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Franklin County Geology

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Stratigraphic Sections

Each stratigraphic unit shown on Plate 2 is represented here by at least one measured section description. All descriptions pertain to Franklin County exposures with the exception of A9 and A10, which were measured and described in Anderson County.

A sections || B sections || C sections || D sections

B1--Section in an abandoned quarry at cen. E line sec. 23, T. 18 S., R. 19 E. Thickness
(feet)
Stanton Limestone
South Bend Limestone Member
Limestone, blue gray to brown on fresh surfaces, weathers brown, thin to thick and relatively even bedded, microcrystalline, brittle; Chonetes, Composita, Derbyia, Dielasma, Meekella, Punctospirifer, marginiferids, fusulinids, crinoids, fenestrate bryozoans, trilobite pygidia5.1
Rock Lake Shale Member
Shale, gray green, paper-thin beds weather into irregular blocks, clayey to slightly silty0.7
Limestone, gray on fresh surfaces, weathers buff, slightly irregularly bedded, clayey; Aviculopinna, Linoproductus, Neospirifer, crinoids, trilobite pygidia2.7
Limestone, gray to white on both fresh and weathered surfaces, a single bed, grades downward into a breccia of limestone and shell fragments in a microcrystalline matrix; Aviculopinna, Composita, Neospirifer, crinoids2.0
Total thickness of Rock Lake Shale5.4
Stoner Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to white on fresh surfaces, weathers gray to tan, thin irregularly bedded, microcrystalline; Composita, Enteletes, Linoproductus, Neospirifer, dictyoclostids, crinoids, trilobite pygidia11.0
Eudora Shale Member
Shale, black, platy to fissile; conodonts; basal contact concealed; thickness exposed0.5

B2--Section of a streambank and road cut exposure near the cen. S line sec. 7, T. 18 S., R. 20 E. Thickness
(feet)
Stanton Limestone
Stoner Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to white on both fresh and weathered surfaces, thin and wavy bedded, microcrystalline matrix contains abundant crystalline calcite; Enteletes productids, crinoids, slender fusulinids; incomplete thickness6.5
Eudora Shale Member
Shale, tan to green downward, paper-thin strata weather to flakes, clayey to silty2.0
Shale, black, platy to fissile; conodonts1.5
Total thickness of Eudora Shale3.5
Captain Creek Limestone Member
Limestone, yellow to brown on fresh surfaces, weathers tan, even bedded, microcrystalline, abundant crystalline calcite; Enteletes, productids, fenestrate bryozoans, sparse fusulinids8.5
Vilas Shale
Shale, gray green, clayey to silty; mostly covered; about20.00
Plattsburg Limestone
Spring Hill Limestone Member
Limestone, gray on fresh surfaces, weathers tan, thin and wavy bedded, fine grained, compact; Composita shell pavement about 3 feet below top, productids, crinoids, echinoids, bryozoans, slender fusulinids concentrated along bedding surfaces in lower part; basal contact covered; thickness exposed11.0

B3--Section of an abandoned quarry in the NE 1/4 SE 1/4 sec. 6, T. 18 S., R. 20 E. Thickness
(feet)
Stanton Limestone
Stoner Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to white on both fresh and weathered surfaces, thin and irregularly bedded, microcrystalline matrix contains abundant crystalline calcite; brachiopods, crinoids, echinoids; incomplete thickness5.0
Eudora Shale Member
Shale, tan, paper-thin strata weather into flakes4.0
Shale, black, platy to fissile; conodonts1.5
Total thickness of Eudora Shale5.5
Captain Creek Limestone Member
Limestone, white on fresh surfaces, weathers gray, thin to thick and even bedded, abundant coarsely crystalline calcite in a microcrystalline matrix; fusulinids, brachiopods, crinoids, corals, bryozoans11.0
Vilas Shale
Shale, gray brown to yellow, clayey, calcareous in upper 2 feet6.5
Limestone, yellow, earthy, surface weathers to a "boxwork"1.0
Shale, gray to brown, weathers into flakes and irregular blocks4.0
Limestone, gray blue on fresh surfaces, weathers tan, thin and even bedded; poorly preserved plant fossils1.5
Shale, gray to blue, weathers into flakes and irregular plates, clayey6.0
Total thickness of Vilas Shale19.0
Plattsburg Limestone
Spring Hill Limestone Member
Limestone, gray blue to black on fresh surfaces, weathers gray to brown, a single bed; brachiopods0.6
Shale, gray blue, clayey, calcareous0.7
Limestone, gray to white on fresh surfaces, weathers blue gray, thin to thick and irregularly bedded, fine grained, compact; ferruginous weathering rind caps unit; Aviculopinna, Allorisma, Ameura, Composita, Enteletes, Ditomopyge, Fistulipora, Juresania, Linoproductus, Mooroceras, Myalina, Septopora, dictyoclostids, echinoconchids, crinoids15.0
Total thickness of Spring Hill Limestone16.3
Hickory Creek Shale Member
Shale, gray, calcareous0.5
Merriam Limestone Member
Limestone, gray on fresh surfaces, weathers gray blue, thin and wavy bedded, extremely compact and brittle, fractures conchoidally; brachiopods, abundant crinoid remains, sparse fusulinids; basal contact covered; thickness exposed3.0

