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Stratigraphic Divisions, continued

Virgil Series

VIRGIL SERIES, Moore, 1932

1892-1933, Missouri group (part) of authors.

1932, Virgil series, MOORE, R. C., Geol. Soc. Am., Bull., vol. 43, p. 279. 1932, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 89. Virgil series 1932, VER WIEBE, W. A., AND VICKERY, W. R., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 109. Virgil series 1933, SCHUCHERT, C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Historical Geology, p. 248, New York, Wiley. Virgil series 1933, MOORE, R. C., Historical Geology, pp. 293, 300, 304-305, New York, McGraw-Hill. Virgil series (1935) 1936, NEWELL, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 21, p. 79.

The name Virgil series is proposed to include Upper Pennsylvanian strata between the unconformity that marks the upper boundary of the Missouri series, as redefined in this paper, and the unconformity marked by local prominent channel sandstones that cut the Brownville and subjacent beds in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. The unconformity at the Missouri-Virgil boundary occurs between the Stanton limestone, below, and sandstone or conglomerate of the Stranger formation, above, in sections on Kansas river near Bonner Springs, Kan. To the north and south of Kansas river the basal Stranger rests on the Stanton, on a varying thickness of Weston shale, which overlies the Stanton, or on Iatan limestone, which occurs above the Weston. At one place in Wyandotte County, Kan., the unconformity almost reaches the base of the Stanton limestone and according to studies by N. D. Newell it may cut downward beneath the Plattsburg limestone in T. 28 S., R. 17 E., near Earlton, Kan. The unconformity that is regarded as marking the top of the Virgil series is not clearly evident in most sections, for the Towle shale and Aspinwall limestone seem to follow the Brownville limestone conformably. The existence of a stratigraphically significant break between the Brownville and Aspinwall, however, is inferred on the basis of the occurrence of several large channel sand bodies that in places cut 100 feet or more into the very uniform succession of beds underlying the Brownville. These sandstones are distributed along at least 300 miles of outcrop and all occur next beneath the Aspinwall limestone. In many places the Aspinwall is brecciated or conglomeratic and there are irregularities in the stratigraphic succession 50 feet or more above the Brownville that indicate unusually variable conditions such as one might expect in the initial deposits of a marine invasion following a time of emergence. In areas where channel sandstones are absent it is possible that the red beds in the Towle shale represent the unconformity and accordingly this may mark the upper boundary of the Virgil series. The beds above the Virgil are assigned to the Big Blue series of the "Permian."

Previous references to the Virgil series indicate the position of the upper boundary at the base of the Foraker or Americus limestone. This preliminary definition was based on my conclusion of several years' standing that the beds below the Cottonwood limestone, extending at least to the base of the Foraker and Americus, show such lithologic and faunal similarity to the succeeding Big Blue beds and in general such dissimilarity to underlying Pennsylvanian strata that the boundary between Virgil and Big Blue should be drawn not higher than this horizon. It was recognized that the succession in this part of the stratigraphic column is conformable and that the suggested boundary at the base of the Foraker limestone is measurably arbitrary. Field studies of the past two years have brought to light evidence of the widespread but obscure unconformity between the Brownville and Aspinwall limestones, at a horizon about 100 feet below the base of the Foraker, and this break is now considered to mark the upper limit of the Virgil series.

The name Virgil is derived from a town in eastern Greenwood County, Kansas (sec. 8, T. 24 S., R. 13 E.), located about midway between the lower and upper limits of the Virgil series outcrop in this part of the state. The exposures along Verdigris river from west of Madison to Virgil and southeastward to central Wilson County may be designated as showing typically the characters of beds included in the series and as exhibiting clearly the boundaries indicated. In this region the thickness of the Virgil series is about 960 feet.

Correlation--The Virgil series is represented in northern Oklahoma by beds from the base of the Nelagoney formation to the basal part of the Sand Creek formation. In southern Oklahoma the unconformity at the base of the Virgil is believed to belong at the contact of the Vamoosa formation and underlying Belle City or other beds. There is evidently a large hiatus at this point. The Grayhorse limestone which marks the base of the Sand Creek formation is the top bed of the Caneyville limestone in Kansas and this lies only 15 feet or so below the Brownville limestone which marks the upper limit of the Virgil series in most places. Locally in Oklahoma it appears that the so-called Grayhorse limestone includes the Brownville. Accordingly the base of the Sand Creek or top of the Vanoss beds may be considered as the top of the Virgil series. The Texas equivalents of the Virgil series cannot yet be defined. It is believed that parts of the upper Canyon and lower Cisco belong here. The occurrence of tentatively identified Virgil fusulinids in the Home Creek limestone of the Caddo Creek formation and of Missouri fusulinids in the underlying Ranger limestone, indicates that the lower boundary of the Virgil series belongs below the top of the Canyon group. The first fusulinids of Big Blue type occur in the upper part of the Harpersville formation, and the upper boundary of rocks equivalent to the Virgil series is tentatively located in the mid portion of the Harpersville.

The Merom sandstone at the top of the Pennsylvanian section of Illinois is believed probably to represent the initial deposits of Virgil age in this region, but younger beds that may once have existed here are now removed. The Monongahela beds of the Appalachian district correspond approximately to the Virgil series, but neither the lower or upper boundaries of the Monongahela are probably exactly equivalent to the boundaries of the Virgil.

Subdivision--The Virgil series is divided into three groups on the basis of general differences in lithologic characters and in the nature of the cyclothems. In upward order these groups are named Douglas, Shawnee and Wabaunsee. As noted elsewhere, the content of each of these groups has been redefined.

DOUGLAS GROUP (Haworth, 1898), Moore, 1932

By R. C. MOORE and N. D. NEWELL.

1898, Douglas formation (part), HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 93. Includes strata from top of Stanton limestone to top of Oread limestone. Douglas formation 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 30. Same. Douglas formation 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, pt. 100. Same. Douglas formation 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 40. Same. Douglas formation 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 33. Same.

1908, Douglas stage (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 75. Includes same as Douglas formation above.

1932, *Douglas group, MOORE, R. C., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., Kan. Geol. Soc., p. 93. Restricted to include only beds from post-Missouri disconformity to base of Oread limestone. *Douglas group (1935) 1936, NEWELL, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 21, pp. 79-82.

Type locality, Douglas County, Kansas.

The Douglas group comprises the lowermost part of the Virgil series, extending from, the disconformity that marks the lower boundary of the series to the base of the Oread limestone. As originally defined by Haworth, the "Douglas formation" included the strata from the top of the †Garnett [Stanton] limestone to the top of the Oread limestone. In many places where the disconformity beneath the Virgil reaches the Stanton limestone, the lower boundary of the Douglas group as here redefined coincides with the limit indicated by Haworth, but elsewhere the boundary occurs above a varying thickness of Weston shale or Iatan limestone, which overlie the Stanton, or possibly still higher, and locally the dis conformity cuts well below the top of the Stanton. The upper boundary of the Douglas group is here set at the base of the Oread limestone rather than at the top, because the Oread in all respects is most naturally associated with the succeeding strata that make up the Shawnee group, and because the most readily mappable geologic boundary is at the base rather than the top of the scarp-forming limestone.

As thus defined, the Douglas group consists primarily of clastic deposits in which fairly thick bodies of massive or crossbedded sandstone, shaly sandstone, and sandy shale are prominent. The group contains two persistent, though rather thin, limestone beds, the Haskell and Westphalia limestones in the middle or lower part, and there are some coal beds. Locally, especially at the base of the group, there are deposits of conglomerate. The thickness of the group ranges from about 150 feet in northeastern-most Kansas to over 700 feet in northern Oklahoma.

When the Douglas group was redefined by Moore in 1932 to its present limits the existence of an extensive unconformity within the group was not generally known. The regional relations of the Douglas units are now worked out so that a further refinement and revision of the earlier classification seems imperative.

The proposed revision in the classification of the Douglas group is indicated in the following table:

Group	Standard classification		Revised classification
Group	Formation	Member	Formation	Bed or member
Douglas	Lawrence	Ireland ss.	Lawrence	Williamsburg coal Ireland ss.
	Lawrence	Ireland ss.	Stranger	Robbins sh.
	Haskell limestone			Haskell ls.
	Stranger	Vinland sh.		Vinland sh.
		Vinland sh.		Westphalia ls.
		(Sibley coal) Tonganoxie ss.		(Sibley coal) Tonganoxie ss.
Moore, R. C., Elias, M. K., and Newell, N. D., Pennsylvanian and "Permian" rocks of Kansas: Chart published by the Kansas Geological Survey, 1934.

The revisions in the classification focus chiefly on proper recognition of the importance of the hiatus below the Ireland sandstone, and the regional extent of a limestone shortly below the Haskell, the Westphalia member.

STRANGER FORMATION (Newell, 1932), Moore and Newell, 1936

1894, †Le Roy shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND KIRK, M. Z., and authors. (See under Weston shale.)

1894, Lawrence shale (part), HAWORTH, E., and authors as cited in references under Weston shale. Also, Lawrence shale (part) 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 106. Includes beds between †Kickapoo [Iatan] (miscorrelated with Haskell) and Oread limestones. Lawrence shale (part) 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geology and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 31. Include in the "Lawrence member of Douglas formation" the beds between Iatan and Oread, part of which is now separated as the Stranger formation. Lawrence shale (part) 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 101. Same. Lawrence shale (part) 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 40. Same.

1917, Weston shale (part), MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 101. Through confusion of the Iatan and Haskell limestones, strata here classed as Stranger were included under Weston. Weston shale (part) 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 40. Same.

1932, *Stranger formation, NEWELL, N. D., Mss., cited by Moore, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 93. *Stranger formation (1935) 1936, NEWELL, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 21, p. 79. Formal description.

Type locality, Stranger Creek, in bluffs on east side sec. 3, T. 12 S., R. 21 E., southern Leavenworth County, east of Tonganoxie, Kan.

This formation was originally defined to embrace the nonmarine channel sandstone at the base of the Virgil series and shaly beds above up to the base of the persistent Haskell limestone. The division, thus defined, is not a natural one inasmuch as the upper limit was arbitrarily selected. A more desirable boundary for the top of the formation is the marked hiatus at the base of the Ireland sandstone commonly classed in the Lawrence shale. Detailed observations show that this unconformity is commonly, if not invariably at or near the top of the Haskell limestone in northeast Kansas, so that a redefinition of the Lawrence shale at Lawrence, Kansas, is not necessary. In southern Kansas a considerable body of marine shale occurs between the Haskell limestone and the hiatus above. This shale, the Robbins, constitutes the highest division of the Stranger formation, as redefined.

STRANGER FORMATION

TONGANOXIE SANDSTONE, Moore, 1934

1934, *Tonganoxie sandstone, MOORE, R. C., ELIAS, M. K., AND NEWELL, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, "Pennsylvanian and 'Permian' rocks of Kansas," graphic stratigraphic section, issued December, 1934. Shows Tonganoxie sandstone as basal member of the Stranger formation. *Tonganoxie sandstone (1935) 1936, NEWELL, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 21, p. 82. This term, first described and defined in this reference, was originated by Moore, but is here erroneously attributed to J. M. Patterson, master's thesis.

Type locality, area east of Tonganoxie, Leavenworth County, Kansas. Good exposures are found along U. S. highway 40 in sees. 26 and 35, T. 11 S., R. 21 E., about seven miles east of Tonganoxie and on Stranger creek and its tributaries, north of Linwood.

The Tonganoxie sandstone member includes heavy cross-bedded channel sandstones, sandy shales, and several coal beds from the base of the Stranger formation to the top of the Sibley coal. Nearly all of the sediments of the Tonganoxie in Kansas are nonmarine, apparently representing broad coastal plains fluviatile deposits.

In much of Douglas, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte counties massive sandstones at the base of the member rest unconformably on various parts of the Stanton, Weston and Iatan formations. In this area, and less commonly to the southward, conglomerate composed of cemented pebbles of limestone occurs at the base of the member. Much of the conglomerate was probably derived from the erosion of the Iatan limestone.

The sand composing the massive beds of the Tonganoxie member is composed chiefly of angular quartz grains, having an average diameter of 0.2 mm. [Patterson, J. M., master's thesis, University of Kansas, 1933.] Somewhat larger grains of muscovite are common and characteristic. The sandstones are characteristically cross-bedded, with the foresets in northeastern Kansas dipping generally in a westerly direction. Sufficient observations on the direction of bedding have not been made in southeastern Kansas, but because the sandstones of the Tonganoxie are continuous with certain persistent beds in Oklahoma, probably much of the sand was derived from a southern source. The sandy shales interbedded with the sandstone beds locally contain plant fragments, but do not have marine fossils. Coal beds occur in the member in the vicinity of Kansas and Missouri rivers, but they drop out to the southward. Some and possibly all of the coals in the lower part of the member are detrital, having been reworked before final deposition. One of these beds is mined one half a mile west of Blue Mound, about 6 miles southeast of Lawrence. It is about 55 feet below the top of the member. Another thin coal occurs southeast of Blue Mound about 30 feet below the top of the Tonganoxie. Thin coal beds were observed near the base in western Wyandotte County interbedded in massive sandstone. Probably none of these coals, with the possible exception of the one 55 feet below the top, should be classed as the regular coal phase 1c of the ideal cyclothem because they do not represent normal conditions of coal deposition.

The Tonganoxie sandstone at the outcrop in Kansas is a series of more or less discontinuous lenses, channel-fillings. The basal contact of these lenses is obviously unconformable on the underlying sediments as evidenced by overlap relations, irregular sharp contact, and local masses of conglomerate at the base.

As seen in profile there are at least five separate channel deposits in Kansas. Nothing is known as yet about the trend of these channels. Possibly the channels seen at the outcrop represent random sections across one or two major stream courses instead of five; Toward the margins the channel fillings wedge out into homogeneous shale, as for example near Baldwin, west of Garnett, near Yates Center, and near Elk City, close to Independence, Kansas. These areas represent old divides between stream channels. Commonly the recognition of the precise horizon of the hiatus cannot be determined in these areas. In field practice the Sibley coal, or Westphalia limestone was mapped as the base of the Douglas group in those limited areas in which the hiatus could not be located.

The Sibley coal at the top of the Tonganoxie sandstone is the most extensive of the coal beds that are known in the member. [Named by J. M. Patterson, master's thesis, Kan. Univ., 1983, from outcrops near Sibley (sec. 33, T. 13 S., R. 20 E.), southeast of Lawrence, Kan.] It is traceable from the vicinity of Baldwin northeastward to Iatan, Mo., but is absent at St. Joseph, Mo. The southward extent of the bed is not yet determined. The coal is thin, averaging about 4 inches, but locally east of Tonganoxie, where it is mined, the bed is 1.5 feet thick. A peculiarity of the Sibley coal near Leavenworth and northward is a fine interbedding of thin coal streaks and black carbonaceous shale. In the Blue Mound area, between Lawrence and Vinland, at least three other thin coal beds are present in the Tonganoxie member. The lowest of these has a thickness of 1.5 feet where it has been mined in sec. 21, T. 13 S., R. 20 E., about one half mile west of Blue Mound.

