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University of Texas Bulletin
No. 1869: December 10, 1918
Okla. Geol
Survey
THE GEOLOGY OF EAST TEXAS
By
E. T. DUMBI^
COITSUI^TIH'Q QEOtOaiST
SOUTHEBN PACTPIC COUPAN-T
BTTBEAU OP ECOITOMIC QEOI^OGT AUD TECKSrOlOGT
DiTision OP Ecoirowio OEozioaT
J. A. VDDEN, Director of tHe Bureau and Head of the Division
PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY SIX TIMES A MONTH. AND ENTERED AS
SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POSTOFFICE AT AUSTIN. TEXAS.
UNDER THE ACT OF AUGUST 24, 1912
The benefits of education and ot
useful knowledge, generally diffused
through a community, are essential
to the preservation of a free govern-
ment.
Sam Houston
Cultivated mind is the guardian
genius of democracy .... It is the
only dictator that freemen acknowl-
edge and the only security that free-
men desire.
Mirabeaa B. Iiamar
V
TABLE OP CONTENTS
Page
Preface 1
CHAPTER I — Introduction 3
The Region 3
Literature 5
CHAPTER II — Pre-Cretaceous 11
Cretaceous 13
Lower Cretaceous^Comanchean 14
Trinity 14
Fredericksburg ■. . 15
Washita 16
Comanchean Sections 18
•J!v6nts at Close of Comanchean 19
Salt Basins 20
Upper ■ (Cretaceous 20
Woodbine , 21
Eagleford 21
Austin Chalk ■ 22
Taylor and Navarro 23
Upper Cretaceous Sections 23
Events at Close of Upper Cretaceous 24
Folds and Domes 25
Sabine %Peninsula 26
CHAPTER III — Tertiary 28
Introduction 28
Tertiary Formations of East Texas 29
Tertiary Sections 29
Eocene ■ 30
Midway 30
General Character and Thickness 31
Deposition and Relation to Underlying Beds 31
Area of Outcrop 32
Details of Section • 33
Fossils 36
Wilcox 37
Deposition and Areal Distribution 38
Correlation with other Areas 39
Sabine Phase 40
Sabine River Section 40
Lignitic Phase 45
General Character and Area 45
Brazos River Section 48
Mapped Area 49
Santa Fe Railway Section 50
Fo^ils ^2
Close of Lower Eocene 54
iv Table of Contents
Page
CHAPTER IV — Eocene, continued:
Claiborne 56
Introduction 56
Deposition and Character 57
Distribution 59
Topography 5^
Correlation with other Areas •. 60
Carrizo ■ ■ 61
Name 61
Character 61
Area of Outcrop 62
Marihe 64
Mt. Selman ,. 65
Name and Occurrence 65
Character and Relations 66
Cook's Mountain 66
Name and Occurrence 66
Character and relations 67
Nacogdoches 67
Sabine River Section 67
Santa Fe Railway Section 74
San Augustine Section 75
H. E. & W. T. Ry. Section 78
Nacogdoches Beds 79
St. L. & S. W. Section 86
Trinity River Section , 89
Cook's Mountain Section 92
Wheelock Section 94
Brazos River Section 97
CHAPTER V — Eocene, continued:
Claiborne, continued:
Yegua 102
Name 102
Type Section 102
Age 106
Mapped Area 108
General Character '. 108
Sabine River Section 110
Santa Fe Railway Section Ill
T. & N. O. R. R. Section Ill
St. L. & S. W. Ry. Section 112
H. E. & W. T. Ry. Section 117
Texas Southeastern Ry. Section 119
I. & G. N. Ry. Section ; 122
Trinity River Section 125
Brazos River Section ; 129
Rio Grande Section 130
Table of Contents v
_ Page
CHAPTER VI — Eocene, continued:
Claiborne, continued:
Fayet|e 134
Name 134
Type Section 134
Rio Grande Section 136
Mapped Area 139
Close of the Claiborne 143
CHAPTER VII — Eocene continued:
Jackson 145
Name 145
General Character and Thickness 145
Distribution 146
Deposition and Relation to Underlying Formations 147
'Subdivisions 148
Correlation with other Areas 148
Details of Section 149
Brazos and Grimes Counties .' 149
Madisonville Branch 153
Trinity River Section 157
I. & G. N. Ry. Section 163
Groveton Section 165
H. E. & W. T. Ry. Section 170
Manning Section 176
Caddell's Section 177
Santa Fe Ry. Section 180
Sabine River Section 181
Volcanlcs. . 182
Close of Eocene 183
Salt Pans
CHAPTER VIII — Introduction 185
Oligocene 185
Deposition and Character 186
Corrigan '. 187
General Character and Relations 188
Area and Thickness 189
Sabine River Section 189
Santa Fe Ry. Section ' 192
Angelina River Section 194
T. & N. O. R. R. Section 195
Neches River Section 197
H. E. & W. T. Ry. Section 200
Kickapoo Creek Section 207
Trinity River, Section 210
I. & G. N. Ry. Section 213
Brazos River Section 218
vi Table of Contents
Page
CHAPTER IX — Neocene 219
Introduction 219
Fleming 221
General Statement 221
Sabine River Section 222
Burkeville Section 223
Santa Fe Ry. Section 225
T. & N. O. R. R. Section 226
H. E. & W. T. Ry. Section 22Y
Trinity River Section 229
Cold Springs Section , 230
I & G. N. Ry. Section 233
Grimes County Section 235
Brazos River Section 238
Oakville 238
General Statement 238
Brazos River Section 238
Lapara 243
General Statement 243
Lagarto 244
General Statement 244
Lafayette 246
Character and Deposition 246
Details of Section 248
Santa Pe Ry. Section 250
Angelina-Neches Section 251
T. & N. O. R. R. Section 253
H. E. & W. T. Ry. Section 255
I. & G. N. Ry. Section 259
West of Trinity 259'
Close of Neocene 260
CHAPTER X — Quaternary 264
Pleistocene. ; 264
General Character •. . . .264
Angelina-Neclies 265
Trinity River 266
Beaumont Clays 269
Surface Features 272
Salines and Mounds 272
CHAPTER XI— Lignite 275
General Character 275
Methods of Utilization 276
Lignites of the Wilcox 277
Lignites of the Yegua 283^
Lignites of the Jackson 289'
Table of Contents vii
Page
CHAPTER XII — Petroleum and Natural Gas 292
Origin 292
Occurrence 294
Cretaceous Oil and Gas 298
Eocene Oil and Gas 303
CHAPTER XIII — Salt and Gypsum 307
Salt 307
Domes 307
Salines 309
Origin of Salines 310
Mounds in Association with Salines 311
Salines of the Wilcox , 311
Salines of the Yegua 312
Salines of the Jackson 313
Salines as a source of Salt 315
Gypsum 315
CHAPTER XIV — Iron 318
Shelby County ores 322
Nacogdoches County Ores 322
Rusk County ores 323
Cherokee County ores 323
Anderson County ores 331
Henderson County ores 335
Houston County ores 336
CHAPTER XV — Clays 338
Clays of the Midway 340
Clays of the Wilcox 341
Clays of the Marine 352
Clays of the Fayette and Yegua 354
Clays of the Jackson 355
Clayp of the Fleming 357
CHAPTER XVI — Fuller's Earth, Volcanic Ash and Glass Sand. .360
Puller's Earth 360
Volcanic Ash 362
Glass Sand 365
CHAPTER XVII — Building Stone and Gravel 367
Building Stone 367
Sandstones of Marine 367
Sandstones of Fayette 369
Sandstones of Jackson , 370
Sandstones of Corrigan 373
Gravels 377
Inside
J- of Back
Cover
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Plate I Geologic Map of Texas.
II Sketch Map showing distribution of forma-
tions West of Navasota
III Map of Iron Ore Regions, Cherokee County.
IV Pendleton Bluff, showing Wilcox formation 40
V Patroon Bayou, showing Wilcox formation 49
VI 1 — Aaron's HiU, Nacogdoches, showing Marine
formation 81
2 — Westmoreland Bluff, showing Yegua formation 81
VII 1 — Clay Pit, Homer, showing Fayette formation. . 145
2— Cut, HE&WT Ry., eross-hedded sands of
Jackson formation 145
VIII I — White Rock Creek, volcanic ash of Jackson
formation 177
2 — Volcanic Ash Bed, Jackson formation 177
IX Trinity River, contact of Jackson- C or rigan 193
X 1 — White Rock Creek, Corrigan formation 209
2 — Riverside, Corrigan formation 209
XI 1 — Jasper County Quarry, Corrigan quartzite .... 225
2 — Smith's Ferry, Fleming clays 225
XII Colmesneil, Lafayette formation 249
PREFACE.
The great importance of the Tertiary beds of southeastern
Texas from an economic point of view is now beginning to be
realized and appreciated. During the existence of the Geo-
logical Survey of Texas, 1888 to 1894, the prevailing opinion
of the people of eastern Texas was that geological work might
benefit western Texas but could be of little assistance to them,
and this opinion had much to do with the opposition that led
to the discontinuance of the survey. The passing years, how-
ever, have shown the erroneous nature of this idea and have
proved something of the true value of the mineral resources
of the beds underlying the region. In them is stored, in the form
of beds of lignite, a vast amount of material which must be our
hope for fuel throughout the coast country after the present
oil supply has been depleted. Associated with them are deposits
of iron ores which, probably, are only second in quantity to those
of the Great Lakes Region and are the equal in quality of any
brown ores found anywhere. The accumulations of oil that,
beginning with the Lucas well at Spindletop, have been found
by the drill and have played an important part in the develop-
ment of this region, are all within their sediments. The domes
of the Coastal region are an integral part of them and contain
possibly as large an amount of salt as is known within a like
area in the world. From the known extent and thickness of
beds as proved by drilling it has been estimated that there is
here at least one ton of salt for every inhabitant of the earth 's
surface. These domes also hold a vast amount of sulphur and
they are today supplying more than 90 per cent of the sulphur
produced in the United States. There are also numerous other
substances of value within these formations.
With this potential wealth of mineral resources now only
partially developed it is essential that a careful study be made
of the deposits in order that every assistance possible may be
given to the development of the area.
The Geological Department of the Southern Pacific Lines in
Texas and Louisiana, in the course of its work on the oil con-
ditions and mineral resources of the territory tributary to its
2 University of Texas Bulletin
lines in southeastern Texas, has made detailed investigations of
a portion of the area and the general results are deemed of suf-
ficient interest to warrant publication.
Upon the request of Prof. J. A. Udden, Director of the Bureau
of Economic Geology of the University of Texas, the matter of
such publication was taken up with the President of the Southern
Pacific Lines in Texas and Louisiana, Mr. W. B. Scott, and the
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Southern Pacific
Company, Mr. J. Kruttsehnitt. The request met with their
approval and the accompanying "Eeport on the Geology of East
Texas" has been prepared as a contribution from the Southern
Pacific to the increase of knowledge of the region.
To assist in the development of this region and that lying
south of it, it seemed best to give briefly the character of all un-
derlying beds, to combine with the reports of the geologists work-
ing under the writer the observations of other workers in the
same field and the broader results of his own personal investiga-
tions, and to add his interpretation of them, in order that a full
resume of our present knowledge of the geology and mineral re-
sources might be available to those who may desire such infor-
mation for the direction of future exploration and drilling.
By treating the subject in this way the writer has gone some-
what further into the matter than was at first contemplated.
The personnel of the Geological Department of the Southern
Pacific Lines, whose work has contributed to this report, is as
follows :
E. T. Dumble, Consulting Geologist 1897-1918.
W. F. Cummins, Geologist... 1902-1918.
W. Kennedy, Assistant Geologist 1902-1916.
Lee Hager, Assistant Geologist 1903-1904.
L. P. Garrett, Assistant Geologist 1903-1908.
C. L. Baker, Assistant Geologist 1912-1913.
J. R. Suman, Assistant Geologist 1912-1917.
J. W. Bostick, Assistant Geologist 1916-1918.
"W. "W. Kelley, Assistant Geologist 1917.
E. T. D.
THE GEOLOGY OF EAST TEXAS
By E. T. Dumble, Consulting Geologist,
Southern Pacific Company.
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
The special area covered by this report^ is a strip of country
over 100 mjles in width lying between parallels of 30° 30' and
32° and extending from the Sabine to the Brazos or the line
of the Houston & Texas Central Railway.
The mapped area includes, in whole or in part, the following
counties :
Anderson Leon Robertson
Angelina Limestone Rusk
Brazos Madison Sabine
Cherokee Montgomery San Augustine
Freestone Nacogdoches Shelby
Grimes Navarro Trinity
Houston Newton Tyler
Hardin Panola Walker
Jasper Polk
A proper presentation of its geological features, however, in-
volves a consideration of a more extended region. Consequently,
the report embraces more or less detail of a very considerable
portion of Texas and parts of Louisiana and Arkansas.
THE REGION
The region is a part of the Gulf Coastal Plain. This plain is
composed of sediments laid down in former extensions of what
are now the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and began with the
submergence at the commencement of the Cretaceous. These
deposits required longer or shorter periods for their accumu--
lation and alternated with periods in which there was little or
no deposition and others when parts of the deposits already, laid
down were carried away through erosive agencies and redis-
^Mss. of this report was submitted Aug. 10, 1918, published Feb.
1920.
4 University of Texas Bulletin
tributed over the land or deposited in bodies of fresh water.
This was brought about by the fluctuations of the levels of the
land surface as compared with those of the waters of the
Gulf. Deposition continued intermittently through the Cre-
taceous and Tertiary to the present, with but few interrup-
tions of major importance.
Our present land surface is due to the gradual recession of
the strand line of the Gulf, and the Plain itself does not even
now terminate at the water's margin, but stretches outward to
the one hundred fathom line of sea depth. That this is its true
structural limit is shown by the fact that beyond this line the
bottom of the sea slopes downward with great rapidity.
For the most part the sediments forming this plain in eastern
Texas are in beds of rather loosely compacted materials which as
a whole slope gently toward the Gulf. Thus, as we travel eoast-
ward, we come upon successively later and later formations, the
surface exposures of which form a series of belts of varying
width roughly paralleling the present shoreline.
As the waters slowly receded from these various formations
and they were exposed as land surfaces they were seized upon by
erosive agencies and gradually sculptured into their present
topographic forms.
The alternations of broad bands of clays and sands with other
bands of more compact sandstones and clays which extend west-
ward from the Sabine are reflected in the topography by belts of
comparatively level country bounded to the south by lines of
hills more or less abrupt on their northern faces and dipping
southward with a gentle slope to the succeeding plain.
These belts are in turn dissected by the many streams crossing
them and this results in a hilly or gently rolling country. Prac-
tically all the elevations are directly due to erosion, and earth
movements have had little effect on the present surfieial aspect
of the region.
While there is comparatively little evidence at the surface
today to show the effects of erogenic action we do find unmis-
takable evidence that there were at least three periods in which
earth movements of considerable extent affected this area and
that two of these were accompanied by active volcanic eruptions.
Of these movements one began toward the close of the Austin
The Geology of East Texas 5
Chalk deposition, a second is known in connection with the upper
Eocene and the third occurred during or at the close of the
Upper Pliocene.
The effects of these movements are often masked by the level-
lying succeeding deposits. Only a few of the volcanic necks of the
Cretaceous are known and those of the Eocene are as yet undis-
covered, although the ejectae which form so large a portion of
the upper Eocene and Oligoeene deposits indicate that they may
have been within our own borders.
The area of our report includes only a portion of the Tertiary
deposits of this great plain.
LITERATURE
There have been published numerous reports and papers, some
not now accessible to the general public, which treat to some
extent of the geology of this region. Eeviews of earlier pub-
lications have been given by HillS Penrose^, Dumble', Veatch*,
Deussen", and others.
Among the publications of special interest as descriptive of
this area and of the same formations in contiguous territory the
following may be mentioned:
The existence of lignite and iron in this region was referred
to by several of the early voyagers, and in 1839 Dr. J. L. Riddell
published in the American Journal of Science a description of
the lignite beds on the Trinity below Hall's Bluff.
B. P. Shumard in his First Report of Progress" gives briefly
^Hill, R. T., Present Condition of Knowledge of the Geology of
Texas. Bull. U. S. Geol. Sur. No. 45, 1887.
"Penrose, R. A. F., First Ann. Rep. Geol. Sur. Tex. 188 9.
^Dumble, E. T., Iron Ore Districts of East Texas. Second Ann.
Rep. Geol. Sur. Tex. 1890. Report on Brown Coal and Lignite,
1892. Problem of the Texas Tertiary Sands, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am.
Vol. 26, pp. 447-476, 1915.
*Veatch, A. C, Geology and Underground Water Resources of North-
ern Louisiana and Southern Arkansas. U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper
No. 46, 1906.
'Deussen, Alex. Geology and Underground Water-Supply of
Southeastern Texas. Water-Supply Paper No. 335.
'First Report of Progress of the Geological & Agricultural Survey
of Texas, 1859.
6 University of Texas Bulletin,
the results of his reconnaissance of the region. He made two
general sections. The first began at Sour Lake and passed
through Hardin, Tyler, Jasper, Sabine, San Augustine, Nacog-
doches and Eusk counties to Marshall in Harrison county. The
second was from Henderson in Rusk county through Cherokee,
Anderson, Freestone and Limestone counties to Waco. In this
report he calls particular attention to the deposits of brown coal
or lignite and iron ores and to the occurrence of petroleum at
Sour Lake.
Buckley'', in his Preliminary Report, gives some details of these
and in his First Annual Report goes more into particulars regard-
ing the various deposits of iron ores and lignites in several
counties and the petroleum near Melrose in Nacogdoches county.
He also mentions the oil seep in the Gulf near Sabine Pass and
the oil at Sour Lake.
In his Second Annual Report Buckley also refers to the lig-
nites of this area.
Loughridge gives a very concise statement of the geology of
this region in his Report of Cotton Production in Texas in Re-
ports of the Tenth Census.
The first publications to deal particularly with this area were
those of Penrose in the First Report of Progress and First An-
nual Report of the Geological Survey of Texas. In these the
broader features were mapped out clearly and a beginning was
made in the work of securing detailed geological knowledge of
East Texas. The general geologic section is given together with
descriptions and analyses of the different deposits of iron,
lignites, marl, oil, salt, etc.
In the Second Annual Report of the Geological Survey of
Texas the work so well begun by Penrose is continued and ex-
panded. Under the general title Report on the Iron Ore Dis-
tricts of East Texas there appears as comprehensive a statement
of the general geology and mineral resources as was possible
under the conditions existing at that time. In the Introduction
'Preliminary Report of the Geological & Agricultural Survey of
Texas, 1866.
First Annual Report of the Geological & Agricultural Survey of
Texas, 1874.
The Geology O'f East Texas 7
Dtunble gives an historical sketch of the iron industry of East
Texas, a general statement regarding the topography of the iron
ore districts, an adaptation of the geology as given by Penrose
and his conclusions regarding the character and mode of occur-
rence of iron ores. The possible fuels and their utilization are
briefly treated by Birkenbine and Lerch, followed by a descrip-
tion of the counties where workable iron ores were thought to
occur. These reports on counties ga,ve what details of geology
were obtainable but were mainly devoted to a description of the
location, character and quality of the iron ores and other eco-
nomic minerals. Kennedy reported on Cass, Marion, Harrison,
Gregg, Morris, Wood, Upshur, Van Zandt and Henderson coun-
ties; Herndon on Smith county; "Walker on Panola, Shelby.
Rusk, Nacogdoches and Cherokee counties, and Dumble on An-
derson and Houston counties. Accompanying the report was a
map which showed the general distribution of the ores.
In the Third Annual Report, published during the following
year, Kennedy makes a special report on Houston county, and
gives quite fully the general geological features and mineral re-
sources so far as they were understood or could be determined at
that time. Our later studies enable us to better classify some of
the formations described by him but otherwise the report needs
little change.
This report is followed by a description of a general section
made from Terrel to the Gulf directly across our region. This
section has been the basis of much of our later work. In this
description the Timber Belt beds of Penrose are divided into two
members called the Lignitic and Marine and the latter is sub-
divided into the basal or Mt. Selman and the upper or Cook's
Mountain. Similarly the Fayette beds of Penrose are separated
into three members.
He defines the Luf kin or Angelina county deposits, later found
to be the same as those described as the Tegua, the age of wMch
was definitely fixed by the accompanying fossils. He describes
the sands around Corrigan and correlates them with those called
Fayette because of certain fossils found near them. He also
describes the overlying clays which form so large a portion of
the surface of the area mapped and gave them the name Fleming.
In tlie Eeport on Brown Coal and Lignite Dumble maps and
describes the lignite deposits of this area.
In the Fourth Annual Eeport Kennedy makes a report on the
geology of Robertson and Grimes counties and gives a general
description of the various formations. Later discoveries of fossils
necessitate some change in the references of these beds.
During the fifth year of the work of the Geological Survey
Harris was employed in the study of the large collections of Ter-
tiary fossils which had been brought in by the members of the
survey. The paper he prepared for publication in the Fifth
Annual Report described and figured all of these forms. The
drawings for this report were beautifully done and the plates
made from them were very fine. Unfortunately, the State did
not publish the report nor any other portion of the Fifth An-
nual. Harris then selected the forms that were new and pub-
lished them in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia^. A paper on the fossils from the Deep
Well at Galveston was published in the Bulletin of American Pal-
eontology and in the same publication he has since described and
figured the marine fauna of the Midway and Wilcox formations
of the entire Coastal Plain, with which he has included all forms
belonging to these two formations found in our Texas region
prior to publication. A similar report on the Claiborne fauna is
now in process of publication.
Kennedy in a paper, Iron Ores of East Texas'*, brings to-
gether a good description of the iron ores of* East Texas with
many analyses taken from the reports of the Survey.
He also published a paper entitled The Eocene Tertiary of
Texas Bast of the Brazos River^", in which he gives a more de-
tailed account of the beds with sections and lists of fossils and a
resume of the history as he interprets it.
Hayes and Kennedy, in Oil Fields of the Texas-Louisiana
Coastal Plain^^, furnish a map showing distribution of the Ter-
tiary in southeast Texas and general statement of the geology
followed by details of the coastal oil fields.
»Proc. Phil. Ac. 1S95.
'Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng'., 1894.
'°Proc. Acad. Nat. So. Phila. 1895.
"Bulletin U. S. G. S. 212.
The Geology of East Texas 9
In United States Geological Survey Bulletin No. 260 Fenne-
man covers some of the same ground.
In the publications of the University of Texas Mineral Sur-
vey Phillips has a Bulletin which gives analyses and microscopic
studies of the Coastal Oil, and another on Coal, Lignite and As-
phalt Rocks, to which Brooks and B. F. Hill contributed a por-
tion of the descriptive matter and Harper a valuable chapter on
the analyses of Texas asphalts.
Simonds in his list of Mineral Localities of Texas brings to-
gether the reported localities of all East Texas minerals.
Ries, in Clays of Texas", describes a number of the clays found
in this region and gives analyses of them.
Phillips, in connection with Worrell and Drury McN. Phillips,
published as a Bulletin of the Bureau of Economic Geology "The
Composition of Texas Coals and Lignites" and the use of Pro-
ducer Gas in Texas, which should be of value in future utiliza-
tion of the lignites of East Texas.
Harris, in his work as State Geologist of Louisiana, was as-
sisted by Veatch, who was studying the artesian water conditions
of Louisiana and Arkansas. The examinations were extended
into parts of East Texas aijd among the fossils collected at the
locality four miles north of Corrigan and at one or two other
localities between that point and the Sabine, as well as on that
river, species were found which indicated the Jackson or Upper
Eocene age of the beds. This was announced by Harris^^ with
other results of these examinations. Veatch^* later also described
the occurrences. To the Corrigan sands of Kennedy he applied
the name Catahoula and correlated them with the "typical
Grand Gulf ' ' which immediately overlies the Vieksburg and is of
Oligoeene age. He also refers the Fleming beds to the Oligocene.
Deussen embodies the results of his examination of this region
in his report "Geology and Underground Water-Supply of
Southeastern Texas '.'i^.
From this report and the geological maps accompanying it, his
"University of Texas Bulletin 102.
"Geol. Sur. La. 1899-1902.
"U. S. G. S. Prof. Paper No. 46.
"U. S. Geological Survey "Water-Supply Paper No. 335.
2-ET.
10 University of Texas Bulletin
understanding of the geology appears to differ somewhat from
that of Veatch and Harris, and he apparently uses the names
given by Veatch to cover very different series of beds from those
to which they were originally applied. "While this may 'be some-
what confusing, the change of name of a sand need have no
effect on its water-bearing quality and the report is of very prac-
tical value.
Dumble, in a paper entitled "Problem of the Texas Tertiary
Sands "^"j attempts to clear away as far as possible the various
misunderstandings as to the ages of the several sands involved
in the description of this area. He reviews the earlier work and
uses that of later geologists working under his direction to give
the broader features of the geology of the region.
It is this view that is adopted in the following report which is
therefore, in part, an expansion of the above paper, but includes
many details which could not be given in it and treats the entire
subject in a much broader way as it utilizes information taken
from many other sources.
"Dumble, Bui. Geol. Soc. Am. Vol. 26, 1915.
Chapter II
PRE-CEETACEOUS
The entire pre-Cretaeeous history of the whole east Texas re-
gion is probably that of a land area.
From the beginning of geologic time until late in the Mesozoic
it was a part of the ancient land mass, known as Llanoria, orig-
inally of great- extent, and of which the primordial rocks of the
Llano-Burnet region with their fringe of earlier Paleozoies, are
now the only visible remnant east of the Pecos river. Supposedly
it stretched southwestward into Mexico, connecting directly with
the Columbian area of that region. It spread westward and
southward an unknown distance. Branner holds that it ex-
tended across the Mississippi basin to a direct connection with
the Appalachian belt in Ala;bama. Shuchert^, however, con-
siders the two areas as separate throughout the entire Paleozoic
except in middle Cambrian and upper Silurian time. His
eastern border of Llanoria is just west of the Mississippi Eiver.
It probably extended over all of east Texas and Western
Louisiana, reaching also into southern Arkansas.
In the Texas area this land mass formed the southern and
eastern boundaries of the epicontinental seas of Paleozoic, early
and middle Mesozoic times, and it furnished much of the ma-
terials that entered into the formations laid down in them.
While no remnants of this land are known either in eastern
Texas or in the Coast country, evidences of its former existence
are sufficiently numerous and plain <to warrant these positive
statements cDncerning it.
In all the region east of Llano the earliest Mesozoic rocks
known, either from surface exposures or from drilling, belong
to the lower Cretaceous. The latest Paleozoic rocks are those of
the Bend formation, which is basal Pennsylvanian, and these
are only known contiguous to the Llano border.
Along the southeastern border of the Llano region the Cre-
taceous in places overlaps the Bend and lies upon the older
Paleozoies. Along the southern line the Bend seems to be entirely
'Bull. Geol. See. Am. vol. 20, p. 427, 1910.
12 University of Texas Bulletin
absent. The evidence of the further westward extension of the
underlying Bend is found in its exposures along the western
border of the Llano area and is obtained from well drilling.
A well southwest of Uvalde passed entirely through the Cre-
taceous into black shale which is believed to represent the Bend.
Wells north and west of Uvalde have encountered similar ma-
terials below the Cretaceous. The Bend is also well developed in
the Paleozic area west of the Pecos. This would indicate that
during the Bend the Llano area was a peninsula extending
northward from the Llanoria land mass.
To just what extent the Bend may underlie the entire coastal
region east of the Colorado can not now be told. It is, however,
probably confined to its extreme western and northern borders.
That it does not underlie all of it is known, because materials
derived from certain wells sunk east and south of Llano, where
the drill has passed through the Cretaceous into the underlying
beds, have been studied microscopically by Udden and have
proved to be of pre-Cambrian age and of apparently schistose
character.
Drake stresses the fact that a large part of the sediments of'
the Carboniferous and Permian of the central Texas area must
have been derived from a land mass lying to the east^.
Branner in ' ' The Former Extension of the Appalachians across
Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas''^ brings together many facts
to corroborate his views and gives proof that the Ouachita sedi-
ments as well as those of the Carboniferous of Arkansas, Okla-
homa and Texas were similarly of southern and eastern origin.
This Llanoria land of southern and eastern Texas was, there-
fore, a controlling factor in building the Paleozoic formations of
the interior and furnished much of the material which entered
into them.
On the interior slope of Llanoria, streams, instead of flowing
gulfward as at present, flowed northward or northwestward and
emptied their waters, burdened with sediments derived from
the erosion of its surface, into the Mediterranean sea that lapped
its shores. It was an area of erosion and not of desposition.
'Fourth Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Tex. p.
=Amer. Jour. Sc. Vol. 4, 1897, p. 357.
The Geology of East Texas 13
Therefore, the probability is that over a very considerable por-
tion of this coastal area no clastic deposits earlier than those of
the Mississippi embayment series were ever laid down.
Since we have no evidence at all tending to show the existence,
east of the Pecos, of deposits of Triassic or Jurassic age contig-
uous to Llanoria it may be that during the early Mesozoie the
land was base-leveled and stood at only a slight elevation above
the sea.
The only Mesozoie beds of marine deposition, earlier than the
Cretaceous, known in Texas are of upper Jurassic age and are
found in the Malone Mountain region between El Paso and
Sierra Blanca. Their continuation, or deposits contemporaneous
with them, are found only in Mexico and western United States.
It was probably at this time that orogenic forces began to shape
the final destruction of this land.
Beginning at El Paso and extending gradually eastward to-
ward Austin there was apparently a downward warping of the
old land surface toward the east and south. From Austin the
inner border of the zone of warping changed its direction from
eastward to northeastward and the subsidence appears to have
been toward the south and east permitting the incursion of the
Comanchean sea to the eastward of the Llano area.
Whether this movement was simply a gradual sinking of the
land or whether it was accomplished by folding, faulting or vol-
canic action is not known. It is probable, however, that it was
of such character that it established in some way the main lines
of weakness which have later been further developed within this
area. This was the beginning of the submergence that resulted
in the Mississippi embayment during the early part of which our
east Texas land area finally succumbed to the encroachments of
the sea.
This movement also marked the birth of the present Gulf
Coastal Plain a part of whose sediments are probably older than
the Gulf itself.
CRETACEOUS
The positive geological history of our east Texas region, as
written in the sedimentary strata which occupy it, began with the
first approach of the waters of the Comanchean sea. The incur-
14 University of Texas Bulletin
sion of this sea was greatly facilitated by the flatness of the low
featureless plain which was the final stage of the old land area
as the result of the long continued erosion of its surface.
COMANCHBAN
Coming from the south the Cretaceous sea first reached the
Texas borders in the region of Presidio del Norte on the Eio
Grande. Here were deposited the gravel and sand which con-
stitute the lowest beds of this age of which we have knowledge
in the Texas area, but which the Mexican geologists claim are^
somewhat higher in the section than the lowest Cretaceous beds
existing there, thus indicating that some interval of time was
required after the beginning of the Cretaceous deposition for the
advancing sea to reach our territory.
TRINITY
The lowest division of the Texas Cretaceous is known as the
Trinity. In its greatest development it consists of three mem-
bers called in their ascending order Trinity or Travis Peak sand,
Glen Rose limestone and Paluxy sand. When the members are
all present they indicate the gradual deepening of the sea in that
locality to the end of the Glen Rose followed by shallower waters
during the Paluxy. There are, however, many places where
only sands are' found, and it is sometimes difficult to determine
whether these are Travis Peak or Paluxy. Where fossils occur
there is less trouble, since those in the Travis Peak are oysters
or other marine forms, while the Paluxy is usually characterized
by plants and fossil wood.
The base leveling of the east Texas area permitted the rapid
encroachment oi: the water so the Trinity sea probably covered
the land with considerable rapidity. The gradual extension of
the waters to the north and the deepening of the sea to the south
is beautifully told in the sediments exposed along the Colorado
river on the eastern border of the Llano region.
The erosion of the Colorado and its affluents has channeled
through the entire thickness of the early Cretaceous beds and
■clearly shows the basal sands of the Trinity with the overlying
arenaceous limestones of the Glen Rose. These limestones attain
The Geology •of East Texas 15
their maximum thickness north of Austin and thin toward the
northwest ; by following the outcrops of the various beds of lime-
stone in that direction we 'find that they finger out into the un-
derlying sands, showing that they are but deposits in the deeper
waters of the sea of which some portion of the Travis Peak sands
are the contemporaneous littoral sediments. Just as the Travis
Peak grades imperceptibly upward into the Glen Rose, so do
these limestones in their turn grade upward into the sands of the
Paluxy, where it is present, and at many localities there is no
apparent sedimentary break between them.
The thinning of the beds continues to the north and west of
the Llano region until the Glen Rose beds entirely disappear
and the Paluxy sands are directly superposed upon the Travis
Peak, while further north it is probable that the Travis Peak
itself is entirely lacking. It is also probable that the basal sands,
if present, represent only the Paluxy or even some later stage.
Page* calls attention to the fact that the entire Trinity is
missing at several places in Burnet county, apparently because
of non-deposition, and that the Walnut clays and Comanche
Peak limestone directly overlie the Ordovician limestone. Thus
the 500 feet of Travis Peak and Glen Rose sediments exposed
in the Colorado near the Burnet-Travis county line has entirely
thinned out in the distance of 25 miles, due to the fact that
parts of the land at the more northern locality, stood too high,
even at that date, for the sea to engulf them.
In Oklahoma the Trinity occurs along the southern front of
the paleozoic rocks striking eastward from Tishomingo by
Antlers and Murfreesboro almost to Antonio, where it is covered
by later beds. The Glen Rose member is absent throughout most
of its exposure along the line. However, Hill reports its occur-
rene near Murfreesboro. He uses the name Antlers sand for
the northeastern phase of the Trinity formation.
FREDERICKSBURG
The Fredericksburg, which followed the Trinity, also presents
different facies in different localities. In its typical development
it comprises three members — ^the Walnut clays, the Comanche
•Page. U. S. G. S. Geological Folio No. 183.
16 University of Texas Bulletin
Peak beds and the Edwards limestone. These three divisions are
clearly recognizable over a very large area east of the Pecos
which includes the line of buttes that forms the Callahan divide
and the outcrops south of the Llano region.
Throughout the gi.e.iter portion of the Texas Cretaceous area
the Edv/aids JiiJiostone consists of deposits laid down in clear
water of considerable depth and far enough from shore to es-
cape the adniixlurc of terrigenous sediments. In the region of
shallower water along the Red River it shows an. increase of
coastal debris and many of the fossil forms characteristic of its
purer phase do not occur in it. It is in fact no longer separable
from the underlying Comanche Peak beds, and the two, there-
fore, are considered as the Goodland limestone, which at its best
attains a thickness of only a few feet.
North of Red River and east of Denison the entire Fredericks-
burg is represented by this Goodland limestone which varies in
thickness from 10 to 40 feet.
WASHITA
The Fredericksburg, with its extensive development of deep
sea limestones and comparative poverty of shallow water sedi-
ments, was followed by the Washita, in which these conditions
are largely reversed. It is in the littoral regions of Red River
and El Paso .that the deposits of the Washita show their widest
differentiation and greatest thickness, while in the deep-sea area
they are less variable and in most eases of less thickness. In its
simplest expression the Washita is composed of a toasal limestone,
the Washita or Georgetown, overlain by the Exogyra arietina or
Del Rio clays and the Buda limestone. This is the section at
Austin and south and west to the trans-Pecos region.
The fossils of these various subdivisions of the Washita are
very numerous and characteristic. Many of them are seemingly
confined to the nearer shore deposits of the northern border,
but others are as wide-spread as the f omation. By far the greater
number and the greater variety of species found within the sev-
eal beds of this division are those of the shallower water. In
the deeper sea more stable conditions prevailed and there were
fewer changes of form — so little, in fact, that in the vicinity of
The Geology €>f East Texas 17
Devil's river and further west certain aberrant forms which are
characteristic of the Edwards limestone throughout its extent
have persisted or recur and are also found in the Washita
(Georgetown) limestone.
The Washita limestone, with a thickness of 80 feet at Austin,
shows a separation into several members when followed north-
ward.
In the Red river section the Kiamitia clays form the base,
succeeded by the marls and chalky limestones of the Duck Creek
beds, capped by the Fort Worth limestone and these, together,
show a thickness twice as great as the Georgetown limestone at
Austin, which they represent.
The Del Rio clay, also called the Arietina clay, from the name
of its most abundant fossil, has a thickness of 80 feet at Austin
and consists principally of clays with some gypsum and thin
slabs of shell breccia and, at the top, thin layers of arenaceous
limestone. In the Red river section the basal clays are practically
missing and the Arietina is probably represented only by the
Main street limestone of the Denison bed which has a thickness
of 15 to 25 feet.
■The Buda limestone, with a thickness of 80 feet on the Col-
orado, also gradually thins to the northward and beyond the
Brazos is represented by lime marls and thin limestones. Taff",
tracing these beds and using the zone of the characteristic oyster
Gryphaea mucronata as the base of the Buda. found that they
continued in marly form to Red river and eastward along that
stream to Pottsboro and Denison. These marls were described
as the Grayson marls by Cragin^ and occupy a stratigraphic po-
sition above the Arietina or Del Rio and below the Woodbine,
thus corresponding to the Buda further south, but whether they
cover the whole of Buda time is not yet determined. The con-
ditions are fully stated by HilF, who correlates the Buda, in
part at least, with the Grayson marls.
In the Denison region the Washita has a total thickness of
some 400 feet consisting of the Preston, Fort Worth and Denison
"Fourth Annual Report Geol. Sur. Tex. p. 277 et seq.
■•Colorado College Studies, 1894, p. 43.
'Twenty-first Annual Report, U. S. G. S., Vol. 6, p. 266 et seq.
18
University of Texas Bulletin
formations while near Cerro Gordo, Arkansas, the entire series
is represented by calcareous clays containing thin beds of lime-
stone with a total thickness oJE about 250 feet which to this time
has not been found susceptible of such division as is used further
west.
The marked difference in the character of the upper members
of the Comanchean as we pass from the sediments of the deeper
waters on the south into the zone of littoral deposition in the
Red river region is thus clearly shown. This condition becomes
even more pronounced as we go eastward into Arkansas.
Another view of the age of the Buda is that "there are good
reasons for believing that the Buda limestone may be repre-
sented in the north by at least part of the "Woodbine formation.
According to the fossil fauna in this latter formation, its age
can not be far from that of the Buda limestone. ' '*
"With the close of the Buda sedimentation came the end of the
Lower Cretaceous and the emergence of these deposits from be-
neath the sea. There was probably a gradual withdrawal of
water from the land, and, as the Red river region formed for a
long period the littoral zone of the formation and probably was
subjected to movements of smaller range than more southern
regions, it is possible that a portion of the materials now in-
cluded in the "Woodbine sand, which has been supposed to mark
the beginning of the Upper Cretaceous deposits, may have been
laid down as shore line deposits at this time and thus mark the
final stage of the Comanchean, but the stratigraphic evidence
seems to indicate that, taken as a whole, the Woodbine belongs
to the Upper Cretaceous.
LOWER CRETACEOUS FORMATIONS OP EAST TEXAS.
Colorado River
Denison
Texas-
Louisiana Line
Buda
Denison
Denison
Washita
Del Rio
Port Worth
Fort Worth
Georgetown
Preston
Preston
Edwards
Fredericksburg
Comanche Peak
Goodland
Goodland
Walnut Clays
Walnut Clays
Paluxy
Trinity
Glen Rose
Antlers Sands
Trinity
Travis Peak
■Bull. Univ. of Texas, No. 44, p. 65.
The Geology af East Texas 19
EVENTS AT CLOSE OF COMANCHEAN
While there is little evidence of deformation by faulting or
folding in the Red river area at the close of the Comanchean,
erosion was somewhat active and unconformities occur between
the \ipper Denison beds, comprising the Mainstreet limestone
and Grayson marls, and the succeeding "Woodbine. This uncon-
formity is clearly shown on the south side of Cedar Mills where
the Buda has been entirely removed in places and soft false-
bedded sandstone of the Woodbine is in direct contact with the
Arietina limestone. The basal clays of the Woodbine are present
only occasionally and occur as thin wedges or lenticular masses.
At other places the clays seem to lie upon the Buda blue lime-
stone with perfect conformity. "
While the erosion of the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern
Texas was not extensive and while there may be in places ap-
parent conformity between the Grayson marls and the basal
elays and sands of the Woodbine in the Red river region, and
the beds show but little evidence of discontinuity of deposition,
the fact that there was a long interval of time between the last
deposition of the Comanchean and the beginning of the Upper
Cretaceous is clearly brought out in their relations as seen south
of the Brazos. Here the Woodbine is absent and the Eagle Ford
rests directly upon the Buda limestone and this condition con-
tinues through the whole sweep of the contact between Waco
and Del Rio. They appear conformable everywhere, and yet
we know that between the two we had the deposition of the
Woodbine. In this area since no erosive action is discernible
it is probable that during the interval between the deposition
of the Buda and the Eagle Ford the former must have remained
very near the water level if not below its surface, since even
where very long contacts are observable the two formations ap-
pear to be in perfect conformity.
West of the Pecos, however, in certain areas, the beds of the
Comanchean were elevated a sufBcient length of time for the
complete erosion of the entire Washita series and the channeling
of the Edwards limestone into deep canyons. This surface was
•Taff. Fourth Ann. Rept. Geol. Surv. Tex., p. 282.
20 University of Texas Bulletin
again submerged during the Eagle Ford and these channels filled
with its shales.
We thus have a central zone in which the movement was prac-
tically negligible, with very gentle movements in the northeast
bringing the upper beds to the surface, ibut not so as to com-
pletely destroy them, while in the west the elevation must have
amounted to hundreds of feet with" consequent impetuous erosive
action destroying a whole series of beds.
SALT DEPOSITS
The low-lying coast and shallow waters prevailing in the
southern and eastern regions were very favorable for the exist-
ence of sea basins from which evaporation could remove the
water more rapidly than the fresh-water streams could renew it
and thus precipitate both gypsum and salt. That such condi-
tions existed may be reasonably inferred from the bodies of salt
which are now found in connection with the Cretaceous salt
domes. Thus, in the Palestine dome the salt is known to be di-
rectly overlain by the Woodbine. Harris, in his section of the
formations at Drake's saline in Louisiana shows the salt stock
uplifting the Cretaceous limestone and overlain by it and the
test well passing through the salt bed into gypsum at 2842 feet.
At Grand Saline a somewhat similarly bedded condition exists.
It is, therefore, probalble that all of the salt now found in these
Cretaceous salt domes or islands was deposited during this in-
terval.
There is, however, a possibility that the salt is somewhat older.
As we have seen, the Lower Cretaceous sediments of this North-
eastern Texas area are comparatively thin and we know that
the Trinity sands in Arkansas contain heavy beds of gypsum.
It may be, therefore, that these beds of rock salt were laid down
about the same time as the Trinity gypsum and it may be that
these conditions continued through the greater portion of the
Comanchean. At any rate it is Cretaceous.
UPPER CRETACEOUS
With the beginning of Upper Cretaceous time a shallow sea
invaded our region and spread northward beyond Red river and
The Geology of East Texas 21
westward to the Brazos. Its first sediments were the Woodbine
formation which is not found further south than Waco, but
extends eastward as far as Clarksville. To the eastward in Ar-
kansas the "Woodbine is represented by the lower part of the
Bingen sands composed of sands with bituminous, laminated
clays containing leaf impressions and lignite beds.
WOODBINE
The Woodbine formation is one of great economic value. On
the western border it furnishes a supply of artesian water over
a considerable area and in its eastern extension it is the principal
oil-bearing horizon of Northeastern Texas and Western Louis-
iana.
In the Red river region the Woodbine has at its base the varia-
ble bed of impure clay, which is often lignitic and sandy, called
the Basal clay, overlain by an extensive deposit of brown and
yellow ferruginous sandstone carrying siliceous ironstone, known
as the Dexter sands. These are capped by a series of lignitic
sandy clays with numerous moUuscan fossils called the Timber
Creek or Lewisville beds^".
In east Texas the formation has an. estimated thickness of 600
to 800 feet.
(EAGLE FORD
As the waters became deeper the shales of the Eagle Ford
were deposited. On the Colorado it consists of bluish and gray
shales and arenaceous laminated shales. In the northern part
of the State it is composed of blue and black laminated bitu-
minous clays with large septaria, sands, clays, shales and thin
layers of brown sandstone. The clays grade upward into brown
sandy ferruginous glauconitic beds interlaminated with beds of
clay. These clays carry fossiliferous concretionary masses of
limestone and the brown sands, which are locally fossiliferous,
are called the Blossom sand^^-
While these distinctions hold for the Texas exposures of these
beds the outcrops in Arkansas are not similarly separable and
"Fourth Ann. Rept. Geol. Surv. Tex. pp. 2 93-294.
"Gordon, Water-Supply Paper 276, p. 19.
22 , University of Texas Bulletin
the Eagle Ford as a whole is represented by the upper portion
of the Bingen sand which thus covers the entire time interval
of both Woodbine and Eagle Ford in that locality.
Of all the upper Cretaceous deposits, the Eagle Ford seems
to be the most uniform and constant. While it has its near
shore phase of sands and clays, the bulk of the deposits are limy
shales, and these not only encircle the Edwards plateau, but
stretch southward into Mexico for 200 miles or more, where they
attain a very much greater thickness than anything we know in
Texas. Furthermore, Ihese deposits, wherever we find them,
whether sands or clays or lime, are usually shales and carry a
characteristic fauna throughout their entire extent.
AUSTIN CHALK
During the deposition of the Chalk, which followed, a condi-
tion of clearer waters existed, and in the main the Chalk is fairly
free from materials derived from the land area and is an almost
pure chalk, but there are localities where the clays were carried
out and deposited with it, occasionally to such an extent as to
make it merely a chalky marl.
In its relation to the underlying Eagle Ford it shows the same
variations noted in other similar contacts. In the central part
of the State the division is quite clearly defined and the line of
separation can be fairly well made out even on the Kio Grande
east of Del Rio. Further west the distinction is not so readily
apparent, and in the region of the Big Bend of the Rio Grande^
where the Eagle Ford takes on a more marly character and the
Austin chalk is marly also, it is difficult to find the dividing line
without careful examination of the fossils.
This is noticeable also in northeastern Texas where it loses
its chalky character and from Sherman eastward it assumes more
and more the character 'of a clay marl or marly clay in its basal
portion, the chalk condition persisting only in the uppermost
portion of the beds, and, finally, in southwestern Arkansas
giving way entirely to marl. In eastern Texas the lower marly
member is known as the Brownstown marl while the chalk is
called the Annona and is one of the best known lithologie units
of the Caddo oil-field.
In the south hundreds of feet of this formation are made up
The Geology of East Texas
23
of ehalk and chalky marls, tout toward the end of the period more
and more terrigenous sediments were incorporated with these,
and the upper margin of the Chalk is not so well defined, since
at most places it grades almost imperceptibly into the base of
the overlying Taylor marls, there becoming simply limy clays
with some sand, and 'finally passing into the more sandy beds of
the Navarro which form the top of our upper Cretaceous series
in the eastern field.
TAYIiOB AND NAVARRO
On the Colorado the Taylor consists of a calcareous clay or
marl which, while yellow in fresh exposures, weathers to a black
waxy ' soil. In its lower portion it is ' comparatively free from
sand, but higher in the section the sand increases and quantities
of glauconite occur. The fauna also changes with the appearance
of the glauconitie and to this portion of the beds the name Na-
varro is applied.
In Arkansas the Taylor and Navarro are represented by three
members known in ascending order as the Marlbrook marl,
Naeatosh sand and Arkadelphia clay with a total thickness of
1200 feet. Throughout the Caddo field the Naeatosh sand is a
well recognized horizon and furnishes a considerable quantity
of gas.
While these are the latest sediments of the Cretaceous found
in east Texas they are not as late as others occurring in the Big
Bend region of the Rio Grande or along that river southeast
of Eagle Pass. If these latest beds were ever laid down in east
Texas they disappeared in the general erosion at the close of the
Cretaceous.
UPPER CRETACEOUS FORMATIONS OF EAST TEXAS.
Colorado River
Denison
Texas-
Louslsana Line
Navarro
Webberville
Navarro
Arkadelphia
Naeatosh.
Taylor
Taylor
Taylor
Mho-lbrook
Austin
Austin
.Austin
Annona
Brownstown
Eagle Ford
Eagle Ford
Eagle Ford
Lewisville
Bing^n Sand
Woodbine
Dexter
24 University of Texas Bulletin
EVENTS AT CLOSE OF CRETACEOUS
The close of the Cretaceous in North America was marked by
the Laramide elevation which was the main factor in the forma-
tion of the Eccky mountains. This great movement not only
affected the rock materials of the trans-Pecos region but was ap-
parently active also in .eastern Texas. The beginning of this
movement is generally placed in uppermost Cretaceous time if
not at its close. The Texas area contains proof not only of sim-
ilar movement at this time but also of a Cretaceous movement
which took place earlier, beginning during the deposition of the
Austin Chalk and either, continuing to, o'r being renewed at,
the end of the Mesozoic.
As affecting the Texas region this earlier movement began
by the formation of a folded area starting in northern Mexico
about the 102d meridian and striking south southeast. The
evidence is clear that this elevation took place during the period
of the Austin Chalk. It has been called the Sabinas barrier and
formed the beginning of the Rio Grande embayment. To the
north of this barrier the succeeding Gulf Coast Cretaceous sedi-
ments are largely clays and sands and include the coal beds of
the Rio Grande region, while to the south we find only a great
thickness of blue and black shales. The beds of the embayment
area are frequently very fossiliferous "while the shale beds are
practically destitute of fossils.
The Sabinas movement, or that which formed the Sabinas
barrier was marked in Texas by Pilot Knob and other volcanoes
northeast and southwest of Austin which were active during the
close of the Chalk deposits and the beginning of the Taylor Marls
as is proven by the ash and other ejectse from them which are
interstratified with and included in these deposits. Some of
these volcanoes were certainly submarine.
At the close of the Cretaceous, that is, during the time of the
Laramide elevation proper, this movement was intensified in the
Mexican region and resulted in raising a land barrier which is
now marked by the disconnected. ranges and groups of hills that
form the eastern border of the valley lying at the foot of the
Mexican Cordilleras. This barrier, known as the Tamaulipas
range, reaches the present Gulf shore in the vicinity of Tordo
Tke Oeology of East Texas 25
bay some 50 miles north of Tampico and forms the southern
limit and boundary of the Gulf Coast Eocene. The Eocene de-
posits found west and south of the barrier are not only of dif-
ferent character, but the fossils they contain are unlike those
to the north.
During the Laramide movement in the western Trans-Pecos
region the country was folded and faulted with the production
of mountain ranges which are our representatives of the Eocky
Mountain chain. There was also great volcanic activity in this
region which probably continued well into the Eocene. Outside
this region, however,' the movement was gentler and the entire
Texan area was raised along its northern and western borders
giving the surface as a whole a gentle tilt in a southeastwardly
direction toward the Gulf of Mexico. It is possible that some
igneous activity accompanied this movement, especially in south-
west Texas.
FOLDS AND DOMES
In eastern Texas and Louisiana the effect of the movement tak-
ing place at approximately the time of the Laramide elevation
was the formation of folds and domes in the newly deposited ma-
terials of the Cretaceous, like those in Freestone county, at Pal-
estine, Drake's and Steen's salines which ha^ maintained their
individual characters and now appear as inliers in the Tertiary
area.
So far as is now known these uplifts were not accompanied
by the intrustion of basalts or other igneous rocks the only in-
trusives known being stocks of salt, anhydrite and gypsum.
Some idea of the extent of the uplift may be had from the
conditions at the Palestine dome. The Woodbine is the surface
formation fifty miles northwest of Corsieana. A well drilled at
Corsicana found the base of the Woodbine at a depth of 2460
feet. This would give the base of this formation a dip of 50
feet to the mile. The Palestine dome is fifty miles southeast of
Corsicana and the Woodbine in place of being 5.000 feet below
the surface as its average dip would imply, forms a part of the
surface rock. Even with a greatly decreased dip the vertical
displacement of these beds at this place must have been from
2500 to 3000 feet. While a part of the present displacement is
S-ET.
26 UiHversity of Texas Bulletin
due to later uplifts than that at the end of the Cretaceous, these
were very slight in comparison with the earlier one.
The Palestine dome was unquestionably an island in the early
Tertiary sea. The sediments of the Midway or earliest stage of
that period are not found on it. Those of the "Wilcox occur
around it and probably covered it as did the succeeding Claiborne
and it is now uncovered because of the erosion of these later beds.
To the north of the Palestine dome, about six miles, is the
Keechi island which is, in all probability, eonneeted directly
with the Palestine dome but which shows at least 1400 feet less
displacement since the Navarro beds are at the surface and it is
1460 feet to the top of the Woodbine as proved by weUs drilled
near it.
In alignment approximately parallel to the present boundary
between the Cretaceous and Tertiary and forty-five to fifty miles
from it we find to the north of the Palestine-Keeehi island domes
the Brooks and Steens salines in Smith county. These are domes
similar to the Palestine with Cretaceous rocks at the surface.
Whether these are all connected and simply represent peaks of
an anticlinal or are isolated upraises is not positively known, but
the ehai'acter and structure of the Midway deposits lying be-
tween them and the Cretaceous border seems to favor the former
view.
Sabine Peninsula
To this period also must be referred the formation of the
Sabine Peninsula, which was first recognized by Harris and
which is a very important physiographic unit of eastern Texas
arid western Louisiana. It is probable that the Laramide
elevation outlined this Cretaceous table-land and was the priii-
cipal agent in its elevation, although later movements may have
also had something to do with its present condition.
On the surface this Peninsula is a belt of the Lignitic phase
of the Wilcox, in places more than thirty miles in width. Ptom
the Cretaceous border north of Texarkana it extends southward
along the Texas-Louisiana line to Sabinetown, a distance of 130
miles. It is flanked east, west and south by bodies of Lower
Claiborne.
The Geology oj East Texas 27
The elevation of its surface at Texarkana is 300 feet and
at Sabinetown is 200 feet, a fall of less than one foot per mile.
The rocks underlying this Lignitic Peninsula, as shown by
wells, comprise about 450 feet of Lignitic and 250 feet of Mid-
way followed by the Northeast Texas section of the Upper Cre-
taceous.
The sections from north to south as made, based on drilling
records, show the Upper Cretaceous beds dipping southward
from Eed River at about 50 feet per mile to the vicinity of
Vivian, Louisiana. Here the Sabine uplift begins which brings
the Cretaceous beds up again to within 500 to 700 feet of the
surface thus creating a Cretaceous plateau the southern border
of which has not yet been accurately determined but is near
Sabinetown, so that it has a length of about 100 miles. It is
evident that the displacement at the southern end of this plateau
may be even greater that that at the Palestine dome. The eastern
and western borders are not definitely known, but it extends
westward into Panola and Shelby counties.
Basing the estimate on the top of the Annona Chalk the dip
of the Cretaceous betwen Vivian and Sabinetown is 300 feet or
about 3 feet per mile. A weU on the Jesse Low survey below
Sabinetown encountered the Chalk at 1900 feet whUe deeper
wells further south did not find it at all.
West of the line between Vivian and Sabinetown a well on the
Jane Thorp survey in Panola county reached the Chalk at 1315
feet, the top of the Cretaceous being put at 265 feet below the
surface. Thirty miles south of this well at Flat Fork entered the
Chalk at 1690 feet, the top of the Cretaceous in this well appear-
ing to be at 960 feet, indicating either a thinning of the beds
above the Annona or their erosion prior to the deposition of the
Midway.
The well records also show that the Cretaceous rocks have been
folded first along northeast-southwest lines and later at right
angles to this.
To the east of this plateau there are a number of domes which
are Cretaceous islands similar to those found west of it in the
Texas area.*
*For details of these domes see reports in Geol. Sur. Louisiana,
1899-1902 and Bulletin No. 7 of Louisiana Geological Survey.
Chapter III
TERTIARY
INTRODUCTION
At the close of the Upper Cretaceous the waters of the Missis-
sippi embayment receded to an unknown distance southward
and the former sea bottom emerged and became a land area.
This land area was probably of the nature of a broad plain the
flatness of which was broken by the domes, ridges and plateaus
arising from the Laramide uplift. The plain itself was probably
but little above the sea-level for there is no evidence of extensive
erosion in the sands and clays of the Cretaceous which formed its
surface. The emergence, however, was of sufficient duration to
make a most complete break in the paleontological column. Every
species and even many genera of mollusks which inhabited the
Cretaceous sea completely disappear at the close of the Creta-
ceous and we find an entirely new fauna beginning in the Ter-
tiary. The same is true of the plant remains so far as they are
known.
With the incoming waters of the first Tertiary sea there began
the deposition of the sediments which cover the whole of Eastern
Texas.
The Tertiary deposits of this region are sediments laid down,
for the most part, in comparatively shallow water, during periods
of slow and gentle oscillations. Apparently the conditions sur-
rounding their deposition were not greatly different in character
from those now existing along the Gulf Coast although the indi-
cations are that some phases had much greater extension than at
present.
The first deposits are those of marine waters alternating with
those of lagoons and swampy areas followed by others which
were laid down by streams and wind in land areas similarly
alternating with lagunal deposits. They consist principally of
lightly compacted clays and sands with some limestone. Inter-
bedded with or included in these are considerable amounts of
gypsum, beds of lignite, deposits of oil, salt and sulphur and
much ferruginous material in the form of glauconite, siderite.
The Geology of East Texas
29
pyrite and limonite. The formation, as a whole, dips gently
seaward at the rate of 5 to 40 feet per mile with occasional
variations in direction and amount.
On the basis of these differences in mode of deposition and of
their fossil contents the beds have been separated into several
groups. The following table gives the subdivisions of this series
as it applies to eastern Texas:
THE TERTIARY FORMATIONS OP EAST TEXAS
Brazos:
Trinity:
Sabine:
Lafayette
^
Lafayette
Lafayette
Neocene
Lagarto
Lapara
Oakvllle
Woodville
Fleming Burkeville
Fleming
Fleming
Navasota
Coldsprings
Oligocene
Corrigan
•'
Onalaska
•
Catahoula
Catahoula
Jackson
Manning?
Caddell?
Wellborn
Fayette?
Mianning
Caddell
Wellborn
Manning
Caddell
Eocene
•Claiborne
Yegua
Marine
Carrizo
Yegua
Marine
Queen City
Yegua
Marine
Wilcox
Lignitic
Lignitic
Sabine
Midway
Midway
Midway
TERTIARY SECTIONS
The special region considered in this report is forested and in
places densely wooded. The best opportunities for study are the
30 University of Texas Bulletin
sections found along the various rivers crossing it from north
to south and the cuts along the railroads which traverse it in
the same direction.
These rivers from east to west are the SaJbine, Angelina,
Neches, Trinity, Navasota and Brazos. The railways include the
Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, Jasper to Carthage; the Dallas
Branch of the Texas & New Orleans ; The Houston, East & West
Texas; the International & Great Northern; Trinity and Brazos
Valley ; Madisonville Branch of International & Great Northern,
and the Houston & Texas Central. In addition to the roads
crossing it, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, Cotton Belt and others
give valuable sections. The sections made along these lines show
clearly the general composition of the beds entering into the
different formations and the changes which occur in the deposits
as we pass from the eastern border to the interior of the State.
EOCENE
The earliest period of the Tertiary is known as the Eocene
and is divided into the Midway, Wilcox, Claiborne and Jackson
stages. Of these the Midway and, Claiborne are composed prin-
cipally of marine deposits while the Wilcox and Jackson com-
prise deposits both of marine and palustrine character, the pal-
ustrine portions representing inshore deposits approximately
contemporaneous with the offshore deposits of the marine por-
tions, and in places interlapping with them.
The Midway and Wilcox together form the Lower Eocene. The
Claiborne is the Middle Eocene and the Upper Eocene has sim-
ilarly only one member, .the Jackson.
ftUDWAY
The Midway formation, first named by Smith and Johnson
from an Alabama locality, was more fully described by Harris in
his report on The Tertiary Geology of Southern Arkansas in the
second volume of the Annual Report of the Geological Survey of
Arkansas for 1892 and in his American Bulletin of Paleontology
under the title of the Midway Stage, where he has also described
and figured the fossils which characterize it. These beds or parts
of them had been described previously in connection with other
The Geology of East Texas 31
deposits and by various authors. Deussen^ gives a fair resume
of publications treating on the beds now referred to the Midway
with their equivalencies as understood at this time.
GE>fERAIj ChARACTEE AND THICKNESS
The Midway beds are marine sediments and comprise in their
area of outcrop a series of interbedded clays &nd sands usually
dark bluish or black but occasionally light yellow in color, mica-
ceous, frequently laminated, and sometimes gypsiferous, inter-
bedded with limestones or calcareous nodules and boulders.
Fossils are abundant both in the limestones and in the beds of
sands and clays.
In the eastern part of the State where there is no outcrop and
the beds are known only from materials encountered in drilling
wells these beds are found to be predominatingly clayey with
glaueonite and sand in thinner layers and with thin beds of
sandstone and limestone.
In thickness they vary from 200 to over 400 feet.
Deposition and Relation to Underlying Beds
The Midway sea swept inland from the south gradually sub-
merging the Cretaceous land but in our Texas area ceased its
encroachment before it had reached the limits of its predecessor,
the Ripley sea. It swept around the domes and ridges but its
rather shallow waters, though they may have been somewhat
deeper than those of the Ripley, did not engulf them all.
To the northeastward in Arkansas, it reached inland entirely
across the Cretaceous and its beds overlap the Bingen sand and
are in direct contact with beds of Paleozoic age which underlie it.
The highest beds of the Cretaceous whjch formed the sea bot-
tom on which the basal Eocene or Midway deposits were laid
down were of sands and clays and at no place were there any
limestones at the surface. It is probable that much of the ma-
terial of the Midway was directly derived from these and, there-
fore, the two series of soft materials coming together frequently
>Deussen, A. Water-Supply Paper No. 335,
32 University of Texas Bulletin
fail to register any unconformity. Consequently, at many places
where the contact has been observed there is no apparent strati-
graphic break and in weathered surfaces it is at times very
difficult to distinguish the two formations. As a whole, however,
the Cretaceous beds are massive and the basal Tertiary are dis-
tinctly stratified and this aids in separating them in the absence
of fossils.
While this lithologie similarity between the Upper Cretaceous
and basal Eocene largely obscures it in places, there is an actual
erosional unconformity between as seen in Georgia and on the
Frio and Rio Grande rivers in Texas.
Area op Outcrop
The contact of the Midway and Cretaceous on the Brazos river,
which for our present purpose we may use as our southwestern
boundary, is found in a bluff in Falls county, one and one-half
miles north of the line of Milam county.
To the south and west of this point the beds cross the Colorado
below Webberville and the Rio Grande in southern Maverick
county and their final exposure in North America is found about
30 miles east of Monterey in Mexico, near Eamones, on the Pes-
queria or Salinas river.
Northeast of the Brazos the Midway outcrop is found in a belt
stretching along the Cretaceous front in a northeasterly direction
to the southwestern portion of Hopkins county, a distance of
about 175 miles. In its narrowest part it is less than five miles
in width but in the vicinity of "Wills Point it broadeiis out to
some 15 miles.
North and east of this it is covered by the Wilcox overlap until
it again appears at the surface in the vicinity of Malvern, Ar-
kansas, resting directly upon the Paleozoic beds and overlain by
the Wilcox. It here forms a belt from one to four miles in width
and extends northeastwardly by way of Little Rock to Indepen-
dence county.
In northeastern Texas the Midway underlies a stretch of un-
dulating prairie country with interspersed patches of timber
land. The timber is mostly black jack and post-oak with a few
black ash and sycamore trees along the creeks.
The Geology of East Texas 33
Details of Section
Kennedy found the contact between Midway and the under-
lying Cretaceous at only two places.
At the bluff on the Brazos river in Falls county one and one-
half miles above the Milam county line he found at the base a
massive bed of blue clay 14 feet thick, with Baculites and other
Cretaceous fossils. Eesting upon this was a bed one foot thick
of blue clay which he considered transitional between the Cre-
taceous and the overlying five feet of blue clay and sand break-
ing into nodules and conchoidal fragments and weathering into
a grayish yellow. This bed contained such caracteristic Midway
fossils as ApporJiais sp., Aid. Ostrea pulaslcensis, Har. Veneri-
cardia alticostata, Con. Gucullaea macrodonta "Whit, etc.
The other contact appears about four miles west of Elmo, Van
Zandt county, where the dark blue laminated clays of the Midway
rest upon the bluish weathering yellow marls of the uppermost
Cretaceous.
The basal Midway clays here are thinly laminated, have occa-
sional nodules of limestone and broken bivalve shells in the up-
per portion. They have a thickness of 30 feet and are overlain
by brownish gray sands also carrying limestone boulders.
In the Brazos section, half a mile below the contact, a bluff
at Blue Shoals has at the base laminated blue or black fossilifer-
ous clay overlain by blue indurated clay with boulders or concre-
tions of limestone containing Ostrea pnlaskensis. Harris Encli-
matoceras ulriclii "White, Cucxillaea macrodonta "Whitf. Veneri-
cardia alticostata, Con. and other forms.
Milam bluff or Black bluff on the Milam county line is forty
feet in height and composed of clays and calcareous beds, black
at bottom, but yellow or greenish at top, with many fossils.
Cribbs bluff further south shows the dark blue laminated clay
overlain by interbedded limestones and yelow clays with many
fossils.
The uppermost portion of the beds in this section is seen in
Smiley 's or Oyster bluff two miles north of the mouth of Pond
Creek where laminated sands are interbedded with laminated
clays, concretions and hard limestones, carrying such fossils as
Ostrea crenuUmarginata, Pleurotoma anacon<i, P. ostranipis
34 Umversity of Texas Bulletin
Plejona praecursor, Pseudoliva ostrarupis, Cerithium penrosii,
C. WJiitfieldi, Leda milamensis, etc., which Harris says represent
the equivalent of the Naheola or Matthews Landing beds of the
Alabama section.
This is overlain by beds which are referred to the "Wilcox.
Going northward exposures are found along Salt Branch of
the little Brazos and, in the vicinity of Tehuacana, Midway lime-
stones are found which, from the fossils, Harris considers to be
about the middle of the formation.
The contact of the Midway and Cretaceous is well shown on
the steep western and northwestern faces of the Tehuacana es-
carpment northwest of the Mexia gas-field. Baker's section is:
1. Possiliferous, hard brown Midway limestone, irregular,
and nodular-bedded, forming tbe cap rock of the
Tehuacana hill, , 4 ft.
2. Fine, loose, massive yellow sand,. . . ; 22 ft,
3. Clay, mottled green-gray and brown, coarsely laminated
otherwise like (5) below, 70 ft-
4. Yellow, very sandy, massive clay with small calcareous
nodules 12 ft.
5. Light brown vfcry thinly laminated paper shale for the most
part, although some of the shale is coarsely laminated
and nodular, plastic when wet, and small white calca-
reous concretions. When wet the shale is clayey and
has a greenish-brown color. Small flakes of selenite
are found along seams. This clay weathers into black
soil _ _ 15 ft.
6. Black Cretaceous clay, dense, with small calcareous
nodules 15 ft.
All the beds except No. 2 are fossiliferous, and all beds above
No. 6 are Midway Eocene in age.
The Midway beds occur in the region of Mexia covering an
area extending as far west as Tehuacana, a distance of ten miles
and east of Mexia something like six miles. On the north these
beds occur near Wortham and southward the line of contact be-
tween the Midway and Lignitic crosses the railroad near Mile
Post 157, or a short distance south of the town of Thornton.
These deposits are made up mostly of dark blue shaly clays
with occasional streaks of a reddish to yellowish brown shale
The Geology 0/ East Texas 35
with small white calcareous concretions and crystals or thin
flakes of selenite, the whole weathering into black soil. The cal-
careous concretions and selenitic flakes, however, are not persist-
ent throughout the beds, but appear to lie in patches irregu-
larly distributed throughout the territory. Some of the shale
appears to be nodular and some of the nodules have a brownish
granular appearance.
The general dip of these beds is toward the southeast at the
rate of about 100 feet to the mile. In places this dip is inter-
rupted by a slight folding, which, while in a general way agreeing
with the trend of the dip, often appears to lie across it. A cut-
ting in a creek about six miles east of Mexia shows one of these
cross folds. The southeastern dip is somewhat modified by a
fold which appears to have a northwest-southeast axis along the
strike of the beds. The dips as shown in this fold are about 10
degrees northeast on the eastern side and approximately 10 to 15
degrees on its southewestern limb. The overlying material in
this section is red and brown sands with flattened boulders of
ferruginous sandstone belonging to the basal Lignitic.
From the structural conditions shown in this section and an-
other near Shiloh on the Trinity and Brazos Valley Eailroad, it
would appear that at the close of the Midway stage there were
orogenic movements that folded these deposits before the over-
lying Lignitic was laid down.
Kennedy gives the following general section of the beds in
their exposures around Wills Point^.
1. Yellowish brown sand containing calcareous boulders of
sandstone, limestone with thin veins or seams, occa-
sional nodules of crystalline calcite, and fossil remains, 30 ft.
2. Yellow laminated clay with thin particles of yellow sand
and boulders of silicious limestone 90 ft.
3. Massive bedded clay, showing no signs of lamination, con-
taining numerous boulders similar to those of No. 1,. . 30 ft.
4. White limestone with great numbers of fossil casts, chiefly
TuriteUa (?) Cardita planioosta, Ostrea (f) and other
bivalve shells, 8 ft.
5. Brown sand 2 ft.
6. Limestone similar to No. 4 10 ft.
7. Bluish gray sand 30 ft.
'Third Ann. Kept. Geol. Surv. Tex. p. 49.
36 University of Texas Bulletin
S. Dark blue laminated and much jointed clays with thin
sandy partings, containing small bivalve shells chiefly,
and having a thin pavement of siliceous nodules near
its upper surface, 62 ft.
9. Ponderosa marls
262 ft.
A characteristic feature is the presence of mimerous boulders
of gray limestone containing thin veins or seams of crystalline
ealcite and fragments of gasteropods. While occasionally occur-
ring in the upper brown clays, the boulders are mostly imbedded
within the gray sands of the formation near the contact of the
lower beds with the Cretaceous. In places they are seen lying
in the sands, forming an irregular bed.
Another feature of the yellow clays is the numerous nodules or
concretions of carbonate of lime found in them, throughout the
whole of the area traversed by the section as well as in the thinly
laminated brown clays or their accompanying overlying brown
sands.
The Midway is not exposed at any point within the region
covered by our map, but eastward in Louisiana it has been
brought to the surface by the elevation of the Many and King
domes and certain black prairies west of Mansfield are thought
to be underlain by it.
Fossils
The fossils identified by Harris as having been found in these
beds in eastern Texas and Louisiana are :
Bnclimatoceras ulrichi White
Ostrea pulaskensis Harris
Ostrea crenulimarginata Gabb
Venericardia planicosta Lamarck
Venericardia alticosta
CucuUaea saffordi
Crassatella gabbi
Volutilithes limopsis Conrad
Turritella mortoni
Pleurotoma anacona
Pseudoliva
Natica
Modiola stubbsi
TJie Geology of East Texas 37
Fusus harrisi
Leiostoma ludoviciana
Volutilithes rugatus
Flabellum conoldeum
This fauna is very meagre as compared with that of the for-
mation as found east of the Mississippi.
West of San Antonio the Midway appears to carry plant re-
ifiains and Berry* has identified 10 species from collections made
at Earle by Deussen and L. W. Stephenson from beds referred
to this formation. These are:
Pourouma texana Berry, n. sp.
Pious denveriana Cockerell
Ficus occidentalis Lesq.
Picus sp.
Platanus aceroides latifolia Knowlton
Clnnamomum afflne Lesquereux
Laurus wardiana Knowlton
Asimina edcenica Lesq.
Dolichites deusseni Berry, n. sp.
Terminalia hilgardiana Lesq.
WLLOOX
The name Wilcox (from Wilcox county in Alabama where
the formation is well exposed) was proposed as a formation name
by Crider to take the place of the term Lignitic, which was in
use previously for the same beds, because of the present rule to
use geographical names for such purposes.
While the Wilcox is largely lignitic in character even in Ala-
bama, it contains, interbedded with these materials, strata con-
taining marine or estuarine fossils by means of which it has been
separated into four formations. These are, beginning at the
bottom, the Nanafalia and the Tuscahama, which includes the
beds at Gregg's and Bell's landings on the Alabama. Above the
Tuscahama are the Bashi or Wood's Bluff and Hatchetigbee.
The beds here referred to this stage were described by Penrose
in the First Annual Keport of the Geological Survey of Texas
''Harris, Paleontology of Midway Formation, Bui. Am. Paleon-
tology, Vol. 1, 1896, p. 117.
=U. S. G. S. Prof. Paper 91, p. 9 etc.
38 ' UMversity of Texas Bulletin
as part of the .Timber Belt or Sabine Eiver beds. Kennedy-
first differentiates them in his Tertiary Section* where the Tim-
ber Belt Beds of Penrose are divided into the Lignitic and Ma-
rine. The line there drawn between the Lignitic and Marine
placed the Queen City beds of white and red sands and clays
with the lower member, but later investigations show that it
does not belong with the Lignitic but with the Marine.
The term Wiloox will be used here in this sense for the series
of beds which is found in this region lying above the Midway
and below the Queen City sands which are the basal member of
the Middle Eocene.
Deposition and Aeeal Distribution
At the end of the Midway a large portion of the area covered
by its deposits was transformed into land by the recession of
the sea and there are many indications of a long interval of .
erosion between its close and the beginning of the "Wilcox deposi-
tion which followed. The exposures of the contact of the two
formations on the Rio Grande give positive eviderice of this."
As before, the deeper waters were to the south and the ap-
proach of the Wilcox sea was from that direction. At the max-
imum of its transgression it submerged most if not all of the
Midway land and portions of the Cretaceous. Along the entire
coastal portion of this embayment the waters formed a broad
belt of lagoons and shifting seas with littoral and palustrine de-
posits. Marine conditions, as shown by character of the sedi-
ments and fossils, usually are only , found many miles to the
seaward of the inner border.
Both of these phases of the Wilcox occur in east Texas.
The marine phase is found outcropping on the Sabine river
in the northeastern part of Sabine county. The name Sabine has
been suggested for these beds by Veatch from the "typical de-
velopment of the formation along Sabine river in Sabine
county, Texas and Sabine Parish, Louisiana, and from note-
worthy exposures at Sabinetown Bluff".
'Third Ann. Rep. Geol. Sur. Tex. p. 50.
'Durable, E. T. Jour. Geol. vol. XXIII p. 488.
Stephenson, L. W. TJ. S. G. S. Prof. Paper 90, p. 73.
The Geology of East Texas 39
The exact limits, of this area of interbedded marine deposits
existing west of the Sabine is unknown but can not be very
extensive, unless it spreads seaward below the succeeding Clai-
borne, as the great area lying north and west of this, in which
the formation is exposed, is occupied by deposits representing
the other phase of the Wilcox which we know as the Lignitic.
These Lignitic deposits represent a period when the coastal
plain was made up of swamps, lagoons and bayous, the extent
of which will be best understood when we say that within the
limits of east Texas the present main surface exposures of these
deposits extend over an area 140 to 200 miles from north to
south and from 100 to 250 miles from east to west and that the
beds continue indefinitely coastward beneath the succeeding
formations, but in that direction possibly merge into or are re-
placed by the marine deposits of the Sabine phase.
The topography of the country occupied by the Lignitic beds
is but little broken and consists of gently rounded hills of no
great elevation. Where more broken country appears, as it does
in places, it is usually due to the fact that the Claiborne which
formerly overlay the greater part of it, owing to the resistant
quality of some of its beds, has not been entirely eroded and thus
forms belts of higher hills.
Correlation With Other Areas
Prom the marine fossils found in the Sabine river at Pendle-
ton Harris determined the age of the beds at that locality to be
the same as the Nanafalia substage of the Alabama section
which belongs to the Lower Wilcox of that region. The fossils
from Sabinetown, four or five miles south of Pendleton, were
found to belong to the fauna of the Woods Bluff (Bashi) substage
which is part of the upper Wilcox.
Berry" says of the Lignitic beds that within the area occupied
by them no fossils representing the animal life of the period
either Of land or sea have ever been found with the exception
of the teeth of a Wasatch species Crocodylus grypus Cope, re-
cently found in Texas, and a few fish scales. So far as the fossil
•U. S. G. S. Prof. Paper No. 91, p. 37.
40 ZJmversity of Texas Bulletin
flora of the Texas area has been determined it indicates that the
Lignitic beds are not older than the Holly Springs sand or middle
Wilcox and well logs in western Lousiana indicate that the beds
of the lower "Wilcox have been transgressed and covered by these
later beds and do not appear at the surface.
This implies a gradually deepening sea making successive in-
roads over the land surface and that contrary to the conditions
of the Midway where the lowest beds may be found at the inner
margin of the outcrop, the marginal beds of the Wilcox, as found
here, are nearer the medial portion of its general section. Such
gradual encroachment of the sea argues similar long exposure
of the coast lands of the Midway with consequent opportunity
for considerable erosion.
Sabine Phase
sabine river section.
The exposures along the Sabine river described by Harris and
Veatch' seem to correspond in large measure to the Alabama
section and show an interbedding of 'the lignitic and marine
phases.
Passing down the river from Logansport the outcrops were
small and unsatisfactory until Hamilton was reaehed, 30 miles
below. No fossils were found and contradictory dips were ob-
served so that it was impossible to determine the exact strati-
graphic relation of these outcrops to those further down the
river. Veatch's impression was that they were lower Lignitic
and lower that the Nanafalia beds at Pendleton, and the sections
and structure seem to fully warrant this conclusion.
The sections given show finely laminated dark lignitic clays
with large calcareous concretions overlain by sands and clays
with lignite. These materials correspond with those found at
the base of the Wilcox in the wells of the Caddo field.
These sandy clays with calcareous concretions continue down
the river and apparently compose the line of hills below Hamil-
ton and are again exposed in Eock Bluff between Hamilton and
'Geol. Rep. La., 1899.1902.
University of Texas Bulletin No. 1869.
Plate IV.
WILCOX FORMATION.
Pendleton Bluff.
The Geology af East Texas 41
Chambers Ferry where the concretions contain imprints of
leaves.
The first marine fossils on the river were found near Moran's
landing, above the mouth of Patroon bayou, where, Jbelow 10 feet
of light yellow sand with fine clay partings, there was 8 feet of
blue laminated sandy clay with Venericardia pkmicosta and an
undetermined Anomia.
Near Moran's landing the river turns eastward and in these
southwesterly dipping beds, goes down the section again with
exposures of the sandy laminated clays, calcareous concretions
and lignites.
On Mason Creek, a tributary of Patroon bayou. Baker found
the following section:
1. Pine sandy light gray clay, well laminated, with large
blue-gray clay ironstone concretions ellipsoidal in form
and as large as 10 ft. in longest diameter, good ripple-
marks. Upper lialf stained yellowish-brown with
limonite, 35 ft.
2. Medium-grained greensand with a small percentage of
oolitic glauconite; fossils 2i ft.
3. Lignitiferous brown sandy clay with small lenses of impure
lignite 2 ft.
4. Cholocate-brown carbonaceous clay, 3 ft.
A few marine foesils were found in the lower portion of (1)
and also in (2).
There are good exposures of Wilcox along Mason Creek from
its head to its junction with Patroon Bayou.
Carter's Bluff on the river shows 15 feet of dark blue lam-
inated unfossilferous sandy clay. A ledge of -limestone boulders
extends almost across the river above the ferry and below it a
6-inch bed of lignite appears capping the clay. Another bed of
calcareous concretions appears in the clays 30 feet above it. At
this point the river again turns west.
This section is probably repeated in part or extended at mouth
01 Patroon bayou where two small beds of lignite occur. This
is only a short distance north of Pendleton where we again come
up into the interstratified marine and lignitic deposits. The
following section may be seen one-fourth mile above the ferry,
just above the mouth of a small stream.
4-ET.
42 University of Texas Bulletin
9. Light gray to brownish laminated clay, 7.5 ft.
8. Ledge of impure limestone concretions, 2.5 ft.
7. Greenish brown and light blue clayey sand, with iron con-
cretions and fossils, 4.5 ft.
6. Blue joint clay, fossiliferous, 2.5 ft.
5. Limestone boulders, fossiliferous, in dark gray sand 1. ft.
4. Dark gray sand, . • ■ 2- ft.
3. Stratified lignitic clay 1- ft.
2. Yellow and gray sand, 5. ft.
1. Wavy, alternate layers of blue sand and clay, 6. ft.
The dip is here to the westward about 1 to 50.
Baker's section of Pendleton Bluff is as follows:
Top.
1. Coarse Lafayette orange sand with a few quartz and chert
pebbles, imperfectly laminated. The surface color is
yellowish-brown. The top member is mottled and more
clayey 15 ft.
2. Sticky laminated chocolate-brown clay interbedded with
with brown micaceous sand carrying plant fragments. .15 ft.
3. Laminated brown and dark blue sand and clay, con
oretionary and with greensand. Oolitic greensand
mainly distributed in thin layers, more or less con-
tinuous, 4 ft.
4. Fossiliferous bed containing an abundant fauna. Fossils in
a soft medium-grained dark gray sand, locally with green-
sand, containing small particles of clay and very small
lenses of lignite. Contains abundant sphaeroslderite
concretions, especially near the top. Weathers dark
greenish-brown, 6 J ft.
5. Medium to coarse-grained sand with numerous thin in-
terbedded wavy and Irregular layers of lignitiferous clay.
Sand either brownish or more often, when containing
pyrite, dark greenish-gray. Contains elliptical concre-
tions of clay ironstone. Sometimes the layers of un-
consolidated sand will be as thick as from 4 in. to 1 ft.
and then will become an alternation of thin bands of
sand and lignite averaging less than % inch in width.
Limonite staining common. Sand micaceous 8 to 10 ft.
Base.
Fossils are numerous at each of these exposures, but are some-
what better preserved in the first mentioned section. Harris' list
is as follows:
The Geology of East Texas 43
Modiola alabamensis Mazzalina plena
Barbatia cucuUoides Tritonldea pachecci
Leda corpulentoides Nassa exilis
Cardium tuomeyi. Aid. Cassidaria brevidentata
Ceronia, Turritella mortonl
Turritella praecincta
Pleurotoma silicata, Natica eminula
Pleurotoma Natchi Natica aperta
Cancellaria quercollis, var. greggi, Natica alabamensis
Pseudoliva velusta, var. Solarium bellense
Pseudoliva petrosus
Levifusus indentus,
Levifusus supraplanus
Levifusus pagoda
Levifusus trabeatus
Such typical lower Eocene species as Levifusus supraplanus,
Buccinanops elUpticum, Turritella praecincta, Natica aperta, N.
alabamensis, Solarium hellense and Pleurotoma silicata, show
the equivalency of these beds to the Nanafalia horizon in the
Alabama section.
Down the river about half way from Pendleton to Sabine-
town, but' on the Louisiana side there is a 3 ft. ledge of lignite
cropping out near the water level. It is overlain by gray sands
of recent river origin.
A short distance below the Sabinetown ferry and on the Texas
side of the Sabine there is a most interesting section. This bluff
is from 115 to 120 feet high, counting from the surface of the
river at a medium stage of water. It is located on a bend of the
river where the latter, pursues a nearly east-west direction.
Though the dip is locally very considerable here as shown in
little side gorges, often as much as 1 to 50 it appears light along
the bluff as a whole, for the direction of the latter is nearly on the
line of strike.
The main features of the various component strata of Sabine-
town bluff are as follows:
8. Sands and ferruginous conglomerates, 9 to 16 ft.
7. Ferruginous sandstone, ' 1 ft.
6. . Lignitic clay 15 ft.
5. Yellow sand, 25 ft.
44 UmversUy of Texas Bulletin
4. More or less alternating shaly lignitic clay and sand. The
latter weathers yellowish; the shaly clay sometimes light
brown or pinkish, 40 ft.
3. More or less clayey sand, often greenish and fossiliferous
in concretions; with a hard layer above 15 ft.
2. Fossiliferous blue sand with concretions, 6 ft.
1. Brittle, shaly, drab clay, 2 ft.
Baker says of the bluff:
"The banks of the Sabine river in the vicinity of Sabinetown
are of light brown or light gray sand, 20 or 25 feet in height.
This river sand is probably derived from the Wilcox formation.
A layer of pebbles cemented by iron oxide into a conglomerate is
seen on the Louisiana bank 300 yards above the, Sabinetown
ferry, also at Sabinetown and in the bluffs between the mouth
of Low's creek and Columbus.
"In the Sabinetown bluff the basal layer is chocolate sandy
and shaly clay, overlain by medium-grained dark green fossil-
iferous sand with many large and small blue iron carbonate con-
cretions. The fossils in the sand are soft ; those in the concretions
not so well preserved. Above comes a layer with oolitic green-
sand overlain by chocolate sandy carbonaceous clay. The upper
bed of this section of the Wilcox is structureless light brown
sand, 15 feet or more in thickness."
The fossils collected from this locality as well as from Pendle-
ton were identified by Harris and are figured in his Louisiana
Eeport for 1899.
The list is as follows:
Leda aldrichlana, var. Pleurotoma huppertzi,
Venericardia planicosta, Volutilithes petrosus,
Kellia prima, Levifusus trabeatus,
Mactra bistriata, Nassa exilis,
Corbula alabamensis, Calyptraphorus trinodiferous,
Ceronia, Fusoficula juvenis,
Pholas alatoideus, Natica eminula,
Sigaretus decllvus.
The Sabinetown fossils are those of the horizon of the Woods
bluff beds in Alabama.
The bluff section on the Palagauche a few hundred yards
above its mouth is virtually the same as on the Sabine river at
The Geology of East Texas 45
Sabinetown. At a second exposure, about one mile above the
mouth of the Palaguache, the dip is at least 10 degrees in a south
of east direction. Dip observations here vary all the way from
10 to 17 degrees. The beds are very fossiliferous greensands
and 20 feet thick.
The general section seems to show that t£e basal Wilcox in this
immediate region belonged to the Lignitic phase and was suc-
ceeded in the upper Nanafalia portion of Lower "Wilcox time by
the Sabine phase and this persisted until the Claiborne.
Unless fossils have been found in wells drilled west of the
Sabine river which indicate the beds of this phase, they are not
known elsewhere in east Texas. Baker, however, found marine
Wilcox fossils southwest of San Antonio.
Lignitic Phase
general character and aria
These beds comprise a series of sands, sandstone, clays and
lignites having an aggregate thickness of 1200 feet or over.
The sands are variously colored, being yellow, brown, gray or
blue, with occasional thin beds of black, often shading into one
another in endless variety, and, with the exception of the dark
blue or black beds, present no uniformity of coloration for any
distance. In structure they are mostly coarse-grained with irreg-
ular deposits of fine-grained silty sand, laminated or thinly
stratified, massive, cross-bedded and frequently interlaminated
with clay.
The clays occur interstrati'fied and interbedded with the
sands or, as irregular deposits, usually laminated. Massive and
stratified beds also occur in portions of the area, sometimes
nearly free from sand, but the greater portion occur as sandy or
micaceous clays. Plastic potter's clay and refractory clays occur
in abundance. In color they are generally dark blue, gray or
black, although deposits of red, brown and yellow clay occur.
The lignites belonging to this stage, and from which these beds
derive their name, occur widely spread throughout the whole
area ; they lie in beds of varying thickness, from two to four feet
being most common, although deposits of six, nine and ten feet
46 TJwversity of Texas Bulletin
are by no means of rare occurrence. Beds of even greater thick-
ness have been reported as being found in well-borings. Tbe
actual number of lignite beds existing in these deposits is not
known. Six have been recorded as underlying each other at
distances varying from 2 to 120 feet.
Thjroughout the Texas area the lignite beds everywhere form
conspicuous objects in this formation but no attempts have yet
been made to correlate them with each other.
Entering the State from northwestern Louisiana and south-
western Arkansas the Wilcox is found overlapping the Midway
and resting directly on the Cretaceous. From the first appear-
ance of the uncovered Midway in Hopkins county the contact
between the Midway and WUqox is found along a line running
southwesterly through Eains, Van Zandt, Harrison, Navarro,
Freestone, and Limestone counties to the Brazos. South of the
Brazos the Wilcox overlaps the Midway in places to the Colorado
river, beyond which a narrow belt of Midway is usually found
between it and the Cretaceous. The broad expanse of the Wilcox
exposure in eastern Texas is narrowed to 15 miles where it crosses
the Brazos and to 10 miles on the Colorado.
In the northeastern portion of the State tEe Lignitic is still
covered in interstream areas by uneroded areas of the Claiborne,
the inain body of which formation is found overlying it to the
south.
In thickness these beds vary from 800 to 1200 feet.
The areas in east Texas in which the Lignitic beds form the
surface material are usually comparatively level or only gently
rounded in contour. This slight relief does not afford very good
opportunities for detailed study of the different beds comprising
it and it is only from observations made over a rather vride field
and comparison with well log;s that a definite idea can be ob-
tained regarding them.
Kennedy, in his study of the iron ore deposits of northeastern
Texas, examined in detf^il Cass, Marion, d;regg an4 Harrison
counties. His generalized section of the Lignitic b^ds of Har-
TJie Geology of East Texas 47
rison county gives us perhaps our clearest knowledge of the beds
in the eastern portion of the State^.
The lowest beds of this section are composed principally of
stiff black micaceous saAds and clay containing numerous de-
posits of iron pyrites. In the deep well at Marshall these sands
and clays had a reported thickness of 953 feet and rested on
blue limestone which was in all probability a boulder such as
thpse seen in similar deposits in the Sabine river section and
which are found at base of formation in wells drilled in the
Caddo oil fields east of this.
Overlying: this are yellow and white sands ; micaceous, black
sand or clayey sand, irregularly laminated and with interbedded
lignites; black clay passing upward into blue clays interbedded
with lignite, the series having a total thickness of 100 feet.
Vaiughan's section at Port Caddo Landing* east of Marshall
shows below the Queen City beds 55 or 60 feet of interbedded
grayish sands and bluish clays with one small lignite seam,
underlain by low-grade lignite associated with iron ore, fer-
ruginous sandstone and calcareous concretions. The concretions,
when broken, showed fossil leaves which were identified by
Knowlton. These beds correspond to part of the upper member
of Kennedy's section.
Harris^" states that the hard boulders of the Wilcox are of
common occurrence in Caddo well sections, and as they are not
o:^ten found below 450 feet, the dividing line between the Wilcox
and Midway in that field has been drawn at that depth.
To the westward as we near the old shore line our records
show a much larger admixture of sands and more lignite. The
section of the well at Mineola, which is given in full in the Third
Annual Eeport of the Geological Survey of Texas, page 82, shows
below the upper gray water-bearing sand, nearly 600 feet of
'For details of surface exposures of these beds in nortlieaptern
Texas reference may be made to Kennedy's reports on Cass, Marlon,
Gregg and Harrison counties in Second Annual Rept. Geol. Sur.
Texas, Robertson County, Fourtl Annual Report, and The Eocene
Tertiary east of Brazos river. Proc. Ac. Nat. Sg. Phila. 1895, and
Bumble's Report on Brown Coal a»d Lignite.
•Am. Geologist, vol. 16, 1895, p. 308.
»U. S. G. S. Bui. 429, pt 121.
48 University of Texas Bulleiin
interbedded sands and clays, at times micaceous or pyritiferous
with beds of lignite and some limestone, (probably in form of
boulders).
A somewhat different condition is noted in the section of the
deep well at Sulphur Springs as given by Gordon". This well
passed through 810 feet of materfals assigned by him' to the Wil-
cox, and 324 feet of Midway, into the underlying Cretaceous.
The beds referred to the Wilcox in this section are apparently
more nearly akin to the Marine phase of the Wilcox than to the
Lignitic. By far the greater part are shales with which are in-
terbedded some clays and sands and two small seams or boulders
of limestone. Toward the lower portion of the section the shales
carry fossils and in the black shale with iron concretions, which
forms the basal member of the supposed Wilcox, Venericardia
planicosta was found. The other fossils are not enumerated and
it is possible that the line between Midway and Wilcox should
be drawn at 684 feet, or below the second limestone and the fos-
siliferous material referred to Midway. This would be more in
accord with the general Lignitic section.
BEAZOS RIVER SECTION.
