Skip Navigation

Geologic History of Kansas

Prev Page--Start || Next Page--Abstract


Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Acknowledgments

Stratigraphy

Cenozoic rocks

Quaternary (Neogene) deposits

Pleistocene and Recent

Tertiary (Neogene) deposits

Pliocene

Ogallala Formation

Sub-Cenozoic surface

Mesozoic rocks

Cretaceous deposits

Montana Group

Pierre Shale

Colorado Group

Niobrara Formation

Carlile Shale

Greenhorn Limestone

Graneros Shale

Dakota Group

Omadi Formation

Gurley Sandstone

Huntsman Shale

Cruise Sandstone

Kiowa Shale

Cheyenne Sandstone

Sedimentary history

Age and correlation

Sub-Cretaceous surface

Jurassic deposits

Upper Jurassic

Morrison Formation

Triassic deposits

Dockum? Group

Paleozoic rocks

Permian deposits

Upper Permian units

Nippewalla Group

Sumner Group

Stone Corral Formation

Environment of deposition of redbeds

Age and correlation of Permian redbeds

Lower Permian units

Florena Shale Member

Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary

Pennsylvanian deposits

Wabaunsee Group

Shawnee Group

Douglas-Pedee Groups

Lansing Group

Kansas City Group

Pleasanton Group

Marmaton Group

Cherokee Group

Pre-Desmoinesian units

Basal Pennsylvanian deposits

Mississippian or Devonian and Mississippian deposits in eastern Kansas

Mississippian deposits in western Kansas

Lower Paleozoic deposits

Silurian-Devonian rocks

Cambrian-Ordovician rocks

Maquoketa Shale

Viola Limestone

Simpson Group

Simpson-filled sinkholes in eastern Kansas

"Arbuckle Group"

Reagan or Lamotte Sandstone

Igneous and metamorphic rocks of unknown age

Precambrian rocks

Sources of information

Precambrian rock types

Sediments

Metasediment outliers

Mafic igneous rocks

Extrusive rocks

Granodiorite

Granite

Precambrian age dates

Major unconformities

Present land surface

Pre-Tertiary post-Cretaceous surface

Pre-Cretaceous post-Jurassic surface

Pre-Triassic post-Permian surface

Pre-Pennsylvanian post-Mississippian surface

Pre-Mississippian post-Devonian surface

Pre-Paleozoic post-Precambrian surface

Incompleteness of the Kansas geologic record

Missing stratigraphic units

Geologic time and maximum thickness of rocks

Determination of unrepresented time

Tectonic framework

Ancestral Central Kansas Uplift

Barton Arch

Bourbon Arch

Cambridge Arch

Central Kansas Arch

Central Kansas Uplift

Chautauqua Arch

Cherokee Basin

Dodge City Basin

Ellis Arch

Forest City Basin

Hugoton Embaymemt

Las Animas Arch

Nemaha Anticline

North Kansas Basin

Northern Basin Shelf

Ozark Homocline

Prairie Plains Homocline

Pratt Anticline

Salina Basin

Sedgwick Basin

Southwest Kansas Basin

Western Kansas Basin

Smaller structures

Present structure

Shallow structural indicators

Solution features

Geographic distribution and origin of sinkholes

Surface faults in northwestern Ellis County

Subsurface sinkholes

Structure on top of "Algal limestone" (Pliocene)

Structure on base of Niobrara Formation (Cretaceous)

Structure on top of Dakota Group (Cretaceous)

Structure on top of Stone Corral Formation (Permian)

Structure on top of Lansing Group (Pennsylvanian)

Structure on top of Mississippian rock

Structure on top of "Hunton" rocks (Silurian-Devonian)

Structure on top of Arbuckle rocks (Cambrian-Ordovician)

Configuration on top of Precambrian basement complex

Development of present structure

Pattern of deformation between Precambrian and Arbuckle rocks

Pattern of deformation between Arbuckle and Mississippian rocks

Pattern of deformation between Mississippian and Lansing rocks

Pattern of deformation between Lansing and Stone Corral rocks

Pattern of deformation between Stone Corral and Dakota rocks

Pattern of deformation between Dakota and Ogallala rocks

Recent structural development

Earthquake frequency

Relation of earthquakes to structural features

Development of major structural features

Structural patterns

Magnitude of features

Structural relations

Shape of structures

Plains-type folding

Fault patterns

References

Appendices

Appendix A--Known "Algal limestone" occurrences in Kansas

Appendix B--Catalog of Mesozoic nomenclature for Kansas

Appendix C--Supplement to structural nomenclature in Kansas

Appendix D--Surface sinkholes and other solution features

Appendix E--Earthquakes in Kansas

Appendix F--Wells used in construction of cross sections

Appendix G--Road logs


Prev Page--Start || Next Page--Abstract

Kansas Geological Survey, Geologic History of Kansas
Comments to webadmin@kgs.ku.edu
Web version April 2006. Original publication date Dec. 1963.
URL=http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/Bulletins/162/01_contents.html