History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 125

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756

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Reorganization .- No noteworthy work was done in Alabama from that time until 1871, when Dr. Eugene A. Smith, the present State geologist, who then-as now-occupied the chair of geology in the university, was directed by the board of regents to devote as much time as might be consistent with his duties in the university to traveling over the State and making examinations and collections in geology. Doctor Smith spent a part of his vacation in 1871 examining, at his own ex- pense, certain marine Tertiary deposits in Clarke, Washington and Choctaw Counties.

At the session of 1872-73, the legislature revived the geological survey, by act of April 18, 1873, and appointed Dr. Smith, State geologist. The preamble of this act recited: "WHEREAS, By an act of the General Assem- bly, approved January, 1848, and an act ap- proved January 3d, 1854, a geological and agricultural survey was instituted and prose- cuted for some years, with great advantage to the people of the State; and, Whereas, The said survey was left incomplete by the death of Prof. Michael Tuomey, State Geologist; and Whereas, Dr. Eugene A. Smith, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the University of Alabama, is required by ordinance of the board of regents of said university to devote a portion of his time and labor to a geological exploration of the State, and to an examina- tion of its mineral and agricultural resources; therefore,

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Gen- eral Assembly of Alabama, That Eugene A. Smith, professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the University of Alabama, be and he is hereby appointed State Geologist."

The act proceeded to prescribe his duties and to appropriate the sums of $800 "for the purchase of chemicals and the necessary ap- paratus of a laboratory for the analysis of soils, ores, minerals and mineral water;" $2,200 "for the purchase of an ambulance and team;" and $500 per annum for the traveling and incidental expenses of the geologist during the time he should be en- gaged in the field work of the survey. With the exception of small special appropriations for the purpose of preparing maps and other illustrations for the geological reports made in 1877 and 1879, and the annual appropria- tion for expenses in the field, no further ex- penditures were made by the State on account of the geological survey during the 10 years. 1873 to 1882 inclusive.

"During the ten years from 1873 to 1882 inclusive," says Dr. Smith on pages 3 and 4 of his Geological Surveys in Alabama, "the writer devoted the greater part of the three months of each summer vacation to geologi- cal excursions, receiving no compensation therefor in the way of salary. The actual

traveling expenses were, however, defrayed out of the annual appropriation of $500, which also paid the other contingent expenses of the survey. In the summer of 1878 Mr. Henry McCalley, at his own expense, accom- panied the writer in the field, and during the following years, from 1879 to 1882, he undertook independent field work, without compensation from the survey beyond the payment of his expenses while in the field. At this time he held the position of Assistant in the Chemical Department of the University, then also under the charge of the present writer. There were other volunteer assistants during this time; the two whose contributions are to be found in the survey reports being Professor W. C. Stubbs, who made a number of chemical analyses, besides taking part in the field work, and Mr. T. H. Aldrich, who prepared a valuable sketch of the early his- tory of coal mining operations in Alabama, published in the report of 1875."

During this period several reports, for the most part preliminary or reconnoissance re- ports, dealing chiefly with the economic aspects of the geology of the State, including the early history of coal mining in Alabama and the occurrence and composition of iron ores and limestones in the Warrior field, were issued. "In 1877-8 attention was turned to the Warrior Coal Field, till then compara- tively unknown, and maps were published of Walker, Fayette, Marion and Winston coun- ties which were practically underlaid with coal measures. Notwithstanding the fact that no coal was mined at that time in all this region, and it was not possible with the means at the disposal of the survey to open the seams so as to show their true value, the pub- lication, especially of these maps, turned the attention of investors to these counties, and the next few years witnessed marvellous de- velopments there."

In 1878 a movement was launched to se- cure an appropriation from Congress for making the upper Warrior River navigable to aid in developing the coal seams along its course. Dr. Smith, assisted by Mr. McCalley and Mr. Joseph Squire, ran a line of levels from the forks of the Warrior down to Tusca- loosa, and made special reexamination of the coal seams within available distance from the river. The War Department bore most of the expense of this survey, but the State geologi- cal survey published the map and report at its own cost.

In 1880 the State survey cooperated with the Census Bureau in preparing for the Tenth Census a report on cotton culture in Alabama and Florida, and on the composition, mode of formation and properties of soils in Ala- bama, and the changes produced by cultiva- tion. The report containing the results of these observations, which extended to every county in Alabama, was published by the State in 1883. It contains many analyses of soils and marls, made partly by the Census and partly by the survey.

