The Tertiary in Missouri, US

Paleontology and geology

Most of the Tertiary deposits in Missouri are found in the far southeastern part of the state. They consist of stream-deposited clays, sands, gravels, and a few poorly consolidated sandstones that formed along the edge of the shores of the Mississippi Embayment, where the early Gulf of Mexico flooded the region. Fossils of magnolia and oak leaves are locally common in Tertiary clays.