A contact between the Wilcox and Midway is found at
Oyster Bluff of Penrose on the Brazos River, better known as
Smiley 's Bluff, two miles above the mouth of Pond Creek. Ken-
nedy 's section shows at the base 9 feet of blue and gray sand,
partly laminated, overlain by a thin bed of hard fossiliferous
limestone. Four feet of laminated clay immediately overlying
this was filled with Midway fossils including Centliium pen-
ros&i Har., Psmdoliva ostrarupis Harris, Leda milamensis Har,
etc.
This bed forms the top of the Midway and the basal Wilcox
overlying it consists of ten feet of thinly stratified yellowish
gray clay, sand and blue clay with occasional rounded boulders
of calcareous sandstone.
Good sections of the Lignitic can be seen on the Brazos below
this point at the various shoals and bluffs. Among them may be
"U. S. G. S. Water-Supply Paper 276.
University of Texas Bulletin No, 1869
Plate V.
WILCOX FORMATION.
Patroon Bayou, Sabine County.
The Geology of East Texas 49
mentioned Bee or Black shoals and Calvert BlufE. In all these
sections the formation is shown to be more sandy than in Bast
Texas and the prominence of the lignite beds is striking.
The section at Gibson gin near Calvert shows this clearly:
1. Surface soil and gray and brown sand 25 ft.
2. Alternate strata of blue clay and calcareous sandstone. .. .42 ft.
3. Brown coal ■ ■ ." 2 ft.
4. Bluish-gray sand, blue clay and calcareous sandstones 46 ft.
5. Brown coal 1 % ft.
6. Bluish gray sand 2S % ft.
7. Brown coal 5 ft.
8. Blue sands and sandstones 55 ft.
9. Brown coal 2 ft.
10. Red clay . 8 ft.
11. Bluish-gray calcareous sandstones and blue clay 22 ft.
12. Brown coal 2 ft.
13. Blue sand 76 ft.
14. Brown coal 10 ft.
15. Blue sand with thin seams of sandstone 265 ft.
As an indication of the thickness of the beds in this section
it may be stated that a well at Franklin obtains its water supply
from these beds and is 1208 feet deep. The well is wholly in
Lignitic strata.
MAPPED AREA
In the region mapped the materials of the Lignitic are at the
surface over the northern parts of Sabine and San Augustine
counties, all of Shelby and Panola and the eastern portions of
Nacogdoches and Rusk, besides a broad belt along the western
border.
For the most part this country is gently rolling. The ridges
are of moderate elevation and their summits are usually cov-
ered with remnantal patches of the ferruginous sandstone or
iron ores of the Claiborne, or with the iron conglomerate de-
rived from them, Therefore, throughout this area it is usually
only the lower portons of the ridges and the valleys which
yield exposures of the Lignitic. The beds are similar to those
of the upper portion of the formation as described by Kennedy :
Carbonaceous clays and sands with beds of lignite.
50 JJiviversity of Texas Bulleiin
The section along the Sabine River has already been given.
The last outcrops described which are positively Wilcox are
those of the Sabinetown bluff and a small exposure about one
mile farther down the river.
The final appearance of the Wilcox consists of four feet of
the fossiliferous greensand of the bluff section overlain by brown
and chocolate laminated clay.
/
SANTA PE RAILWAY SECTION
For comparison with the Sabine River section, the uplands
section along the Santa Fe railway from Duff Siding to Flat
Fork as made by Baker may be given :
1. Thin-bedded grayisji-brqwn sands of the Wilcox, containing
limonite-stained layers overlain by mottled Lafayette.
2. Very much decomposed oolitic nodular greensand of rusty
brown color, blue-black on fracture planes.
3. Chocolate-gray sandy clay, carbonaceous, thinly laniinated,
seamed witla limonite-stained and cemented streaks, which
run along cracks and joints at various angles with the
bedding. The weathered surface is grayish or brownish,
depending on the amount of iron present.
4. Shaly chocolate-brown and grayish carbonapeovis cla,y.
5. Coarse sand, cross-bedded, angular to subangular, containing
specks of greensand and greensand in thin layers. It oxi-
dizes to various shades of brown and reddish brown.
6. Laminated sands and clays, generally gray or brownish in color
and containing thin layers of hard material lirnonlte-stained
and cemented. A portion of tlje clay is light yellowist-gre^n
in color and quite plastic. In places there is a grayish
mottling. It weathers a light greenish brown with a cracked
earthy surface or rounded slopes. The maximum thickness
is 10 ft., most of which is laminated chocolate carbonaceoug
clay.
7. Laminated clayey sand, ma,inly gray in color, thoi^gh much of
it is stained with limonite.
8 A Dark blackish-brown carbonaceous laminated clay, above which
lies 1 % feet of chocolate-brown clay.
9. Greenish-gray thinly lamii^a,ted sand.
10.; Thin lay;ers of cross-bedded coafse sand lnterbedd.ed with
grayish sandy clays. The thin layers of clay have a wave-
like bedding. The maximum thickness Is 6 ft. The clays
are cream-colored sandy and loose, weathering into miniature
badlands..
The Geology of East Texas 51
11. Surflcial light yellowisli-red mantle rock, 2 to 3 ft. The
weathered Wilcox resembles the Lafayette even in the mot-
tling, but it does not contain the pebbles.*
12. Thinly laminated brownish and grayish sand grading down-
ward into 5 ft.
13. Light brownish-drab shelly-bedded clay fine-grained sand,
blotched with yellow sulphur 5 ft.
Local unconformity with irregular contact:
14. Light yellowish-brown medium-grained cross-bedded sand with
its upper surface exceedingly irregular. 2 to 4 ft.
15. Laminated brown clayey sands. The clays quite carbonaceous,
ranging in color from chocplate-brown to black and laminated
enough to be called a shale. It is probably never entirely
free from sand and there are partings of brown sand layers
and thin plate-like beds cemented by iron oxide,
le. Dark brown carbonaceous shaly clay with large crystals of
selenite. This clay is thinly laminated.
17. Much cross-bedded light brown sands capped by 3 feet of ligbt
brick-red soil, which maintains its average depth irrespective
of the surface irregularities. It is simply weathered Wilcox,
and contains no Lafayette gravels Some of the Wilcox
sand layers are indurated into a medium-hard sandstone.
Some of the sandstone is in very thin plates in which the
cementing material is most generally iron oxide. Other indu-
rated aggregations are rather irregular in shape and have for
the most part a thin "shelly"' irregular bedding. The sand
grains are medium-coarse and sub-angular. Mica is present
and probably also magnetite.
At the south end of this cut the cross-hedding gives way
to a persistent southeastward dip of 7 or 8 degrees, which
may, however, be a depositional dip. Within this general dip
is minor cross-bedding between the major layers. Some of
the sand beds are massive, but most of them are very thin-
bedded.
18. T^e cut at Flat Fork exposes at a maximum 15 ft. of cross-
*It is notable that we see no undoubted Lafayette between Tenaha
and Center. These lower lying areas have undergone more post-
Lafayette erosion than the ridges of rnore resistant formations,
and the Lafayette, in all probability once present, ha? been almost
entirely removed. The red surflcial weathering of mantle rock
suggests that the formation of the red color in the Lafayette may
have taken place subsequent to Its deposition. At any rate, the
red coloration of this weathered zone of the Wilcox ig of recent date.
52 TJniversity of T&xas Bulletin
bedded clayey sands, generally light yellowish-brown in color,
with some limonite concretions and the more clayey portions
weathering into semi-badlands, streaked and mottled with
light gray. There are also fragments of silicified wood and
thin-bedded lenticular and laminated limonitic layers. The
sand is micaceous, thin-bedded, and rather light-grained. The
surface soil of the region traversed is bright brick-red in
color.
In the vicinity of the 145 th Mile Post some of the surficial
sandy clay is light cream-colored on the surface. A feature
here is the presence of irregularly shaped "pipe" concretions
averaging about one inch in diameter, solid, and composed of
clear quartz sand firmly cemented by calcium carbonate. The
exterior surfaces of these are irregular and cavernous.
The deeper or lower beds of the Wilcox are known in this
vicinity from a well drilled just north of Flat Fork, which
passed through the Lignitic and Midway and well down into
the Upper Cretaceous.
The log of that portion of the well which belongs to the Lig-
nitic shows simply alterations of sands and clays with occa-
sional boulders or shells of limestone and a single seam of
lignite. These beds have a thickness of 850 feet. No sign of
fossils was found in this series.
The underlying Midway beds are 230 feet thick.
In all this section, therefore, there is nothing similar to the
f ossiliferous greensand beds found in the river valley only 20
miles east of it, although the two sections quite surely carry
beds of like age.
FOSSILS
From Berry's reports on plant-bearing outcrops of the Wilcox
Port Caddo Landing gave the following species as revised:
Apocynophyllum tabellarum (?)
Asplenium eolignitica
Canna eocenica
Cinnamomum afBne
Combretum ovalis
Dryophyllum moori
Picus planicostata maxima
Ficus schimperi
Ficus vaughani
The Geology of East Texas 53
Grewiopsis tennesseensis
Meniphylloides ettingshauseni
Metopium wilcoxianum
Nectandra lancifolia
Nectandra sp.
Oreodaphne obtusifolla
Persea longipetiolatum
Saballtes grayanus
Terminalia hilgardiana.
■He states:
"None of these are species peculiar to tlie Ackerman forma-
tion or lower Wilcox of the eastern Gulf region ; 3 occur in the
Ackerman formation and the Holly Springs sand; 2 are known
only from the Holly Springs sand; 1 is found in the Ackerman
formation and Holly Springs sand as well as in post-Wilcox de-
posits; 1, the characteristic Meniphylloides ettingshauseni, is
peculiar to the Grenada formation or uppermost "Wilcox. The
conclusion is inevitable that the deposits at Port Caddo are of
late Wilcox age.
"From the Sabine river leaf remains are reported from cal-
careous concretions just below Harts Bluff on the Louisiana bank.
A short distance below Hamilton and just above Chambers Ferry
similar materials carry leaf impressions, and a small amount of
rather poor material was collected. This was deposited at the
New York Botanical Garden, where I have studied it. The
only identifiable forms are Orewiopsis tennessieensis Berry, which
also occurs south of Grand Junction, Tenn., and Legurmnosites?
arachioides Lesquereux of the Denver and Fort Union formations
of the Eocky Mountain province. This outcrop is 7 or 8 miles
along the dip above Sabinetown, where, according to Harris, the
marine fossils indicate the Bashi formation. The fossil plants,
though top few for precise correlation, indicate a horizon not
older and probably younger than the Holly Springs sand or
middle Wilcox of Mississippi".*
"Alexander Deussen discovered an outcrop containing Wil-
cox plants on Calaveras Creek about 500 yards east of the San
Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway in Wilson county, Texas.
"The small clay lens at the base of the section contains much
♦U. S. G. S. Prof, paper No. 9 p. 58.
54 University of Texas Bulletin
eommimited vegetable matter and rather poorly preserved im-
pressions of leaves, among whicli the following are recognizable :
Bumelia pseudotenax (?)
Calycites ostryaformis
Cassia bentonensis
Dlospyros brachysepala (?)
Ficus vaughani
Grleditsiophyllum eocenicum
Mespilodaphne eolignitica
Rhamnites bercbemiaformis
Sabalites grayanus
Sapindus bentonensis
Sapindus linearifolius
Terminalia lesleyana ( ? )
Of the 12 species 2 are new and therefore without stratigraphic
significance. In comparison with the floras of the Wilcox of
the eastern Gulf area it may be noted that none of the species
from Calaveras Creek are confined to the Ackerman formation
or lower Wilcox. Three species are confined to the Ackerman
formation and Holly Springs sand ; 1 to the Holly Springs sand ;
and 6 to the Holly Springs sand and Grenada formation. It
seems evident that the outcrop is of about the same age as those
at Benton and Malvern in Arkansas, or somewhat younger, and
is certainly not older than the Holly Springs sand or middle
Wilcox of Mississippi.
CliOSE OF LOWER EOOEME
The Lower Eocene closed with the deposition of the last sedi-
ments of Wilcox age. As the waters withdrew, a broad fringe
of new land was added, not only to the Texas coast, but through-
out the entire Mississippi embayment area. The proofs of this in-
terval of emergence are found in the physical evidence of erosion
of the Wilcox beds prior to the deposition of the basal beds of
the Middle Eocene. This is known at several localities in Georgia
as well as in the Texas area. It is further indicated by the fact
that there are localities in which the Queen City beds are missing,
probably from non-deposition on areas of higher ground and the
Mt. Selman beds rest directly upon the Lignitic.
Tim Geology of East Texas 55
Further evidence of it is found by Berry^ in the littoral charac-
ter of the basal beds of the Claiborne (Queen City-Carrizo in
Texas and Tallahatta or Buhrstone in Georgia), in the great
overlap of the Claiborne, and in the vast changes which took
place at that time in the fauna and flora of the region.
It is probable that the withdrawal of the sea at the close of the
Lower Eocene and the consequent emergence as land of the area
of the coastal marshes was accompanied by some folding or by
renewal of the upward movement of the Cretaceous-Tertiary
interval. This is indicated by the conditions surrounding the
various domes of northeastern Texas and western Louisiana.
The evidence is that the deposits of the Midway failed to cover
some if not all of these domes or islands but that it did cover
the lower-lying Sabine Peninsula. The Lignitic, on the contrary,
seems to have mantled them all and their existence today as Cre-
taceous islands in this Tertiary terrain is due to the erosion
which has removed this mantle and brought the older rocks again
to light.
Away from the islands the Lignitic strata have usually a very
slight dip but on their flanks the Lignitic dips away at consid-
erable angles although somewhat less than those of the under-
lying Cretaceous. In the immediate vicinity of the mound these
dips may be as great as 60 degrees but this rapidly decreases
with distance until within two miles or less the dip has again
become normal.
Just how great these movements were is not yet known but it.
is thought most probable that the dome materials were forced
upward through or into the overlying "Wilcox at this time and
prior to the deposition of Lower Claiborne. This may represent
only a part of the movement which has taken place since the
initial elevation at the close of the Cretaceous as there is evi
cience of other movements of less extent at still later date.
'Prof. Paper, U. S. G. S. No. 91, p. 37.
Chapter V
EOCENE— CONTINUED
CLAIBORNE
Following the interval of elevation and erosion of the Wilcox
the seas again transgressed the land area, and in them there was
deposited a series of formations "which contain the most per-
sistent and widely developed marine beds of the Coastal Plain",
and which have been found to extend from Maryland to the
Tamanlipas mountains in Mexico. These are known as the Clai-
borne Group.
This group, which includes all of the deposits of the Middle
Eocene, takes its name from the bluff at Claiborne on the Ala-
bama river, where some of its beds are extremely rich in well pre-
served fossils. These were first studied by Lea and Conrad,
who established the Eocene age of the fauna.
The section at the type locality has at the base nearly three
hundred feet of unfossiliferous sands and sandstones which were
originally called the Buhrstone, but later were given the local
name of Tallahatta sands. The beds overlying them and con-
'stituting the fossiliferous portion of the exposure have a thick-
ness of 150 feet. This has been separated into two portions and
each of these again subdivided. Immediately overlying the Tal-
.lahatta sands are the Lisbon beds, followed by the Ostrea sellae-
formis beds, the three divisions forming the Lower Claiborne.
The two upper divisions, known as the Claiborne or Gosport
sands, and the White Bluff marl which overlies it, are the Upper
Claiborne.
The surface exposure of the Claiborne in Alabama rarely ex-
ceeds 15 miles in width.
In Texas the narrowest part of the normal exposure of the
Claiborne is found on the Colorado river and has a width of
twenty-five miles. In eastern Texas, on the Sabine the entire
exposure is less than 10 miles in width, on the Neches river it has
a width of 90 miles, and along the Rio Grande, which crosses the
formation obliquely to its dip, the belt has an exposure of 150
miles.
The Geology of East Texas 57
At Claiborne Bluff the f ossiliferous beds are of marine origin.
In the Texas region the representatives of the Lower Claiborne
have been expanded into formations showing alternations of
marine and swamp or lagunal conditions, but the fact that they
are all correlative of the Claiborne is fully proven by the iden-
tity of the great numbers of fossils they contain.
To distinguish these formations the following names have been
given, beginning with the bottom:
Carrizo, called Queen City beds in East Texas, and being the
lithologic and stratigraphic correlative of the Tallahatta.
Marine, a subgroup which includes the Mount Selman, Cook's
Mountain and Nacogdoches formations, and which contains not
only the most highly fossiliferous of the beds, but which is es-
pecially valuable for its deposits of iron ores.
Yegua. This formation, largely palustrine and lignitic east
of the Nueces, becomes partly marine in southwestern Texas.
Fayette. Deposits of white sands and clays with plant re-
mains east of the Colorado, but partly marine on the Rio Grande.
Frio. Clays and sands largely palustrine in origin, but with
some marine sediments^.
Deposition and Chaeactek
The Claiborne sea coming in from the south and east covered
all of east Texas northward to Red river and westward beyond
the line of the Cretaceous islands, which it probably covered,
as it certainly covered a part of the Sabine Penincula to the
eastward. It thus extended over by far the greater part of the
Lignitic land area of northeastern Texas and northwestern
Louisiana.^
'Of the few marine fossils found by us in the Frio there were
none characteristic of beds later than the Lower Claiborne and it
was accordingly referred to that group. There is a possibility,
however, that further collections may make jt necessary to change
this reference and that the Frio may belong to the Upper rather than
the Middle Eocene.
'Harris suggests that it is probable that De Soto parish in Louisi-
ana and Shelby, Panola and Harrison counties in Texas may have
constituted an island in Claiborne time. U. S. G. S. Bulletin No.
429, p. 121.
5-ET.
58 University of Texas Bulleiin
The earliest sediments laid down in the Claiborne sea were
the sands and clays of the Queen City beds. These were fol-
towed by the great body of greensands, sands and clays of the
Marine. The deposits of both of these stages probably extended
over this entire area, and the broad exposure of the Lignitic
now found at tfie surface in this region is due to the fact that so
large a portion of these overlying beds has been removed by
erosion.
While marine conditions prevailed in the Texas area and
over the Sabine Peninsula to or beyond its eastern boundary,
they were there replaced, in part at least, by palustrine condi-
tions somewhat similar to those of the preceding Lignitic. This
resulted in a great embayment area bounded on the east by
the Peninsula and on the west by the Islands and extending
from Red river on the north southward to the 32d Parallel, or
below, in which the deposits of the Marine substage present a
marked ' difference from their continuations eastward or south-
westward.
The whole of the sediments of this substage were characterized
by a considerable percentage of greensand and other iron-bear-
ing minerals, the decomposition of which gave rise to some lean
iron ore, but principally to ferruginous sandstones. It was
within this embayment, however, that the greater quantities of
these iron-bearing materials were deposited and where they
were decomposed, altered, recombined and segregated into the
very extensive beds of workable iron ores which make this pre-
eminently the iron ore region of the State. Practically all
deposits of workable brown ores are confined within the bounda-
ries of this embayment.
Here and there, within the Marine, lignitic conditions existed
for a short time, but probably 700 to 800 feet of marine sedi-
ments were laid down before the shallowing seas finally brought
back the sea marshes and lagoons similar to those of the "Wilcox.
This marked the beginning of the Yegua, the deposits of which
form a belt along the Marine front, but do not extend up into
the embayment. The Tegua in this area becomes more and
more sandy toward the top and finally gives way to the white
sands and joint clays of the Fayette, a lagunal of fresh water
The Geology of East Texas 59
deposit with fossil palms and other plants. This completed the
cycle of the Claiborne or Middle Eocene.
There is evidence here of local movements during the Lower
Claiborne deposition and of more general movement at its close.
Distribution
From its very narrow exposure on the Sabine, the northern
boundary of the Claiborne strikes northwestward, passing east
of San Augustine, Nacogdoches and Henderson to the eastern
line of Smith county. It there turns westward to Athens-, then
south to the Trinity river west of Palestine, and from its cross-
ing of that river southwestward to the Brazos between Calvert
and Hearne. To the northeast of this main body there are
remnantal bodies of considerable area in Gregg, Harrison,
Upshur, Marion, Morris, and Cass counties and there may be
other outliers in the Lignitic area which have not yet been
mapped.
From the Brazos the southwestern course of the northern
boundary is continued to the Atascosa river north of Floresville
in "Wilson county, where it turns west to Zavalfe county and
then south to the Rio Grande.
Its southern border, which is its contact line with the Jackson,
is more regular and more nearly parallel to the present Gulf
coast.
Topography
Between the Trinity and the Sabine the eounti'v in which the
Marine forms the surface varies in elevation from two hundred
to six hundred feet above the Gulf and sometimes, though
rarely, the hill tops are seven hundred feet or more in height.
The highest points in the region, like Mount Selman and
Gent Mountain, in Cherokee county, Hynson's Mountain, in
Harrison county, and many others, have their summits capped by
a horizontal, or almost horizontal, bed of iron ore or sandstone,
and to this covering they owe their existence, it having protected
them from the erosion which has worn down the surrounding
country. It has also given rise to a striking topography very
much like that of the western lava plains on a small scale. The
60 TJiviversity of T&xas Bulletin
hills, locally called "mountains," sometimes occui' us flat-topped
hills— the "butte" and "mesa" of the west— and at others
spread out in broad plateaus, sometimes covering an area of
twenty or thirty square miles, deeply cut by the steep sided
canyons, and often showing an almost perpendicular slope.
Such regions afford a beautiful upland country, with a soil far
different from the surrounding lowlands, and a climate excel-
lently adapted to the cultivation of fruit. Gent Mountain, in
the western part of Cherokee county, is a beautiful example of
this plateau country. It comprises over twenty square miles of
area, is largely underlaid by iron ore, capped by a sandy soil,
and thickly covered with oak and hickory. From its summit,
looking south and west, can be seen the lowlands of the Neches
river bottom, and beyond, the rolling country of Anderson
county. To the north can be seen Gray's mountain. Grimes
mountain, Ragsdale mountain, and many other iron-clad hills.
To the east looms up a similar range, constituting the iron ore
plateau of Rusk and New Birmingham.^
This bold topography, however, is practically limited on the
west by the Trinity river. Beyond that stream the heavy
deposits of iron are unknown, and unless beds of ferruginous
sandstones occur, there is nothing to bring about such differences
of elevation as those found between the Trinity and the Sabine.
Between the Trinity and the Brazos, therefore, the Marine
beds, while hilly, are not so rugged as further east.
COREELATION WlTH OtHER AeEAS
. The Claiborne is the most highly fossiliferous deposit of the
Texas Tertiary. The marine fossils occur in quantities very
generally distributed through the area and may of them in ex-
cellent preservation. Large collections were made at various
localities by the Geological Survey of Texas and these were care-
fully studied by Harris, who prepared a full report on them.
Unfortunately this failed of publication, but his lists were pre-
served and are now at the University of Texas. In this study
he had for comparison collections made by himself at the type
'R. A. F. Penrose, Jr. Geol. Surv. Tex., 1st Ann. Rept. pp. 8, 9.
TJie Geology of East Texas 61
localities of Lower and Upper Claiborne, Jackson and Vicksburg,
and he visited Philadelphia and "Washington for study of type
specimens in the collections there. Therefore, when our collec-
tions were sufficient to decide his reference should hold.
As the writer understands the correlation made by Harris on
the basis of the marine faunas found in our Texas beds, all of
our Claiborne up to and including the Fayette sands belong to
the Lower Claiborne series of Alabama and nothing he found in
the marine fauna indicated an Upper Claiborne age for any of
these beds.
Berry, however, considers the plants of the Tegua the equiva-
lent of those found in the Gosport and of Upper Claiborne age.
Caeeizo
NAME
Owen described a large area of sands occurring in Maverick
and Dimmit counties and found in typical development around
Carrizo Springs.^
CHAEACTEK
These comprise sandstones of varying color, texture and thick-
ness. The prevailing color is a grayish-yellow, weathering light-
brown. Some of the beds are white when freshly broken. In
texture they range from fairly hard sandstone, lying in beds of
two to four feet or more in thickness, to thin slabby, fairly soft
and almost shaly structure. No fossils except a few plant re-
mains have been found in them.
These sands have a broad area of outcrop on the Rio Grande,
where at times they overlap the entire Lower Eocene and stretch
northward over the later Cretaceous. In this region not only is
their unconformity evidenced by this overlap, but by actual
erosion of the underlying Wilcox as well.
The Queen City beds^ of Bast Texas are the eastern equiva-
lent if not the direct extension, of the Carrizo. They are well
^Geol. Sur. Tex. First Rept. Progress, p. 70.
"Kennedy, Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Sur. Texas p. 50.
62 TJniversiiy of Texas Bulleiin
developed in the vicinity of Queen City in Cass County, where
they show a thickness of 65 feet. They comprise a series of
laminated or thinly stratified white and red sands and sandy
clays frequenty merging into one another and forming a mottled
sandy clay or clayey sand.
Where the surface contact has been observed between the
Queen City and Wilcox no erosional unconformity has been seen,
but evidence of erosion is found in the occurrence of water-worn
boulders of clay and of laminated clay and. sand derived from
the Wilcox in the basal member of the Queen City as at Port
Caddo Landing,^ and also in the fact that at times the Queen
City is missing and the contact is between the Lignitic and
Mount Selman.
The deposits are of littoral character and, so far as known,
contain no organic remains.
The beds are economically important, because they form one
of the best water-bearing horizons of the region underlain by
them, as the water is of excellent quality and free from mineral
matter.
AREA OF OUTCROP
Because of the apparent conformity between the two, the
Queen City was for a long time considered the upper portion of
the Wilcox formation, and is so described in most of the re-
ports on East Texas. On this account, the areas of outcrop of
the Queen City have not been separately outlined.
The beds occur on the surface at various localities in Cass
county. In Marion county, near Jefferson and in Harrison
county, the Queen City appears at numerous localities imme-
diately underlying the yellowish-brown sandstone here forming
the base of the Marine. The same beds are found at Willow
Switch near Longview, at Gladewater in Gregg county, in the
vicinity of Tyler and at Wilkins Mill in Upshur county.
Kennedy states that the Queen City in Harrison talies on a
more argillaceous character than in Cass, and the individual
beds are heavier, the white beds at times attaining a thickness of
two or three and occasionally of even five and six feet. When
'Vaughan, T. W. Am. Geologist, Vol. 16, p. 308.
The Geology of East Texas 63
these beds outcrop along water courses the stream bed and banks
are generally strewn with pellets of pure white clay ranging
from the size of a pea to that of an egg. The beds are variable
in thickness and in some sections seem to be absent and the Ma-
rine beds are found in direct contact with the "Wilcox. This is
exempli'fied in Kennedy's Mt. Selman section, which seems to
show the base of the Mt. Selman resting upon 2 feet of worked-
over material of the Lignitic and this on lignitic clays.
Four miles north and one mile west of San Augustine there
is another section exposed which may indicate a similar con-
dition.
1. streaked light green and yellowisTa lirown clayey sand
showing little structure, but containing large concretions
of limestone, the same being exceedingly hard and con-
taining some fossils , 9 ft.
2. Dark blue or blackish green clayey sand weathering, dark
brown. Containfe some fossils and abundant small pyrite
crystals. Structureless at bottom, but toward top is
poorly laminated. Locally contains lenses of laminated
chocolate colored clay, pieces, of lignitized wood and
green colored siliceous concretions of iron carbonate
which weather reddish-brown. Locally ferruginous con-
cretions and also considerable gypsum are to be
noted 8 to 10 ft.
3. Streaked light brown and chocolate colored somewhat
clayey sand containing numerous minute flakes of sele-
nite. This sand weathers Kght brown to yellowish
brown and locally yellowish patches resembling sulphur
occur. In places the sands are carbonaceous as evi-
denced by small angular fragments of lignitized wood.
This member is for the most part structureless, but in
places it shows poor wavy bedding 15 ft.
It is very probable that between No. 2 and No. 3 of the above
secton that we have the contact between the Lignitic and Ma-
rine. The lower member here is certainly Lignitic.
In the section made along the Houston, East & West Texas
Railway between Garrison and Nacogdoches the Queen City
was not recognized. This, however, may have been simply
because of its comparative thinness and lack of exposures.
On the Sabine river the final appearance of undoubted Wil-
cox, as has been stated, is about one mile below Sabinetown
64 Umversity of Texas Bulletin
bluff. The first beds showing fosils of Claiborne age are found
at Bayou Negreet. The general course of the river is apparently
very nearly along the strike of the beds, so that the distance
between the two, stratigraphically, is rather small. Nothing
was observed here to show the possibility of the occurrence of the
Queen City between them, and it is probably not exposed on the
river. It occurs, however, in the interstream areas.
At Duff siding near Mile Post 128 on the Santa Fe Railway,
the Queen City is made up of thinly laminated sands with sep-
arate laminae usually less than % inch in thickness. They are
alternately striped light gray, stained brown and yellow by
limonite, and pink. The material is mainly fine sand with a
very few thin streaks of blue-gray clay. The bedding is not par-
allel, as layers pinch out or enlarge and one bed locally trans-
gressed over the planes of several others. The Queen City here
is unconformably overlain by the Lafayette.
These beds also outcrop apparently in the middle reaches of
Low's creek.
In Leon county Baker found the Queen City beds well exposed
north of Flynn on the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, where
the top of the grade is a region of sand hollows and dunes.
Marine
This term was used by Kennedy to designate the beds of ma-
rine origin which are found overlying the Queen City and under-
lying the Yegua. They form the uppermost division of Pen-
rose's Timber Belt or Sabine River beds and are the iron ore
bearing beds of east Texas. In this area they have a thickness
of 700 feet or over.
The Marine comprises an extensive series of greensands, green-
sand marls more or less altered and containing large quantities
of iron carbonates and limonite, glauconitic sandstones and clays,
green fossiliferous clays, black and yellow clays with limy con-
cretions, brown and yellow sand, occasional deposits of black
sand containing gypsum crystals, pyrite, and at wide intervals
small deposits or thin seams of lignite. The prevailing deposits
are greensand in their several characters.
The deposits are largely of marine origin. Even the beds of
The Geology of East Texas 65
lignite do not always indicate such marsh conditions as those of
the Lignitic, since the largest deposit known in the entire forma-
tion, which is found north of Laredo, is a true cannel coal and
was deposited along a sea beach.
Kennedy's, division of the Marine into two phases or forma-
tions was based largely on lithologie grounds.
The lower or Mount Selman is generally heavier bedded and
made up for the most part of dark green and brown sands and
sandstones, the iron carbonates and limonite being distributed
through the beds or occurring as thin seams. "While fossiliferous
to some extent the fossils are much fewer than in the upper
phase and occur almost altogether in the form of casts. The
upper or Cook's Mountain is to a great extent looser sands and
clays with heavy beds of laminated brown ore. It contains a
larae and beautifully preserved fauna.
While this lithologieal difference may not hold good at all
points and while even in this area it may be difficult to draw a
definite line between the two, the great paucity of life in the
lower beds is in marked contrast with the vast assemblages of
forms in the upper, and the leaching out of the shell material
in the lower beds is an added characteristic.
To these phases a third has now been added to include the
transition between the Cook's Mountain and the Yegua. These
will be called the Nacogdoches beds.
While these phases are recognized, owing to the difficulty of
making a satisfactory division of them in the area mapped, they
will not be treated separately in the description.
MT. SELMAN
Name and Occurrence. — The section along the St. Louis &
Southwestern Eailway between BuUard and Jacksonville is quite
typical of the basal portion of the Marine, and Kennedy used
Mount Selman, the name of the town about the center of the sec-
tion to designate it.
The Mount Selman, although occurring almost everywhere
below the Cook's Mountain, is the only portion of the Marine
found north of the Sabine river, and it appears there now only
in remnantal areas of a former widespread cover. It forms the
66 TjMversity of Texas Bulletin
tops of the table lands and occurs in isolated patches covering
small hills and is underlain by the Queen City. South of the
Sabine it is found in Eusk, Cherokee, Smith, Henderson and
Anderson counties and is overlain and succeeded to the south
by the Cook's Mountain.
Character and Relation to Underlying Beds. — The Mount Sel-
man comprises brown sands, blue clays, greensands, glauconitic
sandstones, and nodular and laminated iron ores.
Throughout their extent in east Texas the beds are iron-bear-
ing, but the workable deposits, as now known, are confined to
Cass, Marion, Gregg, Harrison and Upshur counties.
The ores comprise both brown ore or limonite and iron car-
bonate. These occur in nodular or geodal forms in the glauco-
nitic sands, in thin lenses and irregular ledges, as more or less
honeycombed thin sheets and layers, and in irregular masses.
Fossils occur but sparingly and usually as casts only, the ma-
terial of the shell having been entirely removed or replaced.
At the base and throughout the beds the form most generally
distributed is Venericardia planicosta, Lam., but other bivalve
shells occur and shark teeth, usually of small size, are also found.
Where the Mount Selman is found overlying the Queen City
there is usually found a ferruginous parting ranging from one
inch to a foot and a half in thickness. This parting is generally
present in some one of its may forms of gravel, ferruginous
sandstone, bands or fragments of laminated ore. This is the
basal bed of the Marine in northeast Texas.
When the Queen City is lacking and the Mt. Selman rests
directly on the Lignitic, this ferruginous bed is not found and
the basal bed is usually a greensand or dark clayey sand with
pyrite and some casts of fossils.
Jn the Kio Grande area the Carrizo is always present and
apparently grades upward into the base of the Marine with no
ferruginous parting such as is found at the Queen City-Marine
contact.
cook's mountain
Name and Occurrence. — Cook's Mountain lies two miles west
of Crockett and furnishes such an excellent section of a part of
the upper member of the Marine that Kennedy applied this name
The Geology of East Texas 67
to it. The Mount Selman and Coot's Mountain divisions grade
into each other so imperceptibly that a line of separation would
be but an arbitrary one. Kennedy used the state of preserva-
tion and condition of inclosed fossils in an attempt to indicate
approximately the limits which might be assigned to each. On
this basis he placed the northern border of the Cook's Mountain
along a line beginning near Mount Enterprise in Rusk county,
striking west and passing south of Jacksonville and then south-
west by Palestine, Centerville and Franklin to the Brazos river
about where the north line of Burleson county begins. From
this rather indefinite boundary the Cook's Mountain outcrop ex-
tends southward to the Yegua contact.
Character. — The prevailing deposits of the Cook's Mountain
are the greensands in their various characters, but with these
there are intenbedded black and gray sandy clays, black and
yellow clays with calcareous concretions, brown sands and black
sands with gypsum crystals. They also carry large quantities of
ferruginous material occurring principally as heavy beds of lam-
inated bown ore.
The bods are highly fossiliferous and the fossils occur in well
preserved condition. Some two hundred species have already
been determined from the beds, but it is not probable that all
have been identified even yet.
NACOGDOCHES
Under this name are grouped the transitional beds which lie
between the well recognized Cook's Mountain greensands and
the massive gypsiferous clays of the Yegua. They are fully de-
scribed in the section along the Houston, East & West Texas
Railway. The top of the series is placed where the last marine
fossils are found. Some fossil plants are also found in it.
SABINK En'ER SECTION
Harris describes the beds at the mouth of Low's creek as fol-
lows^ :
"One and one-half miles to the south of Sablnetown bluff in the
bed of Low's creek at the ford, Lower Claiborne fossils are ficund.
•Geol. Sur. La. 1899. p. 67.
f)8 University of Texas Bulletin
But beneath the same in what is presumably Lignitic material, a
vast number of Pecten cornuus occur. The beds at the water-mill
are of this lower layer. They are replete with oolitic iron ore,
greenish when freshly exposed, reddish when weathered.
Ajbout a mile above this point there is an exposure of fossil-
iferous and pyritiferous greensand with many soft and poorly
preserved fossils, most of which are lamellibranchs. This must
be just below Veatch's locality 18, which he states is the last
appearance of the Wileox on the river and resembles the section
of his No. 19, of which he says ■}
"Low Greek beds. The peculiar beds described from Low's creek,
near Sabinetown, in 18 99 and referred provisionally to the Lignitic
show a much better development on the Sabine near the mouth of
Low's creek at stations 19 and 2 0. The beds here furnish a much
more complete fauna, especially at the Negreet outcrop, and Harris
is inclined to regard the material as having a decided Lower Clai-
borne aspect. Directly above it is a well marked Lower Claiborne
fauna and the position of these beds at or near the line -of parting
between the Lower Claiborne and Lignitic is fully proven.
Section at 19.
Feet In.
1. Gray sand 5
2. Gray and yellow unstratifled clay containing ferruginous
gravel.- Beds 1 and 2 lie unconformably on those
below 25
3. Dark green limestone filled with large grains o.f green-
sand. Characterized by great numbers of Pecten
cornuus and crustacean remains 5
4. Fossiliferous oolitic greensand with occasional spots of
green clay, weathering red 7
5. Ledge of green limestone containing small rounded
greensand grains. Weathers red 4
6. Fossiliferous green clay with much greensand 10
The fossils are all small and rather poorly preserved. Dip S. 50°
W. 1:60.
Just above ,the mouth of Bayou Negreet a low ledge is exposed
under a bed of gray and yellow sands and clays. Here twenty-
five feet of the same material seen in foregoing section is ex-
posed."
'Geol. Sur. La. 1902. p. 172,
The Geology of East Texas 69
The section at mouth of Bayou Negreet shows the continua-
tion of these beds^ :
Feet
1. Light gray and yellow sandy clay with gravel at base.
Extends over whole outcrop 20
2. Dark greenish brown clay with greensand grains. About
four feet from base is a harder portion of the bed form-
ing a little terrace 13
3. Very fossillferous indurated green marl weathering brown.
Contains among other shells Ostrea falciformis 4
4. Hard limestone with many large Venericardia planicosta . ■ . i
5. Covered. (Mouth of Bayou Negreet) 20
6. Laminated, chocolate colored clay 2
7. Hard, gray limestone with Imperfect shells and bowlders
of the underlying material. Contains Ostrea falciformis
Similar In every respect to Lower Claiborne outcrop
described in 1899 from Low's creek. Shows large masses
of coral 3
8. Same material as that occurring In ibasal beds of the
Claiborne as shown at locality 19, described above, but
here containing a greater percentage of clay. This out-
crop has more of the appearance of normal greensand
marl. It weathers Into six distinct shelves because of
difference of hardness In different portions of the bed.... 25
Layer 7 of this section crosses the river at right angles giving
rise to a very marked Shoals. The river flows against the Inclined
edges of the strata. Dip from a long exposure, S. 20° W. 1:25.
"In the middle of the river opposite the mouth of Bayou Negreet
there Is a rocky Island, 7 feet high, made of ferruginous con-
glomerate. The conglomerate shows casts of Venericardia plani-
costa, Volutilithes and Unio."
Following this distinctly marine deposit there appear beds of
a lignitic character.
At the first bluff, on the Texas side below McClauahan's
Shoals, Baker found:
Feet In.
1. Mottled bluish-gray to reddish-brown clayey sand,
structureless, light brick-red in upper 10 ft. and In
places light buff and cream colored. Mottling in-
distinct 25
2. Flint and quartz gravel, rounded, averaging from size
of a pea up to an inch in diameter 4
>Geol. Sur. La. 1902, p. 128.
70 University of Texas Bulletin
Unconformity.
3. Brownish-black lignitiferous clay, interbedded witb
medium grained brownish-gray sand, and wavy-
bedded and laminated lignitiferous sand and clay.
The alternations are frequent. The beds contain
hard local aggregations of reddish-brown ferruginous
sandstone. In the upper part is laminated brown-
Ish-blaok lignitiferous clay, with some layers up to
9-inches thick of dark brown lignitiferous sand con-
taining patches of lignitiferous clay 6
4. Medium-grained light gray sand weathering light yellow-
ish-brown, with flakes of mica forming an almost
perpendicular bank at 1 ow water stage 12
Two hundred yards below the bluff 6 feet of chocolate-brown
lignitiferous sand and shaly clay overlies 3 feet of coarse green-
ish sand. In the upper portion of the coarse sand are thin cross-
bedded layers of lignitiferous clay. Above the lignitiferous clay
is 2 feet of post-Eocene ferruginous pebble conglomerate at the
usual "spring line". Near the base of the chocolate-brown clay
are numerous irregular-shaped clay ironstone concretions, none
of which are larger than 1 foot in diameter. The beds dip to the
southeastward at the rate of about 1 foot vertical to 50 feet hori-
zontal, but this is perhaps not the absolute amount or direction
of dip.
The next exposures one-fourth mile lower down show the re-
currence of hiarine conditions, the beds dipping 8% degrees
South 4 degrees "West. Here six feet of chocolate brown sandy
and shaly clay is overlain by very fossiliferous concretionary and
oolitic greensand.
One-fourth mile farther down the river, thin layers of oolitic
greensand are interbedded and overlain by chocolate-brown sandy
clay. The fauna carried by the greensand layers is of Cook's
Mountain age. The chocolate-brown shaly clay carries irregular
blotches of sulphur and limonite. About 20 feet of this clay
overlies the fossiliferous greensand. The dip is southward.
Lenses and poctets of greensand and small concretions are found
in the clay. Ferruginous conglomerate is strewn along the banks.
A well defined terrace on the west bank of the river marks the
' ' spring line ' ' at the contact of the bedrock and surficial forma-
tions.
TJie Geology of East Texas 71
The fossils at these two last localities are very abundant and
well preserved.
A little less than two miles below the mouth of Bayou Negreet
there begins a great oxbow bend in the river, deflecting it tem-
porarily toward Columbus nearly two miles from its general
southerly course. The beds forming the banks of this bend are
very fossiliferous and Veateh has given the following sections
of the exposures. He states^:
"Along the east and west reaci above Columbus, on the Texas
bank, there are a number of outcrops of very fossiliferous Lower
Claiborne. At 21 a long shelf, ten feet high, shows the following
section :
Feet
1. Gray and yellow sands and clays 15
2. Very dark gray fossiliferous laminated clay with lines of
concretions. Contain a characteristic Lower Claiborne
fauna. Among other forms Belosepia ungula, Turritella
nasuta var. hou^tonia. davilithes pennosei, Cornulina
aurmigera (small) 9
3. Covered 3
4. Very fossiliferous greensand. Many fossils silicified 2
5. Finely laminated bluish gray sandy clay with traces of
vegetable matter 6
Dip here seems to be due south.
A quarter of a mile below this outcrop, at 22, the following sec.
tion is shown:
Feet
1. Unexposed to top of bank 14
2. Pebble conglomerate 2
3. Laminated, dark brown clay and yellow sand, containing
fossils irregularly through the whole mass. Anomia
epMppoides is very common 23
Dip a little west of south.
The best collecting in the Lower Claiborne occurs at 23, two
miles by river, above Columbus.
Feet In.
1. Gray and yellow sandy clay with small ferruginous
gravel. Clayey portions weather into little pinnacles. .20
2. Bluish gray laminated clay with sand partings and oc-
'Geol. Sur. La. 1902, p. 129-130.
72 University of Texas Bulletin
casional patches of sand. Marked ledge of concre-
tions in upper part of bed 11
3. Dark green shell limestone weathering red. Contains
many specimens of ArcavrTiomboidella 6
4. Same as 2 but much more fossiliferous 4
Dip southwest.
The lower layer is filled with a great variety of beautifully pre-
served Lower Claiborne forms.
Columbus. The bluff at Columbus is much complicated with
landslips and it is impossible to get a very satisfactory section.
The following is from the best exposures:
Feet
1. Fine gray sand, tinged with yellow 8
2. Pebble conglomerate 2
3. Drab clay with small concretions. 4
4. Ledge of fossiliferous dark grey limestone with PUcatula
fllamnentosa, PeCtunculus idonev^, Area rhomhoidella 1
5. Light green, laminated, fossiliferous clay 20
6. Light green, laminated, fossiliferous clay with large numbers
of Ostrea Johnsoni, var. and 0. falciformis 4
7. Ledge of calcareous concretions 1
8. Same as .5 3
Bluff so complicated with landslips that dip observations are un-
satisfactory; dip seem to be south, a little east."
The last fossiliferous exposure referred to the Marine by
Veatch is found just where the oxbow is completed and the river
resumes its normal southeasterly course. At this point the dip
changes from West of South to Southeast and so continues. Only
a short distance below, the beds referred to the Tegua (Cock-
field) make their appearance with this same dip. It is, there-
fore, probable that the beds at Veatch 's locality 24 are the basal
Tegua rather than the uppermost Marine.
The width of the surface exposure of the Marine where it is
cut by the Sabine river is about four miles. The average dip of
the beds throughout their exposures on the river is about S.
20° W.
Taken as a whole the pre-Yegua, Lower Claiborne section
found on the Sabine river differs considerably from those farther
west.
The Queen City beds seem to be entirely wanting.
The Geology of East Texas 73
The Marine here begins with highly fossiliferous strata which
give place below Bayou Negreet to lignitic beds with a small
amount of iron in the form of carbonate nodules. This soon
passes upward into other greensands and sands with many well
preserved fossils and those form the bulk of the section. The Mt.
Selman phase of beds marked by fossil casts "is not apparent, and
except for the lignitic member below the middle of the section,
the fossils are present in abundance from bottom to top. The
iron contents are negligible, while five miles northwest, the hill
at Irona gives a typical Mount Selman iron-bearing section.
Going westward from the river we find on Low's creek some
good exposures of the Lignitic beds capped by the greensands.
At the lower wagon bridge the section shows :
Carbonaceous clays and sands, most typically with thin leaves
of brown, black, or dark-blue clay interbedded with
medium-grained sands, brown or gray in color. Some
of the sand layers are a foot or more in thickness.
Sections higher up the creek show greensand marls overlain
by chocolate brown sandy clay and greenish-brown clay with
oolitic greensand and small calcareous concretions. These up-
per beds contain fossils.
The Wilcox- Claiborne contact is apparently shown on a small
creek tributary to the Paloguacho on the Gaines survey.
At the base are structureless drab clays, which are followed by
glauconitic sands carrying some fossil casts and in turn overlain
by laminated drab and chocolate colored sandy clays, carbona-
ceous and gypsiferous, with partings of gray sand. In this mem-
ber there occurred large concretions up to 3 feet in diameter of
carbonate of iron, extremely hard and containing veins of calcite.
Above this the deposits get rather more sandy and gypsum and
pyrite occur abundantly, a dark blue color being imparted to the
clayey sands. The thickness along the creek here is something
like 30 feet. The dark blue sandy clays, which are probably
Wilcox, are directly overlain by a layer of iron ore which forms
the capping of several small hanging valleys and also seems to
be the cause of a terrace which runs along some 20 feet above
the creek. This is probably the base of the Queen City or of the
Marine if the Queen City is not present. This was not deter-
74 University of Texas Bulletin
mined here. Nothing excepting boulders of iron ore and sands
are exposed from here to the top of the hill some 135 feet above
the blue clayey sand.
The Irona iron deposit is located on the top of the Claiborne
escarpment which rises immediately south of this creek to a
height of more than 200 feet. A large part of the slope is talus
strewn and the hill is covered with a dense forest growth of oak
hickory, sweet-gum and short-leaf yellow pine. The section iJ>
as follows:
1. Loose sand.
2. Iron 4 ft. max.
3. Covered 135 ft.
4. Laminated iron "ore"
5. Dark green coarse, loose sand witli abundant small crystals
6. Sandy light brown clay with flaky selenite and abundant
small particles of lignitiferous matter; unconsoli-
dated and structureless.
7. Shaly light chocolate-brown sandy clayey with large
roundish concretions of blue sphaerosiderite seamed
with crystalline calcite.
8. Loose, coarse sand, some grains of which are coated,
probably with silicate of iron and potassium. Weath-
ers dark greenish-brown and contains casts of Ven-
ericardia, Oorbula, Leda, etc. On seams and cracks
the color is dark reddish brown.
9. Light gray sand clay.
SANTA FE RAILWAY SECTION
The section made along the Santa Fe Railway gives a more
complete series of the T)eds. The Queen City is present at Duff,
as has been stated. South of Duff the Mount Selman is first
seen in the form of brown sands, in which thin beds of laminated
ores are interstratified. Few exposures were seen between this .
point and Bland Lake, where there occurs a loose sand of light
buff color which is also found at Arenosa 10 miles northwest of
San Augustine. This is practically the top of the Mount Selman
in this section, as just south of it, the fossiliferous greensands
begin, and these continue at the surface to a point between Mile
Posts 118 and 117, some four miles south of San Augustine.
South of this the exposures along the railroad are of the tran-
The Geology of East Texas 75
sitional clays and sands and are unsatisfactory, The final ap-
pearance of Cook's ]\Iountain greensand is at Birdwell Siding
one-third mile south of -Mile Post 109. This gives the Marine
beds an exposure along this line of nineteen iniles.
Baker says of this section :
"There are four phases of the Lower Claiborne (exclusive of
the Tegua) along this line of traverse. At the base are the
Queen City beds, succeeded by the iron-bearing, generally un-
fosiliferous Mount Selman sands and clays. Next in upward
succession comes the member of fossiliferous greensand known
as Cook's Mountain, overlain by the sands and clays of the
Cook 's Mountain,Yegua transition, in which there are a few thin
layers of greensand. The iron-bearing Mount Selman forms the
dominating ridge."
SAN AUGUSTINE SECTION
The details of the beds around San Augustine are of interest.
The following is the section at Mile Post 121, G. C. & S. F. Ky. :
1. Dark reddish-brown altered greensand with concretionary
limonit'j, both in laminated and concentric forms. The
iron in concretionary form is found mainly at the con-
tact of the weathered a.nd unweathered greensand. Small
calcareous concretions are rather abundant in the
altered zone. Although these occur in the top of
the less altered zone they are comparatively rare there,
suggesting their possible origin from the gypsum of
the unaltered greensands.
This grades downward into:
2 Greensand — green clay containing secondary selenite in crys-
tals often as large as half an inch. Abundant dark green
oolites; all smaller in diameter than the head of a pin,
also small fakes of "clastic" selenite. The oolites in
the weathered specimens are set in a whitish matrix,
probably calcareous. The green clay is in very small
balls and nodules which in unweathered specimens form
a matrix for the oolites 10 ft.
3. Light gray, fine grained, thin-bedded, sandy clay with
small flakes of selenite and a minor percentage of
oolitic greensand in small, very dark green concretions.
Poorly preserved fossils 3 ft.
The material taken from a well close at hand is a grayish-blue,
76 University of Texas Bulletin
rather light oolitic greensand clay with fossils. This represents
less altered material than any mentioned in the foregoing sec-
tion.
There is 15 feet of the clayey greensand exposed in a cut 200
yards north of Mile Post 121. This exhibits various degrees of
alteration. It has gypsum and calcareous concretions. The
limonite is mainly distributed in thin, irrregularly-laminated
layers runnng at various angles with the horizontal, but nearer
the horizontal than the vertical. The greensand exhibits a very
imper,fect shaly lamination. The superficial, unconsolidated,
weathered product is dark brownish-green below, becoming a
dark reddish-brown above. The gravel in the surficial layer is
mainly composed of irregular angular pieces of ferruginous con-
cretions.
Section on creek joining Ayish Bayou just north of railroad
station -.
1. Greensand.
2. Chocolate-brown clay withi thin flakes of selenite 7 ft.
3. Greensand with thin local layers of iron ore 15 ft.
Dodecahedrons and cubes of pyrite were found in the top of
member No. 1 of the above section.
At the falls on this creek member No. 1 is a dark green, very
clayey greensand. The clay balls have a fibrous structure like
slickensides. Member No. 2 is on the whole rather badly frac-
tured and when wet has a bluish-green color.
Detailed section at San Augustine from the top of the hill at
Little Rock to the G. C. & S. F. Railway north of the station :
1. Very ferruginous reddish-brown Lafayette locally with
pebbles or with hard coarse sandstone cemented by limonite.
Unconformity :
2. Beach or reef bed of hard silicified and calcified greensand
marl containing Gcutella, Ostrea, Pecten and large gas-
teropods. This layer forms a ledge at the first Baptist
Church, around the top of the circum-valley of White
Rock and elsewhere on the top of the hill. Layer ap-
pears to be almost entirely made up of comminuted
shells 10 ft.
TJie Geology of East Texas 77
3. Altered greensand with local ferruginous layers 24 ft.
4. Altered greensand with small calcareous nodules. Horn
corals, yenericardia, Cortula, and other fossils 5 ft.
5. Thinly and irregularly laminated ferruginous layers with
interbedded greensand lenses. Two feet below the top is
a thin, harder concretionary layer 7 ft.
6. "Shelly" layered fossiliferous greensand with slickensides SVz ft.
7. Thinly-laminated, shaly, chocolate-brown sandy clay, sul-
phurous and limonitic, with thin black carbonaceous lenses,
flakes of selenite, and crystals of pyrite. Clay, stickier
and less sandy than lower, varying from light bluish-gray
and light chocolate to rusty in color. Upper layer is fine
and bluish-black in color like material seen in the well on
the upper Nacogdoches road 5 miles west of San Augustine.
At the contact of this clay with the overlying greensand
are falls on all three creeks of this vicinity 9% ft.
8., Thinly, and irregularly, laminated limonitic layers with
small lenses of greensand 4 ft.
9. Altered oolitic greensand clay, dark green below, dark brown
above with Gortnla and Yenericardia. Has nodular
limonite coated greensand clay ironstone ait base. Mas-
sive, jointed, with slickensides common along joint planes,
slickensides coated a dark purplish color 9 ft. 3 in.
10. Layer of ferrufginous concretions, non-continuous, with con-
centric structure of shells of iimonite around the outside
with a. hard compact brown center, perhaps of iron car-
bonate, dotted with oolites of greensand. Averages
about 6 in.
11. Altered clayey greensand like (9). Fosillferous 4 ft.
These beds are exceedingly fossiliferotis and are notable for
the number of echinoderms they contain in comparison with beds
of similar age at other localities.
The Cook's Mountain around San Augustine is unconforma-
bly overlain by dark reddish-brown sandy and clayey alluvium
containing many small angular fragments of iron oxide. Some
of this is Lafayette, some is residual from Lafayette, and an-
other portion is either residual from the Cook's Mountain or is
recent alluvium. These accumulate to a thickness at least as
great as 15 feet. The beds of the Cook's Mountain dip very
slightly southward and have a total thickness of 100 feet or
more.
The road from San Augustine to Nacogdoches runs over the
78 University of Texas Bulletin
Cook's Mountain beds and there are numerous localities where
fossils are found in abundance.
H. E. & W. T. RAILWAY SECTION
The line of the Houston, East & West Texas Railway does not
afford as good exposures of the Mount Selman and Cook's Moun-
tain as are found either east or west of it.
The contact of the Lignitic and Claiborne is near Fitze, the
first station south of Garrison, where deep cuts on the ridge
expose red cross-bedded sand with some ledges of ferruginous
material. This does not appear to belong to the Queen City, but
to the Mount Selman.
A mile south of this the greensands come in and are seen in
the cuts between that point and Nacogdoches.
The scarp which usually marks the line between the Mount
Selman and Cook's Mountain does not appear in this section and
the section does not show any dividing line.
In the lower lands, along the lower slopes of the hills, and in
the stream valleys in the vicinity of Nacogdoches and south, east
and west of that town the surface rock is f ossiliferous greensand
marl. Where unaltered, the greensand marl shows various
shades of green in color and contains an abudant fauna of gas-
teropods, lamellibranchs, corals, echinoids, cephalopods, and
shark's teeth. The shark's teeth belong to the genvis Sipiecodus.
A single species of the eephalopod, Belosepia, was found at
several localities. About seventy-five species were found in all,
fifty of which were collected from one locality. Much of the
fresh greensand has a finely oolitic texture. Ferruginous con-
cretions occur abundantly in the greensand. Where unaltered
these concretions are composed of sphaerosiderite. The iron in
the greensand oxidizes readilj^, imparting to the altered green-
sands various shades of brown and brownish-red. In the altered
greensands the fossils are in the form of easts, but when the
rock is fresh the original shells are preserved. Nodules of clay
are locally abundant in the greensand member. The strata of
this member are thinly bedded and locally vary much in degree
of consolidation, the concretionary portions being very hard and
compact while the greater part of the formation is comparatively
friable.
The Geology of East Texas 79
NACOGDOCHES BEDS
On Aaron's Hill, on El Camino del Rey, 200 yards west of
Houston, East & West Texas Railway passenger station at Nae-
ogdoehes, the following section is exposed:
Nacogdoclies :
1. Mottled sandy clay, brick-red to bluish-gray, weathers under
grass roots to buff sand 6 % ft.
2. Unconsolidated but finely laminated fine-grained sand, flesh
colored to chocolate, unfossiliferous. Contains small ag-
gregations of limonite, cross and wavy bedding very notice-
able in upper part 17 ft. 3 in.
Unconformity with difference of 3 feet in verticality along the irreg-
ular line of contact.
Cook's Mountain:
3. Alternating layers of argillaceous sandstone and arenaceous
clay (both are "greensand marl") thin bedded for most
part. Weathers rusty brown in outcrop, greenish in color
when fresh. Contains fossil casts and varies in degrees of
compactness. Contains much material resembling oolite or
rolled small clay balls varying in size up to 1-10 inch
diameter 22 ft. 5 in.
4. Dark drab, arenaceous, clayey greensand with abundant
fossil casts, weathering to earthy-brown, and seamed by
thin bands of earthy yellow limonite 2 ft. 8 in.
5. Very friable light green greensand, weathering to brownish
or reddish-brown 2 ft.
6. Dark green arenaceous and clayey greensand, dark-purple
in color, with fossil casts. Very oclitic 1 ft 6 in.
7. Better indurated, dark green sandstone, alternating with pur-
ple with much iron carbonate and many casts of shells 2 ft. 5 in.
8. Dark bluish, clayey, greensand, thinly laminated and con-
taining many fossil remains. 3 feet from base is a bed of
oyster shells 2 inches thick. Alters to a reddish-brown
ferruginous surface rock 6 % ft.
At Orton's Hill on El Camino del Rey one mile east of the
last described locality and jnst east of the wagon bridge over
Lanana creek, the following is the section :
Nacogdoches:
1. Sand mottled in places, but mainly reddish-brown in color,
with some cress-bedding. 35 feet above the base Is a layer
80 University of Texas Bulletin
of medium-coarse, and for the most part angular, con-
glomerate with boulders up to 6-inches in diameter. The
smaller particles are much better rounded than the larger.
The pebbles are ferruginous sandstone. They may not all
be detrital, but some may be concretions in the bed.... 45 ft.
Cook's Mountain:
2. Fine-grained sand, less consolidated than in (1), bluish-white
when fresh; where altered, exhibiting various shades of
yellow and brown, depending on the percentage and form
of the iron contained. Upper 30 feet structureless, lower
10 feet rather finely laminated 40 ft.
3. Finely laminated, fine, unconsolidated sand, with nodules of
clay, chocolate brown and greenish-gray to black in color. . 6 ft.
4 Greensand marl, thin-bedded, friable, with abundant fossil
casts, oolitic structure, with layers containing nodular
iron. Mainly clayey, but with a minor amount of sand
which increases in percentage towards the top. The least
altered rock is a dark bluish-green, where most altered and
nearest the surface it is rusty yellowish-brown 28 ft.
There is no unconformity apparent in tlie Orton's Hill sec-
tion, but the angular conglomerate in the upper member is
noticeable. The above sections have been selected as typical.
They also indicate that the clay and sand Eocene member is both
conformable and unconformable on the underlying greensand
and that there are layers of greensand containing characteristic
fossils interbedded with the clay and sand Eocene member. In
the harder ferruginous beds and nodules of this transition mem-
ber casts of Claiborne fossils are found. Since no fossils or
greensand have been found in this region in the lithologically
very different lower Yegua, it is .judged most logical to group
the sand and clay Eocene member in the Marine as an upper
and shallower water phase.
In places it rests on the Marine greensands with an irregular
contact ; in other localities the member appears to rest with con-
formity on the Marine. The sand and clay member exhibits
much cross-bedding and frequent alternation of sand, clay,
shale and gravel. The individual beds are not persistent, but
notably lenticular. These structural characteristics and the
relatively clastic composition of the deposits, point to a shallow-
insr of the site of sedimentation after the epoch of greensand
University of Texas Bulletin No. 1869
Plate VI.
Fig. 1. MARINE FORMATION.
Exposure on Aaron's Hill, near Nacogdoches.
Fig. 2. YEGUA FORMATION.
Westmoreland Bluff, Trinity County.
The Geology of East Texas 81
deposition and the coming on of littoral, estuarine and partly
terrestrial conditions. This sand and clay member is considered,
therefore, as distinct frrom the light-colored gypsiferous beds
of the Yegua, although the sand and clay member is, in places,
gypsiferous. It is regarded as a distinct lithologic unit, consti-
tuting the end of a cycle of Marine deposition, and to distinguish
it the name of Nacogdoches is suggested for it. The occurrences
noted above are outliers capping the Cook's Mountain.
The greensands of the Cook's Mountain are found to the
south as far as Climax, where the transitional beds between the
Cook's Mountain and Yegua begin. These Nacogdoches beds
occupy nearly seven miles of the section passing under the more
massive clays of the Yegua near Davidson.
A cutting on the Houston, Bast & West Texas Railway 100
feet north of Culvert 129A and 150 yards north of Mile Post
128, 11/4 miles south of Climax siding, southern Nacogdoches
county, is interesting. There are two unconformities shown in
this one section, the one between the Nacogdoches and the
partially consolidated post- Yegua surficial member and one in
which the Lafayette overlies with marked discordance both the
Nacogdoches and the post- Yegua partially consolidated surficial
member.
In the base of the section is exposed some 35 feet of Nacog-
doches sands and clays thinly laminated, dipping 10 degrees to
the southeast. The Nacogdoches is here mainly a thinly lam-
inated medium-fine light gray sand carrying small broken flakes
of selenite. The sand is interbedded with thin layers of blue-
gray clay of a thickness of from 1/32 inch to 2 inches. There
are also some layers of limonitie stained sands and sandstone
varying in thickness from the neighborhood of 1/32 inch to
about 8 inches. Some of these layers are cemented into a
medium-hard sandstone by limonite.
Among the plants collected from this locality,' Berry identified
a new species of Citrophyllmn.
The upturned edges of the tilted Nacogdoches sti-ata are
bevelled off to a horizontal plane and unconformably overlain,
by horizontally bedded red and light gray sands and sandy clay
partially consolidated, which exhibit mottling in lenticular
82 ■ Umversity of Texas Bulletin
laj^ers rather than in the irregular blotches more characteristic
of .the Lafayette. In composition it is mainly medium-grained
sand with a considerable proportion of clay, containing
tiny flakes of selenite. On freshly broken surfaces the
color of the reddish portions is seen to be pink or old
rose. About 10 feet of this member is exposed at the top
of the cut. On the south this entire thickness is cut off
by an angular unconformity, the plane of which dips a"bout 40°
to the southward. The exact relationship of this member is
not known.
Overlying this plane of unconformity is uiicousolidated and
structureless material which belongs to the Lafayette, varying
in texture from medium-grained clayey sand through coarse
grit to medium-coarse conglomerate; in color, from whole
patches which are dark red or light gray, to irregular mottling
in blotches of these two colors; in structure, from absolutely
structureless to an imperfect sorting in layers of finer and
coarser pebbles, the layers of which are not always horizontal,
while the conglomerate exists in small to large irregular
bunches ; in composition, from clay to quartz with some flakes of
selenite, and to conglomerate mainly of subangular or rounded
ferruginous pebbles with a few well-rounded quartz pebbles;
and in induration, from loose unconsolidated sands to ferrugi-
nous cemented, fairly hard conglomerate with most of the sand
exhibiting on the surface a casehardening which gives it a
noticeably solid appearance. Some of the material has very
contorted laminae, thin layers of red and white being inter-
spersed. Where it overlies the Nacogdoches next above the
irregular contact, it includes small pieces of thinly-laminated
Nacogdoches shales, with their bedding or lamination planes
running in every direction and angle.
The Nacogdoches beds are well shown in the exposures along
streams flowing southward into the Angelina river in Nacog-
doches county and in some of the river bluffs. They also appear
in the lower reaches in the tributaries on the south side of the
river.
Atove the interbedded greensands, carbonaceous and gypsif-
erous clays already described, the following beds were foand
TTie Geology of East Texas 83
in Durazno or Wills creek, whicli rises east of Lufkin and flows
northward into the Angelina.
Above the higher beds of greensand found on this creek
comes, first, a structureless, massive sand weathering on the
surface to a light buff, but underneath the surface of a light
brownish-gray. The sand contains black and brown plant frag-
ments and is at least 12 feet in thickness.
Higher up the creek and higher stratigraphically the next
rock exposed is fine sand, alternating in thin layers of dark
brown and gray, about 1/16 inch in thickness and containing
plant fragments. A thickness of 8 feet is exposed.
The next exposure gives the following section :
1. Laminated and shaly light brown sand.
2. Light brown, massive, medium-fine sand 1ft.
3. Sandy clay, light chocolat"? brown 1 2.3 ft-
4. Laminated light gray-brown sand with thin non-continuous
streaks of dark chocolate-brown. Blotches of yellow sul-
phur. Plant fragments 1 % ft.
5. Brown clay 2 in.
6. Laminated brcwn layers limonite-stained and cemented .... 1 in.
7. Light brown finely laminated fine sand with dark brown
seams and plant fragments % ft.
8. Very thinly laminated light grayish-blue fine sand containing
thin layers of dark brown and chocolate-brown. Contains
plant fragments, has wavy laminations, and weathers
brown on surface 4 ft.
The next higher exposure consists of :
1. Drab laminated sand with limonite-stained seams 6 ft.
2. Brown laminated sand with plant remains 3 ft.
3. Chocolate-brown sand with black plant fragments and yellow
blotches of sulphur. The upper foot gives way along
bedding planes to dark Mue-gray sandy clay 2% ft.
Above this then, is 5 feet of laminated, fine to medium, drab
sand with thin seams stained brown with limonite and contain-
inw selenite flakes and brown plant fragments. The sand con-
tains a considerable proportion of clay.
The next exposure shows 4 feet of gray to brown sand with
yellow sulphur and brown plant remains, while the highest
exposure examined in this creek gives 7 feet of. coarse loose
84 University of Texas Bulletin
sand, light gray when unweathered, but light yellow when
weathered. The sand contain flakes of selenite up to 1/16 inch
in long dimension.
Similarly, on the west of the railroad a creek on the northern
boundary of Angelina county, tributary to the Angelina river,
gives the following sections going up-stream :
Lowest section exposed gives :
1 . Covered with surflclal material 15 ft.
2. .Alternating layers of light-brown sand and light-gray sandy
clay. The sand layers relatively and absoUuely increase
in thickness toward the top until they are 2 to 3 inches
in thickness 10 ft .
.3. Gray medium-grained sand inter-bedded with thin layers
of chocolate-brown clay and with thin layers of limonite.
hardened sand. The percentage of clay gradually in-
creases toward the top. Where the sand and clay come
in contact the sand is stained brown with a thin film of
limonite 10 ft.
4. Chocolate-brown clay with small fragmentary remains 2 ft.
5. Same as (3) but without hardened sand layers 22 ft.
The bedding planes are wavy and the beds correspond very
well with those overlying the f ossilif erous greensands at Aaron 's
and Orton's hills, Nacogdoches.
About 2 miles up-stream there is an exposure of 15 to 20 feet
of thinly-bedded alternating sand and clay. At the base the clay
is very dark brown, almost black, with very thin layers of gray
sand separating the clay layers. In the middle portion of the
section chocolate-brown clay predominates, while toward the top
2 inch beds of chocolate-brown clay alternate with layers of the
same thickness of light gray or light brown sand. The basal
member here corresponds to the strata found at the base of Tre-
wiek's Bluff, 21^ miles east of the Texas & New Orleans Railroad
bridge across the Angelina river, and to the beds lying above the
greensand on Orton's and Aaron's hills, Nacogdoches, and to
those found on Procella and Mill creeks, respectively, northwest
and northeast of Lufkin, Angelina county.
One of the best sections of the upper Nacogdoches found is
that of the next exposure about 100 yards up-stream from that
last noted. There is here a perpendicular bank 60 feet in height.
Tke Geology of East Texas 85
The lower 40 feet is made up of thin alternating layers of light
gray to light brown sand and chocolate-brown clay. The upper
20 feet is mainly a light brownish buff loose sand. The laminated
sand layers in the lower part of the section exhibit wavy laminae.
The upper 20 feet is also thinly bedded, especially in its middle
portion. The upper 20 feet differs in reality very little from the
lower 40. It has a larger percentage of light brown sand an an
occasional thin layer of chocolate clay.
Mill creek north of Lufkin repeats the section even more in
detail.
The lower horizon exposed on Mill creek has thin-bedded alter-
nating sands and clays containing carbonized material at base
and thin seams of very impure lignite. The dip is from 5 degrees
to 7 degrees to the southward. The sand varies in color from
gray-blue through brownish-gray to 'reddish-brown, depending on
the amount and state of the contained iron. One exposure shows
8 feet of finely laminated brownish-gray sands seamed with yel-
low limonite stains and containing thin films and blotches of
carbonized leaves. One hundred yards farther upstream thinly
laminated, alternating dark brown clay and light brown sand
layers are exposed. Fourteen feet above the base of the section
is a layer varying from a knife edge to 6 inches in thickness, con-
taining carbonized fragments of plant remains which are also
found in the strata above and below. The individual layers are
at the maximum not much more than an inch in thickness and
most of them are about % inch thick. The beds lie practically
horizontal and are cut by a normal fault of 10 inches vertical
displacement.
This is followed by a section giving 3 feet of blue-gray clay
at the base succeeded by 6 feet of very carbonaceous brown sandy
laminated clay, in turn succeeded by 3 feet of laminated fine
sand stained with limonite and sulphur, and containing brown
plant fragments. The brown clay middle member is in places
so carbonaceous as to exhibit a very thin seam of brown coal.
The next exposure shows at the base 2% feet of blue gray
clayey sand, overlain by 8 feet of thinly laminated gray-brown
crossbedded sand, having at base 4 feet of alternating laminated
sand and layers containing thin bands of alternating sand and
black carbonaceous matter from 2 to 6 inches in thickness and
86 University of Texas Bulletin
separated by layers of the laminated sand several times their
own thickness.
The next section has a thickness of 15 feet. The lower 3 feet
is mainly chocolate-brown shale, but inter-bedded with thin sand
layers. The upper 12 feet is mainly sand with streaks and
blotches of brown carbonaceous matter. Above this, in next sec-
tion, 12 ft. of light blue laminated sands containing brown
blotches of carbonaceous matter.
In upward succession in the next exposure comes 4 feet of
soft, chocolate brown, loose sand with carbonaceous matter, and
streaks and blo'tches of sulphur. It is overlain by 4 feet of light
gray sticky clay.
The next exposure upstream is probably the base of the Yegua.
From the sections given it will be apparent that the marine
conditions of the earlier Nacogdoches gave way slowly to the
palustrine. The transition beds between the two formations
show some alternation of conditions with, however, on the whole,
a gradual shallowing of water at the site of deposition, passing
from the typical marine conditions with the greensand. faeies
through shallower water, lagunal, and estuarial conditions with
the carbonaceous and lignitic sand and clay faeies into littoral
or true terrestrial conditions in the light buffi gypsiferous sands
and clays containing the great abundance of silieified wood.
The exact line separating the Marine .from the Yegua is some-
what difficult to draw on this account. We have drawn it here as
at the type locality, where the more massive gypsiferous clays
begin. Here these clays come in above the highest fossiliferous
beds of the Nacogdoches (which contain remains of both marine
animals and plants) and in place of the abundant marine fauna
characterizing the typical Yegua we have found between the
Sabine and Trinity only occasional nests of poorly preserved
forms.
THE ST. LOUIS & SOUTH^VESTEKN SECTION
This was the line of Kennedy's section as published in the
Third Annual Report of the Texas Geological Survey^. The
Mount Selman section as given by him is as follows:
"Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Sur. Tex., p. 53.
The Geology of East Texas 87
1. Gray surface sand : 10 ft.
2. Brown sand, ferruginous pebbles and iron ore 15 ft.
3. Mottled sand 10 ft.
4. Brownish-yellow sand 4 ft.
5. Brownish-yellow sandstone 10 ft.
6. Alternate strata of laminated iron ore and brown sand, the
ore generally from twO' to ten inches and the sand from
one to twiO' feet thick 8 ft.
7. Dark green sand containing casts of small bivalve shells.. 5ft.
8. White clayey sand .' 1 ft.
9. Dark green, nearly black, sand containing thin seams of fer-
ruginous material near top, and also- containing small fish
teeth and Venericardia planicosta and SpJiaerella antipro-
ducta in very small numbers 12 ft.
10. Brown sand • 10 ft.
11. White sand 10 ft.
12. Alternate strata of brown sand and laminated iron ore, ore
generally wavy and not more than two to six inches with
sand from one to two feet thick 20 ft.
13. Pale-blue and brown clay mottled in places and laminated
in others 15 ft.
14. Alternate strata of glauconitic brown sand and iron ore, the
ore generally irregularly deposited, laminated and silicious
and not exceeding six inches to one foot, the sand from
six inches to two feet thick 55 ft.
15. Brown sand forming surface at Bullard, altered greensand
changing to yellow a few feet underground 40 ft.
16. Dark green sand containing a few fossil shells and flsh
teeth 24 ft.
17. Lignite or "black dirt" containing leaves 2 ft.
18. Dark lignitic clay 5 ft.
Nos. 17 and 18 of this section belong to the Lignitie beds.
This is generalized from the many sections made between Bul-
lard and Jacksonville and brings out in some measure the ex-
tremely ferruginous character of this portion of the Marine.
This is further shov?n in the section three miles north of Rusk,
as given by Penrose^. This section also includes the lignitic
member of the Mount Selman, which is apparently near the same
position in the section as that seen on the Sabine river. At the
top we have beds belonging to the Cook's Mountain series. The
section is as follows :
■ First Ann. Rept. Geo). Surv. Tex. p. 31.
88 University of Texas Bulletin
1. Gray and buff sands 8 ft.
2. Hard brown sandstone 1 to 3 in.
3. Brown resinous laminated hematite 1 to 3 ft.
4. Altered fossiliferous greensand 30 ft.
5. Gray clay, stained by iron in places 5 ft.
6. Dark gray sand, with glauconite specks arid rusty pyrites,
giving rise to many ferruginous springs 20 ft.
7. Gray and chocolate clays, ferruginous in places 35 ft.
8. Interbedded seams of gray and chocolate clay and fosslllfer-
ons glauconite marl, sometimes indurated and partly
altered; nodules and lenses of clay ironstone 40 ft.
9. Gray clay, with seams of sand, and some clay ironstone. ... 5 ft.
10. Interstratifled gray and chocolate clay 5 ft.
11. Lignite 1 ft.
12. Chocolate clay '. 1 to 1% ft.
13. Lignite 1 ft
14. Chocolate clay "ft.
15. Interbedded chocolate clay and small seams of lignite, 1-8 to
1-2 inch thick, at base of section.
The upper portion of the Cook's Mountain is well shown in
Kennedy's Alto section:
This section embraces a series of greensands and altered glau-
conitic sands and sandstones lying close to the top of the "Cook's
Mountain" beds. The section combines the whole of the green-
sand deposits from Alto, 8 or 10 miles eastward, to the edge of
the Angelina river "bottom lands", and the whole, or the greater
portion, of the section may also be taken as representative of the
structure of the country from Alto southwestward to the Neches.
The section shows:
1. Gray sand 5 to 20 ft.
2. Ferruginous sandstone 1 ft.
3. Iron pyrites and lignite 1/, to 1 ft.
4. Laminated iron ore and brown sand 10 to 15 ft.
5. Brown and yellowish-brown altered glauconitic sand with
streaks and nodules of calcareous matter and containing
Terebra houstonia Harris, n. sp., Pleurotoma (Surcula)
gaW Conrad, Ostrea sellaeformis, var. divaricata Lea,
Pinna, sp., Trigonarca pulchra Gabb, P^eudoUva vetusta
Con., Volutilithes petrosa Con., Latirus vvoorei Gabb, Cor-
tula texana Harris, Corbula aldricM, var. smithvlllensis
Harris, Dentalium minutistriatum Gabb, Venericardia
planicosta Lam., Venericardia rotunda Lea, Glavilitfies
The Geology of East Texas 89
regexa Harris, n. sp., Plws texana Gabb var., Distortrix sep-
temdentata Gabb, Solarium, acutum, var. meekanum Gabb,
TerelieUum, Calyptrophorus velatus Con., Mesalia claibor-
nensis Con., Anomia ephippioides Gabb, Cerithium vinctum
Whitf., Pecten claibornensis Conrad, Pecten deshayesii Lea,
PUcatula fllamentosa, Con., Cytherea texacola Harris,
Crassatella texana Heilp., Turriteila nasuta Gabb, and
many of these in profusion." 6 ft.
6. Yellowish-brown and grayish-brown, often grayish-green, in-
durated greensands containing most of the fossils found in
No. 5 and an additional fauna of Pleurotoma (Drillia)
nodocarinata Gabb, Yolutilithes petrosa var. indenta Con-
rad, Cariceila sWbangulata var. cherokeensis Harris, Cas-
sidaria hrevicostata Aid., Pholadomya claiiornensis Aid.,
Byssoarca cucuUoides Con., Martesia texana Harris, n. sp.,
Dentalium, minutistriatum var. dum'bjei, n. var., Natica
newtonensis Aid., Natica limula var., Rimella texana, var.
plana, new var., Cancellaria panones Harris, n. sp., Clavili-
thes {Papillina) dumosa, var. trapaquara Harris, G. hume-
rosa, var. texana Harris, Cassidaria irevicosta Aid., Turri-
teila dutexta Harris, Scutella caput-sinensis Heilpr., and
fish teeth ... > 20 ft.
7. Greensands with casts of fossils 6 ft.
8. Brown altered glauconitic sandstone with casts of fossils . . 30 ft.
9. Greensand with fish teeth and Conns saniridens Con.,
Anonfvia ephippioides Gabb, Byssoarca cucuUoides Con.,
Trigonarca pulchra Gabb, Tolutilithes petrosa Con., Vol-
utilithes precursor Dall, and others belonging to Nos.
5 and 6 8 ft.
These beds are at the surface until covered by the Nacogdoches
some three miles north of Wells. The transition beds continue
along this line to one mile south of Pollock, where the massive
clays of the Yegua are found.
TRINITY RIVER SECTION
The exposures along Trinity river and its tributaries west of
the International & Great Northern Eailway are very numerous
and characteristic.
The Wilcox-Marine contat't crosses the river in the vieinitv
'The lists of invertebrate fossils given in this and succeeding sections
of the Claiborne are based on Harris' Mss. Catalogue of Tertiary Fos-
sils made in 1893 and now at the University of Texas, and have not
had the benefit cf his later revision.
7-ET.
■90 University of Texas Bulletin
of tlie north line of Leon county. A series of bluffs on ther east
bank of the river give the following sections :
Wooier's Bluff: — This bluff is on the Thompson headright
about four miles above the mouth of Elkhart creek, and is prob-
ably ten to twelve miles below the Wilcox-Marine contact. The
Mount Selman beds are here found to be unfossiliferous, al-
though the higher grounds lying some distance away from the
river show brown sandstones and altered greensands with a few
fossils. The section at the bluff appears to be more of a lignitic
nature toward the base.
1. Brown and yellowish-brown sand 10 to 15 ft.
2. Clay ironstone 1 to 3 in.
3. Dark gray micaceous clay, weathering brown on outside. .. .20 ft.
4. Clay ironstone 1 to 2 in.
5. Dark blue 'or bluish-black micaceous clayey sand 2 to 6 ft.
Hall's Bluff: — On the Murehison headright just below mouth
of Elkhart creek:
1. Gravel and sand 25 to 30 ft.
2. Fossiliferous sandstone containing Ostrea sellaeformis, var.
divaricata Lea. CeritMum vinctum Whitf., and casts of
others 4 ft.
3. Red sandstone 10 ft.
4. Yellowish-white sand 2 ft.
5. Brown clay with gypsum crystals 6 in.
6. Yellowish-white sand 5 ft.
7. Irregular stratum of clay ironstone boulders 8 in.
8. Dark greensand, weathering brown, containing fish teeth,
but no invertebrates 6 ft.
9. Brown sand 4 ft.
Brookfield's Bluff :— A bluff a little south of west from Crock-
ett, on the Brookfield headright, three miles below the mouth of
Hurricane bayou:
1. structureless greenish drab clays containing white calcareous
nodules up to one inch in diameter. Contains 5 feet from
base a 3-inch sandy layer that is packed with gasteropod
and lamellibranch remains. Also near the top there is
a layer of fossiliferous indurated greensand containing
oysters, etc. This clay weathers out to brown and black
soil and underlies the post-oak country encountered for
TJie Geology of East Texas 91
some ways back from the bluff on the road to Porter
Springs.
2. Concretionary limestone layer of yellow to buff color exhibit-
ing the cone.in-cone structure very well 1 ft.
3. Structureless drab and yellowish brown clay 25 ft.
4. Laminated chocolate shaly clays with intercalated layers of
yellowish brown sand; contains at the top a 3-inch layer
of concretionary clay ironstone 20 ft.
5. Brown sandstone in heavy bed 10 ft.
6. Clay ironstone 1 ft.
7. Laminated dark blue sand and light gray clays with iron
pyrites 8 ft.
8. Lignite 2 in.
9. Same as No. 7 5 ft.
10. Thin seam of ferruginous sandstone 6 in.
11. Same as No-. 7, getting darker in lower portion of the beds
and covered with a yellowish efflorescence of sulphur.
Water issuing from these beds is sulphurous and the
springs show considerable quantities of hydrogen sulphide
to level of river 15 ft.
No. (1) is probably the lowest member of the Cook's Mountaiij
and the fossiliferous beds beginning at this locality are mucli
more prominent farther down the river.
This would give the Mount Salman beds an outcrop on the river
of at least twenty miles.
The small amount of iron in these sections compared with
those east is very noticeable.
Alabama Bluff: — This bluff is about six miles below Brook-
fields in an air-line. It was originally considered to mark the
top of the Marine beds on the river, but we find overlying it
a broad expanse of the Nacogdoches, so that it is now regarded
as the top of the Cook's Mountain only:
1. Fossiliferous greenish-blue clay 4 ft.
2. Greensand altered to a brownish-yellow sand with thin
strata of ferruginous material interstratified and contain-
ing Tolvula conradiana Gabb, Conns sauridens Conrad,
Pleurotoma (.Surcula) gabdi Con., PI. (Cochlespira) en-
gonata Con., PI. {Swrcula) moorei Gabb, PI. (DrUHa)
nodocarinata Gabb, PI. -sp., AnciUa {OUvula) staminea
Con., Anomia epMppioides Gabb, PHcatula fllamentosa Con.,
Trigonaroa pulchra Gabb, T. coriuloides Con., Leda hous-
tonio Harris PseudoUva vetusta Con. var., YolutiUthes pe-
92 University of Texas Bulletin
trosa Oon., Caricella demissa, var. texana Gabb, Turricula
(Conow.itra) texana Harris, T. polita Gabb, Latirus moorei
Gabb, Cortula alabamensis Lea, Gadulus subcoarcuatus
Gabb, Fusus mortoni, var. mortoriopsis Gabb, Glavilithes
penrosei Heilprin, Phos texana Gabb, Distortrix septemden-
tata Gabb, Gassidaria planotecta Aid., Solarium tellastria-
tum Con., Natica arata Gabb, N. limula Con., Mesalia clai-
iornensls Con., Turritella nasuta Con., Spirorhis leptostoma
Swain, TuriinoUa pharetra Lea 5 to 6
3. Ferruginous sandstone with iron ore 1 to 2
4. Green sand and ferruginous material same as No. 2, and
containing same fossils with addition of Pleurotoma heiU
priniana Harris, Ostrea sellaeformis, var. divaricata
Lea, Pinna sp., Byssoarca cuculloides Con., Lapparia pac-
tilis, var. moorea»KS Gabb, yenericardia planioosta Lam.,
Grasatella texana Harris, Cytherea texacola Harris, Glav-
ilithes (PapilUno) dumosa, var. trapagtiara Harris Natica
sp., Turritella nasuta var. houstonia Harris, Belosepia
ungula Gabb, Eriphyla trapaquara Harris 4 ft.
cook's mountain section
Cook 's Mountain, a hill about two miles west of Crockett, rises
460 feet above sea-level and shows a more or less precipitous face
on every side. Its face, however, is marked by a series of
benches, and Kennedy made the following section on the eastern
side from Milam branch to top of mountain:
1. Brown ferruginous sandstone with occasional casts of a
small bivalve 10 ft.
2. Yellow-colored cross-bedded altered glauconitic sand 40 ft.
3. Brown sand and sandstone with occasional seams of fer-
5. Iron ore 1 ft.
6. Brown sand containing BuUmella kellogii Gabb, Terelira
texagyra var. Harris, T. houstonia HaiTis, n. sp., Conus
sauridens, Con., Pleurotoma (Surcula) gaiM Con., PI.
(GocUlespira) engonata Con., PI. (Drillia) nodocarinata
Gabb., PI. {Drillia) texana var. pleboides Harris, PI. {Maiir
{jelia) infans var., PI. sp., lAncilla (Olivula) staminea
Con., Ostrea alabamensis Lea., 0. sellaeformis var.' divari-
cata Lea, Anomda epMppioides Gabb., Plicatula fllamentosa
Con., Avicula sp.. Pinna sp., Pseudoliva vetusta Con. var..
yolutilithes petrosa Con., V. petrosa, var. indenta Con., y.
precursor Dall var., Garicella sWb-angulata var. cTierofceen-
sis Harris, Lapparia pactilis var. mooreana Gabb., Latirus
moorei Gabb., Gornulina armigera Con., Gorhula alatamen-
The Geology of East Texas ' 93
sis Lea, Yenericwrdia planicosta, Lam., Gytherea texacola
Harris, Glavilithes regexa Harris, n. sp., Phos texana Gabb.
var., Distortrix septemdentata Gabb., Scala, Natica arata
Gabb., N. limula var., Sigaretus decUvis Oon., Calyptrop-
horus veiatus Con., Turritella nasuta var. houstonia,
Harris, T. nasuta Gabb., Belosepia ungula Gabb., and the
corals Occulina Heilpr., TurMnolia pharetra Lea., Trochos-
milia mortoni Gabb and Horn, and Endopachys maclurii
Lea. A number of fisb teeth also occur in this bed 15 ft.
This description is amplified by Suman in his section along
Navarro road from point in creek bottom, approximately one
mile east of Cook's Mountain, to top of mountain, the creek bot-
tom being about 160 feet below top of mountain :
1. Creek bottom. Red sandy alluvial clay 7 ft.
2. Light bluish gray or drab massive sticky clay containing
aggregations of small gypsum crystals. Covered at sur-
face by mottled dark red and light gray sandy clay
until the upper 1 ft. containing gravel. Also contains
one foot below the surface rounded concentric limonitic
concretions up to 2 feet in diameter 8 ft.
3. Dark purplish brown finely laminated clayey shale. Is gyp-
siferous and carbonaceous. Contains partings of yellowish
brown sand, and one sand layer 3-inches thick was noted.
In one place there is a sand dike about four feet deep in
the clayey shale 15 ft. 6 in.
4. Mottled material. Maximum exposures of about 10 ft. along
road. Is covered by ferruginous and quartzitic gravel
along surface in places. Is mainly a mottled reddish
brown and gray sandy clay 50 ft.
5. Pine sand, gray when unweathered, but stained reddish on
surface. Is cross-bedded and gypsiterous and contains
layers of laminated gray shaly clay and laminated iron
ore. Shaly clay layers are from few inches to 1 foot thick.
The bedding planes are for the most part wavy, and len-
ticular sand layers are noticeable. The sands are locally
laminated with limcnitic layers and chocolate colored clay
layers are to be noted. Ferruginous seams are notice-
able along joint planes. The gypsum occurs as small
flakes of selenite 1-32" in diameter and less. Mottled
towaird top 26 ft. 3 in.
6. Ferruginous dark red sandy clay. Contains some laminated
gray and brown clayey layers 19 ft.
7. About one half of this member consists of a coarse-grained,
dark red, very ferruginous, slightly gypsiferous, friable
94 University of Texas Bulletin
sandstone. Concretionary and pisolitic ferruginous ma-
terial in places witli warts up to 2 inches in diameter.
These layers of sandstone are up to 1 foot in thickness,
and are interbedded with a cross or wavy irregularly thin-
bedded sandy clay which is alternately streaked gray and
reddish brown in thin streaks. The sandstone which has
a yellowish green or yellowish brown color when freshly
broken forms the flat rocky surface of Coiok's Mountain.
At the northwestern rim of the mountain a medium-
grained, dark brown sandstone containing casts of
lamellibranohs in abundance is found. It is massive but
may, in all probability, be the equivalent of the member
above described which occurs on the southern rim 35 ft.
8. Covering the flat top of Cook's Mountain is a thin veneer
of gravel made up of quartzose and granitic well rounded
pebbles of even grain and averaging 1% inch in diameter.
To the south of Cook's Mountain and Alabama bluff the
Cook's Mountain beds are succeeded by the Nacogdoches, which
extends along the river to the vicinity of Robbing Ferry east of
the Leon-Madison county line, where it is finally overlain by the
Yegua.
Prom beds of the Nacogdoches on Cane creek, five mUes south-
west of Crockett, Berry identified the following species of plants:
Cladasporites fasciculatus Berry
Cuprusinoyglon dawsonl Penh.
The last appearance of the fossiliferous Marine beds on the
Trinity is near the mouth of Boggy creek in southeastern Leon
and in northeastern Madison counties.
WHEELOCK AND VICINITY
Among the more noted fossil localities of the Cook's Moun-
tain are those around Wheeloek in Robertson county.
The fossils described by Gabb were obtained from Cedar
creek near Wheeloek. In the list of species described by that
writer we find Belosepia ungula Gabb, Mwex (Odontopolys)
compsorhytis Gabb, Fusus mortonopsis Gabb, Neptunea entero-
gramma Gabb, Pleurotoma, Turris kellogii Gabb, T. texana Gabb,
T. retifera Gabb, T. nodocarinata Gabb, EucTieilodon reticulata
Gabb, Scohinella, crassiplicata Gabb, S. leviplicata Gabb, Dis-
TJie Geology of East Texas 95
tortrix septemdentata Gabb, Phos texana Gabb, Psendoliva fusi-
formis Con. mss., P. linosa Con., mss., P. carineta Con. mss.,
P. perspectiva Con. mss., Gastridium vetustum Con., Agaronia
punctulifera Gabb, Fasciolaria moorei Gabb, Cymiiola texana
Gabb, M^ra mooreana Gabb, M. erctMs Gabb, JBrafo semenoides
Gabb, Neverita arata Gabb, Monoptygma crassiplica Con. mss.,
Architect onica meekana Gabb, Spirorbis leptostoma Swain, Tur-
ritella nasuta Gabb, Dentalium minutistriatum Gabb, Ditrupa
subcoarcuata Gabb, Bulla kellogii Gabb, Volvula conradiama
G&hh,Corbula texana Gabb, Cibota mississippiensis Con., Anomia
epMppioides Gabb^.
The whole, or nearly the whole, of these species were obtained
by the Texas Survey during the course of the work in that
region, and several others have been added to the above list.
The section shown on Cedar creek and in the immediate vi-
cinity is as follows:
1. Brown prairie sandy soil with occasional blocks or frag- .
s ments of ferruginous sandstone containing great quantities
of Plicatula filamentosa. Gabb, and SpirorMs leptostoma
Swain • 5-15 ft.
2. Brown altered greensand and clay 4 ft.
3. Thin seam of ferruginous sandstone 1ft.
Nos. 2 and 3 contain quite an extensive fauna comprising
Actaeon punctatus Lea, Bulimella kellogii GaJbb, Terebra Jious-
tonia n. sp., Harris, Conits suaridens Conrad, Pleurotoma {Sur-
cula) gabbi Con., PI., PI — , PI. {Cochlespira) engonata Gabb,
PI. bella Con., PI. (S'urcula) moorei var., Gabb, PI. {Drillia)
nodocarinata Gabb, PI. terebriformis Mr., n. sp., Pi. {Drillia)
texacona Harris, PI. (Borsonia) plenta Harris, Cancellaria tor-
tiplica Con., Ancilla {Olivula) staminea Con., Pseudoliva ve-
tusta, var. pica, P. vetusta Con., var. fusiformis Lea, Ostrea ala-
bamensis Lea, 0. sellaeformis, var. divaricata Lea, Anomia eph-
ippoides Gabb, Plicatula filamentosa Conrad-, Byssoarca cucul-
loides Con., Trigonarca pulcJira Gabb, T. corbuloides Con., Nu-
cula magnifica Con., Leda opulenta Con., Yoldia claibomensis
Conrad, Marginella semen Lea, Volutilithes petrosa Con., V. pre-
' Journal Acad, of Nat. Sci. of Phlla., Second Series, Vol. 4, pp.
