NOTES    ON   VARIOUS    GLASS    SANDS,    MAINLY 
UNDEVELOPED. 
By  Ernest  F.  Burchard. 
Information  relative  to  glass  sands  is  occasionally  obtained  in  con- 
nection with  geological  surveying,  and  some  data  thus  procured  are 
presented  here  to  show  the  wide  range  in  the  geologic  age  and  geo- 
graphic distribution  of  suitable  material. 
Alabama. — Near  Gate  City,  on  the  east  side  of  Red  Mountain,  the 
formation  heretofore  mapped  as  the  "Oxmoor"  by  the  Alabama  Geo- 
logical Survey,  composed  of  sandstone  and  beds  of  shale,  has  an  out- 
crop width  of  1,000  feet  on  both  sides  of  Red  Gap.  The  formation 
is  nearly  200  feet  thick  and  includes  one  sandstone  bed  about  75  feet 
thick.  The  beds  dip  southeastward  at  an  angle  of  about  10°.  The 
"Oxmoor"  sandstone  is  of  Mississippian  age.  It  is  composed  of  rela- 
tively pure  quartz  sand  having  very  fine,  subangular  grains,  which 
appear  nearly  white  in  mass.  The  rock  is  very  soft,  breaking  down 
and  crushing  easily.  Quarries  which  are  worked  intermittently  for 
mill  sand  have  been  opened  on  both  sides  of  Red  Gap.  About  twenty 
years  ago  a  small  bottle  plant  operated  at  Gate  City  demonstrated 
that  this  sand  was  suitable  at  least  for  common  bottles  and  fruit  jars. 
It  has  been  used  also  by  the  Dixie  Glass  Works  at  Tallapoosa,  Ga. 
Gate  City,  just  on  the  outskirts  of  Birmingham,  is  on  the  line  of  five 
railroads  which  enter  Birmingham  by  way  of  Red  Gap,  and  is  there- 
fore favorably  situated  with  regard  to  material,  fuel,  transportation, 
and  market.  No  glass  factory  can  be  operated  as  many  months  of  the 
year  at  this  latitude  as  can  those  in  the  North,  but  if  window  glass 
could  be  made  from  this  sand  there  is  little  doubt  that  it  would  find 
a  ready  market. 
About  seven-eighths  mile  northeast  of  Trussville,  a  station  on  the 
Alabama  Great  Southern  Railroad,  15  miles  northeast  of  Birmingham, 
sand  quarries  utilize  the  "Oxmoor"  sandstone,  as  well  as  a  reddish 
loam  that  overlies  it.  This  loam  may  be  of  Tertiary  (Lafayette)  age. 
The  characteristics  of  the  "Oxmoor"  sandstone  here  are  similar  to 
those  of  the  beds  at  Gate  City.  Analyses  of  samples  of  this  sandstone 
taken  at  both  localities  are  given  on  page  382.     At  present  the  silica 
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