172 THE COASTAL PLAIN OF NORTH CAROLINA.

An the decade following the publication of Lea’s work the differen-
tiation of the Tertiary was extended to other regions and the Eocene
became generally recognized as distinct from the later Tertiary strata.
In North Carolina the beds at Wilmington early received attention,
while exposures along the Trent and Northeast Cape Fear rivers were
mentioned.

It remained for Lyell, who had named and described the Tertiary
divisions of Europe, to definitely determine the presence of similar
strata in North Carolina. While in this country he visited many fossil
localities in the State, and at Wilmington recognized the presence of
deposits of both Eocene and Miocene age.*

Since Lyell’s time there has never been any question regarding the

‘presence of Eocene and Miocene strata in North Carolina, and early
- elaims regarding the existence of Pliocene deposits have been sub-
stantiated by the later work of Dall. Emmons, in his geological report,
published in 1858, and Kerr, in his report published in 1875, made
. important contributions to the knowledge of the Tertiary deposits of the
State, summarizing the results of previous investigations. Clark, Stan-
ton, Holmes, and others have described in later years many local sec-
tions in much detail.

Heilprin,t in 1883, proposed the name “Carolinian” for the Miocene
deposits of the Carolinas, regarding them younger in age than the
Miocene deposits of Virginia and Maryland, which he proposed to eall
“Virginian” and “Marylandian.”

 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
  

In 1890, Dall began the publication of his elaborate monographic ©
study of the Tertiary fauna of Florida, in which he included deserip-
tions of all of the known Tertiary fossils of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. —
In these studies, extending over a period of 13 years, he recognized

the fact that the Miocene was capable of subdivision, and also clearly —
differentiated the Pliocene, regarding which much doubt had been

‘expressed by others. No detailed study of the stratigraphy of the North |

Carolina Tertiary deposits had been made, however, up to the time
that the United States Geological Survey, in codperation with the North
Carolina Geological and Economic Survey, began the present investiga
tions in 1905, and no general article based on detailed stratigraphic —
work has thus far been published.

8 DIVISIONS. — i
The Atlantic Coastal Plain, as well as the Gulf Coastal Plain, has —
been found, on careful study, to be far less simple than it was formerly

 

 

*Trayels in North America, etc. New York, 1845.
4Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., vol. 24, 1883, pp. 150-186.