At several places in Douglas, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte counties, Kansas, and in western Platte County, Missouri, the basal bed of the Tonganoxie sandstone member as already noted, consists of conglomerate, 1 to 9 feet in thickness. The pebbles in the conglomerate are mostly of light-gray, dense limestone that lithologically closely resembles the Iatan, but there are also pebbles of dark-gray and bluish limestone and of clay ironstone like the ferruginous concretions in the Weston shale. The pebbles are embedded in a calcareous sandy matrix. It is probable that scattered crinoid stem fragments and brachiopods that are found in the conglomerate are derived from the Weston and Iatan formations which appear to have supplied most of the materials of the conglomerate. Locally, the upper part of the Stanton limestone was eroded before deposition of the basal Tonganoxie beds and accordingly some constituents of the conglomerate may have come from the Stanton. Where the limestone conglomerate is interbedded with typical sandstone of the Tonganoxie member or where lateral graduation of the conglomerate and sandstone can be observed there is no difficulty in recognizing the stratigraphic relationships, but locally, as at East Leavenworth, Mo., superficial resemblance of the conglomerate to .the somewhat fragmental appearing Iatan limestone necessitates careful field observation to show that the conglomerate is definitely younger than Iatan. There is also the question whether certain exposures of conglomerate and sandstone that unconformably lie on Stanton or Weston belong to the Tonganoxie member of the Stranger formation or to the Ireland member of the Lawrence shale, for the latter is known to cut out the upper Stranger beds locally and it may in some places occupy depressions cut entirely through the Stranger formation.

The Tonganoxie member is exceedingly variable in thickness, ranging from three or four feet near Elk City, Kansas, to nearly a hundred feet in eastern Leavenworth County.

Reconnaissance field work in northern Oklahoma indicates that the base of the Bigheart, Revard, and Cheshewalla sandstones constitute a stratigraphic horizon defining the base of the Douglas group. These sandstones are, therefore, partly equivalent to the Tonganoxie sandstone.

If the local coals in the lower part of the Tonganoxie are truly detrital the member represents the lower four elements of one typical cyclothem. The channel sandstones are included in phase 0, sandy shale above in 1a, and the underclay and Sibley coal at the top in phases 1b and 1c.

STRANGER FORMATION

WESTPHALIA LIMESTONE MEMBER, Moore and Newell, 1936

Type locality, named here from a village in western Anderson County, Kansas. Typical outcrops may be seen in roadside exposures along the north part of section 12, T. 21 S., R. 17 E., and at the NE cor. section 20, T. 21 S., R. 18 E.

Throughout the outcrop area the Westphalia is characterized by abundant fusulinids representing apparently only one form, Triticites secalicus oryziformis Newell. The member is not definitely recognized north of T.19 S. at the outcrop. At its northern-most unquestioned outcrops, near Amiot in northwestern Anderson County, the member is sharply overlapped by a channel filling of the Ireland sandstone. The Westphalia and its equivalents are cut out by the Ireland channel throughout southern Franklin County. Where the channel rises above these beds in the area west of Ottawa the Westphalia limestone cannot be recognized, but its approximate position is occupied by the southernmost extent of the Sibley coal. Although the Sibley coal does not occur in the area of the typical Westphalia, there is some basis for correlating the Sibley with a position just under the Westphalia limestone.

A thin limestone overlies the Sibley coal locally around Baldwin, Kansas, and Iatan, Missouri. Ordinarily this limestone is only two or three inches thick or less, but the thickness ranges up to one foot. The limestone is finely laminated and commonly contains thin layers of reworked coaly material. Well-preserved plant fossils are generally found on the bedding planes. Although megascopic marine fossils have not been observed in these local lenses of limestone, Patterson [Patterson, J. M., master's thesis, University of Kansas, 1933, p. 18.] has found specimens of the marine ostracode Jonesina howardensis Kellett and interiors of minute gastropods. The intervals between the limestone and the base of the Haskell above ranges between about 15 and 25 feet. The Westphalia limestone at the type area occurs the same distance below the Haskell limestone so that a correlation of the Westphalia with the local lenses of limestone at the top of the Sibley coal seems justified.

The Westphalia was well known in the subsurface to petroleum geologists before it was recognized at the outcrop. The member together with the Haskell limestone can be recognized in the subsurface as far west as R. 6 W. where they apparently are overlapped by younger beds on the flanks of the Central Kansas Uplift. [Kellett, Betty. Geologic cross-section, Sixth Annual Field Conf., Kansas Geol. Soc., 1932.]

The Westphalia throughout its outcrop chiefly represents the fusulinid or number 5 phase of the cyclothem. Apparently it belongs to the same cyclothem as the Tonganoxie member.

STRANGER FORMATION

VINLAND SHALE MEMBER (Patterson and Addison, 1934), Moore and Newell, 1936

1934, *Vinland shale, PATTERSON, J. M., AND ADDISON, C. C., cited from master's thesis, Kan. Univ., J. M. Patterson, first publication in this paper. *Vinland shale 1934, MOORE, R. C., ELIAS, M. K., AND NEWELL, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, "Pennsylvanian and 'Permian' rocks of Kansas," stratigraphic chart, issued December. Shows position and relations of Vinland shale.

Type locality, about 2 miles northeast of Vinland, Douglas County, best exposures in NW sec. 12, T. 14 S., R. 20 E.

The Vinland shale member of the Stranger formation includes shale and sandstone, probably all marine, between the Westphalia and Haskell limestones. Originally the base of the member was defined as the top of the Sibley coal, but recognition of the regional importance of the Westphalia limestone at the top of the coal makes a further restriction of the Vinland desirable.

The member ordinarily consists of from 9 to 50 feet or more of gray argillaceous limy or sandy shale, locally with some sandstone, as at Lawrence, and in western Anderson County. In the vicinity of Yates Center, in Woodson County, the member contains a dark green layer near the middle, reminiscent of a persistent variegated layer known at this horizon in the subsurface of central Kansas. [Kellett, Betty, op. cit.]

This member is more than ordinarily fossiliferous at various places along the outcrop. A well preserved molluscan fauna occurs in the shale near Iatan and Weston and includes topotypes of Nuculana arata Hall described from this area in the early days. Near Lawrence the member is sandy and rather unfossiliferous, but from Vinland southward into Oklahoma a zone of prolific myalinas occurs near the top. Locally in the Vinland and Baldwin area thin calcareous sandstone or sandy limestone occurs just under the myalinas. This arenaceous layer is not to be confused with the Westphalia limestone which appears to occur several feet below at the top of the Sibley coal.

In the area around Westphalia, in Anderson County, there is some indication of a hiatus within the member. Gray, silty shale, ranging from 6 to 17 feet, occurs at the base of the member. The shale is overlain with clean, irregular contact by 6 to 10 feet or more of slabby sandstone. The sandstone is absent or relatively obscure in other areas.

Both the Westphalia and Haskell limestones contain fusulinids, and therefore each represents the Culminating phase of separate cyclothems. The regressive phase of the Westphalia cyclothem and the transgressive phase of the Haskell cyclothem must be contained in the Vinland shale. The sandstone in the Vinland in western Anderson County, and the purple shale near Yates center probably represent the initial deposits of the Haskell cyclothem. The molluscan faunas in the upper part of the Vinland shale undoubtedly belong in phases 2 and 3 of the Haskell cyclothem.

STRANGER FORMATION

HASKELL LIMESTONE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1894, †Le Roy shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND KIRK, M. Z., and authors. (See under Weston shale.)

1894, Lawrence shale (part), HAWORTH, E., and references cited under Weston shale.

1900, †Lawrence oolite, BEEDE, J. W., AND ROGERS, A. F., Kan. Univ. Quart., vol. 9, pp. 233-254.

1908, †Kickapoo limestone (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 106. Name misapplied because of erroneous correlation to outcrops near Lawrence and elsewhere now identified as Haskell.

1917, Iatan limestone (part), MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 101. Includes beds now called Haskell. Iatan limestone 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 41. Same.

1932, *Haskell limestone, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 93.

Type locality, on Fifteenth street, NE sec. 5, T. 13 S., R. 20 E., at east edge of Lawrence. Named from Haskell Institute, Lawrence.

The Haskell limestone is remarkably persistent and uniform in character and undoubtedly is the best key horizon between the Lansing and Shawnee groups in Kansas. Throughout much of the outcrop the Haskell is bluish-gray, blocky, fine-grained limestone, occurring as a single ledge without shale partings. This phase of the Haskell contains banded algae like Ottonosia ("Cryptozoon") and a few scattered fusulinids and brachiopods. Locally, as at Lawrence, oolitic layers occur at the base and top of the member. The upper oolite layer at Lawrence furnished the types for several of the pelecypod species of Beede and Rogers. Toward the northeast into Missouri the member becomes shaly. Ordinarily the Haskell measures from two to four feet in thickness, but to the south of Elk City and Peru, in Chautauqua County, the member is less than a foot thick. The shale just under the Haskell contains in Chautauqua County a prolific molluscan fauna having a facies like that associated with the so-called Wildhorse limestone of Osage County, Oklahoma. Probably the two limestones are the same.

STRANGER FORMATION

ROBBINS SHALE MEMBER, Moore and Newell, 1936

Type locality, named from the Robbins farm in sec. 11, T. 26 S., R. 15 E., southwest of Yates Center, Kan.

Above the Haskell limestone lies a marine, argillaceous shale having a variable thickness. The term Robbins is proposed here for this shale, as the topmost member of the Stranger formation. It is overlain by the unconformable Ireland sandstone. Heretofore the shale above the Haskell and below the Oread limestone has been classed as a single formation, the Lawrence shale. Inasmuch as the hiatus at the base of the Ireland sandstone extends clear across Kansas it supplies a horizon of stratigraphic cleavage compatible with the modern ideas of classification based on diastrophism. In northeastern Kansas the base of the Ireland sandstone rests at or near the top of the Haskell limestone. The Lawrence shale, whose original limits were the Haskell and the Oread limestones, needs revision in this area. The Ireland sandstone, however, rises toward the south so that a thick wedge of argillaceous shale separates it from the Haskell in southern Kansas. In this area the Lawrence, as defined by the base of the Ireland, occurs some scores of feet above the Haskell.

The region around Lawrence, Kan., occurs between two channel deposits of the Ireland. In this area the Ireland cannot be recognized. However, the marginal phases of an Ireland lentil at Leavenworth appear to rest directly or nearly so on the Haskell. The same situation occurs around Baldwin, Kansas, to the south of Lawrence, where an Ireland wedge first appears almost immediately above the Haskell. The Lawrence shale in this area may arbitrarily be defined to include nearly all of the clastic beds between the Haskell and Oread limestones. In the Lawrence area a few inches of shale immediately above the Haskell contains marine fossils and should be excluded from the lower Lawrence, which apparently is ordinarily non-marine.

South of Lawrence the Robbins shale is first definitely recognized in the Baldwin area where it is commonly 1 to 5 feet thick. At several outcrops in this area and the area west of Ottawa the Robbins and Haskell are cut out and overlapped by the Ireland. A persistent zone of ellipsoidal phosphatic concretions occurs at the base of the Robbins shale from near Baldwin to Leavenworth. These concretions commonly contain the brain casts of fish, and a few have been discovered containing ammonoid cephalopods. Southward from Yates Center in Woodson County the Robbins shale thickens to an average of about 100 feet, consisting chiefly of gray argillaceous and silty shale.

Some massive sandstone beds appear abruptly in the Robbins in Chautauqua County. Probably these units continue into Oklahoma.

LAWRENCE SHALE (Haworth, 1894), Moore and Newell, 1936

1894, Lawrence shale (part), HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Quart., vol. 2, p. 122. Applies name to beds between the †Ottawa [Stanton] limestone and the Oread limestone. For additional references see under Weston shale.

1896, Not Lawrence shale, KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 79. Erroneously describes beds above the †Garnett ("Burlington") [Oread] limestone as Lawrence shale.

1908, Lawrence shale, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 106. Revises application of Lawrence shale to include beds between †Kickapoo [Iatan], which was miscorrelated with the Haskell limestone at Lawrence, and Oread limestones. For additional references see under Stranger formation. Also, Lawrence shale 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 35. Lawrence shale 1936, MOORE, R. C., and NEWELL, N. D., this paper.

Type locality, Lawrence, Kan.

The term Lawrence has customarily been applied to those strata between the Haskell and Oread limestones. The recognition of a regional unconformity within the interval between the Haskell and Oread limestones affords a basis for a two-fold division of the Lawrence as formerly defined. It is proposed to restrict the term Lawrence to beds from the base of the Ireland sandstone to the base of the Oread limestone. The Ireland is locally unrecognizable at Lawrence, but the lower contact of the Lawrence in this area may arbitrarily be placed at the top of the fossiliferous layer of phosphatic concretions which is known to occur in the Robbins elsewhere. This arbitrary definition excludes 1 to 2 feet of shale above the Haskell from the Lawrence as redefined.

Some of the named divisions in the Lawrence are relatively local in extent so that the detailed correlation of beds from place to place is difficult and much work remains to be done on them.

The Ireland sandstone at the base of the Lawrence shale is bounded below by a regional unconformity recognized from Leavenworth, Kansas, southwestward into Oklahoma. [Named by R. C. Moore, Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 93. Type locality, on Ireland Creek and farm of W. E. Ireland, 5 miles southwest of Yates Center, Kan.] The upper limit of the sandstone is indefinite and probably does not constitute a single stratigraphic horizon. Although the lower part of the Ireland is almost invariably massive cross-bedded sandstone devoid of marine fossils, the upper part becomes shaly and grades into sandy shale above. In those areas where the Ireland is well developed it occupies the lower half to two-thirds of the formation, not uncommonly attaining a thickness of 100 feet or more and most of the sandstone is relatively massive.

The Ireland as seen along the outcrop constitutes several more or less disconnected lenses of sandstone resting unconformably on older beds. In this respect the Ireland is similar to the Tonganoxie, but contains a greater bulk of sandstone. At least five lenses, apparently representing stream valley cross-profiles, are recognized. The most famous of these occurs at Leavenworth. Formerly it was believed that all of the channel sandstone at Leavenworth belongs in the Stranger formation. [Newell, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 21, p. 80 (1935), 1936.] Recent work by Patterson and confirmed by us, demonstrates that Ireland and Stranger sandstones are both represented in the Leavenworth area. [Patterson, J. M., The Douglas group of the Pennsylvanian system in Douglas and Leavenworth counties, Kansas: Master's Thesis, Kan. Univ., pp. 28-30, 1933, unpublished.] The Ireland rests disconformably on the lower Stranger so that locally the contact between them cannot be recognized. The identification of the Ireland in this area rests on the fact that the upper part of the great sandstone mass rises topographically 30 or 40 feet above the Haskell limestone, and the Haskell is missing in the sandstone area, although clearly recognizable to the northeastward at Weston and Iatan, Mo.

In addition to the Ireland channel-filling at Leavenworth, another equally prominent one occurs in southwestern Douglas and western Franklin counties. This channel was long known to Dr. John L. Rich. In this area Rieh [Rich, John L., Geol. Soc. America, Bull., vol. 44, pp. 865-870, 1933] described angular coal fragments in the basal part of the Ireland. The coal fragments, derived from the Sibley coal bed, were shown to have been coalified before preIreland erosion. According to Rich the long time probably involved in the formation of coal prior to pre-Ireland erosion suggests a major hiatus at the base of the Ireland. The evolutionary change in invertebrates between the Stanton and Oread formations is not pronounced, and there is scarcely any faunal break whatsoever in this part of the stratigraphic column. Apparently the time involved in the pre-Stranger hiatus plus that of the pre-Lawrence hiatus is negligible compared with the general rate of evolution in the Pennsylvanian faunas.

Other large lenses connected laterally along the outcrop are found across Woodson County, western Wilson County, and Chautauqua County. From northern Woodson County far into Oklahoma the Ireland makes a continuous prominent escarpment.

The basal sandstones of the Ireland division are continuous with the base of the Jonesburg and Bigheart sandstones of Osage County, Oklahoma. The upper part of the Lawrence has been differentiated in Oklahoma and several units named so that it is improbable that the top of the Bigheart and Jonesburg sandstones correspond even approximately to the upper part of the Ireland.