376-389 and plates 67 and 69.
96 University of Texas Bulletin
cursor Dall, V. dalli Harris, n. sp., Turricula polita GaJbb, Lat-
ins moorei Gabb, Gornulina armigera Gabb, Petropsis conradi
Dana, Corbula aldricM, var. smithvillensis HarriS; C. texana
Gabb, C. alabamensis Lea, Dentalium minutistriatum Gabb, Deru-
talium minutistriatum Gabb, var. dumblei, n. var., Venericardia
planicosta Lam. Ci/therea tomadonis Harris, G. bastropensis
Harris, Fusus mortoni var. mortonopsis Gabb, PJios texana Gabb,
var., Distortrix septemdentata Gabb, Tuba antiquata, var. texana
n. var., Solarium, scrobiculatum Con., S. vespertinMm Gabb, Natica
arata Gabb, N. limula Con., N. semilunata, var. janthinops n.
vax. Sigaretm inconstans Aid., S. declivis Con., Pyrula {Fusofi-
cula) penita Con. var., Mesalia daibornensis Con., Turritella
nasuta Gabb, T. dumblei flarri^ n. sp., Aturia near zic-zac.
Belosepia ungula Gabb, Flabellum sp., Twrbinolia pharetra Lea
and LunuUtes sp.
4. Pale to purplish-pink clay found 200 yards farther down
Cedar Creek than No. 3. Very few fossils found in this
bed 4 to 6 ft.
5. Dark grayish-green sand containing, in addition t O' the
greater number of the fossils found in No. 2, the following:
Pleurotoma childreni, var. Mtota Harris, Cancellaria pan-
ones, var. junipera Harris, Cancellaria gemmata Con., Yol-
utiUthes petrosa, var. indenta Con., Gadulus sui-coarcuatus
Gabb, Ghrysodomus enterogramma Gabb and Solarium
acutum, var. meehanum Gabb
6. Green sand with laminae of clay containing nearly the same
fauna as in Nos. 3 and o with Aotaeon punctatus Lea and
PI. retifera Gabb\ additional 4 to 6 ft.
7. Dark brown and purplish-brown sand and clay, laminated
with fossils in sand, to bed of creek 2 ft.
The next section west of this is on Campbell's Creek, near
Dunn's ranch and about six miles west of Wheelock. This
shows : 1
1. Black soil 2 to 4 ft.
2. Brown sand with calcareous material 4 to 8 ft.
3. Ferruginous brown sandstone and sands, altered greensands
with Conus sauridens Con., Pleurotoma iSurcula) gaWi
Con., PI., (Drillia) nodocarinata Gabb, PI. (Borsonia)
' Harris Mss.
Tlie Geology of East Texas 97
plenta Harris, Ancilla {OUvula) staminea Con., Ostrea
sellaeformis, var. divaricata Lea, Anomia ephippioides
Gabb, Nuoula magnifica Con., Pseudoliva vetusta Con., var.,
P. v&tusta, var. fusiformis Lea, Yolutilithes petrosa, var.
indenta Oon., T. precursor Dall, Latirus moorei Gabb, Cor-
iula texana Gabb, Venericardia planicosta Lam., Fusus
mortoni, var. mortonopsis Gabb, Pftos iesawi Gabb, var.
Distortrix septemdentata Gabb, Sigaretus decUvis Con.,
Mesalia claihomensis Con., Turritella nasuta Gabb, Twr-
ritella, dum'blei Harris n. sp., Belosepia ungula Gabb 4 tt.
4. Black laminated clay, enclosing Conus samridens Con., Pleu-
rotoma (Surcula). galiiii Con., PI. phildreni, var. Mtota
Harris, PI. {Drillia) nodooarinata Gabb, PJ. (Borsonia)
plenta Harris, Ostrea sellaeformis var. divaricata Lea,
Pseudoliva vetusta Con. var., Yolutilithes petrosa Con.,
Latirus moorei Gabb, venericardia planicosta Lam., Cy-
therea tornadonis Harris, Chrysodonvus entero gramma
Gabb and Natioa arata Gabb 2 ft.
5. Indurated greensand with Occulina, Turhinolia pharetra and
Endopacliys maclurei corals and in addition to the fossils
found in No. 4 Ancilla ancillops Heilpr., Byssoarea cucul-
loides Con., Pseudoliva vetusta var. fusiformis Lea, Volto-
tilithes precursor Dall., Cornulina armigera Con., Goriula
aldrichi, var. smithvillensis Harris, G. texana Gabb, Den-
talium, minutistriatum Gabb, Fusus mortoni, var. morton-
opsis Gabb, Phos texana Gabb, Distortrix septemdentata
Nabb, Solarium scrotiiculatum Con., S. acutum, var. meck-
anum Gabb, Pyrula (Fusoficula) texana Aid., Mesalia clai.
tornensis Con., Turritella nasuita Gabbi 1ft.
6. Laminated fossiliferous blue clay 10 ft.
7. Alternate strata of yellowish sand and blue clay, clay 6-inches
and sand from 4 to 8 inches thick 4 ft.
8. Brown sand 1 % ft-
BRAZOS RIVEE SECTION.
The Brazos river section of the Marine begins two miles south
of Calvert blufif, but the lower beds are largely obscured by the
river deposits.
A section at the International Eailway bridge across the
Brazos river shows:
' Harris Mss.
98 University of Texas Bulletin
1. Yellow sandy clay, with nodules of lime ,20 ft.
2. Brown sandstone, interstratified witli brown sand 4 to 6 ft.
3. Dark green, almost black, micaceous unfossiliferous sand.. 5ft.
4. Thinly laminated dark green sand 6 ft.
5. Irregular belt of ferruginous sandstone Vz to 1 ft.
6. Dark green, almost black, sand, to water 3 ft.
From this point to CoUard's Ferry the exposures are unsatis-
factory and no fossiliferous beds were found.
The blujff at CoUard's ferry extends nearly a mile along the
river and is twenty to twenty-five feet high. The section is :
1. Brown sand 10 ft.
2. Indurated brown altered greensand 8 in.
3. Brownish-green altered greensand 4 to 6 ft.
4. Grayish-green sand 10 to 15 ft.
Nos. . 3 and 4 of the section contain Pleurotoma (Surcula)
gabbi Con., PI. childreni Lea, var. bitota Harris, Cancellari'a
minuta Harris, Oliuella bonibylis, var. burlesonia Harris n. var.,
Ostrea sellaeformis var. divaricata Lea, Plicatula filamentosa
Conrad, Pecen desJiaye'sii Lea, Pinna sp., Byssoarca cucullovdes
Conrad, Leda opulenta Con., Pseudoliva vetusta Con., variety
Volutilithes petrosa, var. indenta Con., Lapparia pactilis, var.
mooreana Gabb, Latins moorei Gabb, Corbula aldrichi, var.
smithvillensis Harris, Dentalium minutistiratum Gabb, D. min-
utistriatwm, var. dumblei Harris n. Ya.r.,V enericardia rotunda
Lea V. alticosta, var. perantiqua Con., V. planicosta Lam., Cy-
therea sp., C. texacola Harris, C. bastropensis Harris, Clavilithes
{Papillina) dumosa, var., trapaquara Harris, Fusus mortoni,
ver. mortonopsis Gabb, Clavilithes penrosei Heilprin, C. hume-
rosa, var. texana Harris, Pleurotoma (ClathureUa) fannae Har-
ris, n. sp.. Solarium scrobiculatum Con., S. alveatum Con., Natica
^emilunata, var. jantkinops Harris n. var., JV. newtonensis Aid.,
Sigaretus declivis Con., Pyrula {FusoflcuLa) penita Con. var.
Bimella texana Harris, n. sp., R. texana, var. plana Harris n.
var., CalyptropTiorus velatus Conrad, Turritella, sp., Belosepia
ungula Gabb, TrocMta, sp. and coral Turbinolia pJiaretra Leo.
5. Dark blue laminated clay .- 6 to 8 ft.
6. Brown coal in river 4 ft_
The Geology of East Texas 99
At Niblett's shoals, two miles and a half below. Collard's we
find twelve to fourteen feet of lignitie shales, sands and lignites
lying beneath twenty feet of river loam.
Moseley's Ferry is an historic place in the Texas Tertiaries.
It was visited by Dr. Ferdinand Roemer in 1847 and described
in his book on Texas. He speaks of it as "consisting of alter-
nate strata of brown ferruginous sandstones and of dark colored
plastic clays, both teeming with fossils". The bluff here extends
along the river a distance of about 1,500 feet and is from 25 to
30 feet high. With the exception of the upper 15 feet of brown
sand it is fossiliferous throughout. The fossils are very well
preserved, exceedingly plentiful and easily obtained. The dip
of the beds as shown in this bluff is between 50 and 55 feet per
mile, but it may be said that throughout this region as well as
other portions of the older Eocene reliable dips are very hard
to oibtain.
Section at Moseley's Ferry, Brazos River:
1. Brownish yellow surface loam 15 ft.
2. Thin stratum of fossiliferous iron ore in boulder form.... Bin.
3. Blue laminated fossiliferous clay 3 ft.
4. Fossiliferous iron ore, running under the river about 100
yards below the ferry 2 ft.
Nos. 2, 3 and 4 contain an extensive fauna, comprising Levi-
fusus trabeatoides Harris, n. sp., Conus sauridens Con., in great
numbers, Pleurotoma (Surcula) gabbi Con., PI. {Gochlespira)
engonata Con., PI., (DrUUa) nodocarinata Gabb, PI. terehri-
formis Mr., PI. (Borsonia) plentaHarris, Ostrea sellaeformis Yax.
divaricata Lea, Anomia ephippioides Gabb, Byssoarca cuculloides
Lea, Pseudoliva vetusta var. Yolutilifhes petrosa Con., Volutili-
thes precursor Dall., Turricula polita Gabb, Latirm moorei Gabb,
Corbida texana Gabb, Dentalium minutisMattim Gabb, Denta-
lium minutistratum var. dumblei new variety, Venericardia
planicosta Lam., Cyt-lveria texacola Harris, Cyfheria tornadonis
Harris, Chrysodomus enterogramma Gabb, Phos texana Gabb,
var., Distortrix septemdentafa Gabb, Tuba antiqiiata var., tex-
ana new var.. Solarium acutum var. Meekanum Gabb, Sigaretus
declivis Con., Mesalia daibornensis Con., Tivrritella nasuta Con.,
100 University of Texas Bulletin
T. dumblei Harris, n. sp., Pyrula {Fusoficula) texana Aid., and
several corals.
5. Laminated fossiliferous blue clay containing Conus sauridens
Con., Pleurotoma (Swrcula) galMi Con., PI. (Cochlespira)
engonata Con., PI. {Borsonia) plenta Harris, PI. (Hurcula)
moorei var. Levifusus trabeatoides Harris n. ap., Ancilla
(OUvula) staminea Con., PseudoUva vetusta var., Voluti-
lithes petrosa Con., Dentalium minutistriatum Gabb, Ven-
erioardia planioosta Lam., Leda opulenta Con., Cytherea
texacola Harris, Distortrix septemdentata Gabb, Mesalia
claiiomensis Con., Turritella nasuta Fabb and Belosepia
ungula Gabb 6 ft.
6. Fossiliferous iron ore 2 ft.
7. Altered fossiliferous greensand found at north end of bluff. 10 ft.
8. Fossiliferous iron ore ^ ft.
Nos. 6, 7 and 8 contain Conus sauridens Con., Pleuroioma
iSurcula) gabbii Con., PZ. {Drillia) nodocarinata Gabb, PL {Bor-
sonia) plenta Harris, Levifusns trabeatoides Harris n. sp., Ano-
mia epiiippioides Gabb, PseudoUva vetusta Con. var., Latirus
moorei Gabb, Venericardia planicosta Lam., Distortrix septem-
dentata Gabb, Turritella dumblei Harris n. sp., Byssoarca cucul-
loides Con., Solarium acutum, var., msekanum Gabb.
y
9. Green sand, dark green near ferry, but altering to a brown
near north end, and morging into No. 7, measuring at
ferry 5 ft.
This bed contains Conus sauridens Con., Pleurotoma {Sur-
cida) gabbi Con., Ancilla (Olivida) staminea Con., Ostrea sellae-
formis, var. divaricata Lea, Anomia epJiippioides Gabb, Pseudo-
Uva vetusta, Con. var., P. vetusta, var. carinata Con., Peropsis
conradi Dana, Corbula texana Gabb, Venericwrdia planicosta
Lam., GytJierea texacola Harris, Fusus mortoni var. mortonopsis
Gabb, Phos texana Gabb, var. Distortrix septemdentata Gabb,
Turritella nasuta Gabb, and Tenuiscola trapaquara Harris n.
sp.,^ Turbinolia pharHra Lea, Endopachys maclurei Lea and
other corals.
10. Thinly laminated blue clay, changing into brown near top,
and weathering to a light blue toward the bottom; the
' Harris Mss.
The Geology of East Texas 101
upper brown portion contains fossils similar to tbose in
No. 9, and the lower blue contains occasional crystals of
selenite 15 ft.
11. Dark, almost black, fossiliferous sandy clay 10 ft.
12. Thin seam of black clayey sand, jointed and stained brown
along joints and on outside, apparently unfossiliferous. . 1ft.
13. Same as No. 11, extending into river and forming a ledge in
bottom of river 14 ft.
Nos. 11 and 13 contain Pleurotoma childreni Lea, var. Mtota
Harris, Yoldia claibomensis Aid., Pseudoliva vetustai Con., var.
Tellina mooreana Gabb, Venericardia planicosta Lam., CytJierea
Imtropensis Harris, Turritella nasuta Gabb.
The contact of the Marine and Yegua is seen in a bluff on the
Brazos river about 500 yards south of the mouth of the -Little
Brazos, with the following section.^
1. Black soil 2 ft.
2. Brown loam with limy concretions 25 ft.
3. Fine brownish-yellow sand with occasional streaks or pockets
of gravel 15 ft.
4. Gravel, with rolled cretaceous shells 2 to 4 ft.
Yegua Clays:
5. Pale blue clay, unfossiliferous 5 ft.
Marine beds:
6. Dark greensand showing fossils in lower portion 2 to 5 ft.
7. Dark colored laminated sandy clay containingTere&ra hous-
tonia Harris; Levifusus irabeatoides Harris n. sp.; Pseu-
doliva vetusta var.; Pseudoliva vetusta var. pica; P. ve-
tusta, var. clausa; Trigonarca corl}Uloides; Con.; Pleuro-
toma {Pleurotomella) guasites, Harris; Nucula magniflca,
Con.; Leda opulenta, Con.; Latirus moorei, Gabb; Gorhula
alaiamensis, Lea; Venericardia planicosta. Lam; Phos tex-
ana, Gabb., var.; Natica arata, Gabb.; Natica semilunata,
var. janthinops new var.; Sigaretus inconstans. Aid.;
Yoldia aldricMana 4 ft.
8. Ferruginous sandstones 8 in.
9. Same as No. 7.
In this section the gypseous clays are not seen nor do they
appear anyvs^here in the river banks. This, however, may be
expected as their position is obscured by broad, deep deposits
of river alluvium which cover wide areas and form the bottom
lands of the Brazos. East of the little Brazos these clays are
found occupying their proper position at several places.
•Fourth Annual Report Geol. Sur. of Texas, 1892.
CHAPTER V.
claibobne, continued:
Yegua
NAME
The lowest member of the Fayette beds o£ Penrose was a
series of clays and lignites. Their inclusion in his Fayette was
due to the fact that he found no marine fossils in them, and as
he had made the final fossil-bearing beds of the Marine the top
of his Timber Belt beds, these were excluded. When we found
Claiborne fossils in this basal clay member it became necessary
to separate it from the Fayette and the Tegua formation was
institiited to include the series of gypseous and salif erous clays,
sands and lignites overlying the Cook's Mountain greensands
and underlying the Fayette white sands and clays.
THE TYPE SECTIONS
The original differentiation resulted from an examination
made by the writer and party in 1892, starting from Giddings
and going northeastward along Elm creek, a branch of the
Yegua. This creek runs in a general northeasterly direction,
which is about the strike of the formations in this vicinity,
and thus the course of the creek very nearly coincides with the
line of parting between the Cook's Mountain and overlying
Yegua clays.
Owing to the numerous twists and turns of the creek the two
sets of beds are found first on one side of the stream and then
on the other. In some localities nothing but Marine is seen,
but within a few hundred feet the Yegua is the only series
exposed. Under these conditions it is extremely difficult to
give any idea of the thickness or dip of the beds. The general
structure of the territory, however, appears to be :
1. Thin scattering gravel in places.
2. Thinly bedded and in places laminated sands and clays with
'lignitic sands and thin streaks of lignitic material.
3. Thinly stratified blue and brown clay weathering to a brownish
The Geology of East Texas 103
yellow, the layers from % to 2 inches thick.
These beds show also in places laminated dark blue and
pinkish colored clays carrying large blocks of selenite enclos-
ing small fossil forms.
4. Thin streaks of ferruginous material, probably originally
carbonate of iron. This streak lies in the form of a pave-
ment of kidney shaped or ellipsoidal flattened bowlders from
one to three feet in length and from six inches to one
foot In thickness. These bowlders are usually concentric
in structure and break in thin layers, but in some portions
toward the head of the creek into square blocks. A thin
streak of ferruginous or altered glauconitic sand underlies
this pavement and is generally associated with it. This
sand is highly fossiliferous and the fossils are usually fairly
well preserved. These appear to have a strong Claiborne
facies.
6. Laminated dark almost black clay. This clay breaks up Into
nodules or cuboidal blocks with rounded ends and carries a
considerable fauna and also a small quantity of .selenite.
The fauna is usually found in nests or a large number in one
place, while a considerable portion of the clay is barren.
The bed is jointed and broken in places appears to be faulted.
The joints are usually within a few degrees of perpendicular
and are filled with thin sheets or plates of selenite. These
beds are broken by a thin streak of ferruginous material
similar to No. 4.
6. Pale bluish gray clay carrying fossils and gradually changing
to a slightly altered glauconitic sand.
This appears to be the lowest bed visible in this section and
is thought to be the top of the Marine beds.
Beginning near the head of the .creek and going eastward, or
down the creek, the details of the section are as follows :
On the northeastern corner of the Thornton Kuykendall Sur-
vey the surface of the country is covered with a heavy deposit
of chocolate colored clay carrying a considerable quantity of
selenite crystals, and in the stream there appears a small ex-
posure of hardened brownish, somewhat green-shaded, sand
or soft sandstone carrying Anomia epMppoides and other Cook's
Mountain fossils.
The next exposure is about half a mile down the creek, where
the section seen is as follows :
1. Pale blue and brown clays weathering a brownish-yellow
with nodules of iron ore at base 20 ft.
104 University of Texas Bulletin
2. Thin sheet of ferruginous sandstone with dark colored
greenish to black sand carrying fossils (Loc. 206),. . 6 to 8 In.
3. Thinly laminated dark-blue, almost black, clays with streaks
of sulphur between the laminae. These clays carry
fossils in nests, 15 ft.
Coming down the creek to about a quarter of a mile west of
Orell's Crossing the only deposits seen consisted of pale blue
to brown clays carrying selenite. These do not appear to be
more than ten to fifteen feet in thickness at exposure, but no-
where could the base be seen until the locality heue mentioned
was reached. The section (Loc. 205) seen at this place was:
1. Surface soil, 1 % ft.
2. Laminated or thinly stratified sands of a yellowish gray
and brownish yellow color with strata from a half to
two inches in thickness 8 ft.
3. Laminated dark-blue and pinkish colored clays carrying
large pieces of selenite. Occasional fossils, mostly
UHstortrix septemdentata and Turritella are seen, but
these are generally in a poor state of preservation, .... 6 ft.
4. Thin streaks of ferruginous material lying in flat kidney
shaped concretions with a half to one inch of fossiliferous
sand on lower side 6 to 10 in.
5. Laminated dark blue, almost black, clays, carrying fossils
in nests. This clay breaks up into cuboidal blocks or
nodules with rounded ends and the bed is joined with
almost perpendicular joints filled with thin sheets of
selenite. It also appears to be faulted in places 5 ft.
6. Thin streaks of ferruginous material similar to No. 4 of
above section, 6 in. to 1 ft.
7.- Laminated clays similar to No. 5 to creek 4 ft.
A peculiarity about the fauna found in this section is the
smallness of the fossils and the dwarfed appearance of the
Turriiella, Pleurotoma and VolutHitkes.
A short distance below Orell's Crossing the blue clays carry-
ing selenite, No. 3 of above section, appear and these form
the only exposure seen until a short distance above Price's
Crossing, where a small exposure of ferruginous sand was
seen. At this locality (Loc. 84-K) a few small corals were ob-
tained. Here and there the belt of ferruginous sandstone with
fossiliferous sand occurs, but in most of the exposures the
The Geology of East Texas 105
fossils were poorly preserved or existed only in the form of
casts. The material overlying these beds is chiefly brown fer-
ruginous sand of recent age intermixed with scattering pockets
of gravel.
A short distance below Price's Crossing a section (Loc. 204)
shows :
1. Black soil, 1 to 2 ft.
2. Thinly stratified blue and brown clay weathering to a
yellowish brown, carrying considerable quantities of
selenite and casts of fossils. These beds also carry a few
badly decayed specimens of Distortrix septemdentata, and
Turritella 15 ft.
3. Ferruginous sandstone or kidney shaped bowlders of fer-
ruginous material in a concentric form, 6 in.
4. Altered fossiliferous greensand carrying a considerable
fauna of Uower Caliborne fossils 4 in.
5. Pale blue laminated clays carrying some fossils, to creek,. . 5 ft.
The dip of these beds appears to be S. B. 6 degrees.
A bend in the creek here brings the clays and ferruginous
sands to the other side of the creek, but the general section
remains the same. About 100 yards further down the creek
the section is clearer and the greensand at base much thicker
and carries a larger fauna with much better preserved fossils.
The section (Loc. 203) at this place shows:
1. Drift material, brown sand with gravel and flint pebbles. . 5 ft.
2. Laminated blue clay with brown sandy streaks. This bed
carries badly decomposed Distortrix septemdentata and
Turritella 10 ft.
3. Ferruginous sandstone in thin pavement and streaks 1 ft.
4. Dark green slightly altered greensand carrying well pre-
served fossils of Claiborne age, 2 ft.
B. Heavy bed of ferruginous sandstbne bowlders, seen, 2 ft.
The course of the creek at this place turns sharply towards
the southeast and al)0ut five himdred yards, farther down the
gypsum-bearing cla.ys are found overlying the fossiliferous
blue clays unconformably.
At Evergreen Crossing a bluff of about 30 feet shows lami-
nated clays and sands with some show of sulphur near the base.
8-ET.
106 University of Texas Bulletin
Near the mouth of Elm creek on the Yegua river at Bluff
crossing a section is as follows :
1. Gray sand soil = 1 to 2 ft.
2. Orange sandy loam, gravel on top or mixed in through it,
some platy iron 5 to 8 ft.
3. Chocolate clays interbedded and laminated 6 to 8 ft.
4. Brown sand, micaceous, 1 to 1 ^ f t.
5. Lignitic clays: chocolate brown to black, with sulphur,
pyrites, mica and plant remains, Nucula magniftca, Phos
and Gardita planicosta, etc 6 ft.
The line between the Cook's Mountain and Yegua in this,
the type locality, is drawn at the base of the massive selenite-
bearing clays. The Yegua here, as shown by its fauna, is, be-
yond question. Lower Caliborne in age, and apparently marks
a shallowing of the Cook's Mountain seas and a much broader
area of lignitic deposits than is seen during the Marine.
From Elm creek the Yegua continues five or six miles south-
eastward to the vicinity of Nail's creek, where it is overlain by
the Fayette sands and joint clays.
AGE.
The original collections of fossils made from these beds were
studied by Harris, who determined the following forms :
Ostrea sellaeformis, Lea.
Plicatula filamentosa, Con.
Pinna sp.
Pectunculus .idoneus, Con.
Trigonarca pulchra.
Nucula magnifica, Con.
Leda opulenta.
Leda houstonia, Har.
Venericardia planicosta, Lam.
Chama sp.
Crassatella trapaquara, Har.
0. antlstriata, Gabb.«
Cytherea bastropensis, Har.
Corbula alabamiensis, Lea.
Dentalium minutistriatum var.
dumblei, Har.
Terebra texagyra var., Har.
T. houstonia, Har.
Conus sauridens. Con.
Ringicula trapaquara, Har.
Volvula minutissima, Gabb.
Pleurotoma gabbi. Con.
P. nodooarinata, Gabb.
P. bitota var. Harris.
P. texacona, Gabb.
P. plenta, Har.
P. crassiplicata, Gabb.
P. reticulata, Gabb.
Pleurotoma sp.
Cancellaria gemmata, Con.
C. tortiplica. Con.
C. panones var. smithvillensis, Har.
G. minuta, Har.
Ancilla stamlnea, Con.
The Geology of East Texas 107
Pseudoliva vetusta, Con. S. scrobiculatum, Con.
Volutillthes petrosa, Con. S. alveatum, Con.
V. petrosa var. indenta, Con. S. acutum var. meekanum.
Lapparia pactilis var mooreana, Natica arata, Gabb.
Gabb. N. limula, Con.
Turlcula polita, Gabb. N. semilunata var. janthinops, Har.
Latirus moorei, Gabb. Natica sp.
Fusus mortoni mortonopsis, Gabb. Pyrula texana, Aldrich.
Pbos texana, Gabb. Triforis sp.
Distortrix septemdentata, Gabb. Mesalia claibornensis. Con.
Cassidaria planotecta, Aldrich. Turritella nasuta var. houstonia,
Tuba antiqua var. texana, Har. Har.
Solarium bellastriatum. Con. T. duxtexta var. Har.
Vaughan lists the following corals from ciJllections made on
this creek and the "West Yegua^ :
Corals from Elm Creek.
Plabellum cuneiforme var. pachypbyllum, Gabb & Horn.
Turbinolia pharetra. Lea.
Madracis sp.
Endopacbys maclurii. Lea.
From West Yegua.
Balanophyllia irrorata var. mortoni, Gabb & Horn.
In 1908 Kennedy and Garrett made further examinations
along Elm Creek, from the report of which the foregoing de-
scription was made. The collections furnish additional species,
as follows :
Flabellum cuneiforme Gabb and Anomia ephippioides.
Horn Area sp.
Turbinolia pharetra. Lea. Clavilithes penrosei, Har?
Endopachys maclurii. Lea. Syrnola trapaquara, Har.
Cadulus subcoarcuatus. Solarium huppertzi, Har.
East of the Brazos few fossils are found in the Yegua*, but
on the Rio Grande, where the series of beds referred to this
formation are more sandy, fossils are very abundant. From the
collections made at exposures of these beds in the banks of this
•Vaughan, T. W. Eocene and Lower Oligocene Coral Faunas.
U. S. G. S. Monograph 39, p. 28.
108 University of Texas Bulletin
river by Penrose and Durable^ between a point 10 miles south of
Laredo and one four miles north of Zapata (Carrizo), where
these beds are overlain by the Fayette, Harris determined the
following f orms^ :
Ostrea alabamensls. Lea. Volutilithes petrosus var. indenta,
O. alabamensis var. divaricata, Har.
Lea. Levifusus trabeatus, Con. var.
Amomia ephipioides, Gabb. Lacinia alveata. Con.
Venericardia planicosta. Lam. Cornulina armigera. Con.
Cythera texacola, Heilp. Certhium sp.
Tellina mooreana, Gabb. C. webbi, Har.
Corbula alabamensis, Lea, Natica recurva var dumblii, Heilp.
Conus sauridens, Oon. Turritella nasuta var. boustonia,
Pleurotoma nodocarinata, Gabb. Har.
Volutilithes petrosus. Con.
MAPPED AEEA
The lignitie clays and sands of the Tegua are exposed over
an extensive area between the Brazos and the Sabine.
The belt has an average width of 12 miles. Its greatest
width, 22 miles, is found along the Neches river, while on the
Sabine it narrows to 5 miles. In dip it varies from 40 feet to
the mile to more than 100, and has a thickness of 400 to 800
feet.
GENERAL CHARACTER
The clays are laminated, thinly stratified, and massive in
structure, and chocolate, dark blue, brovra, and gray in color.
The eone-in-cone structure first noted on Atascosa creek in the
Nueces section, is also found in the basal beds of tftis area.
The sands and sandy iclays, which are sometimes micaceous,
are brownish drab, buff and gray. They range from laminated
to massive and are often cross-bedded. Laminated clays and
sandy clays, sometimes leaf-bearing, frequently occur as
lenses, pockets, and nodules in the sands, even when the latter
are cross-bedded. Similarly, lenses of sand are found in the
laminated, jointed clays.
^Penrose, First Annual Report Geol. Snr. Tex. p.
Dumble, E. T. Geology of Soutbwestern Texas. Trans. Am. Inst.
Min. Eng., 102, p.
The Geology of East Texas 109
In the lower portion of the beds the clays seem to predomi-
nate. The middle portion seems to carry the most lignitic
matter, and the sands prevail in the upper beds.
Both clays and sands weather to light colors, mostly yellow
or dirty white, and some of the sandy clays show typical bad-
land weathering. The topographic expression is generally flat.
In the upper beds, referred to this formation by Baker and
Suman, some of the sands have a poreelaneous cement, others
limonitic, and still others contain streaks and balls of white
clay having the appearance of porcelain.
Lignitic material is abundant, disseminated through the beds
in fragmentary form, as carbonaceous coatings, and in len-
ticular beds; but only a few deposits of workable lignite are
known to occur in the Yegua east of the line of the Interna-
tional & Great Northern Railwaj^ in Houston county.
Gypsum is very abundant. In the lower portion of the beds,
where it predominates, it occurs as large masses of selenite of
irregular form. Elsewhere it occurs as crystals of selenite,
sometimes of large size, or as fragments intermingled with the
sands and clays.
One of the most unusual and characteristic features of the
Tegua in this area is the quantity of clastic selenite which oc-
curs. At times the particles of this mineral equal or exceed
in amount the quartz grains in the sandstones. Saliferous
strata also occur.
The cannon-ball concretions of the Rio Grande are found
here in abundance. While some of these are of spherical shape,
as on that stream, many of the clay-ironstone concretions are
in the form of flattened masses, some of them 2 to 3 feet in
diameter. They are usually altered to limonite, and these
limonite concretions and impregnations are characteristic of
the beds east of the Trinity. Occasionally the limonitic con-
cretions have streaks of calc-spar through them, but true cal-
careous concretions are apparently absent. Silicified wood is
plentiful as logs of large size and as fragments scattered
through the formation from bottom to top, but none of it is
opalized.
Marine invertebrate fossils occur occasionally as poorly pre-
served casts in connection with pockets or concretions of
110 University of Texas Bulletin
greensand marls. Fossil plants are found abundantly at many-
places.
The relation of the Yegua to the underlying Marine was dis-
cussed in the description of the Nacogdoches beds which con-
nect the two.
SABINE RIVER SECTION
On the Sabine river the outcrops of the Yegua are unim-
portant: According to Veateh they are characterized by un-
fossiliferous lignitic clays with large calcareous concretions and
are the lithological counterparts of beds of the Lignite phase
of the Wilcox.
His only section is that of a bluff nearly four miles south-
west of Columbus, which shows:
1. Fine white sand, 2 ft.
2. Dark gray to blue sandy clay with fine sand partings and
occasional beds of yellow sand, in many places a foot
thick. Contains many poor plant impressions and a
few calcareous concretions, 28 ft.
Dip S. 20° B. 1:20.
A quarter of a mile south of the above outcrop, at Lawhorn's
bluff, 26 feet of laminated sandy clay, containing many large
calcareous concretions, is exposed. A bed of impure lignite, a
foot thick^ occurs about three feet above low water-level. Dip
S. E. 1:70.
Three shelves of dark colored clay appear near water level
between Lawhorn's bluff and Robinson's ferry. At one of
these the bed is 6 feet thick and has the usual covering of light
colored sands.
Deussen, in his plat of section^ shows a series of clays or
shales one-fourth mile below Robertson Ferry carrying such
Yegua forms as Fleurotoma terebrifomiis, Marginella semen
and Gorbulat oniscus. This is the uppermost bed of Yegua
known on the river, as half a mile below it Veateh found the
Jackson well exposed.
^Water-Supply Paper 335, Plate W-
The Geology of East Texas 111
SANTA FE RAILWAY SECTION
The exposures along the Santa Fe Railway are not very sat-
isfactory. The last Cook's Mountaia was seen at Birdwell
siding. A mile and a half south of Brunson there is an out-
crop of lignite which is also found in wells drilled in the
vicinity. Between Mile Posts 106 and 101 the interbedded clays
and sands appear in the cuts. The contact with the Jackson is
supposed to lie between Mile Posts 101 and 100.
TEXAS & NEW ORLEANS RAILWAY SECTION.
On the Texas & New Orleans Railroad the base of the Yegua
is found in a cut about one mile south of Piatt.
Near the base of this section there is exposed 5 feet of a
chocolate-brown thinly laminated shale stained yellow with sul-
phur. Next in upward succession comes 3 feet of light biiff or
gray, cross-bedded, medium-coarse material, which has the tex-
ture of sandstone, but is made up for the most part of angular
fragments of platy selenite. It is much cross-bedded. In up-
ward succession it is found that the selenite clastic is inter-
bedded with light gray sandy shale containing many frag-
ments of silicified wood. The materials of this formation
weather mainly to a light creamy buff, although locally they
are yellowish brown from limonite. The soils of the formation
are either of a light buff color, or are grayish and brownish
mottled, or rather uniformly reddish-brown. Strike N. 60° E.
Dip 2° S. E.
In the cuts to the south evidence of local folding was ob-
tained, one small anticline being noted.
The following section was noted south of Bridge 135-F:
1. Chocolate colored, laminated shale 4 ft.
2. Gray to brown gypsiferous sandstone, 2 ft.
3. Drab and reddish-brown mottled clay, 3 ft.
4. Drab colored, soft, clayey shale. Contains a layer of hard
limonitic shale, 25 ft.
South of Manton a thin-bedded sandy shale seemingly cal-
careous and rather resistant to weathering is exposed in a few
112 University of Texas Bulletin
small lOuttings. It is of a gray to drab color. This same mate-
rial was noted near Dunagan and here it is covered by about
2 feet of a dark-gray sand, which carries much silicified wood
in large fragments and a thin layer of gravel made up of
rounded pebbles of quartz, jasper, and clay iron ore.
Between Dunagan and Pluntington cuts expose thin-bedded
gray gypsif erous clayey sandstone overlain by a gray sand which
contains gravel lenses and many fragments of silicified wood.
There is a brown limonite layer occurring in the thin-15edded
material here that is fairly persistant.
ST. LOUIS SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY SECTION
The upper portion of the Yegua section in this vicinity is
shown along the St. Louis Southwestern Railway between Broad-
dus and Monterey.
Broaddus in San AugTistine county is located about the middle
of, the Yegua section and the line runs southwestward to Monte-
re^, where it strikes the contact of the Yegua and Jackson.
Light brown laminated sands outcrop ^ mile southwest of
Broaddus. These contain brownish carbonaceous fragments and
thin plates of limonite-cemented sand. Silicified wood is abun-
dant. These beds have a thickness of about 4 feet. They weather
light greenish-gray and brown, and contain a variable percentage
of clay. The brownish layers are in association with films of
limonite.
At the cut 200 yards south of Mile Post 668 and between that
Mile Post and Broaddus station is the following section:
1. Very light gray-brown sandy clay with thin non-con-
tinuous films of limonite varying from 1-32 tloi 1-8
inch in thickness, 4 ft.
2. Light chocolate-brown carbonaceous clay, sandy, 4 in.
3. Dark chocolate-brown carbonaceous clay 6 in.
4. Light brown sand, 2 - 3 ft.
The same section in general is found at Bridge 310, one-fourth
mile south of Broaddus, where the very dark brown carbona-
ceous shaly clay II/2 feet thick, is underlain by 2 feet of very
light brown clayey sand fracturing into compact rectangular
The Geology of East Texas 113
blocks, and carrying plant fragments. A silicified log was found
in place in the brown layer. In the lower sand thin plates of
light gray indurated sandstone are found locally. Thin non-
continuous layers of limonite are common and one long cylinder-
shaped concretion made up of concentric layers of limonite-
eemented sandstone was found in the lower clayey sand.
A good section is found in a gully to the south of the north
end of this bridge. Here the laminated, clayey sands are ex-
posed for a thickness of 8 feet. The laminae are plainer and
finer at the base, while above, the blocks fracture semi-conehoi-
dally into irregular fragments. The color is light brown, and
large, concentric limonitic concretions (2 or 3 feet in long
dimension) are found.
Under Bridge 309 there is about 5 feet of clay, light chocolate-
brown at the base and light sulphur-yellow above. The clay con-
tains in places thin, non-continuous, brown carbonaceous layers
and little balls and lenses of sand. It is speckled and streaked
with rusty limonite which also coats fracture pilanes.
At Bridge 308 are streaks of yellow sulphur in the clays.
Above are about 10 feet of light-brown case-hardened sands
with streaks and blotches of yellow sulphur and brownish limo-
nite. Thin, irregular and non-continuous contorted beds of
more compact sand are scattered thz'ough the section. This
passes into a partially "shelly" gypsiferous sandstone at the
top.
In the superficial layers overlying the clay in the next cut to
the southward (Mile Post 666) are rough boulders of a ferru-
ginous-cemented hard conglomerate made up of pebbles of
quartz, chert, and silicified wood. This is the local representa-
tive of a Lafayette ferruginous conglomerate which is wide-
spread in southwestern San Augustine county, extending at
least from north of the Marine outcrop as far south as the Cata-
houla outcrop. The basal bed in this cut is shaly dark-drab
sulphurous clay, 5-7 feet thick, and weathering a light yellow.
The sulphur is in streaks, blotches, or small roundish concretions
which are rough, sometimes mammillary, on the surface. The
dip is 3° S. 15° W. (Mag.). The section is:
114 University of Texas Bulletin
1. Surficial Lafayette; light buflf to dark-brown, mottled,
mainly sand, but with gravel and rough rounded
bowlders ot ferruginous-cemented sand-matrixed con-
glomerate, some of which are 6-8 inches in diameter, . . 4 ft.
2. Light brown, medium-grained sand, speckled brown and
whitish, laminated. Whitish grains, perhaps decom-
posed gypsum, 3 ft.
3. Fine light, gray-brown, clayey sand, impregnated with salt,
making semi-badlands, imperfectly laminated through-
out, but with better laminae at top. Top layers
sulphurous 8 ft.
4. Light drab clay, weathering dark, dirty-green, with con-
cretions and thin, non-continuous lenses of clay iron-
stone S ft.
5. Brown medium-grained, gypsiferous sand with sulphur con-
cretions, plant fragments, and limonite. Weathering
into pinnacled semi-badlands, 10 ft.
6. Gray-drab clay, weathering dark dirty green, with whitish
concretions, . 2 - 4 ft.
7. Layer with white rounded concretions, perhaps calcareous 2 in.
8. Black to dark brown clay ironstone, amorphous, compact,
with dendritic markings, probably of manganese dioxide.
Iron in form of limonite 1 ft. 1% in.
9. Clay like (6), but without concretions, 2 ft.
10. Clay ironstone like ( 8 ) 1 ft. 2 % in.
11. Clay like (9) 3% ft.
12. Thin-bedded, shaly limonite-stained clay...... 2 in.
13. Brown limonite-stained clayey sand; at top consisting of
thin bands of dark-green clay, alternating with sand.
Contains thin bands of dark-brown ferruginous sand-
stone 2 ft
14. Shaly, dark-drab, sulphurous clay, weathering light
yellow, 7 ft.
The two top members of the Yegna section are approximately
horizontal. The dip varies from 3° to 0° within 300 yards, go-
ing southward.
In the small cut just to the south of the one last described,
there is 6 feet of Tegua which either belongs on top of No. 2 of
the last section, or else grades into Nos. 2 and 3 horizontally.
The lower 3 feet is rather massive, laminated sand, alternating
layers of light-buff to brown, succeeded above by 6-inches of
very dark-brown carbonaceous shale, overlain by 3-inches of
whitish to brownish-yellow laminated clay, with 3 feet of dart-
TJie Geology of East Texas 115
brown clay on top. There is a small anticline in the central
portion of the outcrop of the carbonaceous layers and the entire
length of the cut forms a low anticline which includes the
email one. At the south end of the cut No. 2 of this section
comes down below the track level for its entire thickness of 3
feet. It is here more indurated than in the last section, but the
induration is irregular and produces a rather "shelly" appear-
ance.
The southern limb of the anticline probably brings these strata
below Bridge 307, where there is 6 to 8 feet of brown and gray,
laminated, soft sands under a 6-inch carbonaceous brown shale,
overlain by 2 feet of brown, shaly clays, capped with 6 feet of
light drab, laminated sand. Sulphur is found just above the
carbonaceous layer.
The cut at M^ile Post 665 shows 4 feet of light brown, sandy
clay with limonitie concretions, weathering light buff. There is
some sulphur, especially in juxtaposition with the concretions.
At the cut 200 yards south of Bridge 304 and 400 yards south
of Mile Post 665 there is at the base 3 feet of light brown sulphur
and limonite-blotched sand passing upwards into 3 feet of car-
bonaceous, brown clay, weathering dark reddish-brown.
In the cut 200 yards south of Mile Post 664, at the north end,
is 4 feet of the dirty green clay with white nodules. The un-
weathered portion is lighter green, or light grayish-brown. As
the dip is northward, this clay ovei'lies the beds farther south,
which are light green, clayey sand, at least 10 feet thick. Small
balls and lenses of light-gray sandstone are found. These clayey
sands weather very gray and are approximately horizontal at
the south end of the cut.
In the cut at Mile Post 663 the dip is 11/2° S. 45° W., but
somewhat variable. The section here is :
1. Light gray clay, weathering dirty green, with large, dark
brown, lenticular ironstone concretions coated on
fracture planes with black oxide of manganese, 5 ft.
2. Light, greenish and grayish, sandy clay with irregularly
distributed brown plant fragments 10 in.
3. Dark brown carbonaceous clay 2 in.
4. Light green sticky clay, 4 in.
6. Light gray, medium-grained sand, with clastic gypsum
116 University of Texas Bulletin
flakes. The lamination is imperfect, but is apparent
from local, thin, indurated layers of sand. Weathers
into semi-badlands, 6 ft.
Some of the concretions in the upper member are 20 feet in
diameter.
Two hundred yards southeast of Mile Post 663, with its top
6 feet below the track level, is 6 feet of loose sand varying in
color from light buff to light yellowish-brown, depending on
amount of iron present. The sand weathers into semi-ibadlands
with rain-erosion monuments from 1 to 2 inches in heaight. At
this locality is a small prairie 4 or 5 acres in extent and having
a small "saline" on its western border.
The Lafayette has a thickness of 7 feet at Warsaw. The long
trestle over the Attoyac and Angelina just above their junction
is over % mile in length. No terraces are to be seen in this flood
plain, although there are several flood-channels cut into the
general bottom level. Both banks of the flood-plain are com-
posed of red and gray Lafayette sands and both rise gradually
to 25 or 30 feet above the general level of the flood-plain. A
very flat country begins to the west of the Angelina river and
continues westward across Angelina and Trinity counties, under-
lain in part by the Yegua and in part by the Jackson clays.
Light gray sands, succeeded above by 8 feet of brown, car-
bonaceous sandy clay, varying in color, on account of the
amount of carbon present, from light chocolate to nearly black,
is found in the flrst cut west of Mile Post 659. The light sandy
layers break with a semi-eonchoidal fracture and contain plant
fragments. Unconformably overlying the brown clay, is 4 feet
of light gray, friable, cross-bedded sandstone, hardening along
joints. This sandstone is composed of coarse, subangular grains
of quartz, grains of the same size and contour of a light colored
mineral and some black chert. It contains streaks and balls of
a white clay-like substance which gives the appearance of porce-
lain. It contains pebbles or emulsion balls of white clay and its
contact with the underlying clays forms a line of small springs.
It is probably the base of the Jackson at this point. The maxi-
mum thickness is 6 to 7 feet, 4 feet being an average. Its basal
2 inches, in the middle of the cut, is partially quartzitic.
The Geology of East Texas 117
Although, in the east of the cut, its contact with the underlying
Tegua runs as a plane surface for 300 yards, to the west, it
occupies an erosion channel in the Yegua clays and is much
more cross-bedded. Cross-bedding and contorted bedding is
very common in the middle of the cut.
Three hundred yards east of Monterey and 200 yards east of
the west end of the cut, is a lens of light-brown clay coming in
between two cross-bedded layers and dipping eastward. The
general color of the cross-bedded material is very light gray. At
one place it is overlain by shaly porcelaneous sandstone re-
sembling the Jackson.
HOUSTON, EAST & WEST TEXAS ET. SECTION.
The Houston, East & "West Texas Railway is somewhat barren
of good exposures but from the divide near Lufkin there are
creeks running northward into the Angelina and southward
into the Neches which parallel the line of road and these give
better views of the formation.
East of Lufkin, where the Angelina and Neches river railroad
crosses Durasno creek, we find an exposure which has at the base
a layer mainly composed of clay ironstone concretions from 2
to 5 feet in diameter and from 4-inches to a foot in thickness.
The material of these gray concretions is very fine-grained and
is well compacted into an amorphous mass of hard rock. In
color it is a light greenish-gray in the interior, but the outside is
covered with a 1,4 inch film of brown or reddish limonite stain.
Some of the concretions have good cone-in-cone structure. This
concretionary layer- is overlain by 6 feet of thinly laminated
light gray sandy clay shale.
This is near the base of the Yegua and lithologically is similar
to the basal beds on Elm creek.
The next exposure in upward succession shows 4 feet of choco-
late-brown, carbonaceous shale, with medium-grained, limonite-
stained sand at the base. Higher up, an exposure gives 6 feet
of light gray sand, fine-grained and thinly laminated, with filmy
partings of brown carbonaceous matter. The highest exposure
on the creek exhibits 3 feet of dark chocolate-brown, thinly-
laminated clay shale.
118 University of Texas Bulletin
From the head of Durasno creek we cross the divide between
the Angelina and the Neches and seven miles south of Lufkin
find the headwaters of Bear creek, a tributary of the Neches
river, which flows in a general southerly direction and gives
other sections of the upper Yegua.
The highest exposure on this creek shows 2% feet of brown
friable sandstone containing flakes of selenite. The bedding is
not very conspicuous and the beds are of medium thickness. The
rock is irregularly stained with limonite and contains small cl ay
balls.
The next section below has, at the base, one foot of blue, fine-
grained sand, streaked with yellowish-brown limonite stain,
overlain by 3 feet of thinly-bedded, brown clayey sand carrying
brown plant fragments. The limonite seams have sometimes the
form of slender cylinders. Where these cross each other on the
surface they weather out into figures resembling the fillings of
the cracks in sun-cracked muds. The limonite-stained layers are
locally hard enough, because of their iron-stained content, to
be called sandstone. This 4-f t member outcrops in its full thick-
ness for a considerable distance along the stream. It is a friable,
thin, and irregular-bedded sandstone, predominantly brown in
color, but mottled with little contrasting shades of brown. The
color is due to carbonaceous material or limonite, or to local
leaching. In texture it is fine to medium-grained angular sand.
Flakes of selenite are found sparingly. Locally, a thin non-
continuous lens of brown carbonaceous clay or sand is noted.
Much of it is stained and seamed with yellowish irregular
blotches, probably of sulphur or alum. All of it carries plant
fragments of a dark chocolate-brown color:
Farther down comes in 3 feet of thinly laminated chocolate
brown clay with numerous leaf impressions. The clay is very
soft and friable. It is underlain by 1 ft. 3 inches of thinly
laminated, gray, carbonaceous, fine-grained sand, which has
small non-continuous layers of brown carbonaceous matter and
abundant plant fragments, sometimes carbonized, but generally
dark-brown.
The next exposure exhibits the following section :
The Geology of East Texas ' 119
1. Light drab to chocolate clayey sand, carbonaceous and
gypsiferous, 4 ft.
2. Very carbonaceous, fine, soft clay with streaks of sandy
clay, and many leaf impressions 1 ft.
3. Chocolate-brown to greenish-gray, gypsifer.ous and car-
bonaceous clayey sand and sandy clay, 1 ft. 6 in.
Farther down is 7 feet of fine-grained sand, brownish-cream to
light chocolate-brown in color, containing sparsely distributed
selenite flakes. The lowest 3 feet is more massive than the upper
portion, which is more leached than the lower beds and weathers
a lighter cream color. This member outcrops for about a mile
along the creek. In places 10 feet of it is exposed in nearly per-
pendicular banks, weathering creamy-buff. Underneath the
surface the sand is a light blue-gray.
Next is 4 feet of thin-bedded, laminated, carbonaceous, brown
and drab clayey sand with plant fragments, weathering light
gray.
The lowest beds downstream are soft, fine, light-gray sand,
gypsiferous and carbonaceous, exhibiting more or less lamina-
tion.
These sections bring out plainly the sandy character of the
upper beds of the Yegua. A short distance south the fossilif-
erous clays of the Jackson appear.
TEXAS SOUTHEASTERN AND GROVETON, LUFKIN & NORTHERN RAIL-
ROAD SECTION
The sections exposed along the Texas Southeastern and
Groveton, Lufkin & Northern railroads between Lufkin and
Apple Springs give a fair idea of this portion of the Tegua. In
the first cut west of the junction of this road with the St. Louis
Southwestern Eailroad at least one-half mile east of Mile Post
15 and near Lufkin, are the following beds :
At the east end of the cut is 2 feet of chocolate clay weath-
ering on the surface to light-gray. This disappears 100 feet
farther west, where the overlying surficial sands come down to
meet it in a line diagonal to the bedding. At the very base of
this lower member is a light sulphur-yellow, compact clay very
similar to that noted in exposures in the lower reaches of
120 University of Texas Bulletin
Procella creek. "Westward in the same cut the section is made
up entirely of Lafayette material, and, at the extreme west end,
a maximum of 3 feet of T)lue-gray sandy clay is unconform-
ably overlain by this Lafaj'ette.
One-fourth mile west of Mile Post 1&, and 8 feet below the
track-level, there is at the base 2 feet of light-gray, medium-
grained sand, weathering buff. Immediately to the west is 2
feet of brown to drab clay, apparently "underlying the sand.
Here are large fragments of silicified wood. Some of the. clay
is compact, brittle, light-gray, and probably calcareous. There
is 4 feet of this clay in the southwestern portion of the cut.
■ At cut one-fourth mile east of Mile Post 14 there is 4 feet
of thin-bedded, compact sandstone, very light-gray in color.
Most of it is a medium-coarse grit with a large proportion of
eroded crystals of selenite. In some of the sand there are
small clay balls less than one-third inch in diameter.
The cut at Mile Post 14 shows 4 feet of cross-bedded and
laminated sand with clastic selenite and sandy clay overlain
by 7 feet of amorphous, mottled dark-blue-gray and red clayey
sand of the Lafayette. There is much petrified wood here.
At the second cut one-half mile southwest of Mile Post 14
there is at the base ten feet of typical light-gray, contorted
and cross-bedded sands, overlain unconformably by 5 feet of
mottled sandy clay of the Lafayette. The lowest beds, as
usual, contain petrified wood. The sand, in places, is thin-
bedded, in other places, massive. In induration, it varies from
quite compact to very friable. Some of it has elastic selenite
and quite a large proportion of clay.
The long cut at Mile Post 12 exposes 10 feet of thin-bedded
or shaly sand with thin-bedded lenses of clay ironstone, the
largest of which are 5 to 6 feet in diameter. At the west end
of the cut, near the base, two small layers of thin-bedded fer-
ruginous sandstone are separated by 1 foot of cross-bedded
laminated sand.
Directly west of Mile Post 12 the following section is ex-
posed, beginning 10 feet below the track level:
1. Gray surface sandy soil with humus, 4 ft.
2. Light sulphur-yellow laminated sandy clay 4 in.
The Geology of East Texas 121
3. Thinly laminated, cross-tedded, medium.grained, light
brownisli-gray, lenticular sands, 6 ft. 1 in.
4. Blue sandy clay , 6 in
5. Sand like (3), 6 in.
6. Shaly clay, 3 in.
7. Sand like (3), but containing ttiin seams of brown carbo-
nous matter 2 ft.
8. Thinly laminated sandy, blue-gray clay 3 in.
9. Sand like (3), (5) and (7) 1 ft.
All members weather buff. All the sands are cross-bedded
and, locally, vary in thickness. The strata are apparently
horizontal. In one place thin seams and lenses of brown
limonite sandstone were noted. There is much petrified wood.
In cut just west of Pery flag station and section house 2
feet of light-gray clayey sand with just a faint tinge of green
is overlain by 2 feet of sticky, gray-blue clay with roundish
clay ironstone concretions. Overlying is 18 inches of Lafa-
yette mottled clay.
One hundred feet west of Bridge 2.87 and 20 feet below the
rail,, there is at the base 10 feet of laminated, light-blue clay
with small spherical ironstone concretions up to a foot in dia-
meter. These beds weather as typical liadlands, forming light
buff colored, sharp gully and rounded knob exposures. Over-
lying them .ire 10 feet of very thinly laminated light brown
shales, limonite-stained and carrying seams of brown carbo-
naceous matter, and becoming sandier toward the top. Then
come, in upward succession, 2 feet of very dark-brown choco-
late, carbonaceous, thinly laminated shales, followed above by
6-inches of compact, sulphur-yellow clay with carbonaceous
matter, overlain by surficial rounded pebbles of granite, quartz,
chert, and metamorphic rocks. Two hundred and fifty yards
farther west the dip is 40° S. to 60° "W. and there is exposed
about 20 feet of thin-bedded, carbonaceous sandy clay, weath-
ering buff.
In the long cut one mile east of Blix is exposed about i5
feet of thin-bedded, sandy shale carrying very thin seams of
sulphur-yellow color and of limonite. On surface exposures
the color is light buff. There is considerable cross-bedding and
much silieified wood.
9-ET.
122 University of Texas Bulletin
Just south of Vair the cut at Mile Post 21 exposes 5 feet of
dark drab to chocolate-brown carbonaceous shale.
At a cut 20-1-2 miles from Groveton there is at the base 3
feet of light-gr.ay, laminated clay with layers about 1-16 inch
thick of linionite-stained hard clay. Above is a 6-inch layer of
brown carbonaceous clay, overlain by 4 feet of clay similar to
that at the liase. Fragments of silicified wood are found in
thfi clay.
Then, to the westward, begins a series of light gray sandy
clays which weather into badland forms very light buff in
color. In these clays are nodules and disc-like concretions of
clay ironstone and fragments of silicified wood.
Eighteen and three-quarter miles from Groveton, a cut ex-
poses 3 feet of light brown, laminated clay, overlain by 2 1-2
feet of soft, medium-grained, gray sandstone. The clay
is gypsiferous. The dip is 3° to the northeast.
About 150 yards northeast the rock is mainly gray sand in-
terbedded with very thin clay seams. The sand, which is
mottled in many places, is more massive and predominant at
the top. There is 6 feet of this probable Lafayette surfieial
member.
For 1% miles northeast of Apple Springs cream-colored
clays containing fragments of silicified wood and weathering
into semi-badlands form the surface exposures, but, not over 4
feet are found in any one section. There is in these beds a
considerable amount of iron occurring as disc-shaped concre-
tions and in thin layers. These are the top of the Tegua beds
in this traverse.
This section, beginning not far from the base of the last,
runs southwest instead of south. Apparently the middle por-
tion of the section is more sandy than was found east of the
Attoyac, and the upper portion carries large quantities of silic-
ified wood and flattened cannon ball concretions which were
not observed there.
INTERNATIONAL & GREAT NORTHERN RY. SECTION
The Cook's Mountain-Tegua contact crosses the Interna-
tional & Great Northern Railway about half way between Mile
The Geology of East Texas 123
Posts 41 .and 42, or 3^^ miles south of Crockett. Here the
light colored gypsif erous clay of the Tegua is seen for thei first
time in this section.
One-fourth mile north of Mile Post 42 is 4 feet of Yegua
dark-gray sticky clay, weathering cream-colored and crack-
ing on surface. Here are petrified logs, the largest of which is
1% feet in diameter.
The cut one-fifth mile north of Mile Post 44 (just north of
Cut siding) exposes 10 feet of Tegua coarse sand. The quartz
grains are subangular and the sand contains grains of clastic
selenite. There are also fragments of silicified wood. The
whole exposure is lightly mottled. The original color of the
sand is buff or cream. Now it is colored in blotches and
patches with light brick-red. There are a few angular frag-
ments of black material, perhaps chert. Some of the wood
contains veinl'ets and botryoidal incrustations of hyalite.
Prom these localities Prof. Berry had determined the follow-
ing species of wood:
I. & G. N. Ry. Cut. Between Crockett and Lovelady:
Lower Yegua
Other Gulf States.
Phoenicites occidentalis Berry
Dryophyllum n. sp.
Claiborne
Myristlca catahoulensis Berry
Cedrela n. sp.
Jackson
Mespilodaphne n. sp.
Jackson
Nectandra n. sp.
Jackson
Nectandra n. var.
Nyssa n. sp.
Claiborne
Carpolithus n. sp.
Prom here to Wooters Station (one-fourth mile west of the
coal mine and just south of Mile Post 48) the topography is
typically flat Yegua. Some small exposures of Yegua clay
weathering light yellow are seen. The cut at Mile Post 48 and
south of there to Wooters Station shows 20 feet of Yegua drab
sandy, partially laminated clay, weathering cream-colored and
containing thin flakes and concretions of limonitic-cemented
material. Petrified wood is found here in abundance.
A specimen collected at "Wooters was sent Prof. Berry who
identified it as Cupressinoxylon dawsoni Penh.
124 University of Texas Bulletin
Tegua light drab clay with limonitie plates and concretions
is found underlying the extensive flat at Lovelady and also
between Mile Posts 53 and 54. Fragments of silicified wood
are found in .all these exposures. The flat surfaces are cov-
ered with a plentiful sprinkling of Lafayette-derived gravel
. similar to that about Huntington and elsewhere in Angelina
county. These gravels probably once occupied a higher eleva-
tion than they do at present, but their position has been suc-
cessively lowered by the erosion of the more easily transported
materials under them, leaving them as a more or less permanent
surface capping in a region of low relief and consequently of
streams with low powers of transportation.
Between Mile Posts 53 and 54 a large portion of the material
exposed is medium-grained, gypseous sand stained yellow
locally, perhaps with sulphur. Just north of Mile Post 54 the
drab clay contains thin plates of very light gray opaline-ce-
mented sandstone. Between Mile Post 54 and 55 coarse
Bands, sometimes partially consolidated, contain flakes of clas-
tic selenite.
Overlying this the Jackson is first encountered to the south
of Mile Post 55 as thin, irregular and shelly-bedded, friable,
creamy and buff sandstone.
Nevil's Prairie, which lies southwest of Lovelady, is under-
lain by the beds of the upper Yegua which, in this vicinity,
carry great quantities of silicified wood and numerous limoni-
tie concretions. At the southeast margin of the prairie on
Cedar creek is five feet of chocolate imperfectly laminated
jointed clay with a few small lenses of sand, overlain by lami-
nated grayish sand. Three-fourths mile downstream from the
last mentioned exposure on Cedar creek is the following sec-
tion:
1. Brown carbonaceous shaly clay, locally li^itlc 2 ft.
2. Greenish-drab sticky ball joint clay with leaves 1 ft.
3. Poor quality brown lignite 1ft.
4. Brown carbonaceous clay
From these localities Berry identified the following forms :
The Geology of East Texas
125
Near Antioch, 4 miles southwest of Lovelady.
Upper Yegua. Other Gulf States.
Anemia eocenica Berry Wilcox
Mimosites georgianus Berry Claiborne Jackson
Cupanites n. sp. Claiborne
Sapindus georgiana Berry Claiborne Jackson
Sapindus formosa Berry Wilcox Claiborne
Laurlnoxylon n. sp. Claiborne
N evil's Prairie, 5 to 1 miles sowfhwest of Lovelady.
Upper Yegua.
Arundo pseudogoepperti Berry
Lygodium kaulfussi Heer
Momisia americana Berry
Ficus n. sp.
Inga n. sp.
Mimosites georgianus Berry
Sophora wilcoxiana Berry Wilcox
Citrophyllum n. sp.
Sapindus georgiana Berry
Sapindus formosa Berry Wilcox
Sterculia n. sp.
Persea n. sp
Oreodaphne n. sp.
Mespilodaphne n. sp.
Nectandra n. sp.
Apocynophyllum n. sp.
Other Gulf States.
Claiborne Jackson
Claiborne Jackson
Claiborne Jackson
Claiborne
Claiborne
Claiborne Jackson
Claiborne
Claiborne Jackson
Claiborne
Claiborne
Claiborne
Claiborne
Claiborne Jackson
Claiborne Jackson
Claiborne Jackson
TRINITY RIVEK SECTION
On the Trinity river the exposures referred to the Yegua
extend from Robbins Ferry, northwest of the mouth of Kel-
lison creek, to Calhoun's Ferry, just south of the line between
Houston and Walker countie.s. The width of the beds at this
point is about eleven miles and along the river there are bluffs
that give excellent exposures of the formation.
It will be seen from these sections that with the exception
of the very top, the beds are much more argillaceous than in
the Neehes basin and that they carry beds of lignite of work-
able thickness and quality. This condition continues to the
westward.
Kennedy placed the contact at Alabama bluff, several miles
up the river, where the first selenitic clays are seen, but Baker
and Suman decided that this was part of the Nacogdoches or
126 • University of Texas Bulletin
transition beds between the Cook's Mountain and the Yegua
and placed the line at the base of the more massive clays which
are unfossiliferous.
No exposures were found below the final appearance of the
Nacogdoches just above Robbins Ferry and the mouth of Kel-
lison creek, where the following section occurs:
1. Blue gray, clayey sand with a few small calcium carbonate
cemented sandstone concretions; structureless, change
in color to lighter shades as top is approached. Top
5-10 feet is a reddish brown color 20 25 ft.
2. Dark blue-gray, very sandy, muscovitic joint clay, with
small lignitic lenses and black carbonaceous plant
fragments and clay ironstone concretions. Imperfectly
laminated, 15 ft.
3. Cross-bedded sand, carrying lumps of clay and with erosion
unconformity between it and underlying clay which is
believed to be local. Sands, medium^-grained, light
greenish-gray in color, containing a number of lignitized
wood fragments and at top a thin layer of limonitic
sandstone, 3 ft.
4. Clay like (2). Upper 2 feet sandier than lower portion, 8-10 ft.
Spring creek, or Spring branch, enters the Trinity river be-
tween Kellison creek and Westmoreland Bluff. It has steep,
deep, and narrow, gully-like banks cut in the present river
flood plain. The main creek and its branches have sent arms
with cuspidate margins up into the second bottom terrace. The
lowest exposure forms a falls. The section here is:
1. Grayish-brown, sandy, terrace alluvium, with the calcareous
nodules characteristic of the terrace alluvium in this
vicinity.
2. Br(Oiwnish-black to brown, carbonaceous, shaly clay. At
least 1.5 ft.
3. Lignite, good quality, hard, firm, of dull lustre. (In all
probability the same bed as that exposed in Westmoreland
Bluff) 4.5 ft.
4. Gray drab sticky clay 1.5 ft.
"Westmoreland Bluff is four miles west of the tovm of
Weldon. The section is as follows :
1. Mottled; grayish and rusty, river alluvium with the usual
ferruginous cemented gravel layer at the base. Very
The Geology of East Texas 127
sandy and gravelly. Has calcareous concretions and
_ represents the second bottom of tlie Trinity River
2. Carbonaceous, black, finely laminated shale, locally
lignite, with petrified logs, one of which measured three
feet in diameter, 3 ft.
S. Blackish carbonaceous shale with small selenite crystals,
thinly laminated. Much of it dark.brown in color.
Greenish-drab, sticky, laminated clay. This member is
represented at the east or upper end of the bluff by
25 feet of sandy clays, interbedded with dark, car-
bonaceous shales. The clays are mainly light drab in
color. At one place were found in situ the lignitized
roots of a tree. Between the east and west ends of the
bluff this horizon is occupied by a very much cross-
bedded, laminated, iron-stained and concretionary, brown
sand containing large trunks of trees and lenses of clay.
The large petrified logs are black in color and silicifled,
in places changed to finely fibrous brown calcite. The
outer surfaces of the logs are rough and ribbed as if they
had undergone partial decay .before being buried. The
concretions are mostly flat disks or imperfect, sometimes
tuberous, and "cannon balls". They are composed of
fibrous calcite and iron carbonate 7 25 ft,.
4. Grayish-brown, interbedded sands and clays. One foot
of bluish-black carbonaceous sandy clay in middle of
lower sand member. Upper three feet yellowish-brown
clay, 16 ft.
5. Black and brown, carbonaceous clayey sand with small
black leaf fragments 9 in.
6. Laminated, dark-brown sand 1 ft,
7. Greenish-drab, compact, sticky clay, 6 In.
8. Chooolate-brown, thinly laminated, carbonaceous shale.... 1ft.
9. Lignite. Middle of bed compact, hard, of dull lustre, and
good quality. Top and bottom badly checked and slaked
by weathering. Covered with water at overflow
stages 3 1-2 - 5 ft.
10. Dark drab, fine clay, fracturing into small fragments.
Unctuous and polished on fracture surfaces, 2 ft.
11. Sand, more compact, laminated, brown in color, with
small crystals of selenite. Lower one foot with greenish-
blue cast. Stained rusty with limonite along lamination
planes and, locally, yellowish with sulphur 5 ft.
12. Unconsolidated, fine-grained, dark gray, micaceous sand. .4.5 ft
The two upper shoals at the bluff are made by the lignite bed,
which lies at low water level. At the southern or lower end of
the bluff the coal bed forms a low broad anticline with its
128 University of Texas Bulletin
shorter axis in an east-west direction, in which direction it out-
crops above low water level for about four or five hundred
yards. On both limbs where it dips below the low water level
it forms a shoal.
Lying above (2) farther upstream is plastic slaty gray clay,
above which is loose, coarse to medium-grained gray and
brown loose porous sand in which are limonitic concretions.
There are balls and lenses of blue clay in the lower portion of
the sand with their longer axes arranged as various angles
with the horizontal, indicating local unconformity and erosion
of underlying clay before the deposition of the sand, similar
to conditions at the lower plane of the cross-bedded sand layer
in Westmoreland Bluff.
The following section is shown at Hyde or Spanish Bluff on
the Trinity river. The elevation of the second bottom terrace
surface is here 30 feet above the first bottom surface. At the
lower end of the bluff there is at the base 4 feet of greenish,
micaceous, fine clayey sand, carrying lignitized logs, above this,
seams of lignite interbedded with grayish sand, and at the top
1 foot of drab joint clay. The section at the main bluff is :
1. Reddish-brown, loose, loamy sand of the second bottom
with fossil Vnios.
Unconformity:
2. Dirty green, fine, micaceous sand, very imperfectly lami-
nated, locally brown with carbonaceous matter, more
laminated and jointed in the lower 6 feet, where it is
brown, carbonaceous and more clayey 15 ft.
3. Impure lignite, 1.5 ft.
4. Lignite, very irregular In thickness 2 ft.
A section at the lower end of Pine Bluff, Trinity river, one
mile below the mouth of Negro creek, follows :
1. Alluvium with calcareous nodules, light gray at base, but
brown above 15 20 ft.
2. Ferruginous-cemented Lafayette-derived conglomerate
with casts of Unias 3 ft.
Unconformity, involving and bevelling beds (8) to (3).
3. Greenish-gray sandy joint clay, 3 ft.
The Geology of East Texas 129
4. Lignite, very irregular in thickness, 2. ft.
5. Lignite, very irregular in thickness 2 ft.
6. Gray, laminated, cross-bedded, fine sands with thin, inter-
bedded layers of dark gray clay 3 ft.
7. Dark gray sandy Joint clay with fragments of lignitized
logs 1 - 2 ft.
8. Compact, laminated, dark gray-brown, fine sand,
lenticular, % - 1 ft.
9. Clay like (7) 1 1-3 ft.
10. Sand like (8) 1 1-3 ft.
11. Lignite, lenticular, soon pinching out 1 ft.
12. Lignitiferous shaly clay, brownish and black 1 ft.
1.3. Laminated, fine-grained, gray to brown sand, very car-
bonaceous, with knife edge, thin, alternating, dark gray
and black layers, 4 ft. _
The beds dip 2 degrees N. E. at the north end of the bluff.
There is another bluff about three-quarters of a mile down-
stream from Pine Bluff on the Madison county side. Here there
is about 25 feet of Yegua, cross and wavy-bedded, laminated
gray sand, with interbedded layers and pockets of drab joint
clay. It is overlain by light brown, sandy alluviiim, with a
surficial black sand layer. Three-fourths of a mile farther
downstream, also on the Madison county side, is .a second bluff,
having exposed at its base 10 feet of Yegua, gray, laminated,
clayey sand, dipping about 30 to the east. Above is 20 feet of
yellow, sandy, .alluvial clay: One mile farther downstream, on
the Madison county side, is a third bluff with 10-15 feet of
laminated, light-gray, Yegua, sandy clay in a series of very
low folds.
BRAZOS RIVER SECTION
The base of the Yegua on the Brazos river is found in the
bluff about 500 yards south of the mouth of the Little Brazos
■ river, where, overlying the fossiliferous Marine beds, there is
5 feet of unfossiliferous, pale blue clays. At Munson's Shoals
the section shows :
1. Brown river loam of sand and fine gravel, 18 ft.
2. Black sandy loam and clay loam mixed with brown sand
containing gravel and a few drift pebbles 2 ft.
3. Pale blue clay 8 ft.
4. Bluish-green lignitic clay, breaking into blocks and con-
130 Vmiversity of Texas Bulletin
taining broken plant remains, extending- across the
river and forming shoals 6 ft.
At Jones ' bridge we have :
1. Yellowish gray sand, 32 ft.
2. Bluish-green, sandy clay, containing fragments of lignite and
breaking into ovoid blocks, 46 ft.
Penrose's section at Sulphur Bluff is as follows:
1. Light brown, hardened, sandy clay, 10 ft.
2. Lignite, 1 ft.
3. Gray sand 1 ft.
4. Lignite, % ft.
•5. Interbedded gray sand and chocolate and greenish clay,
turned white in places on the surface, 20 ft.
The whole bluff is coated with sulphur.
The contact between the overlying sands and these clays is
seen on the south side of the James Hope Survey in a section
showing :
1. Gray sand and gravel 1 ft.
2. Gray sand containing great quantities of silicified wood.
The wood is usually in large pieces — four to six feet in
length, and bleached white 5 ft.
3. Gray, indurated sand, with ledges of soft sandstone 10 ft.
4. Gray sandstone, joined and thinly bedded, forming base of
Wellborn sand, 8 ft.
5. Dark brown lignitic clay, showing yellow bands from % to
1-2 inch in thickness and coated with an efflorescence of
sulphur, to water, 20 ft.
No. 5 corresponds to the upper brown clay of Penrose's sec-
tion of Sulphur bluff.
For the purpose of comparison and as showing the Marine
fossils of this formation, the section as observed in the Rio
Grande may be given :
RIO GRANDE SECTION
Ten miles south of Laredo, and about the same distance by
river, above the Webb-Zapata county line, we find the first de-
posits which, from their fossil-contents, we can, with certainty
The Geology of East Tex'as 13]
refer to the Tegua clays. This is a bluff, nearly a mile in
length, on the Texas side of the river. Here are exposed a
series of interbedded greensands, brown sand and chocolate
clay, with lenticular masses of red sandstone. Near the top
of the hill there is a bed of altered greensand containing quan-
tities of fossils, among which Mr. Harris determined:
Lacinia alveata, Con.
Natica recur.va var. dumblei, Heilp.
■Cerithium sp.,
C. webbi, Har.
Anomia ephippioides Gabb.
Ostrea alabamiensis Lea.
Cornellna armigera Con.
The round concretionary masses, called cannon-balls, are
abundant, both in the bed of greensand and in the red sand-
stone. The chocolate, sandy clays are cross-bedded.
A mile below this, a bluff on the Mexican side shows more
clearly the characteristically clayey nature of the Tegua. This
bluff is nearly 2 miles in length, and is composed of indurated
blue or gray clay, interbedded with altered greensand and
gray-hrown sands. It contains a thin bed and seams of lignite.
Beyond this, a bluff', 75 feet high, shows the chocolate sands and
clays, highly variegated in color — purple, red, pink, yellow and
brown — and capped by a brown sandstone . which weathers
black in places. A considerable amount of iron pyrites and
gypsum are present.
About the line of Webb and Zapata counties there is a bluff
60 to 100 feet high, which is a half mile or more in length. The
beds are nearly horizontal, as seen from the river, which here
flows east. The base of the hill shows a band of buff and green-
ish sands, slightly calcareous, with large concretions — 8 to 10
feet in diameter. This is overlain by an extremely hard, limy
band of grayish color, which shows on its upper surface a
breccia of a very large gasteropod.
Overlying this is a series of sand of varied colors and a
second limestone layer, very rich in fossils, including such
forms as Conus sa/uridens, Con.; Ostrea, alabamiensis, Lea; 0.
Geol. S. "W. Texas, Trans-Am. Inst. Min. Bng., pp. 961-964.
132 University of Texas Bulletin
divaricata, Lea ; Volutilithes petrosus, Con. ; V. petrosus vax.
indenta, Con.; Tellina mooreana, Gabb; CorbuLa alabamiensis,
Lea; Cytherea texacola, Heilp. ; Natica recurva var. dumllei,
Heil. -jTwritella nasuta var. Tioustoma, Har. ; Yenericwrdia plam-
costa, Lam.
The next bluff, 2 miles below, on Texas side, showed only-
brown sands, without fossils, for a height of 60 feet, but at the
mouth of Dolores creek we again find the greensands in hill 20
to 35 feet high, with beds of oysters from bottom to top. •
Four miles below this there is a low reef of hard, gray lime-
stone, weathering to a greenish-gray color. It is concretionary
in places. Four miles above San Ignacio there is a bluff 300
y.ards long and some 60 feet high. Below the alluvial deposits
it is composed of buff sands and sandstones, with seams of
lignitic clays, sands and greensands.
At the top of the sandstone there is a fossil-stratum about 8
inches thick. This gave:
Pleurotoma nodocarinata, Gabb (?),
Levifusus trabeatus, Con., var.
Tellina mooreana, Gabb.
Corbula alabamiensis, Lea.
Venericardia planicosta, Lam.
Cytherea sp.
Natica recurva var. dumblei, Heilp.
(Volutilitbes petrosus. Con.
Ostrea alabamiensis. Lea. '
Gypsum and cannon-balls occur, as well as numerous white
calcareous concretions. The bombshells contain traces of lig-
nitic materials. The dip here is normal — S. B. Two miles below,
a bluff on the Mexican side of the river, composed of the gray
sandstones with calcareous concretions, shows .a distinct north-
east dip. The same sandstone, still dipping northeast, appears
as a reef at San Ignacio. The exposures at the mouth of Sali-
dita creek, about 2 miles below San Ignacio, show a bed of
siliceous limestone, with beds of altered greensands. This is
overlain by a buff sandstone which, in its next appearance, is
seen to be cross-bedded and jointed.
Four miles below San Ignacio the river bluff shows this same
buff sandstone underlain by greensands. The buff sandstone
The Geology of East Texas 133
is quite calcareous, carries gray nodules .and shows concentric
weathering.
A mile below this exposure the dip changes from northeast to
northwest, and shows somewhat greater angles than is usual in
these beds, amounting to .as much as 10°. The materials ex-
posed are semi-indurated sands, with more compact boulders of
the same material. This is overlain by blue and green fer-
ruginous clays, which weather a deep-red and show concentric
weathering. White, calcareous concretions abound in this bed.
Yellow, sandy clay, becoming more compact toward the top,
succeeds the heavy clays. No gypsum was seen, and but little
sulphur.
Two miles below, the dip again changes to southeast, and the
buff sandstone shows beds of flagstone, which are somewhat
calcareous and contain black, chert grains. These beds con-
tinue to a point 4 miles north of Carrizo, where we find the
contact of the clays of the Yegua with the Fayette sands.
CHAPTER VI.
CLAIBORNE CONTHNTUED
Fayette
NAME
The name was originally used by Penrose^ for the entire
series of deposits lying between the top of the Marine beds and
the Orange Sand or Lafayette. As has been already shown, the
basal member of these beds was separated under the name
Yegua. Further investigation proved that the name still em-
braced deposits of different ages, and it was finally restricted
to the sands and light colored clays overlying the Yegua and, if
the Frio belong in the Upper Eocene, the uppermost bed of the
Middle Eocene of the Texas section.
TYPE SECTION
The type locality of this sub-stage is on the Colorado river, in
the extreme western corner of Fayette county.
"White Marl Bluif at Shipp's Ford, near the county line be-
tween Fayette and Bastrop counties, forms the final fossilifer-
ous exposure of the Cook's Mountain beds.
The railroad bridge crossing the river two miles north of
West Point rests upon an excellent exposure of the chocolate
clays and sands of the Yegua with its characteristic sideritic
concretions. The first high bluff down the river from this
location was called by Penrose Chalk bluff from' its color. The
base of this bluff is made up of beds belonging to the Yegua, but
higher up a different formation comes in which is character-
ized by light colored sands and joint clays which belong to
the Fayette.
Criswell creek just east of "West Point gives excellent expos-
ures of the Yegua-Fayette contact. The uppermost Yegua
in this locality is a chocolate sandy clay splotched with yel-
low and containing plant remains. The basal Fayette is a
'■ First Annual Report Geol. Sur. of Texas, p. 47.
The Geology of East Texas 135
white sandstone, rather fine grained, with a few yellow ferru-
ginous markings. Overlying this sandstone are white sandy
shales with yellow ferruginous sand laminae.
The difference between the two formations is striking. Not
only are the colors distinct, but the lignitic or carbonaceous
matter so prevalent in the Yegua is missing' entirely in the
lower Fayette and the siderite or limonite concretions are re-
placed by a few knobs of ferruginous sand.
The Fayette beds are well shown, in Pine Bluff, which is at
the sharp bend of the Colorado at west end of Old River, about
four miles northeast of West Point.
At this exposure there is at the top 70 feet of gray and white
sand interbedded with white and watery green clay. This is
underlain by beds of similar clay alternating with thin seams
of lignite and with chocolate clays. Penrose's section is as
follows :
1. Quaternary drift.
2. Interbedded gray and white sand, white and watery-green
clay 70 ft.
3. Hard water-green clay, like in (2) 4 ft.
4. Lignite 2 It.
5. Similar strata to (2), light chocolate color on surface 3 ft.
6. Lignite 1 ft.
7. Similar strata to (5) 7 ft.
8. Chocolate clays, with black leaf and reed impressions % ft.
9. Hard watery-green clay 4 ft.
10. Lignite 1 ft.
11. Hard light green clay , 5 ft.
12. Similar strata to (8) V2 to 1 ft.
13. Hard, light green clay 6 ft.
14. Lignite 1 to 2 ft.
15. Hard, light green clay 10 ft.
Gates ' Bluff, two and a half miles east of Pine bluff gives the
top of the Fayette and its contact with the Jackson. At this
place a bed of lignite is just at top of water level in river. It
is overlain by ten feet of interbedded clayey sands, shaley to
thin-bedded, with some carbonaceous streaks and is strongly
jointed. Its top is an old land surface and the section shows a
line of silicified stumps standing upright and evidently in place
as they grew. Between them are pot-holes filled in with the
136 University of Texas Bulletin
darker sands of the overlying impure lignitic band, which is here
taken to be the base of the Jackson.
No marine fossils were found in the Fayette beds, but leaf
impressions were seen in abundance, and gypsum and sulphur
were present in nearly all the beds.
Nowhere in the Colorado section were any sands seen which
appeared to- represent the Wellborn beds. All of the sediments
apparently referable to the Jackson belong to its lignitic and
fresh water phases, and are presumably later than the Welborn,
which seems wanting in this section.
EIO GRANDE SECTION
As in the ease of the Yegua, the Rio Grande section gives a
clearer idea of the charac1;pr and fossil contents of these beds.
While the sediments are largely of marine deposition on the Rio
Grande, the materials entering into them are similar to those of
'the Colorado section.
The Rio Grande beds may be divided into two parts. The
lower part extends from Zapata to the northern line of Starr
county and is made up of greenish clays and sands interbedded
.with buff sands with some calcareous matter and greensands.
These beds are very fossiliferous.
The upper part, extending from the Starr county line to
Roma, while not differing so much lithologically from the lower,
has a larger proportion of the buff sands and its only fossil
seems to be the very large oyster called by Penrose Ostrea geor-
giana, but identified by Harris as 0. alabamiensis var. contracta
of Conrad.
The fiirst exposure of the Fayette beds in the Rio Grande
region is described by Dr. Penrose as follows :
"Four miles above the Texas town of Carrizo, and on the Mexican
side of the river, is seen a bed of woody lignite 1% to ft. thick, over-
lain by 10 ft. lof buff sands and underlain to the water's edge by 4 ft.
of greenish-gray clay. The Rio Salado flows into the Rio Grande from
the Mexican side opposite Carrizo. The town of Guerreno is on this
river 6 miles from the mouth, and in this distance are seen many
outcrops of buff sandstone, often rising in abrupt ledges through the
Geol. S. "W. Texas, pp. 37-8-9-40.
The Geology of East Texas 137
river alluvium. Most of the houses, churches and fences of the town
are built of it."
At Carrizo the beds yielded the following fossils:
Lacinia alveoata, Con.
Ostrea alabamiensis var. oontracta, Con.
Similar exposures are seen just below Carrizo, wliere the river
runs more nearly in the strike of the beds. After it again turns
southeast the blnff sands iorrn low bluffs for 2 or 3 miles, when
we find, on the Mexican side of the river, in a long, low line of
exposures, a .cireenish, sandy clay, partly indurated, but variable,
with harder green concretions, which are more or less calcareous.
Here we found : Lacinia alveata, Con. ; Voluiilithes petrosus,
Con.; CornuUna armigera, Con.; CytJierea iastropensis, Har. ;
Tellina mooreana, Gabb. A similar exposure, just below, on
American side, was a mile or more in length, and showed many
undulations. This was in turn succeeded by exposures of buff
sandstones, which here seem to dip about 6 degrees to the SE.
This condition continues to the mouth of a small creek just north
of Rancho Ramireno, which ' ' cuts through a series of low bluffs,
ledges of interstratified buff sandstones containing gray con-
cretions and septaria, and chocolate, black and greenish-blue,
semi-indurated clays, dipping 1 to 2 degrees southeast."
The forms identified by Prof. Harris are: Ostrea contracta,
Con. ; Conus sauridens, Con. ; Volutilithes, sp. ; Venerica/rdia
*planicosta, Lam. ; Semele lienosa, Con. ; CytJierea bastropensis,
Har.; Lacinia alveata, Con. var.; Pseudoliva vetusta, Con.;
Natica recurva var. diimblei.
Thei'e is a I'ossililerous l-iyer near the mouth of the creek and
forming its bed. This shows a mass of shells much comminuted.
The few specimens wheich we found entire had, doubtless,
weathered from the softer buff sands, as we found them in place
in that material. These clays and sands are highly colored, and
as usual show considerable cross-bedding. In the drift we found
many beautiful agates, chalcedony and petrified wood — which
here made its first appearance on our trip. The buff sands and
interbedded materials form a reef below the mouth of the creek
and continued down the river several miles, when a bluff was
lO-ET.
138 University of Texas Bulletin
found on the Mexican side which showed "interbedded hard and
soft, calcareous sandstones and clay seams," and containing
Volutilithes petrosus, Con., Turritella nasuta, Gabb, ; Lacinia al-
veata, Con.?; Anomia ephippioides, Gabb; Leda opulenta, Con.;
Venericardia planicosta, Lam.; Tellina mooreana, Gabb; Cy-
therea hastropensis, Ear.
Numerous calcareous concretions are found, and the sand oc-
casionally contains coarse, black and gray siliceous grains the
size of mustard-seed and larger.
Just below the mouth of Tigre creek there is another exposure
of the buff sandstone and its interbedded clays and sands, with
grayish, limestone concretions of all shapes and sizes. Some of
these concretions seem to contain masses of decomposed iron-
pyrites only, but the most of them are fossiliferous. In the buff
sandstone we find only specimens of oysters, all other forms being
confined to the concretionary beds or particular masses. Some
of these contain all their fossils (except oysters, which remain as
shells) simply as rusty casts, while in others all the forms are
fairly preserved.
Among these are: Venericardia planicosta, Lam.; Turritella
nasuta, Gabb; VolutUitJies petrosus, Con.; Crassatella rotexta,
Con. var. ; Cytlierea hastropensis, Har. ; Pseudoliva vetusta,
Con. ; Conus saiiridens, Con. ; Cornulina armigera. Con. var.
A very short distance above the Zapata-Starr county line there
is a long exposure, on the Mexican side, of bluish-gray clays,
capped by a bed of fossiliferous greensand. The next exposure,
however, is again of the buff sandstone, with very large concre-
tions, and showing a distinct synclinal structure. In appearance,^
it closely resembles the materials of the Fayette beds on the Col-
orado river, north of LaGrange. Then follows the bluff, of which
Dr. Penrose gives the following section:
1. Indurated, light-brown sand 3-6 ft.
2. Loose, light-brown sand 10 ft.
3. Gray clay 5 ft.
4. Oyster-bed. Ostrea alalximiensis var. contracta 1 ft.
5. Gray clay 1 ft.
6. Oyster-bed 1 ft.
7. Detritus to water's edge 4 ft.
In this section the oysters, some of which are a foot or more
The Geology of East Texas 139
in length, occur not only in the oyster-beds, but scattered
through the buff sands also. Two miles below, the beds are
still more clayey in their nature, as is shown by the following
section made at Las Guerras bluff, the point at which the river
makes its sharp turn to the northeast, 5 miles or more west
of Roma:
1. Greenish-yellow clays, indurated, thin-lDedded, and carrying
gypsum and sulphur ' ... 20 ft.
2. Oyster-reef. 0. alaiamiensis, var. contracta, 1-2 ft.
3. Calcareous bed 1-2 ft.
4. Buffl clays, partly indurated. Oysters 8-10 ft.
5. Bright-colored, sandy clays,, with gypsum, sulphur and lig-
nitic' matter '• 8 ft.
6. Very hard sandstone, bedded and banded in brown, yellow
and red colors 12 ft.
The gypsum in No. 1, of above section, was of yellow color,
and occurred in seams %-inch thick, .and in crystalline masses
of considerable size. I suspect that this bed will be found to
be the base of the Frio clays, since my notes state that its dip
is only 4 degrees, while that of the calcareous and underlying
beds is about 7 degrees. The lower beds are referred to the
Fayette on the strength of the persistence in them of the large
oyster, which has been used as one of the characteristic fossils
of this sub-stage.
The buff sands continued toward Roma, and the oyster-reef,
with the same large oyster, was seen in the river-jbank at that
town. One mile below, however, where the final exposure of
the buff sands was observed, no oysters were found.
Between the Colorado and the Brazos, the Fayette was found
along Nails creek north of Ijedhetter overlying the Yegua and
underlying the fossiliferous "Wellborn sandstone of the Jackson.
MAPPED AREA
Bast of the Brazos river the Fayette has been found only in
detached bodies overlying the Yegua north of the Jackson
border. These are simply remnantal portions left by an erosion
interval which separated the Middle froln the Upper Eocene.
The Fayette does not appear along the Sabine river.
The most easterly area recognized was a mile southwest of
140 University of Texas Bulletin
Huntington, Angelina county, on the Texas & New Orleans
Railroad. A hill on the Renfroe place which rises twenty-five
feet above the surrounding Yegua clays is made up of a light-
gray quartzose sandstone ranging in consolidation from a
hard sandstone to a well indurated quartzite.
Some four miles west of this locality there is a larger area
surrounding the town of Homer. This town is underlain by
a light bluish-gray, cross-bedded sandstone. North of the town,
it changes to a white sandstone of medium grain, evenly bedded,
and is moderately hard. It is quarried for local use.
To the southward the sandstone is overlain by light cream-
colored clay, thin-bedded to massive and showing cross-bedding
in places.
About one-fourth mile north of Homer, at the head of a small
creek, is the first exposure noted. Here there is about 2^^
feet of black surface loam, containing much carbonaceous ma-
terial and very much resembling a poor grade of peat. At the
base of this loamy material there is a thin layer of gravel, made
up of fragments of silieified wood, ferruginous clay-stone,
quartz, and quartzitic material, all of the fragments being sub-
angular to rounded. Below this is a brown limonitic layer
about six inches thick and made up of hard, concretionary
limonitic clay. This member of the section was found to occur
only in a few places. Underlying and forming the base of the
section is a white to cream colored clay, sometimes, when damp,
dull gray, hard, compact, fine-grained, which breaks with a
semi-conchoidal fracture. This clay is jointed and in the joints
a black carbonaceous material resembling lignite occurs. It
evidently has washed in 'from the overlying loam. Little could
be seen of the bedding of the clay, but in some places it seemed
to be thin-bedded, while in others it was more massive- with
cross-bedding showing in a freshly broken piece.
Going down the creek, the clay outcrops along the banks and
makes up the creek bottom. In one little gully the clay is ex
posed to a thickness of five feet and several four foot sections
were noted. In no place, except at the east .and west ends of
the deposit, could the bottom of the clay be seen. Here it was
seen to rest unconformably upon a gray, thin-bedded sandstone
which tilted locally at an angle of about 2& degrees. The clay
TKe Geology of East Texas 141
was unconformable on this sandstone in all respects as regards
dip, and the plane of contact was found to be much warped.
The clay thinned out to the east and west, which showed that
the deposit was of a lenticular nature.
In an east-west direction this deposit extends for about 2000
feet. To the north and south its extension is not very well
known.
Two similar areas occur along the line of the Houston, East
& West Texas Railway. One of these is north of Burke, the
other southeast, extending almost to the Jackson contact. The
hill north of Burke is about three miles long north and south.
The northern end is made up of a gray to white sand or sand-
stone, and a measured thickness of 20 feet was observed. The
sandstone is thin-bedded in places, and varies locally from
soft to hard. Pieces of silicified wood are found in the sand-
stone, which is fine-grained throughout. Lamination planes
can be seen in the apparently massive, well indurated material.
Some of the beds are up to one foot thick.
The topography here is gently rolling. On top of the hill
a log of silicified wood was found, which was about 25 feet in
length and 2^4 feet in diameter.
On this low hill near Burke, is an exposure of grayish-white,
soft sandstone with blotches of black material. The quartz
grains are rounded and the black blotches seem to be due to
some kind of stain on the quartz grains. About one-fourth
mile farther north on side of hill is found a thin-bedded, green-
ish-gray, shaly clay with partings of grayish sand. In the sand
small shining crystals resembling selenite were found.
On the west side of Jacks Bayou, just east of Blix, in Ange-
lina county, there is a ridge of sandstone of light gray color.
The ridge is 20 feet in height, and a well 50 feet deep found
only the same sand. The rock is a fine grade of very light gray
sandstone, with medium-sized quartz grains and grains of
magnetite. It is medium hard and lies in layers of about one
foot in thickness.
Suman found an isolated outcrop of similar rock at Huston
Park, one and a half miles southeast of Alto, in a hill rising
about 75 feet above surrounding country, which contains about
60 feet of a hard, indurated, massive, white to gray, or cream-
142 University of Texas Bulletin
colored sandstone. This material does not resemble any other
encountered in this vicinity, and is hard to account for. Litho-
logically, it seems to resemble the Payette sandstone as ob-
served near Burke, but no fossils were seen. There is a ridge
running for about three miles through the country that is
capped by this rock.
Baker considers this a remnant of the Fayette, ' which indi-
cates that in this region the Fayette originally not only over-
lay the Yegua, but overlapped upon the Cook's Mountain beds.
To the west of the localities described, there are other areas
of the Fayette which are similarly related to the Tegua and
the Jackson. Three of these are found along the Houston-
Trinity county line northwest of Groveton, and in the vicinity
of Pennington. The description of one will serve for all.
