Fig. 41.—Filter presses, Edgar Plastic Kaolin Co., Edgar, Putnam County. 
for Florida and the coastal plain regions, as is generally believed to 
have been the case during Tertiary times, then the feldspar would 
have become completely decomposed long before it could have been 
transported from the crystalline area on the north to the sedimentary 
kaolin region, several hundred miles southward. There is no evidence 
to indicate that the crystalline areas have within late Tertiary times 
been at a much greater elevation than at present to facilitate rapid 
transportation. For this hypothesis to be workable, rapid transporta¬ 
tion of the feldspar material would be necessary in order to avoid 
decomposition before final deposition. 
Moreover, under Bedards’ hypothesis one would expect to find 
pebbles or fragments of undecomposed feldspar present in the forma¬ 
tion, as well as fragments of only partially altered feldspar. None have 
so far been reported. The clay would also be present in small lumps 
instead of the finely divided state in which it is found. In the alteration 
of feldspar to kaolinite free silica is one of the resulting products. If 
it is assumed that this silica took the form of quartz then it would be 
difficult to account for the rounded and water-worn conditions of the 
quartz grains present. No other form, of silica, as opal, is found in or 
associated with the clay-bearing formation. 
A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON CLAYS OE FLORIDA 
223 
