132 THE CLAYS OF ARKANSAS. 
south of Short Mountain Creek. The clay of this terrace is similar 
to that at Argenta. 
Chocolate-colored plastic clays are associated with these terrace 
clays. Thus far no use has been found for these chocolate clays. 
RIVER-BOTTOM CLAYS. 
The clays of the Arkansas River bottoms are pockety and of 
uncertain distribution. They are not likely to be of economic 
importance, though some of the lenticular masses may occasionally 
contain pottery clays. 
LONOKE COUNTY. 
GENERAL GEOLOGY. 
Most of Lonoke County lies within the Quaternary area of the 
State. The country is so flat and unbroken that there are almost 
no natural exposures of the rocks east of the St. Louis, Iron Moun- 
tain and Southern Railway. The extreme northwest corner of the 
county is in the lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) . This includes, 
however, only the part of the county lying west of the St. Louis, 
Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, an area of only 55 square 
miles. The geology in this Paleozoic corner is an eastward con- 
tinuation of that of Faulkner County. The same beds that outcrop 
in the southeast corner of Faulkner County pass through the Paleozoic 
part of Lonoke County to a point where they are overlapped by the 
Coastal Plain beds near the present location of the St. Louis, Iron 
Mountain and Southern Railway. The rocks of the lower Carbon- 
iferous here consist of alternate beds of sandstone and shales, all of 
them folded. The ridges through this region are usually of sand- 
stone and run almost due east and west. The shales are parallel 
with the sandstones and occupy nearly all of the valleys, and in 
many instances they also form the lower slopes of the ridges. 
The Bayou Meto anticline, starting between Preston and May- 
flower, in Faulkner County, runs due east toward the town of 
Austin, Lonoke County, passing through the northern tier of sec- 
tions of T. 4 N., R. 10 W. North of this anticline as far as Cypress 
Bayou the rocks all dip northward, and south of it they all dip south- 
ward as far as the Cato syncline, which passes through sec. 30, T. 4 
N., R. 10 W. These dips of the rocks should be borne in mind in 
any attempt to utilize the clay shales of this area. 
CLAY DEPOSITS. 
The clay shales, like those of other parts of the State, vary con_ 
siderably in character. Some of them are so sandy that it is difficult 
to determine whether they should be considered clayey sandstones 