On the north side of Bast Prairie on the farm of Mrs. BlufE-
ington on the D. Ashworth Survey, two miles north of Penning-
ton, there outcrops a fine-grained gray to whitish colored sand-
stone varying in hardness from soft to almost that of a quartz-
ite. It contains an abundance of .a black mineral resembling
magnetite in small specks. It varies from massive to cross-
bedded and very locally may be thin-bedded. Near the top
of the hill there is 8 feet of the harder rock outcropping over
about five acres. The rock varies rapidly in this area from
hard to soft. It is underlain down the hill by ten or twelve
feet of cross-bedded, fine-grained, soft, white sandstone. In
the creek bed below this there outcrops some lignite. The sand-
stone is used locally for building chimneys.
West of the Trinity similar exposures are found along Bedias
creek north of the Yegua-Jackson contact as far west as the
northeast corner of Grimes county.
The Fayette has not yet been certainly identified on the
Brazos, owing to the presence in that vicinity of the Wellborn
sandstone of the Jackson, which has been confused with it.
Whether both are present here, or whether the Fayette was
entirely eroded before the deposition of the Wellborn, has not
been determined. That the two are separate and distinct sands
is fully proven by their general character and fossils.
The Fayette in East Texas consists. of very light colored sands
and clays with some lignite, and only plant remains as fossils.
The Geology of East Texas 143
The Wellborn is predominatingly a brown sand with remains of
marine invertebrates.
There are no materials in any of the Jackson beds east of
the Brazos corresponding to those of the Fayette inliers in the
Yegna which have been described.
The stratigraphic relations are such that the two could not
belong to the same horizon.
CLOSE OF THE CliAIBORNE
At the close of Claiborne deposition, the sea again receded,
thereby adding a broad belt of land to the growing terrane of
the Coastal Plain. How far this recession may have reached is
unknown, but the indications are that the period of the reces-
sion was not as great as that between the Lower and Middle
Eocene.
In ^ast Texas this recession was accompanied by an eleva-
tion of the beds which, while extending from the Sabine to
the Brazos, attained its maximum east of the Neches. This is
indicated clearly by the fact that the Fayette beds, which are
normal on the Colorado, begin to show erosion west of the
Brazos, on which stream they are doubtfully present, and east-
ward are only known by remnantal areas to the Neches drainage,
beyond which they are entirely unknown. In this area not only
has the Fayette been entirely removed, but the underlying Yegua
has also been scored.
While a large portion of this erosion must have taken place
during the interval between the recession of the Claiborne sea
and the transgression of the Jackson, it is possible that a part
of it belongs to that period of the early Jackson in which 'the
Wellborn beds were laid down between the Brazos and the
Trinity-Neehes divide. The greater erosion eastward, however,
was in all probability due to greater elevation above sea-level.
Veatch finds evidence of a post-Claiborne movement in con-
nection with the salt dome at Winfield and there are indications
of similar movement around the Palestine dome.
These movements evidently had their beginning in the Sabine
region during the Marine, as is shown by the conditions at the
base of the Nacogdoches in the type locality. It was the move-
144 University of Texas Bulletin
ment beginning then which changed the shore line of the Clai-
borne sea from the northeasterly trend which it had had in
common with the Midway sea and with the waters of the Wilcox
to the east-west line which has prevailed east of the Neclies
river from that time to the present.
University of Texas Bulletin No. 1869
Plate VII.
Fig 1. FAYETTE FORMATION.
Near Homer, Angelina County.
<rst:i>w» s'i^-i^'"-ii
Fig. 2. JACKSON FORMATION.
Cross bedded sandstones on H. E. & W. T. R. R. Mile Post 100.
Chapter VII
JACKSON
Name
Conrad found at Jackson, Mississpippi, a series of deposits
which carried a large and well preserved fossil fauna which
was intermediate in age between the Claiborne and Vicksburg,
and which he described and called the Jackson. The beds are
described as calcareous marls and lignitiferous clays, but later
descriptions add a bed of siliceous sands at the top.
In the bluff at Yazoo City, 180 feet of the calcareous clay is
exposed. It carries crystals of gypsum and many marine fossils
in addition to bones of the Zeuglodon which characterize the
Jackson of the embayment area.
The entire thickness in Mississipppi is estimated at 350 to 450
feet.
The marine fauna of the Jackson has been found to contain
nearly as many species as that of the Claiborne, and, although
the number common to both is comparatively small, they are of
Eocene types and the formation is considered to be. the upper-
most division of that series.
The discovery of the Jackson in Texas was due to Harris and
Veatch'', who found and recognized Jackson fossils in the vi-
cinity of Corrigan, on the Sabine, and in material gotten from
an oil well at Sour Lake.
Later, Vaughan, on the basis of a restudy of the fossils found
near Wellborn, referred the "Wellborn sands to the basal Jackson,
but it was left for Baker and Suman to work out the extent and
character of the beds referable to this horizon lying between the
Sabine and the Brazos.
General Character A>fD Thickness.
The Jackson, like other divisions of the Eocene in Texas, while
made up largely of marine deposits, has also its share of those
Crider, Bui. U. S. Geol. Sur. 283, p. 35.
' Louisiana Geol. Sur. 1902, p. 25.
146 University of Texas Bulletin
laid down in lagoons and swamp areas. In some regions, in fact,
it is the principal lignite-bearing formation. In addition to these
deposits, which it has. in common with the underlying Claiborne,
it is especially characterized by terrestrial deposits and by ma-
terials derived front volcanic flows and eruptions.
The lowest beds are fossiliferous sands and clays. These are
followed by calcareous clays and sands, also fossiliferous, lignitic
sands and clays, beds of volcanic ash and other materials of
igneous origin, and some limestones and sandstones. , Of the
sandstones, some are quartzitic in character and some have a
porcellaneous cement. The fossils of the sandstones are largely
casts, but in the clays they are well preserved. Zeuglodon
bones were found at one or two localities.
The Jackson is distinguished by the fact that in it the clay
ironstone and limouitic concretions of the underlying Yegua
are replaced by calcareous concretions and by a greater propor-
tion of sands and sandstones. Some of the Jackson sands are
very hard, even quartzitic, but are always light gray in color and
are fossiliferous in places. Volcanic ash beds are also character-
istic. The top of the Jackson is placed where the chocolate lam-
inated clays and carbonaceous sands give place to coarse "rice"
sands or sandstones and yellowish green, structureless clays and
claystones.
These beds, have a thickness in Angelina county of between
400 and 600 feet and are probably thicker on the Trinity, and to
the west of that stream.
Distribution
The outcrop of the Jackson on the Sabine has a width of about
four miles. As it strikes westward, it gradually becomes wider
until it reaches the divide between the Neches and the Trinity in
the vicinity of Groveton. In this region it attains its maximum
surficial width, which is about eighteen miles. The belt then
strikes soiithwestward, crossing the Trinity west of the town of
Trinity. The outcrop on the river along the line of dip narrows
to five miles. Between the Trinity and the Brazos it has an aver-
age width of eight to nine miles and crosses the latter stream
southwest of Wellborn.
TJie Geology of East Texas _ 147
Disposition and Relation to Underlying Formations
So far as can be determined from the contacts we have seen
between the Claiborne and the Jackson, the newly emerged Mid-
dle Eocene sediments which formed the surface of the coastal
fringe at the beginning o£ the Upper Eocene showed little change
in condition in the vicinity of the Colorado. The Jackson sea,
coming in from the southward, in the vicinity of the Brazos,
transgressed the Claiborne land to the northeastward rather
slowly at first, but more rapidly later. The basal or Wellborn
sands and their overlying lignitic deposits are well developed on
the Brazos and eastward to the Trinity river. These basal de-
posits, however, do not extend beyond the divide between the
Trinity and the Neches rivers. From the Neches eastward these
sands are replaced by the medial or Caddell clays, which form
the basal beds" between the Neches and the Sabine.
Between the emergence of the Claiborne and the deposition of
these basal beds the greater part of the Payette east of the Brazos
was removed by erosion arid in consequence the Wellborn sands
are in immediate contact with the Yegua between the Brazos and
Trinity, while east of the Neches the contact is between the
Tegua and the Caddell clays. The Yegua shows an eroded sur-
face at the contact at some localities, as at Mile Post 659 on the
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Eailway.
In this area, therefore, the Jackson began with the. marine con-
ditions on the Brazos and land in the east. The marine condi-
tions gradually extended to the Sabine and were succeeded to
the. westward by those which permitted the deposition of lig-
nitic beds. Finally, littorat conditions prevailed along the en-
tire front.
During the period there were volcanoes in active eruption.
Some of these were probably located to the seaward of our area,
while others were within the region now occupied by its sedi-
ments, and furnished volcanic tuff and ash for its beds. To this
source is also due tlie large amount of opaline matter now occur-
ring as opalized wood and as the porcellaneous cement of the
many sand beds.
148 University of Texas Bulletin
Subdivisions
At the base of the Jackson we find sandstones of rather fine
grain, gray and brown in color, interstratified with lignitie clays
and sands and overlain by sandy carbonaceous shales carrying
silicified logs. These are the "Welborn beds, and are followed by
greenish clays and sandy clays with calcareous concretions and
greensand, and other clays with gypsum and sulphur. They
have been called the Caddell beds. West of the Groveton divide
these clays are also lignitie and not fossiliferous. The upper
member consists of a series of lignitie clays and sands with which
are interbedded brown sandstones, some of which have a por-
cellaneous cement while other are quartzitie, the uppermost
portion being carbonaceous sandy clays with gypsum and sul-
phur. These are called the Manning beds.
In connection with the Caddell beds and continuing up into
the Manning we have extensive beds of volcanic ash and some
volcanic tuff.
COERBLATION WlTH OtHEE ArEAS
Kennedy found a number of fossils in the sandstones of Wil-
liams Quarry on the Stephenson League three miles east of Well-
born, which Harris identified as follows, classing them as Lower
Claiborne. These were found near the base of the sands :
Yoldia claibornensis
Venericardia planicosta
Cy.therea bastropeasis
Siliqua sinrondsi
Mactra sp. a
Corbula alabamlensis
Turritella sp.
Cancellaria penrosei
Pleurotoma Quassalla
Cylinchna kellogii
Deussen made f uther collections in this vicinity and says^ :
"Vaughan is of the opinion that the horizon represented by
the hard fosiliferous sandstone of the section on the Robert
' Water-Supply Paper 335, p. 72.
TJie Geology of East Texas 149
Stephenson League is probably very low in the Jackson. ' '
He does not enumerate the fossils, but as he probably had a
fuller collection than that which Harris examined and as the
Wellborn is apparently the continuation of the sands forming
the base of the Jackson to the east, the Wellborn sands are re-
moved from equivalency to the Fayette, as was formerly held,
and placed at the base of the Jackson.
The fossils of the Caddell clays which occur on Tar Kiln creek
four miles northwest of DiboU are well preserved and represent
an horizon considerably higher than the Wellborn. The only
Zeuglodon bones found were in connection with the Caddell.
The Manning sands which overlie these contain many imprints
of fossils, mostly lamellibranchs, but they are somewhat poorly
preserved.
It is probable that when the present collections are properly
studied it will be found that practically all of the Jackson time is
represented in our section.
Details of Section
brazos and grimes counties
Wellborn: — Kennedy^ describes these beds as follows:
These sandstones, with their accompanying gray sands, al-
though here tentatively denominated the Wellborn beds, belong
to and help to form a part of, the series of gray sands and sand-
stones extending across the State from the Neches river in Polk
county as far west as Sunnyside church, in Lee county^.
In Grimes county these beds have been narrowed down to a
belt occupying an irregular area lying between the calcareous
sands and sandstones of the Navasota beds and the underlying
dark gray sands and lignites of the Yegua group, and appear
only as isolated patches.
In Brazos county the gray sands and sandstones form an ir-
regularly defined belt of varying width extending across the
county from the edge of the Navasota bottom lands on the east
to the Brazos river on the west. They are hard, close-grained.
fourth Annual Report, Geol. Sur. Tex. p. 45.
' Probably not Wellborn, but Fayette.
150 University of Texas Bulletin
and compact, occasionally showing a tendency to become quartz-
itie. The country occupied by them is generally flat and prairie-
like, covered by gray sand, and few outcrops of continuous ledges
of the sandstone can be seen anywhere.
Small outcrops occur at several places on the Sam Davidson
and James Hope leagues, on the western side of the county,
where the belt has an apparent width of nearly three miles.
These outcrops are irregular in areal extent and thickness,
and appear usually as isolated patches or "knobs" surmounting
the small rounded hills forming the uplands of this region. The
sandstones here rest upon the upper beds of the lignitic sands
and clays found farther north. A section on a small creek on
the south side of the James Hope headright shows:
1. Gray sand and gravel 1 ft.
2. Gray sand, with great quantities of silicified wood 5 ft.
3. Gray indurated sand, witli ledges of soft sandstone 10 ft.
4. Gray sandstone, jointed and thinly bedded : . . . . 8 ft.
.5. Dark brown lignitic clay, showing yellow streaks and sulphur
efflorescence 20 ^t.
Near the mouth of White 's creek the gray sandstones are seen
capping the higher grounds. Here these rocks are arranged in
three ledges, showing an aggregate thickness of 20 feet, and rest
upon the dark brown clays of the lignitic deposits. No fossils
have been obtained from them, except a few small dicotyledenous
leaves, but their direct continuity with the fossil-bearing sand-
stones has been traced along a series of small outcrops across the
county by way of Minter Springs and Wellborn to the junction
of the two on the E. Stephenson league.
Going east from Wellborn, light gray laminated sandy clays
and thin beds of sandstones appear in the cuttings and washouts
along the south side of the R. Stephenson league for a distance
of several miles. About three miles to the southeast of the sta-
tion, at Dr. Williams' quarry^, on the same league, an exposure
of regularly bedded gray sandstones appears along the north bank
' Thia is locality from which fossils were collected, the list of which
was given in connection with the correlation of these beds.
The Geology of East Texas 151
of a small stream. The general section at this place appears
to be:
1. Gray sands, showing some distance down the cre^....2 to 8 ft.
2. Thinly laminated, light gray (almost white) sandy clays 2 to 8 ft.
3. Broken deposit of sandstone, containing fossils 2 ft.
4. Regular and even bedded gray fossiliferous sandstone 6 ft.
On the Brazos river Kelly found what he considers the hase
of the "Wellborn in a bluff just north of Koppe's bridge west of
Wellborn. His section shows:
1. Dirty brown clay with a layer of dark brown limonitic con-
cretions five feet from base. Fossils at base 1& tO' 20 ft.
2. Brownish-gray, fossiliferous clay, showing limonitic layers
1-16 to 1-4 inch thick. Toward top it contains beds of sand
1-inch thick 6 ft.
3. bignitic clay interbedded with yellow clay. Some limonite
concretions. Balls and lenses of lignite showing manga-
nese in cracks. A few light to dark gray concretions of
siderite 4 ft.
4. Interbedded sands and clays. Beds of clayey sandstone mark
the base of this section. The layers are one to' three inches
thick, well bedded, poorly indurated, coarse to medium
greensand, color dirty white to greenish white. The middle
is more argillaceous, whiter, thin-bedded, with layers of
lignite an Inch thick. The upper 3 feet more sandy, thin-
bedded and showing stains of limonite. Silicifled wood Is
plentiful In these beds 10 ft.
Members one and two are probably "Wellborn.
A mile and a half south of Batte's ferry, he found the fol-
lowing :
1. Thinly bedded sand and sandstone, some beds colored deep
yellow by iron. Bedding very thin, but persistent. Nodules
of pyrite are present 3 ft.
2. Very soft sandstone with fine laminations, yellow to reddish
brown in color 1 ft.
3. Interbedded white sands and dirty gray shales. Sands in
beds less than 1-inch thick, breaks In flags and rings when
struck • • • • ' 2 ft.
4. Blue, fine-grained sandstone, poorly indurated 1 ft.
Below this some two miles, Penrose found :
152 University of Texas Bulletin
1. Cross-bedded, gray sand, hardened in places 10 ft.
2. Hard greenish clay, -with seams of chocolate clay.. 12ft.
3. Lignite »•..-■ 1 *'*■
4. Hard greenish clay •. 6 ft.
5. Lignite • • ^ ft.
6. Calcareous, gray sand, with indurations 6 ft.
Dip of the strata 1 to 5 degrees soiath. Many imperfect leaf
impressions and considerable amounts of iron pyrites are found
in the elay^ These beds probably belong to the Caddell clays,
which are also shown in a section on the river five miles west of
Millican and one mile above the mouth of Boggy creek, as follows :
1. Thin-bedded, fine-grained sandstone, dirty -white in color and
locally stained with limonite. Silicified tree trunks 6 in.
2. Massive yellow sandy clay, weathering bluish white 3 ft.
3. Sandy clay with small flakes of sandstone 10 ft.
4. Interbedded sandstones and lenticular sand beds 3 ft.
5. Loose, cross-bedded, coarse to medium grained sandstone
with clay band at top and bottotn • • . . 1 ft.
6. Medium grained, massive sands 3 ft.
7. Light yellow sandy clay, white siliceous scale partings.... 7ft.
8. Lignite 9 in.
9. Light green clay, weathers to powder 1 ft.
10. Lignitic clay 6 in.
11. Light green <:lay like (9) 9 ft.
12. Fine and coarse grained, gritty clay, weathing into Irregular
fragments 5 ft. 6 in.
13. Volcanic ash bed. In places pure ash, cross-bedded, in others
mixed with clay; has lenses and one small bed of lignite;
pyrites 15 to 20 ft.
The Manning beds were not identified in the river section, but
the contact between the Jackson and Corrigan occurs about one
mile above the Santa Fe bridge.
The base of the Jackson crosses the Houston & Texas Central
Railroad at lola.
In the barrow pit, extending south from Bridge No. 143.04 of
the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railroad, the following section is
exposed :
1. Laminated, gray-brown and greenish-gray to light brown
sandy shaly clays 10 ft.
2. Gray brown, soft, shelly sandstone stained with iron and in
places taking on a reddish-brown color 4 ft.
The Geology of East Texas 153
This section is very probably of Jackson age and represents
the northern limit of that formation in this Ticinity. From this
point south all of the cuttings are in the Jackson, until we get
about 23 miles south of Singleton.
The cutting one-half to three-fourths of a mile south of lola
exposes 10 feet to 15 feet of a yellowish-gray to light greenish-
brown structureless, somewhat sandy, ball clay. -It weathers out
a dirty, gray-brown, and has calcareous nodules in places near
the surface. These nodules are, however, very scarce. The ma-
terial is more sandy, locally, and a soft, fine-grained, gray sand-
stone may be noted in places. This sandstone shows up better
just south of the cut.
About one mile north of Grimes Station the following section
is exposed, dipping 1° S. 60° E.:
1. Gray-brown, lamjnated and shelly sandstone, fine-grained,
and varying from soft to hard, the whole being much
stained with iron 8 ft.
2. Laminated, gray and gray-brown, fine-grained sands 3% ft.
The dip flattens out towards the middle of the cut. The sec-
tion is covered by a dark, reddish-brown clayey soil.
The section is typical Wellborn. In the barrow pit 10 to 25
feet below Bridge No. 136.82 these shelly and laminated to thin-
bedded gray sandstones still continue.
Immediately north of Grimes a cutting exposes the following
section :
1. Yellowish-brown clay, containing gravel and petrified wood. .2-3 ft.
2. Cross-bedded, medium grained, gray sandstone, for the most
part soft and stained brown on the surface 4 ft.
3. Brick red clayey layer, probably formed by water acting on
No. 4 3 In.
4. Laminated, sandy, chocolate brown shaly clay 8 in.-l ft.
In the gray sandstone, large pieces of petrified wood are to be
found.
These beds all belong to the "Wellborn.
MADISONVILLE BRANCH SECTION
The Tegua-Jackson contact on the Madisonville branch of
the International & Great Northern Railway comes in the bot-
ll-ET.
154 University of Texas Bulletin
torn of Big Bedias creek. Loose, fine-grained, brown Wellborn
sands 3 feet thick occur in a cut half way between Mile Posts
35 and 36. A section in a cut one-third mile north of Mile Post
36 exhibits the following:
1. Shelly bedded, light brown, very friable, clayey sandstone . . 6 ft.
(Contact between (1) and (21 not seen.) ■
2. Very light gray, coarse grained sand with angular fragments
of flint. The lower 1 inch to 1 foot is irregularly indu-
rated and contains small masses of white clay 1 ft.
3. Light brown sandy ball clay ^ 5 ft.
4. Light brown, shelly bedded sandstone. Passes into loose
creamy laminated sand to the north along the strike.... 2ft.
At Mile Post 35 is 4 feet of light brownish cream clay carry-
ing volcanic ash and very similar to the clay exposed on the
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Eailway between Willard and Grove-
ton, in Trinity county. Locally, there are thin white shelly
layers of claystone. When at all consolidated it is thinly
laminated. Underlying it in downward succession .are, (1) very
light gray, loose, thinly laminated, medium grained sand 3^^
feet thick; (2) compact, light gray-drab ball clay stained with
sulphur and limonite, much jointed and broken into small frag-
ments, 2 feet thick.
One-half mile north of Mile Post 34 is 6 feet of white im-
perfectly bedded volcanic ash mixed with coarse angular trans-
parent quartz sand.
Between Mile Post 34 and Bedias thin, shelly-bedded, light-
brown sandstone outcrops. In a cut one-fifth mile north of the
34th mile post is the following section.
1. Thin, shelly-bedded, light brown sandstone.
2. Medium grained, light gray-brown, very friable sandstone
with leaves 2 ft.
5. Thinly and irregularly laminated nodular light brown sandy
clay 8 tt.
4. Laminated brown and gray sand 3 ft.
5. Chocolate-brown carbonaceous shale with thin interbedded
layers of gray sand In middle 1 tt.
The two basal layers have a dip of 6° south, or a little east
of south. Silicified logs with veins and incrustations of hyalite
are found in the section.
The Geology of East Texas 155
About 2-3 miles some south of west of Bedias along a high
ridge, overlooking South Bedias creek bottom to the south,
there outcrops a sandstone of medium to fine grain and of vary-
ing degrees of hardness. In places the sandstone is white in
color and tends to be soft. In others it is bluish gray in color
and indurated to a c^uarzite. The matrix of the sand grains is
in places of an opaline nature, in others it is fine granular, and
the color is for the most part white or gray, but local discolora-
tions to yellowish-brown and reddish-brown occur. This sand-
stone has been prospected extensively along the ridge and pits
are to be found in it everywhere. The greatest thickness that
could be measured from' these was 5 to 6 feet. The rock mass
is probably from 25% to 30% quartzite.
On this same ridge about 2% miles south of west of Bedias
on the lola road the sandstone is found locally to be packed
with fossil casts. The fauna includes gasteropods, as well as
lamellibranchs. Venericardia planicosta is very prominent, to-
gether with a Cyfheria, Turritella and a fusiform east. While
this material is apparently identical with that found along the
Houston, Bast & West Texas Eailway two miles north of Cor-
rigan, Polk county, it belongs to the basal or Wellborn beds
and corresponds to the Stephenson League locality.
From the 32nd to the 27th mile posts there are shallow ex-
posures of the characteristic brown shelly-bedded Jackson
sandstone, quite friable, with more massive friable sandstone 1
foot thick. At the 27th mile post are light, greenish-yellow,
clayey, fine-grained', unconsolidated sands about 3 feet in
thickness. The topography is a very gently rolling, dissected
peneplain. One-third mile south is brown, irregularly lami-
nated clay 1 foot thick, underlain by 2 feet of greenish-brown
drab, waxy-lustred clay, much fractured and plastic.
The following section is at Mile Post 26:
1. Dark brown, sandy loam with Lafayette-derived pebbles and
silicified wood fragments '. 4 ft.
Unconformity:
2. Brown sandy shale, locally partially indurated 1 ft.
3. Greenish-brown drab, much fractured, plastic clay 4 ft.
4. Brown shale 3 in.
156 University of Texas Bulletin
5. Dark brown carbonaceous shale 6 in.
6. Brown shale 3 ft.
The characteristic weathering color of the Jackson is dark,
reddish-brown. Southward in the alDove section a bed of dark-
brown, carbonaceous shale 1 foot thick is found in No. 3,
arched in the shape of a low anticline 100 feet across and 4
feet high, which to the southward dips beneath the surface.
This carbonaceous layer lies between two layers of No. 3 and
is equivalent to No. 5. Below No. 6 is a layer 3 feet in thick-
ness similar to No. 3. Still farther south, 100 yards north of
Mile Post 26, .No. 5 again appears at the surface in a low
anticline. These clays are apparently a part of the Caddell
beds.
One-half mile to the west is an old pottery works. Here 4
feet of shelly-bedded, brown, sandy shale is overlain by the
same thickness of cream-colored, cross-bedded, contorted
bedded and thinly laminated, volcanic ash. The section is un-
eonformably overlain by dark gray sandy loam 1-2 foot thick
with Lafayette-derived pebbles and fragments of silieified
wood. One hundred yards upstream the volcanic ash is over-
lain by 2 feet of brown carbonaceous shale.
The Manning beds in this section are first found at Mile
Post 25 as a brown, cross-bedded sand 5 feet thick, locally
ease-hardened and with a much fretted surface, which is over-
lain by four inches of dark gray, sandy loam, with Lafayette-
derived pebbles and fragments of silieified wood. At Lorimer
siding the above mentioned bedrock section is overlain by light-
brown, poorly laminated clay 2 feet in thickness. One-third
mile south of Mile Post 25 is the following section.
1. Dark brown soil, residual and alluvial with Lafayette-derived
pebbles and wood fragments 2 ft.
Unconformity:
2. Light gray, clayey sand with white calcareous nodules 3 ft.
3. Gray, cross-bedded fine sand 3 ft.
Light gray, medium well indurated sandstone, weathering
brownish, 3 feet thick, is exposed one-fourth mile north of
Singleton. Wells at Singleton penetrated 10 feet of lignite at
The Geology of East Texas 157
depths approximating 50 feet. There is a parting of brown
carbonaceous clay at a depth of 8 feet below the top of the bed.
The lignite has a roof of rather hard sandstone about 13-16
feet thick. The water af Singleton is very poor. One-fifth
mile south of the Singleton station, exposed in cuts on both
the International & Great Northern and Trinity & Brazos Val-
ley railroads, is light gray, cross-bedded, medium-grained sand
2 feet thick. Associated with this, is very light gray, or cream
colored, volcanic ash cemented on fracture planes by light
gray opaline silica, giving the rock a breeciated appearance,
the fragments of white powdery ash, being 1-8 inch or less
in diameter. At Mile Post 23 the ash, which is here thin-
bedded and gritty, while the ash 200 yards north is not appre-
ciably gritty and is finer, is underlain by brown, shelly-bedded
sand and sandstone 2 feet thick.
The contact between the Jackson and Corrigan is found be-
tween the 23rd and 22nd mile posts.
From the Madjsonville branch to the Trinity river the Yegua-
Jackson contact follows the course of Bedias creek, which
fiows about one mile south of the line between the two forma-
tions.
TRINITY RIVER SECTION
The Trinity river affords one of our best sections of the
Jackson. Its most northern exposure on this stream is found
about one-fourth mile north of Calhoun's Ferry, at the corner
of Madison, Houston and Walker counties. Here indurated
Wellborn sandstone forms two large rapids, with an estimated
combined fall of at least 6 feet. The rapids are formed by
massive medium-grained, opaline-cemented, light gray sand-
stone. Interbedded with this is the usual "shelly," brown,
clayey sandstone. The sandstone contains many carbonaceous
leaf imprints. The lower fall has a 4 ft. drop over a ledge of
sandstone at least 6 feet thick. Overlying the sandstone is a
foot of lignite, overlain unconformably by blue-gray and brown
mottled, sandy, alluvial clay. Just above the upper shoals,
second bottom terraces are present on opposite banks of the
river. Natural levees, sometimes 10 feet in height and form-
158 University of Texas Bulletin
ing very perfect embankments, are found along the Trinity.
Alluvial deposits extend from Calhoun's Ferry almost to Kit-
trell on the Calhoun's Ferry-Trinity road. The Jackson is
found on this road just south of Dillard's creek.
The section at Calhoun's ferry follows. The dip at this ex-
posure is from 21/2 to 4% degrees to the southward. This ex-
posure is on the "Walker county side, or the north bank:
1. Light brown, clayey, alluvial sand. Gravel at base, whicli
forms terrace at the north end of the blufC 10 ft.
Unconformity :
i. Shelly-bedded, dark, grayish-brown clay, sandy and yellow-
stained In middle, with plant fragments. Poorly consoli-
dated 15 ft
3. Lignite, impure, with carbonaceous clay. Lignite of poor
quality. Upper seam of greenish, waxy clay. Forms shoal
in river 5 ft.
4. Dark brown, shelly clay at north; farther south changes to
plastic, slickensided, greenish-brown clay . . ■ ■ 1 1-4 ft.
5. Lignite, good quality, dull lustre, forming shoal in the
river 4.5 ft.
6. Light greenish and yellowish-green joint clay, waxy and non-
plastic, with black oxide of manganese. Laminated, sandy,
cross-bedded, and with carbonaceous fragments in middle.
Weathers light gray to cream colored. Upper 3 feet darker
when un weathered than the lower portion 7 ft.
7. Sandy, gray clay, poorly laminated, with plant fragments . . 2 ft.
8. Poor lignite and blackish, carbonaceous shale 1.5 ft.
9. Hard, firm lignite, locally burned 2.5 ft.
10. IJght brown sand, with carbonaceous fragments % ft.
11. Light greenish, fine-grained sand, pyritlferous and sulphur-
ous, thinly and irregularly laminated 6 ft.
12. Light gray sand, fine-grained, micaceous, irregularly and
shelly-bedded, much jointed, with small black fragments
of Salix and other leaves 2.5 ft.
13. Dark gray-drab clay, jointed and imperfectly laminated 5 ft.
14. Chocolate-bPown, carbonaceous, sandy clay 1 ft.
15. Pine-grained sand, thin and irregularly laminated, yellow-
ish-stained light gray, with thin plates of dark brown
carbonaceous matter and small lignitic fragments 7 ft.
16. Dark greenish-gray, laminated, joint clay with lignitized
fragments, and with irregular lenses of fine light gray
sand. Sand locally in irregular pockets with cross-bedded
The Geology of East Texas 159
■structure. Weathers grayish and light brown and oontains
lignitized fragments. Sand in upper half 15 ft.
17. Dark greenish-gray, sandy, sticky, joint clay, mainly sand
in upper half Y f t.
18. Dark brown, carbonaceous clay with lignitized fragments. . 1 ft.
19. Lignite 1 ft.
20. Dark gray, fine-grained sand, clayey, thinly laminated 2 ft.
Total of Jackson in this section is 86 feet.
One-fourth to one-half mile below the end of the above bluff
is the following section:
1. Irregularly laminated sandy clay, yellow-stained brown 7 ft.
2. Hard, firm, dull-lustred lignite with thin lenses of brown
carboneaceous . clay. Lignite makes shoals 2 % ft.
3. Dark brown, carbonaceous shaly clay 1 ft.
4. Laminated, gray, fine-grained, yellow stained sand 3 ft.
1. Grayish-brown, carbonaceous, shelly sandstone 5 ft.
2. Laminated, sulphurous, chocolate clay B ft.
3. Like (1) and sulphurous 4 ft.
4. CpoBs-bedded, loose, gray sand, fine-grained. Laminated and
more indurated at the base. Locally indurated to a fine-
grained, thin-bedded sandstone 25 ft.
5. Poorly laminated and shelly sands, somewhat clayey, highly
sulphurous and carbonaceous. Gray brown in color 12 ft.
6. Sandy clays and sands, dark brown to black, highly carbo-
naceous and sulphurous, poorly laminated. Lignitiferous.
Locally contains sandy pipe concretions 8 ft.
The bluff here is 63 feet high, measured with hand-level. The
sandstone carries fairly good plant fragments and casts of
marine lamellibranchs were noted on one piece of sandstone on
top of the bluff. The sandstone also shows selenite flakes. In
almost all of these bluffs streams with exceedingly steep sides
are to be found. These are canyon or gully like in form. At
Weiser's Bluff, springs highly charged with sulphur issued
from the bottoms of the gullies.
Just below Weiser's Bluff, in a stretch where the river flows
N. 30° W., there is a bluff on the Walker county side which
exposes some 60 feet of Jackson. Here there is no perceptible
dip. At the base is JO feet of bluish-gray, laminated, shaly
clay, overlain by grayish-brown, shelly sands, 40 feet in thick-
ness, and this is covered by 10 feet of gray sandstone.
160 University of Texas Bulletin
Cincinnati Bluff, about one mile downstream from Weiser's
Bluff, is also on the Walker county side, .and is slightly higher
than Weiser's Bluff. The section at Cincinnati Bluff is very
similar to that of Weiser's Bluff, except that the upper 15 feet
is composed of light reddish terrace material.
About 4 feet of lignite is exposed in a shaal on the south
bank of the river just above" the mouth of Wright's creek.
Just below the mouth the following section is exposed on the
north bank:
1. Alluvium with calcareous nodules, light brown in color, but
blackish towards top 20 ft.
2. Lafayette-derived gravel 2 ft.
Unconformity:
3. Light brown, shelly, sulphur-stained, clayey sand l%,ft.
4. Impure lignite 2/3 ft.
5. Light brown, gray, laminated and cross-bedded carbonaceous
sand 10 ft.
One-half mile below the mouth of Nelson creek there is a rock
shelf on the south bank which juts out into the water and rock
shoal extending across the river with a 4 ft. fall. The follow-
ing is the section :
1. Brownish, irregularly laminated and "shelly" clayey sand.. 10 ft.
2. Lignite . . • • .• ; 3 ft.
3. Indurated gray sEuidstone layer forming rapids 1 ft.
4. Irregularly, cross-bedded and laminated sands 6 ft.
No perceptible dip was noted in this section. The bed of
lignite and other strata of the above section outcrop upstream
continuously to slightly above the mouth of Nelson creek.
The next shoal downstream is made by lignite. At the base
of this exposure is thinly laminated, gray, carbonaceous sand
3 feet in thickness, locally partially indurated into irregular
surfaced shelly sandstone. Above is dense black lignite 2 feet
in thickness, with top ol the bed not seen. One-fourth mile
farther downstream, the next shoals exposed 3 feet of thin,
shelly-bedded, brown, carbonaceous sandstone. The next ex-
posure one-half mile downstream is situated on the south bank
like the last two. The section is:
TJie Geology of East Texas 161
1. Light brown, sandy clay with, whitish calcareous nodules,
dark gray on the surface — alluvium 20_25ft.
Unconformity :
2. Light grayish-brown, clayey sand, poorly laminated, carbo-
naceous 6 ft.
3. Dark brown, carbonaceous shale, forming a fairly good roof
for the lignite 6 ft.
4. Lignite, non-lustrous, not waxy, much weathered, varying in
thickness, light in weight 5 ft
5. Sandy, dark brown, carbonaceous shaly clay with many black
plant fragments ■ • 3 ft.
Below the above section, at the east end of the bluff, is the
following section. The dip here is 2° S. 70° W.
1. Laminated sand, like basal member of section last given.
2. Poor grade lignite 1 ft.
3. Brown carbonaceous sand 1 ft.
4. Gray, thinly laminated violcanic ash, sandy and carbonaceous 3 ft.
5. Volcanic ash, very fine-grained, cream-colored, laminated. .2-5 ft.
6. Brown clayey sand, highly sulphurous and carbonaceous.
shelly ... I 3 ft.
7. Shelly brown sandstone 3 ft.
8. Brown clayey sand 3 ft.
At the east end of the bluff the lignite is overlain conform-
ably by a layer of Lafayette-derived gravel.
One-half mile downstream, on the south bank, is another bed
of lignite. The section here is :
1. Light brown, sandy, alluvial clay with calcareous nodules.
2. Limonite-cemented layer of Lafayette-derived gravel.
3. Brown carbonaceous, imperfectly laminated sand 7 ft.
4. Dark brown, shaly clay, sandy, firm, carbonaceous and highly
sulphurous 2 % ft.
5. Dense, dull black lignite 5 % ft.
6. Shelly, compact, sticky dark brown carbonaceous clay, with
lignitized fragments • % ft.
7. Laminated blue sand, cross and contorted bedded, and with
layers and lenses of blue clay, pyritiferaus 5 ft.
The dip here is 2° West. This exposure is opposite the
mouth of Dillard's creek. The partially indurated sand be-
neath the lignite forms shoals.
162 University of Texas Bulletin
At the bluff 2 miles south of the town of Trinity the Thomp-
son Brothers Lumber Company have a pumping plant. This
bluff is about one-half mile long and affords quite the finest
exposure of Jackson yet seen. The dip is 2l^° to the south-
east. The section is:
1. Alluvial sandy clay with, calcareous nodules, mainly light
brown in color, but is greenish-gray near the surface at
a short distance from the river 25 ft.
2. Lafayette-derived gravel layer.
Unconformity:
3. Thin and shelly-bedded, brown and gray sand 15 ft
4. Massive, fine-grained gray or brown sand, loose, imperfectly
laminated or cross-bedded locally 11 ft.
5. Chiocolate-brown, sandy clay banded towards top and of drab
color. Thin-bedded and laminated. Contains one 5 ft.
drab, clayey sand layer about 8 feet above base. The upper
portion is very sandy and well stratified 16 ft.
6. Clayey, brownish, sulphur-stained, shelly-bedded sands
Clayey layers, dark gray in color. Some of the sands are
also cross-bedded and of gray color. Contains lignitized
stumps with marks of borers 31 ft.
7. Lignite l'2"-2 % '
8. Dirty-green, sticky clay, locally oopp eras-stained 4 ft.
9. Lignite 2 % ft.
10. Dirty-green clay, unctuous, much fractured 2 ft.
11. Dark blue-gray, medium-grained sand, laminated 3 ft.
12. Dark greenish-gray, compact clay with plant fragments
weathering light gray 2 ft.
13. Dark brown, sandy, carbonaceous shale 11 ft.
Total Jackson exposed in above section 100 feet.
A bed of lignite outcrops in a low bluff on the west bank,
one-half mile below Clegg's shoals. This bluff trends east and
west along the strike of the beds. The same bed of lignite
outcrops on the east bank about one-half mile farther down-
stream, where the dip is one degree or less in a southward or
southeastward direction. The section is:
1. Yellowish, sandy alluvium, generally with Lafayette-derived
pebbles at base.
Unconformity :
2. Laminated, medium-grained brownish sands.
TJie Geology of East Texas 163
3. Lignite, hard, firm, dull lustre, semi-conchoidal fracture.... 4ft.
4. Brown sand, carbonaceous, locally clayey 4 in.
5. Lignite 6 in.
6. Dark gray, carbonaceous clay 4 i:t.
7. Laminated gray, medium-grained sands, contorted and cross-
bedded 6 ft.
The next two exposures farther downstream are about 2 miles
distant from each other. They consist of 15 feet of thinly lami-
nated light gray, fine sand. The upper exposure has 2 thin seams
of carbonaceous matter within 4 or 5 feet of the top. It is folded
in broad, very low waves with one abrupt vertical downfold of
2 ft. in the same horizontal distance. The lower exposure is lo-
cally stained with yellow, has slightly contorted bedding and is
overlain unconformably by 2 feet of ferruginous cemented La-
fayette-derived conglomerate.
A bluff two miles north of Riverside and about 200 yards west
of the International & Great Northern Railway may present in
its basal member, the upper part of the Jackson formation and
the contact between it and the overlying Corrigan.
INTERNATIONAL & GREAT NORTHERN RT. SECTION
There are few exposures of the Jackson on the International &
Great Northern Railway. On the line between Trinity and
Houston counties the base of Jackson shows thin, irregular and
shelly-bedded, friable, creamy to buff sandstones.
There is 8 feet of volcanic tuff exposed just north of Mile Post
16, with its base not seen. When pure this tuff is of a light
yellowish-cream color, but when mixed with sand it is grayer.
The whole is much cross-bedded, with sharp planes of demarka-
tion between beds dipping at different angles. Another pecu-
liarity is small ellipsoidal bodies of very fine clay or tuff in-
cluded within the main deposit. The plane between beds dipping
in different directions are flat or irregular surfaced. Another
peculiarity is the cross-laminae in which coarser grains form
lighter-colored laminae, interbedded with laminae of darker
Francisco. The purity of these ash beds would naturally lead
gray, finer materials. This deposit is almost certainly of eolian
origin. It duplicates almost exactly sections of sand dunes to
be seen south of the Presidio and near the Cliff House at San
164 University of Texas Bulletin
one to the conjecture that they must be wind-blown deposits, and
the cross-bedded stj-ucture of this exposure renders the view
rather certain. The volcanic ash is overlain a short distance to
the south by poorly indurated, medium-grained, gray sandstone,
locally mottled.
Tyler and East Prairies, northwest of Groveton, are in reality
one large prairie with a narrow neck of timber reaching across
near the middle. Together they approximate six miles in an
east-west direction by 2% to 3 miles in a north-south direction.
The surface of the ground on these prairies is very rolling and
they do not present the smooth surface noted in other prairies to
the east. For the most part the prairies are well drained by
shallow, broad gullies emptying into Little White Rock and
Louisville creeks.
The town of Pennington is situated about the middle of the
prairie, near the south line of the Prado League, Trinity county.
Near the central northern end of the prairie a deep gully cuts
into the underlying formations and the following section is ex-
posed :
1. Surface sand and soil of the prairie, a gray sand for the most
jjart containing abundant gravel of red color and large size,
together with large l)lo«ks of petrified wood 2 to 3 ft.
2. Cross-bedded clayey sands of varying thickness and often
missing from section. Petrified wood 2 ft.
3. Limoriitic concretionary layer 2 in.
4. Drab clay, somewhat sandy, weathers out whitish about the
same as No. 6 except that No. 6 is somewhat stained with
iron 3 ft. 6 in.
5. Yellowish-brown, limonitic, concretionary layer, for the most
party very continuous 2 to 3 in.
6. Yellowish-brown to drab sandy clay, with layers of gray sand,
sometimes 1-16 of an Inch thick. The clay is gypsiferous
and tastes of alum. Weathers out whitish 2 ft.
The materials of the section above given weather along the
gully in badlands form. No dip was noticed.'
These beds are near the base of the Jackson.
The wood found in No. 2 of this section was identified by
Berry as Cladas'porites fasciculatus Berry, which is found in
both Claiborne and Jackson beds in the Coastal area.
While it is certain that the sections as given between the
The Geology of East Texas 165
Brazos and central Trinity county contain deposits which are the
equivalents in time of the Caddell clays, the mottled gray and
brown fossiliferous clay with fossiliferous limestone nodules
which constitute these beds eastward from the divide between the
Trinity and Neches rivers are entirely absent, being replaced by
lignitic clays and sands.
GROVETON SECTION
The relationship of the three stages of the Jackson are found
in the Groveton section which was made along the Groveton, Luf-
kin & Northern Railroad between Apple Springs, where we found
the top of the Yegua, and Groveton, and on Caney creek south
of Groveton.
The first section south of Apple Springs shows:
1. Sticky,, bluish gray clay co-ntaining sandy ferruginous con-
cretions In places 1 % t't.
2. Clayey sand, massive, grayish tO' light brown, fine-grained,
gypsiferous 2 It.
Cutting 2200 feet north of Mile Post 15 exposes the following :
1. Thin bedded, gray to white and light brown sandy clay and
shaly clay, similar to No. 4 5 ft.
2. Highly carbonaceous clay, or poor grade lignite chocolate -,
brown in outcrop 6 ft.
3. Gray, thin-bedded to miasslve, slightly gypsiferous sand 10 ft.
4. Dark chocolate brown shaly clay with noi visible structure,
except near the top, where thin bedding is seen. Con-
tains sulphur along joint planes 8 ft.
The third member is made up of even-grained small rounded
clear quartz pebbles stained slightly with iron.
Dip of beds in direction S. 25° E. is from 1° 20' to 2°, being
higher in northern end of cutting.
Between 800 and 2000 feet north of Mile Post No. 14 the fol-
lowing section is exposed:
1. Light brown clayey sand 5 ft.
2. Thin bedded, fine-grained, gray sandstone alternating with
a laminated mauve sandy shale, slightly gypsiferous 7 ft.
3. Massive, fine-grained, sandstone, gray in color 2 ft.
166 Univet'sHy of Texas Bulletin
i. Thin-bedded, light brown, slightly carbonaceous, sandy shale,
containing local incrustations of a gypsiferous nature 25 ft.
The fourth member contains large fragments of silicified wood
having a dull earthly lustre. Dip on the second member
measured at S. 25° W. was 1° 20'. This member in the north
end of cut grades into a slightly carbonaceous sandy clay, dark
brown in color. Covering all is a thin veneer of quartzitie gravel.
At Mile Post No. 15 the fourth member is seen to carry a hard
ferruginous layer about three inches thick.
Near Mile Post No. 12, a section of 4% feet shows alternating
bluish-gray, laminated, shaly clay and dark red ferruginous
sandstone about equally developed in layers averaging 9-inches
thick.
Cutting 800 feet north of Mile Post No. 11 (Alabama creek)
exposes about 8 feet of a light brown and bluish-gray, sticky
sandy clay containing numerous rounded limestone concretions
which are up to 2 feet in diameter. These concretions are fos-
siliferous and a collection, mostly casts, was made. Among the
genera might be mentioned : Cardita, Leda, Dentalium, Natica,
Turrit ella and numerous other gasteropods and lamellibranchs, in
addition to a species of coral, which belong to the Caddell clays.
Cutting 1750 feet south of Mile Post 9 exposes the following
section :
1. Brown surface sand up to 1 ft.
2. Dark gray toi black sandy clay, mottled reddish brown in
places 1 ft.
3. Yellowish brown to brown clayey sand containing gravel, but
pebbles are of noticeably smaller size, although of same
material as (4) 3 ft.
4. Yelowish brown clayey sand containing quartzitie pebbles
and fragments lof silicified-wood. Pebbles are rounded and
of all sizes from 1-8" to 2" in diameter 3 in.
6. Light brown to chocolate brown, carbonaceous shaly clay
containing leaf impressions 5 ft.
At Mile Post 8 and immediately to the south there is a cutting
exposing about 10 feet of a chocolate brown, carbonaceous shaly
clay, thin bedded, and containing leaf impressions. Near the
middle of the section is 3 inches of a grayish to yellowish brown
cross-bedded sandstone. Some few tiny flakes of selenite show
The Geology of East Texas 167
upon the surface of sand partings in the clay. At Mile Post 8
the clay seems to butt up against 3 feet of gray, highly cross-
bedded sandstone. Limonitic concretions, oval in shape, and
with a concentric structure, were observed scattered through the
section.
Immediately north of the bridge over Piney creek (Bridge
7.32) there is a bank about 20 feet high which exposes a very
good section as follows.
1. Brown carbonaceous, thin-bedded shale 4 ft.
2. Medium grained sandstone, much cross-bedded. Irregularly
interbedded with a thin-bedded sandstone and a. sandstone
bedded in layers up to 4 inches thick 7 ft.
S. Alternating beds of medium grained, rather soft, yellowish
brown to gray sandstone and a grayish brown, carbo-
naceous, fine-grained rather hard sandstone, successive lay-
ers being about 2 inches thick 4 ft.
To the south of Caney creek (Bridge 4.75) about 100 yards
and on the eastern side of the track, there is a low ridge running
down to the track. It is made up of a very resistant, fine and
even grained, gray sandstone. The sandstone is made up of small
rounded quartz grains with a matrix of a quartzitic nature. The
sandstone is very hard, breaks with a splintery fracture, and
contains large fragments of silicified wood. The silicified wood
has a dull earthy lustre and the grain shows up very well. This
ridge does not rise more than 5 feet above the surrounding
country and the rock is only seen exposed over a limited area.
Near the section house about three quarters of a mile north-
east of Mile Post No. 3 the following section was observed :
1. Yellowish brown sand containing quartzitic pebbles, rounded
and up to 2-inches in diameter 1 ft.
2. Mottled dark bluish gray and reddish brown clayey sand . . 3 ft.
3. Gray, rather hard, even grained and rather fine-grained,
cross-bedded sandstone 2 ft.
In the creek bottom the gray sandstone is seen to be thin-
bedded and cross-bedded and to contain thin layers of choco-
late brown clay containing fragmentary plant impressions.
Just north of junction of the Groveton, Lufkin & Northern
Railroad with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, one mile
168 University of Texas Bulletin
northwest of Groveton, is a cutting exposing 5 feet of .a highly
cross-bedded, even grained, gray sandstone overlain by about
4 feet of brown sand carrying many quartz pebbles up to 1%
inches in diameter.
Cutting one-eighth mile north of the above section exposes
at the bottom 5 feet of the gray, even grained sandstone which
is locally cross-bedded, thin-bedded, or massive, and contains in
some places limonitic concretions, while in others a slight yel-
lowish brown mottling is noticed. At one point the sandstone
contains angular fragments of volcanic tuff up to 2-inches in
diameter. Clay nodules are contained in the sandstone and also
in the overlying sand which covers the sandstone to a depth of
5 feet. The sand here is yellowish brown to gray in color and
carries quartz pebbles.
Three miles east of Trinity, on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
Eailway at the crossing over White Rock creek, there is an
exposure in the creek bottom of about 1 foot of a white, soft,
volcanic tuff, underlain by at least 3 feet of a calcareous soft,
stiff clay, which is irregularly bedded and mottled chocolate
brown and gray. This material is carbonaceous and fragments
of wood were found in it. Immediately overlying the tuff is a
layer of gravel about 6 inches thick, and the whole is covered
by about six feet of gray sand.
Up the creek, and oh its eastern side, about one-fourth mile
from bridge there is a bluff rising about 80 feet above the
creek made up mostly of a gray, rather resistant, even and fine-
grained sandstone, containing a few casts of fossils. This rock
stratigraphieally overlies the tuff.
The top of the hill is covered by a quarzitic gravel made up
of rather coarse pebbles of quartzose and chalcedonie material.
In one place, about one-fourth mile east of the bluff, gravel was
seen to a thickness of 7 feet and was being excavated for local
use. This high bluff extends up the river for two miles.
Carrying the section southward along creeks south of the Mis-
souri, Kansas & Texas Railway, some two miles southwest of
Westville on "White Oak creek, the following section was ob-
served :
Thin-bedded, laminated and wavy, cross-bedded, clayey
sands and sandy clays grading in places into only slightly are-
The Geology of East Texas 169
naeeous clays. The colors are for the most part grayish and
brownish, but all graduations from yellowish to buish or drab
were seen.
This material weathers honey yellow locally, but in most
places weathers yellowish-brown. Contains abundant organic
matter in shape of leaves, stems, etc. The dip here was in one
place 2 degress to the south. This dip is believed to be local.
A hill 70 feet in height with a summit area of 2i/2 to 3 acres
is found in the bottoms of Dean creek. The creek flows along
the northern and northeastern base of this hill. In the bed
and banks of the creek is found the following section :
1. (a) At the south, directly under the northeast base of
the hill, there is 12 feet of thinly laminated brownish to
buff sand carrying thin streaks of brown carbonaceous
material, but becoming sandier and thicker bedded toward
the top. The bedding here is also slightly irregular.
1. (b) At the north, along the creek banks is exposed 10
feet of thinly laminated, light brown to drab 'sandy clay
carrying plant fragments. The bedding is not very regu-
lar and the individual beds aje not of uniform thickness.
At the eastemm'ost locality examined the beds dipping
3-1-2° to the southward, 50 yards south the dip is 8° to the
southward, while 100 yards south of the latter locality, the
dip Is apparently 4 or 5 degrees to the westward, but this
apparent dip may have been caused by slumping.
2. Dark brown, carbonaceous clay, gradually becoming lighter
with a lessening in the amount of carbonaceous matter
towards the top 1 ft.
3. Lignite, poor in quality 1 ft.
4. Base, dark brown carbonaceous clay, total thickness unknown.
Above the bed 1 (a) the surface of the hillside is strewn with
blocks of sandstone. A rim of sandstone in place surrounding
the top of the hill is in places a massive bed 3 to 4 feet thick.
Locally, these sandstone blocks are quartzitic; in places they
exhibit imperfect lamination and break in blocks thick enough
to be suitable for dimension stone. The sandstone contains
thin flakes of selenite and much of it case-hardens on the sur-
face on exposure to .air.
About one-half mile above the A. Wicker Survey there is ex-
posed 5 feet of medium to fine-grained gray sands poorly lami-
nated and cross-bedded, the same being clayey in places. These
12-ET.
170 University of Texas Bulletin
sands dip 2° S. 20° W. and they are underlain in the creek bed
by chocolate shaly clays.
On the A. Wicker Survey there outcrops a fine-grained, gray
sandstone containing casts of lamellibranchs and also showing
ripple-marks. The fossils are probably brackish-water forms.
The sandstone is underlain by 2 feet of lignite coal and this in
turn is underlain by black, carbonaceous clay.
One-half mile belowthis place there is exposed 6 feet of choc-
olate colored, shaly, sandy clay with layers up to 2^^ inches
thick of gray sandstone.
Much fossil wood was collected along this creek.
For the first half mile upstream from the Beaumont & Great
Northern Railroad bridge, on the east bank of White Rock
creek and below mouth of Caney creek is the following section:
1. Grayish brown, fine-grained, fairly compact sandstone, In
some places in one large layer and in other places in sev-
eral layers, full of plant remains, mainly Palmetto 4 ft.
3. Yellowish and brown laminated sandy clay stained with
sulphur and limonite 12 ft.
Above ths was found opaline-cemented sandstone resembling
that of the Catahoula, and the beds are practically the top
of the Jackson in this region.
The plant remains from these beds identified by Berry are as
follows :
Caney and White Rock creeks, 6 to 10 miles east of Trinity :
Uppermost Jackson at Corrigan Contact Other Gulf States.
HiygiO'dium mississippiensis Berry Catahoula
Sabalites vicksburgensis Berry Vicksburg Catahoula
Dryophyllum n. sp. Claiborne
Anona texana Berry
Myrcia catahoulensis Berry Catahoula
Apocynophyllum n. sp. Claiborne Jackson
HOUSTON, EAST & WEST TEXAS RAILWAY SECTION
Tarkiln creek flows into the Neches about four miles north-
west of the Houston, Bast & West Texas Railway crossing of
that river. Suman found on the Hobbs Survey exposures of a
mottled-brown and bluish-gray, sandy and highly gypsiferoua
The Geology of East Texas 171
clay containing Eocene fossils in a fair state of preservation.
Locally, the clay contained limestone concretions with concen-
tric structure and these contained an abundant fauna of lamel-
libranchs, gasteropods and corals. A good collection was made.
This material resembles very much that found on the Groveton,
Lufkin & Northern Railroad 800 feet north of Mile Post No. 11
at an elevation of 300 feet. The following forms were iden-
tified :
Ostrea c. f. contracta Telllna sp.
Area sp.? Turricula sp.
Venericardia planicosta Lam. Bulinella kellogii Gabb
Venerioardia rotunda Lea Turritella nasuta Gabb
Peetunculus idoneus Con. Turritella houstonia Har.
Pectunculus sp.? Solarium alveatum Con.
Crassatella texana Hellp.? Solarium huppertzi Har.
Crassatella flexura Volutilithes petrosus
Corbula alabamiensis Lea Cassidaria sp.
Oorbula oniscus? Calyptrea sp.
Cytherea tOTnadonIs Har.? Dentalium dumblei Har.
Tellina mooreana Plabellum wailesii Oon.
In the yellow, sandy concretions are many large Pinna, PJiol-
odomya, EcMnoderms, small Haminea grandis, etc.
The exposure on rail line in south bank of Neches river
shows the lignitic clays and sands of the Caddell. There is a
succession of clays and sands, brown to grayish-brown in color,
apparently massive in places, but for the most part laminated
or shaly. The clay breaks into nodular pieces. It grades into
more or less sandy clay and is interbedded with laminated
lignitic sands. A band of lignitic material is overlain by cal-
careous sandy beds which carry numerous impressions of lamel-
libranchs.
The clays are overlain in the vicinity of Fant by massive,
cross-bedded sands which are apparently unconformable with
them. Just south of Mile Post 100 these sands are in turn
succeeded by sandy shales which also seem unconformable on
the Fant sand. In these shales there are bands of volcanic ash,
and by the side of the road there are several opalized stumps
standing upright in the ash with their roots spread into the
shales underlying as though in situ. The trunk of one of these
has a diameter of twelve inches and is solid. Another is
172 University of Texas Bulletin
twenty inches in diameter with .a hollow center. It was partly
rotted before being buried and the opalization filled the joints
and hollows. The Fant sands carry some siliceous gravel and
the shale has a few ferugiaous concretions.
Baker's section here is as follows:
1. Much cross-bedded, light cream colored sand containing
irregular, non-continuous lenses and layers of light drab
clay. The lenses and layers of clay have curved, irregular
outlines and lie in the sands often at attitudes a.t vari-
ance with the horizontal. The sand is medium-coarse in
grain and sub-angular to ro-unded in contour. Some of the
seams and lenses of clay are dark brown from the included
carbonaceous matter. The sand shows imperfect lamina-
tion, which lamination effect is aided by thin layers stained
with sulphur and llmonite. At the south end of the cut
there is at the top about 2% feet of thin-bedded, light
cream sandy clay alternating with thin layers of light
brown, much like the clay at Potomac (Mile Post 99).
Maximum thickness 15 ft.
Unconformity with irregular contact, suggesting the erosion of a
channel before the deposition of the overlying beds.
2. Nodular, sandy clay, light brown in color, weathering to a
light buff ior a light drab, sulphurous. Locally carbo-
naceous about 1 foot above base. Upper 10 feet of light buff
color. Thickness varies, up to 20 ft.
3. Thin-bedded, unconsolidated, light 'brown sandstone with
small dark, drab clay nodules and thin irregular lenticular
layers of clay with thickness up to 1-4". Irregularly stained
with sulphur and limonite. Carries also brown plant frag-
ments and locally exhibits case.hardening with a light pur-
plish-blue tinge 12 ft.
In the gully immediately to the south of this cut is exposed
a maximum of 27 feet of the light drab, sulphurous, sandy clays
unconformably overlain by light gray to cream colored, cross-
bedded sands similar to those described under (1) above. At
the north end of the cut at Mile Post 100 small grains of tuff
(?) were mingled with the quartz grains. These sands are
locally indurated and then are light bluish or purple-gray in
color. The induration is irregular and gives a nodular aspect
to the rock. The spaces between jointed blocks are seamed
The Geology of East Texas 173
with the cementing material and these seams standing out as
ridges give a cavernous or honeycombed appearance to weath-
ered surfaces. It is only the top layers from 1 to 2 feet in
thickness which are so indurated and locally some of the over-
lying gravel of the surfieial member has also been cemented.
The surfieial indurated layer projects over the underlying less
resistant sands. The induration follows the contour of the
present surface and the indurated zone is a broad low dome in
shape. In the vicinity of Mile Post 100 cross-bedding is very
greatly developed.
At the extreme south end of this cut, near the road crossing,
there is exposed at the track level 1 foot of very fine white
ash with base not seen. This ash is locally indurated on the
surface exposures. Some of the cross-bedding, especially at
the south end of the cut, with planes meeting each other at
abrupt angles, suggest either a sand dune, a bar or spit, or the
downstream side of a river "towhead."
Between Mile Post 100 and Mile Post 99 sands similar to
those at Mile Post 100, and locally case-hardened, are exposed.
In the cutting about one-fourth mile north of Potomac, on
the Houston, East & "West Texas Eailway, the following sec-
tion was noted :
1. Case-hardened, Indurated, perhaps calcareous-cemented, light
gray to light cream colored sandstone weathering in cavern-
ous or large honeycomb form and dontaining in the sur-
fieial layer, in situ, rounded pebbles of Quartzitic and gra-
nitic rocks. Massive. Thickness 1 ft. 4 in.
2. Friable, fine-grained, somewhat cross-bedded sand with sel-
enite flakes. Color is light cream to light brown 3 ft.
In both members were noted small clay balls and fragments
of what resembled volcanic tuff. The matrix here may be tuff.
The general dip of the lower member was southward at low
angle. This surfieial member (No. 1) may represent re-ce-
mented, both residual and transported material, .and may be-
long to the Lafayette. The cementation of this member is ir-
regular and it shows a tendency, locally, to be more indurated,
along joints, which gives it the cavernous .appearance. Locally
it is compact and is a medium hard sandstone.
In the creek bed immediately west of Houston, Bast & "West
174 University of Texas Bulletin .
Texas Railway, about 200 yards north of signal board "Poto-
mac," there outcrops a stratum of lignite 3.5 feet thick, which
burned in the camp fire. On exposure to the air' it slacks. The
stratum is covered by about 4 feet of chocolate colored, shaly
clay and two feet of surficial material. It is black in color, of
light weight, and breaks with an irregular fracture. This ma-
terial outcrops along the creek for a distance of about 60 feet.
Cutting in creek bed immediately northeast of signal board
"Potomac" shows 8 feet of a light cream colored sandy clay,
case-hardened and standing with vertical walls. It is gypsifer-
ous and slightly carbonaceous, often containing leaf imprints.
The material shows imperfect lamination and locally it may be
stained yelowish brown by limonite. The sand in this clay is
very fine-grained.
Section exposed 1000 feet south of Potomac shows 3 feet of
medium grained sand, gray and yellowish brown to cream col-
ored, thick bedded at bottom of exposure, but grading into-
thin-bedding and lamination at top. Covered by 3 feet of a
chocolate brown, highly carbonaceous clay, sandy locally. This^
is in turn covered by about 1 foot of gravel. The sand member
is clayey locally and contains mud balls. About 300 feet
farther south the sand member is exposed up to 3 feet and is-
finely laminated and cross-bedded. Contains plant remains.
At Bridge 99-C, 7 feet of the sand member is exposed in the-
creek bank. Locally, it contains sandy clay layers and layera
of chocolate brown, carbonaceous, shaly clay up to 1-8 inch
thick. The dip here is 3° S.
Three hundred and fifty feet north of Mile Post No. 97 the-
following section is exposed:
1. Lafayette. Light mottled reddish brown and gray, locally,
and dark brown elsewhere, sandy clay. Contains much
gravel made up of quartz, chalcedonic and metamorphic
pebbles and small angular blocks of a hard sandstone,
probably derived from a local source. Large siliceous wood
fragments up to 2 feet in length are found' here too. Case-
hardening on surface g ft.-
2. Fine, dark brown clay 2 ft
3. Laminated, fine sand, light gray to light brown and contain-
ing plant fragments and tiny flakes of selenite 3 ft..
TTie Geology, of East Texas 175
An excellent collection of marine invertebrate fossils in a
fine state of preservation was made from well dug about 200
feet west of Bridge 96-C along the Benford tram. These shells
came from a, blue clay at a depth of 28 feet.
A very interesting locality is that on the northwest corner
of the J. M. Deane League, Trinity county, about 5 miles due
west of Potomac.
On the northwest corner of this League, near the Trinity
county line, in the bed of Rocky creek, the following section is
exposed :
1. Chocolate colored, laminated shaly clay 2 It.
2. Thin-bedded, soft, gray to yellowish brown sandstone con-
taining casts of fossils, both lamellibranchs and gasteropods I'ft.
3. Alternating thin-bedded chocolate to drab shaly clay and
yelloiwish brown sand 1 ^/i ft.
4. Gray to white clayey sand standing with perpendicular walls.
Contains abundant poorly preserved lamellibranch shells
for the most part of only about three species 8 ft.
5. Cross-bedded!, coarse, dark gray and bluish gray angular
grained sand. Some few green giuins resembling glau-
conite were seen in this sand. Locally almost a shell marl
and locally contains lignitized wood. Shells of Ostrea
abundant in places 3 ft.
6. Greenish blue, shaly clay, thin-bedded and massive and grad-
ing locally into chocolate brown colored clay. Contains
many fairly well preserved lamellibranch remains 3 % ft.
Approximately one-half mile below the above locality there
is a hill rising about 50 feet above the creek, on the eastern
bank. It is capped by a white sandstone containing a few easts
of fossils. Locally, the sandstone is indurated to a quartzite,
but for the most part it is of medium hardness. Some few
leaf impressions were noted. The material underlying this
sandstone, found outcropping in the creek bed, is a buff clayey
carbonaceous sand underlain by laminated drab to chocolate
colored shaly clay with parting of yellowish brown sand.
In the creek bed were picked up teeth and spines of sharks
and rays Synecodus, Odontaspis, etc., scutes of a marine
turtle and fragmentary limb bones of small mammals. From
this locality there was also collected a jaw fragment of what
176 University of Texas Bulletin
was possibly a creodont carnivore. A good collection of marine
invertebrates was secured here.
MANNING SECTION
The section in eastern Angelina county is similar. The
Caddell clays with fossils are found at Donovan. Between
Donovan and Manning chocolate clays with gypsum and sal-
phur-buff compact, unctuous clays and dark clays with limo-
nite are found.
Shawnee prairie is three miles north of Manning. The prairie
is covered with a good growth of grass and is said to be good
farming land. The clay underlying the prarie is very gypsif-
erous. The following is the section of the clays underlying
Shawnee prairie:
1. Light chocolate brown, plastic clays containing sulphur and
fibrous gypsum, stained with reddish and brownish limo-
nite on joint planes. Contains numerous casts of Bocene
fossils, among them a, large Pinna, also yolutilithes,
Venericardia, Gorhula texana, and several other lamel-
libranchs and gastenopods. These casts are found in the
clays and in thin sandy layers, in some places well lami-
nated and medium well indurated. 10 ft.
2. Light bufE, compact unctuous clay often breaking with a
conchoidal fracture. Stained yellowish brown on joint
planes with limonite. Weathers cream colioired 6 ft.
The upper member is the base of the Manning beds.
The rocks exposed in the gullies in the lower portion of Man-
ning are gypsiferous sands and chocolate clays with plant frag-
ments. These two rocks frequently alternate in thin beds. In
some of the sands are small fragments of fibrous pumice and a
light greenish clay directly overlying this tuffaeeous sandstone
under the bridge west of the church contains some fine ash.
In cutting about 100 yards southeast of the depot at Manning
there is exposed about 3 feet of a dark gray to brown, irregularly
thin-bedded sandstone containing casts of fossils. The casts occur
in a layer near the bottom of the section and quite a few of the
same forms found in the cutting at Mile Post 101-G on the Hous-
ton, East & West Texas Railway were recognized. In these
"shelly" bedded sands are often found clay inclusions in the
University of Texas Bulletin No. 1869
Plate VIII.
"^•^i^&g
Fig. 1. JACKSON FORMATION.
Volcanic ash on White Rook Creels, Trinity County.
v^ ••
t,- \
Fig. 2. JACKSON FORMATION.
Volcanic Ash 2 miles east of Corrigan.
TJie Geology of East Texas 177
form of thin small lenses or lumps, in color generally dark gray
or brown.
The country north of Manning is one of very low relief, but
to the south and east the topography becomes gently rolling and
a series of low hills is to be seen.
On the sides and top of the low hill east of Manning a coarse-
grained, medium hard, light gray sandstone is found in massive
beds. This stone has a whitish granular cement which resembles
some phases of the Catahoula.
Some three miles south of Manning, along the tram and to east
and west of it, there outcrops a sandstone of various degrees of
induration, gray to brown in color, fine-grained, and for the most
part massive, but in places thin-bedded. This sandstone contains
numerous easts of fossils, for the most part lamellibranchs, but
some gasteropods were found. This sandstone resembles in every
way that found in the vicinity of Potomac on the Houston, East
& West Texas Railway.
The creek beds here expose soft sandstones and arenaceous
clays of a prevailing light brown color and massive to thin-
bedded.
A section down a creek flowing south and emptying into the
Neches some 3 miles above the place where the Manning train
crosses the river exposes, along the banks, brown carbonaceous
sands and clays, massive to thin and irregularly bedded, which
continue to within 2 miles of the river. These materials un-
doubtedly belong to the Jackson as exposed near Potomac. On
the tops and edges of hills are sandstones of various degrees of
induration, from soft to hard and quartzitic and usually con-
taining casts of fossils. This sandstone varies from thin-bedded
to massive, but it is for the most part fine-grained with a cement-
ing material of a more or less porcelaneous nature. These sand-
stones are for the most part of white to grayish-brown color, the
brown shales being irregular and caused by iron stain. Locally,
there is a prevalence of "pipe concretions" in this material.
Lignitiferous sandy clays were to be found along the creek in
some places.
CADDEIiL SECTION
The type locality of the Caddell clays is in the vicinity of the
178 University of Texas Bulletin
town of that name in western San Augustine county near the
Angelina river. It was at this place that Veatch found some
of his Jackson fossils, including the specimen of Zeugledon. In
the immediate vicinity the ordinary Jackson non-fossiliferous
clays, weathering brownish and containing calcareous fossilifer-
ous nodules, outcrop for an estimated thickness of 30 feet. The
larger nodules are dark brown in color and are calcareous sand-
stones in composition. These calcareous rocks in places form a
thin continuous bed, and near the top of the bluff rising above
the Angelina bottom a solid thickness of at least five feet was
noted.
Near the foot of the hill on which James Mott's house is built
are dark chocolate clays, succeeded above by greenish, coarse
sands and greenish clays weathering purplish. Ten feet higher
in the section are clays with calcareous nodules.
Bridge creek, which flows southward from White City, six
miles east of Caddell, shows the following:
In the first exposure on this creek is about 4 feet of Yegua,
interbedded light greenish-gray, loose, medium grained sands and
light chocolate, sandy clays containing sulphur. The clay is also
in balls and small lenses in the sand.
These beds continue until opposite "White City station, where
basal Jackson clay with large calcareous nodules is found. Far-
ther down the Jackson brown friable sand and sandstone come in
with local hardenings, probably with calcareous cement. The
hardest sandstone seen was almost quartzitic and light green in
color. Farther down still are fossiliferous green clays, weather-
ing brown, and resembling greensand. In these are fossils and a
great amount of selenite. In places the Jackson contains limo-
nitie concentric concretions 1 foot in diameter.
Lower down on the creek the clay becomes unctuous, in color
gray-drab, and breaks with a semi-concentric fracture. Separat-
ing the clay layers are thin films of fine, light brownish gray
sand, while towards the top of one 12 foot section is a light buff,
finely-laminated, fine, clayey, brittle, but not well consolidated
sandstone. In the continuation of this same section a hundred
yards downstream the clay is chocolate-brown and sulphurous,
with apparently a slight northward dip.
The Jackson basal clays are found along Clear Creek for at
The Geology of East Texas 179
least two miles. Very dark green grains, probably greensand,
are irregularly distributed through the clays, some portions of
which are entirely free from them, wHle others in immediate
juxtaposition will have many. There is a great deal of sand in
much of this clay, but still a large percentage of it is quite free
from sand. In the creek just below the last section described are
some fragments of a 3-ineh light gray sandstone layer containing
casts like those noted on the old tram southeast of White City
and on Shawnee Prairie. The thin sandstone comes from above
the clay. Above the thin sandstone layer in the same section
comes in a very light buff, compact clay. In less than one-fourth
mile downstream we run into the Jackson sandy clay with green-
sand, outcropping in the bed of the creek.
Two thin sandstone dikes, of 1-inch and 2i/^ inches in width,
were noted in the first deep cut in the brown clays. These cut
the clays in a nearly perpendicular position almost at right
angles to the bedding planes. Two other dikes were noted.
Just east of the east line of the Lucas headright is a hard sand-
stone, fine-grained, light gray, and well cemented, which is prob-
ably a lo'oal lens, similar to exposure near Huntington and Burke
and on Stovall creek. ,
The exposure at McGilbery Bluff on Bug creek near the east
line of the John Lucas headright and 1 mile from the Angelina
river at the edge of the Angelina bluff, carries a rich fauna of
the Caddell, mainly of large Pinna and small gasteropods. A
lens of grahamite measuring about 2 inches across was found in
the dark purplish, ferruginous, fossiliferous sandstone. The
section follows:
1. Chocolate clay 35 ft.
2. Greenish-brown, sticky clay with thin films of sand of green
color", greensand, and ferruginous concretions, blackish or
brownish on surface and dark purplish red inside, contain-
ing an abundant fauna. Much of the clay resembles that
of the basal Jackson near the head of Clear creek 7 ft.
3. Dark green sandy clay, very sulphurous. Sand layers often
brownish-yelloiw. Contains much gypsum. Fossils found
in the clay. Characterized by large rounded ellipsoidal
clay ironstone concretions of a length of 3 feet and over. . 3 ft.
All members contain abundant selenite. The concretions of
180 University of Texas Bulletin
number 2 are in thin layers 3 to 6 inches thick and run in definite
planes, but are not continuous. The chocolate clay (1) is of the
same bed as is seen higher up on this creek. As usual, it is sul-
phurous. It also contains ferruginous concretions, both of the
concentric and flat-layered types.
SANTA FE RAILROAD SECTION
On the line of the Santa Fe railroad the Tegua- Jackson con-
tact was not determined closely, but is probably between Mile
Posts 100 and 101.
There is 8 feet of thinly laminated clay, mainly dark chocolate-
brown in color, but the more sandy layers grayish, with some
thin limonite-stained layers. There is about 8 feet of light brown
sand in cut just north of Mile Post 100.
Between Mile Posts 99 and 100 the friable thin, shelly-bedded
light brown sandstones resemble those on the Houston, East &
"West Texas Eailway between Potomac and Hammock, in northern
Polk county, and in the vicinity of Manning, southern Angelina
county.
Light, yellowish-green, sticky clay 2 feet thick and containing
small masses of limonite is exposed one-fourth mile south of Mile
Post 99. The top of the section at Mile Post 99 consists of 5 feet
of thin-bedded, light brown, very friable sandstone stained with
sulphur, underlain by about 15 feet of light brown, carbonaceous,
laminated clay, weathering reddish-brown and interbedded with
thin friable sandstones, some of which are cross-bedded.
At the south end of the cut at Mile Post 97 a layer one foot
thick of soft sandstone outcrops, made up of medium sized sub-
angular quartz grains and carrying clastic flakes of selenite.
The sandstone shows a very imperfect lamination, mainly brought
out by thin films of iron oxide. It contains also small fragments
of a black mineral, which is perhaps magnetite. This sandstone
is lenticular, passing along its bedding into unconsolidated
clayey sand. It is underlain by sandy, light bluish-gray clay,
weathering on the surface to cream-color, forming semi-badlands,
and about 6 feet thick. There is considerable cross-bedding, es-
pecially in the more sandy portions. The sandy clays and clayey
sands are thinly laminated. The section here much resembles
TJie Geology of East Texas 181
that at Mile Post 100 on the Houston, East & West Texas Rail-
way in northern Polk county, in structure, composition and
materials. The two exposures belong to the Jackson and lie at
nearly the same horizon. Close to the north end of the cut
there is a marked concentric structure in the clayey sands. The
core is a massive sand, 3-5 feet in diameter, and is surrounded by
a concentric shell 1-2 feet thick, made up of alternate, irregular
and wavy rings of sand layers stained with limbnite separated
by layers not so stained. Three such core structures are seen.
They may very likely have been formed since the deposition of
the beds and may be of the nature of concretions.
Th same general characteristics are seen in the several Jackson
exposures south to half way between Mile Posts 96 and 97.
One-half mile north of Mile Post 94 there is 5 feet of Jackson
sulphurous, light chocolate-brown clay, underlain by 1% feet of
light gray laminated sands. The clay is rather coarsely lam-
inated and when unmixed with sand is plastic. Often, however,
they are intermixed with sand and are stained with limonlte
along the platy layers. The base of the section is about 10 feet
below track level.
The soil of the Jackson is dark brown, tinged with red, the
color being characteristic of the foundation. This color is only
a thin surface veneer seen in recent cuts. The Jackson topog-
raphy is very gently rolling.
The last Jackson clay is seen at Mile Post 94. It is thinly
laminated and a light yellowish-green to greenish-gray in color
with thin irregular and small plates of harder limonite-cemented
clays. The maximum thickness of the exposure is 4 feet. It is
overlain by the same thickness of Lafayette. The Jackson clay
here is plastic and when damp has a bluish-drab color.
SABINE RIVER SECTION
Our knowledge of the Sajbine river section of the Jackson is
limited to Veatch's sections, which are as follows^:
About three-fourths of a mile below Robin's Ferry, at 30,
there is an outcrop of 5 feet of blue fossiliferous clay on the
Texas side of the river. It shows at this stage of the river two
> Geol. Sur. La., 1902, pp. 131-2.
182 University of Texas Bulletin
large concretions of hard white fossiliferous limestone. The out-
crop yielded a rather extensive Jackson fauna, including Um-
brella planulata and many large Gapulus americanus.
At 31, a shelf of the same fossiliferous clay shows on the
Louisiana side. The fossils here are not so well preserved. Dip
S. 20 degrees E.
Between this outcrop and' the outcrop of the Grand Gulf near
Anthony's Ferry, ledges of Tertiary clays show at 32, 33, 34,
and 35. At 34 a few fossils are exposed.
Section , at 33
1. Dark gray and brown mottled sandy clay ("buckshot clay") .18ft.
2. White and yellow pebbly sand 5 ft.
3. Blue-clay, weathering brown 10 ft.
4. Irregularly bedded, laminated, slate colored clay and yellow
sand 3 It.
5. Laminated chocolate-colored clay with occasional thin seams
of yellow sand and small calcareous concretions 8 ft.
The layers 3, 4, and 5, show a southward dip of 1:25. Near
the northern en,d of the exposure is a small fault with a throw of
about 6 feet.
North of Anthony's Ferry, according to Veatch, these clays
are succeeded by the Catahoula sandstone, giving the Jackson
outcrop on the Sabine a width of between three and four miles.
VOLCANICS
Beds of volcanic ash in this area have been known and utilized
commercially for many years. More recently the fuller's earth
derived from the alteration of the ash has also come into use.
The ash occurs in several ways. Principally it forms beds
two feet or more in thickness, some of which are traceable for
many miles and form excellent working horizons in the forma-
tion. These beds are usually pure ash without admixture of
other sediments and must, therefore, have been laid down
very quickly or in very quiet waters. In some localities, as
near Corrigan, the ash is mixed with diatomaceous material
as though laid down in ponds or lakes, and at others it shows
The Geology of East Texas 183
the dune like structure of deposits by aeolian agencies on land
surfaces.
The fuller's earth is met with also under various comiitions.
Sometimes it occurs as a part of the same stratum as the ash,
in which case the ash is usually found at the base and the
fuller 's earth at the top, but this is occasionally reversed. Most
frequently, however, the fuller's earth occurs in separate beds
and in lenses and balls in the sands." Owing to the flayey
nature of the fuller's earth its true character has not been
recognized as fully as it should have been, and many occur-
rences have been regarded as clay. Our more recent investi-
gations indicate that these showers or floods of volcanic ash
and tuff have furnished a much greater proportion of the ma-
terials constituting the beds of our Coastal area than has ever
been suspected. This is true not onlj' of the Jackson, but of
the succeeding formations as well.
CLOSE OF THE EOCENE
In the uppermost beds of the Jackson we see the last forma-
tion of strictly marine deposition which is now found exposed
within the Texas Coastal Plain. The close of the Eocene,
therefore, marks the final withdrawal of the sea from this area
as the major medium of sedimentation and the substitution of
flixvial and aeolian agencies and deposits upon low coastal lands
and their continuations in deltas and lagoons.
In this particular region the story of the emergence is not
so well told as it is further south. Our investigations below the
Eio Grande prove that the Gulf Coast Eocene extends south-
ward in Mexico to the Conchos river, which flows along the
northeastern face of the Tamaulipas range, reaching the Gulf
east of San Fernando in Tamaulipas.
The beds of the Tegua are characteristically exposed on the
Conchos near Angeles as lignitie shales capped by yellow clays
with shaly sandstones and clays with cannon-ball concretions.
Down the river at Sonada there are blue and yellow gypsifer-
ous clays interbedded with sandstones. The top of the Yegua
is found in a hill one mile west of Mendez, where it is capped
by the Fayette. Directly east of San Lorenzo creek, which
184 University of Texas Bulleiin
flows into' the Conchos near Mendez, rises the Sierra de Pomer-
anes, a range of high hills trending northwest and southeast.
The western slope of these hills is composed of sandstone of
Fayette and possibly of Jackson age and the top and eastern
face is formed of the Frio clays overlain on the coastal margin
by beds of marine Oligocene. The upper portion of the Frio
in the Pomeranes hills, as well as in exposures on the river west
of Tepetate, is made up of greenish clays and soft sands inter-
stratified with heavy beds of gypsum. In the hills the deposits
of gypsum include beds of alabaster and selenite, as well as
massive gypsum. These extensive deposits of gypsum inter-
bedded with the greenish clays and soft sands prove that the
end of the Eocene was marked in this region by slow emergence
and by dessication. That this emergence was pre-Oligo-
cene is clearly shown by the relations of the beds of the two
formations.
Similar conditions are believed to have existed in eastern
Texas and to have resulted in the deposition of a large part of
the beds of salt and gypsum which are now found in such
abundance in connection with the Coastal Domes of the region.
CHAPTER VIII.
INTRODUCTION
Practically all of the deposits of post-Eocene age of the
Coastal Plain of Texas, so far as their outcrops show, are non-
marine. They consist of fluviatile and aeolian deposits and of
sediments laid down in lagoons, estuaries or deltas, marked
only by very scant remains of plants, land animals, fishes and
brackish water invertebrates. The only vestiges of possible
sea-shore conditions found are a few occurrences of a coquina
in which the fragmentary shells are too comminuted to permit
identification. In certain localities the conditions of sedimen-
tation apparently remained the same .through successive epochs,
so that there is no lithologic break to mark the parting, and in
others the formations are connected by transitional beds.
Such fossils as have been gathered from various localities in
these beds show that they include deposits of Oligocene, Mio-
cene, Pliocene and Pleistocene age, but in many places it is dif-
ficult, if not impossible, to fix a line between the beds of. one
of these series and those- of the others, or to separate the
deposits into satisfactory groups, such as will serve as dis-
tinctive in different areas- Until some basis can be found on
which to make such division, it will be necessary to use group
names, each of which will, where possible, include a mappable
unit, and refer it to its nearest series.
OLIGOCENE
In Mississippi, the Jackson is followed by a series of lime-
stones alternating with beds of sandy fossiliferous marl, which
is called the Vicksburg. In the fossils of these beds, which are
abundant and well preserved, we find very few of the forms
occuring in the Claiborne or Jackson Eocene, and encounter
many that are new. This formation is considered to be of
Lower Oligocene age.
Overlying the fossiliferous clays and limestones of the
Vicksburg there is a series of sandstones and greenish clays
13-ET.
186 University of Texas Bulletin
of different lithological aspect from any of the beds of the
Mississippi Eocene. The only fossils found in them are re-
mains of land plants and fresh water shells. These were first
observed by Wailes at Grand Gulf, Mississippi, and were given
that name. Owing to the confusion that has arisen in the use
of this name through its application to beds of somewhat sim-
ilar lithological character, which occur at other localities and
have been found to be of different ages, and, in order to furnish
a name not likely to be misunderstood, Veateh proposed the
name "Catahoula" as a synonym for the "typical Grand
Gulf" from Catahoula Parish in Louisiana where the beds are
counterparts of those at the original locality. These are also
considered to lielong to the Oligocene.
Further eastward the Catahoula, or Upper Oligocene, is
replaced by marine deposits and is represented by several sub-
divisions which are based on fossil contents.
Southward in Mexico the Lower Oligocene is present as beds
of yellow sandy clays with quantities of the large foraminifer
Orbitoides papyracea Bou. which is characteristic of the Vicks-
burg. The upper Oligocene with similar yellow sandy clays
includes heavy beds of nummulitic limestone and a consider-
able fauna of eehinoderms, corals and other marine inverte-
brates, proving its position in the Oligocene column.
Deposition and Chaeacteb
At the beginning of the Oligocene, that part of Bast Texas
which was later covered by its deposits was a land surface, on
the higher portions of which were exposed not only sands and
clays, but probably very consideraltle bodies of volcanic ag-
glomerates, tuffs and ash which had accumulated during Jack-
son time. Along the coastal belt, occupying large basins or de-
pressions, there were probably great deposits of salt and gyp-
sum. So far as present surface conditions indicate this land
condition continued through the entire period of Lower Oligo-
cene, and not until its close did the lagunal and estuariiie
waters take possession of this territory.
Therefore, no trace of any marine deposits referable to the
Vicksburg have been found in Bast Texas, nor is there any in-
The Geology of East Texas 187
dication that the sandstones overlying the Jackson and referred
to the Oligocene are, in any part, representative of Vicksburg
time. Such deposits, however, may exist to the seaward and
be overlapped by thfe later beds.
"With the beginning of the Upper Oligocene, erosion seem-
ingly became more .active, especially in the area occupied by
the tufE and ash, and these furnished the principal part of the
large quartz grains which make up the present rice sands and
of the clays and fuller's earth which are interbedded with
them. Apparently volcanic action had not entirely ceased, for
there are beds of ash interbedded in the Corrigan which are
original deposits and not derived from earlier ones.
OORBIGAN
In the Texas region Veatch applied the name Catahoula to
the sands and clays which overlie his Jackson and underlie his
Fleming. According to his map, the base of his Catahoula on
the Houston, East & West Texas Railway is over four miles
north of Corrigan. This would include the beds which fur-
nished the Jackson fossils mentioned by Harris^ as coming
from Kennedy's original locality, "a cutting on the Houston,
Bast & West Texas Railroad 4 miles north of Corrigan, Polk
County," earlier referred to the Claiborne, and whieJi now
forms the base of our Manning beds. Veatch 's Catahoula,
therefore, as mapped included the sandy formations lying be'-
tween the Caddell clays and the Fleming clays, a part of which
are Jackson and a part later.
Matson^ calls attention to this and correlates the Jackson
member (Manning sands) with the Fayette, with which it has
really nothing in common, being a marine formation while the
Fayette of East Texas is a fresh or brackish water deposit,
underlying instead of overlying the Caddell clays.
Veatch expressly limited the use of the term Catahoula to
such beds as were of true Grand Gulf age and his name is
therefoj-e retained for such beds as can be clearly referred to
the Grand Gulf. Overlying the beds to which the name Cata-
^ Geol. Sur. La. 1902, p. 25.
= U. S. G. S. Prof. Paper 98, p. 224.
188 University of Texas Bulletin
houla can thus apply, we find a series of transitional beds con-
necting the Catahoula and the Fleming, which cannot well be
separated from it, and we will use Kennedy's older name of
Corrigan for the entire group of non-marine deposits which
lie between the Jackson and the Fleming and together consti^
tute our only mappable unit. They are supposedly, for the
most part, of Upper Oligocene age.
General Character and Relations
The Corrigan comprises coarse "rice"^ sands and sand-
stones with some clays at the base, overlain by finer sands
and by yellowish green clay and claystones. The clays and
claystones carry pyritic nodules and streaks of lignite and
weather yellow to cream color. The sands are coarse to fine-
grained and may be friable, cemented with opaline or por-
cellaneous matter, or hardened to a dense gray-blue quartzite.
There are local unconformities between the sands and clays
and the sands often carry clay balls and are occasionally
cross-bedded. Volcanic ash occurs abundantly, both unaltered
and in altered forms as fuller 's earth and clays. The Corrigan
is noted for the abundance of fossil palms, and the fossil wood
which occurs in it is often opalized. Remains of animal life,
are almost unknown.
These are the beds to which Vaughan's name of Catahoula
properly applies.
In the exposures of the Trinity river region, while the basal
beds or Catahoula are the same as those to the eastward, there
appears to be at the top a transitional zone, in which sands of
the Corrigan type are interbedded with calcareous clays similar
to those of the overlying Fleming. On this account the limit
is not as well defined as further east, and the upper line is
drawn where the sands with porcelaneous cement cease and the
clays weather entirely dark brown or black, instead of show-
ing the characteristic yellow weathering of the Corrigan clays.
These also carry plant remains and an occasional fragment
of bone.
^ So called because of the resemblance of the grains to. those of rice.
The Geology of East Texas 189
These upper beds maintain their character and thickness
some distance west of the Trinity river. While they appear to
be later than the Catahoula proper, they are definitely con-
nected with it by the character of the sands and clays of which
they are composed.
For this portion of the Corrigan the name Onalaska has been
proposed, from the name of a town in Polk county which is
located on them. Excellent exposures may be found on Eocky
and Kickapoo creeks east of Onalaska and on Harmon creek
northeast of Huntsville.
Stratigraphically, this group lies unconformably upon the
Jackson; Lithologically, the base corresponds closely with the
typical Grand Gulf, while the top is very similar to some of
the Oakville beds of the Nueces section, but is older.
It seems probable that the Corrigan represents some portion
or all of the Oligoeene above the Vicksburg, and that while the
base may be Grand Gulf, the upper portion is possibly Miocene.
Area and Thickness
As mapped, the Corrigan is broadest on the Sabine river,
where its outcrop has a width of over twelve miles. It ex-
tends westward as a belt of irregular width, narrowing to
three miles in the northeast corner of Polk county. It widens
again on the Trinity where the outcrop swings to the south-
west. At the crossing of the Navasota river north of Nelleva
Junction it is less than three miles in width and is but little
more on the Brazos.
Tht thickness of these beds is estimated at 450 feet.
SABINE EIVEE SECTION
The only details we have of the Corrigan on the Sabine are
those given by Veateh^ :
The Grand Gulf sandstones extend along the Sabine from
Anthony's ferry to near Burr's ferry. The southeastward dip
observed in the Coeksfield ferry beds and the Jackson continues
to a point below Hattan's ferry with a tendency to show an
' Geol. Sur. of La. 1902, p. 133.
190 University of Texas Bulletin
increased dip. Near Burr's ferry the dip becomes much less,
being 1 :300. ^
A shelf of soft, fine, gray sandstone with a slight amount of
calcareous matter is exposed on the Louisiana side a little more
than one mile above Anthony's ferry.
Half a mile below, a much larger shelf occurs near low water
level. It extends well across the river, producing a decided
acceleration of the current. The section is:
1. Yellow and trown silty sand to top of bank 8 ft.
2. White to grey sand with, faint traces of stratificatiion. Con-
tains pebbles at base 10 ft.
3. Hard, flne-grained quartzitic sandstone 2 ft.
4. Greyish-blue, jointed sandy clay becoming lighter and more
sandy above 15 ft.
5. Soft, white, fine-grained sandstone 8 ft.
6. Coarse-grained quartzitic sandstone 3 ft.
7. Grey to drab, jointed sandy clay 3 ft.
Dip S. B. 1 :50.
At Anthony's ferry a small flat-topped bluff on the Texas
side shows no rock. On the Louisiana side, a little below, 4
feet of fine-grained Grand Gulf sandstone shows near water-
level.
Just above Snell's landing, a flat-topped bluff 35 feet high
shows at its base 8 feet of .blue sandy clay.
At Snell's landing high bluffs appear on the Texas side and
extend for two miles down the river.
Section at Snell's Landing:
1. Fine white sand with pebbles at base 25 ft.
2. Covered • • 12 ft.
3. Coarse, indurated white sand, capped with a layer of sand-
stone about a foot thick 8 ft.
Water level.
Dip S. E. 1 :25.
A mile below this exposure there is a good exposure :
1. Unexposed to top of bluff 40 ft.
2. Yellow sand, containing boulders of bufE colored, laminated,
leaf-bearing clay 35 ft.
3. Coarse, white, cross-bedded, rather quartzitic sandstone.
The Geology of East Texas 191
mottled with yellow " ft-
4. Greenish-yellow sandy clay 20 It.
5. Unexposed 10 ft.
Water level.
Bed 2 shows a phenomena almost Identical with that shown
in the K. C. P. & G. R. R. cut near Shreveporc, where the beds
are presumably of lower Eocene age. Five hundred yards be-
low this section, this bed is much more f ally developed. Here
the bed is covered with a regularly bedded, laminated, brown
to slate-colored clay, three feet ihiek, with abundant plant
impressions.
This line of bluffs extends along the river half way to the
mouth of Bayou Toro. The quartzitic sandstone increases in
thickness, reaching a maximum of 10 feet near the lower end.
This sandstone layer indicates that the line of bluffs are about
on the line of strike and hence the dip is S. E.
Near Hattan's ferry on the Louisiana side the following sec-
tion is shown :
1. Drab, iron-stained clay, crumbling into small irregular
pieces ("Buckshot clay") 17 ft.
2. Fine white sand with many small pebbles 3 ft.
3. Blue clay weathering yellow (Grand Gulf) 5 ft.
A flat topped bluff on the west side of the river 2 miles below
Hattan's ferry, shows a ledge of green jointed clay about five
feet thick. The great southward dip, 1:25, exposes about 20
•feet of this bed.
