Description of the Pungo River formation in Beaufort County

This report describes the lithology and stratigraphy of the Pungo River Formation that underlies part of Beaufort County, North Carolina. The formation contains potentially economic beds of phosphatic sand. It is composed of interbedded phosphatic clays, diatomaceous clays, phosphatic limestones, silty claystones, coquinas, calcareous clays, and phosphatic sands. The P2 0-, content of the phosphatic sands ranges up to a known maximum of about 21 percent of the raw core sample. The above materials usually occur in definite zones, or horizons, in the formation that may be traced laterally across the county.