Enlargement of Activities .- In 1883 the annual appropriation was increased to $5,000 and in 1891 to $7,500. The latter, being a

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

continuing appropriation, enabled the state geologist to perfect an organization and adopt a plan for future work, thus increasing effi- ciency. Mr. McCalley was given charge of investigations in the Warrior coal and iron fields; Joseph Squire and A. M. Gibson were placed in charge of investigations in the Cahaba and Coosa coal fields, respectively; and Dr. Smith took charge of explorations in the metamorphic area and of studies of the Coastal Plain deposits. Reports on all these regions were prepared and published. Dr. William B. Phillips, W. M. Brewer and others made reports on the gold deposits; and a report on iron making in Alabama, prepared by Dr. Phillips, met with an enthusiastic re- ception and quickly ran through two or three editions. Under the auspices of the survey, investigations and reports were made of the clays, the water powers, the artesian and other underground waters, limestones, build- ing stones, bauxites, the fresh water and marine Crustacea, and the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations of the Coastal Plain. A preliminary list of the plants native to Ala- bama was prepared by Dr. Smith and Dr. Charles Mohr in collaboration, and published many years ago. Later a monumental work on the plant life of Alabama was prepared by Dr. Mohr and published in 1901 in coopera- tion with the United States Department of Agriculture. The preparation of another work, on the timbers and other plants, useful or noxious, was assigned to Dr. R. M. Harper. The survey also issued a bulletin on road materials and highway work, which was adopted by the State highway commission (q. v.) as one of its official bulletins.

Museum and Library .- In 1909 a beautiful and commodious building was erected, at a cost of $100,000, appropriated by the legis- lature. It is known as "Smith Hall," so named in honor of the State geologist, Dr. Eugene Allen Smith, under whom the survey has attained its great development. The structure provides about 12,000 square feet of floor space available for offices, museum, library, lecture rooms, laboratories, and work rooms of the survey and for the departments of geology. and biology of the university.

The larger part of the building is devoted to the museum. The collections include the fields of anthropology, botany, geography, geology and paleontology and zoology. Ex- cellent facilities for display and storage are afforded. The organization and arrangement of the groups and specimens conform to the latest ideals. The museum contains the fol- lowing special collections: The Mohr her- barium, which forms the basis for Dr. Charles Mohr's "Plant life of Alabama"; the Peters collection of fungi; the Aldrich collection of shells and fossils; the Lommel collection of European fossils and rocks; the Schowalter collection of minerals and fossils; the Mohr and the Schowalter collections of land, fresh- water, and marine shells from all parts of the world; the Dr. H. H. Smith collection of Ala- bama land and fresh-water shells; the Löding collection of Alabama coleoptera; the Tuomey collection of Alabama reptiles; and the Avery

bird collection. All of these are available for consultation and for use hy students. The museum has been built up from the collec- tions made by the survey under Prof. Michael Tuomey from 1847 to 1857, and under Dr. Smith from 1873 to date.

The library is also housed in Smith Hall. Although primarily intended for the use of the survey staff and university students, it is open to all who may care to consult it. It numbers about 5,000 volumes and many more pamphlets, collected through the years by exchange, by gift of Dr. Smith, and by systematic purchases. The books include texts, reports of the surveys of the United States, State and foreign governments, mono- graphs and serials.

REFERENCES .- Code, 1907, secs. 689-697; Acts, 1872-73, pp. 89-90; Richard T. Brumby, Address on importance of a geological survey of Ala- bama, Dec. 7, 1841 (1842), and Letters of Pro- fessor R. T. Brumby, on importance of a geo- logical survey of Alabama (1845), first pub- lished in State Journal and Flag, Nov. and Dec. 1844; "Death of Prof. Tuomey," in The Independ- ent, Gainesville, Ala., Apr. 11, 1857; "Michael Tuomey," sketch in University of Ala., Corolla, 1894, vol. 2, pp. 21-24; E. A. Smith, "Sketch of the life of Michael Tuomey," from American Geologist, vol. xx, Oct. 1897; "Michael Tuomey, geologist," sketch in Lamb's Biographical dic- tionary of the United States, vol. 7, 1903, p. 392; Smith, "Memoir of Henry McCalley," in Bulle- tin Geol. Soc. America, vol. 16, 1904; also "Biographical sketch of Henry McCalley," in American Geologist, Apr., 1905, with bibli- ography; and "Memoir of Daniel W. Langton, Jr.," in Bulletin Geol. Soc. America, May 21, 1910, vol. 21, pp. 12-16; Report of Eugene A. Smith, state geologist, on the geological and agricultural survey of Alahama (1873) ; Smith, "The geological and biological survey of Ala- bama," in Science, May 13, 1898, new ser. vol. vii, No. 176; Hayes, State geological surveys of the United States (U. S. Geol. Survey, Bulle- tin 465, 1911), Alabama, pp. 9-16; Smith, "Geo- logical surveys in Alabama," in Journal of Gcology, Apr .- May, 1894, vol. ii, No. 3, pp. 1-13; Clark, History of education in Alabama (1889), p. 64; Geol. Survey of Ala., "Museum papers": (1) Smith Hall (May, 1910, pp. 7); (2) The museum as an educator (May, 1912, pp. 25); (3) Directions for collecting land shells, peri- winkles, and mussel shells (1912, pp. 12); "A directory of American museums," in Buffalo So- ciety of Natural Sciences, Bulletin, vol. 10, No. 1, Oct. 1910.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY LIBRARY. See Geological Survey.