Sandstone ledges cause several shoals in the river below this
outcrop but afford no good exposures. Four miles below, a ledge
of fine-grained, porous sandstone shows a slight southward dip
1 :300.
About half way between this and Burr's ferry, a range of
high hills, rising over a hundred feet above the river, approach
the river on the Texas side. One hill-point just reaches the river
and exposes a ledge of sandstone near the water line. Foi-ty feet
above water level a ledge of sandstone 25. feet thick outcrops in
the hillside, in many places forming a protruding ledge and giv-
ing rise to a number of small waterfalls where little streams from
the hills flow over it.
192 University of Texas Bulletin
About a mile above Burr's ferry, there is a small outcrop of
soft white sandstone. This is covered with the usual pebble-
bearing sands and pinnacled clays.
SANTA FE EAILWAY SECTION
On the line of the Santa Fe Railway in Jasper county, the
base of the Corrigan is found just south of Brookland and it
passes under the Fleming about 5 miles north of Jasper.
Between Mile Post 94, where the last exposure of Jackson was
noted, and Brookland the railroad runs in a flat swampy country
showing only Lafayette sediments in one small cut.
The Catahoula light green sandy clays outcrop in the long
shallow cut which begins one fourth mile north of the 89th mile
post, where there is a Ihin layer of porcellaneous sandstone over-
lying them. There are thin lenticular layers of hardened clay
within the looser clay and an irregular lens of sand overlies it.
The sand is cross-ibedded and carries thin streaks of sulphur-
yeUow clay.
Southward, porcellaneous-cemented sandstone is encountered,
but only as relatively thin layers interbedded with clay, and the
first exposure north of the 86th mile post is of light drab, con-
solidated clay.
In the next cut to the south and beyond it the Catahoula
greenish-drab clay contains calcareous nodules similar to those
of the Fleming. Similar clay with similar concretions is found
within the Catahoula outcrop on the road between Bevilport and
Aldridge in western Jasper county.
The north end of a cut south of Mile Post 86 is in Catahoula
drab, or grayish-green, clay, and in the next cut just north of
Mile Post 85 the unconformity between the Catahoula and La-
fayette is well shoMii. At the base 7 feet of light gray, sandy
Catahoula clay. Above lies 10 feet of cross-bedded Lafayette.
The contact between the two is irregular, and small lenses and
ridges of the Catahoula project up into the Lafayette, which is
light brick-red in color.
The last Catahoula outcrop is three-fourths of a mile north of
the 79th mile post, where thin, irregularly-bedded, coarse, por-
cellaneous sandstone at the base is overlain by 5 feet of yellow-
University of Texas Bulletin No. 1869
Plate IX.
CONTACT OF JACKSON AND CORRIGAN FORMATIONS.
View on Trinity River near Trinity.
TJie Geology of East Texas 193
ish-green clays with sulphur. On surface exposures these clays
are bluish or grayish-green.
The fossil plant Palmoxylon texense, which was described by
Berry, was collected from the Corrigan at this locality..
In northern Jasper county, between the Angelina river and the
line of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway, the area of the
outcrop of the Catahoula forms the usual high sandy ridge of
much dissected, mature topography, overlooking the lowlands
of the Tegua and Jackson to the north and of the Fleming to
the south. In this region the differential relief is 200 feet at
a maximum and the surface is practically all reduced to slopes,
forming hills and ridges dissected by deep valleys, which are
narrow and steep in their upper courses. Recent rejuvenation,
also noted farther westward on the Catahoula ridge, is very
apparent at the headwaters of Beef creek, which lie in Sec-
tions 146 and 151 of the land of the Houston Oil Company. The
heads of the valleys have the broad, shallow and gently convex
profiles characteristic of early to middle old-age erosion stages.
Lower down the stream courses, the valleys abruptly break
away into narrow, deep, box gorges, characterized by recent
and still effective gully erosion. Some of the inner gorges are
50 feet, or more, deep. Above the recent trenches the gently
sloping profiles of the old valleys are easily distinguished. The
amount and thickness of Lafayette on the summits of some of
the hills and ridges is surprisingly large. Locally, it is not less
than 100 feet thick. It contains a large amount of ferruginous-
cemented, coarse grit and conglomerate, more of which was
noted here than anywhere else where the Lafayette has been
examined. Mossy Hill, northeast of the old Truitt Place, near
the head of Beef creek, is a ridge several hundred yards long,
made up of ferruginous conglomerate at least 20 feet in thick-
ness, and probably thicker. The hill-sides throughout the
region of Catahoula outcrop are covered with fine gravel,
which averages about one inch in diameter. The hydrated iron
oxide locally cementing the pebbles into conglomerate was most
likely deposited as bog-ore in springs and ponds.
In many localities the upper slopes of the hillsides are thickly
strewn with large fragments of silicified tree trunks. No-
194 Vnivei'sUy of Texas Bulletin
where else has the writer^ noted silicified wood in as great
abundance and in as large pieces as on the hillsides at the
head of Beef creek. It is found in the Lafayette deposits
and may have been indigenous to that formation, although that
is by no means certain. Fragments two feet or more in
diameter and ten or twelve feet long exhibit no signs of round-
ing by rolling or water wear, but it must be remembered that
all this silicified wood is very brittle and is easily broken with
a sharp fracture along annual growth rings, .and at right angles
to these rings. Large fragments in the beds of the present
creeks, where they are subjected to attrition are nearly as
angular and sharp on fractured edges as the silicified wood of
the upper hillsides.
The more resistant beds of sandstone or hardened clay in the
Catahoula, when underlain and overlain by loose clays, often
form terrace-like benches on the sides of hills.
Numbers of small mounds were seen on the Barney Land and
Robert Stone grants south and southeast of the wagon bridge
over Beef creek and between Beef and Alligator creeks.
Soft, greenish clays, partially indurated clays, mixed sands
and clays are present in large amounts; sandstones, in all de-
grees of consolidation from those easily broken with the
fingers to hard quartzites; of all textures, from very fine to
coarse grits; in structure, massive, thin-bedded or cross-bedded;
and in color, from brownish or yellowish limonite-stained to
white porcellaneous and silicified, are all found in the Cata-
houla of this vicinity.
ANGELINA KIVER SECTION
Immediately below Bell's ferry on the Angelina river near
its intersection with the Ayish bayou, the distinct shoals and
rapids commence. The first outcropping noted was of a clay,
blyish-green in color and usually somewhat arenaceous. This
clay is .always yellow to yellowish-green on the outcrop. It
forms shoals and also outcrops in the banks of the river to
15 feet above the water level. At the top of the clay a series of
springs issue forth.
' Baker.
The Geology of East Texas 195
Between the B. C. Lowe and the J. Conn surveys a series
of bluffs begin which . determine the course of the river and
cause the deflection noted on the map. The first bluff rises
some 50 feet above the water and the strata dip some 3-4
degrees S. 50 "W. The section here is as follows:
1. Lafayette, clayey sand, lightly mottled for the most part. A
film Immediately overlying the clay 1-3 inch in thickness is
a contorted limonitic iron ore cementing the sand grains
and gravel. This layer is probably caused by springs.
Overlain by gravel which passes upward into mottled
clayey sand 15 to 20 fti
Unconformity:
2. Dark dirty green, gypsiferous clay, fractured with llmionite
stains on fracture planes, which vary from yellowish
brown to brick red in color. Selenite is in small fibres
and Is common. Member becomes more indurated toward
the top and here it passes into a sandstone much like
No. 4 12 ft.
3. Ferruginous layer, botryoidal, mammillary 4 ft.
4. Sandstones, well indurated, light buff bo yellowish brown
in color, depending on the percentage of iron. Occasion-
ally shows psuedolamlnation caused by seams of limonlte.
Medium-grained in texture. Matrix fine granular to por-
cellaneous. Mainly massive, locally cross-bedded. Is in-
durated sufficiently to form a perpendicular cliff and the
top is a bench 6 ft.
5. Sandstone, cross.bedded, varying in Induration from me-
dium-hard to loose sand, containing ferruginous concre-
tidns, local layers having porcellaneous cement. Harder
layers form benches between softer. Medium ,to coarse-
grained. Color light brown when wet and light buff when
dry. Stained by limonite
6. Yellowish green and greenish brown clay, compact and much
fractured and where wet often dark copperas blue. Weath-
ers dirty white 4 ft.
TEXAS & NEW OEUIANS EAILROAD SECTION
The outcrop of the Corrigan on the Texas & New Orleans
Railroad does not exceed six miles in width, with Rockland
nearly in its center. It has about the same width here as on
the Houston, East & West Texas Railway.
196 University of Texas Bulletin
It would appear that the outcrop of this formation is wider
both to the east and west of these railway lines, where an
upper member composed almost entirely of greenish clay is
exposed on Rocky creek and on the Angelina river between
Bell's and Bohler's ferries, which does not seem to be repre-
sented in the sections along the railroads.
The Jackson-Corrigan contact is south of Mile Post 107.
In the first cut north of Mile Post 106 clays are interbedded
with the porcellaneous sandstone. The section is:
1. Massive, medium indurated, porcellaneous cemented sand-
stone ■ ■ 2 It,
2. Dark sulphur-yellow shaly clay, tasting of sulphur 4 ft.
3. Very shaly and "shelly" friable porcellaneous cemented sand-
stone 1 ft.
4. Dark green sandy clay, irregularly stained dark-brown. Up-
per 4-inches almost entirely dark-brown 2 ft.
5. Whitish, poorly indurated, porcellaneous cemented sandstone 6 ft.
Dip 21/2° S. 10° E. Strike S. 80° SW.
At the cut just south of Mile Post 106 the porcellaneous
sandstone comes down to the track level and overlies the
green clay. This sandstone is very shaly and thin-bedded. The
top layer of the sandstone is more massive and typical. At the
south side of the cut there were noted two small lenses of green
clay interbedded with the porcellaneous sandstone. The maxi-
mum thickness of the underlying compact, dark yellowish-
green clay is 4% feet. The sandstone contains fragments of
the underlying clay.
The last bedrock exposed north of the Neehes river is at
106-B, where about 3 feet of green, compact, sticky Catahoula
clay is associated with local indurations of light brown, fine-
grained sandstone, small blocks of which are found on the sur-
face.
Light green, sticky, Catahoula clay, 7 feet in thickness,
locally sandy, and with thin sandy layers, and small limonitic
concretions and layers is found in the first cut north of the
Angelina-Jasper county line. It is overlain by 18-inches of
case-hardened, light gray, alluvial sandstone with pebbles.
The bluffs at Rockland are capped by massive, light gray
The Geology of East Texas 197
porcellaneous cemented sandstone breaking into large blocks.
Under the Texas & New Orleans Railroad bridge over the
Neehes is a rapids formed by a layer of light brown, hardened,
sandy clay. Between these two rocks is greenish clay with
local sandstones which sometimes, but not always, shov.^ porce-
laneous cement. '
At Eockland, the section between the track and the oil load-
ing rack is as follows:
1. Porcellaneous cemented sandstone capping the Hill
2. Light green clay, sticky, compact, fractured into very small
blocks. More than 10 ft.
3. Compact, horizontal massive layer of coarse sandstone with
large grains of quartz and metamorphic rocks, rounded
to subangular, with a fine whitish granular matrix 4 ft.
4. Clayey sand, partially indurated, yellowish green, coarse... 8ft.
The first cut south of the water tank at Rockland gives :
1. Porcelaneous cemented sandstone.
2. Clay, green, sandy, loose, weathering light gray 10 ft.
3. Compact sandstone layer, otherwise same as No. 4 . . . . 5-18 in.
4. Thin-bedded clayey sand, friable, light brown, locally
limonite stained, with whitish granular matrix. Very
poorly and irregularly laminated 3 ft.
At the base of the next cut, porcellaneous cemented sand-
stone lies on greenish Catahoula clays. The lower beds here
are light greenish-gray sands and clays, very poorly consoli-
dated, and Aveathering into semi-badland forms. There is a
thickness of about 15 feet of these in the cut 1 1-8 mile south
of Rockland. These clays are overlain by porcellaneous sand-
stone in the first cut within the mile limit south of Rockland.
The Catahoula formation is last seen at Mile Post 101, where
the porcellaneous cemented sandstone is found.
NECHES EIVER SECTION
The Neehes river fiowing southeastwardly through the Cor-
rigan furnished the following sections:
To the west of the point where the Carter-Kelley Lumber
Company tram crosses the Neehes and along the southern
198 University of Texas Bulletin
bank, a series of high bluffs rise above the river. They expose
at the top and well down the sides a medium to coarse-grained
sandstone having a porcellaneous matrix. Underlying this is
a white elaystone, somewhat arenaceous and of various degrees
of induration. The sandstone is in places indurated to a
quartzite and would make a good rock for concrete work.
Approximately one-fourth mile down the Neehes from the
point where the Manning tram crosses there is an outcrop of
Corrigan sandstone in the bed of the river. This rock causes
a shoaling of the Neehes at this point and rapids are produced.
There is exposed here 15 feet of a medium to coarse grained,
rather soft, sandstone with a distinctly porcellaneous matrix.
The sandstone is much cross-bedded.
Near the mouth of Shawnee creek, in southern Angelina
county, two isolated hills of porcellaneous cross-bedded sand-
stone are entirely surrounded by the bottom lands of the creek.
The locality is within one-half mile of the confluence of the
creek with the Neehes. One of the hills is about 50 feet high
and covers some 4 or 5 acres, the other" being smaller. The
sandstone is medium-grained, medium hard, locally quartzitic,
and breaks with a splintery fracture.
About one-fourth mile east of this there is a big bend in the
Neehes, known locally as the Devil's Bend. A bluff rising
some 35 feet exposes the following section:
1. Soft sandstone, fine to coarse-grained, and constaining
plant fragments and clay balls. Porcellaneous matrix. . 8 It.
2. Yellowish green to greenish-brown clay, weathering yellow to
cream colored, and, when indurated, breaking out in
cuboidal blocks. Shows thin bedding on weathering. In
an east-west direction these beds lie horizontally 15 ft.
3. Greenish brown to chocolate brown clay, weathering dirty
brown, the upper 6-inches indurated to elaystone so that
it stands out as a ledge. Structureless 4 ft.
4. Lignite, ignites with a match 8 ft
5. Thin-bedded, sandy clays and clayey sands, greenish-
brown to bluish-green in color when fresh, but all weath-
ering cream colored. Contain an abundance of sulphide
of iron nodules, the origin of which is evident from the
fact that some of the nodules are still in the form of stems •
of plants, showing that the iron sulphide was precipitated
from solution by organic matter partly derived from the
The Geology of East Texas 199
overlying lignite seam. The occurence of the iron sulphide
here explains the origin of the bluish green color that is
seen everywhere in these clays at the water-level 5 ft.
The dip on No. 5 in E-W direction was 2% degrees at one
place.
The rapids on the Neches 1% miles west of Aldridge have a
fall of about 4 feet. They are caused by resistant porcellane-
ous cemented layers of sandstone overlying a light brown,
compact, fine-grained sandy claiy with plant fragments. The
porcellaneous sandstone is in places finely conglomeratic with
subangular fragments of quartz and chert. Large fragments
of clay in this conglomerate, together with cross and irregular
bedding, indicate channel conditions of deposition and local un-
conformity.
At Feces Ferry, some 2-3 miles up the river from Smith's
Ferry, there outcrops in the bed of the river a bluish-green
clay, somewhat arenaceous, slightly plastic, which weathers
cream colored to yellow. This clay forms a shoal which ex-
tends out half way across the river at low water. Overlying
this clay is a collection of angular boulders up to 1% feet in
diameter consisting of sandstone, fine to coarse grained, and
varying, in hardness from soft to quartzite. This sandstone has
a porcellaneous matrix, and could not have been transported
far.
Three hundred yards upstream from Smith's ferry there is
another outcrop of Corrigan, which runs half the way across the
bed of the river. The banks of the river in both these localities
are made up of alluvium, but west of the river clays outcrop
which lithologically resemble those of the Corrigan, and are
succeeded on the higher land by typical Fleming calcareous
clays.
Near the top of hill overlooking Smith's ferry, the following
section is exposed along the road:
1. Clay, weathering white and containing calcareous nodules. .15 ft.
2. Indurated, non-calcareous, arenaceous claystone 1 ft.
3. Green clay, weathering dirty yellowish green and containing
calcareous nodules 10 ft
The upper part of this section may be Fleming, as may also
200 University of Texas Bulletin
be the lower member; but such material as the indurated layer
has not yet been observed above the Corrigan. A good develop-
ment of arenaceous claystones that belong to the Corrigan was
observed in this vicinity and it may be that this section marks
the transition between it and the Fleming, such as is found
further west at Onalaska.
Rapids on the Neches river, on the eastern boundary of the
Ph. Baldwin grant, northeastern Tyler county, 12 miles east-
northeast of Colmesneil, and one-half mile below Smith Ferry,
are well exposed at a low-water stage. The rapids are formed
of medium-hard Corrigan sandstone, carrying plant remains
and a large amount of silicified wood. Structure and bedding
is very poorly developed, but cross-bedding is present, striking
N. 60 deg. E. and varying in dip from 9 to 27 deg. southeast,
in a distance of 25 feet normal to the strike. Below the sand-
stone is two feet of soft, blue-gray, sandy clay. The sandstone
surfaces are perforated with long borings elliptical in cross
sections with the peripheries of the ellipses flattened. These are
made by a small, light green, fresh water crustacean. The
Neches river at its low-water stage, is nowhere over 6-inches'in
depth over the rapids.
The rapids will probably explain the partially drowned con,-
ditions on the Neches flood plain above them quite as well as
Veatch 's postulate of the Angelina-Caldwell flexure.
HOUSTON, EAST * WEST TEXAS EY. SECTION
On the Houston, East & West Texas Railway the first ex-
posure of the Corrigan sands is found at Bridge 95-Gr, where
yellow and brown sandy shales are overlain by a mottled sandy
clay carrying fragments of the shale. The relations of the
two formations is better shown at Mile Post 94. Here the
mottled red and brown sands, shales and clays of the Jackson:
are overlain by a light yellowish brown sandstone with white
markings. The contact shows that the Jackson was eroded
prior to the deposition of the basal Corrigan sands and the
sandstone contains large fragments of the underlying shale.
There is also apparently a difference in dip. The Jackson
seems to have an easterly dip, while sandstones dip south.
The Geology of East Texas 201
Between this point and Corrigan, brown sandstones are
found and the country is covered with a coarse gray sand.
The quarzitic character of the sands is shown in the old
quarry one-half mile north of Corrigan and one-quarter mile
east of the Houston, East & West Texas Railway. At the
western end the sandstone is medium to fine-grained, medium
hard, white to gray and yellowish brown in color. It is for the
most part massive, but exhibits some cross-bedding. Locally
the sandstone contains hard rounded clay balls. In the eastern
end of the quarry the hard sandstone grades into a thin-bedded,
softer, rock.
South of Corrigan a white sandy clay with a yellowish tinge
is exposed 100 to 200 feet south of Bridge 93-D. In seams this
clay has a drab color and small nodules of pure clay in it are
brownish gray. Stains of limonite are common. The sand
grains are white and being enclosed in a resinous gray to yel-
lowish clay impart to the rock a spotted appearance with many
of the white spots no larger than pinheads. The surfieial soil
is creamy- white sand.
The same material is exposed in the north end of the next
cut south. In the center and south end of this cut is seen 3
feet of , light brownish-gray, thinly bedded, nodular clay, which
weathers white.
In the third cut south of Corrigan there is exposed a foot of
broken, cream-colored sandstone of very fine texture with
seams and geodie linings of milky-white opal. In this sand-
stone are nodules of pale yellow clay and a few small flakes
of selenite. The Corrigan in this locality is mainly composed of
coarse to medium sized angular transparent quartz grains with
a few well rounded fragments of black chert and dark erup-
tive rock cemented together with a milky-white porcellaneous
cement. Just M-est of the track an old quarry, opened to use
the rock as ballast, gives an exposure of beds of this typical
Corrigan sandstone one foot in thickness. The hill 20 feet or
more high directly west of Mile Post 92 is littered over the
surface with large blocks of sandstone.
Underneath Bridge 92-C there is 3 feet of light greenish-yel-
low, greasy, fine nodular clay fracturing with a smooth, unctu-
ous surface, containing sulphur, and carrying large plates of
14-ET.
■202 University of Texas Bulletin
selenite. Overlying this clay is fine cream colored volcanic
sh, 7 feet in thickness, friable, and carrying thin seams and
lenses of gypsum. This section has below it an outcrop of
Corrigan sandstone, but the contact between the two is not
visible.
Rather fine conglomerate, bluish on the surface exposure and
cream colored or light gray in the interior is found 300 yards
south of Bridge 92-B. This conglomerate has pebbles as large
as 1-8 inch in diameter of rounded quartz and angular pebbles
of local sandstone ranging up to twice that size. This rock
weathers cavernous and honey-combed like the topmost layer at
Mile Post 100 and is a fair representative of the case-hardened
layers which, locally, are quite common at the surface.
A light bluish gray, very porous, coarse sandstone, 4 feet in
thickness, with a calcareous ( ?) cement outcrops 100 feet east
of the tract at Mile Post 91. Just south of Mile Post 91 the
Lafayette with quartz, jasper and chert pebbles and sandy
clay, exhibiting a faintly pronounced mottling into brownish-
red and gray, overlies the Corrigan.
At Mile Post 90 there are yellow and white sandy shales
dipping 20° N. 70° W.
Bear creek rises Sy^ miles southwest of Corrigan and flows
northeastward to the Neches, crossing the Missouri, Kansas &
Texas Railway just west of Corrigan. It is nowhere more than
a mile and a half from the line of the Houston, East & West
Texas Railway and gives some interesting sections which are
inserted here for comparison with those along the railway
which have just been given.
At the crossing of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway it
shows about 12 feet of laminated thin and wavy bedded choco-
late colored carbonaceous clays with partings of gray sand.
On the outcrop these clays weather a dirty white.
One mile, approximately, up the creek from railroad bridge
there is a section of 8 feet exposed along the creek bank as
follows :
1. Light brown clay lor fuller's earth. Thin hedded 4% ft.
2. White, ilne-grained, volcanic ash 3 in.
3. Greenish brown, structureless, gypsiferous clays weathering
yellowish 3 % ft.
The Geology of East Texas 203
No. 3 of above section resembles clay outcropping on Mis-
souri, Kansas & Texas Railway between Corrigan and Benford.
Approximately 1^/4 miles above the railroad bridge the fol-
lowing section is exposed :
1. Gray, flne-grained volcanic ash. Irregularly bedded and
fairly well Indurated. Ck)ntains yellow and yellowish,
brown limonitic streaks. Forms the bop member of the
ledge outcropping in creek and is only resistant member
in section 1 % f'l^-
2. Brown fuller's earth (No. 1 of previous section) 3% ft.
3. Chocolate colored, carbonaceous, structureless, plastic clay.. 2tt.
Immediately beyond, tbe following exceedingly interesting
section is exposed :
1. White claystone, thin-bedded, sandy, shaly and seemingly
non-calcareous, breaking very easily into angular and
spheroidal blocks. Upstream grades into a massive soft
sandstone 9 ft.
2. Fine-grained, soft, sandstone, yellow to buff in color and ex-
tremely irregularly wavy and cross-bedded. Grades horizon-
tally into a highly gypsiferous clayey sand colored brown-
ish green, structureless, and containing a great abundance
of small selenite flakes averaging 1-8 inch in diameter.
Soft sandstone stands with vertical walls, but clayey sand
takes an angle of repose of about 60 degrees. Locally the
sandstone contains limonitic concretions up to 1% inches
in diameter • 10 ft.
3. Drab to chocolate and dark brown slightly arenaceous shale,
thin-bedded to laminated, containing minute cavernous
spaces filled with a mineral hardness about 3. This material
is brittle and breaks out in angular fragments where thin-
bedded ; not caleite 3 % ft.
4. Yellowish brown, structureless clay, weathering yellow to
cream colored • ■ 6 ft.
.Overlying the section on top of the hill there is a sandstone
with a distinct porcellaneous cement, medium to coarse-grained
thin-bedded to massive. The dip on No. 3 member was 3 deg.
S., measured north-south.
A short distance further up the creek, the yellowish brown,
highly gypsiferous member grades back into the cross-bedded,j
soft sandstone and within the distance of 8 feet is seen to be
204 , University of Texas Bulletin
overlain unconformably by No. 1 of above section, which here
is 9 feet thick and massive, the material breaking out in
spheroidal forms.
Under road bridge 1% miles southwest of Corrigan and up-
stream for a short way, there is exposed 8 feet of a fine-grained,
white, soft sandstone with a white powdery cement. In the
creek bed it is massive, then comes 3 feet of thin-bedded and
laminated, and the upper 4 feet is massive.
Approximately 2% miles southwest of Corrigan along the
creek there is exposed the following section :
1. Buff to light drab sands, irregularly bedded 4 ft.
2. Clayey saud, dark blue and greenish, blue 1 ft.
3. Green to bluish green structureless clay with small patches
of pyrite 2 ft.
Upstream from here the greenish blue sand and clayey sand
is found in sections up to 6 feet and locally it is much cross-
bedded. Weathers cream to buff.
In the last 50 feet of the section up the creek the surround-
ing country becomes rather flat and the only material exposed
is a gray colored sandstone, coarse to fine-grained, soft to
quartzitic, thin and cross-bedded to massive, its most character-
istic feature being the porcellaneous matrix in which the
quartzitic grains rest. The smaller sand grains are usually
angular to sub-angular and consist, for the most part, of clear
quartz grains, but many angular to sub-angular grains of
fiints and jasper are to be seen. The sand grains are by no
means all small in size for locally angular to sub-angular peb-
bles of quartzose, chalcedonic, and schistose nature are to be
seen which are as much as 1^^ inches in diameter. Pebbles of
black color, conchoidal fracture, and vitreous lustre, resem-
bling obsidian, are somewhat common. Clay balls are very com-
mon in the sandstone, and they are more common in the im-
mediate vicinity of contact with underlying clay.
This section is remarkable as being one of the very few of
the east Texas Tertiary below the Lafayette to show conglom-
erates of this character.
One noticeable thing in the section up this creek was that no
quartzitic and chalcedonic well rounded and sub-angular
The Geology of East Texas 205
pebbles were to be noticed in tbe creek bed in its lower
reaches.
Continuing the railroad section, we find at Laurelia :
1. Doose, coarse, white quartzitic sand.
2. Bright red sandy clay 3 ft
3. Mottled red and brown clayey sand 30 ft.
4. Red and yellow sandy shales interbedded with coarse
grained sand. Some cross-bedding and mottling in more
massive portion 7 It.
Unconformity :
5. Coarse-grained, bright orange and red sand with opaline
pebbles and opalized wood 3 f t-
Unoonformity:
6. Gray, yellow and brown clayey sands. The more clayey being
laminated, the sandy, massive and mottled. Harder layers
at top streaked yellow and white as at Mile Post 90 25 ft.
The cut at 89-D shows at the base a bed of dark gray, mas-
sive sands overlain uncomf ormably by mottled sandy clay. This
has a very irregular surface and is overlain by a shaly con-
glomerate carrying fragments of the mottled sandy clay.
This in turn is overlain by a yellow clay carrying calcareous
concretions.
In no other section of the Corrigan with which we are
familiar are there so many local unconformities as in the one
under consideration.
In the cut just south of 89-D is Corrigan sandstone, higher
than the clays described in the preceding paragraph.
There is about 6 feet of light gray, compact, fractured, sandy
clays in the first cut north of Moscow, Mile Post 88. They
weather cream-colored and are overlain by 2 feet of brown
sandy clay with rounded pebbles, belonging to the surficial
member.
On the hillside between the town of Moscow and the railway
station there is below, brownish-drab compact clay stained ir-
regularly by limonite and weathering light gray on the surface.
Locally, this is sand and not clay. Above, is clay weathering
brown which swells up into a pimpled and cracked surface.
The top of the hill at IMoseow, on the dividing ridge between
206 University of Texas Bulletin
the Trinity and Neehes drainages, is capped with the porcel-
laneous cemenled Oorrigan sandstone overlain by the uncon-
solidated surficial mottled sand, clay and gravel member. The
thickness of the Corrigan sandstone on top of the Moscow hill
is 15 feet. Immediately under this, with probable unconform-
able relationship, is a light grayish-green clay.
The topography between Corrigan and Moscow is for the
East Texas Coastal Plain and for a region near a drainage
divide decidedly hilly. South of Laurelia the relief is not so-
great as to the north. The higher elevations are capped by
the relatively resistant Corrigan sandstone overlying non-re-
sistant clays.
On the Trinity road, one-fourth mile west of Moscow railway
station, a hillside gives the following section :
1. Very calcareous, light green clay, imperfectly laminated,
with nodules of hard, dense, very finely textured whitish
limestone, some of which are as large as a foot in diameter.
The surficial weathering of this clay makes the "black
land." At least 6 ft._
2. Fuller's earth, creamy white, laminated, non-plastic, becom-
ing gritty towards the top 10 ft._
3. Pine textured, laminated, cross-bedded light yellow clayey
sand, weathering whitish to light blue, and with thin seams
up to 1-4 inch in thickness of cream colored clay 3% ft.-
4. Light gray to light green drab clay weathering cream color
on surface 3 ft.
5. Fuller's earlh like (2) 1/2 ft.
6. Clay like (4) . • 3 ft.
Probably the most striking characteristic of all these section^
of the Corrigan between the Neehes and. the Trinity is the
large proportion of tuffs, ash and fuller's earth which occur in
them. A large portion of these were in all probability de-
rived from the deposits of the Jackson volcanoes. These would
include the rice sands, the obsidian of the Bear creek section
and elsewhere, the many deposits of fuller's earth and similar
materials, such as the swelling clays, and probably a portion of
the unaltered ash, etc. But it also seems highly probable that a
part of these beds of ash, tuff and the spheroidal weathering
clays are original deposits coming from volcanoes active dur-
ing Corrigan time.
The Geology of East Texas 207
KICKAPOO CREEK SECTION
Kickapoo creek rises north of Groveton and flows southward
to CanarVj where it is joined by Rocky creek and then flows
easterly, passing a mile or more south of Onalaska to its junction
with the Trinity.
About seven miles south of Groveton, Kickapoo creek emerges
from a rather thick and broad bottom land into the open cut-
over land of the Trinity County Lumber Company. Here, on
the W. H. Raspberry headright, there outcrops on the bluffs
overlooking the creek a fine-grained sandstone, fairly hard, cross-
bedded to massive, white to gray in color. Its thickness ranges
from two to three feet and it caps the bluff and is underlain by
thin-bedded and cross-bedded sands. The sandstone in places
contains clay balls and in one place an abundance of easts of
fossil leaves was found.
This is near the base of tht Corrigan, and two miles below this
locality Kickapoo unites with its east branch heading near Wil-
lard, and here the clays of the Corrigan outcrop.
The first thing noted along this creek below the junction of
its Bast Fork was the immense sand bars of almost pure white
sand derived from the erosion of the Catahoula sands upstream.
This sand is in all probability the source of the sands of the
Trinity river noted at the Houston, East & West Texas Railway
crossing over that river and elsewhere.
This creek has many exposures of Catahoula sandstones and
claystones along the banks and as shoals in the river bed. The
sandy clays usually yhow up as yellowish on the weathered sur-
face. It contains much iron as shown by the bluish green color
in many places.
Near the middle of the section the quartzose sandstone ap-
peared containing rather large and angular grains of quartz,
flint and jasper, aU set in a porcellaneous matrix.
Rocky creek, near iis confluence with Kickapoo creek, flows
through but little bottom land, and has high banks cut into the
claystones and sandstones of the Catahoula. The members pre-
sented in the section examined of up to 15 feet show for the most
part a fine-grained, clayey, soft sandstone or arenaceous clay-
stone of yellowish color on the weathered surface. It resembles
208 University of Texas Bulletin
very much impure volcanic ash. One section just upstream from
the road crossing below the store at Canary is as follows :
1. Irregularly thin-bedded to massive, yellowisli, soft, fine-
grained sandstone containing at the base some fuller's
earth up to 6" thick. More massive towards the top. Re-
sembles very much an impure volcanic ash 8 ft
2. Fuller's earth, a fine grained or unctuous yellowish green
clay having a semi-conchoidal or spheroidal fracture when
dried out 2 ft. 3 In.
3. Light yellowish colored to grayish, fine-grained, soft sand-
stone ■ ■..■• • ■ 8 in-
4. Puller's earth, same as N'o^. 2 2 ft.
5. Irregularly thin-bedded, or laminated and contorted, alter-
nating laminae of a fine-grained, brownish green, clayey
sand and a rather pure, unctuous, brownish-green clay
resembling fuller's earth. The clayey sand, when in .the
stream bottom is a bluish green (copperas) color due to
the action of the water on the iron in the sand 5 ft.
Dip here of 10° to the south, although in other places it is
almost horizontal.
Locally, the Corrigan has large, rather angular, calcareous
nodules. By far the greater part of the fomation here, especially
the upper portion, is made up of yellowish green clay. There is
also non-plastic clay (fuller's earth) and some fine volcanic
ash.
The creeks in the vicinity of Colita and Canary exhibit long
stretches of slack water held back by a resistant layer outcrop-
ping farther downstream. Terraces along the streams are ap-
parently due to the same cause. Below a rapids or waterfall,
caused by the outcrop of a resistant layer, a gorge, sometimes
20 feet or more deep, is cut which comes to an end downstream
at the next rapids or wafcorfall. The Catahoula in the middle
reaches of these streams consists of cream-colored, light gray,
light blue and mainly yellowish green sandy clay with locally
semi-consolidated layers, and higher up the stream courses
nearer the base of the formation with local lenses of opaline-
cemented sandstone. Locally white calcareous concretions are
found in the clays. Some of these are potato-like, or irregular
in form, but most are long, generally branching pipes with
i i
University of Texas Bulletin No. 1869
Plate X.
Pig. 1. CORRIGAN FORMATION.
White Rock Creek, Polk County.
Fig. 2. CORRIGAN FORMATION.
Exposure of sandstones near Riverside.
TJie Geology of East Texas ^ 209
irregular outside surfaces, sometimes very indistinctly ribbed.
A cross-section generally shows them to be porous and some
of them appear to have been built up of a growth in a concen-
tric manner around a small central cavity. A number of these
cavities may be found in the same "pipe."
Below the mouth of Kocky creek there were exposures of
sands, some of which were cemented with the porcellaneous
matrix of the Catahoula, interbedded with greenish clays in
which calcareous concretions were found in increasing num-
ber until finally some two miles southeast of Onalaska these
graded up into the green and brown clays of the Fleming that
contain quantities L,f calcareous concretions and weather into
black soil. Some of the concretions were long pipes with concen-
tric cellular structure resembling slightly the structure of bone.
These may be due to the replacement of rootlets.
These transition beds between the Catahoula and the Flem-
ing are the beds we have called the Onalaska.
Going downstream below the Beaumont & Great Northern
Railroad bridge the Fleming continued for about two miles.
Here the stream makes a N. W. bend and again enters the
Catahoula, some excellent exposures being noted. One notice^
able thing was the appearance of two very large, black petri-
fied logs.
On White Rock creek in Trinity county east of the Inter-
national & Great Northern Railway the contact between the
Jackson and Corrigau is found near the mouth of Caney creek.
About one-fourth mile above the Beaumont & Great Northern
Railroad bridge fossil leaves are found in a medium to coarse-
grained, massive to cross-bedded, opaline cemented sandstone
believed to form the lowermost Catahoula. Immediately be-
low the sandstone there outcrops along the creek about 7 or 8
feet of laminated chocolate colored, sandy, shaly clays with
some fine-grained sands. This lower member in all probability
belongs to the Jackson beds and we have the contact here.
The contact seems to follow along Caney creek in this vicinity
for quite a distance, as the above section is repeated in another
place one-half mile above where Caney flows into White Rock
creek.
At Chita postoffice, situated on the J. R. Parker Survey,
210 University of Texas Bulletin
there is a high ridge trending through the country iu a south-
west-northeast direction and it also probably marks the con-
tact between the Catahoula and the Jackson. This ridge is
covered with a very coarse sand made up of angular sand
grains, some of which are as much as Vs to 1/4 inch in diameter.
The grains are mostly pure quartz, but occasionally a fliat or
jasper grain is noticed. Grains . resembling rose quartz oc-
curred locally.
1E":NJTY KJVEE SECTION
Between Riverside and the mouth of White Rock creek the
Trinity river flows easterly, meandering along the strike of the
Corrigan and gives a number of good sections of the lower
Catahoula.
Immediately downstream from the bridge at Riverside there
outcrops, on the south bank and back from the river, a coarse-
grained, cross-bedded, opaline cemented sandstone, for the
most part rather soft. This same stone outcrops on the tops
of the hills overlooking the river and some 40 to 50 feet above
it. On the top of the hill there is an old quarry in this material.
Here it is rather massive, but still rather soft. This stone has
been used extensively by the International & Great Northern
Railway in the building of culverts, approaches and abut-
ments. It dresses well and seems to be admirably adapted for
this use.
About one-half mile downstream from the bridge the fol-
lowing section is exposed on the south bank :
1. Alternations of sandstone and claystone in 2 It. layers.... 8 fit.
2. Claystone, -weathering whitish 3 tt.
3. Coarse-grained, gray colored, rather soft sandstone 4 ft.
4. Greenish-brown, sandy clay, weathering yellowish and cream
colored. The clay contains many pyritic nodules and,
where the water has acted on it, the characteristic "cop-
peras" color is to be seen. Towards the top the clay he-
comes indurated to a claystone. Structureless 40 ft.
Approximately one-half mile below the mouth of McGee
creek, on the south bank, there is exposed at the waters edge
8 to 10 feet of a gray to yellowish, structureless, fine-grained,
TJie Geology of East Texas 211
fairly well indurated sandstone. This sandstone weathers out
in cavernous forms.
About one mile below the mouth of McGee creek, on the
south bank, there is a bluff overlooking the river in which the
following section is exposed:
1. Yellowisli sandy clays and clayey sands, for ttie most part
structureless, but showing some cross-bedding. Contain
some pyritic nodules 25 ft.
2. Highly cross-bedded, gray, coarse-grained, porcellaneously
cemented sandstone, for the most part soft 20 ft.
At Gibson's store, which is about one-half mile above the
mouth of Carolina creek, there is a bluff on the Trinity county,
side. It is hardly .any higher than the banks of the river, but
at the base about 10 feet of gray sands are exposed.
Immediately below the mouth of Carolina creek and along
the eastern bank of the creek for quite a ways back from the
river there is a bluff rising some 60 feet above the river. The
section exposed here is as follows:
1. Greenish-brown clays, weathering yellowish, structureless . . 2 ft.
2. Structureless, Indurated, grayish brown, sandy layer 2 ft.
3. Clay and sandy clay, greenish-brown when fresh, but weather-
ing yellowish, cream colored and yellowish brown. When
near the water it takes on a blue color, due to change in
the composition of the iron cement. Contains an abun-
dance or iron sulphide nodules, which are crystalline in
places and take on octahedral forms. The clay smells
sirongly of sulphur and H^S. In the Carolina creek bed
just above the mouth there are a number of springs highly
charged with sulphur 10 ft.
4. Upper part consisting of a cross-bedded, fine-grained, gray to
white. sandstone, medium-hard to soft. Bottom 15 feet cov-
ered with sandstone blocks 45 ft.
About 11/2 miles below old Carolina there outcrops near the
water's edge on the south bank of the river about 6 feet of a
medium to coarse-grained, hard gray sandstone, for the most
part massive. The sand grains have an opaline cementing
material. This rock varies from medium hard to the hardness
of quartzite.
In the creek there is a section exposed which shows excel-
212 University of Texas Bulletin
lently the nature of some of the unconformities within the
Catahoula. Here there has been a trough cut into the yel-
low-weathering structureless sandy clays and in it 10 feet of
coarse-grained, cross-bedded sands have been deposited. These
sands are bedded so as to show the trough, and the cross-
bedding appears as the minor structural feature. The sands
vary locally from fine to coarse-grained, but some coarse
angular quartz grains up to % inch in diameter were found
and rounded clay balls up to one inch in diameter were also
included. In color, the sands are, for the most part, gray and
reddish brown, but in one place they were carbonaceous and of
a brownish hue. A layer of 2 ft. of arenaceous claystone is
also to be included near the base of the section. The sands
are considerably iron stained locally.
One-fourth to one-half mile above the Government Lock and
Dam at White Rock Shoals there is a shoal extending across
the river. The rock making up the shoal is a medium to fine-
grained, partly indurated, massive, gray sandstone, stained
reddish-brown locally and having many vertical joints. There
is about five feet of this material overlain by five feet of gray
sands containing some pyritic nodules.
Prom, this point the river turns more nearly south across the
strike of the beds.
Chalk Bluff, on the Trinity river, is on the north bank about
200 yards downstream from the mouth of Mill creek. The sec-
tion is as follows :
1. Cross-bedded, medium-coarse sandstone, some of it with
opaline cement, other parts mixed with fine clay. Also
contains coarse-grained quartz and rounded clay balls. Buff
in color 25 ft.
2. Much fractured "mudstone" with curved fracture. Stained
brown and red on fracture planes by iron oxide. 20 ft.
3. Greenish-yellow loose clay 70 ft.
Between this exposure and the Beaumont & Great Northern
Railroad over Mill creek the east bluffs of Mill creek are
strewn with fragments of Catahoula sandstone of sizes up to
3 or 4 feet by 10 or 12 feet and of all degrees of induration
from that so friable it can be broken to pieces in the hand to
The Geology of East Texas 213
hard indurated quartzite. There is some fine conglomerate and
palmetto leaves and opalized or ehalcedonized trunks are
rather common. Three thin ledges of the sandstone, separated
by clay, outcrop on these hillsides None of these appear to be
over six feet in thickness. The upper one is friable and the
lower one has thinned out at Chalk Bluff, where its place is
taken by clay. The hillsides are covered with its debris for
over a mile along the east side of Mill creek and much of this
debris is workable stone.
INTERNATIONAL & GREAT NORTHERN RT. SECTION
There are good exposures of the Corrigan along the line of
the International & Great Northern Railway.
Two miles north of Riverside, the International & Great
Northern Railway runs close to the outside of a meander curve
in the Trinity river. The section follows :
I
1. Shelly and thin-laminated, light, brown sands, in places in-
durated to a friable rough-surfaced sandstone 10-12 ft.
2. Dark brown and brownish-black carbonaceous shale 3 ft.
3. Dark gray, compact, clayey, fine sand, fractured into small
pieces and with a dull waxy appearance 7 ft.
4. Friable, rough-surfaced, much jointed, light-brown sand-
stone with plants 4 ft.
5. Cream colored, very sandy, clay 2 ft.
6. Sandstone like (4) 1 ft.
7. Laminated sand, cross-bedded, medium-grained, light gray
sands 10 ft
All exposures on the Trinity river above this point belong
to the Jackson, and the Jackson-Corrigan contact comes in No.
7 of this section. All beds above it belong to the Corrigan.
One-fourth mile downstream from the above section is 25
feet of light brown and gray sand and sandstone, varying in
degree of induration from friable to hard opaline-cemented^
locally quartzitic. Most of the sandstone shows an irregular
lamination.
The following sections are exposed as we go dovnistream :
The first of these for the distance of a quarter of a mile or
more exposes contorted bedded and thin-bedded light drab clay
214 University of Texas Bulletin
about 10 feet in thickness. One-fourth mile downstream there
is 15 feet of gray and greenish-gray sandstone of various de-
grees of induration, from very friable to hard quartzite. Some
of it is clayey and then it is fractured into small pieces and
presents an irregular surface. The bedding is contorted. Plant
impressions and leaves are plentiful. For three-fourths of a
mile above the International & Great Northern Railway bridge
yellowish-green clay and blue laminated sands are locally ex-
posed in thin sections on the south bank of the river.
The top of the hill at Riverside is capped with yellowish-
green clay with calcareous nodules. This clay is about 20 feet
in thickness. It is underlain ;by a ledge 10-15 feet of light
gray, friable cross-bedded sandstone with large grains of pel-
lucid quartz which we have called rice sand. These have their
edges partly rounded and their surfaces clouded by abrasion.
Underneath the sandstone is 10 feet of light brown hardened
clay, much jointed.
Just out of town is a -small gully with steep sides excavated
in the' sandstone and underlying clay. Locally, the sandstone,
has opaline cement. There is a southward dip of 2 degrees.
Underneath the hardened clay is 15 feet of light yellowish-green,
loose clay. In the sandstone at the top are pockets, lenses and
small nodules of clay.
The first exposure on railroad is 200 yards south of Mile Post
72, which whows 10 feet of poorly bedded, light yellowish-green,
sandy clay. The dip is 3° S. "W. At the next exposure one-fourth
mile south of Mile Post 72 the dip is 2° to the southward. The
section is :
1. Hardened, light gray clay 4 ft.
2. Light yellowish-green clay earring a few calcareous concre-
tions • • • • 13 ft.
3. Partly a'S a continuation of the same stratigraphic level as
(4) and partly coming in above are thin non-oontinuous
beds of friable light gray, coarse-grained, opaline-cemented,
sub-angular, fragmented, quartzose sandstone, interbedded
with loose, cross-bedded, coarse and medium-grained sands
with small nodules of light yellowish-green clay 8 ft.
4. Loose, cross-bedded, friable, light gray, medium-grained,
quartzose sand with biotite, selenite, and jasper as acces-
sories 9 ft.
The Geology of East Texas 215
Cream colored sandy clay 5 feet in thickness is exposed ia the
cut at Mile Pose 63. One hundred yards south of Mile Post 75
is the following section :
1. Friable sandstone, fine-grained, opaline-cemented with plant
impressions 4 ft.
2. Loose, fine-grained, light gray sand 2 ft.
Stratigraphically above the last section in the cut at Mile
Post 75 is the following section:
1. Opaline-cemented coarse and medium grained light brown
and gray sandstone locally cross-bedded and stained with
limonite. It is locally quartzitic and contains rounded
nodules of clay and larger lumps of hardened clay more
irregular in outline. Varies greatly in degree of induration 5 ft.
2. Light yellowish-green clay with calcareous nodules 5 ft.
At Mile Post 76 is 6 feet of light gray, loose, poorly lami-
nated sand. The Onalaska beds seem wanting in this section.
The top of the Corrigan is seen on Harmon creek west of •
the railroad.
The first exposure, which is near the middle of the Catahoula
section, is just aljove the abutments of the old bridge on the
road from Riverside to Smither's farm. It consists of 10 feet
of light green clay, much fractured. The second exposure is
250 yards upstream from the last and has 40 feet of light
yellowish-green clay, the upper 5 feet partially indurated,
overlain by 5 feet of opaline-cemented, cross-bedded, medium-
grained sandstone with plant remains. The next exposure
shows 25 feet of light yellowish-green clay. The heads of
the tributary creeks and gullies have broad bare surfaces of
light greenish or cream colored Catahoula clay.
One mile upstream from the last mentioned exposure is the
following :
1. Light gray hardened clay 2 ft. 6 in.
2. Unconsolidated, light yellowish-green clay 3 ft.
3. Hardened, light yellowish-green clay 1 ft.
4. Medium-grained, opaline-cemented, cross-bedded light gray
sandstone 4 ft.
216 University of Texas Bulletin
At the contact of the sandstone and clay are sulphur springs
emitting sulphuretted hydrogen gas.
The next exposure is one-fourth mile upstream:
1. Light gray, cross-bedded, opaline-cemented coarse-grained
grit. The particles of the grit are, suhordinately, angular,
dark colored chert, up to 1-4 inch in size, predominatingly
angular, transparent quartz, with a minor amount of small
rounded, light gray-drab clay balls, probably derived from
the underlying clay. There is a very irregular, uncon-
formable contact between (2) and (1) ; at one place a lense
of medium-grained, light gray sandstone is found in the
clay (2) and has an unconformable lower contact with the
clay. This is at the top of the clay and is separated from
the overlying sandstone by clay from 1 ft. to 6 ft. in
thickness 10 ft
2., Very light gray clay, hardened and much jointed, rusty on
joint planes 8 ft.
Three-fourths mile upstream is 4 feet of light yellowish-green
hardened clay. One-fourth mile farther upstream is at the
base 8 feet of light yellowish green clay. On the hill above,
with a covered vertical interval between it and the clay of
about 10 feet is light gray, cross-grained, opaline-cemented
sandstone 5 feet in thickness. Then after several exposures
0''' a few feel each of Lyb.t yellowish-green, unconsolidat;;.!
clay, there comes one with 4 feet of yellowish-green hardened
clay with irregular-surface, overlain by 3 feet of loose, light
green clay. At an old cotton gin there are 6 feet of very
friable sandstones, fine-grained, light gray, and much cross-
bedded. The two exposures next upstream have 8 feet of light
yellowish-green, unconsolidated, clay. The next exposure has
6 feet of light green, unconsolidated, laminated, fine-grained
sand at the base, overlain by 3 feet of fine-grained, light gray
sandstone, in which were found two palmetto leaves, as large
as the modern palmetto, and resembling it. Another quarter
mile upstream is the following section which belongs to the
Onalaska beds :
1. Gray, medium grained sandstone, locally quartzitic 7 ft.
2. Coarse sand packed full of small white porous cylindrical
calcareous concretions a It.
3. Yellow-green, fine sand 10 ft.
The Geology of East Texas 217
Further upstream the exposures at the top of the Corrigan
are blue .and gray clayey sand, locally indurated, with irregular
surfaces and, locally, with a few small calcareous concretions.
It forms rapids in the creek. The line between the Corrigan and
Fleming is very poorly defined here.
West of the Trinity there are good exposures of the lower
Corrigan .along Nelson creek in the northern part of "Walker
county.
A traverse of Nelson creek from Moffitt Springs to the head,
showed that it flows in the Corrigan. About one-eighth mile
above the springs, a rock hill comes down to the creek. It is
composed of medium to coarse-grained, massive gray sand-
stone. An exposure of the same sandstone is to be seen about
one-eighth mile above this point, where a rock shoal occurs in
the creek. On the Wm. Roock League on the south side of the
creek and about one-fourth mile back from it there is ex-
posed, in a bluff overlooking the creek bottom, 8 to 10 feet of
medium to coarse grained, massive, white sandstone containing
pyritic nodules and having a fine granular matrix. The creek
heads just south of the Bedias road. Exposures near the
head give 5-6 feet of the yellow weathering, structureless, some-
what sandy Catahoula clay.
THE INTERNATIONAL & GREAT NORTHEEN SECTIONS IN GRIMES
COUNTY
The Jackson-Corrigan contact comes between the 22nd and
23rd mile posts. A sandstone quarry was formerly worked in
the beds near the base of the Corrigan a short distance west of
the track. Quartz sand as coarse as rice is reported from a
locality 400 yards east of the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railway
track a short distance south of Singleton and this is undoubt-
edly derived from the Corrigan. One-third mile north of Mile
Post 21 Corrigan light gray, irregularly indurated, sandstone
2 feet in thickness is overlain by much cross-bedded, opaline-
cemented sandstone 6 feet in thickness. White and yellowish-
green clays 3 feet in thickness are found 300 yards south of
Mile Post 21.
Roans Prairie has blackland soil underlain by light greenish-
15-ET.
218 University of Texas Bulletin
yellow clay. At depths of from 20 to 30 feet good water is
obtained in Corrigan sand or sandstone. There is a small hill
of Corrigan sandstone 1 mile south of Eoans Prairie station;
light greenish-yellow clay between Mile Post 17 and 16 ; 5 feet
of cream-colored clay badland, clayey sand, locally indurated
to sandstone, at Mile Post 16. At Mile Post 15 and two-thirds
of a mile south there is 3 or 4 feet of cross-bedded friable
sandstone, which belongs to the uppermost Corrigan. Three
hundred yards south of Mile Post 14 is 2 feet of light gray
claystone, the upper 1 foot indurated and fractured. Under-
neath the last is 5 feet of lowermost Fleming dirty green
sandy clay, very poorly laminated and with calcareous ce-
mented nodules of sandstone.
The Corrigan-Fleming contact occurs, therefore, near Mile
Post 14.
BRAZOS EIVER SECTIONS
Our Brazos river sections include only the upper beds of the
Corrigan and their contact with the overlying formation. As
the bulk of the materials belong to the Neocene, the sections
will be given later.
Four hundred yards below the line between the E. Clampit
and Wm. Kerr tracts, Corrigan quartzite outcrops in the river
bank. The rock is 22 feet .above low water level.
As here exposed the Corrigan is a medium hard, brownish-
gray sandstone with lenses of hard brown quartzite. These
quartzitic phases make up at least fifty per cent of the rock
mass in this exposure. No estimate can be made regarding
the thickness because of cover. The bedding is highly com-
plex, ranging from thick and massive strata to thin-bedded
phases with all degrees of cross-bedding and lenticular struc-
ture.
Two hundred yards south of this, along the river bank, an
exposure shows 23 feet of sandstone. The lower 7 feet of this
is present in last exposure, but the 16 foot interval above this
shows no quartzite.
Chapter IX
NEOCENE
INTRODUCTION
The Miocene and Pliocene, which, taken together, form the
Neocene, are represented to the east and west of us both by ma-
rine and by non-marine deposits. Using the marine fossils as a
basis, each of the two series has been divided into a lower, mid-
dle and upper stage. The character of the vertebrate remains
also permits a tripartite division of each series, but the exact
equivalency of the Lower, Middle and Upper stages of each as
shown by vertebrates and invertebrates has not been ascertained.
All of the materials of Miocene and Pliocene age which occur
at the surface in our Texas Coastal area are, as we have said,
land or fresh water deposits, but weUs drilled to the seaward of
these exposed bodies show that they do not continue indefinitely
in that direction as land deposits, but that they are replaced by
brackish water or marine beds. None of these, however, have
given us a clear basis for a division of the beds. Even in the
Galveston deep well, which affords us our best marine section, the
beds, except those above 458 feet, which are clearly Pleistocene,
and those below 2100 feet which carry a distinctly Miocene
fauna, are of indeterminate age beyond the fact that they are
Upper Tertiary or Lower Quarternary or both. At Saratoga
and Batson about 70 miles a little east of north from Galveston
the fossiliferous marine Miocene beds are found in wells at
depths from 350 to 1200 feet. These are the only inland occur-
rence of these beds now known and the presence of any of the
post-Miocene beds of the Galveston well has not been recognized
anywhere in East Texas.
The conditions of the brackish water fauna is somewhat sim-
ilar. At Burkeville a fauna was found which Dall' pronounced
Upper Miocene or Lower Pliocene. The vertebrate remains
found in same beds Matthew ascribed to the same age. Sixty-
five miles south of Burkeville a deep well encountered the Burke-
ville fauna at 3100 feet and continued in it to 4000 feet, but there
220 University of Texas Bulletin
is nothing in the overlying beds to definitely fix their age. Nor do
the vertebrate faunas east of the Navasota give us much better
data for classification. The collections from the vicinity of Nava-
sota and from Cold Springs, according to Matthew, are of Middle
Miocene age. Those at Burkeville are of Upper Miocene or
Lower Pliocene — ^none are distinctly Pliocene.
Furthermore, east of the Trinity there does not seem to be
any lithological basis for the division of the beds lying between
the Oligocene and the Orange Sand, or Lafayette. Therefore,
these clays with calcareous concretions and their interbedded
sands, which together give us our only mappable unit, are
grouped under the name Fleming and treated as undifferen-
tiated Neocene covering the time from the Oligocene, or rather
from the close of the Corrigan, into the Pliocene.
The Neocene deposits in the East Texas Region, then, consist
of only two mappable units: The Fleming beds and the La-
fayette or Orange sand. The former comprises such deposits as
occur between the Corrigan and Lafayette and covers parts of
both the Miocene and Pliocene time. The Lafayette is Upper
Pliocene in age.
"West of the Brazos a better differentiation is possible and was
made in the Nueces river section. In this region the Frio which
is of Eocene age is overlaia in the neighborhood of Oakville by
a body of brown sands lightly compacted and unfossiliferous.
Overlying these are f ossilif erous sands which were grouped with
the lower beds as the Oakville sands. The vertebrate fossils
proved to be of Upper Miocene age. The brown sands may rep-
resent the Middle Miocene or even earlier deposits. Overlying
the Oakville we find the Lapara sands with vertebrate fossils
of Lower Pliocene (Blanco) age and these are succeeded by the
unfossiliferous Lagarto clays. The deposits west of the Brazos
are much sandier than those east of that stream, the Lagarto
clays being the only portion that corresponds lithologically with
the main body of the Fleming.
This would seem to imply that while east of the Brazos lagunal
conditions prevailed from the beginning they did not extend
westward until near the end of the period.
The Geology of East Texas 221
PLElUnVG
I
General Statement
The deposits which succeed the Corrigan in East Texas prob-
ably have no exact counterparts in. other portions of the Gulf
Coast.
They consist of a broad belt of clays with calcareous concretions
which are interbedded with sands. The texture and composition
of the component strata indicate that they were deposited in the
quiet waters of inland lakes, lagoons or bays beyond the imme-
diate shcreliue of the sea and as terrestrial deposits on a compar-
atively flat coastal plain. The sands show the remains of palms
and palmetto. The invertebrate fauna is that of brackish water
only while the bulk of the fossil remains are those of land ani-
mals.
These deposits are connected with the underljdng Corrigan by
transition beds and are overlain uneonformably by the Lafayette
or Upper Pliocene.
The fossils found in them indicate that these deposits cover
Middle and Upper Miocene and possible Lower Pliocene time.
No forms indicative of the Middle Pliocene have yet been found,
but may occur in or near the Woodville horizon.
These deposits, — the Fleming in the east, and the Oakville-
Lapara-Lagarto in the west, — are the coastal and terrestrial sedi-
ments laid down contemporaneously with those of marine origin
seen in the Galveston d#ep well and in deep wells in the Louisiana
area which have yielded remains of Miocene and Pliocene marine
invertebrates, no trace of which have, up to this time, been found*
outcropping in this area.
The Fleming clays were so named by Kennedy from the ex-
posures near Fleming on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Eailway
east of Corrigan. His description follows:
The deposits are best seen in the neighborhood of Fleming,
where, a little west of the station, the Trinity and Sabine Rail-
way line passes over a high hill made up entirely of them. The
same clays also occur in a cut on the line of the Southern Pacifio
Railway about a mile and a half north of Summit station, in
Tyler county.
222 University of Texas Bulletin
The clays are dark blue, pale blue, brown, red, yeUow, and
pale green in color. They occur thinly laminated, or partially
stratified and massive and have a strong tendency to joint or
break into cuboidal blocks with a eonchoidal fracture. The most
important bed of clay in this group is a blue clay, partially
stratified, but showing a tendency to break up into blocks, and
containing numerous concretions of carbonate of lime. This clay
is perfectly smooth in texture and graduates into the underlying
bed of red clay without any break except that of color, and the
absence of the limy concretions which apparently do not occur
in the red clay. At least where the beds were examined none
were found. The red clay is in every other respect similar to the
blue.
Pale green, pale blue and brown clays are found overlying the
blue limy clays at the different exposures, but occur most abun-
dantly to the north of Summit station. These colors are not so
persistent as the blue, and are probably due to some local cause.
These clays in this portion of the State are overlain by and
associated with a series of gray sands, which are mostly coarse
graiued, sometimes massive ,and in localities cross-bedded an^
stratified. The typical exposure seen at Fleming shows them to
be gray stratified sand containing fossil palm in great quantities,
with numerous quartz, jasper and other pebbles, and to have at
that locality a thickness of twenty feet
These clays and sands occupy a belt from 15 to 25 miles in
width and are followed by the deposits referred to the Lafayette.
SABINE EIVER SECTION
The occurrence of the Fleming on the Sabine is thus descrbed
by Veatch, who suggests the name Burkeville beds for it :
Outcrop near Burr's Ferry: — A small outcrop of the greenish-
yellow clays of this stage occurs at the water 's edge a quarter of
a mile from Burr's ferry
Bluff at mouth of Boggy branch : — Bluff just below the mouth
of Boggy branch shows the following section :
1. Stiff black soil 1 ft.
2. Fine white sand 37 ft.
The Geology of East Texas 223
3. Light yellow, sticky clay, containing large irregular white
calcareous concretions. Weathers into a stiff black clay..26f1!i
4. Covered to water level 17 ft.
The blackland soil which caps this bluff is an erosion frag-
ment of a much thicker bed which shows in the hiUs west of this
exposure. This is a continuation of the blackland belt in which
fossils occur at Burkrille.
Near Columbia : — Shelf of clay exposed just below the ferry
shows the following :
1. Yellow sandy loam mottled with gray 7 ft..
2. Fine white and yellow sand containing gravel in the basal
portion 13 ft^
3. Light brown, slick-looking clay, streaked white. Contains
small calcareous concretions 2 ft..
Water level.
The flat-topped bluff on which New Columbia is situated con-
tinues down the river half a mile Near its lower end a ledge of
green calcareous clay, two feet thick, is exposed near water level.
Outcrops below New Columbia: — The first exposure of Frio
(Fleming) clays below New Colunlbia is at the log-slide at
Knight's landing
1. Brown sandy silt, stained with red and yellow 7 ft.
2. Stratified white sand with gravel at base 17 ft.
3. Green sandy clay 10 ft.
Two feet of green sandy clay is exposed at base of low pine-
clad bluff on the Louisana side between Droddy's landing and
Bearden's ferry.
On the map, Plate XXXIV, he places the southern limit of
the Fleming at Armstrong's bluff just south of the line be-
tween Vernon and Calcasieu parishes, at which point it passes
below the Lafayette.
BUEKEVILiJE SECTION
Baker describes the beds at Burkeville thus :
The general facies of the beds at Burkeville resemble much
224 University of Texas Bulletin
the Fleming of the type locality .and others farther west. Good
exposures are most often found in recent gullies in old fields
and prairies and these may or may not have a superficial black
soil. The walls and promontories of a gully system have
rounded outlines, for the material is fine and unconsolidated.
In color the Fleming is most generally a light shade of grayish
or yellowish-green, often weathering brown on the surface.
The surface, when dry, is cracked like ordinary plastic clay.
The material is fine clay and clayey sand with' small whitish
limestone concretions. However, there are at Burkeville
larger grayish-brown very fine grained limestone concretions
with dendritic markings of manganese dioxide, concretions of
large size and rough irregular outline of fine to medium-
grained sandstone, and the fossiliferous breccia or beach lime-
stone conglomerate known only from one-half mile east of
Burkeville and south of Little Low creek, where fragmentary
bones of land mammals and brackish water molluscs were
found. In many places the, small white concretions are ar-
ranged in thin beds parallel to the imperfect lines of strati-
fication. The fine sands are also locally finely laminated and
cross-bedded.
Collections of fossils, both vertebrate and .invertebrate,
were made at this locality. The invertebrates collected by us
were sent to Dr. W. H. Dall, who studied them in connection
with other collections from the same locality and others of
similar age from Louisiana and Georgia. Matson^ gives the
results of this study and lists 10 species from Burkeville. He
states that the character of the fauna led Dr. Dall to refer it
to the Pliocene.
The list given by Matson" includes the following forms:
Ostrea Virginia Gmel.
Anomla sp.
Potamides Matsoni Dall.
Potamides Matsoni var gracillior Dall.
Cerlthiopsis burkevillensis Dall.
Pachychellus anagramatus Dall.
Pachyclieilus satilensis Aldrich.
'U. S. G. S. Water-Supply Paper 335, p. 72.
'U. S. G. S. Water-Supply Paper 335, p. 73.
University of Texas Bulletin No. 1S69
Plate XI.
Pig. 1. CORRIGAN FORMATION.
Quarry in Jasper County, exposing quartzites.
Fig. 2. FLEMING FORMATION.
Typical exposure near Smith's Ferry.
The Geology of East Texas 225
Pachycheilus sauvls Dall.
Paludestrina plana Aldrich.
Neritina sparsalineata Dall.
The mammalian remains were sent to Dr. W. D. Matthew. He
reports as determinable:
Tibia of a young rhinocerous, with the proportions of Teleoceras.
Upper molar of a horse, either Proto-hippus or a long-crowned
Merychippus.
He states that both these specimens indicate late Miocene or
possibly early Pliocene age, the horse tooth being pretty cer-
tain evidence.
It is therefore evident that in the vicinity of Burkeville the
base of the Fleming is not earlier than late Miocene nor
younger than early Pliocene.
SANTA FE EAILVSTAY SECTION
On the Santa Fe railroad the contact of Corrigan and
Fleming was not seen, but judging from the topography it
should be just north of Mile Post 76. From this point to
Jasper the exposures show only Lafayette and even south of
Jasper the Lafayette is more abundantly exposed in the cuts
than is the Fleming. At Mile Post 73 light greenish-gray
Fleming clay with calcareous nodules is exposed. This weath-
ers on the surface to dark russet brown. Its maximum
thickness is 10 feet. Bight feet of Fleming yellowish-green
clay with calcareous nodules is to be seen in the first cut
south of Mile Post 72, and at Mile Post 71. At the culvert
between Mile Posts 71 and 70 the Fleming is greenish to
yellowish-gray and weathers brownish. In the cut rimning
north of Mile Post 70 is 8 feet of Fleming clay with calcareous
nodules, weathering dark brown, but greenish-gray when \m-
weathered.
There is at least 15 feet of Fleming with calcareous nodules
in the cut at Mile Post 70.
The Fleming is well exposed on both sides of Bridge 69-C.
At the south end of the exposure a thickness of 12 feet is seen
and this exhibits a very imperfect arrangement of the ealcare-
226 University of Texas Bulletin
ous nodules in layers, recalling similar conditions at Town
Bluff on tlie Neehes in easternmost Tyler County.
In the cut on the curve north of Mile Post 69 is 15 feet of
light grayish-brown Fleming with calcareous nodules and some
flattish concretions of sandstone like those found in the same
formation at Burkeville.
The Fleming outcrops at Bridge 68-B, at Green's Mill, and at
Bridges 67-B and 66.
The southernmost exposure of Fleming seen during this
traverse consisted of bluish-gray clay situated 15 feet below
the track level at Bridge 57-C.
A section of Fleming clay, 100 feet in thickness, outcrops
between the lowest Lafayette beds and low water level in Town
Bluff on the Neehes between Jasper and WoodvUle. The
lowest Fleming exposed, at the water's edge, 5 feet in thickness,
is dirty green in color. Above is 10 feet of dark brown clay,
the unweathered color being green or bluish gray, but seamed
with brown limonite on joint and cleavage planes. In this
layer were found fragmentary bones of fossil turtles and a
well preserved mammal vertebra, which may be fossil, was
found on the surface of this clay. Next above is 30 or 35 feet
of light bluish and greenish clay. The upper 50 feet is mainly
clayey sand, cross-bedded and laminated, in color dirty green
or dark brown. There are calcareous nodules throughout the
section and in its middle portion these are imperfectly arranged
in more or less wavy and not always parallel layers which give
to the beds the appearance of a rude stratification. The top of
the Fleming forms a terrace like bench, interrupting the steep
profile of the bluff. This bench has been formed by numerous
springs which issue from the top of the impervious Fleming
and have undermined and washed away the overljdiig Lafa-
yette.
TEXAS & NEW OEIiEANS EAILROAD SECTION
On the Texas & New Orleans Railroad the first exposure of
Fleming is at Bridge 101-E, where 18 to 20 feet of yellowish-
green clay with a few calcareous nodules is seen. In the first
cut above the 100th mile post 7 feet of dark green clay is found
and outcrops southward to Bridge 99-D. At 99-C there is at
The Geology of East Texas 227
the base 1 foot of friable fine clayey sandstone, slightly case-
hardened, overlain by 4 feet of loose "shelly" clay. Then
there comes in under the Lafayette a light gray sand and clay
locally case-hardened and having a strongi taste of alum. From
99-B the Lafayette forms the sole surface exposure.
Thin wavy laminated medium grained sand layers alter-
nating with light brown or light cream clay with whitish cal-
careous nodules to a thickness of 8 feet overlain by faintly
mottled clayey sand mainly yelowish brown in color with
small spots of darker red 2 to 3 feet in thickness covered with
"black-land" soil to depth of from 6 inches to a foot, are
found in a cut on the Moscow, Camden and San Augustine
Railway, one-fourth mile northeast of Moscow. The beds
here dip almost due east at an angle of 7°.
HOUSTON, EAST & WEST TEXAS RAILWAY SEOTION
On the Houston, East & West Texas Eailway the Corrigan-
Fleming contact occurs near Moscow. The first exposure of the
Fleming, is under Bridge 89-B 1% miles north of the town.
Blue-gray case-hardened sandy clay 2 feet in thickness
underlies 3 feet of light mottled surficial member of a light
yellow color with a faint mottling of slightly darker yellow or
red ill the second cut south of Mile Post 86.
One mile north of Seven Oaks 2 feet of case-hardened gray,
coarse sandstone is unconformably overlain by the Lafayette.
Occasionally the sandstone contains a small bunch of clay or
the clay forms the lining of tubes.
One mile north of Leggett and 4 feet below the track level
is 1 foot of soft gray clay with blotches of black oxide of man-
ganese along joint faces.
Dark gray, sandy, sticky clay with small white calcareous
concretions is found 4 feet below the track level at the north
end of second cut south of sign post 1 mile north of Leg-
gett. In these clays were seen several masses (6 or 8 inches
long and 1 or 2 inches wide) or compact, hard, light yellow,
very fine grained limestone with dendritic markings of black
oxide of manganese along cracks. These clays are 3 feet
thick. The surficial sandy and clayey member, mottled in its
228 University of Texas Bulletin
upper 5 feet, has maximum thickness of 10 feet, but the lower
5 feet in the center of the cut is sticky gray sandy clay be-
longing to the Flemiag.
In the north end of the cut just south of Bridge 81-B and
below the track level is exposed 12 feet of medium grained
loose sand with just clay enough in it to enable it to stand up in
typical badlands forms of buttresses built up of small spires.
The surfleial layer, not sharply demarked from the underlying,
is mottled grayish and red. In the light gray sand close to the
section's base was noted local concretion-Uke hardenings of the
sand, colored black, probably with wad or some other form of
black oxide of manganese. The last three cuts are in the side
of the hill north of Leggett station.
The highest point in Polk County is a hill rising 95 feet
above its base and situated 2 miles south-southeast of Leggett.
The top of this hill is covered with the Lafayette member, with
its usual characteristics. Not far below the summit of the hill
are 4 springs of good water. The porous sandy Lafayette is
underlain by the calcareous Fleming clay and the water stored
in the surficial member seeps out when it strikes the top of the
underlying impervious clay.
A well drilled for oil 2 miles west of Leggett penetrated 10
feet of lignite at 1000 feet below the surface — probably Ja.ckson.
A well three quarters of a mile northeast of the high hill
gives water containing sulphur, lime and salt. It penetrated
dark cream colored clay with limestone concretions to a depth
of 47 feet. So at a minimum there is 125 feet of the gray clay
with calcareous nodules in this vicinity.
The colors of these clays probably are largely dependent on
the amount of hydroscopic and interstitial water which they
contain.
In the first cut south of 79-E' is found, the clay with calcare-
ous nodules weathering to a dirty green on the surface. The
blue gray clays with calcareous nodules outcrop in the south
part of the town of Leggett and underlie a "black-land"
prairie one-half mile south of the town.
Clay with calcareous nodules outcrops 20 feet below Trestle
73-A for a thickness of 5 feet, succeeded by 3 feet of mottled
surficial member.
The Geology of East Texas 229
There are 6 to 8 feet of the gray clays with calcareous
nodules exposed in a cut at Mile Post 72, where some beds are
quite sandy and consolidated enough to form thin flaggy fri-
able sandstone.
These Fleming, clays extend at least as far south as Livings-
ton, giving the outcrop a width of 28 miles on this railroad.
The contact of the Oorrigan and Fleming near Onalaska has
already been noted. Southwest of Onalaska the Fleming out-
crops half way between Pointblank and Patrick's Ferry over
the Trinity. It shows up here as greenish clays with calcare-
ous concretions, weathering out into blackland. This Fleming
runs up to within a mile or so of Pointblank.
The Fleming was also found outcropping in a gully about
one mile east of Canary postofftce.
TRINITY MVEE SECTION
At Eed Bluff on the Trinity River on the James Eankin
Survey Fleming greenish-gray clay with calcareous nodules
and cross-bedded sands contains a few bone fragments. The
beds have a maximum thickness of 15 feet. In the middle of
the exposure is a one foot layer of oolitic shore-line limestone
conglomerate, containing a very few jasper and quartz peb-
bles of small size and an occasional bone fragment.
At Pine Island on the N. Amory Survey, in the Trinity bot-
toms, a portion of the bluff land is now included within the
bottom which entirely surrounds it, being bordered by Duck
Creek on the south and the river on the north. The northeast
corner forms a low bluff on the river at the base of which is 6
feet of dirty green sandy clay with calcareous nodules.
Just east of Camilla there is a considerable body of gray
medium-grained friable sandstone in the Fleming.
Similar beds are found a short distance below at Johnson's
Bluff, where they also include fresh-water moUusks. These
deposits extend along the river to a point south of Drews
•Landing, near Smithfield. Here an outcrop of Fleming, 10
feet in thickness, shows friable fine-grained gray sandstone in
lenticles at the base, with 5 feet of greenish-gray, russet-
brown, mottled clay with small, white calcareous nodules over-
230 University of Texas BuUetin
lying it. Fragments of bone were found in this. The Flem-
ing is here overlain by the Port Hudson, with the usual layer
of Lafayette-derived pebbles at the base.
A mile below Drews Landing, is a section showing 5 feet of
light-gray Fleming clay with calcareous nodules.
COLD SPRINGS SECTION.
Coldsprings, west of the river, is in the midst of an impor-
tant outcrop of the Fleming. In this region the Fleming
brown and gray clay has a considerable portion of brown,
buff, and white sand. In places there are large boulders of
grayish brown, soft sandstone, some of which are 10 to 12 feet
in length. There is also a fine-grained, hard, brown claystone
and numerous calcareous nodules. Crystals of selenite are
found loeaUy. Pure white sand, with only a minor amount of
clay, is also found. Fossils of mammals were found in the
region extending from 2 miles north to 2 miles west of Cold-
springs. The bones, with the exception of a mastodon's skull
(TrUophodon) , are fragmentary and are scattered through the
clays. Planorbis was also found at this locality.
Two miles west of Coldsprings on the Coldsprings-Dodge
road there is quite a development of Fleming gullies or "bad-
lands." The exposures here show 25-30 feet of Fleming drab
to pearly gray colored clay mottled with brown towards the
top and on the surface all brown, but the soil is always black
and waxy. These clays contain layers up to 2 feet thick of
cross-bedded gray to white, fine grained, medium hard, opaline
cemented sandstone. The clay also contains an abundance of
calcareous nodules.
These "badlands" extend from the above point northeast-
erly until they reach a point about 1^/4 miles north of Cold-
springs.
These exposures were searched diligently for 'fossils and
quite a few vertebrate remains were found. Among other
things might be noted the jaw bone of a mastodon {Tetrabele-
don), equus teefth, camel, numerous rodents, alligator (?), tur-
tle, etc. etc. The fossils were collected under the locality num-
bers of Nos. 344 and 345.
The Geology of East Texas 231
At Evergreen postoffice small lenticular masses of gray fine-
grained sandstone are found in blue and green clays carrying
calcareous nodules. Three hundred yards from the south line
of the Euth Miller Survey, at Evergreen, brown lignitized
wood and bones were found in a well at a depth of 70 feet.
Blue clay was penetrated for practically the entire depth.
Collections of vertebrates secured from the Coldsprings
horizon, which is above the center of the series of deposits in
the Trinity drainage here referred to the Fleming, were sent
to Dr. W. D. Matthew, who reports as follows:
344. Two miles west of Coldsprings.
"Trilopkodon sp., parts of lower jaws and separate molars,
mostly well preserved.
The best specimen shows a large part of the lower jaw with mi-|
and the molars of the opp'osite side. Part of the symphysis is pre-
served, and apparently a little of the alveolus for the lower tusk.
Symphysis is moderately long, slender; not decurved. The species is
a very small and primitive one in most respects, but the retarding
of the posterior teeth so that m- does not come into use until m' is
worn out and dropped is suggestive of Upper Miocene species, such as
T. euphypodon. The small size and primitive construction of the teeth
are more suggestive of Middle Miocene.
Indicated age, probably Middle Mi'ocene.
"Pecary, gen. indet., jaw fragment, m'.
This, might be anything from Perchoerus (Oligocene) to ProstJien-
nops (Upper Miocene). It is small and primitive, so far as the tooth
gioes, but this is not conclusive, as the progressive characters of this
phylum are in the front teeth. I can not identify it with certainty as
belonging to any known genus or species.
Indicated age, Oligocene to Upper Miocene.
"MerycMppv.s sp., upper and lower teeth.
A lather small and moderately progressive species; it might be
Upper or Late Middle Miocene.
" lAlticameliis, distal ends tibia and metapodial.
Indicated age. Middle Miocene to Lower Pliocene.
232 University of Texas Bulletin
"Crocodile and Tortoise fragments.
345. Pointblank road, north of Coldsprings.
"Cervid," ef. Dromomeryx, horn fragment, calcanemn.
"Camelid, gen. indet., jaw fragments, proximal phalanx.
"Rhinoceros, ef. Aphelops, several fragments limb bones,
calcaneum.
"Large Ehinoeeros, ef. Teleoceras or large Aphelops, frag-
ments of limb bones.
"Proboscidean, ef. TrilopJiodon, unciform.
Indicated age of the above specimens, Middle Miocene to Lower
Pliocene.
345. One and one-fourth miles north of Coldsprings.
"Eystricops sp., upper jaw with m^; lower molar.
This is more primitive than the one known species of this genus,
which is Upper Miocene and Pliocene. It is intermediate between it
and the supposed ancestral type, the Steneofiier group of the Upper
Oligocene and Dower Miocene.
Indicated age, probably Middle Miocene.
"Blastomeryx sp., last lower molar.
This is apparently distinct from any known species, decidedly niore
progressive than those of the Lower Miocene, less soi than the Upper
Miocene species B. wellsi, more perhaps than the Middle Miocene
species B. gemmifer.
Indicated age, late Middle Miocene or Upper Miocene,
"Oreodont, gen. indet., upper canine and premolar.
Indicated age, Miocene or Lower Pliocene.
' ' Carnivore, indet., scapholunar and head of metatarsal.
"Proboscidean, ef. Trilophodon, fragments of teeth.
Indicated age, middle Miocene to Pliocene.
' ' Trionychid fragments.
"Garpike scales.
' ' ?Snake vertebra.
"Merychippus sp., cf. seversus, upper and lower teeth and
fragmentary foot bones; part of right lower jaw, Piffij.
The Geology of East Texas 233
This is a Middle Miocene stage, although small and primitive Mery-
chippi do survive into the Upper Miocene and Lower Pliocene. No
trace of any of the distinctively Upper Miocene horses among these
fragments.
Indicated age, Middle Miocene.
351. Two miles north of Coldsprings.
"Cervid (IDromomeryx) radius.
Indicated age, DroTnomeryx is Middle Miocene to Lower Pliocene,
but this evidence is very slight.
352. Red Bluff, Trinity River.
"Protohippine horse, lower tooth.
Indicated age. Middle Miocene to Pliocene; nothing more definite.
"The Coldspring material lacks any of the characteristic
Upper Miocene Lower Pliocene Equidae, it has two or three spe-
cies that appear to be in a Middle Miocene stage of evolution, and
it has nothing recognizable as of the distinctively Upper Mio-
cene types. The best specimen is the little Mastodon (Tril-
opliodon) which is the smallest and most primitive species I
have seen, except for a few very fragmentary specimens out
of the Middle Miocene of Colorado (which have been called
proavMs • and may represent the same species).
■ "I do not see. anything to modify my former correlation of
the fauna' with the Middle iliocene (IMascall, Deep River and
Pawnee Creek beds) : it is rather confirmed by the Triloj^ho-
don. But, as I wrote before, the survival of the Middle Mo-
eene fauna of the Central Plains to a somewhat later age in
Southern Texas would not be unexpected."
Bluish-gray and dirty green Fleming clay outcrops at the
town of Oakhurst. There are only two exposures of Fleming
on the Trinity Valley Southern Railroad between Oakhurst
and Dodge, where most of surface is gravel-covered.
INTERNATIONAL & GREAT NORTHERN RT. SECTION
On the International & Great Northern the Fleming clay has
its base about 10 miles north of Phelps. On the Huntsville branch
16-ET.
234 University of Texas Bulletin
between the 5th and 6th mile posts west of Phelps is a dirty green
clay, cracked into small fragments which harden when dry. One-
fourth mile west of the 6th mile post is 10 feet of dirty green clay,
weathering light cream and with many calcareous nodules. At
the base is a few inches of thin flaky, fine-grained sandstone, light
gray in color, containing calcareous nodules.
The uppermost Fleming on the International & Great North-
ern is found between one and two miles north of Willis, Mont-
gomery County. It is generally dirty greenish-gray clay, weath-
ering brown. It also has small calcareous nodules and local lenses
of poorly indurated sandstone.
The lower exposure of Fleming on Harmon creek west of I. &
Gr. N. Ry. in Walker County is about two miles below the junc-
tion of the east and west forks. It consists of bluish green sticky
clays which weather brown and have calcareous nodules. In the
lower Fleming on this creek are local lenses of opaline-cemented
coarse-grained sandstone. Near the mouth of the east fork and a
short distance above it this sandstone is interbedded with the
dirty green sticky clay. One mile above the forks is light gray
nodular hardened clay, 7 feet in thickness and forming a rapids
on the east branch one-fourth mile farther upstream. The base
of the section is 5 feet of greenish-gray medium and coarse-
grained sand with calcareous nodules locally poorly indurated
and with an irregular surface. Above this is 5 feet of greenish
gray consolidated and structureless clay. At the top is 5 feet
of dirty green sticky clay with white calcareous nodules. The'
top clay weathers russet-brown. For three-quarters of a mile
above this point semi-indurated sandstone forms a series of shoals
and backwaters. The rock forming the shoals is full of potholes.
Above the shoals the valley narrows and becomes gully-like.
One-half mile above where the gorge begins gray, thin, opaline
cemented, medium-grained sandstone layers dip southward at an
angle of about 15°. Between these sandstone layers are thin beds
of a vitreous-lustred fine ball clay, the original color of which
appear to have been light greenish-gray, although it is now al-
tered to a yellowish-brown. This clay is non-plastic. The south-
ward dip lessens within 10 feet and is probably one of deposition
and not one of deformation. Then the beds dip steeply in the op-
posite direction at an angle of about 10°. A good section is seen
The Geology of East Texas 235
where the Phelps road crosses near the head of the creek. Here is
about 10 feet of partially laminated greenish-gray clay with a
very few calcareous nodules. A local lens 5 feet thick, of cross-
bedded medium-grained, subangular quartz sand is found in the
clay. The clay is sandy towards the top. The surficial soil is
mottled gray and brick red.
The west fork of Harmon creek, also called Penitentiary
branch, heads at Huntsville, where there are good exposures of
Fleming clays.
Near the State Farm and on the Midway road li^ mUes north-
west of Huntsville, the Fleming consists of light green structure-
less clay with white calcareous nodules, local indurations of light
gray sandstone, and local indurations of light yellowish-green
clay with or without calcareous nodules. The clay weathers to
russet-brown. The sandstone locally has opaline cement. About
one-half mile north is the folowing section:
1. Black land soil with calcareous nodules 1-2 ft.
2. Puller's Earth containing very little grit, hut a large number
of calcareous nodules. Varies In color from cream at the
. base to light dirty green at top 15 ft.
3. Light brownish-drab or cream-colored plastic clay 8 ft.
This section is near the base of the Fleming, although what
is probably Fleming is found on this same Midway road about
3y2 miles northwest of Huntsville.
GRIMES COUNTY SECTION
On the MadisonviUe branch of the International & Great
Northern Railway the lowermost Fleming is exposed in the cut at
Mile Post 14 (14 miles northeast of Navasota) where there is 5
feet of green sandy clay, very poorly laminated and with cal-
careous cemented nodules of sandstone. All of the nodules were
small save one, which was very irregular in shape, resembling the
top roots of a tree and 4 feet in length. At the south end of the
cut is the characteristic russet-brovra weathered soil of the
Fleming.
One-third mile south 2 feet of light gray friable sandstone at
a lower level than the Fleming mentioned above may be upper-
236 University of Texas Bulletin
most Corrigan. Two-thirds of a mile north of Anderson there is
a total thickness of 4 feet of gray friable sandstone in the Flem-
ing. These are merely locally indurated blocks. Two hundred
yards north of the Anderson station there is more of this sand-
stone, but here the concretions are more rounded and possess ne
appearance of bedding. The elevation of Ajiderson Court House
is 368 feet, according to the United States Geological Survey.
From Anderson to Navasota the railroad passes over Fleming,
mainly clays, but locally with gray brown sands and sandstone.
Seven miles northeast of Navasota and one-half mile east of
Becker, on this railroad, flat topped mesas, capped by sandstone
and very arenaceous limestone begin and continue nearly all the
way to Navasota. These are entirely to the south and east of the
track and rise about 100 feet above the track level. The Fleming
in this vicinity consists of the following materials: (1) sands
of all texture from the finest up to coarse grit or fine conglom-
erate, (2) brown and dirty green clays with calcareous nodules;
(3) very arenaceous thin and irregularly bedded concretionary
limestone; (4) clay ball conglomerate in a coarse sand matrix.
These materials are either channel or littoral deposits. Mammal-
ian bones are found in a layer of coarse grit or fine conglomerate.
They are fragmentary, sometimes water worn, and are associated
with rolled Cretaceous fossils. Petrified wood, differing from
that of the older formations in being less consolidated, lighter
in weight and duller in lustre, is found with the bones and shells.
Fresh water TJnios are found in abundance in the clays between
the 3rd and 4th mile posts of the Madisonville branch in shallow
gullies just to the east of the right of way. The bones are found
in the deeper gullies to the east of the second mile post.
South of Navasota the Fleming continues to 1% miles beyond
Crooks, where the Lafayette begins, the tippermost Fleming be-
ing made up of dirty green claj's with white calcareous nodules.
"West of this it continues southward and is exposed at the Hous-
ton & Texas Central Eailroad crossing of Clear creek, just east of
Hempstead, where it has the appearance of the Lagarto of the
Niieces section and, like it, carries manganese as fragments of
wad.
Of the fossils collected from this vicinity, Dr. Matthew makes
the following statement:
The Geology of East Texas 237
349. Two and one-fourth miles north of Navasota.
"Meryckippus, small species, of. M. seversus, but probably
not identical, upper molar and fragments of foot bones.
"Rhinoceros, cf. Aphelops, fragments of teeth, head of radius.
Indicated age, Miocene.
' ' Camelid, , cf . Protolabis or Procamelus, fragment lower mo-
lar,, astragalus, navicular, unciform, fragments of foot bones, ?
symphysis of jaw.
Indicated age, Miocene or Pliocene.
"Testudo, large species, carapace fragments.
"Crocodilian, fragments of skull.
Indicated age. Middle Miocene, but Upper Miocene or Lower Plio-
cene is not excluded.
"General conclusions: Fauna ot Navasota and Cold Springs locali-
ties appears to be the same. It is certainly not earlier than Middle
Miocene of Osborn's correlation, nor younger than Lower Pliocene.
Absence of all characteristically Upper Miocene or Lower Pliocene
mammals points to Middle Miocene as the proper correlation. But
there are two points which should be considered as making for a pos-
sible later date than the comparison indicates: (1) Our land faunas
are mostly derived from the north and northwest, and older types may
have lingered longer along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts than in the
northwest, thus making the fauna seem older than it is; (2) Knowlton
regards the Mascall on plant evidence as Upper Miocene. This, if
accepted, would set our whole scale of continental Neocene horizons a
little higher than does Osborn's correlation. If you give much weight
to these considerations, they might serve to set the correlation up to
Upper Miocene. The fauna is quite decidedly older than the Blanco."
So far as reported, no vertebrate fossils have been found in the
Fleming which are referable to the Blanco or other later Pliocene
horizon.
The horizon from which the Navasota fossils were taken and
that of the Burkeville fossils are similarly related to the Cor-
rigan-Fleming contact and are near the present surficial base of
the Fleming beds. The Coldsprings horizon is much higher and
is in the upper half of the Fleming. It would, therefore, appear
that the base and evBn the middle of the Fleming west of the
Neches is older than the base of the Fleming east of that stream.
238 University of Texas Bulletin
BEAZOS EIVBR SECTION-
On the Brazos river we seem to have the meeting point of the
eastern and western phases of the Neocene, and in Hidalgo bluff
we find overlying the Corrigan, beds which seem clearly referable
to the Fleming, and others that are characteristically Oakville.
OAKVUiliE
General Statement
The deposits at the type locality on the Nueces river are those
of rapid currents, of shallow water, grits and coarse sand, cross-
bedded, with some beds of clay, but oftener with balls, nodules
or lenses of clay imbedded in the grit. Some of the sand forms,
a sand-rock which is apparently firm and hard, but much of
it is so feebly coherent as to fall apart on a slight blow of the
hammer. Local beds of conglomerate occur.
Only a few fossils have so far been found in these beds, but
such are determinable— Pro if oMppMs medius, Cope; P. perditus,.
Leidy; P. placidus, Leidy; ApJielops meridianus, Leidy, etc. —
are sufficient to determine its age as Loup Fork.
In their eastern extension the base of the Oakville is marked
by its conglomerate of rolled Cretaceous fossils, oysters, gryphaea
and other bivalves, sometimes unbroken but often ground almost
to sand.
BRAZOS RIVER SECTION
On the Brazos the Oakville, or basal divsion, consists mostly
of soft sandstones and sands which are coarse, gritty, angular
grained. These are sometimes laminated and regularly bedded,
at others fine-grained and eross-bedded, somewhat lenticular, and
often badly contorted, slightly calcareous, yellow to gray colored.
In places they carry small white clay pockets and pockets of yel-
low to grayish ■ white clay. Streaks or lentils of gravel occur
throughout the beds. The gravel is usually small, not more than
an inch in diameter at any place, but is usually much finer. It
may be made up of quartz and chert pebbles, or of rolled Creta-
ceous shells. The lenticular beds are very irregular in structure
and texture, showing the sorting of water action. At one end these-
The Geology of East Texas 239
beds may be fine sand, -whicli is gradually replaced by fine gravel
towards tbe other, or both ends may be sand, while gravel occu-
pies the center of the lens. These lenses are frequently partly
laminated, but the laminae are not regular, being often wedge
shaped and of different texture, the coarser and finer material
intergrading with each other. Towards the base the beds appear,
so far as seen, to be more regular in their texture, hard, close
grained and quartzitic in places and interbedded with a bluish
colored clay. The quartzitic phase of these lower beds is not
uniform but usually interrupted, fine sands often occupying
large spaces between the quartzitc portions.
These beds present the appearance of having been deposited
in rather shallow, turbulent waters, such as might occur along an
open coast line subject to violent storms or active tidal work.
Or, they may have been deposited in stream channels where the
waters have been intermittently rapid and slow. They appear
to be mostly of fresh water origin.
Kelley 's section of Hidalgo bluff is as follows :
Oakville:
1. Interbedded sandstone and clay, with loose sands. The sand-
stone ranges from very fine grained to coarse. Is massive
in one place and laminated in another. There is no regu-
larity in ithe beds along their horizontal extension and falls
have obscured the vertical section in places. This rock is
characterized by the following points: It is light gray to
yellow in color, generally coarse, beds 2" to 6" thick, well
indurated when exposed to the air. It forms the caprock
of ithe bluff ■ • 29 ft.
2. Dirty yellow or grayish clay, very massive. Weathering to
badland forms. No nodules were found in this member,
but the clay is highly charged with lime 16 ft.
3. Loose sand, medium-grained, with several lenses of sand-
stone exposed in a small area. These lenses have a parallel
arrangement, the long axis extending east and west. Rolled
Cretaceous fossils were noted and one bone fragment col-
lected on the surface 11 ft.
4. Clay with lime nodules. Color dirty yellow to gray. Local
lenses of reddish-yellow sand. The clay is otherwise
massive 17 ft.
5. Coarse, loose sand capped with 6 Inches of indurated sand-
stone. Rolled Cretaceous fossils and fragments of silicified
240 University of Texas Bulletin
wood are present, but no vertebrate remains were noted.
