Stratigraphy of Outcropping Cretaceous Beds of Southeastern States

Abstract

Cretaceous sedimentary rocks crop out in the southeastern states from the head of the Mississippi embayment in Kentucky southward and eastward at least as far as central Georgia. Their total thickness is about 2,100 feet. The sequence is divided in ascending order into the Vick formation of undetermined Cretaceous age, the Tuscaloosa group, the McShan formation, the Eutaw formation, and the Selma group. In terms of Texas equivalents the Woodbine formation is represented in the southeastern states by the Cottondale, Eoline, and possibly the Coker formations; the Eagle Ford shale by the Gordo and McShan formations; the Austin chalk by the Eutaw formation, the Mooreville chalk, and its lateral equivalents (the Blufftown formation and the lower part of the Coffee sand); the T ylor marl by the lower part of the Demopolis chalk and its equivalents (the lower part of the Cusseta sand and the Tupelo tongue of the Coffee sand); and the Navarro group by the upper part of the Demopolis chalk, the upper part of the Cusseta sand, the Ripley formation, the Prairie Bluff chalk and its lateral equivalents (the Owl Creek formation and the Providence sand).