Guidebook—Geology of the Kanopolis Lake Area

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Road Log, continued

Total Mileage Point-to-point Mileage
0.0After STOP 2, zero out odometers and continue west.(0.1)
0.1Alum Creek.(0.4)
0.5"T" intersection. Turn right (north) on 25th Road. A large clay pit is visible to the southwest. This is one of many clay pits in Ellsworth County in the Dakota Formation that supply the raw material for the Acme Brick Company plant in nearby Kanopolis.(0.3)
0.8Union Pacific Railroad crossing. WARNING! This crossing has no warning equipment. STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN. This is the main line between Kansas City and Denver and is a busy railroad.(0.7)
1.5Kansas Highway 140. Turn left (west). This state highway was once U.S. Highway 40. The nation's first coast-to-coast highway, it was also known as the "National Road," stretching from Atlantic City to the west coast. K-140 (known locally as "old highway 40") parallels the Union Pacific Railroad just to the south. Once known as the Kansas Pacific, this branch of the Union Pacific was built in 1867 and was the key link in opening up the cowtowns of Abilene, Salina, Ellsworth, and Hays as destinations and shipping centers for Texas cattle being driven north on trail drives.(0.6)
2.1At the crest of this hill we pass through a Dakota Formation road cut.(1.4)
3.5Turn right (north) on 23rd Road. We will be traveling across the Dakota Formation for the next 4.2 miles. Three miles to the southwest is the Kanopolis Salt Mine. Salt was discovered in Ellsworth County in 1887 and has been produced in Kanopolis since 1891. The shaft for this mine was sunk in 1914 to a depth of 850 feet, producing from a 10-foot interval of the Permian-age Hutchinson Salt Member of the Wellington Formation. It is the oldest continually operated salt mine in the state. In 2000, an abandoned salt mine shaft next to the Acme Brick Company plant exploded and shot discarded bricks and other debris into the air, damaging nearby buildings and cars. The old shaft had been used as a dump and then capped over. Engineers think that pressure generated from the buildup of water in the old mine workings increased to the point where the surface cap failed, and the released air caused the "eruption."(4.5)
8.0This ridge is capped by the Graneros Shale, the formation above the Dakota. The elevation is 1720 feet.(1.0)
9.0To the right (east) is another clay pit in the Dakota Formation.(0.8)
9.8This ridge is capped by the Greenhorn Limestone.(1.0)
10.8This tributary of East Elkhorn Creek flows south-southwest 3 miles and then makes a U-turn and flows almost due north into East Elkhorn Creek. Its drainage has been captured by a rapidly eroding north-flowing stream in a process known as stream piracy. From here we climb through the Graneros Shale up into the Greenhorn Limestone.(0.7)
11.5Avenue B. Turn right (east). The next 6.3 miles is an ungraveled, fair weather road, and is extremely muddy during and after rain. The Carlile Shale (the formation above the Greenhorn Limestone) caps this hilltop.(0.6)
12.1The small barn on the right (south) side of the road is made from Fencepost limestone, a thin, 8-12 inch bed of limestone at the top of the Greenhorn Limestone. Although thin, it occurs over a wide area of central and western Kansas and has been extensively quarried for fenceposts, building stone, and more recently, for decorating, landscaping, and signs.(0.4)
12.5The fence line on the left (north) side of the road is made from Fencepost limestone.(0.5)

color photo of barbed wire fence strung on limestone fence posts, with winter grass and patches of snow

Greenhorn Limestone fenceposts.

STOP 3. Greenhorn Limestone. Park on the top of the hill as far to the right as is safe so that other vehicles can pass. The elevation here is 1810 feet, 400 feet above the Smoky Hill River below Kanopolis Dam. Thin beds of sandstone in the Carlile Shale are found at the top of the hill. Down the hill are fossiliferous outcrops of Greenhorn Limestone, and below the Greenhorn, the gray Graneros Shale is exposed.

The Greenhorn Limestone consists of several thin limestone beds, 3 to 12 inches thick, separated by somewhat thicker chalky shale beds. The limestone beds contain numerous inoceramid clams, and have a petroliferous odor when freshly broken.

color photo of fossil clam shell

Inoceramid clam from the Greenhorn Limestone.

The Graneros Shale was deposited in deeper, offshore marine waters of normal salinity. The gray, silty shale characteristically weathers into brittle, small flakes. Although fossils are not obvious at first glance, they do occur throughout the formation, mainly as casts and in thin limestone beds.

This guidebook is also available in print form as Kansas Geological Survey, Open-file Report 2003-52, from KGS Publications Sales office, 785-864-3965.

Unless noted otherwise, illustrations by Jennifer Sims, Kansas Geological Survey; photographs by John Charlton, Kansas Geological Survey. Text by Jim McCauley, Bob Sawin, Rex Buchanan, and Liz Brosius, Kansas Geological Survey.

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