B4--Composite section of road cut exposures in the NE 1/4 sec. 29, T. 17 S., R. 20 E. (Spring Hill Limestone to Captain Creek Limestone), and in the SE 1/4 sec. 29, T. 17 S., R. 20 E. (Merriam Limestone to Spring Hill Limestone). Thickness
(feet)
Stanton Limestone
Captain Creek Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to yellow brown on fresh surfaces, weathers buff, even bedded, microcrystalline; Enteletes, Lophophyllidium, fusulinids, crinoids; incomplete thickness2.0
Vilas Shale
Shale; covered interval; about13.0
Plattsburg Limestone
Spring Hill Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to white on both fresh and weathered surfaces, thin and wavy bedded, microcrystalline matrix contains abundant coarsely crystalline calcite, nodular chert in upper 3.5 feet; Composita, Juresania, Lophophyllidium, echinoid spines, fenestrate bryozoans, crinoids; about11.0
Hickory Creek Shale Member
Shale, yellow, calcareous, contains yellow limestone stringers2.5
Merriam Limestone Member
Limestone, gray on fresh surfaces, weathers gray brown, even bedded, microcrystalline; prominent Composita-myalinid zone in lower bed, marginiferids, crinoids; both contacts within impure limestone gradational zones3.0
Total thickness of Plattsburg Limestone16.5
Bonner Springs Shale

B5--Section of a road cut exposure in the SW 1/4 sec. 24, T. 17 S., R. 20 E. Thickness
(feet)
Stanton Limestone
Captain Creek Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to blue on fresh surfaces, weathers tan, even to slightly wavy and thin bedded, microcrystalline matrix contains abundant coarsely crystalline calcite; fusulinids, brachiopods, crinoids, corals; incomplete thickness2.0
Vilas Shale
Shale, gray green, paper-thin strata weather to flakes, silty to clayey upward, calcareous; about15.0
Siltstone, yellow brown1.0
Shale, gray green to brown, clayey7.0
Total thickness of Vilas Shale23.0
Plattsburg Limestone
Spring Hill Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to white on both fresh and weathered surfaces, thin arid wavy bedded, microcrystalline; Osagia, sparse ooliths, and a shale pavement of robust Composita about 1 foot below top; crinoids, productids, bryozoans, slender fusulinids8.0
Hickory Creek Shale Member
Shale, yellow green, impure limestone and calcareous shale2.0
Merriam Limestone Member
Limestone, gray blue on fresh surfaces, weathers tan, even bedded, microcrystalline; Composita-myalinid zone in lower bed; Contacts within impure limestone gradational zones3.4
Total thickness of Plattsburg Limestone13.4
Bonner Springs Shale
Shale, gray green, silty; basal contact covered; thickness exposed1.0