At least two persistent coal beds occur in the upper part of the Lawrence in the northeastern part of the state. The more persistent of these is the Williamsburg coal lying from 15 to 40 feet below the Oread. This coal extends from the vicinity of St. Joseph, Missouri, to northeastern Greenwood County, Kansas. Ordinarily it is only three or four inches thick, but it is over a foot thick near Williamsburg in Franklin County, where it is mined. The second coal extends from the St. Joseph area to the vicinity of Baldwin, in southern Douglas County, Kansas, and occurs sporadically as far north as Woodson County. It occurs from 5 to 30 feet below the Williamsburg coal and invariably is quite thin.

A massive nodular limestone ranging up to 15 feet thick occurs some 25 to 60 feet below the Oread in northwestern Missouri, the interval increasing toward the south. Near its southern extent north of Iatan, Missouri, this limestone, the Amazonia limestone of Missouri geologists, occurs about 65 feet below the Oread and 70 feet above the Haskell. It appears to lie 15 or 20 feet below the lower coal in the Lawrence. A thin, mottled, almost unfossiliferous limestone extends from Williamsburg, Kan., southward into Greenwood County; In the northern area it occurs immediately beneath the Williamsburg coal but farther south it occurs 20 feet or so below the coal. In spite of the fact that the Amazonia of the type region in Missouri occurs a considerable distance below the Williamsburg coal, it may be represented in the eastern Kansas area by the limestone under the Williamsburg coal.

A persistent clayey and limy maroon shale occurs from about 5 to 30 feet under the Oread. The maroon shale commonly occurs in one irregular bed, from 1 to 5 feet thick, but in some instances the maroon shale occurs in three or more layers separated by greenish or buff shale. The maroon shale zone extends from the St. Joseph area southwestward to the Baldwin area in southern Douglas County, Kansas. Southward the horizon is generally absent or obscure across eastern Kansas until it reappears in Elk County. Maroon shales are common in and above the Ireland sandstone in Chautauqua County, Kansas, and northern Osage County, Oklahoma.

The detailed stratigraphy of the Lawrence shale is still too poorly known to attempt an analysis into cyclothems.

LAWRENCE SHALE

IRELAND SANDSTONE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1932, *Ireland sandstone member, of the Lawrence shale, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc" Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 93.

Type locality, on Ireland Creek and farm of W. E. Ireland, 5 miles southwest of Yates Center, Woodson County, Kansas.

Massive or irregularly cross-bedded buff or brownish sandstone, some tens of feet in thickness, is prominent in the Lawrence shale at some places. The sandstone occurs partly in the form of large sheets of varying horizontal extent and thickness, and partly as channel fillings, in the latter case associated locally with deposits of limestone conglomerate up to 8 or 9 feet thick in the bottom of the channel depressions. The base of the channel sandstone deposits of the Lawrence shale in Douglas and Leavenworth counties is in contact with the lower part of the Lawrence shale, Haskell limestone, Stranger formation and probably in places with the Iatan limestone and Weston shale. The sandstone is highly micaceous and in general is rather easily friable, although in some places the grains are tightly cemented. The quartz sand grains average about 0.2 mm. or slightly less in diameter. Excepting occasional macerated and carbonized plant remains the sandstone is unfossiliferous.

In the type region the top of the Ireland sandstone is only a few feet below the top of the Lawrence shale, but north of Kansas river and in subsurface sections extending to west-central Kansas sandstone bodies in the middle and lower part of the formation have been classed as Ireland.

LAWRENCE SHALE

AMAZONIA LIMESTONE MEMBER, Hinds and Greene, 1915

1908, †Kickapoo limestone, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 106. Erroneously identify outcrops of limestone in Doniphan County.

1915, *Amazonia limestone bed (in the Lawrence shale member of the Douglas formation), HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, pp. 31, 170. Occurs "25 to 100 feet below top of Law": renee shale." *Amazonia limestone bed 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 35.

Type locality, Amazonia, in southern Andrew County, Mo.

The Amazonia limestone member occurs about 24 feet below the top of the Lawrence shale at Amazonia, at the Heumader quarry, 1.5 miles northwest of St. Joseph, Mo., and near Wathena, Kan. Southward the shale above the Amazonia gradually thickens to more than 60 feet southeast of Atchison. Hinds and Greene report as much as 100 feet of Lawrence beds above the Amazonia, between Rushville and St. Joseph, Mo. At the type locality the Amazonia member is 9 feet thick. Near St. Joseph and Wathena it is 13 feet thick but southward it gradually diminishes and disappears.

The physical characters of the Amazonia limestone are very similar to those of the Iatan limestone. It is a light-gray rock when fresh and weathers nearly white with irregular brownish mottling. Most of the beds are very fine-grained and dense but in places the upper part is coquinoid or appears fragmental, with rounded or angular pieces of dense gray rock in a brownish matrix. Bedding is poorly developed and the member tends to weather, therefore, as a very massive ledge which breaks along joint planes allowing large blocks to slump downward on steep slopes. Weathering of the faces of these blocks or of the bed in places reveals a faint but distinct uneven, wavy stratification. Fossils are not abundant generally, but in some outcrops and in certain parts of the member numerous brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoid fragments and some other invertebrate remains may be found. Sponges are abundant in exposures of the Amazonia southeast of Atchison. Fusulinids probably occur in some layers but have not been observed.

SHAWNEE GROUP (Haworth, 1898), Moore, 1932

1898, Shawnee formation, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 93. Includes beds from top of Oread limestone to top of †Osage City (Scranton) shale. Shawnee formation 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p: 31. Shawnee formation 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 102. Shawnee formation 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 42. Shawnee formation 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 38.

1908, Shawnee stage, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 76.

1921, Shawnee group, FATH, A. E., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 7, pp. 39, 43, pl. 7, according to classification of U. S. Geol. Survey. Shawnee group 1932, *MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., pp. 93-94. Revises boundaries to include beds from the base of the Oread limestone to the top of the Topeka limestone.

Type locality, Shawnee County, Kansas.

As originally defined and subsequently used in Kansas and adjacent states, the Shawnee group or "formation" includes the beds from the base of the Kanwaka shale to the top of the Scranton shale. There is no evident reason for this segregation of strata except convenience in including together the beds between two well-defined readily mappable escarpments. Consistency, even on this basis, would require the inclusion of the Oread limestone in the Shawnee group, because the line that is followed in mapping an escarpment is the base rather than the top of the resistant bed, which may have a dip slope of several miles.

The Shawnee group is now redefined to include the beds from the base of the Oread limestone to the top of the Topeka limestone. Thus limited, the group is a very well differentiated segregation of beds in which thick limestones and a distinctive type of cyclic sedimentation are prominent features. In tracing these beds underground it is found that the limestones converge to form a thick body of nearly solid limestone that is readily separated from the clastic Douglas beds below and from the shaly strata and thin limestones of the Wabaunsee group above. Paleontologic characters of the Shawnee beds are in harmony with the grouping that is here defined.

The Shawnee group contains the following formations, named in upward order: Oread limestone, Kanwaka shale, Lecompton limestone, Tecumseh shale, Deer Creek limestone, Calhoun shale, and Topeka limestone.

Equivalents of the Shawnee group in northern Oklahoma include the topmost beds of the Nelagoney formation (Oread), the Elgin sandstone, the Pawhuska formation, and approximately the lower 50 feet of the Buck Creek formation. It is not yet possible to indicate with any definiteness correlation of the Shawnee beds with distant Pennsylvanian sections. In north-central Texas beds of Shawnee age are believed to occur in the lower part of the Cisco group. The Shawnee appears to be younger than any part of the Pennsylvanian rocks of Illinois. It is probably represented in the lower Monongahela of the Appalachian district.

OREAD LIMESTONE (Haworth, 1894), Haworth, 1895

1894, †Burlington limestone, HAWORTH, E., AND KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Quart., vol. 2, p. 110. †Burlington limestone 1894, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Quart;, vol. 2, p. 120. Name preoccupied by Burlington limestone, 1856, Mississippian of Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri.

1894, †Garnett limestone, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Quart., vol. 2, pp. 110, 120. Includes Oread near Burlington and other places. †Garnett limestone 1896, KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 79. Same.

1894, Oread limestone, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Quart., vol. 2, p. 123. Name applied to massive 10-foot buff limestone next above Lawrence shale, overlain by 8 feet of shale and 1-foot limestone. Original use is synonymous with "lower Oread" of later writers. Oread limestone 1895, HAWORTH, E., Am. Jour. Sci., (3), vol. 50, p. 461. Name applied to two limestones each about 15 feet thick separated by about 20 feet of shale (indicates "lower Oread" and "upper Oread" of later writers, the latter probably including also the beds now called Kereford limestone. Oread limestone 1896, HALL, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 103. Same. Oread limestone 1896, BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 114. Includes at top of "upper" member flaggy bed equivalent to Kereford limestone of Condra, 1927. Oread limestone 1896, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 138. Mentions two main limestone members. Oread limestone 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 44. Mentions two limestone members. Oread limestone 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 107. Notes presence of three limestone members. Oread limestone SCHRADER, F. C., U. S. Geol. Survey, Geol. Atlas, Folio 159, p. 3. Oread limestone 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 31. Classes as a member of Douglas formation and recognizes four limestone beds, including limestone above "upper" member, equivalent to Kereford limestone of Condra, 1927. Oread limestone 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 102. Classes as member of Douglas formation and mentions three limestone beds. Oread limestone 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 11. Same. Oread limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 36. Same, applies names to all members.

1899, Plattsmouth limestone, KEYES, C. R., Am. Geologist, vol. 23, p. 306. Plattsmouth limestone 1900, KEYES, C. R., Ia. Acad. Sci., Proc., vol. 7, p. 90. There is no ground for assigning priority in the use of this name to F. B. Meek (in Hayden, F. V., Final Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey Neb., p. 94, 1871) as claimed by Keyes, for the context of Meek's paper plainly indicates that he did not use Plattsmouth as a stratigraphic term. Plattsmouth limestone 1928, KEYES, C. R., Pan-Am. Geologist, vol. 50, p. 62.

1906, †Painterhood limestone, SCHRADER, F. C., AND HAWORTH, E., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 296, p. 11. Named from Painterhood Creek, T. 30 S., R. 12 E., Elk County, synonymous with Oread,

Type locality, Mount Oread, campus of University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan.

The Oread limestone is a prominent scarp-forming limestone, named from the hill on which the University of Kansas at Lawrence is situated. Haworth (1894) first applied this name only to the lowermost limestone of the formation as here developed, but later (1895) he extended the name to include the overlying thick light-gray limestone now commonly known as the upper Oread or Plattsmouth limestone. An intermediate thin blue limestone (Leavenworth member). was not recognized in the early reports. As here defined, the Oread includes not only these three limestones and the intervening shales, but a locally developed still higher limestone that is oolitic or a dense dark-blue flagstone. This upper bed, called "Waverly flagging" is the algal or molluscan limestone phase of the Oread megacyclothem, and was properly included with the Oread beds by Bennett (1896) and Hinds and Greene (1915). It was named the Kereford limestone by Condra (1927).

The Oread limestone contains the following members, named in upward order: Toronto limestone, Snyderville shale, Leavenworth limestone, Heebner shale, Plattsmouth limestone, Heumader shale, and Kereford limestone.

The total thickness of the Oread formation in the neighborhood of the type locality at Lawrence is 45 feet. The Lawrence shale lies conformably beneath the Oread and the Kanwaka shale is conformable above. Where the Kereford limestone is absent, the boundary between the Oread and Kanwaka formation is defined at the top of the Plattsmouth limestone.

Because of the resistance to erosion afforded by the Oread limestone its outcrop is marked by a prominent escarpment that may be traced entirely across Kansas from Doniphan County in the north to Chautauqua County in the south. In the northern half of the state the shale members of the Oread are moderately thin, and the limestone members accordingly are close together, forming subordinate benches of a single escarpment. In southern Kansas, however, the Snyderville shale member increases in thickness to 75 feet or more, so that separate escarpments which are locally a mile or more apart are made by the Toronto ("lower Oread") limestone and the Leavenworth-Plattsmouth ("middle" and "upper Oread") members. Coincident with the increase in thickness of the Snyderville member is an increasing prominence of red shale and an appearance of subordinate nodular limestone and calcareous sandstone beds in this part of the formation. Disappearance of the limestone members of the Oread in northern Oklahoma makes it impracticable to differentiate the formation as a stratigraphic unit in this region. The equivalent strata are included in the upper part of the Nelagoney formation.

OREAD LIMESTONE

TORONTO LIMESTONE MEMBER, Haworth and Piatt, 1894

1894, *Toronto limestone, HAWORTH, E., AND PIATT, W. H. H., Kan. Univ. Quart., vol. 2, p. 117. Named from Toronto, Woodson County, Kansas.

1894, Oread limestone, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Quart., vol. 2, p. 123. This name was first applied to this limestone but later redefined to include higher beds.

(?) 1915, Weeping Water limestone, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., vol. 9, p. 10. Defined as a member of the "Andrew (Lawrence) shale," the first important limestone below the Plattsmouth limestone which was thought to be equivalent to the Oread limestone. Weeping Water limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p, 36. Classed as lowermost member of the Oread limestone. Similarly used in several later papers.

Type locality, Toronto, Woodson County, Kansas.

This member of the Oread limestone, the "lower Oread" of Kansas geologists, is distinguished by its strongly brown color in weathered outcrops and its massive character. The rock breaks in uneven slabby fragments that are variously inclined to the poorly defined bedding. Fossils are numerous locally but in many places they are scanty. Fusulinids are common, and associated with them are brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoid remains, and in places mollusks. The upper few inches to 2 or more feet of the Toronto limestone in many exposures is clearly to be differentiated from the underlying part of the member, both on lithologic and faunal grounds. This upper part is distinctly algal in some places and lacks fusulinids. It represents the limestone element of the cyclothem designated by the index number .7, whereas the main part of the Toronto, containing more or less abundant fusulinids, is the element numbered .5.

The thickness of the Toronto limestone exceeds 6 feet in most outcrops but in a few places it is more than 10 feet thick. Locally this member is distinctly sandy.

Condra has classed the Weeping Water limestone, typically exposed on Weeping Water Creek, T. 10 N., R. 12 E., and near Plattsmouth, Nebraska, as the lowermost member of the Oread formation. There is sufficient doubt, however, as to the equivalence of the "lower Oread" limestone of Kansas and the Weeping Water limestone of Nebraska to make use of the latter name undesirable as a subdivision of the Kansas Oread. This doubt is based partly on the contrasting lithologic characters of the typical "lower Oread," which is massive, strongly brownish in weathered outcrops and decidedly ferruginous, and of the Weeping Water which is more thinly bedded, light-gray in color and not ferruginous. Possibly more significant is the observation that no other Shawnee limestone formation in Nebraska certainly contains a representative of the "lower" limestone member. The absence of the Spring Branch ("lower" Lecompton) and "Curzen" ("lower" Topeka) limestones in Nebraska has been recognized by Condra [Conclusion that the Spring Branch limestone is absent in Nebraska may require modification when restudy of the correlation of the "Plattsmouth limestone" section of the Snyderville quarries and other places in Nebraska has been completed, for it is possible that the topmost part of the "Plattsmouth as previously identified may prove to be the Spring Branch limestone.]. Examination of Deer Creek outcrops in Nebraska by me in July, 1934, indicates that the Rock Bluff limestone member, supposed "lower" Deer Creek, is really the "middle" limestone and thus it appears that there is no "lower" Deer Creek limestone now known north of Kansas. The Weeping Water limestone occurs in the stratigraphic position of the "lower" Oread; but it is possible that this is really a quite different limestone comparable or perhaps exactly equivalent to the Amazonia limestone in the Lawrence shale.