GEOLOGY OF ALABAMA. Alabama has a carefully estimated total area of 52,251 square miles, of which 51,540 square miles is land surface. "Apart from the minor in- equalities and the relatively small area of the Talladega Mountains," the surface of this area may be considered as an eroded or dis- sected plain, whose mean elevation above sea level is nearly 600 feet. The north and north- east sections rise above this average eleva-

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

tion, and the south and southwest fall below it.

The State is divided into two grand divi- sions as to geologic formation and surface configuration. An irregular curving line drawn from the northwest corner of the State through Tuscaloosa and Montgomery to Columbus, Ga., would mark approximately the southern boundary of the area whose altitude is above 600 feet. This elevated great Appalachian region, and is known as the Appalachian division. The highest alti- tudes of the State occur in this region, along a line running northeast and southwest, nearly along the northern boundaries of Coosa, Clay and Cleburne Counties. The altitude increases toward the northeast, and the general slope of the surface is away from the elevated area in all directions except the north and northeast. The mountains of Ala- bama all rise 1,200 to 1,600 feet above the highland, or 2,000 to 2,400 feet above sea level.

The remainder of the State, whose average altitude is less than 600 feet, constitutes the Coastal Plain division. Its surface slopes, approximately one foot to the mile, south and west toward the Gulf of Mexico and the Mis- sissippi Valley, the elevation thus decreasing from about 600 to 200 to 300 feet in the highlands overlooking the Gulf in the two coast counties.

The whole drainage system of the State (see River and Drainage Systems) has a gen- eral southwesterly direction, with the single exception of the Tennessee River (q. v.).

The two halves of the plateau region of the State show important differences. In the southeastern half the strata have been greatly folded and plicated and in part metamor- phosed, and are always much indurated. As a consequence the mountains of this section, illustrated by the Talladega Mountain Range, the most elevated in the State, are often sharp-crested and serrated, but always with uneven summits. In the northwestern half the strata are in wide, open waves or folds, and the mountains, exemplified by the Cum- berland Plateau, are merely the remnants of an elevated tableland, with steep slopes toward the bordering valleys. Between the principal members of this mountain system are great valleys which are carved for the most part from limestones interstratified with harder and more durable beds of sandstone and chert. The harder beds form northeast- southwest minor ridges which flute the great valley areas. There are no mountains in the Coastal Plain. The hills are merely rem- nants left from the original mass.

The subdivisions of the Appalachian di- vision are: (1) the Talladega Mountains and Ashland Plateau, of igneous and metamorphic rocks; (2) the Appalachian valleys of Paleo- zoic rocks below the Coal Measures; (3) the coal fields of the Pennsylvanian series; (4) the Valleys of the Tennessee, of the Missis- sippian series (lower Carboniferous).

The Coastal Plain has two great basal for- mations, the Cretaceous and the Tertiary,

and two blanket formations, the Grand Gulf and the Lafayette.

The subjoined table shows the chrono- logical sequence of the geologic formations represented in Alabama. The existence of certain late Tertiary marine formations in the lower counties has been revealed by deep borings, though their outcrops have not yet been observed at the surface.

APPALACHIAN DIVISION.