The base of the sand carries enough pebbles to constitute
a conglomerate ^ ^''•
6. CroBs-bedded sandstone ranging from a conglomerate with
pebbles of sandstone and clay to fine sand. Color gray
to yellow • • ■ ■ 26 ft.
7. A cociuina sand formed of small fragments of shell, little or
no cement or fine sand. Would make good road material
for surface. Color white to gray. Rolled Cretaceous
fossils noted 5 ft.
Fleming:
8. Pine grained sandy clay, colored buff or dirty yellow. The
material stands in vertical faces along gullies 20 ft.
9. Massive light bluish gray clay with streaks and nodules of
lime. The interval is so covered by slumping that it is
impossible to give a detailed section. The base is less limy
than the upper part 54 ft.
Corrigan:'
10. Massive clay, slightly sandy with root casts, color dirty gray
ito yellow. "Will not effervesce with hydrochloric acid.
Very similar in all other lespects to the overlying
Fleming . • 15ft.
11. Sand cemented with a clayey material. The color is a dirty
yellow or buff. Casts of roots and balls of clay were noted.
The lower two feet of this section is honeycombed with
worm holes. This same zone is noted under K-24 at
Hidalgo Falls 10 ft.
12. A very complexly bedded sandstone \^■ith no^ quartzite. Color
same as above. Grain medium to coarse. A bed of clay
6-inches thick divides 12 and 13 16 ft.
13. Corrigan sandstone containing lenses of quartzite. Massive
to thin-bedded with marked cross-bedding. The color is
gray to reddish-brown. Grain medium to coarse 22 ft.
There is a marked difference in the exposure at the south and
north ends of the bluff. Beds were found in the north end which
are identical with beds found just north of Erwin, Grimes
County, but the^se do not outcrop in the south end of the bluff.
East of Hidalgo bluff about half a mile another bluff shows
' The Corrigan is considered to be limited by the lime test in sep-
arating it from the overlying Fleming.
The Geology of East Texas 241
the Corrigan-Fleming contact with what is probably a repre-
sentative of the Oakville overlying it.
The entire section as exposed here is as follows :
Oakville :
1 At top the bluff face shows about 80 feet of interbedded clay
and sand with some beds of sandstone, the entire section
being highly calcareous. Bone fragments may be found in
the sands, but so far have not been taken from the clay
or sandstone ..•■..•■ 80 ft.
2. Coarse loose sand, conglomeritic at the base. The sand is
capped with 6-inches of well indurated sandstone. The
sand shows marked cross.bedding. Rolled Cretaceous fos-
sils were noted, but no bone fragments were present.... 5ft.
3. Goquina sand composed of comminuted shell fragments,
rolled Cretaceous fossils are present in plenty and a few
bone fragments were noted. The rock falls to pieces
under the hammer, and the weathered parts can be crushed
in the hand. Color dirty white 5 ft.
4. Interbedded clay and sand. The sand is fine-grained, locally
indurated and stands in vertical faces due perhaps to
some clay being present 15 ft
Contact — Conformable ?
Fleming:
5. Massive clay, blue-gray in color, carrying many calcareous
nodules! No fossils were noted in this interval 50 ft.
Corrigan:
6. Sandy clay, or sandstone, cemented with clay. This rock
fractures under the hammer into small cuboidal forms
showing the effect of the clay content. One zone shows
many worm-borings, with oblate cross-section. Color is
yellow to greenish yellow 15 ft.
7. Thin flaggy sandstone, highly cross-bedded and lenticular
in places. The color is dirty white. No opalized wood and
very few fragments or pebbles of clay 16 ft.
8. Interbedded quartzite and sandstone, grayish brown in color. 4 ft.
Beginning at the top of No. 3 there is a marked change in
the nature of the sediments present. Sand and sandstone be-
come more plentiful as we go up in the series, the Cretaceous
242 University of Texas Bulletin
fossils are more plentiful and better preserved, and bone frag-
ments are increasingly abundant.
On the Brazos river near Old Washington a section shows :
1. Altered brown sandy loam 5 ft.
2. Bluish-gray sand showing lines of stratification in places 1 to 2 ft.
3. Indurated gray sand with pockets of white clay 4 ft.
4. Clay % to 1 ft.
5. Coarse gray sand 1 tt-
6. Sandy clay 1 1'-
7. Fine bluish gray sand 4 ft.
8. White clay in pockets 2 to 6 in.
9. Gray sand and sandstone 3 ft.
10. Clay 6 in.
11. Coarse angular sand with vertebrate fossils 10 ft.
12. Gray sandy clay 1 % ft.
13. Sandstone with streaks of clay to water 3 ft.
In digging a well at Old Washington a piece of a jaw and
teeth were found in the sand No. 11 of this section. This is
Oakville.
It was from similar beds in this vicinity that the collection
of vertebrate fossils was made on which Shumard based his
statement of the discovery of an extensive Miocene formation
in Texas^ :
"The Texan strata consist of calcareous and siliceous sand-
stone, and white, pinkish and grayish siliceous and calcareous
marls. The calcareous beds are often almost wholly composed
of finely comminuted and water worn shells, chiefly derived
from the destruction of Cretaceous strata, and in places abound
in fossil bones and plants, usually in a fine state of preserva-
tion. The bones have been usually found in excavations for
wells at depths ranging from 20 to 60 feet below the surface,
and consist of genera closely allied to, or identical with, Tit-
anotherium, Rhinoceros, E'quus and Crocodiles."
The Fleming beds occurring in these Brazos river exposures
belong to the basal horizons as found at Coldsprings and
Navasota and these, as has been shown, are probably of Mid-
dle Miocene .age. Succeeding them we have, in place of the
'Trans. Academy Sciences, St. Louis, Vol. 2, p. 140, 1868.
The Geology of East Texas 243
Burkeville beds with brackish water fauna, such as occur in
the Sabine section, the Oakville beds of Southwest Texas with
a vertebrate fauna of Loup Fork age. The stratigraphie
equivalence of the Oakville and Burkeville is, therefore, indi-
cated, although the two groups of deposits may not, as a
whole, cover an identical time interval
LAPARA
General Statement
The close resemblance, both in texture and structure, of tha
Oakville and Lapara formations makes it exceedingly difSeult
at times to say which is Oakville and which Lapara. The
Oakville deposits have been described as those of rapid cur-
rents of shallow water, chiefly grits, coarse sand, cross-bedded,
with some beds of clay, but oftener with balls, nodules or
lenses of clay interbedded in the grit. Some of the sands
form a sand-rock. Local beds of conglomerate occur. The
description of the Lapara corresponds to this very closely.
This has been described as sands and clays interbedded and
cross-bedded. The sands are coarse and sharp, often forming
grits and including pebbles of clay and calcareous concre-
tions. The clays are jointed and parti-colored, light red,
green, etc., and in some localities appear as a conglomerate of
clay pebbles. Fragments of bone are common in them, but
they are so worn as to prevent recognition^. Nowhere
throughout the whole area under consideration are these Lap-
ara sands in a mappable condition. While it may be said
they are present at many localities, they occur only in very
small areal patches or within the limits of a vertical section in
which they are often overlaid by sands and gravels of a later
age, or are overlain by the clays of the succeeding Lagarto.
Throughout the eastern portion a number of Unios are
found, together with a number of pieces of bone, but these
bones are usually in such comminuted fragments that no iden-
tification is possible. The presence of Unios would appear to
indicate that a portion of these beds at least were of fresh
' Dumble, Journal of Geology, September-October, 1894, p. 560.
244 University of Texas Bulletin
water origin. Fragments of bone are common in the beds on
the Nueces but they are often so worn as to prevent recogni-
tion. The fossils collected there were submitted to Prof. Cope,
who pronounced the horizon to be Blanco, and states that
nothing from either locality indicates a horizon as low as
Loup Fork.
liAGABTO
General Statement
The Lagarto beds of the Nueces were described as a series
of sands and clays of a different character from the Lapara,
and overlying them. These beds comprise light colored clays
— lilac, lavender, sea-green, greenish-brown, and mottlings of
these colors, jointed and showing many slips. In places the
upper portion contains a considerable amount of sand, gravel,
and lime, and the change in a single stratum from one kind
of rock to another takes place within a very few feet. Where
the limestone or calcareous sandstone caps the clays, strings
of limestones extend downwards into them for a distance of
Six or eight feet. The clays contain quantities of semi-crystal-
line pebbles with manganese dendritions, and indeed, man-
ganese appears to be one of the characteristics of the clay
wherever found. The upper portion of the beds is usually a
sandstone. No fossils have been found in them^.
Although somewhat' changeable in some localities, the gen-
eral description of the Brazos Lagarto may be given as heavy
deposits of clay. These clays are brown, weathering snuff
colored," yellow, blue and sometimes gray. The general struc-
ture appears to be massive, but when dry they break into
small blocks. They are all highly calcareous, in places show-
ing nodules of lime, particularly in the darker colored bands.
In the yellow, the lime is completely disseminated throughout
the whole mass. . At irregular intervals, particularly in the
yellow colored clays, we find thin seams of a fine-grained more
or less laminated sandstone. These seams are rarely more
than eight inches to a foot thick, and in places not very con-
tinuous. These sandstone bands lie usually from ten to twenty
' Dumble, Journal of Geology, September-October, 1894, p. 560.
The Geology of East Texas 245
feet apart, but are somewhat closer at the base of the clays
These sandstones also partake of the calcareous nature of the
clay in which they are enclosed.
There appears to have been a considerable time interval in
this region between the deposition of the uppermost Lapara
beds and the succeeding Lagarto. These two are totally dis-
similar to each other. The Lagarto is essentially a clay deposi-
tion, evidently laid down in much deeper water carrying a
great amount of lime. The waters from these beds are usually
slightly saline in their nature. On the other hand, the Lapara
is essentially a sand, which, with its vertebrate remains and
Unip and fresh water shells must have been laid down under
fresh or brackish water conditions, and is evidently a coastal
or lagunal beach formation. The Lapara appears to have been
considerably eroded before the deposition of the overlying
Lagarto and the Lagarto itself appears to have been highly
eroded before the deposition of the overlying gravels and
sands. In some localities these Lagarto clays appear undulat-
ing or wavy, but whether this is due to erosion and rounding
of the remaining portions of the surface has not as yet been
satisfactorily explained.
These clays appear as a wide belt extending from the Brazos
river westward to and beyond the Colorado river. They go
much farther east than the Brazos, as they tie up with the blue
calcareous clays seen south of Navasota and in the vicinity of
Howth. They also appear on the eastern side of this river in
the neighborhood of Hempstead. A section on the Brenham-
Hempstead road between Hempstead and the river shows :
Lafayette:
Lagarto :
1. Dark soil 1 ft.
2. Yellowish-brown sand with pebbles 5 ft.
3. Yellow clay with limy concretions 3 ft.
4. Gray, soft sandstone pitted and water worn to bed of creek . . 8 ft.
On the western side of the Brazos these clays are divided into
blue and brownish clay with nodules of lime forming the upper
division, and a yellow clay with streaks of sandstone and the
246 University of Texas Bulletin
lime disseminated through the whole mass forming the lower
division. Nodules of lime are rare in this lower division.
Broken sandstones, or thin flat bowlders of lenticular form,
appear in the upper blue clay, but these, while occupying a
definite horizon, are by no means plentiful. The sandstones in
the lower yellow clays, while irregular as to their longitudinal
extent, are much better developed than those in the blue.
The equivalence of the Lagarto to some portion of the
Fleming found in the vicinity of Woodville has been suggested
and is considered probable but there is at this time no means
of positively determining this.
LAFAYETTE
This name, which was agreed on by Hilgard and McGee to
replace the older name of Orange Sands, is here used for those
deposits of gravels, sands, and clays often of characteristic
orange color, which occupy the belt between the Fleming to
the north and the Coast Clays on the south, between the
Sabine and the Brazos, their stratigraphic position being be-
tween the two formations named. To the northward of this
main belt the continuation of these deposits are found in the
uplands overlying the older deposits as a mantle and are there
usually characterized by the presence of gravel foreign to the
sediments which they overlie. Other deposits are found within
the upland area which are of the same color and more or less
of same lithologic character, except that the gravels are want-
ing in them. Some of these are separated from the older sedi-
ments by an erosion interval while others seem to grade grad-
ually downward into the underlying beds. These may, biit
probably do not, belong to the Lafayette.
Chaeacteb and Deposition.
The materials of the Lafayette are primarily sands and
gravel of varying degrees of coarseness, with variable amounts
of clay, locally pure and lying in thin layers, but, more often,
clays mixed with sands. Graduations from pure clays into
pure sands through all intermediate stages of sandy clays and
The Geology of East Texas 247
clayey sands are met with, but the larger part of the deposits
are of sands and clays mixed in various proportions.
Deposits, which can be referred with certainty to the Lafa-
yette, are practically never well stratified and seldom well as-
sorted. Cross-bedding and pockety structures are common. In
many places the bedding is irregular and wavy, exhibiting a
structure resembling minor intra-stratal crumbling as is seen
often in sub-aerial and lacustral sediments. This crumbling
is seldom recognized except when thin layers of clays are inter-
bedded with sandy materials. Gravels, when found, are either
unsorted and unstratified, or are found in pockets in the clays or
sands, or else exhibit rude stratification often in thin layers
running out into the other materials, in some places there being
but single lines of pebbles running out into the clays and
sands.
In the gravel is found quartz, chert, igneous rocks and silici-
fied wood. Concretions of limonite varying in size from that
of small shot to masses several feet across are common. Grav-
els, sand, and clays are often cemented by limonite, derived
either from process of secondary precipitation or from chaly-
beate springs which deposit bog iron ore.
The color of these deposits is very distinctive. The un-
altered body color is red of various shades from orange to dark
brick or Indian red. The purer clay portions are light blue or
gray but the clays as noted above are subordinate in amount.
The surface zone is frequently leached a lighter color than the
underlying less weathered portions. Mottlings of gray and
red are very characteristic of the clayey sands. When such
mottling is encountered the gray, shades are confined to more
clayey portions, while the sandier portions are red. This is,
perhaps, equivalent to saying that the more pervious materials
have their contained iron in the oxidized state and that the
less porous contain iron in the reduced state, probably in the
form of carbonate. Thin lenses of clay are gray in color when
the interbedded sands are red. Balls of clay are gray and the
enclosing sands red in many localities.
Whether the red color was originally possessed by the sedi-
ments before being deposited in their present situations or is
secondary and subsequent to their deposition is a perplexing
248 Univei'sity of Texas Bulletin
question. It may be that part of it is original and part is
secondary, for we find residual soils of such older formations
as the Wilcox and the Cook's ilountain that are as red as the
typical Lafayette and the mottling would suggest that a part
at least of the coloration is secondary, since in the mottled beds
it is apparently only the more porous portions which have the
red color. Roots of plants penetrating the "Lafayette" ma-
terials decolorize the red beds, changing the iron back into the
carbonate form. It is difficult to see how the red color can be
assumed to be primary in that portion of the "Lafayette"
which is undoubtedly transported detritus, for the red color is
merely a surface coating of the individual grains and this
would be worn off during any considerable transportation.
The formation of red residual soils at the present time in the
east Texas region would seem to indicate that the "Lafa-
yette" sediments were laid down under climatic conditions es-
sentially similar to those of the present.
The Lafayette gravels were deposited on a peneplained sur-
face. In places, as shown by the unconformity between these
gravels and the underlying bed rock formations on the higher
hilltops and divides, the peneplained surface was produced by
denudation. In other places the peneplain may have been
formed by deposition. That monadnocks of more resistant
rock persisted above the general peneplain surface is demon-
strated by the fact that hills and ridges like those of Irona,
Sabine county. Mount Selman and other prominences near
Rusk were never covered by the gravels.
While it is possible that the Lafayette might have been laid
down in a retreating sea to the littoral of which a constant sup-
ply of proper sediment was furnished by fluviatile agencies
there is an absolute lack of any evidence of this and the char-
acter of the lieds rather indicates that the deposition was, for
the most part at least, subaerial and the result of fluviatile
action.
Details op Sections
On the Sabine we find in the top of Sabinetown bluff a ves-
tige of the Lafayette depositional peneplain, the composition of
which has already been given in connection with the Claiborne
University of Texas Bulletin No. 1869
Plate XII.
LAFAYETTE FORMATION.
View near Colmesneil.
The Geology of East Texas 249
section below MeClanahan 's shoals. This shows a basal gravel
made up of flint and quartz pebbles from the size of a pea to
an inch in diameter overlain by structureless clayey sand in
mottlLngs of bluish-gray, reddish-brown, red and buff colors.
The quartz pebbles are more abundant here than in similar
deposits west of the Palaguache.
Going westward from the Sabine to Milam, Geneva and San
Augustine there is found a great thickness of Lafayette sand,
often with ferruginous pebbles. In places the orange or red
sand is interbedded with thin leaves of gray sandy clay.
Two and a half miles sOuth-southwest of Geneva in the valley
of Borregas creek, which is the principal tributary of the Pala-
guache, there is another portion of the Lafayette depositional
terrace consisting of three large remnants the tops of which
cover several acres. These are made up of typical Orange
Sands carrying large boulders of ferruginous conglomerate.
The Lafayette has a thickness of 20 feet and probably more
between Price Creek and Calcote postoffice, where the super-
ficial 3 feet is dark red and the underlying material orange-red.
It is characterized by the presence of many fine ferruginous
pebbles and by cross-bedding. It is sandy but has the prop-
erty of standing, up in perpendicular gullies 10 feet or more in
height. The country is flat and most likely is a remnant of the
original Lafayette depositional peneplain.
The Lafayette under the west end of the bridge over the
Attoyac is partially stratified and cross-bedded. Thin partings
of gray clay separate massive and imperfectly laminated light-
gray coarse loose sands stained yellowish-brown on the sur-
face. Thin sheets and laminated layers of ferruginous-ce-
mented sand are seen. The thickness of this section is 10 feet.
A spring issues at its base and it is capped with soft ferrugi-
nous-cemented dark brown conglomerate of ferruginous pebbles.
The Lafayette in the vicinity of Arenosa postoffice consists
of deep sand leached at the surface, but reddish underneath.
There is much ferruginous conglomerate, sandstone and peb-
bles in the Lafayette in this vicinity.
17-ET.
250 University of Texas Bulletin
SANTA FE RT. SECTION
Between San Agustine and Jasper the Lafayette is found in
many cuts, overlying the Marine, Jackson, Corrigan and Flem-
ing in turn. The exposures through the level Jackson country
are but few. They are more numerous in the Corrigan and well
shown in the Fleming.
The unconformity between the Catahoula and Lafayette is
well shown in the first cut north of Mile Post 85. At the base
is 7 ft. of light gray sandy Catahoula clay. Above lies 10 feet
of cross-bedded Lafayette. The contact between the two is
irregular, small lenses and ridges of the Catahoula projecting
up into the Lafayette. The latter is light brick-red in color.
On and near the top of the ridge near Horton siding there
are bodies of Lafayette ferruginous conglomerate. These are
found at various places from north of Mile Post 81 to 1-5 mile
south, mostly in rather thin layers some of which are laminated
with thin layers of nearly pure limonite adhering to the thicker
layers of grit or conglomerate. Some of the ferruginous con-
glomerate is concretionary. At the summit, about 400 yards
north of Horton, is a cut 20 feet deep in the Lafayette, which
here is cross-bedded, with a minor amount of .gravel, and small
balls and lenses of a light purplish clay running as curved
laminae or as cross-beds. A few fragments of silicified wood,
some of which are larger. portions of large trunks, may have
been derived from the Catahoula, or may belong properly to
the Lafayette. The Lafayette sand in many places is coarse
and angular like that of the Catahoula. The presence of peb-
bles indicates that at least some of the Lafayette was not de-
rived from the underlying Catahoula, but was transported
from some other places, and therefore that the Catahoula could
not have formed a high ridge above the general level at the
time the Lafayette was deposited, unless such ridge finally
came to be completely covered by Lafayette sediments.
Some of the silicified wood may really be indigenous to tha
Lafayette. A number of the fragments are large and are not
rounded as if rolled or water-worn but are splintered with
sharp fractures.
A mile and a half north of Jasper the road enters a gently
TTie Geology of East Texas 251
rolling country covered by Lafayette with its usual character-
istics of composition and structure. Occasionally some Lafa-
yette pebbles are encountered in the swampy area. Irregular
masses of small pebbles showing little evidence of sorting or
stratification are embedded in a coarse cross-bedded sand. The
pebbles are subangular to well rounded, average about an inch
in diameter, .are arranged with the'ir longer axis and flat sides
in a horizontal direction, and are composed of quartz, chert,
quartzite, some igneous and metamorphic rock, mainly- fine-
grained, and occasionally a pebble of ferruginous-cemented
sandstone and "iron-ore." The surface one foot or more of the
ten feet exposed in this cut is leached light brownish gray and
the lower portion has light shades of yellowish-red with
mottling between an irregular network of dark red and various
shades of gray, the latter color being present especially where
the composition is clayey.
ANGELINA-NECHES SECTION
In Jasper county east of Bevilport Ferry on the Angelina,
the second bottom terrace is nearly 1^^ miles in width. Its river-
ward limit is sharply defined from the first bottom or present
liver plain, while its bluffward limit is obscure and merges grad-
ually into .the upland. Between the eastward limit of the Port
Hudson terrace and the town of Jasper the sole surface rock is
the Lafayette with its usual composition and color. Pockets of
quartzose and cherty gravel are numerous in the Lafayette in the
neighborhood, and along the Jasper-Bevilport road there are
cuts of ten feet or more in thickness. The depositional peneplain
of the Lafayette, so well shown on top of the bluff 140 feet above
the Neches river at Town bluff, is also well developed in the
vicinity of Jasper and between that town and Bevilport and
Bohler'g ferries in broad flat uplands separated by rather deep
and sharp valleys.
In the angle between the confluence of the two rivers it is dif-
ficult to separate Lafayette from terrace deposits. Here the
original Lafayette surface was reduced to a rolling one of smaU
differential relief by the time the terrace epoch came on and there
252 University of Texas Bulletin
is no abrupt break in profile at the line of contact of the two
formations.
There are high bluffs of 100 feet or more just east of the
Attoyac on the Huntington-Hemphill road. These bluffs are
capped by Lafayette ferruginous conglomerate, here overlying
the Yegua, but farther south on the Angelina bluffs, near Old
Zana post office (Caddell of ¥eatch's map) it caps the Jackson,
while on the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad between Jasper
and Horton, Jasper county, it rests upon the Catahoula. The
materials on the Attoyac bluffs are quartz and chert, subangular
to rounded, and silicified wood, which is angular. The cement
is dark brown limonite and is locally quite hard.
Town bluff on the eastern boundary of the James Perkins and
Wesley "W. Hanks grants, central eastern Tyler county, rises 140
feet above the low water-level of the Neehes river. Its top, capped
with Lafayette, is very fiat and has evidently suffered no erosion
since the time of the formation of the Lafayette, depositional
peneplain. The thickness of the Lafayette capping the bluff is
approximately 40 feet. It is mottled, gravelly, clayey sand, with
the surface one to four feet leached buff or gray sand and the
underlying beds various shades of red with the lowest portions
of an Indian red shade. At the edge of the buff cirque-like gul-
lies or "gulfs", blunt-headed and perpendicular-walled or over-
hanging, often have depths at their very heads of from 20 to 40
feet. This property of the Lafayette of forming perpendicular
or overhanging cliffs is partly because of case-hardening, caused
by the redeposition of iron salts, leached from its body, on sur-
face exposures, possibly partly because of the deposition of sec-
ondary silica, partly because of the Lafayette being clays or
clayey sands which gives it tenacity and plasticity and probably
partly because of the compact packing together of the constituent
materials.
Rejuvenation and deforestation, jointly or separately, have
been responsible for the formation of these deep, steep and nar-
row gullies in the unconsolidated clays and sands of the Corri-
gan, Fleming, Lafayette, Port Hudson, and the later superficial
accumulations. Black land prairies, never covered by timber
growth, areas from which most of the timber has been cut, and
cultivated or abandoned cleared fields are places where gullies
The Geology of East Texas 253
have been formed within the memory of man and where they are
still forming. They are also well developed in railway cuts and
fills.
TEXAS & NEW ORLEANS RAILROAD SEOTION
South of Rockland and just north of Bridge 99-B there is a
light gray sand and clay locally case-hardened and having a
strong taste of alum. At the cut just north of Bridge 99-C
there is at the base one foot of friable fine clayey sandstone,
slightly case-hardened, overlain by four feet of loose shelly clay.
The stratigraphic position of this member is not known. Beds
lithologically similar are known to overlie all formations from
the Yegua to and including the Fleming and to be overlain by
the Lafayette. It may belong either to the underlying formation,
or it may be later, representing the Oakville or some other forma-
tion, or it may belong to the Lafayette, being a residually de-
rived portion of that formation.
From here the Lafayette forms the sur'face to Colmesneil.
In the cut immediately north of Cima siding the Lafayette
contains thin layers of laminated earthly iron oxide and perhaps
carbonate. Here the Lafayette sands are cross bedded. The thin
bands of dark brown, fine-grained, compact iron minerals
are irregular in their distribution and do not run parallel to any
one plane, but are rather irregularly waving beds not always in
the horizontal plane. The structure of the iron minerals is
botryoidal, mamillary, or laminated, often enclosing gravel or
sand when nearest the pure state, or it may form only a blackish
or reddish cementing material for the sand.
The lower portion of the section, below the iron-bearing mem-
ber, is cross-bedded sand often with a purplish red tinge on the
surface. In places it is mottled and in all respects resembles
the sand above the iron-bearing member. This upper bed is
mottled red and gray and contains small brown concretions of
sand cemented by iron oxide. The color of this bed is predom-
inantly orange.
Between these two is the laminated iron-bearing member oc-
cupying an irregular zone from 3 inches to 3 feet in width, the
individual layers averaging from 1 to 2 inches in thickness and
being separated from each other by mottled sands like those above
254 University of Texas Bulletin
and below the iron-bearing member. A concretion 3 feet in
length and with regular surface was noted.
In the cut and fill at Cima siding there is a 30 foot section
of Lafayette case-hardened clayey sand, standing in perpen-
dicular walls. The surface leached zone, yellow buffi below to
light creamy gray on the surface, is from 1 to 6 feet thick. The
underlying sand is dark brick-red. Some cross-bedding and
mottling is noted in the upper portion.
The Lafayette is well exposed between the top of the grade
at Cima siding and Colmesneil. The gravel is arranged in
patches of small size or rather uniformly distributed for short
distances through the clayey sand. It is in brief, quite ir-
regular in its distribution and amount. Long deep railway
cuts will be seen that are free from gravel and again there may
be local lenses and pockets almost. entirely made up of gravel.
Or, it may be sparsely distributed or arranged along lines of
stratification. The pebbles are rounded or subangular and are
principally quartz, chert, and silicified wood.
Iron-sand concretions, representing local secondary deposi-
tion of iron, and varying in size from that of a pea up to ir-
regular friable masses of several square feet are locally found.
These generally have a darker shade of red than their surround-
ings.
Sometimes tilted layers, simulating dip and parallel with
each other, are encountered, in some places their structure
showing a local unconformity with the underlying or overlying
structureless or imperfectly bedded Lafayette. These may
represent channel deposits.
In the region between the Texas & New Orleans and Houston,
Bast & West Texas Railroads the surfieial gravel and unconsol-
idated structureless reddish clays and sands capping the tops,
and sides of elevations are referred to the Lafayette or Orange
sand. Overlying and contiguous to the outcrops of the Marine
f9rmation the gravels contain many of the ferruginous sand-
stone concretions of the Marine but elsewhere the gravels ar&
mainly round, subangular, or egg-shaped pebbles of quartz or
acidic igneous rock, with here and there a fragment of meta-
morphic rock. The pebbles occur in great abundance near the
confluence of the Bayou Attoyac and the Angelina river, both
The Geology of East Texas 255
mantling the surface of the triangular shaped area between the
streams and southeast of the Angelina bertween Warsaw and
"White City, Angelina county.
While many of the contacts between the Yegua and the La-
fayette are unconformable one was found in a creek in north-
ern Angelina county in which no unconformity appeared. The
bluff is made up of alternating layers of gray and brown sands
and chocolate clays belonging to the Yegua.
Overlying these beds without apparent unconformity is
found the mottled surfieial member. The lower 3 feet is a
layer of brick-red loose sand with very small non-continuous
disc-like streaks of very light gray clay. It is overlain by 4
feet of medium-indurated reddish brown on surface and yel-
lowish-brown underneath, medium- grained, rather finely lami-
nated sandstone. The upper 1 foot of this 4 feet is laminated,
concretionary, and contorted very ferruginous sandstone with
its least altered portions composed of thin seams of black iron
11/4 inches and less in thickness grading out into dark brown
sandstone to yellowish-brown sand as leaching and oxidation
gradually becomes more prevalent. The whole transition takes
place generally in less than an inch.
HOUSTON, EAST & WEST TEXAS RAILWAY SECTION
The southernmost exposure north of the Angelina river on
the line of the Houston, East & West Texas Railroad gives a
section of about 20 feet of apparently horizontal strata. The
lower portion of the section is made up of thinly laminated
arenaceous chocolate-colored and drab shales containing leaves,
among which were noted Salix and Ficus (?). These belong
to the Nacogdoches.^ Overlying the shales are Lafayette gray-
ish structureless arenaceous clays, which, when exposed to
surfieial weathering, are generally mottled with streaks and
blotches of bright brick-red. Interspersed with the clay layers
are clayey sands, in general unconsolidated but locally ce-
mented by ferruginous material, which, in common with the
' A fuller description of these beds was given in connection with
the Nacogdoches heds.
256 University of Texas Bulletin
clays, locally contain ferruginous concretions and small
rounded pebbles coated with dark purplish iridescent iron
oxide. When unaltered the clay and sand member is bluish-
gray to buff in color, but, on weathering, its contained iron
stains the rocks various shades of brown either in a uniform
manner or in streaks and blotches which impart to the surface
exposure a characteristic mottled appearance. The sands are
fine in texture. The description of the sand and clay series
with interbedded lenses of chocolate and drab shale, will serve
as a general one for the uppermost series of beds exposed in
southern Nacogdoches county, and as far south in Angelina
county as a point half way between Piatt siding and Mantoi\
station on the Texas & New Orleans railroad.
The Lafayette gradually looses its red color, becoming more
grayish,- as the distance from the outcrop of the ferruginous
Marine group increases. There is also another notable change
as one goes southward and that is in the constitution of the
materials of the gravels. Before the Neches river is reached
on the southward journey all pebbles of Mariae ferruginous
sandstone have disappeared and it is only the more resistant
materials such as quartz, crystalline rock, chert and silieifled
wood, that remain. On the northwest corner of the J. M. Deane
league a chert pebble with a Paleozoic fenestelloid bryozoan
was noted.
At Cleveland, Liberty county, the reddish-colored Lafayette
is exposed in low knolls of small extent which are inliers com-
pletely surrounded by Port Hudson. Similar inliers are found
on the Houston, Bast & West Texas railroad from Shepherd
to Splendora and the Lafayette probably extends some' dis-
tance south of Splendora. A cut one-half mile north of Splen-
dora shows 2y2 feet of light buff fine sandy clay full of small
rounded concretions containing a very small percentage of
iron. The exposure is lightly mottled. At Mile Post 39 (1%
miles south of Nimrod) there is 4 or 5 feet of Lafayette, very
faintly mottled and having small rounded pebbles of quartz
and igneous rocks. This cut is on a low ridge just south of
the San Jacinto river. Lafayette is found in a cut on a low
hill one mile south of Cleveland as 6 feet of mottled gray and
red clayey and gravelly sand. The gravel is fine and is almost
TM Geology of East Texas 257
entirely composed of fine rounded pebbles of brownish fer-
ruginous sandstone. There are a very few pebbles of quartz.
In a flowing well at Gladstill, one-half mile south of Nirarod
the following strata were encountered:
Thickness Depth
Feet Feet
Surface soil 2 2
Red and yellow clay ■ • 8 10
Gravel and sand 12 22
Red clay 3 25
Sand and gravel 9 34
Yellow clay ■ ■ . . . 12 46
Sand 19 65
Clay 6 71
Sand and gravel 17 88
Clay 9 97
Sand 8 105
Clay 7 112
Hard shale 18 130
Gumha 9 139
Hard shale and sand 8 147
Sand and gravel 16 163
Rock ; 3 ie«
Gumho 27 193
Red shale and sand 20 213
Rock 1 214
Gumbo 9 -IZZ
Sand 29 252
Rock and shale 13 265
Sand 18 283
Rock 1 284
Hard shale 14 298
The first 163 feet of this well section is Lafayette. Coarse
brown sand and fine pebbles of Lafayette were found in the
drillings scattered about the well.
In a well at Cleveland, 390 feet deep, an abundant supply of
water is found which rises to within 5 feet of the surface. The
Lafayette is about 150 feet thick in this well, giving it a south-
ward dip between here and Nimrod of about 18% feet per mile.
Alternating layers of rock (probably sandstone) and softer ma-
terial of the Fleming were found between 150 and 390 feet. The
water stratum yielding the present supply was found at 350 feet.
258 University of Texas Bulletin
Overlying the Tegua west of the Houston, Bast & West Texas
railway the Lafayette is usually brown or orange colored ferru-
ginous and gravelly sands underlain locally by shaly light brown
clay with fragments of gray clay possible derived from the un-
derlying Tegua. In places the sand carries small pellets of dark
brown limonite concretions and at times is cemented with limo-
nite. Cross-bedding occurs and occasionally very thin lenses of
grayish clay are embedded in the sands.
There is a covering of Lafayette at Kennard Mill (Central
Coal & Coke Company) and at the town of Ratcliff. Overlying
the Yegua is 5 feet of cross-bedded sand, the unconsolidated por-
tions reddish-brown in color with thin streaks and beds of more
sonsolidated light gray sand. Overlying this is 4 feet of lam-
inated brown clays and sands.
Roark's gravel pit is 3 miles north of Cleveland and about the
some distance from the Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe and Houston,
East & "West Texas Railroad tracks. This gravel is fine and
similar to that found at Coldsprings and Urbana. The gravel is
mixed with coarse whitish sand. The Lafayette is exposed in a
cut at Mile Post 53 on the Houston, East & "West Texas Railway.
Wells at Napier get a good supply of fresh water in sand and
gravel at a depth of 65 feet. Gravel is also found on land be-
longing to C. B. Udell four miles southwest of Shepherd on the
Evergreen road and also on adjoining land belonging to Mr.
Bird. It has a coarse brown sand matrix, but will require pros-
pecting to show its depth and areal extent. Gravel was noted
at a place between 3 and 4 miles west of the Houston, East &
West Texas Railway near Westcott and Normanville. There are
also gravels on the surface- at various places on the Shepherd-
Everett road. Local deposits of gravel are found all the way
between Shepherd, S,an Jacinto county and Willis, Montgomery
county. A Lafayette ridge is followed by the road between
Kelly's switch (Bareda) and Huntsville. It consists of fine
deep-white sand and mottled red and gray clayey sand.
The high ridges in the vicinity of Coldsprings, San Jacinto
county are covered with Lafayette sand ancJ gravel, locally ce-
mented with limonit]e into grit and conglomerate. The dividing
ridge between the Trinity .and San Jacinto drainages between
Oakhurst and Coldsprings is covered with Lafayette gravel. The
Th'e Geology of East Texas 259
south bluffs of the Trinity valley, north of Camilla, San Jacinto
county, are covered with coarse reddish and mottled Lafayette
sand containing small fragments of whitish clays and petrified
logs. The upper course of San Jacinto river in southern San
Jacinto county is incised to a depth of 10 feet below the Lafa-
yette surface. The Lafayette begins a short but undertermined
distance south of Coldspriiigs and consists of the usual mottled
sandy and gravelly facies. At the head of Town creek at Cold-
springs there is fine very plastic sandy clay of a dark hematite-
red color. Springs issue from the plane of contact between the
Fleming and the Lafayette. Here the bluffs of Lafayette are
from 35 to 50 feet in height recalling the "Gulf" of McGee.
INTERNATIONAL & GREAT NORTHERN RY. SECTION
On tbe International & Great Northern Railway there are sim-
ilar occurrences of the Lafayette. Mottled red Lafayette sand
with much gravel is found on the summit of the grade on the
International & Great Northern Railway at Mile Post 78 in
southern Walker county. Much Lafayette is found on the
Huntsville branch of this railroad between Phelps and Hunts-
ville.
In its more southerly exposures the Lafayette has flat, very
gently rolling, often swampy surfaces. The southern limit of its
outcrop can be distinguished from that of the adjoining coast
clays by a low rise, with light undulations, but resembling, on
the whole, a maturely dissected terrace. The Lafayette-Port
Hudson contact on the International & Great Northern Railway
is just north of Spring, approximately at the north line of Harris
county.
Wpst of the Trinity river outliers of Lafayette are more
numerous yphere they overlap the Fleming than they are on the
other formations. The materials of the Lafayette proper are
finer-textured in the region of their outcrop between the areas
of the Fleming and the Port Hudson (coast clays) than they are
in the isolated outliers farther north. This decrease in coarseness
is very gradual, but it is undoubtedly true in a general way.
The contact between the Lafayette and Port Hudson is hard to
define owing to the extensive overlap of the latter on the eroded
260 ' University of Texas Bulletin
surfaces of the former. At the west near the Brazos, where the
country is mere or less open the contact can be traced by the
topography for the Port Hudson peneplain is' succeeded by a
very low rolling Lafayette country of appreciable, though slight,
relief. To the eastward, however, the country is more thickly
timbered and the tracing of the contact is more difSeult.
On the International & Great Northern Railway, Madisonville
branch, the southern limit of the Lafayette is at Willow, 34 miles
from Houston and 11 miles northwest of Spring. The topogra-
phy northeast of Willow is very gently rolling with undrained
depressions. The stream gullies are sharp and 10 to 12 feet deep.
Some of the Lafayette is very light buff or creamy clayey sand,
mottled with red and with small ferruginous concretions.
On the Houston & Texas Central Railroad the first Lafayette
is found at Mile Post 30 northwest of Houston. This is the site
of the first appreciable rise from the coast prairie. To the west-
ward the Sun Mounds are inliers of Lafayette in the Port Hud-
son. The more marked rolling topography begins between Mile
Posts 39 and 40, just south of the south line of Waller county. The
relief gradually increases northward. The northern line of the
Lafayette is a short distance south of Howth.
There is a fine exposure of Lafayette sands on the Texas &
Brazos Valley Railroad where it crosses the International & Great
Northern Railway.
CLOSE OF NEOCENE
In this region the surface of the Lafayette shows considerable
erosion prior to the deposition of the fossiliferous marls referred
to the Equus beds horizon, which is srupposedly basal Pleistocene,
and it is involved in the diastrophic movements which preceeded
the deposition of the Port Hudson. For these reasons the Lafa-
yette is here made the uppermost member of the Neocene, al-
though it is sometimes referred to the Pleistocene or regarded as
bridging the Pliocene and Pleistocene.
North of the Lafayette-Port Hudson contact, the amount of
movement apparent is not very great and seems to have been
simply a gradual regional elevation. To the seaward, although
the surface is a great peneplain, drilling shows that the orogenic
TJie Geology of East Texas 261
movements were intense before the deposition of the .mantling
clays. It indicates in fact that at the close of the Tertiary we
had a repetition, perhaps on a somewhat grander scale, of the
movements which accompanied the close of the Cretaceous.
As has been stated, the movement at end of Cretaceous timq
was sufficient to create the Cretaceous domes and the Sabine
Peninsula through local elevation of the Upper Cretaceous sed-
iments 2500 to 3000 feet. These elevations were all in the sea>
ward margin of the Cretaceous land mass which in itself showed
comparatively little change of level. These domes were almost
without exception subsequently mantled by clays and sands of
the Tertiary, which entirely masked their character and but for
later erosion or the searching enquiry of the drill their presence
might not have been suspected.
The same is true in great measure of the Coastal domes. Some
few of them may now make themselves known by a slight eleva-
tion at the general surface, the Sun Mounds near Hockley and
Damon Mound being the highest of them, but for the most part
they are either little distinguishable above the general level of
the prairies, or only found by drillng. The Sun mounds and
Damon Mound, which are typical domes and rise from 70 to 100
feet above the prairie, are capped by Lafayette. Some of the
buried domes also show beds of gravel which are properly refer-
able to that formation. These buried domes are covered by va-
riable thicknesses of the Coast clays, ranging from one hundred
to several hundred feet, while between the domes we find as much
as 2500 feet of materials referrable to the Coast clays of the Port
Hudson. The irregularities of the substructure is therefore fully
as great as in the case of the Cretaceous domes.
Possibly nothing could bring out the differential movements
that have taken place in this coastal area since the Miocene dep-
osition more clearly than the fact that while the Pliocene ( ?)
brackish-water fauna which occurs at Burkeville 150 ft. above
sea level is found in abundance at Terry, 66 miles south, at a
depth of from 3,000 to 4,000 ft., the marine Miocene fauna
which occurs at Saratoga at a depth of 1,000 ft. is only 2400 ft.
deep at Galveston, 74 miles south of it.
It seems clear, therefore, that at the close of the Neocene the
coastal area of east Texas was subject to extensive oscillation.
262 University of Texas Bulletin
and it is these movements rather than those of earlier date that
are directly connected with the formation of the domes and folds
found here.
There are a number of these Coastal Domes already known
and they appear to occur in somewhat regular alignments along
general northeast-southwest courses, which is approximately the
direction of the chain of Cretaceous domes which has been men-
tioned.
/ That they are of orogenie origin is fully proven by their com-
position and by their relation to adjacent deposits. They are
in all cases, so far as now known, composed of a core of salt or
of gypsum or anhydrite (with which deposits of native sulphur
are sometimes associated) which plugs have been forced up
through beds of Miocene and later age. This relationship has
been definitely shown to exist by the drilling done at Humble
and similar domes.
The relation of the bodies of salt, gypsum, and sulphur of
these domes to the surrounding sediments indicates that these
masses have certainly penetrated 2,000 or 3,000 ft. of the sedi-
mentary strata. The clays sands, and limestones immediately
adjacent to or overlying them are tilted at comparatively high
angles for this region, the surrounding sedimentaries dip away
from them at lower angles, and beds or sills of salt and gypsum
extend from the main mass out into the surrounding beds, as
sometimes happens with plugs of basalt coming up through sim-
ilar materials.
Up to this time basaltic matter has not been definitely proven
to exist in connection with these domes. Its place is taken by
the salt, gypsum and anhydrite. In connection with the close of
the Eocene attention has been called to the probability of the
accumulation of considerable deposits of these substances at that
time. Salt becomes plastic at temperatures far below those
necessary for the production of siliceous lavas and would lend
itself much more readily to the work of filling any voids caused
by crumpling or assisting such crumpling. Salt stocks of this
character have long been recognized in the Carpathians and else-
where in Europe.
In this connection, the following suggestions regarding the
domes are made:
The Geology of East Texas 263
The domes are separable into two series: The Interior domes
and the Coastal domes.
The bodies of salt found in connection with the Cretaceous
domes were probably deposited during the Lower Cretaceous or
the interval between the Lower and Upper Cretaceous and the
uplift which formed the domes occurred at the close of the Cre-
taceous.
The salt of the Coastal domes was deposited at the end of the
Eocene or beginning of the Oligocene and the movement which
resulted in these domes took place at the end of the Tertiary.
The connection of the Coastal domes with the oil fields of the
region is in some measure accidental.
The close association of the oil, gypsum, salt, and sulphur in
some of the domes has naturally suggested the' idea of a common
origin or a close relatonship in origin, and this has been widely
discussed. "Were this true, the oil should be found in connection
with all such domes, and such is not the case. We have oil pools
where there is no dome and where no salt has been found, and
we have numerous domes and bodies of salt, gypsum, and sul-
phur without any accumulations of oil.
Chapter X
QUARTERNARY
PLEISTOCENE
The Pleistocene of East Texas includes the river deposits of
the inland belt belonging to the Columbia and their coastward
continuation, the Coast clays or Port Hudson, which Kennedy
called the Beaumont clays.
They rest unconf ormably on the Lafayette.
The Columbia phase embraces those deposits which form the
second bottom terraces of the main streams. On the Sabine, An-
gelina, Neches and Trinity rivers they extend well toward heads
of the streams. The upland deposits of this stage are of the
character of the loess. At the base of these deposits there is
usually a layer of gravel derived from the erosion of the Lafa-
yette. The deposits themselves are clays and silts of various col-
ors containing small limy concretions and some gravel. Shells of
the Unio or fresh-water dam are found in them and blocks and
logs of cypress, which are but little altered, together with the
bones of the mammoth, horse, ground sloth, etc.
Nearing the coast these beds grade into clays of the Port Hud-
son. These are heavy clays of various colors with small lime
concretions and local lenses of sand and sandy clays. In places
cypress logs are found in these clays at considerable depth and
shells, similar to those of the present bay shore, oecur in them
at places.
GENERAL CHARACTER
As one travels from north to south from Nacogdoches to Polk
counties, he passes gradually from a region which is mostly bed
rock upland to one that is mostly alluvial lowland.
The divides and interstream ridges of Polk county stand out
as much promintoried peninsulas in the bottom lands of the
creeks and ridges — the sea of their ovni debris. South of the
Nechse-Trinity divide the southward sloping interstream ridges
lie above the bottoms as partially sunken headlands on a sub-
The Geology of East Texas 265
merged sea coast. Between the uplands and the bottom lands
there is in most places a noticeably abrupt break,, a break in the
profile rather too sharp to be explained solely as brought about
by the processes of an uninterrupted cycle of erosion. The bed
rock formations are not sufficiently resistant to cause this
break. The valleys are too broad to explain the almost contin-
uous fringe of steep bluffs between the broad bottoms as entirely
the product of lateral planation of meandering streams. There is
a mature, in some cases even a youthful, topography of the upland
areas with an extreme old age topography of the lowland areas.
The topography is partially drowned. It is not all the product
of one cycle of erosion or there would be more of a continuous, less
perceptible, graduation between the divides and the stream
courses. This apparently implies a former base level higher than
the present and especially a rising of the base at a rate greater
than the down-cutting of subaerial agencies. A former base level
lower than a succeeding one, which was responsible for a differ-
ential relief greater than the present one between alluvial bottom
and bed-rock divides is apparently implied. This epoch of rais-
ing of base level is the Columbia-Port Hudson.
ANGELINA-NBCHES
In the upper portion of the Trewick's bluff, and comprising
the whole of the exposures in Perigue and Carlisle bluffs, as well
as the low knobs outcropping above the level of the "saline"
crossed by the Angelina river one mile east of the Texas & New
Orleans Eailroad bridge over the river there is a hard conglom-
erate, with pebbles mainly of quartz and igneous rocks, and sub-
ordinately of ferruginous sandstone in a matrix of coarse sand
grains, cemented by iron carbonate and iron oxide. The occur-
rence of this conglomerate in these bluffs together with the great
amount of loose gravel found farther down the valley of the same
river may indicate that we have here a formation somewhat simi-
lar to the Columbian of the southwestern Atlantic States derived
from the surficial beds referred to the Lafayette and deposited by
the Angelina during a former time of alluviation of its flood-
plain.
18-ET.
266 University of Texas Bulletin
The upper limits of the river terraces (Port Hudson?) are hard
to define in the triangular region between the Angelina and
Neches rivers just above the junction of these two streams, be-
cause the upland is very low and only very moderately rolling
and merges insensibly into the second bottoms. The second bot-
tom can be distinguished from the first and lower bottom by its
superior height and its covering of "piney woods" probably sig-
nifies better drainage than is possessed by the first bottom. But
east of the Angelina, in Jasper county, east of Bevilport Ferry,
the second bottom, terrace is nearly li^ miles in width. Its river-
ward limit is sharply defined from the first bottom or present
river flood-plain, but its bluffward limit is obscure and merges
gradually into the upland.
TRINITY EIVEB
Three terraces, including the pesent fiood-plain, are well de-
veloped on the Trinity, at Westmoreland and Clarke bluffs. The
height of each will average probably close to 25 ft. The prairie
level terraces ae still higher and there are traces of a still lower
one being developed in the present fiood-plain.
At Westmoreland bluff in western Houston county the second
bottom alluvium overlying the Tegua is mottled grayish and
rusty sand containing gravel with the usual ferruginous-cemented
gravel layer at the base. The first bottom below this bluff is
black waxy calcareous alluvium derived from the Cretaceous. It
appears probable that the second bottom alluvium was laid down
before the Trinity river had cut back into the Cretaceous.
Just to the west of the head of Spring creek, near Westmore-
land bluff, a minor terrace level between the first and second
bottom is noted in a poorly developed bench with its surface
about 8 feet below that of the second bottom. It is narrow but
has a distinct step downward from the second bottom and heads
of gullies have cut back into it nearly to the second bottom. The
total number of terraces at Westmoreland bluff is either five or
six, five if the proirie level is not counted and six if it is counted.
Of these, three or four are main terraces and two are minor
terraces.
The remainder of the Spring creek exposures, near its head,
The Geology of East Texas 267
are in brown sandy alluvium, containing Lafayette-derived peb-
bles. This gravel layer is almost universal at the base of the
terrace alluvium along the Trinity river from Alabama bluff to
Liberty county. The creek shortly comes to an end in a blunt-
headed gully. Above the head of this gully is the usual vestige
of an older valley with the gentler slopes and gradienf of an
older erosion sub-cycle.
The first and second bottoms are very well developed in the
vicinity of Hyde's bluff. The second bottom soils are either
brown sand or black sticky clayey laminae. The underlying ma-
terial of the second bottom is dark brown with small white calcar-
eous nodules. Underneath this subsoil layer the alluvium is light
buff in color.
Negro creek which heads at Volga postoffice, shows some inter-
esting exposures of terrace materials. The exposures near the
head show 4 feet of light creamy-gray sandy clay with a very few
white calcareous nodules. The lower portions of the creek's
course show exposures in terrace material, one of which is 20 feet
thick and composed of light gray, medium-grained sand, with
very poor bedding. There are contained in it a few Lafayette-
derived pebbles. It weathers to brick-red near the surface and
locally is mottled. The upper one foot is leached to .a brown
color. At another exposure farther down the creek the base is
very plastic slaty blue clay, cracking much when dried. It is
overlain by mottled brown and gray blue sticky clay weathering
russet brown, above which is light brown sand. There are a num-
ber of small flood-plain lakes in this region as well as lakes and
swamps on the higher terraces and valleys of the larger creeks.
The top of Pine bluff below the mouth of Negro creek shows :
1. Alluvium with calcareous nodules, light gray at base but
brown above 15-20f t.
2. Ferruglnous.cemented Lafayette-derived conglomerate with
casts of Unios 55 ft.
Dark brown and brownish gray plastic clay with calcareous
nodules outcrop on the edge of the terrace where the railroad
spur to White Eock Locks enters the Trinity first bottom one
mile south of its junction with the main line of the Beaumont
& Great Northern Railroad and a section 10 feet thick is ex-
268 University of Texas Bulletin
posed. In the western end of the third cut on the Beaumont &
Great Northern Railroad west of the bridge over White Rock
creek is a brown elay with small calcareous nodules belonging to
the second bottom.
At White Rock Shoals on the Trinity river excavation for the
base of the lock on the north bank resulted in the unearthing of
remains of mammoth (Elephas) and of a large horse (Equus), of
Pleistocene age. The largest tusk of the mammoth measured 9
feet 6 inches in length and 14 inches in circumference at the base.
•The podial bones were 12-13 inches in diameter at the socket.
The scapula, ribs, teeth, limb bones and both tusks of the mam-
moth were found, but these were very friable and rapidly crum-
bled on exposure to the air. These remains are important since
they give evidence of the Pleistocene age of the first bottom of
the Trinity river. The fact that a number of bones of the mam-
moth were found together indicates that the position in which
they were found was the original resting place of the remains.
They indicate that the portion of the first bottom in which they
were embedded is neither older nor younger than the stage of
the Pleistocene in which these mammals lived.
The reddish clayey sand exposed in the higher banks of Kicka-
poo creek near its mouth is alluvium of the Trinity second bot-
tom. Brownish clay with calcareous nodules, probably second
bottom material, is found between Mile Posts 15 and 16 of the
Beaumont & Great Northern Railroad.
At Eastham's Plantation, 13,000 acres in extent, and situated
in the southwestern corner of Houston county, the alluvium of
the second bottom, here so far down stream and so high as not
to be subject to overflow, is locally 30 feet in thickness with
the usual gravel layer at the base. The level of the second
bottom terrace is 55 to 60 feet above that of the first bottom.
Both terraces are covered with black land and underlain by
brown sandy clays with calcareous nodules.
The Columbia is well exposed further south on the Trinity
river in the vicinity of Drews landing, eastern San Jacinto
county, where it unconformably overlies the Fleming with a
basal layer of Lafayette-derived pebbles overlain by brown
clayey second bottom alluvium. Sections of light yellowish-
brown sandy clay 5 or 6 feet thick are seen along Big Creek
The, Geology of East Texas 269
on the Shepherd-Drews Landing road. The Columbia or second
bottom has a wide area west of Drews Landing. The following
section was made on the west bank of the Trinity one mile below
this place:
Top.
1. Light yellowish-brown, fine, sandy alluvial clay, gray at top.
Mastodon remains, consisting of limb bones, lower jaw
bones, and 19 teeth were found near the base of this
member 30 It.
2. Much cross-bedded, medium-grained yellowish-brown sand
locally indurated. Its base marks a line of springs 4 ft.
One mile upstream from this locality the Port Hudson second
bottom bluffs face each other on opposite sides of the river.
Between these two places there are stagnant ox-bow. lakes on
the first bottom. Portions of the surface of the Port Hudson
depositional peneplain may be seen between Drews Landing
and Shepherd.
The Coast Prairie is a depositional peneplain of the Port
Hudson group.
BiEAUMONT CLAYS
Kennedy 's description of these clays is as follows :
Overlying the Lafayette gravels and sands there is a series of
yellow, gray, blue, brown and black clays with brown sands.
There are also occasional deposits of red clay. These beds are
sometimes thinly stratified or laminated, but frequently massive.
The laminated beds are usually interstratified with thin beds of
blue and gray or grayish-white sand. The clays carry considera-
ble quantities of calcareous nodules irregularly distributed, in
many places shells of Pleistocene or Recent age, and great quan-
tities of decaying wood in the form of tree trunks, bark and
leaves. Among these the cypress appears as the most prominent,
and among the invertebrate fauna found the Rangia cuneata
(Gray) and an undetermined oyster are the prevailing forms,
in these clays the calcareous nodules do not appear to have any
definite position. It is true that they always accompany the blue
clays, but they are always found scattered in small pockets and
occupying irregular patches a few acres in extent. It is pos-
270 University of Texas Bulletin
sible that by some chemical action during or after the deposition
of the clays the lime had been segregated into small depressions
or softer portions of the clays.^
The generally low flat condition in which tljiese Beaumont clays
occur render attempts to unravel their structure with any degree
of certainty somewhat diiBcult. They, however, are by no means
structureless, as the whole of the beds carry sands occupying
very irregular positions and lying in very irregular forms.
Drilling has shown some of these sand deposits to lie in the shape
of short, rather dumpy, or mound-like lenticles, others
elongated and rather thin, while yet others form regular beds
extending a mile or more in length. The clays themselves are
also irregular. In places these occur in a massive form, giving
rise through their toughness and tenacity to the term "gumbo"
so frequently used by drillers. Often within the middle of these
' ' gumbo' ' deposits there occur pockets of thinly laminated shaly
looking clays, sometimes intermixed with laminae of sand and
frequently carrying small quantities of oil. These are the shales
and oil shows so frequently recorded in the logs of wells drilled
throughout the region. These pockets of "shale", while nu-
merous, are by no means regular as to extent or horizon. In some
wells they may occur several times, while in the neighboring wells
they are absent.
Another peculiarity regarding these Beaumont clays is tha
form of the lime found in them. Towards the upper surface and
throughout several hundred feet of these clays the lime appears
almo'st altogether in the form of carbonate. At depth this car-
bonate gives place to sulphate and small isolated nodules of
amorphous gypsum are by no means rare. At some localities
drilling has shown the gypsum to be in beds from two to fpur
feet thick, but its areal extent is usually circumscribed.
Decayed wood is abundant throughout these clays. This often
shows in an almost fresh condition as if it had only been buried
a short time. In other localities the decay may be said to be
complete, and in some places, particularly in the vicinity of the
domes, the wood may be described as carbonized, but not lig-
nitized. Wood brought up in several of the drill holes at Bryan
Heights from a depth of over 300 feet was in this condition.
Throughout the whole formation the wood is never silicified. In
^U. S. G. S. Bulletin No. 212.
The Geology of East Texas 271
this respect it is entirely different from any fossil wood found
in the underlying- formations, and any silicified wood found may
be considered as extraneous and has reached its position in asso-
ciation with the gravel in which it is usually found.
Throughout the whole of the area occupied by these Beaumont
clays the only means of obtaining any information regarding
their structure or the thickness is by means of wells drilled in the
search for oil. Unfortunately, few of the logs are kept with any
degree of precision, the records rarely showing the color of the
material passed through or the character of the rock encountered
when such is met with. These conditions render it often difficult
to determine to what division the materials passed through belong.
However, as the Beaumont clays carry but little gravel and the
sands are usually thin, in all probability the appearance of heavy
gravels, sands and rock shows that the drill has encountered some
underlying formation.
Attention must, however, be drawn to the fact that as the
Lafayette extends seaward it loses much of its landward struc-
ture. In its seaward extension it assumes a more clayey and
sandy phase, the gravel deposits gradually become thinner and
finally disappear, the sands thicken to some extent, but even
these, in a great measure, lose their identity and become sand-
stones which eventually grade into a clay.
The Coast Clays are found on the Coldsprings- Cleveland road
four or five miles northwest of Cleveland where they occupy a
low flat country whose surface is interrupted here and there by
small low knolls of Lafayette. The soil of the Coast Clays is a
very light buff, very fine, sandy clay loam, forming, when dry,
deep, loose and powdery dust of light weight.
Tarkingfton Prairie east of Cleveland is a portion of the Coast
depositional peneplain; It extends from four miles north of Pel-
ican Station on the Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad southward
to the Gulf and is cut into minor prairies by many peninsulas
of forest.
The Coast Prairie, on the Galveston-Longview branch of the
International & Great Northern Railway extends as far as Spring
creek on the Harris-Montgomery county line. It has in this vi-
cinity its usual characteristics, a monotonous flatness, broken
only by low circular mounds and smaller lower ant hills; open
272 ' University of Texas Bulletin
spaces densely covered with grass and low herbs; with patches
of post oak and scrub pine.
Between Grapeland and Mile Post 17 the exposures are mainly
gray or buff, loose, fine sand or silt, which resemble the loess.
They are underlain by Lafayette which is found at the top of
the grade in the two cuts north and south of Salmon, the southern
cut being at the Houston-Anderson county line. The loess-like
exposures are of fine materials. They are soft and have the
property of standing in perpendicularly cut banks, such as would
hardly be characteristic of other materials of such fine texture.
The difficulty is to distinguish between this loess and loose fine
leached residual sand derived from the older formations. At any
rate, it can only be expected to be found on these high divides
overlying deposits of Lafayette in situ.
Since the deposition of Port Hudson the deposits have been
greatly eroded as a consequence of regional uplift. The first,
second and third bottom terraces so comimon to the Trinity from
Houston county southward and southeastward are cut in the
Port Hudson deposits. Whether these terraces mark definite
■stages in the physiographic history of the coastal plain can not
be determined until the lower river valleys and the country south
of the Lafayette outcrop have been investigated in more detail.
SURFACE FEATUEBS
SALINES AND MOUNDS
Two striking features occurring throught this region and
which are probably of Pleistocene age are the salines and
Mounds.
The salines are depressions of greater or less areal extent and
of varying depths which are usually ponds, lakes or marshes
during the wet seasons but form dry spots more or less salt-
incrusted during the dry seasons. Some are entirely barren,
others support a scattered growth of tufts of short grass or salt-
loving plants, whilfe the larger ones form palmetto flats. A few
have their surfaces dotted with small mounds. Even when dry
at the surface the salines are moist a few inches below and the
■efflorescene is largely sodium chloride or common salt.
The Geology of East Texas 273
These salines appear to be entirely wanting in the area occu-
pied by the Mt. Selman and Cooke Mountain formations and are
found only in connection with the palustrinal deposits of the
Wilcox, Yegua, Jackson and Fleming:
The mounds of the salines are low, varying from two to four
or five feet in height, circular to elliptical in outline and from
ten to forty feet in diameter. The soil of the mounds is a loose
fine sand which is more loose and porous than that of the lower
surface from which it apparently does not diifer in other re-
spects. The mounds persisting above the general level have bet-
ter drainage. The mounds are frequently a mass of ant-hills and
on the lower surface are conical ant-hills from a foot to fifteen
inches in height.
Four and a half or five miles southwest of Burke, about seven
miles from the Neches river, is a low swampy area with "quak-
ing bogs" which are locally called "sucks". Judging from the
bones scattered thereabout, the bogs have been the graves of a
number of cattle and other animals. The quaking portions of
the bog are elevated from four inches to a foot above the sur-
rounding surface. They will shake when one treads over them
or stamps upon them. The surface layer is hardened and
cracked. Underneath there is a light blue liquid mud mixed
with a small quantity of sand, in which a pole was easily pushed
to a depth of twelve feet without striking bottom. In the dried
surface portions of one of them a sticky elastic substance re-
sembling gelatinous silica was noted. The quaking portions are
from four to twenty-five feet across. On the surface of some of
the mounds small ferruginous pebbles were found. A brownish
fine sand (perhaps quicksand) was brought up to the surface on
the end cf. a pole. On stirring up the liquid mass bubbles of
non-inflammable gas rises to the surface. The blue mud has the
odor of sulphur.
Small mounds in actual process of formation were noted one
and a half miles southeast of Lovelady on the John Forbes grant
in the postoak upland near the h'ead of a small western tributary
of Gail creek, known as San creek. Here, in a space some sixty
feet in length, underlain by Yegua sand and light gray badland
clay, are a half dozen small mounds close together and making
up an elongated compound mound. From a half dozen small
274 University of Texas Bulletin
crater-like vents forming the summits of the mounds water in
small quantities slowly oozes out, bringing upward with it ma-
terials varying in composition and texture from very fine clay
to medium-grained sand, dark blue in color when fresh and a
tawny yellow on the surface. The phenomena resembles closely
those of a very quiescent stage of mud volcanoes. Forty feet of
2-inch pipe was pushed by hand down one of these vents without
reaching bottom. A resident of the vicinity informs me that the
locations of the vents have migrated during the last thirty years
and a few yards to the westward of the present vents are traces
of former vents which have now dried up. The vents are ten
feet to fifteen feet in diameter and rise two or four feet above
the general level. They have been the graves of animals which
have bogged down in them. At the time of visit no gases could
be seen escaping from these vents, but it is reported that in
, former times bubbles of gas were seen to escape from them. It
is possible, however, that these bubbles were merely of air, which
came to the surface as one trod on the quaking ground of the
immediate vicinity The "suck" in the Neches river bottom near
Blix, western Angelina county, is similar in characteristics to
the more pronounced mounds near Lovelady, but it is worthy of
note that the one locality is on the uplands and the other in the
river bottom.
Chapter XI
LIGNITE
General Character
The various grades of Brown coal which are found in the
United States are known under the general name of Lignite.
These are forms of coal which are intermediate in the trans-
formation series between peat on the one hand and bituminous
coal on the other. They contain a higher percentage of carbon
and much less water than peat, but usually, less carbon and
more moisture than bituminous coal.
In color, Lignite varies from brown to a brilliant jet black,
but the majority of our deposits are dull black changing to
brownish black or brown on exposure. It breaks with a splintery
to subeonchoidal fracture and normally has a specific gravity of
1.221.
The water content is very variable in amount and it exists in
the lignite both as combined moisture and as free water. Upon
exposure most, if not all, of the latter may evaporate but the
water in combination will not do so and even if the coal he heated
and this moisture driven oif, its equivalent will be re-absorbed or
recombined upon exposure to the air.
Prior to the finding of oil at Spindletop in 1901 the mining
of lignite was assuming considerable importance in Texas, but
the advantages of oil in convenience of use and cheapness in
price caused most, if not all, of the mines to be closed down for
the time.
As the supply of oil available for fuel uses has decreased and
the price increased the use of lignite is again beginning to
expand, and the time is near at hand when the disadvantages ac-
companying t£e use of lignite will be more than offset by the
economy which can be effected thereby and we may, therefore,
look forward to a constantly growing demand for it.
' For fuller description see Dumble, E. T., Brown Coal and Lignite,
Geol. Sur. Texas, 1892.
276 University of Texas Bulletin
While not equal to bituminous coal in heating power it is
nevertheless an excellent and acceptable fuel under proper con-
ditions and will in time be one of the principal sources of supply
for our entire Gulf Coast region.
Methods of Utilization
The principal use of lignite is, of course, for fuel purposes,
and includes direct firing under boilers and furnaces, ■conversion
into artificial fuel by briquetting to fit it for household and other
uses, charring to produce a fuel between charcoal and coke, gas
and by-products, and the manufacture of producer gas and eon-
version into electric energy through gas engines.
The details of these methods have been given more or less
fully in the Report on Brown Coal and Lignite, the Bulletins of
University of Texas Mineral Survey and the U. S. Geological
Survey Report of Coal Tests at the St. Louis Exposition.
In direct firing success can only be had by proper attention to
the character of the fire-box, style of grate and draught arrange-
ments. When these are properly designed for the character of
fuel it can be burned very satisfactorily either with hand firing
or mechanical stoking. Where the conditions are properly regu-
lated the inconvenience and loss formerly caused by its property
of slacking as it dried is practically done away with and the
slack coal itself is a good fuel.
Briquetting has also been attempted as a means of overcoming
this disadvantage to its general use as a household fuel but ap-
parently no great commercial success has as yet been attained in
the manufacture. Up to the present the material used has been
the raw lignites, from which most of the moisture has been evap-
orated by heating, combined and compressed with various per-
centages of coal tar pitch or asphaltum. A satisfactory fuel of
this character demands considerable experimentation to find just
what condition of dryness and percentage of pitch will yield,
when pressed, a strongly coherent block of proper burning
qualities.
In place of simply drying the lignite it may be subjected to
a charring process which provides for the recovery of the by-
products consisting of gas, oils, and tar. The charred product
The Geology of East Texas 277
briquetted with coal tar pitch forms an excellent fuel for all
purposes. While no commercial installation of this character has
been attempted here estimates, based on experimental runs which
show the extent and value of the by-products, seem to indicate
the entire practicability of such a scheme,^.
These various methods have to do with the use of lignite by
direct firing and it is probable that each of them will in time
play its part in the utilization of this fuel. The demand for
electric power at a reasonable price cannot be fully met by such
method but it is entirely practical by the use of the gas from
the charring process or through the manufacture of producer
gas to secure a fuel for gas engines by means of which electric
power can be generated at a minimum cost. Careful estimates
indicate that at such plants erected in the immediate vicinity of
the lignite mines electricity can be generated at a price to com-
pare favorably with those plants in the west using water power,
with the advantages, of a smaller investment in plant. Or it may
be possible to pipe the gas to certain centers for such use: This
in the writers opinion, will be one of the chief methods of lignite
utilization in the future.
As will have been seen from the various sections we have given
conditions favorable for the deposition of Lignite occurred dur-
ing nearly every stage of the Eocene, but, within the area map-
ped, it was only during the Lignitic phase of the Wilcox and in
the Tegua and Jackson that beds were laid down of sufBcient
extent and purity to constitute valuable deposits. There are a
few beds known in the Marine and it is possible that one or more
of these may be of value locally, but extensive deposits such as
are found in the beds below and above the Marine are not to be
expected.
LIGNITES OF THE WILCOX
The deposits of Wilcox age include the lignite beds in Shelby
and Nacogdoches Counties, these occurring in the comer of Free-
stone, Limestone and Leon counties and in the northern part of
Robertson county.
The beds of lignite which occur in the vicinity of Center and
• University of Texas Bulletin 307. Fuels used in Texas.
278 University of Texas Bulletin
Timpson in Shelby county and extend southwestward to Garri-
son, Nacogdoches county, are of considerable extent and of ex-
cellent quality.
A bed of good grade of lignite, 51/2 feet in thickness, outcrops
along the beds of two creeks in the southern portion of the town
of Center. An opening has been made on this bed at one place
and two inclines sunk on the seam. The lignite is used locally
for the production of electric power and for fuel in a cotton seed
oil mill. It is reached in most of the shallow wells in the southern
portion of the town, in which it forms the impervious layer
above which surface water percolating down through the pervious
sands accumulates in considerable quantity.
There is a deeper coal seam underneath the town, but this
lies somewhere between the depths of 300 and 570 feet, since a
well 300 feet deep did not reach it but the 570 ft .well penetrated
it although exact depth was not given. The two wells are only a
few hundred yards apart, but abundant water was secured from
a sand at 300 feet in the one, while the other, having substan-
tially the same elevation, got no water above a depth of 570 feet.
The water in the three deep wells here rises to within 80 or 100
ft. of the surface.
Two exposures of the lignite were examined. The more north-
erly shows from bottom upward;
1 Laminated gray sand.
2. Carbonaceous shale with thin streaks of lignite.
3. Solid bed of hard lustrous lignite, 5 ft.
4. Laminated sand.
At the mine the dip in a S 70° B. direction is 2°. The roof
and floor are both laminated sand, although a few inches of car-
bonaceous shale directly underlies the coal. The thickness of the
solid lignite is 5' 6". Small lenses of sand are found locally in
the lignite bed. At the time of visit the mine was not in opera-
tion and was flooded with water. The water and a poor roof
makes mining difficult at this incline. It may be possible to find
a better location by prospecting.
At Timpson the lignite was successfully mined by the Timpson
Coal Co. The mine was one and one-half miles south of Timpson
The Geology of East Texas 279
and the lignite seam averaged a little over six feet in tMckness.
The floor was a white clay while the roof was a hard black
bituminous clay.
South of Garrison about half a mile mines on opposite sides of
the railroad were operated during the years 1900 and ]901. One
of these was worked by the East Texas Coal Co., the other by the
South Texas Coal Co. Each mine worked out about seven acres
of ground. The shaft of the East Texas Coal Co. was 54 feet
deep and the lignite seam averaged four and one-half feet in
thickness. The roof was blue shale and very little water was en-
countered.
East of Timpson lignite is reported from several wells dug for
water in seams four to six feet thick at depths varying from 55
to 70 feet. Six miles southeast of Timpson on the Attoyac a
seam of lignite four to five feet in thickness is exposed. It is
therefore evident that these seams of lignite are found pretty
generally through an area twenty-five miles in length by six to
twelve miles in width and even though they may not all belong
•to one bed they are all of the same horizon and are similar in
character.
"We have the following analyses on these lignites :
Ajttoyac Timpson
Moisture 18.26 31.96
Volatile matter 43.51 39.53
Fixed carbon ^9.53 23.v)5
Ash 8.70 5.46
Total 100.00 100.00
Sulphur 2.46 1.46
The difference in moisture in the two analyses is due to the
Attoyac samples having been partially air-dried.
West of Garrison the beds of the Wilcox are overlain by those
of the Claiborne until we reach the Trinity river. West of that
stream the Wilcox again makes its appearance and beds of lig-
nite may be looked for in it. They occur in good development
north and west of Jewett.
About eight miles north of Jewett there are two mines which
are now in operation; The mine of the Houston Coal Co. at
280 University of Texas Bulletin '
Evansville has a spur from the Nelleva cut-off of the Houston &
Texas Central E. E. while the mine of the Beargrass Coal Com-
pany has a spur to the Taylor & Brazos Valley E. R.
The Evansville mine has been in operation for several years
and they are now working from the third shaft. The holdings
comprise several thousand acres, most of which has been pro-
spected with drilling machines. The mine is operated from a
shaft 66 feet deep. The lignite seam is 12 feet thick with one
parting at 7 feet. On account of the sandy nature of the forma-
tions overlying the lignite, all of the lignite above the parting is
left in the mine for a roof. Very little water is encountered in
the mine. The coal is shot from place with black powder and
shoveled into cars. The lignite as it comes from the mine is
dumped from the cars and passes over grate bars which screen
it into the lump, nut and slack grades. The capacity of the mine
at the time of our examination was about ten cars per day.
The Beargrass mine is about three miles north of the Evans-
ville mine and is operated from a shaft 125 feet. The lignite is
9 ft. thick with a parting 2" to 4" thick, 5 to 6 feet from the bot- •
tom. Another stratum of good lignite 7 feet thick is known to
exist at a depth, of 350 feet. The holdings of the Company com-
prise 1100 acres held in fee and 1200 acres under lease, with
possibly 150 acres worked out. Some water is encountered in
the mine.
Similar coal is known at other places in the vicinity and there
is every reason to believe that this will prove one of the best
producing distracts of the Lignite belt.
ANALYSES
Beargrass
Mine No. 1
Moisture 29.96
Volatile 41,68
Fixed Carbon 22.24
Ash 6.12
Sulphur ^
The lignite beds of Eobertson county extend from its eastern
boundary entirely across it in a general southwesterly direction
Beargrass
Houston Co.
Mine No. 2
Goal & Mfg. Co.
27.00
25.70
37.91
33.39
27.80
31.91
7.21
8.90
0.44
1.04
The Geology of East Texas 281
and underlie approximately the northern one-third- of the
county. The northern boundary of the lignite beds is approxi-
mately coincident with, but extends across the northern line of
the county, and the southern limit of the field lies along a line
extending from the Navasota river westward to OwensvUle, and
then along the northern bank of Muddy creek to the Brazos river,
near the mouth of Little river, in Milam county. This region
embraces Tidwell, Beck, Heard, and Bald prairies, together with
a series of other small prairies lying across the centre and
throughout the northern portion of the county.
Throughout the prairie regions the brown coals appear near
the surface at various localities, and are exposed in several of
the creeks and washouts traversing these regions. At Headville,
on the C. C. Seal headright, the exposure is from four feet to six
feet thick, and the deposit on "Wilson creek is about the same
thickness. Many of the surface exposures, however, are thin and
of no economic value. Thus the exposure on the Captain Orvis
farm on the southwest corner of the George Robertson league, is
not more than two feet of broken crumbly coal. Another out-
crop of a similar nature occurs in a creek near the centre of the
Joseph Fisher leauge. The coal at this locality is broken and
crumbly at the south end, or toward the head of the creek, but
as it extends northward it becomes dark brown in color and as-
sumes a woody or peaty structure, having all the characteristic
odor of the later material when freshly broken, and also con-
tains numerous fragments of leaves.
The heavier deposits of brown coal found throughout the
prairie regions all lie at a depth cif forty-five feet and over. A
number of borings on the southwest corner of Beck's prairie, on
the Wm. FuUerton league, show section of:
1. From surface to first brown coal 46 to 55 ft.
2. Brown coal 4 to 4 % ft.
I. Parting of sandy clay ■ • 10 to 12 ft.
4. Brown coal 7 ft.
5. Parting clay and sand 6 to 10 ft.
6. Brown coal 3 ft.
Brown coal also occurs in the neighborhood of Owensville,
where it is overlain by a red sandstone. This appears to be the
282 University of Texas Bulletin
last exposure of the brown coal deposits oecurrmg in the south-
ern portion of the county. At Heame this coal is found at 408
feet, while in the neighborhood of Wheelock, and at places be-
tween this place and Franklin, wells, fifty to sixty feet fre-
quently cuts brown coal.
Throughout the valley of the Brazos and in the region lying
between the two rivers, brown coal occurs in the well borings
generally at a depth of thirty feet to four hundred feet.
The exposure on the Brazos river west of Calvert is one of the
best known of the entire region. This locality furnished the ma-
terial for some of the earlier experiments in the use of lignite not
only under boilers or for household purposes but also for the
manufacture of briquettes. The earliest experiments of this char-
acter were those of the writer who in 1881 made a shipment of
this lignite to Havre where it was briquetted with coal tar pitch
as a binder and a serviceable fuel secured. The cost of the pitch,
however, and the fact that the air-dried lignite carried ten per
cent of moisture (decreasing its heating power to that extent)
acted as a bar to the further prosecution of the scheme.
The success of the mines at Rockdale finally brought about
the opening of these beds and a number of mines were started,
some of which became regular producers and mined over con-
siderable areas.
While some mining was carried on in a small way previously
the most active exploitation of the Calvert coal followed the pub-
lication of the Report on Brown Coal and Lignite in 1892. The
use of suitable grate bars increased its efficiency and later the
application of the plans there suggested for locomotive firing to
the engines of the Houston and Texas Central Railway made it
possible for them to use it acceptably as a locomotive fuel. The
records of company show that during a period of more than one
year it was used in large quantities and at a considerable saving
in cost over the Territory coal then available.
With the coming of oil and cheapening of bituminous coal the
use of lignite was discontinued and these mines ceased opera-
tions.
At the' time of our examination the Southwestern Fuel Co.
was operating a mine four miles west of Calvert with a spur
to International and Great Northern Railway. Two seams of
The Geology of East Texas 283
lignite are worked from one shaft here, one being at 75 feet
and one at 175 feet in depth. The upper stratum of lignite is
7% feet thick and the lower has a thickness of 12 feet. But
little timber is used in the mine, a coal roof being carried.
"Water is encountered in the mine in considerable amount,
pumps being installed on both levels, the pumps on the lower
seam handling about 30 gallons per minute and that on the
upper seam handling over 200 gallons per minute. The lig-
nite is shot from place with black powder. All lignite shipped
is screened to about one inch in diameter. The capacity of the
mine is 1000 tons per day. About 110 miners are employed.
The . holdings of the company comprise 1200 acres, of which
about 50 acres from the upper seam have been worked out.
Analysis of Calvert coal:
Southwestern Southwestern Calvert Bluff
Fuel Co. Fuel Co. aid-dried
Moisture 25.64 30.'60 16.45
Volatile Matter 35.55 30.19 40.24
Fixed Carbon 30.28 34.07 35.89
Ash 8.53 5.14 8.95
Total 100.00 100.00 100.00
Sulphur 0.96 0.86 1.17
The lignites of the Wilcox are represented west of the Brazos
by the beds in the vicinity of Rockdale.
LIGNITES OF THE YEGUA
While no mining has been done on any of the lignites which
occur in connection with the Yegua beds of the area mapped,
there are a number of localities at which it is known to occur
in beds of sufficient thickness for exploitation.
In the vicinity of Huntington lignite is found in a number
of shallow wells and in an excavation made at this town by the
Texas & New Orleans Ry. for a water well a bed of lignite
was encountered 25 feet below the surface which had a thick-
ness of twelve feet. To the east of this on GiUand creek lig-
nite outcrops which may be a continuation of the bed.
Lignite was also found in wells drilled near Homer and
284 University of Texas Bulletin
beds of four to seven feet in thickness occur 15 feet beneath
the surface at Burke.
In Brown Coal and Lignite two analyses are given of lig-
nites from this belt. A brown coal of the variety pitch coal,
from the Angelina river, sent in by E. G. Blount of San
Augustine, is of distinctly lamellar structure, black in color,
with pitchy lustre, without any traces of plant structure re-
maining. It is hard, firm, does not soil the hands either on
edge or face, and contains particles of jet-like blackness.
The following is the proximate analysis:
Moisture 12.15
Volatile matter 37.14
Fixed carbon 41.19
Ast 6.50
Sulphur 3.02
The Angelina county brown coal has the following compo-
sition : ^
Water 12.40
Volatile matter 36.37
Fixed carbon 37.77
Asb 13.46
Sulphur Not determined
In Houston county similar lignites are reported by Ken-
nedy^ from Cochina bayou and westward to Big Piney creek
and they are also known to occur at other localities between
that creek and the Trinity river, in beds which are in places
six feet in thickness.
About three jniles north of Lovelady at Wootters Station on
the International and Great Northern Railway is situated one
of the mines of the Houston County Coal and Manufacturing
Company. The same company is also operating the E'vans-
ville mine 6 miles S. "W. of Jewett on the Houston and Texas
Central Railroad.
The main coal seam at Wootters has been prospected rather
thoroughly and averages 5' 10" in thickness over some 5500
acres. The coal seam dips S 10 E at 2° in the workings and
' Geo. Sur. Tex., Third Ann. Rep. p. 34.
The Geology of East Texas 285
it is worked from a two compartment shaft 58 feet deep by
the Eoom and Pillar method of coal mining.
In compliance with the state mining law there is an auxili-
ary shaft situated 100' from the main shaft. It is a two com-
partment shaft also, each compartment being 5'x6'. One of
these is used as a runway and the other is an air shaft for
ventilating the mine. For this purpose a 10' fan with curved
blades is used, and a very perfect system of ventilation is
maintained. The mine is, however, not troubled with gas.
The main roof of the coal is a 3" seam of fine, grained, unctu-
ous, stiff clay.,, This affords an excellent protection from
water and only a minor amount of trouble comes from this
source. Three sumps are provided, one of which is at the
bottom of the main shaft. These are drained with pumps two
of which are operated with gasoline engines and the other
by a steam engine:
The coal is usually picked out, very little shooting being
necessary. The mine has been particularly free from acci-
dents only one fatality being recorded in l;hirteen years of
operations.
Tho output of this mine averages about 300 cars per month
during the summer and 350 ears per month during the wiliter,
the cars having an average capacity of 60,000 lbs. each. The
coal is used for power generating purposes and by packing
companies, particularly in Houston.
One mile north of Lovelady the same seam of coal as that
worked at the mine is found at 120 feet. Overlying the main
seam some 30 feet there is a thin seam of worthless coal.
An analysis of the coal from the mine is given in the report
of the U. S. Fuel Testing Laboratory at St. Louis in 1904. The
coal has also been analyzed by Dr. Wm. B. Phillips, at the
State Testing Laboratory. It is given below:
Moisture 25.58 per cent.
Proximate analysis, Dry Basis : Per cent.
Volatile and combustible matter 52.90
Fixed carbon 33.00
Ash 13.11
100.00
286 University of Texas Bulletin
Sulphur 0.80%.
Ultimate analysis, Dry basis.
Carbon 57.20
Hydrogen ^-'^^
Oxygen 21.67
Nitrogen 1-S*<>
Sulphur 80
Ash lii.ll
100.00
Heating power, dry B. T. U. 10,120.
Kennedy describes the outcrops on the Trinity as follows :
The southwestern lignite field is best developed at Hydes'
and Westmoreland bluffs, on the Trinity river. At Hydes'
bluff the outcrop extends from near the ferry nearly half a
mile in a southeasterly direction. The section of bluff shows:
1. Yellow sandy loam changing into an ashy gray on top, where
cultivated 8 tt.
2. Conglomerate of ferruginous and siliceous pehbles, broken
'pieces of nodular iron ore, ferruginated and silicifled wood
and brown, sand 2 ft.
3. Dark blue sandy clay, having one foot of laminated brown
sandy clay on top, in contact with the conglomerate the
dark blue clay containing more or less of iron pyrites. . . .10 ft.
4. Soft lignite very friable and mixed with sand, in deposition
very irregular, and extending from two inches to 2 ft
5. Light gray sandy clay, the clay becoming more prevalent
towards the base of the bed 10 ft.
6. Lignite 2 to 6 ft.
7. Dark purple clay , -IVz ft.
8. Gray sand, containing nodules of sandstone 4 ft.
The lower bed of lignite at this place is very pronounced,
and forms a ledge in some places six feet wide along the face
of the bluff. In texture, it is strong and solid, of a dark glossy
luster when first mined, which it retains for some time, but
ultimately becomes a dead black, with pitchy streaks. No
woody structure visible, Compact uneven to even fracture,
shrinkage cracks parallel with and perpendicular to plane of
bedding.
This bed averages four feet thick, is from six to fifteen feet
The Geology of East Texas 287
above low water level, and is easy of access. It breaks in
large cuboidal blocks, and disintegrates slowly when exposed
to the air. Its composition is very variable, changing mate-
rially at different portions of the bed. One analysis given
shows it to have 16.70 per cent of ash, but another determina-
tion of a specimen not many yards distant showed only 7 per
cent of ash. It is probable that the brown coal from this
deposit may, with the good facilities for transportation at
hand, be utilized.
ANALYSIS
Moisture 11.80
Volatile matter 36.06
Fixed oarljon 32.56
Sulphur .88
AsbL 16.70
There are in Madison county extensive beds of lignite coal
but the thickness seems to vary considerably locally and hence
no attempt will be made here to indicate workable deposits.
The outcrops of coal noted which would stand prospecting
with bore holes are given below:
In western Madison county on the James M. Harbor survey
along Shepard's creek, on the farm of Mr. Nash, there is ex-
posed 21/^ feet to 4 feet of black lignite of light weight and
only fair grade as it tends to break out in a shaly manner. It
is overlain by 3 feet of laminated chocolate colored, sandy,
shaly clays and underlain by 2i/2 feet of lignitiferous to highly
carbonaceous brown to black sandy clays. This outcrop
caught fire a few years ago and burned for a long time. It
became so troublesome that Mr. Nash was compelled to haul
water to extinguish the fire. Lignite coal is found outcropping
both below and above the above mentioned locality along
Shepherd's creek.
On Cottonwood Prairie in the northwest corner of the Amy
Boatwright League on the place of Mr. John McMahon in
digging a well 10 feet of lignite coal was encountered at 20
feet. This coal is black and lustrous and seemingly of a very
good grade. No data could be obtained as to what overlay
the coal.
288 University of Texas Bulletin
Two miles north of the above place on the farm of Mr. Y7ill
Fannin in the northwest corner of the Simon Jones league in
digging a well Mr. Fannin encountered 20 feet of lignite coal
at 40 foot depth. He claims that this coal was black and lus-
trous and was used by the local blacksmiths for forging. Lig-
nite coal outcrops along Iron Creek, south of Mr. Fannin's
house, but nothing over 3 feet thick could be found. This de-
posit would warrant careful prospecting.
On the Wm.- Curry Survey on Larrison creek there is found
outcropping along the creek 2'-3' of a fair grade of lignite.
The Yegua beds occur only in a limited area in Grimes
county and we know of no lignite in them.
In Brazos county seams of lignite are found at many places
at depths ranging from 30 to 60 feet.
The brown coal deposits are usually found in digging wells,
and no reliable information can be obtained regarding their
quality or thickness. In the northwestern part of the county
a deposit crops out in the bank of the Brazos river near Nebelt
or Black shoals. It stretches across the river into Burleson
<30unty, and on the Brazos county side has a thickness of
from 12 to 14 feet, as shown ia the following section:
1. Bluff loam or river deposits 6 ft.
2. Brown clay 3 ft.
3. Yellow sand, with gravel near bottom 10 ft.
4. Brown coal, shaley near top, but becoming compact at base
of bed 12 to 14 It.
5. Lignite sand
An analysis of the brown coal in this bed made by Dr. W.
H. Melville, chemist of the Geological Survey, shows it to have
the following composition:.
Moisture 18.33 per ceijt
Volatile matter • • 52.62 per cent
Fixed carbon 24.88 per cent
Ash 4.17 per cent
100.00
Sulphur 87 per cent
Of the Brazos river brown coals of Tegua age this deposit
The Geology of East Texas 289
can probably be utilized the most economically. The coal can
be readily obtained by stripping, and the transportation facil-
ities are exceptionally good. The Hearne and Brazos Valley
Railway passes within two miles, and the level tract of country
between the river and the railway line would greatly facilitate
the construction of a siding or branch to the mine, which
might be built at the minimum cost allowed for this grade of
work.
LIGNITES OF THE JACKSON
Lignite in the Jackson is known from White Eock creek in
western Trinity county, near Potomac in northern Polk county,
and on Cameron creek in southern San Augustine county. Beds
of lignite have been found in wells at Groveton; Trinity county.
The exposures on White Rock creek, Trinity county, are situ-
ated 1% miles north of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Rail-
road bridge over that creek. It is reported that the lignite
bed is 6 or 8 feet thick at a minimtim with its base not seen.
The bed is in the bottom of the creek. On the eastern portion
of the Jacobs League about ^ mile north of Potomac and
about 250 yards Avest of the Houston Bast and West Texas
Railroad 31/2 feet of lignite is overlain and underlain by
brown carbonaceous shale. Near the southwest corner of the
Nathaniel Hyden League in southern San Augustine county a
thin seam of lignite varying from 8 inches to 2 feet is over-
lain and underlain by soft clay. In the Groveton wells nine feet
of lignite was found at 52 feet, seven feet at 81 feet, four
feet at 101 feet, and seventeen feet at from 337 to 354 feet.
The Groveton Light and Ice Company's well at Groveton
found beds of lignite as follows: Two feet of lignite at 73
feet, twenty-two feet of shale and lignite at 98 feet, and ten
feet of lignite at 120 feet. Other localities in Trinity county
where lignite was reported but not examined are: (1) about
the middle of the north line of the M. B. Mancha League,
where there is said to be also an oil seepage. (2) One half
mile southeast of Cochino bayou on the J. Bethea grant on
the north line of the county, and (3) near the southwest line
of the James Hanley League.
A lignite bed, 5 feet in thickness, outcrops in the bed and
290 University of Texas Bulletin
the lower portion of the west bank of the Angelina river ort
the Aaron Ashley Survey, 15 miles east of Zavalla, Angelina
county, and is visible only at low water stage. At the time
of low water, when the prospect was examined, the lower 2%
feet was submerged. Extreme low water would cover only the
lower foot or foot and a half.
The lignite is of a fair quality and breaks in large hard
blocks. Samples were secured from the entire five feet of
thickness and the entire bed appeared from the physical ex-
amination to be fairly uniform in quality. The top of the bed,
which is exposed for some 200 yards along the channel of the
river, was characteristically checked by weathering, the sur-
face exhibiting a thin whitish effloresence irregular in extent
and thickness, but never thicker than a thin film. The weath-
ered coal is in fresh, bright, and hard condition.
The coal bed is directly underlain by 3 inches of brownish
carbonaceous clay which is itself underlain by at least 6 inches,
with total thickness unknown, of a blue clay. The clay is
entirely submerged at extreme low water. All known expos-
ures of the coal are in the alluvial bottom lands of the river.
Therefore, the exposure may only represent a local isolated
outlier forming an island-like mass flanked on all sides by
river alluvium.
There is, of course, the possibility that a workable deposit
may be found underlying the higher lands west of the river
bottoms. Unfortunately, no wells have been put down on
these higher lands which would serve to prove or disprove the
presence of workable coal.
The exposure visited is distant some & miles from Turpen-
tine, the. terminus of a railroad (The Burrs Ferry, Browndel
and Chester Railroad) connecting with the Texas and New
Orleans Railroad at Rockland. It is also distant about five
miles from the St. Louis, Southwestern Railway at Monterey.
The coal outcrop could be reached by a spur down the river
bottom from either of these railroads.
Lignites are also found along Chalk creek in northern
Walker county.
On Kelso creek near the middle of the S. Young Survey
about on the line between Walker and Grimes counties there
The Geology of East Texas 291
is a hill where the Brooks Brothers prospected for lignite. In
this hole at present one can see only about 8' of rather soft
medrim grained, gray sandstone, the rest of the hole%eing
filled with sand. Immediately underneath the sandstone, ac-
cording to Mr. Thomas J. Brooks, there occurs 10' of excellent
lignite with a black color and lustrous appearance. A short
ways down the creek another hole was dug and here only 4%
feet of lignite was encountered.
In Grimes county thin seams of brown coal occur in the
neighborhood of Kellum Springs, and stretch across the county
in a northeasterly direction as far as the Bedias postofSce, near
the northeastern corner of the county. A seven foot deposit of
brown coal also occurs in Tanyard creek, on the Boatright head-
right, near Piedmont Springs. This coal as exposed is of the
brown grade throughout the upper three feet and is mixed with
a brown clay, while the lower four feet, of blacker coaL is too
much mixed with a black sand to be of any economic value.
In the record of a boring at Lamb Spring, fifteen miles north
of Navasota, brown coal has been reported at various depths and
having various thicknesses. Koughly, the section of this well
shows :
1. Brown coal, first seam at 12 feet 2 ft.
2 Brown coal, second seam at 34 feet 2% ft.
3. Brown coal, third seam at 38 feet 2 ft.
4. Brown coal, fourth seam at 41 feet 7 ft.
5. Brown coal, fifth seam at 52 feet 10 ft.
Several deposits of brown coal are reported as occurring
deeper in the boring, but all are accompanied by water. A small
deposit of coal also occurs in the bank of the Navasota near Sul-
phur Springs.