OREAD LIMESTONE

SNYDERVILLE SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Snyderville shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 38. Defined to include the beds between the Weeping water [?Toronto] limestone below and the Leavenworth limestone above. Classed as a member of the Oread limestone. Similarly used in several later papers.

Type locality, Snyderville quarry on Heebner Creek, west of Nehawka, Neb.

The Snyderville shale member of the Oread limestone is a bluish to grayish and in part red shale that occurs next above the Toronto limestone. In northern Kansas and Nebraska it is clayey and its maximum thickness is mostly less than 18 feet, its average being about 12 feet. To the south this member becomes more sandy in at least some parts, and it includes subordinate earthy limestone and sandstone beds. Red shale becomes increasingly evident in this region also. The thickness of the shale increases to about 75 feet, exceeding the total thickness of such shale formations as the Tecumseh and Calhoun as developed in southern Kansas. Accordingly the stratigraphic classification here indicated seems less natural for the southern than for the northern area. Equivalence of the various units in the two regions is well established and their relation to cyclothems indicates that the northern Kansas classification should be used also in the south.

Most outcrops of the Snyderville shale in northern Kansas and in Nebraska show that all of the member except the topmost 1 or 2 feet consists of structureless gray clay that weathers in irregularly shaped blocky fragments. It has the character of an underclay such as occurs typically below a coal bed, but underclays 10 to 12 feet thick are decidedly unusual in the Pennsylvanian section of Kansas. That this part of the Snyderville is, in fact, an underclay (representing part of cyclothem element numbered .1 is indicated by its position above the algal "super" bed (No. .7) of the Toronto limestone, by the local occurrence of a carbonaceous streak (where a coal bed should occur in the normal cyclic sequence) at the top of the blocky shale, and by the character of the upper 1 to 2 feet of the Snyderville which is well laminated shale bearing a marine fauna of brachiopods, bryozoans and some pelecypods (element No. .2 or possibly .4). The overlying Leavenworth limestone contains fusulinids and is clearly a No. .5 bed of the typical cyclothem.

If, as previously suggested, the "lower" Oread limestone of Kansas is not equivalent to the Weeping Water limestone of Nebraska, use of the term Snyderville may be open to question as applied to the shale between the "lower" and "middle" Oread limestones of Kansas. There is no doubt, however, concerning identity of the Leavenworth ("middle" Oread) limestone which next overlies the Snyderville shale at the type locality, and since no name has been applied to the shale between the Leavenworth and Toronto limestones in Kansas, we may provisionally call this Snyderville shale.

OREAD LIMESTONE

LEAVENWORTH LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra; 1927

1927, *Leavenworth limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 38. This name is applied to the "middle member" of the Oread limestone and is so used in several later papers.

Type locality, Leavenworth, Kan. (road cut on upland spur northwest of federal penitentiary).

The Leavenworth limestone member of the Oread, commonly called "middle Oread" by geologists, is very distinctive in physical characters and for hundreds of miles along the outcrop is rarely found to have a thickness less than 1 foot or more than 2 feet. Such a thin bed might well be presumed by one who did not know [See Keyes, C. R., Pan-Am. Geologist, vol. 50, p. 66, 1928] to be an inconsequential unit of probably very local distribution. Instead, the member is found to extend without break or essential change of characters form central Iowa to Oklahoma. The chief lithologic peculiarities of the Leavenworth limestone are the uniform fine-grained dense and hard character of the rock, its dark-blue color, and the prevalence of vertical joints. The member consists of a single massive layer. On weathering a thin surface film is altered to a light-gray or slightly creamy color and the substance of the rock is slowly removed by solution. This tends to round the edges of joint blocks giving rise eventually to bouldery remnants of the bed along some long weathered outcrops. Fossils are fairly numerous but cannot be broken readily from the limestone. Fusulinids and molluscoids are most common but in many places there are abundant mollusks in the lower and upper part of the bed.

OREAD LIMESTONE

HEEBNER SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Heebner shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 37, "The first shale below the Plattsmouth limestone," classed as a member of the Oread limestone. Similarly designated in several later papers.

Type locality, Heebner Creek and farm, west of Nehawka, Neb.

The lower portion of the Heebner shale member is characteristically black, carbonaceous, hard and very fissile. It contains conodonts but mostly lacks megascopic fossils. The upper part is a bluish to yellowish gray clayey shale which in places contains numerous fossils, chiefly molluscoids. The thickness of the member varies little from 5 feet, and this is true in southern Kansas as in Nebraska. The fact that black "slaty" shale is seen in no other part of the Oread formation and the occurrence of this shale between the very distinctive "middle" and "upper" limestones make recognition of the Heebner member easy and certain (unless one has to do with the shale above the "middle" limestone of the Lecompton, Deer Creek or Topeka limestones).

OREAD LIMESTONE

PLATTSMOUTH LIMESTONE MEMBER, (Keyes, 1899), Condra, 1927

1899, Plattsmouth limestone, KEYES, C. R., Am. Geologist, vol. 23, p. 306. Indicates total thickness at type locality as about 30 feet but does not give stratigraphic definition. F. B. Meek (in Hayden, F. V., U. S. Geol. Survey Neb., p. 93, 1871) gives a section at Plattsmouth, Neb., of beds representing the upper part of the Lawrence shale and the entire Oread limestone as now classified, and in discussing correlation (p. 94) casually refers to "the Plattsmouth beds." Keyes is not justified in assigning authorship of Plattsmouth as a stratigraphic name to Meek, but in using Plattsmouth himself, Keyes evidently includes all of the Oread. Plattsmouth limestone 1900, KEYES, C. R., Ia. Acad. Sci., Proe., vol. 7, p. 90. Same. Plattsmouth limestone 1915, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Pub., vol. 9, No. 2, p. 10. Applies name to 30-33 feet of beds equivalent to Leavenworth, Heebner and Plattsmouth members of later classification. *Plattsmouth limestone 1927, CONDRA; G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p, 37. Restricts name to apply to "upper Oread" limestone above black slaty shale, and classes it as a member of the Oread limestone. Similarly used in several later papers.

Type locality, Plattsmouth, Neb.

The Plattsmouth limestone member of the Oread formation, commonly termed "upper Oread" by Kansas geologists, is the thickest limestone unit, averaging about 15 feet and locally attaining nearly twice this thickness. It is distinguished by the very light bluish-gray color of the rock which weathers light creamy yellow to nearly white. The beds are thin and irregular, with wavy thin shale partings. The texture is very fine to almost lithographic, but there are commonly thin to coarse streaks and patches of clear crystalline calcite. Chert occurs in parts of the member, being more prominent in some localities than in others. Fossils are fairly common. Fusulinids and molluscoids predominate. This is the topmost limestone along the Oread escarpment in most places, for the overlying Kereford limestone; when present, is mostly found at some distance back from the front of the escarpment.

According to observations made by me in July, 1934, of the type Plattsmouth exposures near Plattsmouth, Neb., and of the excellent section in the Snyderville quarry west of Nehawaka, Neb., which is regarded by Condra as showing uppermost beds of the Plattsmouth limestone that are eroded at Plattsmouth, it appears that Condra's definition of this unit includes equivalents not only of the "upper" Oread limestone of Kansas, but also of the Kereford limestone member of the Oread, the Clay Creek limestone member of the Kanwaka shale and other limestones that appear in the northern part of the Kanwaka shale. If this is true, the name Plattsmouth is not applicable to the "upper" Oread limestone alone unless restricted to use in this sense. Since it was evidently Condra's intention to designate only the "upper" Oread limestone member as Plattsmouth, and since the Kereford and other stratigraphic units in the type Plattsmouth section can be recognized, it seems best to restrict application of Plattsmouth to the limestone beds between the Kereford (Heumader shale absent at Plattsmouth) and Heebner members of the Oread.

OREAD LIMESTONE

HEUMADER SHALE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1932, *Heumader shale, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., pp. 94, 96. Mentioned and listed in table but without formal proposal. References to this unit are included in several recent papers by Condra.

Type locality, Heumader quarry, bluffs of Missouri river just north of St. Joseph, Mo.

The few feet of shale that lies between the base of the Kereford limestone where that member is present and the top of the Plattsmouth limestone may be termed Heumader shale and classed as a member of the Oread formation. The shale is clayey to sandy and in most cases appears dark-gray. Some exposures show the presence of fairly numerous mollusks and some other fossils but in some places the shale is unfossiliferous. Its thickness ranges from almost nothing to 10 feet. Where the Kereford limestone is absent the Heumader and possibly shaly equivalents of the Kereford are not differentiated. Although stratigraphic continuity with units classified as parts of the Oread formation is recognized, the shale next above the Plattsmouth is then included with the Kanwaka shale.

OREAD LIMESTONE

KEREFORD LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Kereford limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 45. Applies this name to "dense, somewhat arenaceous, in part oolitic and quite fossiliferous" limestone "near Lecompton and Atchison, Kan., and at Amazonia, Mo.," in the lower portion of the Kanwaka shale. Type locality not mentioned. *Kereford limestone 1932, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 94. Classed as uppermost member of the Oread limestone. Similarly used in later papers by Condra.

Type locality, Kereford quarry at south edge of Atchison, Kan.

The Kereford limestone is a very interesting stratigraphic unit that is perhaps chiefly characterized by its very local development, by the variation of its lithologic features, and by the richness of its fossil content. All of these are characters that distinguish the "super" members of the limestone formations in the Pennsylvanian of Kansas. Unlike the other limestones which are, in general remarkably constant in thickness and physical nature, the Kereford ranges in thickness in a few miles from a featheredge to 10 or 12 feet, and there are many miles along the outcrop in which no representative of the member has been observed. It is probably present in many places where it has not yet been observed; however, for conditions are not in general very favorable for showing its presence. Some exposures show that the member consists locally almost wholly of oolite and in these places the rock is somewhat slabby and crossbedded. In .other places the Kereford is a single dense, dark bluish massive hard limestone, apparently somewhat siliceous. In still other outcrops it is a blue flagstone, consisting of several feet of alternating even-bedded dense blue limestone layers and approximately equal thicknesses of shale. Almost all of these types of deposits contain numerous very well preserved fossils in which mollusks are strongly predominant and fusulinids, so far as known, absent. Condra at first regarded this lenticular limestone as an element in the Kanwaka shale, but it seems rather to be associated definitely with the cycle of limestone and marine shale deposits in the Oread formation. It was so regarded by Hinds and Greene in Missouri, and Condra now agrees with Moore in classing the Kereford as a member of the Oread.

An exception to the statement concerning absence of fusulinids in the Kereford limestone appears in outcrops at Lecompton, Douglas County, west of Tonganoxie, southwestern Leavenworth County, and elsewhere in northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri that are identified as Kereford on the basis of stratigraphic position. The limestone at these places, separated by a few feet of shale from the underlying Plattsmouth, lacks the characteristic wavy bedding and other lithologic features of the Plattsmouth, and differs from the normal Kereford in containing abundant small fusulinids.

KANWAKA SHALE, Adams, 1903

1898, Lecompton shale, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 64. Includes shale between Oread and Lecompton limestones. The name Lecompton is now restricted to the limestone formation overlying this shale.

1896, Lawrence shale, KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 79. Through error Kanwaka and other beds along Neosho river are classed as Lawrence shale.

1902, *Kanwaka shale, ADAMS, G. I., Mss., name used by Beede, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 163. Applies name to beds between Oread limestone and Lecompton limestone. *Kanwaka shale 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 45. Same. *Kanwaka shale 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p, 108. Same. *Kanwaka shale 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 32. Classes as member of the Shawnee formation. *Kanwaka shale 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 103. Same. *Kanwaka shale 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 43. Same. *Kanwaka shale 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 44. Same, but includes Kereford limestone.

Type locality, Kanwaka township, exposures east of Stull, about 9 miles due west of Lawrence. Well exposed near SE cor. sec. 26, T. 12 S., R. 18 E., Douglas County.

The name Kanwaka shale is applied to beds between the top of the Kereford limestone or, where the Kereford is absent, the top of the Plattsmouth limestone member of the Oread formation and the base of the Lecompton limestone. From the standpoint of general lithologic character and topographic expression the Kanwaka shale appears to be a well defined formational unit. It includes both marine and nonmarine deposits, however, and comprises the terminal part of the Oread cyclothem, all of the Clay Creek cyclothem, and the initial part of the Lecompton cyclothem. Sandy shale in the lower part contains in places remains of land plants. Limestone in the upper middle part is found in central and northern Kansas, and probably equivalent sandstone and shale with marine fossils occurs in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. The limestone contains a varied fauna of brachiopods, bryozoans, and some mollusca, and in places abundant fusulinids. The upper part of the shale is sandy and contains remains of land plants. A few feet below the Lecompton limestone is a persistent sandstone, which thickens southward to form the main part of the Elgin sandstone. Above this sandstone locally is a coal bed. The sandstone is regarded as forming the initial deposit of the Lecompton megacyclethem.

The Kanwaka shale is divided into three members, named in upward order: Jackson Park shale, Clay Creek limestone, and Stull shale.

KANWAKA SHALE

JACKSON PARK SHALE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1932, *Jackson Park shale, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., pp. 94, 96. Indicates as member of Kanwaka shale including beds between top of Oread limestone and base of Clay Creek limestone. This publication lacks data necessary in formal proposal, but subsequent reference is made to it by Condra (Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Paper 2, p. 23, 1933).

Type locality, Jackson Park, southeast part of Atchison, Kan.

The Jackson Park shale is bounded below by the Kereford limestone, or where that member is absent by the top of the Plattsmouth limestone member of the Oread formation. The upper limit is marked at the base of the Clay Creek limestone, which at the type locality near Atchison occurs about 24 feet above the top of the Kereford limestone. Along Kansas river the Jackson Park shale is over 50 feet thick. Bluish-gray and yellowish-brown sandy shale, in part containing remains of land plants, compose most of the Jackson Park shale section. At the present time this member is clearly defined only in the northern half of the state, because the Clay Creek limestone has not been traced definitely into south-central Kansas. If, as appears from a recent examination of outcrops at Plattsmouth and near Snyderville, Neb., classified by Condra [Condra, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 87, 1927] as belonging to the Plattsmouth limestone, the Clay Creek limestone is included in these limestone sections, it may be said that the Jackson Park shale thins to less than one foot in Nebraska.

KANWAKA SHALE

CLAY CREEK LIMESTONE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1932, *Clay Creek limestone, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., pp. 94, 96. This publication lacks data necessary in formal proposal but subsequent reference to it is made by Condra (Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Paper 2, p. 23, 1933).

Type locality, Clay Creek, about one mile west of Atchison, Kan.

The Clay Creek limestone is a thin but persistent limestone, darkblue to bluish-gray in color, medium fine-grained to granular, and moderately hard. In fresh exposure the rock is apparently massive and dense, the top and bottom of the bed are fairly even, vertical joints are distinct, and in many respects the bed resembles features seen in the Leavenworth ("middle") limestone member of the Oread, Unlike this limestone, however, the Clay Creek typically weathers in shelly chips, and in this feature and some other details differs from any of the previously described Shawnee limestones. The fossils consist of fusulinids and molluscoids, with a few mollusks, crinoid stems, and other forms. In some places the fusulinids are extremely abundant. On Clay Creek, just west of Atchison, this rock forms a low falls. Its thickness is about 2 feet. Numerous good exposures of the bed have been seen from Doniphan County southward at least to Osage County. It has also been tentatively identified in Greenwood and Elk counties. To the north a molluscan and algal bed (No. .7 of the cyclothem) is developed above the fusulinid-bearing bed, and east of Stull there is a thin mollusk-bearing limestone (No. .3 of the cyclothem) at the base of the Clay Creek.