Talladega Mountains and Ashland Plateau (Igneous and metamorphic rocks) .- This sub- division makes up the southeastern half of the Appalachian division, embracing part or all of Cleburne, Talladega, Clay, Coosa, Chil- ton, Elmore, Tallapoosa, Randolph, Cham- bers, Lee and Macon Counties. The rocks are all more or less crystalline in texture and fall into two general classes: (1) massive or dike rocks of igneous origin, such as granite, diorite, and diabase; and (2) metamorphic or schistose rocks. The latter class is like- wise divided into two divisions according to origin: (a) those derived from igneous rocks, such as the gneisses, the hornblende schists, the Hillabee green schists, etc., (b) and those derived from sediments, such as the feebly crystalline phyllites of the Talladega Moun- tains, the more fully crystalline mica-schists of the Ashland Plateau, and the quartzites, and crystalline marbles and dolomites.

The Talladega Mountains form the north- western part of this subdivision. They are high, generally sharp-crested ridges with nar- row, often gorge-like valleys between.

The average elevation of the Ashland Plateau, which forms the eastern portion of the subdivision, is 1,000 feet above the sea. The plain-like character of this plateau is evidently the result of erosion-"base-level- ing"-and is not due to the horizontal posi- tion of the rocks, as is the case with the Cumberland Plateau of the Mississippian. The surface of the Ashland Plateau is made up of heveled-off edges of the steeply dipping schists, and the present topographic features are due to the subsequent elevation of the base-leveled plain and the dissection of its mass by the watercourses.

Appalachian Valleys ( Paleozoic formations below the Pennsylvanian) .- The wide valley with prevailing calcareous soils lying between the Talladega Mountains on the east and Lookout Mountain and the Coosa coal field on the west has received the name of Coosa Valley (q. v.), from the river which drains it. It is the continuation and terminus of the Valley of East Tennessee and the Great Val- ley of Virginia. Branching from it are the Cahaba, Wills, Shades, Jones, Murphrees, and Browns or Blount Springs Valleys. The geo- logic formations occurring in these valleys range from the lowest Cambrian up to the Pennsylvanian series. The most prominent of these formations is the Knox dolomite. There are also other important limestones and calcareous shales, of Cambrian age. which form the floors of parts of these val-

651

HISTORY OF ALABAMA GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS OF ALABAMA.

Quarternary

Soils First bottom deposits and recent alluvium Second bottom deposits Columbia sands Lafayette (?) Pliocene

Pliocene. [Grand Gulf * ·[Pasagoula

Miocene-Chattahoochee (Alum Bluff, Oak Grove, etc.) *

St. Stephens limestone *

Claiborne

Gosport greensand Lisbon beds Tallahatta buhrstone

Tertiary. . .

Eocene .. . .

Chickasaw or Wilcox (Lignitic)

Midway

Hatchetigbee Bashi (Woods Bluff) Tuscahoma (Bells Landing) Nanafalia (Coal Bluff) Noheola (Matthews Landing) Sucarnochee clay Clayton limestone

Cretaceous. . .

Ripley marl Selma chalk Eutaw sand Tuscaloosa formation

Pennsylvania Series

(Coal measures)

Carboniferous.

Mississippian Series (Lower Carboniferous)

} .

Bangor limestone Oxmoor formation Tuscumbia limestone Lauderdale chert

[Contempo- Lraneous Ft. Payne chert

Devonian-Chattanooga black shale

Silurian-Red Mountain formation (Clinton)

Ordovician . ..

[Pelham limestone (Trenton) Knox Dolomite Coosa shale Montevallo formation Aldrich limestone Weisner sandstone

Talladega slates [Metamorphic Paleozoic strata; [Pennsylvanian in part

Metamorphic and Igneous rocks

Ashland mica shists

[Metamorphic sediments of undetermined lage, probably Paleozoic

Igneous rocks

[Granites, diorites, gneisses, etc., of several Lages (pre-Cambrian and Paleozoic)

*EXPLANATORY NOTE :- Recent investigations of the U. S. Geological Survey have led to the differentiation of Grand Gulf deposits into Oligocene and Pliocene with the name Citronelle for the Pliocene, and Cataboula for the Oligocene divi- sions. The St. Stephens limestone by the same authority has been classed as Oligocene, as is the case also with most of the formations occurring along the Apalachicola River, formerly placed in the Miocene.

Cambrian

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HISTORY OF ALABAMA

leys, especially of the Coosa. All these lime- stones are interbedded with sandstones and chert which stand out as subordinate ridges that diversify all the valleys. The Coosa Valley is thus a great trough, 30 miles wide, fluted with scores of parallel smaller ridges and valleys.

Coal Fields ( Pennsylvanian series) .- The coal fields are four in number-the Coosa, Cahaba, Lookout Mountain, and Warrior. They are separated from each other by long, narrow anticlinal valleys, and structurally they are troughs or synclines between these anticlines. The principal coal mining opera- tions are to be found in the southwestern parts of these fields, especially in the War- rior and the Cahaba, and less conspicuously in the Coosa.

