A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON CLAYS OE FLORIDA 
217 
at the same time indicates the origin of the deposits in order to differ¬ 
entiate them from the typical or residual kaolins. The white-burning 
clays of the coastal plain of Georgia and South Carolina are likewise 
sedimentary kaolins. 
DISTRIBUTION 
The sedimentary kaolin is now being mined at two different locali¬ 
ties. One of these is at Edgar, in Putnam County, and the other is 
near Okahumpka, in Lake County. Two companies are actively en¬ 
gaged in mining the clay near Okahumpka and one at Edgar. 
The deposits of sedimentary kaolin are confined to the peninsular 
portion of the State and Sellards 1 states that the distribution of this 
material is co-extensive, or nearly so, with the Lake Region. Deposits 
have, however, been found well to the west of the Lake Region in 
Pasco, Hernando, Levy, and perhaps Citrus and Sumter counties, 
each of which, except Sumter, borders on the Gulf coast. Others have 
been reported in the vicinity of Live Oak in Suwannee County and also 
in Lafayette County, but nothing authentic is known about these oc¬ 
currences at the present time. Sellards 2 further points out that the same 
type of topography occurs and is probably underlain by the same for¬ 
mations between the Suwannee and Choctawhatchee rivers. The oc¬ 
currence of the sedimentary kaolin in the State may or may not be de¬ 
pendent upon its association with the Alum Bluff formation (Miocene). 
While many of the plastic kaolin occurrences are in an Alum 
Bluff area, there is no evidence to indicate any genetic relation between 
the two; in fact, many of the occurrences are entirely outside the pres¬ 
ent Alum Bluff areas and are apparently in no way associated with 
that formation. On this basis, then, the probabilities of finding deposits 
of sedimentary kaolin between the Suwannee and Choctawhatchee 
rivers are poor. On the other hand, however, if the distribution of 
this clay is related to the present topography of the Lake Region, then, 
as Sellards intimates, there is some likelihood of finding deposits in north 
and west Florida. 
In this connection it is interesting to note the occurrence in Sec. 
26, T. 2 N., R. 19 W., five miles south of DeFuniak Springs in 
Walton County, of a sandy clay very closely resembling the crude 
1 Sellards, E. H., The Clays of Florida, Journal American Ceramic Society, 
Vol. I, p. 313, 1918. 
2 Loc. cit. 