KANWAKA SHALE

STULL SHALE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1932, *Stull shale, Moore, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., pp. 94, 96. Includes beds from the top of the Clay Creek limestone to the base of the Lecompton limestone; classed as a member of the Kanwaka shale. This publication lacks data necessary in formal proposal but reference to it has subsequently been made by Condra (Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Paper 2, p. 2.3, 1933).

Type locality, SE cor. sec. 26, T. 12 S., R. 18 E., near village of Stull, Douglas County, Kansas.

The Stull shale includes the upper portion of the Kanwaka shale between the Clay Creek limestone and the basal member of the Lecompton limestone. It consists mainly of yellowish-brown sandy shale, containing fossil land plant remains, and in most places where well exposed is seen to contain a soft friable sandstone which is interpreted as the initial deposit of the Lecompton cyclothem. Just above the sandstone there is locally a thin coal bed. The thickness of the Stull shale member near Stull is about 30 feet, but in the vicinity of Atchison it is 45 feet thick.

LECOMPTON LIMESTONE, Bennett, 1896

1894, †Strawn limestone; HAWORTH, E., AND KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Quart., vol. 2, p. 104. Limestone at Strawn, Coffey County, and on hilltops south of Burlington. Name preoccupied by Strawn group, Pennsylvanian, of Texas, Cummins.

1896, *Lecompton limestone, BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 116. Name applied to "triple system of limestones capping hills around Lecompton"; consisting of a lower brown fusulinid-bearing 5-foot limestone overlain by 5 1/2 feet of shale, a middle blue limestone 1 1/4 feet thick overlain by 4 feet of shale with bituminous streak in middle, and an upper light-gray easily weathered limestone 10 feet thick. *Lecompton limestone 1902, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 164. *Lecompton limestone 1903, ADAMS, G.I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 46. *Lecompton limestone 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 109. *Lecompton limestone 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 32. Classes as member of Shawnee formation. *Lecompton limestone 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 104. Same. *Lecompton limestone 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 44. Same. *Lecompton limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 45. Includes a fourth limestone (Avoca) at the top and applies names to all subdivisions. Similarly used in several later papers.

1898, †Elk Falls limestone (part), HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 65. Applies name to beds in southern Kansas representing Lecompton to Topeka limestones inclusive.

Type locality, Lecompton, Douglas County, Kansas.

The Lecompton limestone, according to present definition, includes four closely associated limestones, which with the included shales have a total thickness in the vicinity of the type locality of 35 to 40 feet. The formation is underlain by the Kanwaka shale and overlain by the Tecumseh shale. Because of the thickness and resistance of the Lecompton limestone and because the shale formations below and above are 60 feet or more in thickness, the Lecompton makes a distinct escarpment in the Kansas River region and throughout most of northern Kansas. Thinning of the limestones and thickening of the shale members of the Lecompton, accompanied to some extent by thinning of the Tecumseh shale in central and southern Kansas, reduces the prominence and distinctness of the Lecompton escarpment, so that in places it is a subordinate bench on the prominent escarpment capped by the Deer Creek and Topeka limestones. Physical continuity of the formations that have been mapped across the state, and persistence of lithologic and paleontologic characteristics of the Lecompton permit definite identification of this formation and of various members at many exposures from Nebraska to Oklahoma. In southernmost Kansas and northern Oklahoma, however, some of the limestones disappear, and going southward, eventually all of the limestone members disappear. Stratigraphic equivalents of the Lecompton limestone in northern Oklahoma are included in the Pawhuska formation.

The Lecompton limestone contains the following members, named in upward order: Spring Branch limestone, Doniphan shale, Big Springs limestone, Queen Hill shale, Beil limestone, King Hill shale, and Avoca limestone.

LECOMPTON LIMESTONE

SPRING BRANCH LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1896, †"Fusulina limestone," BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 116. Applies this name to basal brown 5-foot fusulinid-bearing limestone of the Lecompton formation. Invalid because not a geographic term.

1927, *Spring Branch limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 47. Classes as bed of the "Lecompton limestone member of the Shawnee formation." Similarly used in several later papers.

Type locality, Spring Branch, north of Big Springs, Douglas County, Kansas. Typically exposed in bluff at west edge of Lecompton, near NW cor. sec. 35, T. 11 S., R. 18 E., and in road cut near center S. line sec. 36, T. 11 S., R. 17 E.

This member, the "lower Lecompton" limestone of Kansas geologists, is characterized by its strong brown color on weathered outcrops, by its thick, slightly uneven bedding, and in most places by extreme abundance of fusulinids. In addition to the disseminated iron oxide which is responsible for the brown color, there is commonly an appreciable content of earthy or sandy impurities. In southern Kansas the member commonly is represented by very sandy brown limestone containing few fossils, or by very calcareous brown sandstone. The average thickness of the Spring Branch limestone near the type locality and throughout northern Kansas is 5 feet. In most of the southern outcrops it is a very impure sandy limestone 2 to 3 feet thick. This member is not recognized in Nebraska. In all respects this limestone is strikingly similar to the lower limestone member of the Oread formation.

An interesting bed that occurs at the top of the Spring Branch member at places both in northern and. southern Kansas is a very dense light drab gray, somewhat nodular algal (?) limestone about a foot in thickness. This bed appears to represent the No. .7 element of the typical cyclothem. Some exposures also, as in southwestern Douglas and southeastern Shawnee counties, Kansas, show the presence of 1 to 2 feet of coquinoid, somewhat conglomeratic limestone with abundant discoid algal growths, classed as Osagia. This represents a typical development of the No. .7 element of the cyclothem.

LECOMPTON LIMESTONE

DONIPHAN SHALE MEMBER, Condra, .1927

1927, *Doniphan shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 47. Applies name to shale between Spring Branch and Big Springs limestone beds of "Lecompton limestone member of Shawnee formation." Similarly used in several later papers.

Type locality, northern Doniphan County, Kansas.

The shale is mostly bluish and yellowish-brown and clayey, but southward some red shale appears. The thickness of the Doniphan shale member throughout observed exposures ranges from about 5 to 10 feet. Unlike the Snyderville member of the Oread, it does not thicken greatly southward. Fossils are rare or in many outcrops lacking.

It is apparent from recent studies in northeastern Kansas and northwestern Missouri that the beds which Condra evidently intended to designate as the Doniphan shale consist largely of impure thin bedded limestone and shale. These calcareous beds are rather clearly identifiable as representing the No. .6 and .7 elements of the cyclothem that includes the Spring Branch limestone. Farther south, where equivalent limestone (No. .7) is harder and more conspicuous, it has been included as the uppermost part of the Spring Branch member. This latter classification appears to be preferable, and if it is applied to sections in Doniphan County and vicinity the thickness of beds that are to be designated as Doniphan shale must be greatly reduced.

Some sections of the Doniphan shale in southeastern Shawnee County show the blocky clay characters that have been described in the Snyderville shale of northern Kansas, This zone is considered to represent an underclay and together with underlying sandy shale and an overlying thin coaly streak represents the No. .1 element of the typical cyclothem. The top portion of the Doniphan shale may contain marine invertebrates.

LECOMPTON LIMESTONE

BIG SPRINGS LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Big Springs limestone, OONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 47. Name applied to "middle" bed of "Lecompton limestone member of Shawnee formation," underlying black fissile shale of Queen Hill bed. Similarly used. in several later papers.

Type locality, near Big Springs, Douglas County, Kansas. Typically exposed in road cut near center S. line sec. 36, T. 11 S., R. 17 E., about 4.5 miles west of Lecompton.

The Big Springs limestone is a dark-bluish, dense, fine-grained limestone, 1 to 3 feet thick. Like the Leavenworth ("middle") member of the Oread limestone, it occurs commonly in a single massive bed and contains prominent vertical joints. In some exposures, however, there are two or three beds separated by shaly partings. On weathering a thin surface film of the rock is altered in color to light yellowish-brown or bluish-gray, and the extremely abundant fusulinids that it contains in almost all places stand weathered slightly in relief. The rock does not break down into small fragments, but is slowly removed by solution that produces somewhat rounded bouldery blocks from the originally rectangular masses defined by joint planes. The member overlies the Doniphan shale and occurs beneath the distinctive black fissile shale in the lower part of the Queen Hill shale member. The Big Springs limestone is very persistent, having been recognized from Iowa and Nebraska southward to Oklahoma.

LECOMPTON LIMESTONE

QUEEN HILL SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Queen Hill shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 46. Name applied to shale above Big Springs limestone. Bed of "Lecompton limestone member of Shawnee formation." Similarly used in several later papers.

Type locality, Queen Hill, northeast of Rock Bluff, T. 11 N., R. 14 E., Nebraska.

The Queen Hill shale is commonly divisible into two parts: a lower division which is somewhat hard, black, and fissile, andan upper division that is softer and is bluish to yellowish and argillaceous. The black shale contains conodonts. The thickness of the member commonly ranges from 3 to 6 feet. The Queen Hill shale is recognizable along the outcrop entirely across Kansas, but in southern exposures the black shale is not commonly found.

LECOMPTON LIMESTONE

BEIL LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1930

1915, †Cullom limestone, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Pub., vol. 9, p. 20. Name (from Cullom station, Cass County, Neb.) applied to supposed division of Lecompton limestone. Name abandoned when later work (Condra, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 3, p. 11, 1930) indicated that type exposure is equivalent to the De Kalb limestone. Still later work by Greene, Condra, and Moore in October, 1932, indicates "Cullom limestone" is lower part of Westerville limestone, a formation of the Kansas City group. †Cullom limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 45. Same.

1930, *Beil limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 3, p. 10., The name Beil limestone is substituted for "Cullom" but without designation of type locality or discussion. Beil is used as a bed in the "Lecompton limestone member of the Shawnee formation" in several later papers by Condra.

Type locality, Beil farm, on Missouri river bluffs, mouth of Kenosha Creek, south of Rock Bluff, Nebraska.

The Beil limestone consists of alternating layers of somewhat flaggy, hard limestone and very calcareous fossiliferous shale. Fossils, especially including the corals Campophyllum torquium and Syringopora multattenuata and numerous fusulinids, are especially abundant in this member, and are characteristic of it in most exposures from Nebraska to Oklahoma. The thickness of the Beil member ranges from 5 to 10 feet in most places. Outcrops in southernmost Kansas and northern Oklahoma show several feet of solid limestone that exhibit the somewhat wavy bedding and other peculiarities characteristic of the Plattsmouth ("upper") member of the Oread, but in general the Beil limestone resembles this division much less closely than in the case of other members. The characteristic assemblage of fossils and the stratigraphic association of this member permit positive recognition, and it is an important horizon marker in the Shawnee group.

The top bed of the Beil limestone, as well shown at the type locality and in other Nebraska, Iowa, and northern Kansas exposures, is a massive Osagia-bearing bed, 1 to 1.5 feet thick, that appears coarsely granular or oolitic. It represents the No. .7 bed of the typical cyclothem.

LECOMPTON LIMESTONE

KING HILL SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *King Hill shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 45. Name applied to uppermost shale member of the Lecompton limestone, between †Culiom [Beil] and Avoca limestone members. Similarly used in several later papers by Condra.

Type locality, King Hill southeast of Rock Bluff, T. 11 N., R. 14 E., Nebraska.

The King Hill shale member is a bluish-green to reddish blocky, clayey or in places sandy shale about 7 feet thick in the type locality. Its thickness is about 5 feet in sections near Lecompton, but in southern Kansas it increases to 16 feet or more. Fossils are in most cases rare or lacking except near the top of the shale where numerous brachiopods may be found. Exposures of the King Hill shale in northern Kansas and Nebraska commonly show the presence of one or two very irregular nodular impure limestones that weather yellowish brown.

LECOMPTON LIMESTONE

AVOCA LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Avoca limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 45. Designated as the uppermost bed of the "Lecompton limestone member of the Shawnee formation." Similarly used in several later papers by Condra.

Type locality, on south fork of Weeping Water Creek, 3 miles east of Avoca, Otoe County, Neb., T. 10 N., R. 12 E.

The Avoca limestone is a dense dark bluish, somewhat earthy limestone that occurs in one or two beds with a total thickness in most outcrops of 1 to 2 feet. Near Lecompton, however, this bed becomes 4.5 feet thick, and is very hard and massive. It lies conformably on the King Hill shale and is overlain by shale classed as part of the Tecumseh shale. The Avoca is a persistent stratigraphic unit, being identified at very many outcrops from Nebraska and Missouri to southern Kansas. Fairly robust fusulinids are the most common fossils in the Avoca limestone and these occur in almost all places where the rock is exposed.

The Avoca limestone is classed as a member of the Lecompton formation because, throughout the outcrop area, the bed is separated from the underlying Beil limestone by only a few feet of shale. It is evident, however, that the Avoca is a No. .5 element of the cyclothem, as shown by the abundant fusulinids and by the characters of the beds below and above. The bed appears to be homologous to the fusulinid-bearing portion of the Kereford limestone (element D.5 in the Oread megacyclothem), and it may be classed as the fourth fusulinid unit (element D.5 in the Lecompton megacyclothem) of the Lecompton formation. The problem of classifying the Avoca is considered further under discussion of the Ost limestone member of the Tecumseh shale.

TECUMSEH SHALE, Beede, 1898

1898, *Tecumseh shale, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 28. Applies name to shale about 75 feet thick underlying †Calhoun limestone [Deer Creek]. *Tecumseh shale 1902: BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 165. *Tecumseh shale 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p.47. Includes shale between Lecompton and Deer Creek limestones; notes that the shale includes †Cave Spring sandstone of Haworth (Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 66, 1898). *Tecumseh shale 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 109. *Tecumseh shale 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol, 15, p. 32. Classes as member of the Shawnee formation. *Tecumseh shale 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 104. Same. *Tecumseh shale 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 44. Same. *Tecumseh shale 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 48. Applies name to shale between top of Avoca limestone and base of Deer Creek limestone. Describes †Cedar Creek limestone member in middle, from outcrops in Platte Valley, Neb., which is an error since the supposed Tecumseh shale of this section is not Tecumseh.

Type locality, near village of Tecumseh, sec. 36, T. 11 S., R. 16 E., Shawnee County, Kansas. Well exposed in SE sec. 36, T. 11 S., R. 17 E.

The Tecumseh shale includes strata from the top of the Avoca limestone member of the Lecompton limestone to the basal member of the Deer Creek limestone. The shale is sandy to clayey, and mostly unfossiliferous. In places it contains a thin limestone that has been named the Ost limestone. In the upper part of the Tecumseh shale is a widely distributed sandstone, locally conglomeratic at the base, that marks the initial deposit of the Deer Creek megacyclothem. The thickness of the Tecumseh shale in the type region along Kansas river, east of Topeka, is about 70 feet. In southern Kansas the thickness is about 50 feet.

Three members are recognized in the Tecumseh shale according to present classification. These are, in upward order, the Kenosha shale member, the Ost limestone member, and the Rakes Creek shale member.

TECUMSEH SHALE

KENOSHA SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1930

1930, *Kenosha shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 3, p. 52. Classed as the lower subdivision of the Tecumseh shale. Similarly used in later writing by Condra.

Type locality, on Kenosha Creek, the second creek entering Missouri river, south of King Hill, Cass County, Neb.

