92 
THE CLAYS OF ARKANSAS. 
These details are sufficient to give a pretty clear idea of the geology 
of Faulkner County with reference to the occurrence of the clays and 
clay shales. The shales form the valleys of the region; the sand- 
stones form the ridges. The shales are seldom seen at the surface, 
being covered usually by residuary material of one or another kind. 
At many places, especially in the lower valleys or " slashes/' the sur- 
face soil is a " buckshot clay." a 
About the bases of the sandstone ridges the debris from the hill- 
sides — blocks of sandstone and sandy red clays — cover the outcrops. 
The shales are almost invariably found in digging wells, so that the 
people have an idea that the shale or " slate," as they generally call 
it, lies close to the surface all over the county. This appears to be 
the case, because the wells are usually dug in the valleys and the 
valleys are carved in the shales. This will be understood from the 
accompanying figure, which shows the geology of the region about 
Cadron Ridge 
Fig. 10.— Section showing the relations of the. shales of the valley to the loam and soil about Conway. 
so, Soil; sh, shale; ss, sandstone. 
Conway with relation to the shales, the decayed shales, and the soil 
of the valley to the sandstone on Cadron Ridge, a short distance 
north of the town. 
CLAY DEPOSITS. 
The clays and clay shales of Faulkner County are of four kinds — 
(1) clay shales; (2) limonitic buckshot clays; (3) leached clays 
along the bayous and in the slashes; (4) alluvial and sandy choco- 
late clays skirting the bottoms of Arkansas River and in some places 
extending far up its affluents from this county, such as the Cadron. 
CLAY SHALES. 
With the preceding explanation of the geologic structure the distri- 
bution of the clay shales may be readily understood. They lie in the 
valleys everywhere in the county. Of course there are lowlands, like 
the alluvial plains of Arkansas River, made up to a considerable 
depth of river silt, clay No. 4 of the above list, sand, and gravel, to 
a For the discussion of the buckshot clays see p. 28. 