B6--Section in an abandoned quarry in the SW 1/4 sec. 6, T. 17 S., R. 20 E. Thickness
(feet)
Stanton Limestone
Stoner Limestone Member
Limestone, white on fresh surfaces, gray to white in the lower part and brown in the upper part on weathered surfaces, thin and wavy bedded, microcrystalline; Enteletes, dictyoclostids, fusulinids, crinoids, fenestrate bryozoans; thickness exposed18.0
Eudora Shale Member
Shale, green to brown, paper-thin strata weather to flakes3.4
Shale, black, platy to fissile; phosphatic nodules containing pyrite nuclei; conodonts, Orbiculoidea, Lingula, Conularia, sparse pyritized Composita, gastropods, and pectenoid clams5.0
Total thickness of Eudora Shale8.4
Captain Creek Limestone Member
Limestone, blue gray on fresh surfaces, weathers yellow brown, thin to thick and moderately even bedded, microcrystalline; brachiopods, bryozoans, echinoid spines, Triticites9.0
Vilas Shale
Shale, gray to brown, weathers to flakes1.0
Plattsburg Limestone
Spring Hill Limestone Member
Limestone, blue gray on fresh surfaces, weathers gray brown, thin and irregularly bedded, microcrystalline matrix contains abundant crystalline calcite; Composita shell pavement 2.7 feet below top overlies a foraminiferal Osagia-bearing bed which contains sparse ooliths; productids, crinoids, Enteletes, fenestrate bryozoans; basal contact concealed; exposed thickness9.0

B7--Section in an abandoned quarry in the SE 1/4 sec. 27, T. 16 S., R. 20 E. Thickness
(feet)
Stanton Limestone
Stoner Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to white on both fresh and weathered surfaces, thin and wavy bedded, microcrystalline; brachiopods, crinoids, bryozoans, sparse fusulinids; incomplete thickness5.0
Eudora Shale Member
Shale, tan, fissile4.5
Shale, black, platy, clayey4.3
Shale, olive green, platy, clayey1.5
Total thickness of Eudora Shale10.3
Captain Creek Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to blue on fresh surfaces, weathers tan, uppermost 3 feet slightly irregularly bedded, lower 4.2 feet extremely even bedded, microcrystalline, largely algal; Ottonosia, Enteletes, crinoids, echinoid spines7.2
Vilas Shale
Shale, lower pant blue, upper part green to brown, weathers to flakes, clayey3.0
Plattsburg Limestone
Spring Hill Limestone Member
Limestone, gray to white on fresh surfaces, weathers gray brown, thin to thick and wavy bedded, microcrystalline; clam and bryozoan concentration in uppermost 1 foot, Composita shell pavement about 3 feet below top of member; Aviculopinna, Derbyia, dictyoclostids, crinoids, fenestrate bryozoans; basal contact concealed; thickness exposed10.5

B8--Section in an abandoned quarry at the NW cor. sec. 22, T. 16 S., R. 20 E. Thickness
(feet)
Stanton Limestone
South Bend Limestone Member
Limestone, blue to brown on fresh surfaces, weathers tan, thin to thick and even bedded, microcrystalline, brittle, fractures conchoidally; Dielasma, Derbyia, Meekella, Neospirifer, Chonetes crust caps lower bed of member; marginiferids, crinoids, echinoid spines, ramose and fenestrate bryozoans3.2
Rock Lake Shale Member
Shale, green to tan, weathers into irregular blocks, clayey0.3
Coal, discontinuous smut0.1
Shale, gray green, weathers into irregular blocks, clayey1.0
Limestone, gray on fresh surfaces, weathers tan, nodular, impure1.0
Limestone, gray blue on both fresh and weathered surfaces, single bed, "mortar" breccia; Baylea, Bellerophon; basal contact disconformable; thickness irregular, maximum1.8
Total thickness of Rock Lake Shale4.2
Stoner Limestone Member
Limestone, gray on both fresh and weathered surfaces, thin to thick and slightly irregularly bedded, microcrystalline; Composita, Derbyia, Punctospirifer, crinoids, fenestrate bryozoans, planispiral gastropods, echinoid spines, sparse fusulinids; upper contact hummocky, basal contact mostly covered19.0
Eudora Shale Member
Shale, tan, weathers into flakes1.2
Shale, black, fissile; basal contact concealed; thickness exposed in streambank east of quarry2.0

A sections || B sections || C sections || D sections


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Kansas Geological Survey, Geology of Franklin County
Web version July 2002. Original publication date Jun. 1963.
Comments to webadmin@kgs.ku.edu
The URL for this page is http://www.kgs.ku.edu/General/Geology/Franklin/06_sect2.html