The shale that lies between the Avoca limestone, below, and the Ost limestone, above, has been named the Kenosha shale. This shale is 6 to 10 feet thick in Nebraska and northern Kansas. It is bluish or somewhat purplish or dark-gray, and in the north is distinctly calcareous. Thin plates and nodules of limestone are common, and well preserved fossils are fairly abundant. In Shawnee and Osage counties, Kansas, the Kenosha comprises 45 to 55 feet of gray silty unfossiliferous shale of uniform texture. In places where the Ost limestone is not found, it is not possible to differentiate the Kenosha shale member.

TECUMSEH SHALE

OST LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1930

1930, *Ost limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 3, p. 52. Classed as a bed in the Tecumseh shale. Similarly used in later writing by Condra.

Type locality, Ost farm on south fork of Weeping Water Creek, about 3.5 miles east of Avoca, Otoe County, Neb.

The Ost limestone is somewhat discontinuous limestone that is highly variable in lithologic character in different parts and in different outcrops. It is mainly an oolitic, coquinoid, sandy or conglomeratic limestone that is rich in Osagia or contains numerous dense light-gray limestone nodules of probable algal origin. The thickness of the Ost bed ranges from a featheredge to more than 5 feet, an average being about 2 feet. This bed is more persistent in the north than in the south. Lack of horizontal persistence is rather the rule than the exception for limestones of the type of the Ost bed, and it is not surprising, therefore, to find no trace of it in some places.

In the type region of the Ost, Kenosha and Avoca beds, the association of these units as parts of a single cyclothem appears evident. A very good section appears along Nehawka Creek a short distance south of the town of Nehawka, Otoe County, Neb., and similar exposures may be observed along the Missouri River bluffs in western Mills County, Iowa. The presence of common Myalina and other mollusks at the base of the Avoca bed indicates the transgressive molluscan phase (Nos. .3-.4 of the simple cyclothem, the Avoca fusulinids mark the culminating phase (No. .5), and the Kenosha-Ost part shows the regressive molluscan phase (No. .6.7). Because the Avoca and Ost limestones are clearly parts of the same cyclothem and because in the type region they are separated by only a few feet of calcareous, fossiliferous sale, it seems natural to group them together as a limestone formation or member. But when these beds are traced southward the Kenosha shale appears to increase in thickness so greatly and to change character so considerably that the combination of Avoca, Kenosha and Ost can hardly be recognized as a natural stratigraphic unit, and certainly it cannot be regarded as a limestone unit. In the sections under consideration it is possible that the true Ost limestone is absent and that the nodular, algal limestone of Ost type (which occurs near the top of the Tecumseh shale) is a different bed. There is, indeed, some suggestion that this latter possibility represents the facts and that elements of a cyclothem younger than the one which includes the Avoca and type Ost and older than the lowermost Deer Creek cyclothem will be recognizable in detailed studies. If the Lecompton megacyclothem is strictly comparable to the Oread megacyclothem the presence of this additional, or fifth, cyclothem is to be anticipated. At present, wherever a bed of Ost lithology is identified between the Avoca and basal Deer Creek it is tentatively designated as Ost limestone.

TECUMSEH SHALE

RAKES CREEK SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1930

1930, *Rakes Creek shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 3, p. 53. Classed as a member of the Tecumseh shale. Similarly used in later writing by Condra.

Type locality, on Rakes Creek, in the northwest quarter, sec. 5, T. 10 N., R. 14 E., Cass County, Neb.

The Rakes Creek shale member of the Tecumseh shale is light bluish to brownish in color, clayey and sandy, and in most places includes a fairly prominent, persistent sandstone that marks the initial part of the Deer Creek megacyclothem. The shale is mostly unfossiliferous. Its thickness is about 10 feet. Recent study by me of sections in Nebraska, western Iowa and northwestern Missouri indicate that the Rock Bluff limestone, which next overlies the Rakes Creek shale, is certainly equivalent to the "middle Deer Creek limestone" in Kansas. This need not make use of Rakes Creek shale inapplicable in Kansas, however. The upper boundary of the Rakes Creek shale may be considered as extending to a slightly higher stratigraphic plane in the north than in the south.

DEER CREEK LIMESTONE, Bennett, 1896

1894, †Pawhuski limestone, SMITH, J. P., Jour. Geol., vol. 2, p. 199. Applies name to "a bed of massive limestone about 100 feet thick" found by "Mr. H. C. Hoover [later President of the United States], of the Geological Survey of Arkansas. . . . at the government lime-kiln, three miles northwest of Pawhuski [now Pawhuska], Indian Territory." The limestone at the locality indicated is that now called Deer Creek, but the thickness of the main bed that is quarried is only about 10 feet. This suggests a probable typographic error in Smith's description. The term Pawhuska formation is now applied in Oklahoma to 130 to 180 feet of strata ranging from Lecompton to Topeka.

1896, *Deer Creek system, BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol, 1, p. 117. Includes three limestones and the intervening shales, in upward order, (a) fossiliferous, unevenly bedded limestone, 6 ft., (b) shale, 10 ft., (c) a single limestone bed, 2 ft., (d) drab blue shale, 4 ft., and (e) limestone, 4.5 feet. These beds occur about 60 feet below the Topeka limestone.

1898, Deer Creek limestone, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol, 3, pp. 94, 105. Recognizes three members. Deer Creek limestone 1902, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 165. Same. Deer Creek limestone 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 47. Same. Deer Creek limestone 1908, HAWORTH, K, AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 110. Same. Deer Creek limestone 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 32. Same, classifying as "member of the Shawnee formation." Deer Creek limestone 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 104. Same. Deer Creek limestone 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, pp. 44. Same. Deer Creek limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 50. Same, and applies stratigraphic names to each subdivision.

1898, †Forbes limestone, GALLAHER, J. A., Mo. Geol. Survey, Bien. Rept., p. 56. Poorly defined designation of limestone at Forbes, Holt County, Missouri, recognizable from description as equivalent to Deer Creek. †Forbes limestone 1899, KEYES, C. R., Am. Geol., vol. 23, p. 309. Same. †Forbes limestone 1900, KEYES, C. R., Ia. Acad. Sci., Proc., vol. 7, p. 93. Same, but erroneously regarded it as equivalent to Burlingame. †Forbes limestone 1915, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Publ., vol, 9, pp. 7, 12.

1898. †Nodaway limestone, GALLAHER, J. A., Mo. Geol. Survey, Bien. Rept., pt. 53. Hinds and Greene note this is equivalent to Deer Creek.

1898. †Calhoun limestone, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 28. The name Calhoun was also applied to the overlying shale and is now restricted to this shale.

1898, †Elk Falls limestone (part), HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 65. Applies name to beds in southern Kansas representing Lecompton to Topeka limestones, inclusive.

Type locality, on Deer Creek, in northeastern Shawnee County, east of Topeka. Typically exposed in road cut in SE sec. 36, T. 11 S., R. 17 E.

The Deer Creek limestone is one of the most important, widely persistent formations of the Shawnee group. The upper limestone member alone attains a thickness of 35 feet in Elk County, Kansas, and the formation has a thickness in most places of more than 40 feet. With very little change in lithologic characters or variation in members the Deer Creek limestone is known to extend from westcentral Iowa to southern Oklahoma. Most of the Deer Creek outcrop across Kansas is marked by a very prominent escarpment, and accordingly the formation can be traced readily. The formation is underlain by the Tecumseh shale and is overlain by the Calhoun shale. The Deer Creek limestone is rather readily differentiated on the basis of appearance and on fossil content from the adjacent Lecompton limestone below and the Topeka limestone above, but the Deer Creek members duplicate so strikingly those of the Oread limestone that it is easily possible for a geologist who is familiar with the lithology and sequence of the members to mistake one formation for the other if information as to stratigraphic position is neglected. The Deer Creek limestone is a prominent part of the Pawhuska formation as defined in northern Oklahoma.

The Deer Creek limestone in Kansas contains the following members, named in upward order: Ozawkie limestone, Oskaloosa shale, Rock Bluff limestone, Larsh-Mission Creek shale, and Ervine Creek limestone.

DEER CREEK LIMESTONE

OZAWKIE LIMESTONE MEMBER, Moore, 1936

1932, Rock Bluff limestone, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 96.

1936, *Ozawkie limestone, MOORE, R. C., this paper.

Type locality, Ozawkie, in road cut, NE sec. 31, T. 9 S., R. 18 E., Jefferson County, Kansas.

The Ozawkie limestone, "lower Deer Creek" of Kansas geologists, is a brown massive or thick-bedded limestone that in most exposures resembles closely the lowermost limestone members of the Oread, Lecompton and Topeka formations. In contrast to the higher limestone members of the Deer Creek, the Ozawkie appears somewhat sandy and impure, and as indicated by the strongly brown color of weathered outcrops, it is quite ferruginous. The massive rock commonly weathers in irregular shelly slabs. The average thickness of the member is about 5 feet, but near Lyndon, Osage County, it is about 15 feet. Fossils are not very common in most places. Locally, however, there are numerous fusulinids, crinoid stem fragments and fairly common brachiopods, bryozoans and corals. The elements of a nearly complete cyclothem are recognizable in the Ozawkie member in some places, for limestones .3, .5 and .7, separated by shale or without shale partings are clearly defined. Some outcrops show that the member consists locally almost wholly of the fusulinid bed (.5) or in other cases of the oolitic, granular or algal (.7) bed.

Since the designation by Condra [Condra, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. I, p. 50] in 1927 of the "lower Deer Creek" limestone of Nebraska as Rock Bluff limestone, this name has been applied to the "lower Deer Creek" of Kansas in notes describing Kansas sections of the Deer Creek formation. [See Moore, R. C., Kan, Geol. Soc.; Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., 1932.] Examination of the type Rock Bluff limestone, at Rock Bluff, Nebraska, in July, 1934, showed that this unit has the distinctive lithologic characters (dark-blue color, dense fine-grained texture, vertical joints), content of fusulinids, and position immediately below black platy shale that with other peculiarities serve readily to identify the "middle Deer Creek" limestone in Kansas. The correspondence of characters is so complete that I had no hesitation in concluding that the Rock Bluff limestone is the "middle Deer Creek" of Kansas, and therefore it seemed apparent that the "lower Deer Creek" member (here termed Ozawkie) was without a geographic name. It is perhaps conceivable, however, that a "lower" limestone in one part of the Mid-Continent sea basin may take on the peculiarities of a "middle". limestone in another part. This possibility and the need for caution in making too positive correlations of members where they are not continuously traced, is suggested by the "middle" limestone aspect of the fusulinid-bearing bed of the Ozawkie member near Lyndon, Kan. There is no possible confusion of identification of members in the Deer Creek formation here, because the true "middle Deer Creek" is well developed above the Ozawkie member in continuous well exposed sections. In other words, the Deer Creek limestone locally contains two dense blue beds with fusulinids, the upper one being the true "middle Deer Creek," which is overlain by black fissile shale, the lower one in the Ozawkie member not being overlain by black shale. The brown nearly unfossiliferous limestone that is a normal representative of the "lower" limestone members of the Shawnee limestone formations occurs in northern Doniphan County, Kansas, not far from the Nebraska line, and the only dense blue limestone in the Deer Creek formation here is the "middle" member which occurs several feet above the Ozawkie. The southernmost Nebraska sections of the Deer Creek in Cass County, about 30 miles farther north, show the dense blue Rock Bluff bed at the base and lack a brown limestone that is identifiable as Ozawkie. Study of sections in Missouri serving to connect these outcrops indicates that the Rock Bluff limestone in Nebraska is really equivalent to the dense blue "middle Deer Creek" of Kansas and that the Ozawkie limestone disappears in southeastern Nebraska.

DEER CREEK LIMESTONE

OSKALOOSA SHALE MEMBER, Moore, 1936

1932, Larsh shale, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 96.

1936, *Oskaloosa shale, MOORE, R. C., this paper.

Type locality, vicinity of Oskaloosa, Jefferson County, Kansas.

The shale member that lies between the Ozawkie limestone below and the dense blue "middle Deer Creek" bed (Rock Bluff limestone) is here named the Oskaloosa shale. It is normally 5 to 10 feet thick in the northern part of Kansas, but to the south it increases to 25 feet or more. The shale is bluish-gray or yellowish and consists of blocky clay with one or two calcareous, somewhat ferruginous siltstones as seen in northern Kansas outcrops, but south of Coffey County parts of the member are distinctly sandy and micaceous, a prominent red zone appears, and there are one or two thin beds of nodular light bluish-gray impure limestone. The Oskaloosa shale member is mostly unfossiliferous, but excepting possibly the red shale appears to be marine in origin.

This shale has been called the Larsh member in notes made on the Kansas outcrop of the Deer Creek formation since Condra in 1927 [Condra, G. E., Neb. Goo!. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 43, 49, 1927] applied this name to the shale between the lower (Rock Bluff) and middle (Haynies) limestone members of the Deer Creek in Nebraska. Discovery that the Rock Bluff limestone is not the same as the "lower Deer Creek" limestone in Kansas indicates that the name Larsh shale is not applicable to the shale next above the Ozawkie limestone. Accordingly, the term Oskaloosa shale is introduced.

DEER CREEK LIMESTONE

ROCK BLUFF LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1918, Plummer limestone (part), HEALD, K. C., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 686, p. 46. Includes two dark-blue dense limestones, each about one half foot thick, separated by about 5 feet of dark carbonaceous shale. Classed as a member of the Pawhuska formation.

1927, *Rock Bluff limestone, CONDRA; G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 50. Name applied to dense blue lowermost bed of the Deer Creek limestone in Nebraska.

1932, Haynies limestone, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 96. Refers to "middle Deer Creek limestone" in Kansas.

Type locality, Rock Bluff, Neb.

One of the most persistent, uniform and distinctive members of the Deer Creek formation in the northern Mid-Continent region is the dense blue "middle" bed which as seen in most exposures is a single massive stratum 1 to 2 feet thick. The top of the bed is very even but the base may be slightly uneven on account of the presence of "fucoid" markings. Vertical joints are well developed in two systems that intersect approximately at right angles and cause the bed to separate in rectangular blocks along the outcrop. The rock is not broken into small fragments by weathering, as a general rule, but the sharp edges of the blocks are gradually rounded by solution so as to produce bouldery shapes. A very thin surface film of the limestone is altered by weathering to a light bluish-gray or creamy color, and a zone a few inches thick inside this coating may be altered to a purplish or brownish-blue, but because of the dense texture of the rock the deeper interior of blocks remains dark-blue. Fusulinids are the most common fossils in most outcrops of this member but they are not, in general, very abundant. A few brachiopods, bryozoans and small mollusks are present. The thickness of the "middle Deer Creek" limestone in few cases exceeds 2 feet and in few places is less than 1 foot. In this approximate uniformity of thickness and persistence of distinctive physical characters from Iowa and Nebraska to north-central Oklahoma, this member is a most striking sedimentary unit and stratigraphic marker. Almost all good exposures show the presence of black slaty shale next above the blue limestone.

The proper stratigraphic name for this thin but important member of the Deer Creek formation is a matter of question. Its equivalent is undoubtedly represented in the Plummer limestone as defined by Heald near Pawhuska, Okla., but here there are two blue limestone beds separated by about 5 feet of nearly black carbonaceous shale. The lower one has the typical physical characters of the "middle Deer Creek" as developed in almost all observed sections, whereas the upper bed, although dense, is somewhat lighter colored and is somewhat nodular. It is not certain whether in the slightly abnormal section near Pawhuska only the lower or both of these beds represent the typical "middle Deer Creek" but it is thought that the upper thin limestone is a lense developed in the carbonaceous shale that normally overlies the "middle Deer Creek" bed. If this is true only the lower of the Plummer beds as originally defined represents the "middle Deer Creek." Farther south in Oklahoma, as along Arkansas River near Cleveland, and throughout Kansas only one dense blue limestone occurs at this horizon.