Valleys of the Tennessee (Mississippian series) .- From the northeast corner of the State down to Guntersville, the Tennessee River is confined to a long, narrow, anticlinal trough, known in Alabama as Browns or Big Spring Valley. Below Guntersville the river flows in a northwest direction along a narrow, often gorge-like valley through the Cumber- land Plateau to about the meridian of Hunts- ville, where it emerges into the broad and open Valley of the Tennessee. The geologic formations of this lower stretch of the river are the Bangor (Chester) limestone with its interstratified sandstone, lying principally south of the river, while the country to the north is made by the siliceous limestone of the Tuscumbia (St. Louis), the Lauderdale, and other members of the Mississippian series below the Bangor. The Tennessee Valley, like the Coosa Valley, is a complex trough, fluted with narrow, parallel ridges and subor- dinate valleys.

COASTAL PLAIN.

The two fundamental systems of the Coastal Plain are the Cretaceous and the Ter- tiary, consisting of interstratified beds of sand, clay, limestone, and maris, with their admixtures. In going southward from the Appalachian division we pass in succession over the beveled edges of these formations from the oldest to the newest. Each of these formations occupies the surface in a belt pro- portional in width to its thickness, and run- ning approximately east and west across the State. Perhaps four-fifths of the cultivated upland soils of the whole plain are based on what is known as the Lafayette formation- a mantle of reddish and light colored loams and sands, with frequent beds of water-worn pebbles in the lower parts. It has an average thickness of 25 to 30 feet and probably formerly covered the entire area of the plain, having been deposited at the close of the Tertiary period. Since this deposition the materials of the formation have been worked over and redeposited at lower altitudes, along slopes and in river terraces, and thus incor- porated in later formations.

The combined thickness of the Cretaceous formations in Alabama has been estimated at 2,500 feet. It includes four formations

which are, in ascending order: (1) the Tus- caloosa, a formation of fresh-water origin, made up of sands and clays in many alterna- tions; (2) the Eutaw, mainly of marine origin, composed of sands and clays more or less calcareous, but nowhere showing beds of hard limestone; (3) the Selma chalk, like- wise of marine origin, and a great calcareous formation of the nature of chalk, with vary- ing admixtures of clay and other impurities; and (4) the Ripley, also a marine formation in which the calcareous constituents generally predominate, but in parts containing sandy or clayey beds.

None of these formations greatly affects the topography or has marked lithologic charac- ters except the Selma chalk, which underlies a belt with an average width of 20 to 25 miles, extending from the western boundary of the State to a short distance beyond Mont- gomery. The Selma chalk, or black belt, has been more deeply and evenly wasted by erosion and by solution than the more sandy formations north and south of it. As a con- sequence, its outcrop is in the shape of a trough.

The Eutaw and Tuscaloosa formations out- cropping north of the Selma chalk belt show no marked topographic features. The surface of the Eutaw belt is generally smoother than that of the Tuscaloosa, and the calcareous character of many of the sandy and clayey beds insures greater fertility.

The Ripley formation south of the Selma area has many features in common with the Eutaw, and while prevalently sandy, it yet contains a considerable proportion of lime- stone and calcareous clays.

A short distance east of Montgomery and thence to the Georgia line, the whole marine Cretaceous section-the "Blue Marl" region - assumes a very uniform lithologic charac- ter, being composed mainly of a bluish sandy marl in which scales and flakes of mica are numerous.

Notwithstanding this lithologic uniformity, the three divisions of the marine Cretaceous in eastern Alabama are sufficiently distinct in their fossils.

The thickness of the lower Tertiary Eocene formations in Alabama is about 1,800 feet. The Eocene is subdivided into four general groups: (1) the Midway; (2) the Chickasaw (Wilcox); (3) the Claiborne group; and (4) the St. Stephens limestone. The upper part of the St. Stephens, equivalent to the Vicksburg has recently been classed as Oligocene.

At the base of the Tertiary is found an im- pure limestone, thin and inconspicuous in western Alabama, but thickening to the east until on the Chattahoochee River it includes fully 200 feet of alternating calcareous sands and limestones. This formation is called the Clayton limestone.

. Next above the Clayton there is, along Tombigbee River, a series of black or dark brown clays at least 100 feet thick. This formation is also well exposed on Sucarno- chee River, and has been called Sucarnochee. At some points these clays are sparingly fos-

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History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume I, Part 125

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 756

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 756