A PRELIMINARY REPORT on clays oe elorida 
119 
Material resulting from the decomposition and disintegration of this 
igneous and metamorphic rock may have been deposited in central 
Georgia and Alabama as Paleozoic, Mesozoic or Cenozoic sediments and 
a second time weathered and eroded away or it may have been trans¬ 
ported directly by southward-flowing streams to the Florida area. 
Probably both conditions may be found. In any event, this material was 
carried in solution, in suspension in a finely-divided state, or mechanical¬ 
ly rolled along by the stream currents. The quartz sand and gravel 
found in many of the clays was rolled along by mechanical processes, 
the mica and much of the colloidal matter was transported in suspen¬ 
sion, and much of the lime, magnesia, iron, etc., was probably carried in 
solution. The prevailing drainage has been southward in the Southern 
States, hence most.of the sediments in Florida have been derived from 
the northern areas. In the case of limestone residual clay the parent 
rock was deposited by precipitation of the calcium carbonate and the 
deposition of much of the impurities from suspension where it was being 
held in a finely divided condition. In the weathering of a pure limestone 
no clay would result, but as practically all limestones are more or less 
impure these insoluble impurities remain as clay when the calcium car¬ 
bonate is dissolved out. Some of the Florida limestones are high in im¬ 
purities, hence the resulting clay is quantitatively great. 