In Nebraska and Iowa Condra designated by the name Haynies, from Haynies Station in Iowa, a blue dense limestone, about 1 foot or a little less in thickness, that occurs persistently between the Rock Bluff limestone below, and the Ervine Creek limestone above [Condra, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p, 50, 1927]. The shales above and below the Haynies limestone are in part black and somewhat slaty. As previously noted, the Rock Bluff member bears such striking resemblance in physical characters to the "middle Deer Creek" of Kansas that equivalence of these is strongly indicated, especially since both are overlain by black fissile shale. The Haynies member seems exactly to correspond to the upper bed of the Plummer limestone as originally defined and it is possible that the Rock Bluff limestone, Larsh shale and Haynies limestone, taken together, are equivalent to the original Plummer limestone. The Haynies is somewhat lighter in hue than the Rock Bluff, is slightly nodular and appears to lack fusulinids. In this case as in the sections showing typical Plummer near Pawhuska, it is possible that both Rock Bluff and Haynies are equivalent to the normal "middle Deer Creek" of Kansas, but it is most probable that the lower one alone is strictly equivalent to the Kansas "middle Deer Creek." Exact correlation of these small subdivisions of the Deer Creek has a bearing on nomenclature and it is important to understanding some features of the Pennsylvanian cyclothems of the Mid-Continent region, but it is a detail in stratigraphic correlation that to many geologists may be considered as having only minor importance. All things considered, it appears best to use the name Rock Bluff for the "middle Deer Creek limestone" of Kansas. There is no reasonable doubt as to the exactness of correlation and the term Rock Bluff has been much more used than Plummer limestone, which also seems not to be strictly the same as the Kansas bed under discussion.

DEER CREEK LIMESTONE

LARSH-MISSION CREEK SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Larsh shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 50. Corresponds to lower part of Larsh-Mission Creek shale in Kansas.

1927, *Mission Creek shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 50. Corresponds to upper part of Larsh-Mission Creek shale. *Mission Creek shale 1932, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 96. Applies this name to shale between "Haynies [Rock Bluff] limestone and Ervine Creek limestone.

Type locality, on Ervine and Mission Creeks, Cass County, Neb.

The shale above the "middle Deer Creek limestone" in Kansas contains two persistent subdivisions, the lower half, approximately, consisting of hard black fissile shale and the upper half of gray to yellowish soft clay shale. Because this shale appears to be exactly equivalent to the Larsh shale, Haynies limestone, and Mission Creek shale, as described in Nebraska, the shale between the Rock Bluff and Ervine Creek limestones of Kansas is called Larsh-Mission Creek. Excepting conodonts, fossils are rare or lacking in the black shale and they are not generally found in the upper part. In places, however, the latter contains calcareous brachiopods, bryozoans and other invertebrates. The thickness of the Larsh-Mission Creek shale member ranges from about 2.5 to 7 feet, the average being about 4 feet. There is very little observed change in this member from Doniphan County in the northeastern corner of the state to the point where the Deer Creek formation passes out of Kansas in southern Chautauqua County.

DEER CREEK LIMESTONE

ERVINE CREEK LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1894, †Pawhuski limestone, SMITH, J. P., Jour. Geol. vol. 2, p. 199. Designates limestone three miles northwest of "Pawhuski [now Pawhuska], Indian Territory," studied by H. C. Hoover (then of the Arkansas Geological Survey, later President of the United States), in 1892. The formation is described as "a bed of massive limestone about 100 feet thick, lying horizontally on heavily bedded sandstone." The limestone at the locality indicated is that now known as Ervine Creek, and the thickness is about 10 feet. Smith's statement of thickness is inferred to be a typographic error because there is no limestone in this region remotely approaching this thickness. Pawhuski, or as later written, Pawhuska, may thus be considered to have priority over Ervine Creek, but in 1918 (Heald, K. C., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 686, p. 30) application of the term Pawhuska was extended to apply to all the strata between the top of the Elgin sandstone [Kanwaka, part] and the top of the Red limestone [Topeka, part].

1927, *Ervine Creek limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 50.

Type locality, on Ervine Creek, Cass County, Neb.

The Ervine Creek limestone comprises the "upper" member of the Deer Creek formation but examination of the type section and neighboring well exposed outcrops in Nebraska shows that the upper part of this member, as defined by Condra, includes Osagia-bearing shale of "super" characteristics, representing the .7 member of the ideal cyclothem. It appears also that in some Nebraska and Iowa sections fusulinid-bearing and other limestone (.5 member) that belongs to the next higher cyclothem, in the Calhoun shale, presently to be described, has been included with the Ervine Creek. As here treated, the Ervine Creek member will be considered to include the "super" (.7) beds that overlie the typical "upper" Deer Creek (.5) light-gray, dense, thin wavy beds, but higher strata are excluded. It may be argued that this is inconsistent since in certain other formations the "upper" (.5) and "super" (.7) units are separately defined as named members. There are numerous cases, on the other hand, in which these units are combined in one member and if these should all be split into their component cyclic elements and these elements were individually named as members, we should have both to extend the list of stratigraphic names unduly and to redefine too many units that are now well established.

Accepting the definition of the Ervine Creek limestone. member that is based on examination of the type exposures we recognize in it two parts. Of these the lower is the most persistent and prominent, comprising the bulk of the member in most places. It is the typical "upper" limestone of the Shawnee formations and possesses all the lithologic and faunal characters that distinguish these. The rock is light-gray to nearly white in most places but locally appears bluish and weathers mottled gray and yellowish-brown or exceptionally all brown. The texture of the limestone is fine crystalline to dense, and it is fairly uniform except for veinlets and in some cases irregularly distributed small masses of clear calcite. The bedding is thin and wavy, with partings of clay shale between the layers. Chert nodules occur locally. The thickness ranges from about 3 to 30 feet, and in general it makes up about 80 to 90 percent of the member. Fossils include fusulinids, calcareous brachiopods, corals, crinoid and echinoid fragments, bryozoans, and less commonly mollusks, sponges, and trilobites. A variety of ostracodes and small foraminifera may be washed from the shaly partings between the limestone layers.

The upper part of the Ervine Creek member, not present in some localities, consists mainly of limestone with "super" characters. This part may rest directly on the underlying limestone or it may be separated from it by- a few inches or a foot or two of shale that in most cases is somewhat sandy. The lithologic characters and faunal content of the upper limestone are clearly distinguishable from those of the lower in almost all cases but there is much variation in lithology and fauna of the upper limestone from place to place, which in itself is typical of the (.7) element in the cycle. Commonly there is a single very massive bed of uniform texture, moderately to finely granular, containing numerous small Osagia but few other organic remains. This limestone appears more or less oolitic. Fusulinids are lacking and the invertebrates found consist of scattered mollusks and calcareous brachiopods. In other cases, the limestone is strongly coquinoid. It consists of a mass of shells and shell fragments pressed together, so that the rock has an irregularly platy or "oatmeal" texture. Pelecypods mingled with certain types of brachiopods such as Derbya, Juresania and Linoproductus, and with bryozoans are the chief fossils. Still other outcrops show the presence of fine-grained earthy to sandy limestone, even-bedded or nodular, mostly lacking in fossils. The thickness of this part of the Ervine Creek member ranges from a feather edge to 5 or 6 feet.

The Ervine Creek limestone appears to be equivalent to the Pawhuski limestone as originally defined in northern Oklahoma and is one of the most prominent and persistent limestones in the Pawhuska formation as now defined in Oklahoma.

CALHOUN SHALE, Beede, 1898

1896, Lawrence shale, KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 79. Erroneously describes Lawrence shale as including beds between †Garnett ["Burlington" = Oread] and †Hartford [Topeka] limestones.

1896, *Calhoun sandstone and shale, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 29. Includes beds between †Calhoun [Deer Creek] limestone below and Topeka limestone above.

1898, Calhoun shale, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 94. Calhoun shale 1902, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 166. Calhoun shale 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 48. Calhoun shale 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 110. Calhoun shale 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 33. Class as member of Shawnee formation. Calhoun shale 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 104. Same, Calhoun shale 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 45. Same. Calhoun shale 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 51. Same, and names three subdivisions, in upward order, Jones Point shale, Meadow limestone, Iowa Point shale.

Type locality, Calhoun Bluffs, near center S. line sec. 14, T. 11 S., R. 16 E., on north side of Kansas river, 3 miles northeast of Topeka.

The Calhoun shale, named by Beede from the so-called Calhoun Bluffs of Kansas river northeast of Topeka, includes the strata consisting chiefly of shale between the top of the Deer Creek limestone below and the base of the Topeka limestone above. In the type region, where the Calhoun attains approximately its maximum thickness of 60 to 70 feet, the formation consists entirely of clayey to sandy shale, except for a sandstone, 6 to 10 feet thick, that occurs a: few feet below the Topeka limestone. This sandstone represents the initial deposit of the Topeka megacyclothem. There are almost no invertebrate fossils in the Calhoun shale of the Kansas river region but land plant remains occur in the sandy shale and sandstone. Northward and southward from the type section the thickness of the Calhoun diminishes gradually to 20 feet or less, and accompanying this decrease there is a disappearance of sandstone, and a marked increase in content of calcium carbonate. The shale is calcareous and highly fossiliferous, brachiopods, bryozoans and pelecypods being most abundant. Limestone beds appear in the middle part of the formation and give basis for subdivision of the Calhoun into members. Condra has named these, in upward order, Jones Point shale, Sheldon limestone, and Iowa Point shale.

The Calhoun shale is recognized in Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa. In northern Oklahoma beds equivalent to the Calhoun are included in the upper part of the Pawhuska formation.

CALHOUN SHALE

JONES POINT SHALE MEMBER (Condra, 1927), Moore, 1936

1927, Jones Point shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 51. Includes lower 8 to 10 feet of Calhoun shale between top of Ervine Creek limestone below and base of †Meadow [Sheldon] limestone above. Jones Point shale 1936, *MOORE, R. C., this paper.

Type locality, Jones Point on west side of Missouri river, near Union, Neb.

Definition of the Jones Point member of the Calhoun shale, as given by Condra, depends essentially on the boundary selected as the base of the limestone that is now called Sheldon. That is to say, the Jones Point shale includes all of the Calhoun lying below the Sheldon. Since the Sheldon limestone is here redefined (see below) to include fusulinid-bearing limestone and other beds that were classed by Condra in the Jones Point member, the latter is necessarily restricted by this transfer, so that in the type region only 1.5 feet of shale remains to be called Jones Point. Southward the thickness of the member increases somewhat. Where the Sheldon member is not found, the adjoining shale members cannot be recognized. In southern Kansas the Jones Point shale has a thickness of 4 to 5 feet.

CALHOUN SHALE

SHELDON LIMESTONE MEMBER (Condra, 1930), Moore, 1936

1915, †Meadow Creek limestone, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Publ., vol. 9, p. 22. Classed as member of †Braddyville formation [Calhoun and Topeka]. Named from outcrops in Platte Valley, Nebraska, now known to belong to the Lansing group.

1927, †Meadow limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 51. Designates middle member of the Calhoun shale, with Jones Point shale member below and Iowa Point shale member above. Type locality same as Meadow Creek limestone.

1930, Sheldon limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 3, p. 47. Proposes name to replace Meadow limestone. Sheldon limestone 1933, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Paper 2, p. 5. Classes Sheldon as member of the Deer Creek limestone. Sheldon limestone 1936, *MOORE, R. C., this paper.

Type locality, Sheldon quarry, just east of Nehawka, Neb.

The Calhoun shale in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa is composed largely of limestone. One of the widely recognizable limestone beds occurring 5 feet or less below the Topeka limestone is a massive hard light-gray rock about 3 feet thick This bed was first called Meadow Creek or Meadow from outcrops in the Platte Valley, Nebraska, but when it was learned that the type exposures of the Meadow belong to the Lansing group instead of the Shawnee, Condra renamed the limestone in the Calhoun shale from outcrops in the Sheldon quarry just east of Nehawka, Neb. Study of this section and several others in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa in July, 1934, showed that the Sheldon limestone is a typical "super" (.7) bed of the ideal cyclothem. It is oolitic, locally somewhat conglomeratic and contains abundant Osagia. The invertebrate fauna consists mainly of mollusks. Beneath the Sheldon, as defined by Condra, there is a zone of calcareous shale with limestone nodules 6 to 8 feet thick containing a prolific fauna of pelecypods, gastropods, calcareous brachiopods and some bryozoans. This has been classed as Jones Point shale by Condra. It is clearly identifiable as the .6 member of the cyclothem, the shale with mixed molluscan and molluscoid fauna that occurs between the fusulinid (.5) limestone below and the algal-molluscan (.7) limestone above. Beneath Condra's "Jones Point shale" is a chert-bearing fusulinid limestone about 3 feet thick that overlies an Osagia-bearing somewhat oolitic massive limestone that I regard as the topmost unit of the Ervine Creek limestone. Condra, however, has classed all of the beds up to the base of the fossiliferous "Jones Point" shale as Ervine Creek. Because the top of the Ervine Creek can be and I think should be defined on the basis of cyclothem characters, that is, the appearance of Osagia limestone, the boundary between the Deer Creek and Calhoun in these sections is placed lower by me than by Condra. If we adopt this lower position for the base of the Calhoun shale, we find a practically complete cyclothem within the Calhoun. The first limestone above the Osagia bed of the Ervine Creek is a dense blue vertically jointed rock of "middle" aspect and like the "middle" beds of the Shawnee formations this blue limestone is overlain by black fissile shale. Then comes the fusulinid limestone, one or two beds of dense light-gray limestone, the fossiliferous "Jones Point shale" and the oolitic Osagia-bearing "Sheldon limestone." Essentially the same sequence as that observed in eastern Nebraska is found in southern Kansas.

Based on these observations of the cyclic nature of the succession of beds in the Calhoun shale, it seems desirable to group the limestone of the cyclothem in the Calhoun and to class them collectively as a member of the Calhoun shale. There is little need to name the individual subdivisions of this member or cyclothem and therefore the name Sheldon which has previously been applied to a single bed may be extended to include the entire limestone member. The effect of these changes, it is seen, shifts application of the name Jones Point to the shale next above the Osagia bed of the Ervine Creek (which is a shale that was included in the Ervine Creek by Condra and extends the lower boundary of the Sheldon limestone member to include beds that have been classed as Ervine Creek by Condra.

The uppermost unit of the Sheldon is well developed in Greenwood County, Kansas, but the fusulinid bed is not found in most places. Farther south, in Elk and Chautauqua counties, Kansas, and in Osage County, Oklahoma, the fusulinid bed of the Sheldon is persistent and locally the molluscan-algal, more or less conglomeratic upper bed is also present. The fusulinid bed or beds of the Sheldon member are distinctive as compared with most other fusulinid limestones because of the close packing and parallel arrangement of the slender, fairly even-sized "wheat-grain" fossils. This parallel orientation of the fusulinids, the long axis lying subhorizontal, suggests action of gentle currents. This horizon is probably the "marker" zone described by Heald [Heald, K. C., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 691, p. 66, 1918] in the upper part of the Pawhuska formation of northern Oklahoma.

CALHOUN SHALE

IOWA POINT SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Iowa Point shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 51. Includes upper part of Calhoun shale between top of tMeadow [Sheldon] limestone below and base of Topeka limestone above. *Iowa Point shale 1933, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Paper 2, p. 5. Classes Sheldon as topmost member of Deer Creek limestone, thus making Iowa Point shale coextensive with Calhoun, and therefore abandons use of Iowa Point. This classification is believed to be erroneous.