The lignites of the Jackson have not been mined to any extent
nor have we many analyses of them. It is probable that in the
region west of the Trinity- Angelina divide in which volcanic ash
is so abundant that some, if not all, of these lignites will show
considerable ash.
Chapter XII
PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Origin
Two widely divergent theories have been advanced in regard
to the origin of petroleum and natural gas.
One of these refers these substances to inorganic sources, that
is, makes them the result of chemical action with mineral matter
as a base. This theory is supported by the fact that hydrocar-
bons of this character are found in certain meteorites and in vol-
canic emanations. Its supporters also claim the presence of
igneous rocks in certain fields as further evidence in its favor.
We have no real evidence however to show that any oil field of
importance has derived its oil from such a source, consequently,
while there is no question that oil may be formed in this man-
ner, the majority of geologists of the present day seem to be
substantially agreed that the greater part, at least, of oil and
gas in place of being of inorganic origin is derived from the re-
mains of plant and animal life and therefore of organic origin.
Apparently the first step in such formation of petroleum is the
separation and segregation of the fatty materials of the remains
of plants and animals by the action of bacteria and it is from the
fatty matters thus produced that petroleum and natural gas are
derived by natural processes of partial decomposition, distill-
ation, rendering or refining.
The transformation of this fatty material into petroleum and
gas is ascribed by many, if not most, geologists to some form of
temperature or pressure distillation, or some poeess of fermen-
tion, (geodynamic or geoehemic agencies) acting on these ma-
terials after they have been entombed in the rocks. That is, that
the animal or vegetable matter, either as debris or altered into
fatty matters such as resins, waxes or adipocere, is embedded in
the sediments at the time of their deposition and later converted
into petroleum or gas through some of the various methods in-
cluded under the general statements above.
On the other hand there are those who believe that this trans-
The Geology of East Texas 293
formation takes place before deposition. This would necessitate
the decomposition of the organic bodies "elsewhere than in the
strata themselves and yet in such a place that the oil would be
retained and collected until it was liberated upon the surface of
rivers which were depositing the sediment"^.
We have here in contradistinction to the prevalent theory that
the transformation of the fatty materials derived from organic
remains into petroleum takes place after the burial of these ma-
terials in the sedimentary rocks, through the action on them of
pressure distillation, or by some geo-chemic process, one which
postulates the formation of petroleum from similar material, by
natural processes, at the surface of the earth, without the inter-
position of geo-dynamic agencies, and its contemporaneous depo-
sition as petroleum with those sediments with which it is origi-
nally connected.
The actual formation of petroleum and other bitumens at the
surface of the earth in such relation to other sediments as might
permit their deposition in the manner claimed for them seems to
be fairly well established by observations in various parts of the
world.
Among the localities described may be mentioned the small
bays of the Red Sea, the region of the Dead Sea, the Mediterra-
nean between Cypress and Syria, the Gulf of Suez, sea marshes
in Sardinia and Sweden and numerous peat-ibogs.
The actual formation of petroleum and other bitumens in
peat-bogs, at the bottoms of bays, along the margin of the sea
and even on the sea-floor, would appear to be as well established
as any of the facts upon which the pressure-distillation theory is
based.
The association of such petroleum with sediments in course of
formation, and the readiness with which surface petroleum is
carried down and deposited by muddy waters are facts in favor
of contemporaneous deposition, which is further sustained by
many field observations which seemingly admit of no other ex-
planation. This is especially true of the coastal fields of Texas
and Louisiana.
' Murray Stuart, Geological Survey Imdia, Vol. XI, p. 239.
294 University of Texas Bulletin
OCCUERENCE
The presence of oil and gas was recognized in East Texas
many years before the drill made it available. Seeps of oil and
beds of asphalt were known at Sour Lake, Saratoga and else-
where. Gas springs, sulphur waters and mud volcanoes, all of
which are evidences of oil and gas, were known, but no one sus-
pected the vast stores which have been brought to light.
Small wells were found near Nacogdoches, at Sour Lake and
Saratoga during the fifteen years preceeding, but the real birth
of the oil industry in the Coastal Area of Texas, was the bring-
ing in of the Lucas well at Spindletop, three miles south of Beau-
mont in January 1901. It has been said of this well that
probably no other event in the development of the petroleum in-
dustry in the United States caused such a profound sensation,
reaching all of the interests concerned with the production and
sale of this article, as the unexpected outburst of this well and
not until it was found that the petroleum produced by this
gusher was 22° Beaume and contained a large proportion of sul-
phur (thus decreasing its value for refining purposes under proc-
esses then in use) was confidence restored to the producers in
the Eastern petroleum fields.
The bringing in of the well was followed by the drilling of
many wells in the Coast country, and from these we have learned
something of the location and nature of the deposits, although
there is much that is not yet clear.
As the gusher oil was originally found in connection with the
domes at Spindletop, Sour Lake, Humble, etc., it was at first
believed that all domes might prove to be oil domes. This was
soon found to be a mistaken idea, but even today it is not possi-
ble to say, in advance of drilling, whether a given dome will or
will not prove an oil producer. We do know, however, that oil
is not confined to the domes proper but may occur where no
doming is apparent at the surface, provided the underground
structure is favorable.
In the Coastal Area of East Texas oil occurs at several hori-
zons beginning with the Cretaceous.
The active deposition of Cretaceous oil began with the Wood-
bine series.
The Geology of East Texas 295
From Woodbine the outcrop of the formation stretches east-
ward into Louisiana, where it is known as the Bingen sand, and
in the Caddo region the sands are highly petroliferous and fur-
nish the best wells of that belt. The productive oil and gas of
the Eagle Ford is confined to the "Blossom sand", which is un-
known as such on the Colorado. Gas is plentiful in the Blossom
sand in the Caddo field, but such oil as is found there is heavy,
and producing wells are rare if not unknown. The bituminous
and even petroliferous character of the shale is apparent, how-
ever, at many places along its outcrop in central Texas, and it
furnishes seepages of a heavy tarry oil from small wells near
Waters Park, north of Austin.
The Annona chalk, which is the eastern representative of a
portion of the upper Austin or basal Taylor, is a good oil hori-
zon, and the Nacatoch sand, probably the equivalent of part of
the Taylor, is an excellent gas horizon. Thus, in Louisiana, there
are four distinct horizons of gas and oil in the Upper Cretaceous,
the principal of which is the Woodbine, or Bingen, as it is locally
known, and it is probable that the oil and gas in these beds are
largely indigenous.
The deposits of commercial value occur in coimection with
folds and domes, and at present are best developed in the area
between Red River and the Sabine, but may extend to the west
of the latter.
The other occurrences of Cretaceous oil west ofthe Sabine
river are confined to the Taylor beds. The pools at Powell, Cor-
sicana, San Antonio, Thrall and other localities find their supply
in these beds. In some of these the oil is possibly indigenous,
but at Thrall it is probably migratory.
The deposits of Eocene age, in spite of their wide areal distri-
bution in the Gulf Coastal Plain of Texas and Louisiana, have
yielded comparatively small amounts of petroleum.
No oil whatever is known in the Midway or Wilcox of the
Lower Eocene and only a few small pools have been found in
the Marine beds which overlie them. In Nacogdoches county
small bodies of oil were found, and another smaU amount of
similar oil was found in these beds at Crowther in McMuUen
county, some 300 miles southwest of the first. While oil indi-
296 University of Texas Bulletin
cations may occur at other points, no workable deposits are
known.
The Tegua sub-stage of the Claiborne, however, has proved
to be a very valuable gas horizon in the region between the
Sabine and the Eio Grande, and it may be that it will equal
in productiveness some of the sands of the Cretaceous, or even
those of the Carboniferous, when it shall have been properly
exploited.
Beds of the Jackson and Oligocene, which followed these,
are equally destitute of oil.
The probabilities are, therefore, that while the conditions
were favorable for the formation and deposition of vast quan-
tities of lignites and an abundance of other organic matter
during the Eocene, the conditions for the formation or storage
of petroleum were comparatively unfavorable.
The Tertiary oil of the Gulf Coast proper all occurs in sedi-
ments of Neocene age, often in or around domes, and fre-
quently in connection with deposits of salt, gypsum and sul-
phur.
While the shore deposits of the Fleming beds are non-bitu-
minous and no sign of either oil or gas has ever been found
in them, the seaward extensions are bituminous to a consider-
able degree. Small pieces of lignite and asphaltic material
have been reported from a widely extended series of wells.
Shows of oil appear in these beds at various horizons and
good wells have been obtained in them. Wells in the Sara-
toga field drilled to a depth of over 2,200 feet obtained their
supplies from sandy shales belonging to this series.
The Lafayette, which closes the Pliocene in the area, shows
in some wells a thickness of 500 feet of sands, gumbos, and
clays. They carry water in abundance, but no oil.
Of the overlying Pleistocene deposits the Beaumont clay, of
Port Hudson age, is most characteristic. These clays and
sands are very variable in thickness. In places the Pliocene
beds are found in low hills, surrounded but not covered by
the clays, while in others the Beaumont clays show a thick-
ness of 2,500 ft. and more, above these beds.
The probabilities are, as stated, that all the oil of the Louisi-
ana and Texas coastal belt is of Neocene age. It is separable
The Geology of East Texas 297
into two classes, shale oil and dome oil. The first is regarded
as indigenous to the beds in which it is found, and the second
as migratory oil derived from it.
The relations of these two classes of oil are particularly
well shown in the Humble field.
The dome oil was first discovered, and the field brought in,
in 1904. The wells were comparatively shallow, being usually
less than 1,400 feet and the oil, like that of the other dome
fields, was of 20 to 24 gravity Beaume. The plug of under-
lying salt was found at 1,400 to 1,600 ft. over an extenSive
area.
As the production of this central pool declined, wells were
sunk at various distances from it; and the B'sperson wells, a
mile south of the dome, found a pool of light oil in shales.
Later, similar oil was found in shales north of the oil field,
and more recently large producers were secured in the shales
from 1 to 2 miles east. This oil has a gravity of over 30°
Beaume.
The series of beds in which the oil is found here consists of
shale and gumbo with some sand and dips away from the
dome on all sides. Between the producing area on the dome
and that of the shale oil belts on its flanks, there is a strip
half a mile or more in width in which oil is not found in any
quantity and in this belt the beds are apparently mucTi broken.
The conditions indicate that a mass of salt and gypsum has
come up through the sedimentary beds which are broken and
tilted. This condition is repeated in other domes whether oil
is present or absent, and it is probable that the origin and
original distribution of the oil was entirely independent of
the domes or dome material. The oil was formed in the usual
manner and deposited in beds of Neocene age. The movements
which gave rise to the domes permitted and facilitated the
collection and concentration of this oil into pools. When the
uplift which caused one of the domes was close to one of
these pools it captured a part or all of its oil which naturally
gravitated to the highest point possible. Where oil pools
were absent the domes are not oil bearing.
20-BT.
298 University of Texas Bulletin
CRETACEOUS OIL AND GAS
One of the first really productive oil fields of the State was
that at Corsieana which found its oil in the Taylor marls.
When the writer examined the field in May, 1897, there were
six small flowing wells which got their oil at 1040 to 1050
feet. Later the field had a wider development and a second
field was brought in to the eastward known as the Powell
field. This seemed to occupy the crest of a gentle fold with
general northeast-southwest strike. While there is a possi-
bility of other similar folds occurring between this and the
line of Cretaceous islands none have yet been found.
Gas and oil are found at Mexia and Wortham in the Taylor
marls of the Upper Cretaceous. The horizon is substantially
the same as that of the oil and gas at Corsieana and the oil
at Powell.
The Mexia field is situated in the northwestern portion of
Limestone county. Most of the wells are located within the
radius of a mile of the town of Mexia, mostly west and north-
west, north and northeast of that town, but others have been
put down to the south and between Mexia and Wortham on
the north.. The elevation of Mexia is approximately 530 feet.
The wells have depths ranging from 670 feet to 1500 feet.
The Wortham wells are mostly within the town of that
name, which is situated on the Houston & Texas Central Rail-
road in the extreme northwestern corner of Freestone county.
Wortham has an elevation of approximately 475 feet. The
wells have depths ranging between 1000 feet and 1200 feet.
Well No. 1 of the Mexia Oil & Gas Company tested 14,550,-
000 cubic ft. of gas per 24 hours, with a rock pressure of 275
pounds per square inch. The gas is entirely dry. It had the
comparatively high fuel value of 965 B. t. u. Well No. 3 of
the Mexia Oil & Gas Company had a rock pressure of 220
pounds per square inch and produced half to three-quarters of
a million cubic feet per day after being allowed to run for
some months.
At Wortham the gas emits a strong odor. The first notable
well came- in during the latter part of May, 1912. The pres-
sure appeared to be about 200 pounds and the production
The. Geology of East Texas 299
about two and a half million cubic feet per day. The well
sprayed black oil claimed to be 28 degrees Beaume gravity.
It rapidly went to salt water, claimed to give ofE an odor of
ammonia.
Throughout the area eastward of these occurrences the beds
of the Cretaceous are buried beneath the Tertiary sediments,
so we cannot know the exact relations.
On the western border of the Sabine pmbavment the Creta-
ceous was uplifted and folded prior to the deposition of the Ter-
tiary and similar uplifting occurred on the eastern margin. We
have, as yet, found no evidence of such folding between the Cre-
taceous islands and the Sabine peninsula. Any folding of the in-
terior area at a later date would have involved Tertiary beds and
would probably be evidenced by surface conditions. Since
the Tertiary of this region §hows few structures of this kind,
it is probable that such movements were either rare or of lim-
ited extent.
The occurrence of Cretaceous oil in commercial quantities
in this area could only be expected in connection with such
structure, and therefore the chances for productive pools from
beds of this age within this Sabine basin seem few.
The only occurrences of Cretaceous beds known in this area
are those of the Cretaceous islands in Anderson and Freestone
counties and along the western border of the Sabine Peninsula
in Panola and Shelby .counties, and as yet no commercial pro-
duction of oil has been secured from them.
The Butler dome in southeastern Freestone county covers an
area of about four square miles and the differences in elevation
between the lowest and highest points are more than 100 feet.
While it has not been studied as carefully as some of the
better known localities it has been proven to be one of the
chain of Cretaceous islands and the materials exposed are said
to include beds from the Woodbine to the Taylor. No drilling
has been done to test the oil conditions.
The Palestine dome^ is located six miles west of Palestine.
Here we find a depression of irregular shape, with a maximum
diameter not exceeding three quarters of a mile. The bottom
■U. S. G. S. Bull. 661, p. 253.
300 University of Texas Bulletin
of the depression is occupied by a shallow lake with its surface
fifty feet below the general level. The banks on the eastern
and northern sides slope upward gradually, but that on the
west is more abrupt.
The lowest rock exposed is a sandstone, which, as proved
by its fossils, is of Woodbine age. Between this and the under-
lying body of salt, 140 feet below, there is 85 feet of gray to
yellow water sand, 40 feet of dark gray sandy clay, under
which there is in places a eaprock of hard limestone of vary-
ing thickness. Apparently, therefore, the Woodbine rests di-
rectly upon the salt mass.
The Woodbine, at its exposure, shows a dip of 46 degrees
to the northwest. It is overlain by the Eagle Ford, Austin,
Taylor (?) and Navarro beds, all of which dip northwest at
angles varying from 40 to 50 degrees. No beds were found
which can he referred either to the Midway or the Lower
Wilcox, the lowest Tertiary beds being sands, clays and lig-
nites belonging to the Middle or Upper Wilcox. According
to Hopkins, these Wilcox beds in the vicinity of the dome
show southeast dips of 38 to 57 degrees, which decrease within
a mile and a half to 20 or 30 degrees, and within three miles
become normal. On the_ northeast and southeast the Clai-
borne beds reach within 3 to 5 miles of the dome, but show
little, if any, change from normal dip.
Six miles northeast of this locality, the Keechi dome shows
the Austin Chalk at the surface, surrounded by the Navarro
beds, and these are in turn encircled' by the Wilcox, which
dips away from the dome at angles varying between 20 and 30
degrees (Hopkins). As in the case of the Palestine dome, the
Claiborne is 3 to 4 miles northeast of the Keechi dome.
The thickness of the beds as interpreted from logs of the
wells would be approximately 500 feet for the Navarro and
Taylor, 800 feet for the Austin and Eagle Ford, and 400 feet
for the Woodbine. The salt mass reached at 2200 feet was
drilled into for 900 feet, a 30 foot bed of water sand being
encountered in it at a depth of 2900 feet.
Hopkins summarizes the possibilities of oil and gas in the
Palestine dome as follows:
"The highly folded, faulted, and eroded condition of the
The Geology of East Texas 301
Palestine dome and the general absence of oil and gas as sur-
face seepages and in shallow wells in this area detract from
its oil prospects. The tilting and faulting of the rocks prob-
aljly provided outlets for the escape of oil, and as no evidence
of oil exists the conclusion is suggested that no large amount
remains here, even if it ever accumulated. It is possible, how-
ever, that the soft and dominantly impervious nature of the
formations involved in this fold closed up any possible lines
■^f escape for the oil, as its absence at the surface may be in-
terpreted to indicate. The eroded condition of the dome, as
shown by the presence of Cretaceous rocks at the surface, and
the presence of the salt core within 140 feet of the surface
over a large area are also unfavorable conditions, as they
eliminate the possibility that oil may be found on the crest
of the dome, which might otherwise be the most favorable for
its occurrence. Oil in commercial quantities has not yet been
found in a salt dome so far removed from the coast as this one.
"The most likely area for the occurrence of oil, if it is pres-
ent in this dome, is within a belt about half a mile wide that
surrounds the area in which salt approaches within a few
hundred feet of the surface. The most favorable part of this
belt is probably near its inner margin, where the underlying
formations may be tilted up against the salt mass and prob-
ably end against it.
"So far as observed, there are no subsidiary folds on the
flank of the domes that would serve to trap upward-migrating
oil; if such a trap exists it is at a considerable distance from
the dome or is produced by the pinching out of a porous bed
or by a fault."
The Keechie dome has been prospected to some extent.
The Producers Oil Co. Barrett & Grenwood well No. 1 is ou
the southern slope of the dome, near the contact of the Wilcox
and Navarro formations. It is reported to have reached the
Austin chalk at &86 feet and the top of the Woodbine (?j
sand at 1,686 feet; it penetrated rock salt from 2,200 to 2,900
feet, water-bearing sand from 2,900 to 2,930 feet, and rock
salt from 2,930 to 3,130 feet, at which depth it was abandoned.
The Woodbine ( ?) sand yielded 1 or 2 barrels of heavy tarry
oil at 1,686 feet. A second well was drilled on the same lease,
302 University of Texas Bulletin
1,000 feet east of south of the first. The Austin chalk is re-
ported in this well at about 1,400 feet, and the Woodbine (?)
sand, which yielded salt water that could not be bailed below
500 feet, at 2,297 feet. The dip from the first to the second
well, as indicated by the Woodbine sand, is about 35'. The
possibility of finding oil in this dome is considered better than
in the Palestine dome because it appears to be less faulted,
the salt core does not come so close to the surface, and the
Woodbine (?) sand is within reach of the drill and also deeply
enough buried to have retained its oil^.
While the Navarro and Taylor do not appear to be oil-
bearing at either the Palestine or Keechie domes, there may
be some place along the general" line of uplift where more
favorable conditions exist.
Wells drilled along the western border of the Sabine Plateau
from Carthage to Sabinetown have found Cretaceous beds at
various depths with both oil and gas.
In June, 1916, the Palmetto Petroleum Company, drilling a
well on the Trosper farm in the northeastern corner of Panola
county, had a blow-out from a sand found at 1050 feet. The
flow was estimated at ten million cubic feet of gas and four
thousand barrels of water daily. The gas not only came up
from the well, but broke out at five different points, one of
them a thousand feet away from the well. On June 25 th it
was estimated that at least 25,000,000 cubic feet of gas was
escaping from the six vents.
A number of wells have been drilled in the vicinity, and the
chalk has been found at depths varying from 1600 to 1800 feet.
Apparently this is near the western border of the Sabine Penin-
sula, and it is entirely possible that oil may be found here in
commercial quantities.
Another locality at which Cretaceous oil has been found is at
Flat Fork between Center and Tenaha in Shelby county This
is south of the Panola locality and like it, is apparently near the
western border of the Sabine Peninsula. The surface formation
belongs to the Lignitic phase of the Wilcox and in one of the
wells drilled here this formation has a thickness of 840 feet and
> Hopkins, U. S. Geol. Sur. Bull. 661, pp. 267.8.
The Geology of East Texas 303
carries some light showings of oil and gas. The underlying Mid-
way is only 140 feet in thickness and overlies the Cretaceous at
980 feet. The Annona chalk was found at 1690 feet and oil was
found at 2020 feet. Kennedy reported that properly handled
this well might be deyeloped into a producer giving 25 to 50 bar-
rels per day, but that it should be deepened to the "Woodbine
sands which he estimated would be found at about 2400 feet.
In the vicinity of Sabinetown several wells have been drilled
into the Cretaceous.
One mile west of town, the Sabine Ore & Mineral Company
drilled a 1500 ft. hole in which the top of the Wilcox was struck
at 80 feet and showed a thickness of 980 feet. It was underlain
by 200 feet of Midway beds and the top of the Cretaceus (Arka-
delpha shales?) was reached at 1265 feet. Some showings of oil
and gas were found in these wells.
A well drilled on the Jesse Low Survey four miles south of
Sabinetown is reported to have reached the Annona chalk at 1900
ft. This well showed gas at 1100, 1500, 1900 and 2300 feet, and
the gas burned for over two years. The total depth of the well
was 2332 ft.
Ten miles south of this locality a well was drilled on Housing
bayou. The log shows: 580 feet of Tegua materials underlain
by over 700 feet of Cook's Mountain with the Wilcox forming
the bottom hole from 1315 to 1749 ft. If the Wilcox maintains
the same thickness here as in the well west of Sabinetown, 12
miles north, the top of the Cretaceous would be found at 2330
feet, or nearly 1000 feet deeper than in that well.
EOCENE OIL AND GAS
A number of wells drilled into or through the Wilcox and Mid-
way^ formations, in different parts of this area, have furnished
small showings of oil and gas and an occasional seep of oil occurs
in them at the surface, but no productive wells have, yet been
found in either formation, and it is not thought probable that
there will be.
In the Claiborne, however, the conditions are more favorable.
The Marine beds have been found to be petroliferous in several
localities, and while the fields are small, they may be worked
with satisfactory results if properly handled.
304 University of Texas Bulletin
The Erst field to be developed in the Marine was that south of
Nacogdoches, known as Oil City^, where operations began in
1877.
The oil is found in shallow wells, practically all of them being
less than 400 feet in depth, and the deposits occur near the mid-
dle of the Cook Mountain beds. The oil sands are seemingly in
small pockets and are irregularly distributed through the bed«.
Seepages of similar oil occur in the valley of Bast creek
two miles north of Oil City.
A number of wells have been drilled at Chireno, one of
which produced a few barrels of oil from a depth of only 14
feet. Some of the wells in this locality were drilled to a depth
of 1600 feet but such oil as is found usually lies near the base
of the Cook Mountain beds and like the Oil City deposits occurs
in small pockets. A well two miles south of Chireno reported
a small amount of oil from what are believed to be Wilcox beds.
The oil of this region has a gravity of 23 degrees Beaume
and although used as a fuel oil has excellent lubricating qual-
ities.
Near Enal, a station on the Texas and New Orleans Rail-
road 40 miles south of Oil City, a well was drilled in search
of oil. The generalized section of it shows 255 feet of sands,
shales, lignites and gumbo of the Jackson underlain by 500
feet of Tegua clays and sands. Beginning at 765 feet the
fossiliferous beds of the Cook Mountain horizon were reached
and drilled into for over 500 feet. Small amounts of oil were
found at 767, 1205, and 1265 feet, but no production was
secured.
Oil seepages occur in the Marine beds both northeast and
east of Palestine and the asphaltic sands resulting from them
were utilized at one time as street paving material at Pales-
tine and elsewhere. Quite a number of wells were drilled in
this region, one of them as deep as 2500 feet. Oil was reported
in small quantities at 864 and 1010 feet.
Southwest of Palestine, between Tucker and Oakwoods and
south of the salt mine small seeps of heavy asphaltic oil have
' Second Ann. Rep. Geol. Sur. Tex., p. 271, etc.
Univ. Tex. Min. Sur. Bui. 1, p. 1, etc.
The Geology of East Texas 305
been found in water wells. These wells are in the Upper Wil-
cox and presumably the oil is indigenous^.
In northern Madison county several wells have been drilled
for oil and' small shows were found at 300 to 400 feet. The
indications are that deposits may exist here similar to those
of Nacogdoches county.
Other occurrences of oil or gas might be enumerated from
these beds but they are all of the same character and while
they may be locally valuable, can only be of limited extent.
While the Yegua formation supplies the largest and most
productive gas fields of the Texas Tertiary, there is at present
no production within the area under consideration and we
have but little information regarding prospective production
in it.
West of the Colorado heavy gas is found in wells drilled into
the Yegua and the gas fields at Aguilares east of Laredo find
their supply in these beds. Evidence of its former presence
in Grimes county is found at several localities in fused and
metamorphosed shales and clays which evidently owe their
present condition to the heat of burning gases escaping through
fault fissures.
The possibilities of the Yegua in this region as a gas field
are well worth investigation.
No commercial deposits of oil or gas have been found in the
Jackson although like the Marine it apparently carries both
in small quantities at a number, of places.
A well drilled in Grahams creek in eastern Angelina county
found a little oil in the Jackson beds at 17 to 42 feet. A small
amount of oil is still flowing from this well. Similar shows of
oil are found in other wells drilled south of these.
Along Pine creek southeast of Bedias in Grimes county
small boulders of grahamite are found in the Jackson beds
bordering the creek. At Weisers bluff on the Trinity a mass
was found in the Jackson eight to ten feet in length and four
feet in thickness. Similar material was found on surface at
' A possibility exists that the oil is of Cretaceous origin and has
reached its present location through breaks in the shales overlying
the salt beds.
306 University of Tsxas Bulletin
well drilled in Little survey near Black creek in northeast
Walker county. Three wells were drilled here. The first
was between 1500 and 1600 feet deep. The second well blew
out at 900 feet, the gas burning for several days. A small
amount of oil came up with the gas. In the third well gas
and hot water were found at 1800 feet. The gas from this
well burns continuously when lighted. This oil and gas comes
from the Claiborne and Lignitic.
No oil or gas deposits are known in the beds of the OHgo-
ene or in that part of the Neocene which occur in this area.
Chapter XIII
SALT AND GYPSUM
The salt deposits of the coastal region of Texas are of great
extent and are scattered over a wide area.
DOMES
By far the most important deposits are found in connection
with the domes which occur as Cretaceous islands in the Eocene
of the interior and those of later age which are found nearer
the Gulf scattered through the Neocene belt. In addition to
the inexhaustible supply from these sources a large number
of Salines or salt springs occur in connection with palustrinal
deposits of the Eocene, many of which could be utilized for
the production of salt as some have been during times when
other supply was less readily available.
The best known of the salt domes within our area is that
southwest of Palestine, a brief description of which was given
in connection with the Cretaceous formations of the region.
The core of this dome is a body of rock salt of unknown
extent, the presence of which was ascertained by wells drilled
into it. The salt was found at a depth of 140 feet. The wells
so far drilled indicate that the top of this salt mass or boss
is elliptical in form, the major axis having a length of more
than four thousand feet. The surface of the salt is somewhat
irregular. In the vicinity of the lake the top of the salt
seems to be nearly level but to the north and west the wells
show a pronounced dip in it. Hopkins says of it^ :
"Most of the wells reach rock salt at a depth of about 140
feet, or about 160 or 170 feet above sea level the small differ-
ences in the depth being due to the surface topography; the
upper surface of the salt is thus fairly level in the area near
the lake. In the second farthest well to the northeast from
the lake, however, the top of the salt was found at 77 feet
above sea level, thus showing that the salt mass has a pro-
' Bulletin U. S. G. S. 661, p. 261.
308 University of Texas Bulletin
nounced dip to the north from the nearest well to the south-
west. A well drilled near the western margin of the lake on
the west side of the railroad penetrated a jumbled mass of
rock and shale to a depth of 500 feet without reaching salt;
another well near the northwest margin of the lake pene-
trated 360 feet of rock without reaching salt. It thus seems
that the salt mass dips strongly to the west and reaches a con-
siderable depth near the western margin of the lake. No wells
have been drilled on the east or southeast side of the lake, but
it is inferred from the topography that this area is underlain
by salt at no great depth.
"The shallow salt wells penetrate about 85 feet of gray to
yellow water sand and 40 feet of dark-^ray to black sandy
clay, below which is in places a cap rock of hard limestone of
varying thickness. The casing is set on this rock and the well
deepened through sand until rock salt is reached at about 140
feet. The main factor controlling the location of salt wells
is the presence of a good cap rock which serves as a seat for,
the casing and also holds up the overlying strata until a large
cavity is dissolved out underneath it. "When the supporting
salt is sufficiently removed this rock, being undermined, caves
in, with the overlying formations, forming a large sink hole."
The production of salt at this locality began many years
ago, but was discontinued from tim£ to time. Recently it has
been renewed and a modern plant has been erected which
produces a large quantity of salt of various grades.
The Keeehi dome is also underlain by salt but the body of
salt is so far down that it can not be utilized under present
conditions. The log of a deep-well drilled in this dome shows
rock salt from 2200 feet to 3030 feet with 30 feet of water
bearing sand at 2900 feet.
The Butler dome has not yefbeen drilled. Consequently, we
do not know what its possibilities as a salt producer may be.
The salt of these Cretaceous domes probably had its origin in
the evaporation of seawater in shallow bays during the period
of Comanchean sedimentation or the Mid-Cretaceous interval.
The Geology of East Texas 309
SALINES
Throughout the East Texas region there is a series of low de-
pressions generally known as "Salines" or "Salt Licks". These
• are irregular in size and depth — some cover only a few acres,
while others cover extensive areas. Some are destitute of vege-
tation, some have occasional tufts of short grass; others have a
sparse covering of salt loving plants, while the more extensive
ones generally develop into palmetto covered flats. Throughout
the wet season these salines are mostly small ponds or marshy
places, and during the summer or dry seasons they form bare
spots. Some of these salines have small springs of salt water
which flow during the driest season, and some of the larger ones
have their surface dotted with small irregularly spaced mounds.
Areally these salines extend over a wide stretch of country
and the more important ones may be said to be associated
with the main lines of drainage of the region. They lie in the
low flat lands bordering the Sabine, Angelina and Neehes rivers.
A few, such as the Saline on Texas & New Orleans Section 17 in
Sabine county, another about three miles south of Jasper, in
Jasper county; a Saline near Moscow in Polk county, and Mc-
Kim's Prairie near Groveton, in Trinity county, appear to form
the main exceptions to the rule of the salines being connected
with the river drainage channels.
The salines and salt springs occurring near Sabinetown on
both sides of the Sabine and near the mouth of Bayou Negreei
belong to the Wilcox, "Big Salt" northeast of Lufkin, Bluff
Saline and two smaller salines on the Angelina and Attoyac lie
within the limits of the Yegua beds and Bear Creek, McKim's
Prairie with possibly Stiver, Graham's and a large saline near
the mouth of Ayish Bayou are all within the limits assigned to
beds of the Jackson age. Graham's and Stiver's are somewhat
doubtful as they lie in depressions apparently eroded in the
Catahoula sandstones but near the contact with the Jackson. A
large salt water spring occurs near Rockland and the waters from
this come up through broken beds of the hard gray sandstone
found north of Neehes river in this region. The saline south of
Jasper and probably the one near Moscow belong to the Fleming
division.
310 University of Tfixas Bulletin
It may be remarked here that not a single saline has been seen
anywhere in the territory occupied by the Cook's Mountain or
Mount Sebnan divisions of the Marine beds and although pal-
metto flats are common in the other divisions and more particu^
larly so within the limits of the Yegua and Jackson formations
these are also entirely absent in the Cook's Mountain and Mount
Selman divisions. Thus the Salines are practically restricted
to those formations which are largely composed of palustrinal
deposits.
ORIGIN OF SAIilNES
The source of these salts may be placed in the Lignitic, Yegua
and Jackson formations, which formations are highly saliferous,
while the marine formations of Cook's Mountain and Mount Sel-
man divisions are much less so. The Lignitic beds, as well as
those of the Yegua and Jackson, carry large quantities of selenite
and sodium chloride. The greater number of these salines, es-
pecially those occupying the higher grounds, are associated with
springs of salt water. These springs often carry other salts, such
as magnesia, lime and sulphur, and by underground erosion, if
we may call it so, due to the solution and carrying away of these
salts, the bottom of the saline has been gradually lowered until
it has reached its present condition. The springs, while fairly
numerous, are never very large, but in most instances only rise
a few inches above the general level and the water bubbles over
a few yards to be lost in the associated sands. Many of them
bring up small pebbles, thus forming a small cone arpund their
vent. The springs are, of ten intermittent, but some flow even in
the driest period of the year. Efflorescence of saline matter is
not so conspicuous in these salines as in the lower ones and it is
possible that the greater portion of the salt is carried off by the
running water. In the salines with springs portions of the floor
is often covered with a sparse growth of coarse grass or
palmetto.
Owing to the structure of some of the salt domes, such as
King's and Rathbone's domes in northwestern Louisiana, it has
been suggested that the larger of the salines may indicate the
presence of similar salt domes. "Wells have been drilled to con-
The Geology of East Texas 311
siderable depths at these localities and no evidence of the pres-
ence of salt beds has been observed.
MOUNDS IN ASSOCIATION WITH SALINES
Many of thse salines have small mounds, or as they are some-
times designated, "mud volcanoes", connected with them. Occa-
sionally these mounds lie around the margins of the salines, but
throughout the greater , number examined the mounds occupy
prominent positions upon the surface of the saline. Mounds
occur in connection with the Ayish bayou saline and here they
dot the surface as well as occurring around the outer margin.
On "Big Salt" Saline in Angelina county, Bluff Prairie, Mc-
Kim's, Graham's and several other salines these mounds appear
almost altogether to rest upon the surface of the saline.
Although these mounds are frequently referred to as mud vol-
canoes, there are no mud volcanoes, such as have been described
as existing in some of the oil fields of the world, known in this
portion of l"exas, nor in the adjoining portion of Louisiana. The
only condition approaching these mud volcanoes are the so-called
"suck holes".
These suck holes or quaking bogs were observed n the Neches
bottom four and five miles from Blix. Here the quaking por-
tions of the bog are from four inches to one foot above the sur-
rounding surface. The surface layer is hardened and cracked
and underneath this is a light-blue liquid mud at least 12 feet
deep. Beneath this was a brownish colored fine sand and upon
stirring with a pole the mud gave off a few bubbles of non-in-
flammable gas. The blue mud has an odor of sulphur.
SALINES OF THE WILCOX
There are a number of small salines and salt springs belong-
ing to this formation along the eastern side of the Sabine river,
from which it is reported salt was obtained by the earliest set-
tlers and during the Civil War. So far as our investigation go,
there appears to be only one on the western bank of the river
This is a saline on Section 17, Texas & New Orleans Railroad
lands.
This saline occupies an area of approximately 10 to 15 acres
312 University of Texas Bulletin
surrounded by a slightly elevated sandy ridge. The surface ma-
terial is a grayish while sand sparsely covered with a growth of
short bunch grass. The bare spots show an efQorescence of salt
during dry weather. Dotted over the surface there are a num-
ber of sinall mounds rising to heights of 6 to 7 feet and having
diameters ranging from a few feet up to 30 feet. A number of
small springs of salt water rise from the bottom of the saline
and a shallow pit dug for water for drilling purposes gives a
fair supply of a strong brine. A weU drilled to the depth of
1500 feet gives no evidence of the existence of a body of salt in
this saline.
SALINES OF THE YEGUA
"Big Salt Saline — This saline lies in Angelina rivep
bottom about one mile east of the Texas & New Orleans
Railroad bridge in northern Angelina and southern Nacogdoches
counties. It occupies a depression along the stream which is
from 12 to 15 feet below the level of the surrounding country.
The depresssion is covered with cream-colored sand ijnpregnated
with salt, which locally forms an incrustation on the surface.
Its surface in places slopes down to the level of the water in the
river, but in other places the river has cut a bank from one to
three feet thick below its general level.
Vegetation is sparse over the saline and there are patches of
considerable extent where the glistening white sands are entirely
bare. Some patches are covered by short grass to the exclusion
of other vegetation. The palmetto is one of the abundant plants
on the saline. Shallow depressions are occupied with ponds of
turbid water. There are several island-like masses, some of which
cover acres in extent and rise two or three feet above the general
surface.
There would appear to be a perennial source of supply of the
salt, otherwise the water flowing through the middle and covering
it with its flood waters would have been likely to have long since
dissolved out the salt. The depression occupied by the saline
may have been caused by a leaching of the salt slightly faster
than its precipitation.
During the Civil War the saline was worked for salt to supply
The Geology of East Texas 313
the local demand. The salt water was secured from shallow wells
and the salt evaported in iron kettles, wood being used for fuel.
Bluff Prairie Saline :— This saline lies in the vicinity
of Vair Station on the Texas Southeastern Railroad in eastern
Trinity county and in the flood plain of the Neches river. The
saline begins in the vicinity of Vair, 600 feet southwest of
Vajr Station. On the south it extends about one half mile
south of the tracks of the Texas Southeastern Railroad. On
the east it merges into the second bottom of the Neches and
on the north into a larger saline known as Bluff Prairie. The
southern saline is known as Cedar Brake Prairie. Bluff Prairie
extends almost to the river at a place 11/2 miles north of the
railroad. The surface of Cedar Brake and Bluff Prairies is
incrusted with salt during dry weather. The surface soil is a
fine white sand. The saline supports a scanty growth of
scrub trees and palmetto. In places the surface is entirely
bare. The level surface of the prairie is interrupted here and
there by low circular or elliptical mounds varying from 2 to 4
feet in height and from 10 to 40 feet in diameter. Small
pines or oaks grow on these mounds when the surrounding
lower surface supports no arborescent vegetation, but here
and there a hawthorn tree grows on the lower surface.
SALINES OF THE JACKSON
Ayish Bayou Saline : — This saline lies about twelve miles
north of Jasper between Ayish bayou and the Angelina
river and covers only a few acres. The surface is bare and
sandy and is surrounded by an elevated rim from five to seven
feet high. The material forming this elevated margin appears
to be the same as that forming the mounds found within the
saline. The water found in small pools is saline. Small limy
concretions occur in considerable quantities both on the
mounds and surrounding high ground.
GrwKum's Saline: — This saline is located near the Catahoilla-
Jackson contact, but from its low level it has been
considered as of Jackson age. The saline proper lies on the
north side of the Neches river and along the banks of Gra-
21-ET.
314 University of Texas Bulletin
ham's creek and covers an area of probably twenty acres. The
surrounding region is comparatively high and made up of
brown sands and sandstones. The surface of the saline is a
gray sand, bare in many portions, some of which are over 200
yards in length and between 50 and 75 yards in width. Other
portions are covered with palmetto. Some portions of this
saline are covered with low mounds from 15 to 20 feet in
diameter. These mounds are mostly covered with pine trees.
Several salt springs appear in the bottom of the saline and a
very strong bold spring of salt water occurs a short distance
from its eastern end.
Several wells have been drilled in and around this saline
to depths ranging from 700 to 2900 feet, all of which showed
heavy flows of hot salt water with a little oil. Well No. 3
produced about 3 barrels of oil with several hundred barrels
of water daily. "Well No. 9 produced about 10 barrels of oil
and over 1,000 barrels of water daily for several weeks. These
flows were always accompanied with heavy volumes of sul-
phuretted hydrogen. No salt beds were found in any of the
wells.
Well No. 3 and No. 4 provided a small fauna of Marine
(Cook's Mountain) fossils. The first from about 800 feet and
the second from a depth as near as could be ascertained of
1200 feet.
It is said salt was made here during the Civil War, but no
record is obtainable as to its quality or quantity.
Stiver's Saline: — This is a small saline near the mouth
of Shawnee creek on the Neehes river. It is much smaller
than Graham's Saline, but very much resembles it. No wells
have been drilled in this saline, but it is reported salt was
made from the brine from small wells sunk to a shallow depth
during the Civil War. Shawnee creek runs across the western
end of this saline and hard sandstones occur in the bottom of
this stream. The ridge along the northern and eastern borders
is made up of chocolate colored and grayish clays and sandy
clays with thin seams of soft white sandstone near the top.
McKim's Pra/irie: — McKim's Prairie is located in the
southwestern portion of the Jose L. Lopez league in Trinity
The Geology of East Texas 315
county and close to the southern boundary line of the Jackson
area. This prairie covers an area of 100 to 150 acres, the
greater portion of which is covered with small mounds and
spots of salt incrustation. Some shallow wells have been dug
at various localities but none of them exceed 35 feet in depth.
SALINES AS A SOURCE OF SALT
It is reported that by the earlier settlers and during the
Civil War salt was made by boiling the salt water found at
several places along the Sabine river. Hilgard mentions salt
having been made in a flat two miles south of Myrick's Ferry,
Sabine Parish. Salt was also made from the water of a saline
near Stone Coal bluff and near the mouth of Bayou Negreet.
Salt is also reported as having been obtained from "Big Salt"
Saline near Lufkin.
GYPSUM
Throughout the Tertiary deposits in Eastern Texas, great
quantities of gypsum, mostly in the form of selenite, makes its
appearance. In some of the divisions it is more abundant than
in others ; thus, it is plentiful in some portions of the Midway,
present, but somewhat sparingly, in the Lignitic; entirely
wanting in the Queen City beds; very sparingly distributed
throughout the lower division (Mount Selman) of the Marine;
abundant in the upper or Cook's Mountain division, particu-
larly near the top of these beds. Selenite crystals are even
more abundant throughout the Yegua, which succeeds the
Cook's Mountain, but almost entirely absent in the Fayette
sands, although in the overlying Jackson clays these crystals
again appear in great numbers.
Near the top of the Cook's Mountain beds there are large
deposits of selenite and in some localities the crystals acquire
a large size and most of them are almost, if not altogether,
perfect in form. Many of them are twinned. Amongst the
localities in which these crystals occur in great profusion may
be mentioned a black sand near Forest in Cherokee county;
near the contact between the Cook's Mountain beds and Tegua
clays a few miles north of Bryan in Brazos county, where they
aeeur in a yellowish sandy clay and associated with Claiborne
Eossils ; near the southern base of Cook 's Mountain in Houston
30unty, a few miles east of Crockett. Here the crystals occur
plentifully scattered through a black sand and lie in bunches a
cew inches apart. The crystals found in this region are as a rule
perfectly formed and but rarely twinned.
In addition to the greensand marls and pyrites, the water
found throughout the region occupied by these Marine deposits
s for the most part alkaline in nature. The destruction of
ihe pyrites sets free more or less suphurous acid, which soon
changes to sulphuric acid, and this, by attacking the lime car-
Donate of the shells, forms gypsum which goes into solution, is
5arried downward into dark carbonaceous sands and is there
Jreeipitated in the form of selenite crystals.
The Tegua is very prolific in selenite crystals ; almost every-
where, where the clays of this division are found, these crys-
;als are plentifully distributed through them, and it is difficult
io find any source within this division from which these crys-
;als may have been derived. These beds immediately overlie
;he Marine beds with their abundant supplies of carbonate
:>£ lime, sulphuric acid and alkaline waters, and it may be
possible that the gypsums now found in the Yegua deposits
went into solution in the Marine deposits and were carried up
mto the Yegua and meeting with its carbonaceous matter
were deposited in the form we now find them. It may also
)e possible that particles of lime carbonate were distributed
throughout these clays as original matter and that the de-
struction of some of the iron pyrites occurring in them set free
jnough sulphuric acid to form the crystals, but in the light of
what is known of the structure of other clays of Miocene and
Pliocene age carrying gypsums in another form, it is more
ikely that the selenite crystals came into both this and the
jverlying Jackson division in solutions carried by water. Dead
pyrites in the form of what the lignite miners call sulphur
balls occur in both divisions.
Many of the Jackson clays are highly calcareous, the white
colored ones especially so. The darker clays resemble the
The Geology of East Texas 317
Yegua clays, in that they are liberally sprinkled with selenite
crystals. Sulphur water also occurs in this Jackson division.
These Tertiary gypsums are interesting only from the pecu-
liarity of their position and the conditions under which they
occur. They are of no practical commercial value.
M/ITU no A\Al
CHAPPTER XIV.
IRON
Inteoduction
Although much has been written regarding the extent and
quantity of the iron ores of East Texas development has been
very slow.
General descriptions of the ores were given by several of the
early writers and attention called to them by Shumard and
Buckley. In 1890 the Geological Survey of Texas published
as part of its Second Annual a report on the region subtitled
"The Iron Ore Regions of East Texas" in which after a gen-
eral historical introduction, as full and detailed a description
of the ore beds, and deposits was given as the facilities afforded
us could compass. It included a map giving, approximately,
the location and area of deposits of workable ore, descriptions
of the beds at many localities and analysis of what we believed
to be average ores of the various localities.
Kennedy summarized and discussed the results of this work
and added later observations on it in a paper published in the
Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers
in 1894 entitled "Iron Ores of East Texas."
Phillips republshed the map accompanying the report in
the Second Annual Report of the Geological Survey with some
additions and wrote several descriptive articles for journals
devoted to the iron trade.
Burehard in Bulletin 620 of the United States Geological
Survey has a report on "Iron Ore, in Cass, Marion, Morris
and Cherokee counties, Texas, ' ' in which he descril)es the work
done in the investigation of the deposits preparatory to open-
ing them tip in a larger commercial way. Prom the various
openings made for testing the beds he was able to give a much
clearer idea of their character and extent than was possible
previously when only surface exposures were available.
Probably the greatc'f Oitrt of the ores are limonites or other
hydrated oxides of iron which are popularly known as brown
The Geology of East Texas 319
ore. There are, however, considerable bodies of carbonate ores
(spathaic iron or sphasrosiderite) and the limonite and siderite
are found grading one into the other. Both classes of ore are
usually, if not universally, associated with glaueonitic sand.
Burehard states that ore bodies of any extent are only found
in such connection and are wanting in bodies of siliceous sand.
When the glaueonitic beds are unaltered they frequently
carry considerable amounts of spathic iron as nodules and
boulders. In the beds of altered greensand these boulders of
spathic iron are largely altered to limonite which also occurs
through the sands in other than nodular forms. It is probable
that a large part of these iron ores have their origin in the
siderite and that the iron of the glaueonite and pyrite have
contributed only a minor percentage to the mass of workable
ores.
The origin of these ores has been discussed at some length
by Penrose in the First Annual Report of the Geological Sur-
vey of Texas and in his report on "The Iron Deposits of Ar-
kansas" in volume one Qt the Report for 1892 of the Geological
Survey of Arkansas.
The workable ores are of two classes: The nodular, geode
or concretionary and the laminated.
Kennedy describes the nodular ores as follows^ : The nodular
ore is usually found in the form of irregularly-rounded, oval
and flattened or ellipsoidal nodules or boulders from a few
inches to one or two feet in length. Outside, these present a
smooth appearance and dull or earthy brown color. When
broken, the shell presents a striated appearance of yellow and
brown colors, formed by the alternate concentric rings of iron-
ore and oeher. These striations usually do not exceed one-
fourth to one-half inch in thickness, but in some of the larger
nodules the iron has a thickness of over an inch, and in many
the yellow ochreous concentric rings are absent, in which case
the whole shell, with the exception of the brown outer covering,
is dark blue. The interior coating of the shell is often
a glossy black. Many of these concretions are hollow, a great
number, however, have the interior filled with a core of brown
' Iron Ores of East Texas, p. 14.
320 Vniversiiy of Texas Bulletin
or yellow ocher, similar to that forming the yellow, rings;
others have dendritic formations of ore spreading through the
center and having the ends fastened to the inner side of the
shell. Some few, particularly of the flattened oval form, have
the entire center filled with convolutions of the inner ring.
Most of the rounded forms are either empty or filled with the
same character of yellow sand and amongst which they lie.
Buehard says^ : Both the brown ore and the iron carbonate
occur in nodular and geodal forms segregated in glauconitie
sand and clay in thin lenses and irregular ledges, and also as
more or less honey-combed thin sheets and layers, fine frag-
ments, crusts, small isolated nodules, and irregular masses of
almost endless variety. Unconsolidated material, residual
from the breaking down of such masses, is found in many
places at the surface.
Bowie Hill in Cass county^ ( 1) shows the manner of its occur-
rence excellently:
Generalized section or ore-bearing beds on Bowie Hill.
Residual fragments of limonite in top soil, in places practically
solid ore gravel . . ■ ■ 1-3 ft.
Ledge of nodular limonite, more or less solid % to 1% ft.
Scales and thin bands of limonite with a few thicker layers or
ledges interlaminated with glauconitie sandy layers. The
limonite in this condition, ranges from pieces of the thick-
ness of small chips up to masses 1% feet thick and is
scattered through yellowish to red sand and clay. It
occurs in overlapping, roughly lenticular streaks, or broken
and discontinuous seams. The limonite constitutes, in
the sections observed, 20 to 30 per cent, by volume, of the
dirt. Thickness of limonite sand and clay 12-15 ft. .
Iron carbonate in nodular masses from the diameter of an acorn
up to 6 inches, or in thin irregular lenses, embedded or
interstratifled in glauconitie sand and greenish-black clay
called "buekfat" clay. The iron carbonate is in general
partly altered to limonite or to reddish hydrated oxides of
iron, which form a scale or crust of varying thickness
around the carbonate nucleus and along cracks which inter-,
sect the masses. Thickness of exposed portions of unox-
idized beds 1-5 ft.
•- Bui. U. S. G. S. 620. p. 74. 3. Idem, p. 76.
The Geology of East Texas 321
The laminated ores* vary in appearance as well as texture and
tKiekness. In places, these ores occur in thin laminse of dark
brown or chestnut color, interstratifled with similar laminse of
bright orange or yellow. These laminae rarely exceed a quarter
of an inch in thickness. At other places, the ores become more
massive, occur in beds from two -inches to as many feet thick,
and vary in color from a dark chestnut-brown to a lighter shade
of the same color, with small irregularly disseminated patches
of yellow showing throughout the mass. This ore also occurs in
thin wavy lamince of from chestnut-brown to black color, usually
having the spaces between the laminfe filled with fine clayey ma-
terial. This grade is usually of a very crumbly nature, hence
the name given to it of "bufE crumbly." The laminated ores have
also been made to include the botryoidal and mammillated forms
frequently found intermixed with other ores.
In addition to these two classes of ore there is a considerable
quantity of iron ore of a conglomeratic character spread over
the country which is not rich enough in iron to be considered an
iron ore.
While ores of both these classes are at times found together
the workable bodies of nodular ore occur principally in con-
nection with and interbedded in the Mount Selman deposits lying,
between the Sulphur and Sabine rivers. Similar ores occur south
of the Sabine in the same association as well as in the Cook's
Mountain beds overlying them, but they are not present in such
quantity and so far as now known are not so promising com-
mercially.
Laminated ores are also found in the Mount Selman in con-
nection with the nndnlar ores but the bulk of this ore occurs as
a blanket formation overlying the beds of the Cook's Mountain.
The ore forms a practically continuous bed extending over con-
siderable areas. It varies in thickness from a few inches to 6
or 7 feet and is usually overlain by sands. By its resistance to
erosion it has been the preserver of parts of the ancient plateau
country in .Anderson, Cherokee, Kusk and Harrison counties.
* Iron Ores of East Texas, pp. 14-15.
322 University of Texas Bulletin
SHELBY COUNTY ORES
Beginning four miles northwest of Timpson there is a broad
ridge or plateau extending into southwestern Panola county.
This ridge is capped by a deposit of iron ore that is apparently
of workable thickness and this is underlain by beds of altered
greensand with some nodular ore.
The section is as follows:
1. Sand 6 ft.
2. Ferruginous sandstone 6 in.
3. Laminated Iron ore ti in.
4. BufC crumbly iron ore 3 ft.
5. Altered greensand with nodular and geode ores 4 ft.
6. Sandy clays.
Analyses of these ores give the following:
Sesquioxfde Silica Alumina Phos- Water Metallic
of iron phoric iron
acid
Laminated Ore 64.23 21.20 11.77 0.80 1.80 44.96
Buff crumbly ore 50.72 40.45 7.68 0.25 0.80 35.50
While there has been no development at this locality, the
presence of a body of ore of this area and of the quality indi-
cated by the analyses should insure its proper investigation
whenevej" a market for these ores is available.
NACOGDOCHES COUNTY ORES
During the years 1863 and 1864 the McLain bloomary operat-
ing in the vicinity of Linn Flat, ten or twelve miles north of
Nacogdoches, produced 150,000 pounds of hammered bars from
the ores of that vicinity.
Seventeen miles northwest of Nacogdoches there is an elevated
area kno^vn as the Brewer's Mountain region. This plateau
stretches about four miles east and west vdth a width of two and
one-half miles. This is apparently the southeastward extension
of the plateau in Eusk county as Elkins or Iron Mountain of
similar form and materials lies only seven miles to the north-
westward. Brewer's Mountain is capped by a bed of buff
crumbly ore which, where it is exposed, shows a thickness of
from two to two and one-half feetl
The Geology of East Texas 323
RUSK COUNTY ORES
In the southwestern portion of Eusk county there
is a plateau area of which apparently fifteen square miles
are capped by iron ores. This is known by the local names of
New Salem, Iron Mountain at Gould and Iron Mountain at
Glenfawn. The ore is laminated and buff crumbly and varies
in thickness, sometimes, as at Glenfawn, being as much as forty
inches thick. Taken as a whole the thickness will probably aver-
age three feet.
The New Salem area four miles north of the station of Eick-
law, on the Texas and New Orleans Eailroad, has been pros-
pected to some extent. It is estimated that some 6,000 acres are
covered with the laminated ore, varying from one foot to five
feet in thickness, and selected samples of the ore run as high as
55 per cent of metallic iron. An average of 52 samples of lam-
inated ore from this area gave:
Iron 45.25
Phosphorus .248
Sulphur 057
Silica • ■ • • 12.19
Alumina 8.67
Lime trace
Magnesia • ■ iJ4
Combined water, etc. 13.44
Those ores, while high in alumina, will make an excellent
foundry iron or one well suited to the manufacture of open
hearth steel.
CHEROKEE COUNTY ORES
The most extensive remnants of the limonite capped
plateau are found in Cherokee county, forming the divide
between the Angelina and Neches rivers. Beginning
near Mount Melman this plateau extends thirty miles south-
eastward to Alto with a width of more than ten miles, but it
has been dissected by streams tributary to the rivers named
into a number of flat-topped hills or mesas. These hills and
mesas vary from a few acres to thirty square miles in area
and aggregate approximately three hundred square miles.
324 University of Texas Bulletin
The ore districts of this county were mapped by Penrose and
his general description of them was given in the First Annual
Report of the Geological Survey of Texas from which the fol-
lowing extracts are taken:
The ore belt in this county begins at its southern end, about
three miles north of the town of Alto, and runs in a north-
westerly and north northwesterly direction through the county
into the southern part of Smith county. Going north from
Alto the ore is found capping small flat-topped hills and nar-
row ridges, of limited extent, until we come within five miles •
of New Birmingham. These ore-bearing areas show the ususal
brown laminated ore, but near Alto, their extreme southern
limit in the county, it has not reached its full development
and continuity as seen to the north of it. The ore is thin, and
the hills are scattered, small, and form isolated points, which
though low in absolute elevation lock high and imposing in
comparison v/ith the surrounding flat or gently undulating
country. Such eminences are Collins Mountain, Taylor Moun-
tain, Carter Mountain, and many others, varying from one
hundred to one hundred and fifty feet above the surrounding
drainage level, and some five to six hundred feet above the
Gulf of Mexico. In this region, eight miles northwest of Alto,
was situated the old Philleo furnace. It was worked during
the Civil War, but abandoned immediately after that time, and
it was from the immediately surrounding region that it drew
its supply of ore. Five miles southeast of New Birmingham
we ascend the southern extremity of the main iron range of
central Cherokee County, which extends thence in an un-
broken table land, running off to the northwest for over twelve
miles, and varying from one-half to three miles wide. It bears
to the north and east of the towns of Rusk and New Birming-
ham, and finally ends abruptly at Doyle's Gap, seven miles
above Rusk. Throughout this whole area the character of the
ore and its associated beds is identically the same. The ore
varies from one to three feet thick, is of the usual chestnut
color, and is overlain by from three to ten feet of gray sand.
The town of New Birmingham is built on the western slope of
this range at a distance of one and a half miles southeast of
The Geology of East Texas 325
Rusk, the county seat of Cherokee County, and is the location
of the furnaces of the Cherokee Land and Iron Company.
.Doyle's Gap is a narrow break, half a mile wide, in the main
range, and to the west of it we again ascend the northeast cor-
ner of a similar iron-bearing plateau. This is the eastern part
of what is known as the Gent Mountain country, which extends
.hence in a southwesterly direction to within eight miles of the
Neches river. Going west from Rusk we strike the southern
part of tht Gent Mountain range in six miles, and in about
four miles farther reach the village of Gent, situated on the
southwestern corijer of the plateau. This range is almost cut
in two by Horse Pen and One Arm creeks, running respectively
north land south from the summit, but the two parts are con-
nected by a narrow neck of ore-bearing land. This area is
some six miles long by four to five miles wide and is almost
continuously underlain by iron ore. From the Summit of Gent
Mountain can be seen the sloping country to the west, running
to the swampy bottom of the Neches, some eight miles distant.
Beyond the river the country can be seen gradually rising into
the forest-cLad hills of Anderson County. To the south the low,
flat, or undulating country forming the Neches and Gum
Creek bottoms spreads out in rich pine and gum tree thickets.
To the east and north are seen the ore-bearing highlands of
central Cherokee County, covered with a thick growth of
hickory, blackjack, and post oak, and extending on the east
beyond Rusk, and on the north to within five miles of Jackson-
ville. Gent Mountain is some three hundred feet above the
Neches River. For the first two hundred feet the slope is very
rapid and then drops more gradually to the river.
The following section on the slope of the plateau and just
east of Gent shows the occurrence of the ore:
1. Gray or buff colored sand 1 to 10 ft.
2. Siliceous sandstone capping 1 to 2 in.
3. Brown laminated iron ore 2 ft.
4. Indurated greensand' with thin seams of clay and casts of
fossils 45 ft.
5. Coarse white clayey sand 20 ft.
6. Dark blackish-brown sand, more clayey towards the base,
nodules of rusty clay ironstone showing shrinkage cracks. 31 ft.
7. Brownish-gray sand to base - of section 11 ft.
326 University of Texas Bulletin
To the west and northwest the Gent Mountain range is
bounded by Grum Creek, and beyond it the iron-bearing plateau
again becomes broken up into numerous flat topped hills and
narrow ridges, extending from Gum Creek to the International
and Great Northern Kailroad, and beyond. The railroad takes
advantage of this break in the main range to pass through
the plateau country, and it is the only east and west pass in
a distance of over twenty-five miles. Among the most prom-
inent of these isolated hills are Iron-Furnace Mountain (the
location of the old Young furnace), Gray's Mountain and
Grimes Mountain. Beyond we come to another iron-bearing
plateau. It begins in its southern extremity at Ragsdale Moun-
tain, three miles west of Jacksonville, and extends on the north
to the old town of Larissa, where again it is cut off by Killough
Creek. This range is over six miles long, and three miles wide
in its widest part. On the east side it slopes off in a series of
fertile red and mulatto soils into Gum Creek bottom, which
separates it from the Mount Selman range. On the west slope
of the plateau is a broad fertile agricultural country, with
soils similar to those on the eastern slope, and reaching to
the Neehes river, a distance of five to eight miles. The ore is
of the same general character as that already described. It
varies from one to three feet thick, is capped with the usual
one to three inches of hard brown sandstone, and one to six
feet of gray sand.
The prosperous town of Jacksonville is beautifully situated
three miles east of Kagsdale Mountain, and on the southwest-
ern slope of the Mount Selman range. The International &
Great Northern Railroad enters the town from the southern
end of th.e range, and the Kansas and Gulf Short Line comes
down the southwestern slope, intersecting the International
& Great Northern at Jacksonville. Going northeast from the
tovm, the summit of the plateau is reached in about one and a
half miles. The ore shows itself in the gullies and breaks of
the mountain slope, and is of the same character and thick-
ness as that described on Gent Mountain and elsewhere. The
range is of the customary plateau character, is twelve miles
long, and varies in width from a hundred yards to a half mile.
The sand cap overlying the iron here is much thinner than on
The Geology of East Texas 327
many of the other iron-hearing ranges, and often the bare ore
bed is exposed directly on the surface of the ground, thus add-
ing greatly to the value of the deposit, as the mining of it re-
quires but little or no stripping. The absence of this covering
is doubtless due to the narrowness of the range, which has
made it easy work for the surface waters to wash away the
loose sand, and also to a westerly dip of the iron ore, which
has still farther facilitated the erosion of the surface deposits,
by allowing the superficial waters to run off at a rapid rate,
and all in one direction. This westerly dip is peculiar to this
plateau, and extends along it throughout its whole length. It
is doubtless due to a local sinking to the west of the underlying
strata, prol)ably before the formation of the iron ore, and also
before the plateau was cut out of the Tertiary strata. At
Mount Selman, eight miles n'orth of Jacksonville, the ore on
the eastern brink of the range is seventy feet higher than it
is on the western side, less than one mile distant. Another
result of this dip is to make the eastern slope of the range very
steep, and in some places perpendicular, while the western
slope drops off much more gradually toward Gum Creek bottom.
Mount Selman is simply a part of this range, and the village
of that name is situated directly on the summit of the plateau.
To the north of it the ore extends for four miles, and reaches
its terminus at a point one mile south of the Smith County
line, and a little greater distance southeast of the village of
Bullard. Here the range ends in a small flat-topped hill a hun-
dred yards long by ten to thirty yards wide. The Kansas and
Gulf Short line follows the crest of this ridge from below
Bullard to within three miles of Jacksonville.
A short distance south of this is McKee's Gap, which is a
narrow break in the top of the plateau and is the only inter-
ruption in the continuity of the iron ore throughout its whole
twelve miles of extent. The ore of this area is of very regular
thickness, varying from two to three feet. The following sec-
tion on the eastern slope of the range south of Mount Selman
shows the occurrence of the ore :
1. Gray sand to 2 ft.
2. Brown laminated ore 2 to 3 ft.
328 University of Texas Bulletin
3. Indurated greensand 30 ft.
4. Detritus.
This region forms the divide between the waters of the
Nechcs River on the west and Mud Creek, the headwaters of
the Angelina River on the east. It reaches its highest eleva-
tion at Mount Selman, where it is seven hundred feet ahove
the fiea. From here north to the limit of the iron ore there is
hut little change in height, but from there to Tyler it drops off
to 531 feet. To the south of Mount Selman the plateau main-
tains almo.st the same elevation to within a mile northeast of
Jacksonville, when it rapidly slopes off to 525 feet at that
town. From Ihe .summit of the ridge the land slopes off on the
east very abruptly for a hundred feet, and sometimes shows
two or three successive benches ; thence the grade is more grad-
ual down to the settlement of Little Arkansas and to Mud
Creek bottom. To the west the grade slopes off in gently un-
dulating hills, with a rich growth of pine, oak, and hickory, and
watered by numerous creeks and springs.
The hills on which the ore occurs are steep and show a
broad flat plateau-like surface, heavily capped with post oak,
blackjack and hickory, generally of a small size, but very
dense. The ore crops out on the brink of these hills, forming
a protruding rim or crown, and often covering the slopes
with great masses which have broken off from the main bed.
These plateaus are sometimes as much as twenty square miles
and more in area. They are often deeply cut by the ravines
of creeks which have originated in springs in the superficial
sand and which flow away from the plateau in all directions,
cutting deep gullies and exposing the ore bed along their
courses. On top of these plateau areas the covering of sand
often conceals the ore for a distance of several miles at a time
but it is always found chopping out at the top of the slopes,
and in wells, proving its continuity over very large areas.
The ore occurs in a horizontal bed from one to three feet
thick, and averages between eighteen inches and two feet in
thickness. It is flat on top, but is bulging and mammillary
below and lies at or near the summits of the highest hills in
the region. In fact, it is to this protecting cap of hard material
The Geology of East Texas 329
that the hills owe their existen'ce,' as it has saved the 'undW-
lying soft strata from the effects of erxreferas^Wliiohss^eMe^?^
would quickly have lowered them to the l^Wie©* -tfig' '§ffi?P^ffii#-
ing rolling country.- The iron ore bed is directly undSrlaiiPby
a deposit varying from thirty to forty feet thick of a' soft
yellow indurated glauconite (greensand). This bed is some-
times hardened into a soft rock, easily cut with a -saTv or axe,
and locally used as a building stone. The interior of the bed,
however, where it has not been exposed to the atmosphere,
retains the dark green color of unaltered greensand. The main
ore bed is usually directly overlain by a thin seam of dark
brown and very hard siliceous sandstone, varying from one
to six inches thick, and averaging about one and a half inches.
It adheres closely to the iron ore bed, though the line of sep-
aration is sharp and well defined. Above this is a gray sandy
deposit, becoming more clayey and ferruginoiis towards its
base, and varying from one to sixty feet thick: This latter
thickness is, however, very extreme, and the average is about
six to eight feet. As a rule the thickness of the- ore depends
in a general way, on the thickness of the overlying sand bed,
it being thicker where the sand is less than fifteen or twenty
feet than where it is greater.
Burchard reports on the development as follows^ :
Among the best exposures are those where the ore has been
mined, as, for instance, at the several State mines, 3% miles
northwest, II/2 miles north, and 2I/2 miles northeast of. Rusk •,
at the Star and Crescent mines, 1% miles east of Rupk; a;ad
at. the mines 2% miles southeast of Rusk, worked in, connec-
tion with the Tassie Belle furnace.
The latest and most extensive of the State mines are on tt^e
eastwest spur of the plateau, beginning about 2^2 miles north-
west of Rusk. These workings, which have been . inactive since
1909, consist of open cuts and extend westward for more than
1 mile, interrupted by places where the cover of , sand is tog
thick for stripping and by a ravine where the ore bed has been
removed by, erosion. An unusually good opportunity w'as af-
forded to the writer, in November, 1914, to examine the ore
■' Bulletin, United States Geol. Sur. No. 620, p.'92'et sei
22-ET.
330 University of Texas Bulletin
bed at one place where it had been stripped over an area of
about 1^ acres. The regular furrowed surface of the ore bed
is particularly well displayed in. this, stripped area, and "Vvhen
viewed from the top of a high bank of sand the surface re-
sembles an abandoned plowed field in which the furrows are
still faintly visible. The ore bed ranges in thickness from 15
to 36 inches and probably averages at least 2 feet. Adjoining
the tract where the stripped ore bed is still in place piles of
lump ore about 4 feet high have been stacked up over an area
of about an acre.
Another locality where mining was done by the State is 2
to 2% miles northeast of Rusk, around the west rim of a
northward-extending lobe of the plateau. The open cut ex-
tends around the edge of the hill for a mile or more, and the
stripping was carried to a maximum of 10 feet, but averages
much less. The ore bed ranges in thickness from 12 to 30
inches. In places it contains a streak of sand, as is shown in
the following section:
Section 2 miles northeast of Rusk.
Sand, fine grained, gray, with soil and grass at top 7 ft.
Sandstone, hard, with streaks of limonlte 1 ft. 5 in.
Llmonlte, compact 1 ft. in.
Sand, yellow, soft 5 in.
Limonite, compact 1 ft. 3 in.
Clay, white; base not exposed.
In this section the "sand cap" probably is merged into the
ledge of limonitic sandstone above the ore. At other places the
typical layer of sandstone, about 2 inches thick, is at the top of
the ore. Near the north end of the workings the sand above
the ore contains 3 to 4 feet of fairly hard concretionary sand-
stone, which rendered the work of stripping more difficult.
Ore was carried from this place to the State blast furnace by
a steam tramroad. The last operations are reported to have
been carried on in 1906.
A good exposure of the ore bed was noted on the west mar-
gin 1% miles east of Rusk, at the workings of the Star and
Crescent furnace, where the last operations are said to have
been carried on in 1907. The ore measured 32 to 38 inches in
The Geology of East Texas 331
thickness at this place. More ore is still available here, as
the cover has not been stripped off to as great a thickness as
at the State mines. Ore was trammed down to the blast fur-
nace, a distance of about 1 1-3 miles.
The old mines of the Tassie Belle furnace are 1 to 2 miles
farther south along the west margin of the plateau, within a
short haul of the furnace. These workings have lain idle for
about 20 years. In one cut half a mile northeast of the fur-
nace the ore bed is 27 to 29 inches thick and is covered by 3
to 4 feet of sand at the margin of the stripping. A pile of
lump ore 1% to 3 feet high, 50 feet wide, and about 300 feet
long has been left here.
Analyses of the various ores were published in connection
with the descriptions in both the First and Second Annual
Reports and others are given by Kennedy in his "Iron Ores
of East Texas." These show the excellent quality of these
ores which are very similar to those of Rusk county.
An average of many analyses gives :
Iron 45.87
Silica 10.59
Aluminia 9.64
Phosphoric Acid 0.189
Sulphur 0.063
Lime 0.13
Magnesia • 0.103
Water and Loss 11.87
ANDERSON COUNTY ORES
The iron ore of Anderson County is identical in every re-
spect to that of Cherokee, not only in its general character,
but in its mode of occurence and its origin. In fact, it is
simply the westerly continuation of the same belt as has been
described in that county. Going north from Palestine, the
county seat of Anderson County, the main iron-bearing range,
is met at about three miles from the town, and extends in a
great plateau, often broken up into separate flat-topped hills,
from here northerly towards Beaver, Brushy Creek, Kickapoo,
and the Henderson County line. To the east this plateau
332 University of Texas Bulletin
breaks into small hills extending to the Ne'ches River, and to
the west it gradually disappears in the same way in the water
shed of the Trinity River. This iron region forms the divide
between the Neehes and Trinity, just as in Cherokee the Sel-
man Range forms the divide between the waters of the An-
gelina and the Neehes.
The ore found here is continuous over large areas, and main-
tains a very steady thickness of one to three feet. To the south
of Palestine the same ore is found, but here the bed is gener-
ally thinner and less continuous and the ore bearing hills are
more scattered, though the ore is of very good quality.
Just northwest of Palestine the first of the great range of
iron bearing hills begins. Its longer axis extends nearly north-
west, and it has a length of five miles by a width of about
two miles, an area of nearly ten square miles. Its boundary
begins in the northern part of the J. Snively survey, runs
north through the western part of the S. G. Wells, crossing
into the Wm. Kimbro near the northwest corner of the Wells
tract. Following a general northwest course through the
Kimbro tract it crosses the southwest portion of the S. Hopkins
and G. W. Ford surveys into the M. Salisar tract. Its extreme
northern limit is near the centre of the tract, where it turns
south to near the southern boundary of the survey, and then
sharply east to the corner of the Geo. Hanks, at which point
it again crosses the Kimbro tract. From here it follows an ir-
regular line, crossing the J. P. Burnet, G. W. Gatewood, and
Jno. Shirely tracts, back into the J. Snively and to the place
of beginning. The ore is of the laminated variety with some
concretionary ore in places.
Just east of this is a much smaller area of similar ore is
found, beginning in the northeast corner of the W. Kimbro,
crossing the Peter Hinds and David Faris surveys into the
southwest corner of the H. Hunks tract. This deposit has a
length of about two miles and is not more than one-half mile
in width. The ore is similar to that just described (laminated)
and has an average thickness of more than two feet.
The third area of high grade ore lies to the north of the
two just described and is more extensive than either. On its
The Geology of East Texas 333
c of the headwaters of the Mount Praii'ie Creek have
cut deeply into it, giving it a very irregular outline. Its south-
east corner is about the southwest corner of the Jno. McCrabb
survey, and the line bounding it passes northward through the
western part of that tract into the J. B. McNealy, of which
the deposit covers probably about one-third (the western) part.
The line is very irregular here, and crosses into the Elizabeth
Grace League, of which it covers an area of about one square
mile in the southwestern corner. The line then passes north
and northwest through the J. Hendry, F. D. Hanks, and P. 0.
Lumpkins tracts to its most northern point, on the Jno. Chase
survey. From here it passes south through the Lumpkin tract
and the eastern edge of the Geo. Andring league to its south-
east corner, where it turns east through the Levi Hopkins,
Danl. Parker, Jno. "Wright, and S. A. Mays tracts to the places
of beginning. Its area is nearly fifteen square miles. The ore
is similar to that of the other localities mentioned.
Lying to the northeast of this are found two areas forming
divides on the waters of Walnut Creek. One of these is on the
James Hall survey, the other on the Adolph D. Latlin. The
two together may aggregate one square mile.
Six miles east we find another series of hills in the neighbor-
hood of Kickapoo. The largest of these has probably an area of
three to three and one-half square miles, lying principally in the
Jose Peneda grant, but covering also the southern portion of the
Jose Chireno.
South of Kickapoo, on the W. F. Pool survey, is a large HU
capped with laminated ore. Northeast of that town are two
others on the Goss survey and one on the Timmons, and three
miles east another hill is found, also on the Goss survey.
Just north of Nechesville are two small hills containing ex-
cellent ore. "With the exception of a few areas too small to be of
economic value these are all the localities at which high grade
ores exist north of the railway. South of the railway two areas
of similar ore are mapped. These are, however, not very exten-
sive. One of them is on the "W. S. McDonald tracts the other on
the H. Anglin.
There is, however, good ore on the high divide between Still's
and lonie creeks. It has a length of thirteen miles and an aver-
334 University of Texas Bulletin
age width of a mile and a half, giving an area of say nineteen
square miles. The ore on this is of a good quality, hut it is not
as thick nor as continuous as the beds north of the railroad. The
boundary of this bed, beginning in the western part of W. Frost
league, passes in a direction northeast by east through the north-
ern portions of the P. Martin, R. Erwin, and Geo. Clewis sur-
veys, crosses the Fien Roberts, G. Killion, W. C. Carter, W.
Foreman and S. Tarborough tracts to the T. Pate survey, where
it has its eastern point. From here it returns to the place of be-
ginning by a line passing west though the Yarborough league,
the Webb and Bennett surveys, and thence southwest through. the
W. E. Huddlestone, Neville, Killion, Webb, Thos. Hill, J. E,
Palmer, Jno. Swearingen, J. W. Humy, T. H. Hamilton, J. H.'
Gillespie, and Wm. Frost surveys.
In addition to the areas described there are several others
which, on account of the thinness and siliceous character of the
ore, are not of as great economic importance. One of the largest
of these areas is of rectangular shape and lies between the greater
high grade ore at the head of Mount Prairie Creeks and those of
Walnut Creek, and forming the divide between these creeks. It
embraces parts of four surveys, the Elizabeth Grace, James Hall,
J. B. McNealy, and John Little. Two other similar areas occur
between the first two high grade areas described and the third,
lying east and west of Beaver Postoffice respectively.
On the Stephen Cirist survey, south, of Palestine, there is an-
other area of this siliceous ore, covering more than a square mile ;
ai n iust i^fiiith of lonie Creek are two other hills capped with
similar ore. The most westerly of these covers parts of the Wm.
R. Wilson, A. Killough, J. Gibson, C. Grigsby, and Jose M. Mora
surveys, and the other, beginning in the southeastern portion of
the Mora survey, covers parts of the Kennedy, Jno. Blair, C.
Adams, R. Walker, B. H. Adams, and W. W. Pharr tracts. It is
hardly probable that these ores, if they can be called such, will be
utilized at present.
The better ores are similar in composition to those of Rusk and
Cherokee counties but apparently average a little higher in iron,
as most of the analyses show over 47 per cent.
The Geology of East Texas 335
HENDERSON COUNTY ORES
The ore districts of Henderson county were described by Ken-
nedy in the Second Annual 'Report. They all belong to the class
of laminated ores and the best are found in the eastern portion
of the county. By far the most extensive ore region of this-
county lies in its southeast corner in the district between Mul-
berry creek on the north, and Caddo Bayou on the south. To-
wards the east this field is limited by the broad bottom lands
of the Neches Eiver, and on the west by a series of deposits of
yellow sand. The boundary of this field, beginning at the south-
east corner of the James McDonald headright, passes south
through the Maria Trinidad Equis headright to the north side
of the Juan Jose Martinez survey, then turns east to near the
west side of the Thomas ChafBn headright. From this point the
line curves around to the northeast corner of the E. Cazanova
headright and thence with a gentle curve southwesterly to the
southeast corner jDf the ^\. H. Caldwell headright. From there
the ridge turns southeastward and crosses the Anderson County
line on the Alfred Benge headright. The western boundary of
the field passes northwesterly through the A. Benge and'D. M.
Dickerson headrights into the east side of the Isaac Burton head-
right. Turning northeast it reaches the southwest corner of the
Juan Jose Martinez headright, and thence southwest to the
southwest corner of the W. L. Scott headright. From here the
ore boundary passes north along the W. L. Scott and Simon
Boon headrights to Boon Mountain, on the northwest corner of
the A. K. Jones headright; thence northeast to the southwest
corner of along the south side of the James McDonald headright
to the southeast corner. The total area of this field is nearly
fourteen square miles.
The region covered by this field presents a series of rounded,
oval shaped, and long, narrow, steep-sided hills or ridges, having
a general uniform elevation of from one hundred and forty to
one hundred and sixty feet (bar.) above the bottoms of the creeks
in the neighborhood.
The deposits within the region and constituting the ridges are
comparatively uniform in their positions, the ore deposit being
found at a level of one hundred and forty feet, and where the
336 University of Texas Bulletin
elevation of the ridge does not exceed this height the ore covers
the surface in the form of a flat cap, broken into large boulders,
frequently measuring from six to ten feet in length and four to ■
six feet in width, and having a thickness equal to the whole depth
of the ore deposit. Such points of the ridges as reach the higher
elevations of one hundred and fifty and one hundred and sixty
feet are covered with a light gray and yellow colored sand.
The iron ores found throughout the different ore fields of the
county are all of the laminated variety of Dr. Penrose's classi-
fication, and belong to that division of the laminated ores known
as buff crumbly ore. These ores have all a uniform appearance
and thickness, and are overlain throughout the whole of the re-
gion by a soft brown ferruginous sandstone. This sandstone
thickens towards the northeast, and is found in greater quanti-
ties in the ore fields around Battle Creek than in the region
around Fincastle and Boon Mountain, in the southern field.
While the quantity of ore found in the region forming this
field may not show a thickness of more 'than three feet, and a
great extent of the area may not exceed two and one-half feet,
the sides of the hills all show a large quantity of debris from
which vast quantities of workable ore may be readily and cheaply
obtained. The enormous erosion which this region has under-
gone has been the means of removing the soft underlying yellow
colored sands and allowing the ore blocks and fragments to fall
down along the sides of the hills and ridges, until now these
accumulated blocks form deposits of ore many feet in thickness,
and which will require years of steady mining to remove before
the ore beds now in place will require to be touched. It may be
estimated that within this ore field each square mile of ore de-
posits carries in the neighborhood of seven million tons of ore.
The analyses show that these ores are fully equal to any in
the region in iron content.
HOUSTON COUNTY ORES
No detailed examination of the iron ores of this county has
been made. The ore at localities visited northeast and northwest
of Crockett were rather siliceous and lower in iron than ores of
the district east and north. They can hardly be classed as com-
mercial ores at present.
The Geology of East Texas 337
The deposits of iron ore briefly described above, all of which
lie within the area mapped, and aggregate probably more than
three hundred square miles of actual ore beds, are only a part and
probably the smaller part of the iron ore deposits of Eastern
Texas. Their distance from a proper supply of fuel and lime-
stone and the lack of transportation facilities have retarded their
development, but it is only a question of time when they will be
opened up and form the basis of a very great industry.
Chapter XV
CLAYS
Among the papers prepared for publication ijn the Fifth An-
nual Report of the Geological Survey of Texas was one by Ken-
nedy on the Clays of Texas, in which he brought together all
the information then available regarding these materials. This
report was never printed.
Nearly ten years later Prof. Ries of Cornell University took
up the investigation of the clays for the University of Texas
Mineral Survey and in Bulletin 102 of the University the results
of his examinations are presented. In the preface to this report
he says:
"In the limited time available it was out of the question to
work out in detail the geological relations of the different clay
deposits, but still in most instances the geological age of the de-
posit was known and the main point was to determine the char-
acter and possible practical value of the clays in these different
formations.
"The object of this is twofold, viz., to supply the land owner
with some knowledge of the clay resources of his region, and to
acquaint the prospective manufacturer with the character of the
clays occurring in the State. To the former class a brief state-
ment of the possible uses of the clay is most important; to the
latter class a statement of the physical characters and chemical
composition is the most useful. It should be understood that the
report deals mainly with the use of clay for burned clay prod-
ucts. Those seeking clay for the manufacture of Portland ce-
ment will find the various analyses helpful.
"The series of tests undertaken for this report are probably
the most detailed ever undertaken by a State geological survey,
and it is felt that the results obtained have warranted the time
and effort spent.
"Briefly summarized, it can be said that the work has de-
veloped the presence of an extensive series of refractory and
semi-refractory clays in certain of the Tertiary formations of the
State. These are the Lignitie and Marine formations. They ex-
The Geology of East Texas 339
tend across the State in a northeasterly direction from Bexar
county to Bowie county, and are crossed by a number of im-
portant lines of railroad."
This bulletin records a number of clays from the area under
discussion and gives in the most satisfactory way their character
and qualities. In the following statements it has been freely
used together with the reports of the Texas Geological Survey
and our later investigations.
The clays found in this area may be classified as follows:
Fire clay, Pottery clay, Brick clay, Slip clay.
1. Fire clay. The term fire clay belongs to those clays which
are capable of resisting fire to a marked degree, or, in other words,
to those which are refractory and fuse only when exposed to a
high temperature.
Its use should be restricted to those clays whose fusion point
is at least above that of cone 27 (3038°F. or 1670°C.) Good re-
fractoriness is, therefore, the most important quality of a fire
clay, whatever variation it shows in its other properties, such as
plasticity, tensile strength, air shrinkage, etc.
The main use of fire clay is for the manufacture of fire brick.
These are made of many diflierent shapes to suit the conditions
under which they are to be used.
2. Pottery clay. The clays- employed under this head are
those employed for the manufacture of common red earthenware,
stoneware, white earthenware and porcelain.
Earthenware Clays. These are used in the manufacture of
the lowest grades of pottery, such as common flower pots, etc.
The main requirement of them is sufficient plasticity to turn on
a potter's wheel, freedom from an excess of grit, and adapta-
bility to burn to a hard, dense body at a low temperature.
Stoneware Clays. These differ from earthenware clays in their
denser burning character and greater refractoriness.
Stoneware is usually made from a refractory or semi-refrac-
tory clay, and the best results are obtained by employing a mix-
ture of materials. Where the two clays are mixed together, the
one is selected on account of its dense burning qualities, the other
because of its low shrinkage and possibly also its refractoriness.
A stoneware clay might be as refractory as one used for fire
brick, but differ from it in its denser burning qualities.
340 University of Texas Bulletin
3. Brick clay includes clays which can be used for common,
pressed or paving brick. Many common brick clays can be used
for drain-tile or red earthenware manufacture, and most of the
sejni-refractory buff-brick clays found in Texas could be applied
to the manufacture of common stoneware, No. 2 fire brick, terra
cotta or floor tile.
4. Slip clays are those containing so high a percentage of flux-
ing impurities as to melt to a glass at the temperature at which
stoneware is burned and are therefore used as natural glazes.
The Tertiary beds of East Texas are largely composed of clays
and sands but many of the clays carry too high a percentage of
sand, lime or gypsum to be of much importance in the manufac-
ture of clay products. Deposits of excellent clays do occur and
are being utilized at many localities.
CLAYS OF THE MIDWAY
While these clays carry a considerable admixture of lime and
gypsum there are localities at which they are sufficiently free of
these substances to furnish a satisfactory clay for the better
grade of brick p.iaking Although these clays hnve not yet been
studied the practical tests that have been made are sufficient to
warrant further development of them.
These clays are found very well developed in the country
around Mexia, southward as far as Groesbeek and northward to-
ward Wortham and whatever uses they may be available for may
with equal facility be applied at either or all of these three
places. At Mexia the shales are bluish with yellow and brown
streaks, but when ground together present a yellowish brown
appearance. These clays are quite plastic when wet. As the
clays of this formation carry more or less lime and selenite they
may be considered a non-refractory or, at best, only semi-re-
fractory.
No tests of these clays looking to their chemical or physical
character have been made, so that very little is known regard-
ing their uses, outside the fact that they make a fairly hard
pressed brick burning to a bright red. ♦
The Geology of East Texas 341
CLAYS OP THE WILCOX
The Wilcox carries excellent deposits of clays fitted for
nearly all uses except perhaps the finer grades of earthen-
ware. Interbedded with the 'lignites there are beds of shale
which are often semi-refractory and clays which, while non-re-
fractory, possess excellent plasticity. In other portions of the
beds a red-burning, tough shaly clay is found but the most
valuable clays and those which seem to have the widest distri-
bution are the grayish, highly plastic, refractory or semi-re-
fractory clays which occur throughout its entire extent and are
opened up at several localities between the Sabine and San
Antonio.
These deposits include fire clays, pottery clays and brick
clays and are well suited for the manufacture of a great variety
of clay products.
FIRE CLAYS
The better grade of fire clays are the grayish clays
which seem to belong in the upper half of the Lignitic
section. These were first developtd in the vicinity of Athens
in Henderson county. The numerous openings show this bed
of clay to be of a grayish white color and to have a thickness
of from two to twelve feet. It rests upon a bed of white even-
grained sand five feet or more in thickness. These sands and
clays are found in association at numerous places. While the
clay bed at Athens extends over an area of two square miles
or more it is probably lenticular and one of several similar
deposits as clay of the same character but of somewhat darker
color is found at MalakofE, ten miles southwest of Athens,
where it is mined and used.
These clays are very refractory, the fusibility of them being
those of Seger cones 27 to 30. They are used for the manu-
facture of fire brick and pressed brick.
While the beds of the Wilcox continue southwestward
through Freestone county and it is entirely probable that clays
of this character occur in them we have no record of their
having been observed there. They are found again in Lime-
342 University vf Texas Bulletin
stone and Robertson counties and as far south as San Antonio.
Along the line of the Houston and Texas Central Railway
these clays are found about a mile east of Denny station in
the banks of Grace Spring creek. They lie in a somewhat
irregular form in association with a white sand, sometimes
apparently underlying the sand, at other places interstratified
with the sand, or lying in the form of a large lens within the
sand. This clay and sand can be followed for more than a
mile along the creek. At no place can this clay be said to
have a uniform thickness. It varies from two to ten and some-
times fifteen feet and at one or two localities the clay has a
thickness of twenty feet. The clay is white with a very faint
pinkish shade. The sands are white, very fine-grained, often
indurated and carry numerous small scales of mica. In places
it is stained with iron.
South of this at a point five and one-half miles east of Bre-
mond there is an occurrence of similar clay.
"While the material is not classed as a high-grade china clay,
still it is of a very refractory character. The physical proper-
ties of the clay were as follows: Color when moist, whitish
gray; soluble salts, 0.09 per cent. The material slakes fast
and mixed up with 19.8 per cent of water to a mass of low.
plasticity and very gritty feel. The air shrinkage was 4 per
cent and the average tensile strength 48.5 pounds, per square
inch with a maximum of 57.3 pounds. In burning it behaves
as follows:
Wet-molded Bricklets
Cone
Fire shrinkage
05 03 1 3 5 9 14 33
per cent
0.1 0.7 0.3 0.3
Color
Absorption
Whitish
"White White White White White Whitish
per cent
13.86 13.46 13.13 12.85 12.93 12.06 11.18
The material even at cone 14 (2570 F.) was not steel hard
and in spite of its low shrinkage its absorption was not high.
This clay was so sandy that the material did not lend itself
readily to dry pressing. It does not burn to the pure white
The Geology of East Texas 343
necessary for porcelain manufacture. The chemical composi-
tion indicates the siliceous character of the clay and cause of
its low shrinkage.
Per cent
Silica 83
Alumina 7.4a
Ferric Oxide 0.36
Lime ; . trace
Magnesia 3.01
Soda 1.26
Potash 0.30
Titanic acid 0.70
"Walter 3.70
99.75
Total fluxes 4.93
This is one of the most refractory of the Texas clays tested
and is well worthy of careful investigation by fire brick man-
ufacturers.
Very little use has ever been made of this clay. A number
of years ago Mr. Denny used it for the manufacture of common
jugs and other pottery ware which he burned in a small down
draft circular kiln close to the railroad. The ware burned
hard and of a grayish color and readily took both the Albany
black slip and salt glaze. Although this kiln is still standing,
no ware has been made for several years.
In the vicinity of Headville in Kobertson county there are
several exposures of brownish colored and white clays. The
whites are somewhat sandy and in places iron stained by the
presence of ferruginous nodules. In places these white clays
are overlain by a white sand. The deposits are irregular
in thickness, varying from five to fifteen feet. On the J. W.
Harper tract the thickness exposed is about five feet, but Mr.
Harper says when burning brick in this locality he found the
clay to extend downward below fifteen feet. On the Harper
farm the white clay is overlain by a reddish sand.
The areal extent of the clay in the Headville region was not
ascertained, but from its appearance in a number of small
344 University of Texas Bulletin
creeks it apparently covers several hundred acres, or at least
enough to justify its exploitation.
This material v^hen moist is brownish gray in color and
slakes slowly when thrown into water. It has 0.15' per cent
soluble salts and some fine grit. When mixed with 19.8 per
cent of water it gave a mass which was highly plastic to the
feel, but which had a low air shrinkage and tensile strength.
The former was 4 per cent and the latter averaged 64 pounds
with a maximum of 70 pounds per square inch. In burning
the clay behaved as follows:
Wet-molded Bricklets
Cone: 05 03 1 3 5 9 14 30
Fire shrinkage
per cent 17 4 6 1.4 2 3
Color Whitish Whitish Whitish Whitish Light-Bufe
Whitish Whitish BuS
Absorption 17.20 17.18 15.97 15.82 13.83 11.92 10.71
The chemical composition of this clay is:
Per cent
Silica 70.82
Alumina • ■ 18.90
Ferric oxide ' 0.40
Lime trace
Magnesia trace
Soda : 0.50
Potash .trace
I'ltanic acid - 2.10
Water • . , .' 6.80
99.52
Total Fluxes 0.90
Eegarding this clay Hies" s'ays: "This is rather an inter-
esting clay and while it is a fair grade of fi're clay, it is not
highly refractory, due to its high silica percentage, and no
doubt also due in part to the high percentage of titanic acid."
The white clay belonging to this region and ttnderlying the
brownish gray clays is in many respects similar to the cky
The Geology of East Texas 345
found near Denny and belongs to tne same horizon. Ries
classes it as a very lean sandy clay whose physical properties
were as follows: Color, when moist, white; soluble salts 0.08
per cent; water required 17.6 per cent, slakes fast; plasticity
low, with much coarse grit. The air shrinkage of the molded
brieklets was 3.3 per cent and the average tensile strength 40
pounds, with a maximum of 46 pounds per square inch. In
burning it behaves as follows:
i
Cone: 05 03 1 3 5 9 31 32
ii'ire sbinkage
per cent 0.1 0.3 vis.
Color, Pinkish Plnlcish Pinkish Pinkish
white white white white
Absorption,
per cenit, 14.71 14.71 14.16 13.06 13.05 12.29
The chemical composition is:
Per cent
Silica 77.4
Alumina 15.7
Ferric oxide 0.7
Lime • -trace
Magensla
Soda ,. trace
Potash trace
Titanic acid 0.7
Water 5.7 lOO.Z
Total Fluxes 0.7
The clay burns to a good white color, and is very lean and
sandy, but if it were to be used for pottery manufacture it
would have to be mixed with a denser clay. It is to be classed
as a fair grade of fire clay and if some of the sandy matter
could be washed out of it, the refractoriness would undoubt-
edly be increased
This clay, together with the brownish gray clay, was used
for pottery and brick making a great many years ago.
It will be noted that all the analyses given are those of the
raw clays, that is, the clays just as they came from the mine,
without any preparation of any kind. The effects of careful
23-ET.
346 University of Texas Bulletin
washing or of mixing different clays to obtain material for
special industries is practically unknown.
