29). But it is only slightly indurated, and a lump 
of it can easily be pulverized in one’s fingers. The dark color is 
due to carbonaceous material (and not to iron, as one might suppose 
at first glance), as shown by the following analysis,of a small 
sample of fhe material, made by A. M. Henry, assistant state 
chemist. (This analysis is made on a moisture-free basis). 
# Percent 
Silica .. 95.62 
Volatile or combustible matter. 3.33 
Undetermined (mostly clay) . 1.05 
100.00 
Scattered through this deposit are the remains of stumps (which 
should not be confused with the more modern stumps which are 
common on the same coast, where they have been exposed by the 
gradual encroachment of the sea upon the land), all of which seems 
to indicate that this is an ancient swamp deposit of some kind, 
though why it should be so highly charged with silica is not obvious. 
Its depth is not known, as the base of it does not seem to be exposed. 
Material of similar appearance and presumably similar com¬ 
position seems to underlie the whole of the Trial Ridge of East 
Florida and Southeast Georgia, as stated on page 225. The 
“hardpail” which is said to underlie parts of the South Florida 
flatwoods, a few feet below the sandy surface, may be of similar 
nature. It is interesting to note that all such land is very little 
used for agricultural purposes at present. 
The most interesting fossil peat deposit which has come to 
the notice of the writer is in Santa Rosa County, about mile 
north of Milton, where modern gullies have exposed a section 
which may be described about as follows. (See fig. 30). 
*See second annual report of this Survey, p. 153. 1909. 