At one time parties interested in the HeadviUe clay made
an effort to secure its utilization. Some of the clay was mined
and washed and sent to France where it was made into table-
ware which was apparently of very good quality. ' At that
time, however, the cost of preparation and transportation to
potteries proved to be too great to warrant an attempt to open
it up commercially.
These clays are well worth a very thorough investigation.
Their refractory character is fully established and there is a
strong possibility that they can be prepared for use in the
manufacture of the better class of white earthenware.
These clays are also found in the Lignitie beds in the eastern
portion of the State and may occur in Shelby county. While
Walker does not mention the clays he speaks of the beds of
white sand five and one-half miles north of Timpson. This
would be about the proper horizon and it may be they will
be found there.
POTTERY CLAYS.
These include clays suitable for the manufacture of porcelain
and white earthenware such as may possibly be found in the
beds already described as well as those for stoneware and common
red earthenware.
Stoneware clays of excellent quality abound in the Lignitie.
The general character of the stoneware clays is shown in
the following descriptions:
On the north side of the railroad track at Saspamco a num-
ber of openings have been made in order to obtain clay for
the manufacture of sewer pipe for a factory located at this
point. The material is similar to that used for stoneware man-
ufacture at Blmendorf, and the formation involves a series of
speckled shaly clays interstratified with occasional beds of
sandstone and ochreous clay. Owing to the somewhat lentic-
ular character of the clay deposits, new beds have to be opened
from time to time as the old ones are worked out. .The sec-
tion in the bank, which was being worked at the time of the
writer's visit, was as follows:
The Geology of East Texas 347
1. Sandy, laminated, iron-stained, surface clay 1 ft.
2. Chocolate clay .'. i 8 It.
3. Yellow, ferruginous clay (rejected) 1ft.
4. Chocolate clay of dense, tough character 7 ft.
The beds dip gently to the westward and the. deposit whose
section is here given can be followed for at least 1500 feet to
the north, where it dies out. Lying to the northeast and west,
respectively, are two other pockets of clay, and one large
pocket near the works has been exhausted. The physical prop-
erties of the sample taken from the pit in operation were as
follows. Clay dense and homogeneous with a few mica scales.
Color, when moist, brown; soluble salts; 0.24 per cent. The
material slakes slowly and works up with 30.8 per cent of
water to a mass of high plasticity and great stickiness, but
little grit. The average tensile strength was 257 pounds per
square inch, with a maximum of 310 pounds per square inch,
but was found difScult to obtain a series of briquettes free
from flaws, as the clay cracked some. The behavior of the
material in burning was as follows :
Wet-molded Bricklets
Gone: 05 03 1 3 5 9 12 28
Fire shrinkage
per cent 1.6 2.7 3.3 5.6 5.7 9.4 Swells vis.
Color: Buff Buff Buff Buff Gray Gray Gray
Absorption
per cent 11.44 9.52' 6.57 2.35 2.83 0.82 Beyond
Dry-press Bricklets
Cone 1 »
Fire shrinkage, per cent 2.75 8
Color Buff Buff
Absorption, per cent • • 10.20 2
The clay burns steel hard at cone 05, and makes a good
hard body of uniform color, which is buff, until cone 9, when
it burned gray, due probably to reducing conditions. At cone
12 it swelled somewhat and was slightly blistered. It gives
348 University of Texas Bulletin
good results when burned. iji dry press form. The chemical
composition is as follows:
Analyses of Pottery Clay from Saspamco, Bexar County :
Per cent
Silica 64.92
Alumina • ■ 22.70
Ferric Oxide > 0.80
Lime 0.10
Magnesia • • 0.74
Soda 0.71
Potasbi 0.12
Titanic Acid 1.40
Water 7.00
Total 98.49
Total Fluxes 2.47
The material is being used by the San Antonio Sewer Pipe
and Manufacturing Company for the manufacture of sewer
pipes, conduits and hollow blocks. They also utilize the clay
for the manufacture of fire bricks for use at their own works.
Denny, Falls County : The pottery clay used at this locality
is obtained from a bed about three and a half iniles South of
Denny. The clay bed, which has a thickness of 12 feet, is ex-
posed for a distance of several hundred yards up and down
the ravine from which the sample was taken, and is underlain
by a white clay similar to that described from the vicinity of
Bremond. The physical properties of the clay are as follows :
The material, when moist, is of light brown color and quite
homogeneous in texture. When dry it is very hard and slakes
slowly when thrown into water. It shows but little grit, and
contains 0.14 per cent of soluble salts. It required 24.2 per
cent of water to mix it up to a mass of high plasticity, and had
6.3 per cent air shrinkage. The average tensile strength of the
air-dried briquettes was 217 pounds per square inch, with a
maximum of 251 pounds per square inch. It behaved as fol-
lows in burning:
The Geology of East Texas 349
Wet-molded Bricklets .
Cone: 05 03 1 3 5 9 14 28
Fire shrinkage
per cent 2 2 4 4.6 5 6.6 Beyond via.
Color: Light Pink Buff Bute Gray
Bute Buff
Absorption,
per cent 12.51 12.41 9.29 6.73 5.53 1.38
Dry-press Bricklets
Cone • • 1
Fire shrinkage, per cent 4
Color BufE
Absorption, per cent 12.25
This clay is not imlike the regular run of Texas pottery-
clays. As it will be noticed, it burns buff to cone 9, when it
burns gray. At cone 14 it swells and shows slight blister-
ing as well as the development of a few fused specks of iron.
Five miles east of Henderson, in Rusk county, is a pottery
clay pit showing the following sections:
1. Gray sand 1 % ft.
2. Yellow clay 1% ft.
3. Pottery clay 4% ft.
Parts of the pottery clay show some pockets of sand with
slight variations in color. The color of the clay is similar
to that used by Mr. Russell, whose pit is some four miles away,
but it is not possible to say whether these two pits are different
beds or parts of the same one ; but the clay here exposed in Mr.
Hill 's pits is thought to be an extensive deposit.
The physical properties of the material are as follows: Color,
when moist, brown; soluble salts, 0.50; water required, 18.7;
slaking, slow; plasticity, high; grit, very low; air shrinkage,
6 per cent; average tensile strength, 89.7 pounds per square
inch; maximum 110.8 pounds per square inch. In burning it
behaved as follows:
350 University of Texas Bulletin
. Wet-molded Bricklets
Cone: 05 03 1 3 5 9 14 27
Fire shrinkage
per cent 2.3 2.4 4 5 5 6.3 7.3 vis.
Color: Pink Pink Llglit Liglit Buff Butt Gray
Buff Buff
Absorption
per cent 18.70 18.17 12.22 10.42 9.22 6.34 2.27
Dry-press Bricklets
Cone 1
Fire slirinkage, per cent 3.38
Color Pink Buff
Absorption, per cent 14.30
The wet-molded bricklets burn steel hard at cone 1, as did
also the dry-press ones. The fire shrinkage of the clay, it will
be noticed, is only medium and the clay is to be classed as a
low grade fire clay. This, clay does not burn to as bright a buff
as many of the pottery clays tested. That burned at cone 5
got flashed at one edge and showed a very much deeper color.
Pottery clay is dug on the Henderson and Marshall dirt
road, four aaid a half miles northeast of Henderson. The beds
are at least 6 feet thick, but the base has not been exposed.
The upper 1% feet is of reddish clay, but has considerable
iron stain, which is pink when dry and blue when wet. Nothing
definite can be stated regarding its extent.
The physical qualities are as follows: The material is a
hard, homogeneous clay, with a conehoidal fracture and some
mica scales. It contains 0.06 per cent of soluble salts, and
when thrown into water slakes slowly. With 29.7 per cent of
water it works up to a mass of good plasticity containing a
little fine grit. Its air shrinkage is 7 per cent and the average
tensile strength 148 pounds per square inch, with a maximum
of 177 pounds per square inch. In burning the material be-
haved as follows:
Tlie Geology of East Texas 351
Wet-molded Bricklets
Cone:
05 03 1
3 5 9
14
Fire shrinkage
per cent
1.7 2.6 4.3
4.7 6 6
6.6
Color:
Pink Pink Pink
Pink Pink Pink
Gray
Buff Bute BufE
Buff Buff Buff
05 03 1
3 5 9
14
Absorption,
27
per cent 15.53 12.59 11.16 9.82 5.41 4.83 3.11
Dry-press Bricklets
Cone: 1 9
Fire shrinkage 1.33 3.33
Color Pink Pink
Absorption, per cent 7.53 ...
The wet-molded-brieklets burned steel hard at cone 1. In its
general features this clay closely resembles the Athens and
the Denton pottery clays. The chemical composition is as
follows :
Aanlysis of Pottery Clay from near Henderson, Rusk county
Per cent
Silica 67.84
Alumina 21.80
Ferric Oxide 1.00
Lime trace
Magnesia trace
Soda ^ 1.11
Potash 0.39
Titanic Acid 1.48
Water ■ • 7.37
100.99
Total Fluxes 2.50
In the neighborhood of Evansville, Leon county, clays of
economic value are found in association with the lignite de-
posits. At various localities on the Connelly league and Rejon
grant blue and gray clays occur which are of a refractory or
semi-refractory nature and compare favorably with the clays
352 Vrdversity of Texas Bulletin
used at Saspamco for the manufacture of sewer-pipe and drain-
tile. These Evansville clays would take the necessary glaze.
The Lignitic area of eastern Nacogdoches county, Shelby
county, and the northern portions of San Augustine and Sabine
will probably yield clays of similar character.
The fact that certain clays are grouped here under the head
of stoneware clays is not to be regarded as indicating that
they can be used for this purpose alone, but the term is to be
regarded as an index of certain physical qualities character-
istic of stoneware clays.
The most important use of stoneware clays is for the manu-
facture of terra cotta, buff brick, floor tile, retorts, fire brick,
in short, as an ingredient of many kinds of ware in which a
refractory, plastic, more or less dense burning clay of good
bonding power is required.
Their value is never sufficiently high to permit of their ship-
ment to distant markets, and consequently, tbey must be
worked up near the point of production.
The Texas stoneware clays have not, by any means, been
developed to their full capacity, for at present they are utilized
in the most limited manner by small potteries scattered here
and there- over the State. The wares now being produced show
that they can not only be made to yield a good stoneware
body, but -vy^ill also take either a slip, salt or Bristol glaze-
ware with good results.
CliAYS OP THE MARINE
The Marine is prevailingly sandy but carries some clays of
economic importance. As has been stated previously, beds of
lignite occur in it ocasionsially and these are accompanied by
clays or clay shales of good quality, some of which are refractory
and others, while not sufficiently refractorjr to be classed as fire
clays, are well adapted for the manufacture of bufl brick. The
deposits occurring at Minera in Webb county in connection with
the cannel coal of that region are of this latter class. The de-
posits worked near Nacogdoches are of the former.
A stoneware clay is dug near Carmichael's pottery six miles
south of Nacogdoches. The material is a dark brown, finely
The Geology of East Texas 353
gritty clay, containing 0.10 per cent soluble salts. It slacks slowly,
but with 25.3 per cent. water, works up to a mass of high plas-
ticity whose air shrinkage was 9.6 per cent. The average tensile
strength was 302 pounds per square inch, with a maximum of
374 pounds per square inch. In burning it behave as follows.
Wet-molded Bricklets
Cone: 05 03 1 3 5 9 14
Fire slirinkage,
per cent 03 1 2.6 3 4 5.7 vis.
Color: Bult Dark Deep Deep Gray Gray Gray
Buff Buff Buff Buff Buft
Absorption,
per cent 10.35 8.63 5.68 5.32 3.30 4.00
I
Dry-press Bricklets
Cone : 1 9
Fire shrinkage, per cent 2.33 6
Color Buff Light Gray
Absorption, per cent • ■ • • 14.50 4.86
The clay burned steel hard at cone 9, but was nearly so at
cone 3; its fire shrinkage is low and it burns to a good d«nse
body. The slight increase in absorption of the wet molded brick-
let at once 9 is due to a slight blistering of the ware.
The chemical composition of the sample tested is :
Analysis of Pottery Clay from Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County
Per cent
Silica 75.33
Alumina 14.73
Ferric Oxide . . ■• J .10
Lime • ; 0.05
Magnesia l-fil
Soda 0.10
Potash 0.64
Titanic Acid 1.27
Water . . .' 4.50
Total : 99.33
Total Fluxes 3.50
354 University of Texas Bulletin
This clay is at present used for making common stoneware.
It burns to a deeper buff than the Athens stoneware clay. It is
not sufficiently refractory to bfr used for fire brick manufacture,
but could profitably be utilized for making buff brick, terra cotta,
or at least for the backing of encaustic tile.
CLAYS OF FAYIETTE AND YEGUA
These formations both carry numerous beds of clay. Some
of the clays of the Fayette are white in color and are of good
plasticity. They have been called kaolins but are probably not
entitled to such classification. They vary very much in character
and the specimens analyzed by Ries supposedly from these beds
are not thought to be of especial value.
A sample of the so-called kaolin was tested from the property
of Mr. Lytenburg, southeast of Lena. This material is whitish
in color, but contains heavy limonite stains on all of the joint and
fracture surfaces. It slakes very slowly when thrown into water
and forms a gummy mass of very low plasticity, but practically
free from grit. Its tensile strength is so low that it was difficult
to test the briquettes made from the clay. The material was so
lean and cracked so when drying that no wet-mud bricklets were
tested and the sample burned were all molded dry-press. When
burned at cone 9 a sample ground to 60 mesh showed a fire
shrinkage of 8 per cent and absorption of 9.44 per cent. Another
sample ground to 100 mesh and burned at this cone showed a fire
shrinkage of 12 per cent. A third sample ground to 60 mesh and
burned at cone 12 showed a fire shrinkage of 13.33 and an ab-
sorption of .61. The clay burned steel hard at cone 9, and al-
though its general color was whitish, all of the samples burned
showed small black specks.
The material is not a fire clay for at cone 27 it fuses to a
clear glass. Its ■chemical composition was as follows :
Per cent
Silica 73.00
Alumina 15.79
Ferric Oxide 63
Limi ; 1.29
Magnesia 1.53
The Geology of East Texas 355
Soda 16
Potash. trace
Titanic Acid 10
Manganese Dioxide ■ trace
Water 5.76
Total 98.69
Total Fluxes 3.71
This is the only test of which we have record, and it should
not be taken as characteristic of all Fayette deposits, for among
them will be found clays of better grade than this.
In the region under consideration the Fayette outcrop at
Bomer in Angelina county may repay examination.
This bed of clay is white to cream-colored, sometimes grayish
when damp. It is hard, compact, fine-grained and breaks with
a conchoidal fracture. Sections of four to five feet were found
with bottom not seen. It appears to be a lenticular deposit with
an east-west diameter of 2,000 feet or more. A commercial an-
alysis gave the percentages of silica 64.85, alumina 17.01, with
about 6 per cent of fluxing material.
The shales and clays accompanying the lignites of the Tegua
should yield some fair beds of plastic or semi-refractory clays but
so far they have not been studied nor are there any localities
within the area at which they have been utilized.
CliAYS OF THE JACKSON
While we have no analyses of clays belonging to the Jackson,
there are beds occurring in the Caddell series which are appar-
ently of good quality for the manufacture of bricks and common
earthenware. Among, the clays of the upper portion of the Jack-
son some of those which have been derived from the alteration of
the sediments of volcanic origin will furnish good slip clay ma-
terial and this is also true of similar clays in the Corrigan. Ries
gives the analyses of one of .these.
Two miles southeast of Carmona and 8 miles east of Corrigan
clay is found outcropping for a distance of some five hundred
feet on the bank of Bull Creek on the property of the Cameron
Lumber Company. The thickness exposed is at least six feet
but the base of the bed is hidden. The clay, when moist, is of a
356 University of Texas Bulletin
sky blue tint and very uniform color, but when dried is almost
white. It appears to be slightly granular in texture, but is
soft and can be easily crushed between the fingers. A sample
of this clay was tested with the following results : Soluble salts,
0.06 per cent; water required, 36.3 per cent; slaking fast; plas-
ticity, low; texture, sandy. The air shrinkage is 1.3 per cent
and the average tensile strength 61 pounds, with a maximum of
62 pounds per square inch.
Analysis of Clay from Carmona, Polk County:
Per cent
Silica 68.34
Alumina 15.i!ii
Ferric Oxide ii.44
Lime ■ • 1.20
Magnesia 0.88
Soda 3.55
Potash 2.47
Titanic Acid 0.52
Water . . • ■ 4.70
Total 100.38
To;al Fluxes 11.54
Among the peculiar physical characteristics which the clay
shows are its low air shrinkage and its remarkably high fire
shrinkage, which at cone 1 is 16 per cent. It has no value what-
ever as a brick clay and its chief use would be as a slip clay for
decorating pottery.
Clays of this character are rather common in both the Jackson
and Corrigan of our area and they also occur in the Fayette west
of the Colorado.
Kennedy says of a clay of this character from Grimes county :
An extensive deposit of a good clay occurs in the neighborhood
of Piedmont Springs. In structure it is thinly stratified and
breaks with a sub-eonchoidal fracture. Thin streaks or stains of
iron occur at places throughout the partings, but in general the
clay' is milky white. An analysis in the laboratory of the Survey
shows :
The Geology of East Texas 357
Per cent
Silica 58.50
Alumina 18.39 76.89
Ferric oxide ■■.•... 3.21
Lime ii.34
Magnesia 1.61
Potash 2.70
Soda 4.93
Sulphuric acid trace 14.79
Water and loss 8.70 8.70
Specific gravity, 1.5 100.38
The high percentage of the alkalies, iron, lime and magnesia
contained in this clay places it in the anomalous position of
midway between the grade of a good pottery clay and a ' ' slip ' '
clay. It might probably, with care, be utilized for certain
grades of earthenware. In composition the Piedmont clay re-
sembles the "Albany" slip so much used among the pottery
manufacturers for glazing purposes.
CLAYS OF THE FLEMING
The prevalence of calcareous material in the Fleming clays
is against their use as fictile material but there are oecasi9nal
deposits of value.
A sample of clay from the land of U. R. Shine, Hortense,
Polk County, had the following physical properties: Color,
pinknbrown; soluble salts, 0.15 per cent. It contains very
little grit and works up with 30 per cent of water to a mass
of high plasticity, whose air shrinkage is 8.1 per cent. The
average tensile strength of the air-dried briquettes was 248.5
pounds with a maximum of 269.5 pounds per square inch. Its
burning qualities were as follows:
Wet-molded Brichl&ts
Cone: 05 1 3 5 9
Fire shrinkage,
per cent
Color:
Absorption,
per cent 12.37 9.35 7.96 4.25 2.33
2.6
4.3
5.3
6.7 8
Pink
Pink
Gray-
Gray Gray
Brown
Brown
358 University of Texas Bulletin
Its chemical composition was as follows:
Analysis of Clay from Hortense, Polk County.
Per cent
Silica 70.00
Alumina 18.60
Ferric Oxide 4-50
Lime trace
Magnesia ' trace
Soda 0.90
Potash *race
Titanic Acid >• 0-60
"Water 6.10
Total 100.70
Total Fluxes 5.40
Although this is a rather siliceous clay, as shown by the
physical properties and the chemical analysis, still it bums
to a rather dense body and becomes steel hard even at cone 1.
At the present time it is not being worked for any purpose,
but would, no doubt, lend itself to the manufacture of com-
mon brick, or even, perhaps, dry-press brick, and is less sili-
ceous than some clays which are being used in the State for
molding in dry-press machines.
There is a possibility that some of the more highly calcareous
clays of the Fleming would furnish material for the manufac-
ture of natural cement. 1
An analysis of clay of this character from near Courtney in
Grimes county shows:
Per Cent
Silica 40.69
Alumina 12.68
Ferric Oxide 3.90
Lime 18.12
Carbonic acid gas and water 18.91
Alkalies Dy difference 1.14
Magnesia .92
Manganese trace
Water at 100 degrees C 3.64
100.00
The Geology of East Texas 359
At many localities within this area there are deposits of
clays suitable for the manufacture of red brick and pressed
brick some of which are being utilized by local brick yards.
Taken all together, therefore, the clay resources of the area
appear to be ample for a great production of common brick,
pressed brick and fire brick, common red earthenware and
stoneware, sewer-pipe, drain-tile, encaustic tile and, in short,
practically all clay products below the grade of white earthen-
ware with a possibility of some clays suited for that use.
CHAPTER XVI.
FULLER'S EARTH, VOLCANIC ASH, GLASS SAND
FULLERS EARTH
Fuller's earth is a material having a chemical constitution
similar to that of clay, but differing from ordinary clays in
some of its physical properties. It possesses a high absorbent
power for certain substances and by reason of this is very
useful as a decolorizing agent. Its chief use is for filtering,
bleaching and clarifying fats, greases and oils. The value of
any deposit for these purposes cannot be determined by chem-
ical analyses, but must be ascertained by practical test. To be'
of commercial importance, the fuller's earth must not only
bleach the substance treated, but it must leave no disagreeable
taste or odor, must not absorb too much oil, must filter well
and without cloggin'g filter press.
Fuller's earth that gives excellent results with one class of
fats or oils may be far less satisfactory with others, and that
which is used for bleaching petroleum oils is seldom the best
bleaching and clarifying agent for use with vegetable and
animal oils.
To fit fuller's earth for use it must be prepared by drying
and grinding to the size best suited to that use.
In preceding chapters attention was called to the prevalence
of volcanic ash or tuff and fuller 's earth in the upper portion
of the Jackson and the Corrigan throughout the region be-
tween the Neches and the Brazos. The deposits are at times
very closely associated and constitute a considerable portion
of the deposits of the formations named. It is probable that
the fuller's earth is simply altered portions of the ash or tuff.
The relations of the volcanic ash or tuff and fuller's earth
are shown by the occurrence on Lucas creek north of San An-
tonio, where there is a bluff 18 feet in height, of which the
lower 8 feet are fuller's earth and the upper 10 feet rhyolitic
tuff or ash. There is a little selenite near the border line be-
tween the two. Similar occurrences were noted south of Cor-
The Geology of East Texas 361
rigan, the fuller's earth being found in one or two instances
overlj'ing the ash instead ot beneath it.
In color, the fuller's earth of this region varies from a
creamy white to yellow, brown and gray.
Some typical exposures of fuller's earth occur in the vicinity
of Corrigan and Moscow.
About 1% miles southwest of Corrigan along Bear Creek,
there is exposed a bed of fuller's earth. The section along
the creek is as follows:
1. Light-brown or drab colored plastic fuller's earth. Thin-
bedded 4 % ft.
2. White, fine-grained volcanic ash made up of minute white
grains 3 in.
3. Greenish brown, structureless gypsiferous clays, weathering
yellow 3% ft.
If this fuller's earth proves to be of good quality, the de-
posit could be easily worked.
A hill section one-fourth mile west of Moscow Station on
the Trinity road shows fine, loose, imperfectly laminated clay,
light to dark cream colored on surface exposures, but grayish
to greenish-drab underneath. The layei-s which show the
laminations are creamy white, non-plastic, clay and may pos-
sibly be fuller's earth. The following is the section from
bottom up:
1. Light gray to light green drab clay 3 ft.
2. Creamy white non-gritty laminated fuller's earth 1 % ft.
3. Clay like No. 1 % ft.
4. Pine and laminated cross-bedded light yellow clayey sand
weathering whitish to light-blue and with very thin
seams of whitish clay 3 % ft.
5. Fuller's earth like No. 2, becoming more gritty towards
the top where it has white limestone nodules • 10 ft.
6. Light green clay with large and small calcareous nodules.
A number of other' occurrences are noted in the description
of the stratigraphy of the Jackson, Corrigan and 'Fleming
We have no record of any of these earths having been util-
ized commercially to any extent, but with the great number of
24- ET.
362 University of Texas Bulletin
refineries so near them it would seem advisable to have the
various localities studied and the material carefully tested.
VOLCANIC ASH
Volcanic ash is used as a polishing powder and in the man-
ufacture of scouring soaps.
Deposits of this material of considerable thickness are found
throughout the region between the Neches and the Brazos in
the Jackson and Corrigan and probably in the Fleming.
In the Jackson there are two or more beds which are trace-
able for a long distance and which are excellent horizon
markers.
In the other formations the deposits are more local in their
nature, but taken as a whole form a considerable part of the
sediments composing them.
Many of these occurrences have been referred to in the
description of the stratigraphy of the region.
Some of the other localities mentioned by Baker and Suman
are Sulphur Springs, five miles north of Chester in .Tyler
county, where there is a six foot bed of white volcanic ash;
Chalk Bluff, northeastern Polk county, where there is an ex-
posure of 8 feet of thin-bedded, medium grained volcanic ash.
Around Potomac, Polk county, there are deposits of volcanic
ash five feet and more in thickness. The ash is pure white in
color and of very fine even grain.
It also occurs at Groveton, where it contains pellets of
cream-colored, non-plastic clay, probably fuller's earth. This
bed of ash is cream-colored and pink.
Kennedy, under the term "siliceous sinter," describes the
various deposits of ash of the Piedmont Springs area in
Grimes county:
"In Grimes county these deposits are best developed in the
neighborhood of Piedmont Springs. Small outcrops of sinter
occur at Kellum Springs and on Mr. S. Smith's land, about
two miles east of Union Hill. In the Piedmont Springs area
the deposits consist of light gray sands, with great quantities
of beautifully opalized wood, sandy clays, white thinly lami-
The Geology of East Texas 363
nated fine-grained clay, and extensive irregularly shaped de-
posits of siliceous sinter. A section close to the springs shows :
1. Light gray sand 5 ft.
2. Light gray or pinkish gray sandy clay 2 ft.
On the C. 0. Edwards headright, and about a mile northeast
of the springs, another section shows:
1. Gray sand ., 1 ft.
2. Thinly laminated yellow and brown sands 5 ft.
3. Pine-grained laminated white clay 4 ft.
The surface of the country in this region is covered with
grayish white or light gray sands, containing bowlders of
coarse-grained flaky siliceous sinter and great quantities of
opalized wood of different colors. While the greater portion
of the pieces of opalized wood are small, many of them measure
from four to eight feet in length and from one to three feet in
diameter. These large trunks are very easily broken, and break
with a glassy fracture, although longitudinal sections of from
two to four feet are easily obtained.
Two miles west of the springs, deposits of a very fine-grained
siliceous sinter occur upon the southwest corner of the James
Tuttle league and on the W. P. Zuber headright. A section
on the Tuttle league shows:
1. Coarse gravel Scattering.
2. Dark gray sandy soil 1 % ft.
3. Siliceous sinter 4 to 5 ft.
This deposit of sinter underlies an area of from twenty-five
to thirty acres.
On the west side of the same league, and about a mile
farther west of this deposit, the bank of a small creek running
into Dry branch shows a section of:
1. Gray surface sand with small quantities of pebbles 4 ft.
2. Soft fine-grained sand 10 ft.
3. Broken laminated bluish gray clay 3 ft.
4. Lignite 3 ft.
364 Vniversity of Texas Bulletin
Southwest of the siliceous sinter deposits of the Tuttle
league there is another deposit of the same class of material
on the W. P. Zuber headright. The sinter in this area occurs
in all the creeks and washouts along the east side of the
headright, and is overlain by a. light gray sand and gravel
made up of pebbles of quartz and jasper, and underlain by a
gray sand, as seen in the following section:
1. Light gray sand and gravel, the gravel scattering 2 to 5 ft.
2. Siliceous sinter 4 to 5 ft.
3. Gray sand, visible 2 to 6 ft.
Two miles east of Piedmont Springs a cutting on the east
side of Sandy creek shows a section of:
1. Gray-sand with white opalized wood 3 to 5 ft,
2. Thinly laminated gray sandy clay 2 to 6 ft.
Going northward to Kellum Springs deposits of siliceous
sinter occur on the Wm. Pitzgibbon league, and one mile west
of the spring the following section occurs in Chalk branch, a
small stream tributary to Gibbon's creek:
1. Gray sand 1 ft.
2. Lignitic sands and clays 5 to 12 ft.
3. Siliceous sinter 2 ft.
4. White sand 1 ft.
5. Brown lignitic sandy clay.
In this region the sinter lies in thin strata or seams between
deposits of a coarse white sand, which rests upon a laminated
brown sand. The section shown for nearly a mile southward
along the creek is a succession of lignitic sands and clays, alter-
nately dipping southeast and northwest. , These ligfiitic de-
posits overlie the siliceous deposits.
This siliceous sinter, which is locally known as chalk, is
reported as occurring in small quantities at other places in
this region and in the area between Piedmont and Kellum
Springs.
Five miles northeast of Kellum Springs, on a Mr. S. Smith's
The Geology of East Texas 365
land, near Union Hill church, there is an isolated deposit of
siliceous sinter covering an area of nearly ten acres and having
a thickness of over twenty feet. The greater portion of this de-
posit is covered by a dark gray sandy soil, and gray sands
form the prevailing characteristic of the surface of the whole
surrounding country.
Nowhere throughout the area occupied by these beds can
the thickness of the deposits belonging to the Piedmont Springs
group exceed thirty feet. On the northeastern border the
gray sands and sinters either rest upon or are interstratified
with the lignitic deposits; and toward the southwest, in the
neighborhood of Piedmont, where they attain their greatest
Thickness, wells dug to a depth of thirty feet pass completely
through these beds and enter blue clays containing thin seams
of an earthy brown coal.
The siliceous sinter found in these deposits is a very fine-
grained, soft, pulverulent, snow-white mass, amorphous in
places and showing lines of stratification in others. It has a
.specific gravity of 2. Under the microscope the grains are
small, rounded, and angular, generally flattened and scaly,
and all translucent, some of them being perfectly transparent.
Many of the scales are striated and marked in such a manner
as to resemble thin sections of the opalized wood.
GLASS SANDS
Sands for the manufacture of glass, especially that of higher
grade, must be practically free of impurities. Iron oxide,
even in small quantities, colors the glass green and any ad-
mixture of clay tends to cloud it. Even sands of pure white
color are sometimes not sufficiently pure for this use without
washing.
The glass sands of East Texas are found in two horizons.
The lower, geologically, are the white sands that come in con-
nection with the gray refractory clays occurring above the
middle of the Ligjiitic, and these have been reported both from
the eastern and western portions of this area. The upper
deposits are of Pleistocene age and occur in the drainage areas
of Trinity and San Jacinto rivers. The Pleistocene sa^ds are
366 University of Texas Bulletin
derived from the disintegration of the rice sands of the Cor-
rigan.
SANDS OF THE LIGNITIC
In Shelby county, Walker calls attention to a pure white
sandstone at Cave Spring 5% miles north of Timpson. TMs
is a soft friable sandstone, in places stained with iron, but
when washed as in the neighborhood of the spring, of pure
white color and apparently well suited for glass making.
Similar sands were noted at several localities to the north
of this in Panola county, among which were a creek crossing
one and one half miles northwest of Beckville on the Harmony
road and Grand Bluff on the Sabine river.
This sand is also found three miles north of Jacksonville in
Cherokee county as a pure white siliceous sand.
Along the lines of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad
sands of the same character ar'e found from Dennys to Head-
ville and with small preparation will yield glass sands of ex-
cellent quality.
SANDS OF PLEISTOCENE
In the drainage valleys of the Trinity and San Jacinto
rivers south of the belt occupied by the deposits of the Corri-
gan there are numerous bars and banks of a pure white sand
derived from the disintegration of the rice sands of that forma-
tion; These are good glass sands and can be had in abundance
at or rtear the railway crossings on these streams.
Chapter XVII
BUILDING STONE AND GRAVEL
STONE
Building stone is relatively scarce in our East Texas area and
the only stone of value is sandstone, of which there are two
classes.
Brown sandstones which are altered glauconitic sands or sands
cemented by ferruginous cement.
Gray sandstones with calcareous or siliceous cement.
The brown sandstones are found almost entirely in connection
with the Marine beds. In some places the altered greensands
are of sufScient hardness to be quarried and are used occasionally
where other rock is scarce for building foundations and chimneys.
At other places the sand beds have been cemented by ferruginous
solutions and hardened into good beds of sandstone.
The gray sandstones are by far the most abundant and are
found in Fayette, Jackson and Cbrrigan. Some of them have
a calcareous cement, but probably the greater part have a si-
liceous matrix.
No limestones suitable for building are known in the area.
SANDSTONE OP THE MARINE — BROWN SANDSTONE
The most important of these sandstones are a series of local and
limited deposits formed by the action of ferruginous solutions
on the original loose sands. This varies from a comparatively
soft friable mass to a compact hard and flinty rock ; from yellow
to very dark brown in color, and from one to twenty feet thick.
Such rocks are found everywhere throughout the East Texas re-
gion, and are often used for foundations and chimneys. They
occur plentifully in the bluffs of the Angelina at the mouth of
Walker creek, and on the Neehes river west of Gent, in the shape
of a soft friable sandstone. The State Penitentiary at Eusk is
built of a soft yellow sandstone, containing specks of altered
glauponite and a few casts of fossils. This was obtained from a
368 University of Texas Bulletin
bed ten feet thick immediately underlying the main iron-bearing
greensand bed It is soft and easily cut with a saw. A rock
very similar to this is found capping Cook's Mountain, three
miles west of Crockett, in Houston county. It is friable sand-
stone, and composed of siliceous sand with specks of glauconite
and mica, is of a yellow color, contains many fossil casts in places,
and shows considerable cross-bedding.
The greensand bed which directly underlies the brown lami-
nated iron ore stratum has often become yellow and hardened to
a sufficient degree to be utilized as a building stone. In the re-
gion where it occurs it is very extensively used for 'fireplaces and
such small structures. It is of a chalky or waxy consistency,
dense and compact in structure, and easily shaped into the desired
form by an ax or saw. On account of the ease with which it can
be cut, and also a certain toughness which it preserves in spite
of its softness depends its universal use wherever it can be
found. The greensand bed varies from thirty to forty feet thick,
but it is only in parts of it that he hardening process has gone
on to a sufficient extent to make it available for building pur-
poses. These indurated places vary from one to ten feet thick.
Sometimes the greensand has become hardened without losing its
green color, and in such cases we have a green rock of very sim-
ilar nature to the yellow one just described. Such material is
found in Doyle's Gap and on the slope of the Mount Selman
iron range, in Cherokee county. The glauconite in this green
rock is generally mixed with a large amount of clay of the same
color, and in some places the clay almost entirely replaces that
mineral. This presence of clay probably accounts for the hard-
ening of the bed as it has acted as a cement in indurating the
glauconite. Sometimes, also, finely disseminated carbonate of
lime is the cementing material in such rock.
These sandstones, although soft when first quarried, have a
tendency to harden when exposed to the weather and are very
durable, although they will not admit of fine dressing.
The building stones of Robertson county are wholly of brown
sandstone, and occur in many locations along the ridges extend-
ing across the country from the Houston and Texas Central Rail-
way eastward. They are rather coarse-grained, and contain fre-
The Geology of East Texas 369
quent streaks or pockets of coarse sand or fine gravel in the form
of a conglomerate.
The sandstones found along the top of the ridge on the Den-
ver Jones headlight form a bed from two to four fee,t in thick-
ness, and have been quarried for railway purposes, having been
used as piers and abutments of bridges on the line of the Houston
and Texas Central Railway.
In the neighborhood of Franklin the hills near the town and
surrounding Racetrack prairie contain soft brown sandstones,
which may be utilized for building purposes They also occur
to the west of the town, and at several other places in the central
portion of the county. These sandstones are quarried only as
needed and no regular quarries have been opened in them.
SANDSTONE OF THE FAYDETTE
Southeast of Alto in Cherokee county a hill at Huston Park
75 feet in height has in the upper 60 feet a hard cream colored
sandstone. It is fine-grained and in places approaches a quartz-
ite in texture. It weathers irregularly with fretted forms. The
outcrop of this rock extends a mile east of Huston Park and as
far to the south. Penrose states that properly quarried it will
be a valuable stone.
The Fayette areas along the Houston, East and West Texas
Railway north of Burke show similar sandstone. It is all fine-
grained, some of it is laminated and it varies in hardness.
A fine grade of light gray sandstone of medium grain occurs
east of Blix on Jack creek in the Lavinge survey, Angelina
county. It is of medium hardness and in layers of about one foot
in thickness. To the west of the creek it outcrops in a ridge ten
to twenty feet high and a well fifty feet deep was in sandstone
throughout.
In the Fayette at Huntington a small hill on the Renf ro place
is composed of a very hard sandstone, almost a pure quartzite in
places, breaking with splintery fracture.
Similar sandstones occur near Homer where it was formerly
quarried and used for lining walls and building chimneys and
foundations. The quantity however is small as it is at Hunt-
ington.
370 University of Texas Bulletin
SANDSTONES OF THE JACKSON
Sandstones of good quality are found in places in the Jackson
area. No attempt will be made to enumerate them but of some
those which came more directly under our notice will be
described.
On the sides and top of the low hill 1/4 mile east of Manning
is found a coarse-grained medium-hard, light gray sandstone in
layers averaging about one foot in thickness. The cement is
whitish and granular. The sandstone overlies the flaggy shaly
beds which outcrop in the town of Manning. This stone could
be readily dressed.
Three miles south of Manning, east and west of the Carter-
Kelly lumber tram there outcrops along the tops of the lower
ridges and in the middle slopes of the higher hills, a white, fine-
grained, well indurated and rather heavy bedded sandstone.
Several holes have been blasted in the vicinity. The rock is
of good quality, but its thickness could not be determined. The
harder rock is underlain by soft sandstones and arenaceous clays.
About three and one-half miles slightly north of east of Po-
tomac, near the southern line of the W. B. Hardin Survey, on
the farm of Mr. Barch, is a ridge trending in a general east-west
direction, capped by a hard dark gray quartzite outcropping in
rough irregular blocks. This rock has a splintery to conchoidal
fracture and should be admirably adapted for use as crushed rock
in concrete work. The ridge was followed for % of a mile with
continuous outcrop of sandstone. The thickness was indeter-
minable.
Near the line between Section 40, International & Great North-
ern Railroad land and the Rains Survey, some two miles west of
the Houston, East and West Texas Railway is an outcrop of
fine-grained, fairly resistant sandstone. There is a thickness of
12 feet along a hillside and quarrying here would be a very
simple matter. While this rock might possibly be a little soft
for building purposes, it might be of use for ballast.
A hill seventy feet in height with a summit area of two and
one-half to three acres is found in the bottom of Dean Creek,
Trinity county. The creek bows along the northern and north-
The Geology of East Texas 371
eastern base of this hill. In the bed and banks of the creek ia
found the following section, detailed from the base upwards ;
1. Base, dark brown carbonaceous clay, total thickness unknown.
2. Lignite, poor in quality 1 ft.
3. Dark brown carbonaceous clay, gradually becoming lighter
with a lessening in the amount of carbonaceous matter
toward the top 1 ft
4. (a) At the north along the creek banks is exposed 10 feet
^ of thinly laminated light-brown to drab sandy clay carry-
ing plant fragments. The bedding is not very regular and
the individual beds are not lof uniform thickness. At the
easternmost locality examined the beds dipped 3 % " to the
southward, 50 yards south the dip is 8° to the southward,
while 100 yards south of the latter locality, the dip is ap-
parently 4 or 5° to the westward, but this apparent dip
may have been caused by slumping.
4. (b) At the south, directly under the northeast base of the
hill, there is 12 feet of thinly laminated brownish to buff
sand carrying thin streaks of brown carbonaceous material,
but becoming sandier and thicker bedded towards the top.
The bedding here is also slightly irregular.
Above the bed 4 (b) the surface of the hillside is strewn with
blocks of sandstone. A rim of sandstone in place surrounding
the top of the hill is in places a massive bed three to four feet
thick. Locally these sandstone blocks are quartzitic; in places
they exhibit imperfect lamination and break in blocks thick
enough to be suitable for dimension stone. The rock last de-
scribed splits readily along the bedding planes and could easily
be shaped into rectangular blocks. In texture the sandstone is
medium-grained. It contains thin flakes of selenite and much of
it case-hardens on the surface on exposure to air. This property
of ease-hardening is a valuable one in building stone of this kind,
since the stone in the quarry is soft enough to be readily cut and
shaped, and it becomes harder after removal from the quarry.
All of the rock seen is suitable for crushed stone of a very fair
quality.
Near the east corner of the John Veatch grant, approximately
two miles north of Groveton, the sandstone outcrops on the north-
west side of a hill. There is a vertical thickness of 30 feet in
which the rock is found. At the base of this thirty feet, hard
372 University of Texas Bulletin
rock is found in place in layers varying from six inches to a foot
in thickness. Above this outcrop hard sandstone blocks are
found on the side and top of the hill, although no other ex-
posures of rock actually in place were noted, save that mentioned
above. The sandstone as* a whole varies in degree of hardness
from a fairly hard rock, breaking with clean fracture, to a hard
gray-blue silica-cemented rock which is really a quartzite. This
quartzite is hard, compact, and brittle, and breaks into angular
fragments. The softer varieties of rock vary from light brown
to buff in color. Some of the reck is irregularly stained a brown-
ish color with limonite. The rock contains small irregular flakes
of selenite. All of the rock seen in this hill is suitable for
crushed rock and some of it which lies in layers of ten inches and
upwards in thickness is suitable for building stone. The blue-
gray quartzite, with its pleasing color and great crushing
strength would be especially suitable for building stone.
West of the Trinity the sandstones of the Welborn division will
probably furnish some good building material.
In Grimes county, the hard, semi-quartzitic and close-grained
. sandstones occur only in the north central portion of the county,
where they appear as a narrow belt, extending from the L. J. P.
Mammel headright northeasterly to the northwest corner of the
Biggam White headright, and from this latter thin beds extend
north and easterly to within a few miles south of Bedias post-
ofiSee, on the D. S. Stone headright. They are best developed on
the Biggam White headright, where they are repesented by a
ledge from fifteen to twenty feet high. The rocks forming this
ledge are stratified and lie in strata from six to eighteen inches
in thicness, and change fom a soft gray colored to a hard gray
and brownish gray colored sandstone, with occasional blocks
showing the characteristic texture of quartzite. Some of the
beds are very much broken and tilted in places, and lie mostly
in the shape of boulders or blocks, many of them measuring from
eight to ten feet in length and nearly as many feet in width. On
the Mammel headright the same class of rocks occur along the
northern edge of the Gibbons creek bottom lands. Here they lie
in a very similar condition to that on the Biggam White land
although the blocks are more irregularly formed and much
smaller and are of less value as a building material.
The Geology of East Texas 373
Intermediate between these exposures the rocks belonging to
this group are white and grayish white, evenly bedded, close-
grained sandstones. This class occurs in quantities along the
Upper division of Rock creek on the John Bowman headright.
Another deposit is found in the Francis Holland headright, about
a mile south of Anderson, on the Anderson and Navasota public
road. These rocks lie close to and appear on the surface in many
places. They have been quarried both on Rock creek and in the
neighborhood of Anderson, and from the smoothness of their
grain and closeness of texture admit of being dressed in a fairly
good condition, although somewhat limited as to size. The stone
'finishings of the court house at Anderson are from the quarry
south of that place.
The building stones of Brazos county are almost altogether
confined to the hard gray sandstones of the Wellborn beds.
Small deposits of a coarse, soft, brown colored sandstone occur
on the McMillan and Williams headright, about four miles west
of Bryan, but these deposits are of comparatively little value.
Isolated patches of gray sandstone occur on the James Hope
league, and on the Sam Davidson league much larger deposits
occur. These have been quarried in the neighborhood of Well-
born and Minter Springs for .building purposes.
In the Rock prairie region, on the Stephenson and Robertson
leagues, as well as on the N. Clampett headright, deposits of a
close-grained, fi:rm sandstone occur, which can be obtained in
blocks of large size and admit of fine dressing. A quarry on the
N. Clampett headright supplied the foundation stones for some
of the Agricultural and Mechanical College buildings a number
of years ago.
SANDSTONE OF THE OORRIGAN
These are the beds best known of all the Bast Texas sandstones
as the5^ furnished much of the material for the harbor improve-
ments at Galveston and Sabine Pass and are now being worked
to supply crushed rock for concrete work throughout South
Texas.
These sandstones are of various degrees of hardness, many of
them being hard compact quartzites but the degree of induration
374 University of Texas Bulletin
varies very, much locally. Some strongly indurated sandstones
have a white porcellaneous matrix while in others, which are less
indurated, the cementing material, while white, is not lustrous.
The deposits of the Neches river drainage, southern Angelina
and northern Polk, Tyler and Jasper counties, are those which
have received most attention.
Two miles west of Aldridge in northern Jasper county Kyle'i
Quarry in the Conn league has been opened on a deposit of the
Corrigan sandstone.
This quarry is in the quartzitic phase of the Corrigan with
local lenses of greenish clay. 'The main layer quarried is from
35 to 40 feet thick, but the superficial 10 feet is not indurated
enough to produce crushed rock. The rock worked has hackly
fracture with sharp edges. It is suitable only for rough masonry
or for crushed rock. There is 10 to 12 feet of Lafayette over-
burden to be removed.
The hard rock is very light gray or gray blue in color. It con-
tains angular fragments of hard whitish and greenish clays. The
rock is made up mainly of quartz and chert, sometimes coarse
enough to be conglomeratic, with a porcellaneous to translucent
cement. Some specimens show an outside film of porcellaneous ce-
ment which is about % inch thick, the interior of the rock being
quartzitic, suggesting that the porcellaneous surface film may
possibly be an alteration of the quartzitic interior. The inter-
bedded lenticular clays are sulphurous.
About two miles southwest of Rockland there outcrops on
the sides of a large hill a porcellaneous-cemented sandstone
showing a high degree of induration, and in places being a
fine quartzite. A vertical thickness of 10 feet was exposed. The
same rock again outcrops about % mile west of this place.
To the west of the point where the Carter-Kelley Lumber
Company tram crosses the Neches river, along the southern
bank, a series of high bluffs rise above the river. They ex-
posed at the top and well down the sides a medium to doarse-
grained sandstone having a porcellaneous matrix. Underlying
is a white, somewhat arenaceous claystone of various degrees
of induration. The sandstone is in places indurated to a
quartzite and would make a good rock for concrete work.
The Geology of East Texas 375
Near Mt. Hope church, some 2^^ miles north of Chester an
exceedingly well indurated fine-grained sandstone, showing a
splintery fracture wherever broken into, outcrops over an area
approximately eight to ten acres, and along a bluff overlooking
Russell creek. This quartzite is at least eighteen feet thick,
as shown in outcrop along the public road. It is underlain by
a clay, weathering cream colored.
At Griswold, three quarters of a mile west of Stryker on
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, a spur turns off
south for the quarry of the Texas Grading Company. A ridge
of sandstone commences near the Missouri, Kansas and Texas
track and continues south along McManus Creek for nearly
a mile. The rock in the northern end of the quarry is a soft
to medium hard coarse-grained, gray to light brown sand-
stone, for the most part massive but locally showing up as
cross-bedded. The matrix is in places porcellaneous, but in
other places it is fine granular. In the center of the area over
which quarrying operations have been carried on there out-
crops fifteen feet of a hard, medium-grained, sandstone, mas-
sive in structure, and of a good quality for jetty work, rip-
rap, etc. In the extreme southern end of the quarry where
operations are being carried on at present, there is a ledge
of very hard, almost quartzitic sandstone, bluish-gray in color
and made up of fiue rounded quartz grains set in a porcellaneous
matrix. In the eastern side of the quarry, the section is as
follows from bottom up:
1. Blue-colored massive arenaceous claystone, contains nodules
of marcasite, not fit for quarrying 3 ft.
2. Bluish gray fine-grained sandstone, almost a quartzite, mas-
sive; has a splintery fracture and is very hard 2 ft.
3. Fairly hard sandstone, grayish white In color and grading
intoi thin bedded at top 4 ft.
4. Gray sand, overburden to be stripped 8 ft. 10 in.
In the southwestern end of the quarry there is ten feet of
extremely hard, fine-grained, bluish-gray sandstone with por-
cellaneous cement and splintery fracture overlain by twelve
feet of loose clayey sand. The sandstone everywhere contains
iiiany rounded drab to gray clay balls and the coarser sand-
376 University of Texas Bulletin
stone always contains abundant well preserved leaf impres-
sions, reeds and palmetto leaves being predominant. Silicified
wood fragments are also common.
A quarry one-half mile north of Corrigan and one-quarter
mile east of the Houston, East and West Texas Railroad
shows at the western end a medium to fine-grained, medium
hard, white to gray and yellowish brown, sandstone. This is
for the most part massive, but exhibits some cross-bedding.
Locally the sandstone contains hard rounded clay balls. In
the eastern end of the quarry the hard sandstone grades into
a thin-bedded softer rock. The rock in the western end of
the quarry appears very well adapted for rip-rap and ballast,
but in the ea.stern end it is too soft for these purposes. A
graded spur connects this quarry with the Houston, East and
West Texas Railroad.
About one mile southwest of Corrigan there is a hill of por-
ce]laneou.s sandstone. Tbei'c is a thickness of fully thirty-five
feet of this sandstone exposed, but only half of it is said to be
valuable. There are locally fragments of clay, some of which
were rounded. The quartz grains of the sandstone are re-
markable for their clearness, large size and angularity. Locally
the rock is quartzitie.
West of the Trinity no quarries have as yet been opened
in the Corrigan quartzites in our area, but there has been
some quarrying for' local use of the sandstone occurring in
the upper portion of the Corrigan and the base of the Fleming.
Kennedy says of the beds in Grimes county: These sand-
stones are usually thinly bedded, rarely exceeding six inches
in thickness, show a rough surface, and in quarrying break
into irregular masses or slabs. Their texture is soft and coarse-
grained, in places strongly calcareous, and often inclose small
nodules or fragments of white clay. In color they vary from
a soft gray to a white or creamy yellow. They are irregularly
distributed in the beds, changing frequently from the consoli-
dated sandstone to an unconsolidated mass of grayish yellow
sand, and in this condition form a continuously alternating
series of lenticular masses of sandstone and sand. The sec-
The Geology of East Texas 377
tions exposed in the several quarries are made up of alternate
strata of sand and sandstone.
Exposures of these rocks occur at numerous places through-
out the southern central portion of Grimes county and in the
neighborhood of Navasota. The exposures seen near this
place form a ridge extending from near the Navasota river in
a northerly direction, skirting; the river bottom to Holland
creek, a distance of about four miles. This same ridge then
passes up the south side of Holland creek to the crossing of
the Navasota and Anderson public road, where the sandstones
are exposed over an area ofi several hundred acres. These
rocks also appear on Grimes prairie and near White Hall post-
ofSee and several other points along the northern side of the
prairie.
Sandstones in the neighborhood of Navasota belonging to
this group have been quarried for building purposes for a great
number of years. They were used in Navasota as building
material almost exclusively.
GRAVELS
All of the gravel of this area which is of any commercial
value comes in connection with deposits of Lafayette age. It
is frequently mixed with sand or with clay and the workable
deposits are limited in number.
At Urbana a mile or two south of the Houston, East and
West Texas Ry. Company's bridge over the Trinity river a
gravel pit has been opened.
The pit lies in a flat area bordering the river bottom proper
ftnd lies at a slight elevation above it in an area not subject to
overflow, the same constituting what might be termed the
. "second bottom." The gravel has been found by boring, to
cover an area of from seventy to one hundred acres and the
depth of the gravel ranges from twenty-two feet in the west
side to thirty-three feet in the east side. This is practically
all workable gravel, as there is only a surface covering of from
eighteen to twenty-four inches of fine gray sand. The pebbles
in the gravel are rounded and up to two and a half inches in
diameter, but they probably average about haK an inch. The
378 University of Texas Bulletin
deposit runs about 40 per cent gravel, considering everything
as gravel that remains on a one-eighth inch screen. The re-
maining 60 per cent is a coarse-grained sand having angular
grains. The gravel as loaded into the cars weighs 3,000
pounds per cubic yard.
West of the Houston, East and West Texas Eailv/ay there
are gravel deposits on a ridge which strikes west from near
Willard, in Polk county. At the Watts place on the John
Lindsey league a well was dug for water. At four feet they
entered a red sandy clay containing the gravel and went out
of the same at 221/2 feet. Mr. Watts also had a prospect hole
dug to the depth of seven feet and the material from this hole
was examined. The gravel was about one-half flint pebbles
and the other half a stifE sandy clay, which when it gets dried
out is very hard to pick into. The flint pebbles in the gravel
vary in size from two inches to half an inch in diameter,
averaging about one inch. This material would make an
excellent ballast although it contains too much clay to admit
of being economically washed for use in concrete construc-
tion work.
Similar gravel occurs northwest on the Hood farm in north-
west corner of Cartwright league. Here there is a hill cover-
ing some five or six acres, the surface of which is covered with
a gravel consisting mostly of rounded flint and jasper pebbles
averaging three-fourths to an inch in diameter. At Mr.' Hood's
house a well was dug some thirty-six feet deep and it is re-
ported gravel was encountered all the way down, but that it
became more clayey toward the bottom.
There are probably other deposits on the interstream areas
where the Lafayette overlies the Fleming.
Between the Trinity and the Brazos gravel deposits are
found in the Lafayette and will doubtless prove to be of im-
portance locally but they will probably not be as extensive as
those west of the Brazos.
INDEX
Page
Ackerman formation 53, 54
Actaeoh punctulatus Lea 95, 96
Agaronia punctulifera Gabb 95
Aguilares 305
Alabama 11
Alabama bluff 91, 125, 267
Alabaster : 164
/.Idridge 192, 199
Alticamelus 231
Alto 88, 141
Analysis, of clays 343
344, 348, 361, 353, 354, 356, 357
of iron ores 322, 323, 331
of lignite
..279, 280, 283, 284, 286, 287, 288
Ancilla ancellops Hulp 97
Stamlnea Conrad
91, 92, 95, 97, 100, 106
Anderson 236
Anderson County 3, 65, 146
Anemia eocenica Berry 125
Anseles. Mex 183
y^n^elina and Neches River Rv..-.118
Angelina-Caldwell flexure 200
Angelina County 3, 6
Angelina deposits 7
Anhydrite 25. 261
Annona Ohalk 22, 27, 295. 303
Anomia ephlppoides Gabb
71 89, 91, 95,
97, 99, 100, 103, 107, 108, 131, 138
sp 41, 224
Annua texana Berry 170
Anthony's Perry 182, 189
Antlers ; 15
Antonio 15
Aphelops 232, 237
meridianus Leidy . 238
Apoctiophyllum tabellanum 52
new .species 125, 170
Appalachian belt 11
Apple Springs 119, 122, 165
Apporhais sp. 33
Area rhomboidella 7-2
sp : 107, 171
Airchitectonioa meekana Conrad... 95
Areal distribution ; . .
32, 38, 45, 59, 62, 146, 189
Arenosa 74, 249
Arkadelphia clay 23
Arkansas 31
Arunijo pseudo'joeppertl Berry. . . .125
Asnlenium eolignitica 52
A^imira eocenica Lesquereux 37
Athens 59, 341
Aturia ,sp. near ziczac 96
Austin 15
Austin Chalk 5, 13, 9->
Avicula sp 92
Ayish Bayou 76, 194
Saline 313
Baculites 33, 48
Baker, C. L. 2, 34
41, 44. 64, 67, 109, 142, 172
Balonophyllialrrorata van. mortonl
Gabb and Horn 107
Baldwin granite 200
Barbatia cuouUoides 43
Basalt 262
Bashi formation 37, 39, 53
Page
Basin 25
Battls ferry isi
Bayou Kegnet 64, 68, 73
Bayou Toro 191
Becker 2'36
Bedias 154
Bee shoals 49
Bell's ferry .'194, 196
Bell's Landing 37
Belosepia ungula 71. 78,
92, 93. 96, 97, 98, 100, 126, 128
Bend formation 11, 12
Benf ord Tram 175
Berry. E. W 37, 39,
55. 61, 81, 94, 123, 124, 164, 174
Bethea, J., Grant 289
Bevilport 192, 251, 266
Bergen sand 21, 31, 295
Rig Prairie saline 313
Bi,s Salt saline 309, '312
Bird Mountain ■ 258
Birdwell siding '. | 75
Birkinbine. J 7
Black Bluff. . .• ZZ, 49
Blanco beds 220, 244
Bland lake 74
Blastomeryx •232
-a-emmifer. . . . . ; 9.ZI
-wellsi '.'. 232
Blos=om sand 21, 295
Blount, B. G 284
Blue shoals ' | . 33
Bluff crossing 106
Bluff saline '. '. .309
BlufBngton, Mrs 142
Rcatright headright 291
Bogtry Creek 150, 222
Bostick, J. W 2
Branner, J. 11. 12
Brazos County 3. 373
Brazos section 33
Brick 340
Are 341
Briquettes 282
Briquetting 276, 282
Broaddus 112
Brookfield bluff 90
Brookland 192
Brooks 9
Brooks, Bros '. !290
Brooks S'aline 26
Brown coal '.'6, 275
Brown's Mountains 322
Brownstown marl 1 . 22
Buccinanoos ellipticum 43
Buckley,. S. B 6, 318
Buda limestone 16, 17, 18
Buhlers ferry 196
Building ,stone 367
Bulimella kellogii Gabb 92, 171
Bu"a Vellogii Gabb 95
Bullard 65, 87
Bumelia pseudotenax 54
Buchard 31.8, 320, 329
Burke 141, 179, 273
Burkville 219, 261
Burkeville formation 29 -222
Buhrstone 5 55
Burnett County ' 15
Burr's Ferry 189, 222
Butler dome 299, 308
Byssoarca curuHoides Conrad....
89, 92, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100
380
University of Texas Bulletin
Page
Caddell beds
..29, 147, 148, 152, 165, 171, 187
section 177
Caddo 22, 147, 295
Oadulus subcoarcuatus Gabb
: 92, 96, 107
Calcote 249
Calhoun's ferry.' 125, 157
Calvert 59, 282
bluff 49
Calycites ostreaf ormis 54
Calyptrea sp 171
Calyptrophorus trinodiferus 44
valvatus Conrad 84, 93, 98
Cambrian, middle 11
Camilla 229, 259
Canary 208. 229
Cancellaria gemmata Conrad.. 9, 106
minuto Harris 98, 106
penrosei 148
quercolis 43
var. greggi 63, '89, 96, 106
tortiplica 95, 106
Capulus americanus 182
Carboniferous 106
Carium tuomeyi Aldrich 43
Cardita planicosta 10 "
sp.
.166
Oaricella demessa var texanum
Gabb. . 92
subangula 89, 92
Carlisle bulff 265
Carmona 35$
Carpollthus n. sp '. '. 123
Carrizo 108. 133,137
sands 29, 55, 57, 61
springs 61
Carter'.s bluff '.'.'.' ' ' ' Vl 97
Cass County . . 7, 46, 59^ 66
Cassia bintonensis 54
Cassidaria brevicostata 84
brevidPntata 43
planotecta Aldrich 92', 107
sp 171
Catahoula formation
„ ^ 9, 29, 170, 177, 182,'l86
Cedar Mills 19
C«drela sp ' ' 123
Center. . 277
Centerville \[ 67
Cerithiopsis burkevillensis ball ! . 224
Cerithium penrosii Harris 34, 48
sp. .^ 108, 113
vmctum Whitfield 89, 90
webbi Harris 1O8, 131
whitfleldi 34
Ceronia sp 43 45
C«rro Gordo ' ' ' ig
Chalk bluff 134', '-212
Chama sp '.' 106
Chambers' ferry 41 63
Cherokee County 3 6 65
Ohireno 3O4
Chita ■...'.'.'! 209
Chrysodomus enterogramina Gabb
96 97 99
Cibota mississippiensi's Conrad. . .' 95
Cima 253
Cincinnati bluff I59
Cinnamonium affine Lesquereux.37, 52
Citrophyllum sp . . . 81, 125
Cladosporites fasciculatus Berry
94, 164
Claiborne 143
fauna 8
formation 26, 29, 56, 145
lower 56, 61
Mississipplan 56
sands 56
upper 56, 61
Page
Clampitt tract 218
Clarke bluff 266
Clavilithes dumosa var. trapaquara
89, 92, 98
humerosa var. texana 89, 98
penrosei Harris. .... .71, 92, 98, 107
Clays 9,45, 338
brick •. 339
china 342
Are 339, 341
pottery 339, 346
slip 339
Clegg's shoals 162
Cleveland 256, 271
Climax 81
Close of Cretaceous 24
of Eocene 183
of Lower Eocene 54
of Neocene 160
Coast clays .246, 264
prairie 269
Costal domes 261, 262
Cockfield beds .71, 189
Colita 208
CoUard's Ferry 98
Cold S'prings . 220, 258
beds 29
Colmesniel 253
Columia 223
Columbian area 11,-44, 71, 110
formation 204
Columbus, La 44, 71, 116
Comanche Peak limestone 15
Comanchean 14, 18
close of 19
elevation 19
erosion 19
sea 13
Combretum ovalis 52
Concretions, calcareous
35, 36, 41. 138. 146, 221
cannonball 109, 122, 131, 183
limonite
...109, 113, 116, 124, 146, 167, 178
Cone-in-cone 117
Conn Survey 195
Conrad, T. A 56
Contact, Corrigan-Fleming
192, 218, 225, 241
Cretaceous-Tertiary 34
Fayette-Jackson 135
Fleming-Lafayette 236
Jackson-Corrigan.163, 196, 209, 213
Lafayette-Port Hudson. .. .259, 260
Marine-Yegua
86, 101, 103. 106, 111, 122
Midway-Lafayette. . ..34, 38, 45, 48
Wilcox-Olaiborne. .62, 66, 73, 78, 89
Yegua-Fayette 106, 133, 134
Yegua-Jackson
112, 117, 122, 147, 153, 157, 178, 180
Yegua-Lafayette .-. . . 255
Conu,s sauridens Conrad. 89, 92, 95,
97, 99, 100, 106, 108, 131, 137, 138
Cooks Mountain 7, 91
beds 57, 65, 66
Cope, B. D 44
Corbula, alabamensls Lea
44 92 93
96, 101, 106, 108', " '132, 148, 'l71
aldrichi, var. Steithvillense Har-
ris 96, 97, 98
oniscus 110 171
texana Gabb. . ..74, 97, 99, lOO' 176
Cornelia armlgera
71, 92, 96, 97, 108, 131, 13'7","l38
Correlations 39, 60
Corrigan deposits 7
formation 9, 29, 145, 182, 187
Corsicana 25, 295, 298
The Geology of East Texas
381
Page
Cottonwood formation 287
Courtney 358
Cragtn, F. W 17
Crassatella antistriata Gabb 106
flexura 171
srabbi 36
rotexta Conrad var 138
texana Heilprin 89, 92, 171
trapaquara Harris- 106
Creeks:
Alabama 166
Alligator 194
Ata-scosa 108
Bedias 142
Bear 118, 193, 202, 361
Beef 268
Boi-riBas. 249
Bridge 178
Bug- 179
Calaveras ; 53
Cameron 289
Campbell 96
Cane. . . » 94
Cp,ney. . 165, 167
Carolina 211
Clear 178, 236
Oriswell 134
Dellards 158
Dean 169, 370
Dolores. . 132
Durano 83, 117
Elkhart 90
Elm 102, 106
Gail 273
Harmon 189, 215, 232
Kellison 125
Kickapoo 189, 207, 268
Louis-ville 164
Little White Rock 164
Lo-svs 44, 64, 67, 73
L.UOUS 360
Ma'on 41
McGee 210
Mill 84, 212
Muddy 281
Nails 106, 139
Neg-ro 267
N'elson 160, 217
Patoquacho 73
Penitentiary 226
Piney 167
Pond 33, 48
Procella. . . ' 84
Rocky 175, 189, 196, 207
Salt Branch 34
San Lorenzo 183
S'ha-wnee 198
SDrine- 126, 266, 271
S'tovall 179
Tak kiln 149
Tia-re 138
Town 269
White Oak 168
■WTiite Rock 168, 209, 2S9
White's 150
Willis
Wills S3
WriKht=!' 160
Cretaceous 13
beds 14
domes 261
elevation 24
fc^^ils 236. 238
islands 55, 57, 58
lower 11, IS
.=ea ■ 14, 28
submurgence 3
UDOer 20, 23
Crihb's bluff 33
Crider 37
Crockett 91, 122
Page
Crocodilus gryphus Cope 39
Crowther 295
Ciucullea macrodonata Whitfield.. 33
saffordi 36
Cummins. W. F 2
Cupanites, n. sp 125
Cupressinoxylon dawsoni. . .94, 123
Cylichna Kellogi 148
Cymbyola texana Gabb 95
Cytheria bastropensis Harris
96, 98, 101, 106, 137, 138, 148
texacola Harris
..89, 92, 93, 98, 99, 100, 108, 132
tomadonis Harris 96, 97, 99, 171
Dall. W. H 219, 224
Damon Mound 261
Davidson 81
league 150
Deane league 175, 266
Deep River beds 231
Del Rio 22
clays 16, 17
Denison 16
beds 17
Denny .station 134, 348
Dentalium minutistriatum Gabb..
88, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100
var. dumblii Harris
89, 96, 98, 99, 106, 171
sp.
.166
Denver formation 53, 77
Deposition 31, 38, 57. 186
Deu-sen, A 5, 9, 31, 37, 53, 110, 148
Devil's bend 198
Dexter 28
Diatomaceous material 182
Dimmit County 61
Diospyros brachyse^tata 54
Dip 45i 122, 132, 195, 200, 234
Distortrix septemdentata Gabb...
89 92 93
95,' '96,' '97, ' 99,' ' 166,' 'loi, 105, '
Ditrupa subcorculus Gabb
Dolichites deusseni Berry
Dome oil
Domes 25, 27, 55, 184, 296,
Donovan
Drake. N. F
Drake's ==aline 20
Drew's Landing 229,
Dromomeryx 232,
Droddv's Landing
Dryophyllum moori
n. sp 123,
Duck O-reek beds
Duff siding 50, 64,
Dumhle, E. T 2. 5, 7, 8, 10,
Duna<2ran
Dunn's r^nch
107
96
37
297
307
176
12
25
269
233
323
62
170
17
74
lOS
112
96
Fagle Ford 21
Faele Pass 23
Farle 37
Fa'st Prairie 164
Fastham's plantation 268
Fa-t Texas Coal Co 279
Fchinoderms 77
■J^d ward's limestone 15. 17, 22
Flevations 236, 261
Flkins mountain 322
Flmendorf 346
T^lmo 33
Fl Paso 13. 16
Fnal 304
Fnplimatoceras ulrichi Wbitf..33. 36
T^ndonachys maclurii. .93, 97, 100. 107
Eocene 29. 30
upper 57, 147
middle , 38, 56, 134, 147
lower 30
382
University of Texas Bulletin
Page
Epicontinental seas H
Equus 242
Erato seminoides Gat>b 35
Eriphyla trapaquara Harris 92
Erosion 64, 143, 147, 187
Erwin 240
Euschistodon reticulata Gabb.... 94
Evansville 280, 361
Evergreen crossing 106, 231
Exogyra arietina clays 16
Falls County 32, 33
Fasciolara juvinis 44
moorii Gabb 96
Pant 171
• sand 171
Fannin, W 288
Fayette beds
..7, 29, 57, 58, 102, 134, 149, 187
overlap 142
Ficus denveriana Coclierell 37
n. sp 126
occidentalis Le^quereux 37
planico^tata maxima 52
sciiimperi 52
37
sp.
vaugliani.
Fenneman.
Fitzi.
.62, 64
... 9
78
Flabellum conoideum 36
cuneiforme Gabb and Horn 107
var. pachyphyllum Gabb and
Horn 107
sp 96
wailegii Conrad .171
page
Grand Gulf 9, 186
formation 182, 186, 187
Grand Junction 63
Grand Saline 20
Grapeland 272
Gravels 377
Graif's mountain 60
Grayson marls. 17
Greensand 45, 58, 64, 81
Gregg county 46, 59, 66
Grenada formation 53, 54
Grewiopsis tennesseensls 53
Gregg's landing 37
Grimes County 3, 8, 372
Grimes Mountain 60
Grimes station 153
Ground sloth 264
Groveton 122, 146, 164, 289, 371
Grypliea mucronata 17
Gulf coast sediments 4, 24
eocene 25
Gulf costal plain , 3. 13
Gypsum 20, 25, 28, 109, 184
crystals 67
Hager, L 2
Hall's bluff 5, 90
Hatton's ferry 189
Haminea gradis 171
Hamilton 40, 53
Hammock 180
Hanks, W., grant 252
Hardin County 3, 6
Harper tract 343
Harris County 259
TTie Geology of East Texas
383
Page
Inga n. sp 125
Irona 74, 248
Interior domes 263
International & great Northern
Ry 282
lola 153, 154
Iron mountain 323
Iron industry 7
Iron ore,s 6, 58, 59, 66, 318
carbonates 64, 66, 73
conglomerate 49
?.
laminated 321
nodular 319
Jack's tayou 141
Jackson 9, 145
formation, . 29, 59, 110, 145, 184, 187
Jacksonville 65, 66 87
Jasper 192, 249
Jasper County 3
Jefferson 62
Jewett 279
Johnson 30
Johnson's bluff 229
Jones' bridge 130
Jurassic 13
Keechi dome 300, 308
Keechl island 26
Kelley, W. "W 2, 151, 239
Kellum springs 291, 362, 364
Kelley's .switch 258
Kellia pruna 44
Kennard mill 258
Kennedy, W. . .-2, 7, 8, 33, 35, 46, 65,
86, 91, 107, 125, 149, 269, 303, 319
Kerr, W., tract 218
Kiamitla clays 17
King dome 36
Kittrell 158
Knight's landing 223
Knowlton 47
Koppe's bridge 151
Kruttschnitt, J 2
Kuykendall survey 103
Kyles quarry 374
Lacinia alveata Conrad
108, 131, 137,
Lafayette
..29, 64, 70, 77, 81, 113, 116,
Lagarto 29, 220, 236,
Lamb S'prings
Land, Barney
Lapara 29, 220,
Lapparia pactilis var. mooreana
Gabb 92, 98.
Laramide elevation 24, 25, 26
Las Guerreras bluff
Latirus moorei Gabb
. .88, 92, 96, 97, 98, 100, 101,
Laurella. .
Laurlnoxylon n. sp
Laurus wardiana Knowlton
Lea, Isaac
Leda aldrichiana
corpulentoides
houstonia Harris 91,
milamensls Harris 34
opulenta Conrad
95, 98, 100, 101, 106,
74,
sp
Leggett
Leguminosltes arachiodes Les-
quereux
Leiostoma ludivlciana
Lena
Leon County 3, 64.
Lerch, Otto
138
120
244
2'91
194
243
1'07
28
139
107
205
125
37
66
44
43
106
48
138
166
227
53
36
354
277
7
Page
Levif usus indentus 43
pagoda 43
supra planus 43
trabeatoides 99, 100, 101
trabeatus -....43, 44, 108, 132
Liberty County 267
Lignite 7, 28, 43, 45, 58, 109, 275
Lignitic beds 37, 38, 39, 73
fauna 62
land 27
stage 29, 45
Limestone County 3, 6, 45, 277
Limonite 29, 64, 66
Lisbon beds 56
Little Rock 32
Llano 11, 12
Llano-Burnet 11. 14
Llanoria. 11, 1'2, 13
Loess 264
Lopansport 40
Longbridge 6
Longviewo 62
Lorimer 156
Lovelady 123, 273, 285
Low, Jesse, survey 27
Lowe, B. C., survey 195
Loup Fork 238, 243
Lucas headright 179
Lufkin 83, 84, 117, 119
Lufkin deposits 7
Lunulites 96
Lygodium kaulfussi Heer 125
mlssissippiensis Berry 170
Mactra sp. a 148
bistriata 44
Madracis sp 107
Madison County 3, 129, 287
Mainstreet limestone 17
Malakoff 341
Malone Mountain 13
Malvern 32, 54
Mammoth 264. 268
Mancha league 289
Manning 370
beds 29, 148, 156, 187
Manspeed 36
Manton Ill, 256
Many dome 36
Mararinella semen Lea 95, 110
Marion beds 38, 58
county 46, 59, 62, 66
front 58
substage 29, 57, 64
Marlbrook marl 23
-Marshall 6, 47
Martesia texana Harris 89
Mascall beds 233
Mastodon 233
Matthew, Dr, W. D 219, 231, 236
Matthews' landing 34
Matson, 187. 224
Maverick County 32, 61
Mazzalina plena 43
McClanahan's shoals 69, 249
McGee, J. W 246, 259
McGilreny bluff 179
McKem's prairie 309, 314
McLain 322
Melrose 6
Mendez, Mex 183
Meniphylloides ettinghauseni 53
Merychippus 225, 231
seversus. . . ■ 232, 237
Mesalia claibornensi,s Conrad
89, 92, 96, 97, 99, 100, 107
Mesozoic 11, 13
Mespilodaphne n. sp 123, 125
Metopium wilcoxianum 53
Mexia 34, 35, 29&
384
University of Texas Bulletin
Page
Mexico 11, 13, 22, 24 186
Midway fauna 8, 26, 30
stage. . ^^'„52
Milam 249
bluff; -oV ii
county 'ooi
Miller, R., survey ^^1
Mimositeg georgianus Berry 1^6
Mineral localities ^
Minter springs Ig^
Miocene • • ■ Ig^
Mis=is,sippi embayment, . . .13, 28, 54
MToffltt Springs 217
mooriana Gabb ^5
Modiola alabamensis 43
stubbsi 3 b
Moffiitt Springs 217
Monoptygma crassiplica Conrad. . 95
Monterey, Mex 32
Monterey, Tex 112
Montgomery County 3
Moran's landing 41
Mormisia americana Berry 125
Morris County 59
iron 7
Moscow 204. 227
MOpSeley'"! Ferry _99
Mo^sy Hill 193
Mott, Jas 178
Mounds 272, 311
Mount Enteprise 67
Mount Salman 59, 248
M.ud volcanoes 294, 311
Munsou's .shoals 129
Murchison headriprht 90
Murex compsorhytis Gabb 94
Murfreesboro 15
Myrcia catahoulensis Berry 170
Myristica catahoulen,sis Berry.... 123
Nacatosh sand 23, 295
Nacogdoches 63, 78, 294
beds 57, 65, 67, 89, 265
N'acogdoches County
3, 6, 49, 59, 81, -264, 277, 352
iron ores 7, 322
Naheola 34
Nanafalia 37, 39, 40, 43
Napier 258
Nassa exilis 43, 44
Natica alabamensis 43
aperta 43
arata Gabb. . . .92, 93, 96, 97, 101, 107
eminula 43, 44
limula Conrad 92, 93, 96
Limula var 89, 107
newtonensis Aldrich 89, 98
recurva var. dumblii Heilprin. .
108, 131, 132, 137
pemilunata var. janthinops
sp 36, 92, 107, 166
Natural gas 292
Navarro beds 23, 26, 29
county 3, 45
N'avasota beds 220
Nectandra lancifolia 53
n. sp 123, 125
n. var 123
sp 53
Nelleva junction 1S9
Neocene 29. 218, 219
Nentunea enterogramma Gabb.... 94
Neritira sparsalineata Dall 2'5
>"e verita arata Gabb 95
Nevil's prairie 123
New Birmingham 60
New Salem 323
Newton County 3
Niblett's shoals 99
Page
Nimrod 256
Normanville 258
N'ucula magnifica Conrad „„
95, 97, 101, 106
Nueces section 105
Nyssa n. sp 123
.231.
Oakhurst
Oakville
Oakville formation 29, 189,
Obsidian 204.
Occulina sp 93
Odontaspis
Oil
Oil City ., :
Olevilla bombylis var. burlesonis
Harris ■ • • ■ • • ■
Oligocene 9, 24, 184,
Onalaska 207, 209,
beds 29, 189.
Oolitic greensands
Opaline matter
Opaline cemented sandstone
123 157 209
Opalized 'wood'.'.'.'.'. .109, 147, 204]
Orange sand 220,
Orbitoides papyracea Bou
Ordovician
Orell's crossing
Oreodaphne n. sp
obtusifolia
Oreodont
Orogenic action
Orasenic forces
Orogenic movements. .35, 59, 143,
yVustin chalk
Upper Eocene
Upper Pliocene
Ostrea alabamensis Lea
92, 95, 108, 131,
var. contracta Conrad. . . . ;
136, 137. 138, 139.
crenulimarginata Gabb 33
georgiana
johnsoni var
pulaskansis Harris. . . .33, 36, 69
;=ellaefornis Conrad 56,
sp.
var. divaricata Lea .". .
88, 90, 92, 95, 97, 98, 99, 108,
Virginia Gmelin
Ouachita sediments
Owen,sville
Oyster bluff > 33,
258
220
238
206
, 97
175
292
304
L
98
185
229
215
70
147
215
213
246
186
.15
104
125
53
232
4
13
261
5
5
5
132
171
, 36
136
72
72
106
76
132
224
12
281
48
Pachycheilus anaprramatis Dall...22'4
saltilensis Aldrich 224
sauvis Dall 225
Page 15
Palaganche 44, 249
Paleozoic 11, 12, 31, 32
Palestine 59, 67, 304
dome 20, 25, 143, 299, 308
Palmetto 221
Palmoxylon texense 193
Palm's fossil igg_ 221
Paludestrina plana Aldrich 225
Paluxy sand 14
Panola Coimty 3, 27, 49 57
iron .' 7
Parker survey 209
Patrick's ferry 229
Patroon bayou 41
Pawnee Creek beds .231
Peces ferry 199
Pecten claibornensis .' 39
cornuus gS
deshaysil Lea gg^ gg
■sp .' 76
Pelican station 271
The Geology of East Teioas
385
Page
Pennington .'.142, 164
prairie
Pendleton 40
bluff 39
Pennsylvanian 1]
Penrose, R. A. F. Jr
5, 6, 37, 60, 87, 102, 108, 134, 324
Perchoerus 231
PerlRue bluff 265
Perkins grant 252
Permian 12
Persea longipetiolatuni 53
n. sp 88, 92, 125
Pery ' 121
Petroleum 6, 292
Petunculua idoneus 72, 106, 171
.sp 171
Phelps 231, 259
Philleo furnace 324
Phillips, Drurv McN 9
Phillips, W. B 9, 285, 318
Pholadomya claibornensis Aldrich
P sp.
.171
Pholas alatoideus : 44
Phos 106
texana Gabb. var 89,
92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 100. 101, 107
Piedmont springs 291, 356, 362
Pilot Knob.' 24
Pine Bluff 128, 135, 267
Pine island 2^9
Pinna sn 106, 171, 176, 179
Planorbi=i 231
Plant remains 170
Platanu"! latifolia Knowlton 55
occidentalis. . . ., 37
Plate * Ill, 256
Plei."?tocene 264
Plejona praecursor 34
Plevo river 11, 13
Pleurotoma 104, 106
anacona 33, 36
bela Conrad 96
childreni Harris 96, 97, 98, 101
crassiplicata 106
enffonata Conrad.. 91, 92, 95, 99, 100
faunae Harris : . . 98
gabbi Oonrad 88,
91, 92, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 106
huppertzi 44
infans 92
moorei Gabb 91, 95
var 100
natchi 43
nodocarinata Gabb.... 89, 91, 92,
95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 106, 108. 132
ostrarupis Harris 33, 48
Plenta Harris.. 95, 97, 99, 100, 106
var. bitota 106
quassalis 148
quasitus 101
reticulata 106
retifera Gabb 96
sulcata 43
,?p 91, 92, 94, 95
terebriformi"! 110
texana var pleboldes Harris 92
texicona Harris 106
Plicatula fllamento'a
72, 89, 91, 95, 98, 106
Polk County 3, 264
Pollock 89
Pomeranes, Sierra de 184
Porcellaneous cement
109, r46, 147, ISS
.oanflstone 192
Port Caddo landing 47, 53, 62
Port Hudson formation 230, 264
Portamides mat=!oni Dall 224
var. gracillior Dall 224
Page
Potomac 173, 180, 289
Pottsboro 17
Pouroma texana Berry 37
Powell 295
Prado leaigue 164
Pre-Cambrlan 12
Pre-Cretaceous 11
Presidio del Norte 14
Preston beds 17
Prices crossing 104
Procamelus 237
Producer gas 9
Prosthennops 231
Protohippus 225
medius Cope 238
perditus Leldy 238
placidus Leldy 238
Pretolabis 237
Pseudoliva
Pteropsis conradi Dana 96, 100
Pvrite 29, 73, 76, 212
Pvrula penita Oonrad var 96, 98
'texana Aldrich 97, 100, 107
Quaking bogs 273
Quartzite 140, 142, 154, 175. 201
Queen City 61, 65
beds 29, 38, 47, 54, 58, 61, 71
Raprsdale Mountain 60
Ramireno ranch 137
Ramones 32
Ranem .survey 229
Rapid=i 200
Ra=:pberry headright 207
Ratcliff 258
Renfroe place 140
Rhamnites berchemiaformis 54
Rhinoceras 242
Rice sands 146, 188, 206
Ridden, J. C 5
Ries, H 9, 338, 344
Rimella texana var, plena Harris.
89, 98
Ringicula trapaquara Harris 106
Rio Grande embayment 24
Ripley sea 31
Rivers: •
Angelina. . 30, 82, 116, 117, 178, 265
Atascosa 59
Attoyac 116, 249
Brazos 21, 29, 30, 32, 45, 67
Colorado. . .14, 16, 18, 21, 23, 32, 45
Conchos 183
Devils 17
Frio 32
Litle Brazos 34, 101, 129
Navasota 30
N'eches 117
Nueces ■
Old 135
Pisquiera 32
Red 16, 21, 27
Rio Grande 14, 22, 23, 32, 107
Sabine 29, 30, 38
Palinas 32
S'an Jacinto 266, 259
Trinity 6, 29, 30. 266
Tegua 102, 107
Riverside 163, 210
Roan's Prairie 217
Roark'.s gravel pit 258
Robbin's ferry 94, 110, 125
Robertson County 3, 8
Robin's ferry. 181
Rock Bluft 40
Rockdale 282
Rockland 195, 253
Rocky Mountain chain 24, 25
province 53
386
University of Texas Bulletin
Page
Roemer, P 99
Roock league '217
Roma 136, 139
Rose quartz 210
Rusk 60, 87
county 3, 6, 49, 65
iron 7, 323
Sabalites grayanus 53, 54
vlcksburgensis Berry 170
S'alinas movement 24
Saline embayment 299
formation 38
parish 38
peninsula
26, 55, 57, 68, 261, 299, 301
phase 40
stage 29
Sabine Pass 6
Sabine River beds 38, 64
S'abinetown 26, 27, 63
Sabinetown bluff 38, 39, 43, 248
ferry ■_■ 43
S'alinas barrier 24
Saline 272, 309
Salmon 272
gait 25, 28, 261, 296, 307
deposits 20
domes
licks 309
rocks 262
San Augustine 63, 76, 249
San Augustine County
3, 6, 49, 59, 74, 178
S'an Fernando ° 183
San Ignacio 132
Sand
basal
dunes
hills
Sandstone 367
Sandstone dikes 179
Sapindus bintonensis 54
formosa 125
georgiana Berry 125
lineariforlius 54
Saratoga 294
S'aspamco 346
Scala sp 126
S'chuchert, C 11
Scobinella crassiplicata Gabb 94
leviplicata Gabb 94
Scott, W. B 2
Scutella 70
caput-leonensis 89
Sections:
Aaron's hill 79
Alto 88
Angelina river 194
Bowie Hill 320
Brazos and Grimes county 149
Brazos river.. 48, 97, 129, 218, 238
Burkeville. 223
Cold Spring's 230
Colorado river
Cooks Mountain 91
Gibson gin 49
Groveton 165
Groveton-Lufkin & Northwest-
ern Ry 119, 165
Hidalgo Blutt 239
Houston East and Wast Texas
Ry..63, 78, 117, 170. 200, 227. 256
International and Great North-
ern Ry.l22, 153, 163, 213, 217, 231
Irma 74
Kickapoo creek 207
Man'ing 176
Mt. S'elman 87
Nacogdoches 79
Page
Neches river 197
Orton Hill 79
Pendleton bluff 42
Rio Grande 130, 136
Rusk 88
Sabine river
40, 67, 87, 110, 181, 189, 222
S'abinetown bluff 43
San Augustine 75, 76
Santa Fe Ry
. .50, 64, 74, 111, 180, 192, 225, 249
St. Louis & Southwestern. .86, 112
Tehuacana ; 34
Te.xas and New Orleans Ry. . . .
Ill, 195, 226, 253
Texas Southeastern Ry 119
Trinity Brazos Valley Ry 152
Trinity river.. 89, 125, 157, 210, 229
Westmoreland bluft 127
Whellock 94
Wills Point 35
Selenite 81. 84,
103, 109, 118, 122, 179, 184, 202
clastic 109
S'emele lienosa 137
Sevenoaks 227
Shale Oil 297
Shawnee prairie 176, 179
Shelby County 3, 27, 49, 57, 277
iron 7, 322
Shepherd 256, 258
S'hiloh 35
Shipp's ford 143
Shreveport 191
Shumard. B. F 5, 242, 318
Slderite 28
Sierra Blanca .• 13
Sigaretus declivis Conrad
44, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99
incinstans /.Idrich 96. 101
Silicified wood 109, 112,
120, 122, 141, 154, 166, 194, 250
Siliqua simondsi 148
Silurian, upper 11
Simonds 9
Singleton 153, 156, 217
Smiley's bluff 33, 48
Smith County 26, 59, 65
Smith, Eugene 30
Smither's farm 215
S'mlthfleld ■ 229
Smith's ferry 199
Snell's landing 190
Soil.
.181
Solarium acutum, var. meekanum
89, 96, 97, 99, 100, 107
alvatum 98, 107, 171
bellastriatum 107
bellense 43
huppertzi 107, 171
scorblculatum 96, 97, 98, 107
vespertinum 96
Sonada, Mex 183
Sophora wilcoxiana Berry 125
Sour Lake 6, 145. 294
South Texas Coal Company 279
Southern Pacific Company 12
S'outhwestern Fuel Company 282
Spanish Bluft 127
Rpharella antiproducta 49
Sphaerodial weathering 206
K'pindletop 275, 294
Spirorbls leptostoma Swain.... 92, 95
Splendora. 256
Spring 259
Spring Line '70
Star and Crescent Mines 329
Starr County 136
.''tate farm 235
State mines 329
Tlie Geology of East Texas
387
Page
S'teen's Saline 25, 26
Stephenson, L. "W 37
Stephenson league 148
Sterculia n. sp 125
Stivers' Saline 309, 314
Stone. Robert, grant 194
Sucks 273, 311
Sulphur 28, 261, 296
Sulphur bluff 130
Sulphur Springs 291
S^iman, J. R 2, 93, 109, 141, 170
Summit 221
Sun Mounds 260, 261
S'ymola trapaquara Harris. . .107, 144
S'ynecodus 78, 175
Taff, J. A
Tallahatta 55,
Tamaulipas range. 24, 56,
Tampico .'
Tarkington prairie
Ta>T=ie Bell furnace
Taylor marl 23,
Tehuacana
Teleoceras 225,
Tellina mooreana Gabb
101, 108, 132, 137, 138,
sp
Tenuiscola
Tepetate. Mex
Terebellum sp
Terebra houstonia Harris. .88, 95,
texasyra var, Harris 92.
Terminalia hildegardiana Lesau-
ereux 37
Terraces 208, 251, 266,
Terrell
Terry
Tertiary
formation
fossils
sands
sea
section
Tetrabeledon
Texarkana
Texas Grading Company quarry. .
Thompson Bros. Lumber Co
Thompson lieadright
Thorp, Jane, survey
Thornton
Thrall
Timber Belt beds 7, 31, 38,
Timpson
Tishomingo
Titanotherium
Topography 46, 49
59, 109, 141, 177, 181, 193, -204,
Tordo bay
Town bluff 226, 251.
Trans-Pecos 16, 24
Transitional beds 33, 65, 188,
Travis Peak sand
Trewick's bluff 84,
Triassic -. ■
Trlforis
Trigonarca corbuloides Oonrad. . . .
pulihl-a' Gabb '.'.'.'AH 'sV, ' 9l', 95',
Trilophodon 230, 231, 232,
euryphodon
Tritonidea pachecci ■ . • ■
Trinity Ko.
County • • ■
formation 14
Trinity-Neches divide
Troohita sp • • • ■ •
Trochosmilla mortoni Gabb
Trosper farm
Truitt place
17
56
183
25
271
329
298
34
232
171
171
100
184
89
101
106
, 53
268
7
■261
28
29
8
10
29
29
230
26
375
162
90
27
34
.295
102
278
15
242
'260
24
252
, 25
221
14
265
13
107
101
106
233
231
43
162
3
, 20
,147
98
, 93
302
,193
Page
Tuba antiqua, var. texana. .96, 99, 107
Turginolia pharetra Lea
92, 93, 96, 97, 98, 100, 107
Turpentine 289
Turricula polita Gabb.. 92, 96, 99, 107
171
92
94
94
94
94
100
107
171
43
93
43
166
37
62
3
164
sp
texana
Turris kelloggi Gabb
nodicarinata
retifera
Turritella dumbli Harris.. 96, 97,
dutexta 89,
houstonia 107, 108, 132,
mortoni 36,
nasuta var 71,
praecincta. . . /.
»r 53, 98, 104, 105, 148, 155,
Tuscahama
Tyler
County
prairie
Udrlen, J. A'. 2, 12
Udell, C. B 258
Umbrella planulata 182
Unconformities 81, 82, 250
Unio sp 69, 128, 236
Union Hill 362
Upshur County 59, 66
iron. . 7
Urbana 258
Urbana gravel pit 377
Uvalde 12
Vair 122
Van Zandt County 33, 45
iron 7
Vaughan, T. W 62, 107, 145
Veatch. A. 5, 9, 38, 40, 47,
68, 110, 143, 145, 178, 186, 187, 222
Venericardia alticostata 33, 36
var. perantiqua 133
planicosto Lamarck
36, 41, 44, 48, 66, 69, 88, 92, 93,
96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 106,
108, 132, 137, 138, 148, 155, 171
rotunda Lea 88, 98, 171
sp 74, 176
Vertebrates 231, 236, 242
Vicksburg formation 9, 145, 185
Vivian 27
Volcanic ash
24, 146, 154, 182, 188, 202, 361, 362
eruptions 4, 146, 187
necks 5
tuft 163, 168, 183
Volcanoes. ' 147, 206
Volga 267
Volutilitbes 104, 137, 176
dalli Harris 96
limop.sis Conrad 36
petrosa Conrad. 44, 88, 89, 92, 95,
99, 100, 107, 108, 132. 137, 138, 171
var. indenta
89, 92, 96, 97, 98, 107, 108, 132
praecursor Dall. . . .89, 92, 96, 97, 99
rugatus 36
sp 69
Volvula conradiana Gabb 91, 95
• minutissima Gabb 106
"Waco 6, 24
"Wailes 186
Walker County 3
Walker, J. B 7
^V^alnut clays 15
Warsaw 116, 255
Washington 242
Washita formation 16
388
University of Texas Bulletin
Page
limestone 16
Water supply 9
Waters Park 295
Webb County 131
Webberville 23, 32
Weiser's Bluff 159
Weldon 126
Welborn 145
beds 29, 142, 147, 148
Wells, Cleveland 257
Espersa 297
Flat Fork ' 302
Groveton Light and Ice Co 289
Lucas 294
Marshall 47
Mexico Oil and Gas Co 298
Mineola 47
Palmetto Petroleum Co 302
Producer 301
Sulphur Springs 48
Wells, Texas 89
West Point 134
Westcott 258
Westmoreland bluff 126, 266
Westville 168
Wheelock 94, 282
White Bluff marl 256
White City 178, 179, 255
White Marl Bluff 134
White Rock ghoals 212, 267
"Wicker Slarvey 169
Wilcox '. 37
fauna 8, 25, 39, 45
Page
formation 29, 37
Wilkins mill 62
Willard 154
Williams quarry 148, 150
Willis 232, 268
Willow switch 62, 260
Wills Point 32, 35
Wilson County 53, 59
Winfield 143
Wood County iron 7
Woodbine 18
formation 20, 21, 25, 29, 294, 300
Woodville 246
Wood's Bluff 37, 39,- 44
Wooters Bluff 90
station 123, 284
Worril 9
Wortham 34, 298, 340
Yazoo City 145
Yegua age 106
beds .29, 8«
deposits 7, 58
substagc 57, 65, 102, 296
Yoldia aldrichiana 101, 137
claibornensis 95, 101, 148
Young's furnace 321
Zapata 108, 136
county ,..131
Zavalla 289
Zana 252
Zenyloda 145, 178
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