Type locality, Iowa Point, on Missouri river in northeastern Doniphan County, Kansas.

The Iowa Point shale comprises the upper part of the Calhoun, 2 to 20 feet or more in thickness, that lies between the top of the Sheldon limestone member and the base of the Topeka limestone. In eastern Nebraska and western Iowa this upper shale member of the Calhoun is less than 6 feet thick. Condra states that it is quite irregular in character, grading laterally into sandstone and locally containing thin lentils of coal. The sandstone and coal, although included in the Iowa Point shale member, are parts of the Topeka megacyclothem. In the northern sections the basal limestone member (Hartford) of the Topeka is lacking, so that the Iowa Point member includes beds up to the base of the DuBois limestone, or possibly in some sections to the base of the Coal Creek limestone (upper Topeka). In southern Kansas the Iowa Point shale is highly calcareous to clayey and contains a prolific fauna of calcareous brachiopods and bryozoans in which a variety of Chonetes granulifer and Rhombopora are exceedingly abundant and well preserved. The Iowa Point is everywhere overlain in this region by limestone representing the Hartford member of the Topeka limestone.

TOPEKA LIMESTONE, Bennett, 1896

1896, Hartford limestone, KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 80. Designates limestone exposed along Neosho river in Coffey County, equivalent to lower Topeka as now classified. Hartford limestone 1902, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 167. Hartford limestone 1903, ADAMS, G.I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 48.

1896, *Topeka limestone, BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 116. *Topeka limestone 1898, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 29; Kan. Univ .. Quart., vol. 7, p. 232. *Topeka limestone 1898, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, pp. 94, 105. *Topeka limestone 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 110. *Topeka limestone 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 33. Classes as member of Shawnee formation. *Topeka limestone 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 104. Same. *Topeka limestone 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 104.. Same. *Topeka limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 53. Names subdivisions, in upward order, Curzen limestone, Turner Creek shale, DuBois limestone, Holt shale, Coal Creek limestone.

1898, †Elk Falls limestone (part), HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 65.

Type locality, Topeka, Kan. All members of the Topeka limestone are well exposed in SE sec. 5, T. 11 S., R. 16 E., and vicinity, northeast of Topeka.

The Topeka limestone, named by Bennett from typical outcrops in the vicinity of Topeka, Kansas, comprises the topmost formation of the Shawnee group as here defined. Although somewhat variable in its development from place to place, the Topeka limestone is readily differentiated from the Deer Creek and other limestone formations of the Shawnee below. It is very fossiliferous and where completely developed there are five distinctive members, of which the lowermost is, in general, much the thickest and most prominent at the outcrop. In many places it consists of two or three limestone beds separated by shale, the member as a whole corresponding to the lower limestone members of the other Shawnee formations. In upward order, the members of the Topeka limestone have been named as follows: Hartford limestone, Turner Creek shale, DuBois limestone, Holt shale, and Coal Creek limestone. The Coal Creek member is clearly the equivalent of the so-called upper limestone members of other Shawnee limestone formations. Locally in southern Kansas there is a fourth limestone representing the terminal molluscan and algal deposits which are normally associated with this type of cyclothem.

The Topeka limestone makes a distinct escarpment that rises some 60 feet or more above the Deer Creek dip slope in parts of north-central Kansas, but to the south the Topeka outcrop is not sharply differentiated from that of the Deer Creek limestone which is the main scarp-maker. The long dip slope on the Topeka is a characteristic topographic feature, however, from northern to southern Kansas, although this is masked somewhat in the extreme northern part of the state and in Nebraska by glacial drift.

The thickness of the Topeka limestone ranges from less than 10 feet in Nebraska to more than 50 feet in parts of southern Kansas. The formation is recognized from southern to northern Kansas, in Nebraska, and in Missouri. It is equivalent to the uppermost part of the Pawhuska formation of Oklahoma and forms the top of what has been called the Braddyville formation in Iowa.

TOPEKA LIMESTONE

HARTFORD LIMESTONE MEMBER, Kirk, 1896

1896, *Hartford limestone, KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 80. "The limestone which passes under the river [Neosho] at Hartford," Coffey County, Kansas, is now identified as the lower limestone member of the Topeka. *Hartford limestone 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 48.

1902, Hartford (Topeka) limestone, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 167. Apparently refers only to lower limestone of the Topeka.

1927, †Curzen limestone, CONDRA,.G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 52. Recognizes three limestone beds in the "Topeka member of the Shawnee formation," naming the lowermost Curzen. Condra says (lee. cit.) "Years ago the Missouri Survey used the name Curzen for what seems to be the basal 5 to 8 feet of the Topeka." Hinds and Greene (Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 31, 1915) in discussing nomenclature of the Topeka beds do not mention Curzen. Condra's reference is evidently to Gallaher (Mo. Geol. Survey, vol. 13, p. 213, 1900), who includes the name "Curzen's limestone" in a columnar section of the "Forest City lens" but gives no mention of this limestone in the text. The rock to which Gallaher referred is certainly unidentifiable, and therefore Condra is to be cited as author of Curzen limestone. No type locality of Condra's Curzen limestone is given, although presumably it is in the vicinity of Curzon [sic], Mo.

Type locality, Hartford, Coffey County, Kan. Well exposed below highway bridge at north edge of town.

The lower limestone member of the Topeka formation is called Hartford because this name has priority, previous usage in at least three papers, and adequate definition based on description and a designated type locality. Condra agrees [personal communication, July 8, 1934] that the term Hartford is preferable to Curzen which was introduced by him.

The Hartford limestone member consists typically of one to three or four beds of massive or irregularly bedded bluish-gray limestone that weathers brown. Where two or more beds of limestone belonging to the member are present, they are separated by shale a few inches to several feet in thickness. The thickness of the different limestone beds is quite variable, ranging from less than one foot to more than 20 feet, and the thickness of the member as a whole likewise shows a range from less than one foot to nearly 40 feet. This variation along the strike, both in thickness and in the number of limestone and shale subdivisions, distinguishes the Hartford from other "lower limestones" of the Shawnee limestone formations, although locally the "lower Deer Creek" is expanded to include a number of limestone and shale units. The texture of the limestone beds in the Hartford member is typically fine and dense, but locally there are medium-grained crystalline limestones. In places, the rock is impure and very silty or sandy. Although, in general, the beds are characterized by their ferruginous content, which produces the strong brown color of the weathered rock, some outcrops show pure limestone that weathers nearly white. The distribution and character of fossils in the Hartford member is very irregular. Fusulinids are extremely abundant in some part of the member in most areas but locally they are entirely absent. Some beds contain a profusion of invertebrates of various kinds, but others are almost lacking in identifiable organic remains. Despite all these differences in physical and biologic characters no difficulty is found in distinguishing the Hartford limestone from other members of the Topeka formation, nor in determining the proper boundaries of the Hartford. This is perhaps due mainly to the distinctive characters of the higher members rather than to those of the Hartford, but that is not wholly true. It is interesting to observe that no members other than the Hartford are identified south of the Kansas River, that all of the limestone and shale members of the Topeka appear in Kansas north of Kansas River, and that all except the Hartford are typically developed in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

TOPEKA LIMESTONE

TURNER CREEK SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Turner Creek shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 52. Shale between †Curzen [Hartford] and Du Bois limestone beds of "the Topeka member of the Shawnee formation."

Type locality, on Turner Creek, a short distance southeast of Du Bois, Neb.

The Turner Creek shale member of the Topeka formation is identified by its assigned stratigraphic position, next below the "middle Topeka" or Du Bois limestone, rather than by any distinctive character of its own. The base of the member is drawn at the top of the uppermost limestone bed of the Hartford. The average thickness of the Turner Creek shale is about 3 feet. It is bluish-gray, clayey to calcareous, and is mostly unfossiliferous. This unit is recognized from Topeka, Kan., northeastward into Nebraska, western Missouri and Iowa.

TOPEKA LIMESTONE

DU BOIS LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Du Bois limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 52. "Middle limestone bed of the Topeka member of the Shawnee formation."

Type locality, on Turner Creek southeast of Du Bois, Neb.

The Du Bois limestone member of the Topeka formation underlies black fissile shale of the Holt member which is the only rock of this type in the Topeka. The Du Bois is distinguished also by lithologic peculiarities that are very persistent and after one has become acquainted with these it is readily possible to differentiate the Du Bois from other parts of the Topeka on the basis of physical characters.

The Du Bois member comprises one or two dark-blue or greenish-blue, fine-grained dense limestone beds that in general show prominent vertical joints. Like other "middle" limestones, the bed or beds of the Du Bois are fairly homogeneous from bottom to top, lacking bedding planes within the limestone bed. Fossils are numerous but it is very difficult to free them from the matrix. The edges of the fossil shells weather in relief on the surfaces of joint planes. Mollusks, especially pelecypods, and the brachiopod, Derbya, (representing the transgressive molluscan or .3 member of the simple cyclothem) are most common, but in places the fusulinid limestone is also present. The rock does not disintegrate readily on weathering into shelly chips, like the Hartford limestone, but is gradually decomposed by solution. A thin surface film of the rock is altered in color by weathering to a light bluish or greenish blue color.

The thickness of the Du Bois limestone is so inconsiderable that if it were not for the distinctive characters of the unit which serve to make it a stratigraphic marker and if the importance of the limestone in the cyclothem sequence were not recognized, it would not call for differentiation as a named member. The thickness ranges from about one half foot to a maximum of two feet. The member is typically developed in Nebraska, Iowa and northern Kansas as far south as Topeka.

TOPEKA LIMESTONE

HOLT SHALE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1927, *Holt shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 52. Shale between the Du Bois and Coal Creek limestone beds of the "Topeka limestone member of the Shawnee formation."

Type locality, "just below Forest City and northwest of Oregon," Holt County, Mo.

Like the Du Bois limestone, the Holt shale is thin but persistent and it is a distinctive member of the Topeka formation. It conformably overlies the Du Bois limestone and underlies the Coal Creek limestone. The lower part of the member consists of black bituminous shale that is hard and fissile. The upper part is bluish and clayey, the contact with the lower part being gradational. Fossils include conodonts and some corneous brachiopods in the lower part and in places pelecypods and some calcareous brachiopods and bryozoans in the upper part.

The thickness of the Holt shale is about 2 to 3 feet in most places. The member has been recognized from western Iowa to the vicinity of Topeka, but not farther southward.

TOPEKA LIMESTONE

COAL CREEK LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

1915, †Union limestone, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Publ., vol. 9, p. 37. Limestone exposed at Union, Neb., classed as member of Braddyville formation. Name abandoned because preoccupied.

1927, *Coal Creek limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 52. "Upper unit of the Topeka limestone."

Type locality, on Coal Creek, about one half mile north of Union, Neb.

The Coal Creek limestone member of the Topeka formation is the "upper Topeka." It corresponds in cyclic relationships to the Ervine Creek limestone member of the Deer Creek, the Beil limestone member of the Lecompton, and the Plattsmouth limestone member of the Oread. Like these "upper limestones" of other Shawnee formations, the Coal Creek shows a tendency to irregular thin wavy beds separated by shale partings, but where the member consists mostly of limestone the beds are somewhat thick and more even than is typical of "upper limestones." Where the member is shaly, as near Kansas River, there are many thin lenses and nodules of light-blue-gray limestone in a matrix of calcareous shale. The nearly solid limestone phase of the Coal Creek member is developed toward the north. Here the color of the fresh rock is typically dark-blue, and that of the weathered rock light bluish-gray to brownish-gray. Dark-blue to nearly black nodules of flinty chert are common in the Coal Creek limestone of Nebraska and Iowa. Fossils are abundant in the Coal Creek member and most of them are exceptionally well preserved. Those in the calcareous shale beds weather free. Some beds contain a profusion of fusulinids but almost no other fossils. Other parts of the member yield a large variety of brachiopods, bryozoans, and less commonly other invertebrates.

The thickness of the Coal Creek member averages about 8 feet. It has been traced from Iowa, Nebraska and northwestern Missouri to Topeka.

WABAUNSEE GROUP (Prosser, 1895), Moore, 1936

1895, Wabaunsee formation, PROSSER, C. S., Jour. Geol., vol. 3, p. 688. Defined to include beds from the top of "Osage coal" [Nodaway coal in the Howard limestone] or "Silver Lake coal" [Elmo coal in the Cedar Vale shale, which were erroneously regarded as equivalent], to the base of the Cottonwood limestone.

1898, Wabaunsee formation, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 94. Redefines base excluding beds below the Burlingame limestone. Wabaunsee formation 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 34. Includes beds above Scranton shale but basal member is erroneously called Tarkio limestone. Wabaunsee formation 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 105. Defined as by Haworth. Wabaunsee formation 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 47. Same. Wabaunsee formation 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 59. Same.

1902, Wabaunsee stage, PROSSER, C. S., Jour. Geol., vol. 10, p. 704. Boundaries as defined by Haworth in 1898. Wabaunsee stage 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 76. Same.

1921, Wabaunsee group, FATH, A. E., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 7, pp. 39, 43. The U. S. Geol. Survey classes the Wabaunsee as a group with boundaries as defined by Haworth (1898). Wabaunsee group 1928, BASS, N. W., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 12, p. 38. Same.

Type locality, Wabaunsee County, Kansas.

The Wabaunsee group, as here defined, comprises the beds above the top of the Topeka limestone and below the unconformity at the base of the Towle shale which is regarded as marking the boundary between rocks classed as Pennsylvanian and "Permian" in the northern Mid-Continent region. This definition of stratigraphic boundaries places the lower limit of the group slightly below the original position set by Prosser and fixes the upper limit considerably below Prosser's top of the Wabaunsee which was located at the base of the Cottonwood limestone. As applied to the uppermost Pennsylvanian strata in Kansas, Wabaunsee is a well established name and it has been deemed preferable to retain it in a somewhat modified sense rather than to discard it. The group is distinguished chiefly by lithologic features and by the character of its cyclothems from the underlying Shawnee and the succeeding Big Blue beds, but there are also some faunal peculiarities. Shale is relatively much more prominent in the Wabaunsee group than in adjoining parts of the geologic section. Much of the shale is sandy and at several horizons there are extensive sandstones. The Wabaunsee limestones are very persistent but are uniformly thin, the average thickness of individual members being about two feet. A distinctive feature of the Wabaunsee group is the character of the cyclic sedimentary succession, which shows regularly alternating nonmarine and marine units in which a grouping of cyclothems in megacyclothems is not evident. This serves especially to set the Wabaunsee beds apart from those of the Shawnee group.

Study of the classification of beds that are included in the Wabaunsee group indicates that a number of previously recognized units, such as Scranton shale, Humphrey shale and McKissick Grove shale, are composed of strata that lie between certain rather arbitrarily selected boundaries. That is to say, names were applied to a few limestones that are fairly distinct in topographic expression and that are seemingly useful stratigraphic "markers" and then the strata lying between these selected markers were named. This is an entirely natural and proper procedure at least in an early stage of stratigraphic study, but as the Wabaunsee section is now understood this classification appears to serve no useful purpose. It is preferable to recognize as independent correlative units each major lithologic element of the sedimentary cycles that is known even though some of these have small thickness. If it is desirable for purposes of mapping to combine some of these units, that is very readily possible. Accordingly, the Wabaunsee group has been divided into alternating shale and limestone formations, the former including shale, sandstone, coal, and in a few cases minor limestone beds that comprise the terminal parts of adjoining cyclothems, and the latter containing limestones and intervening shales that represent the medial part of each cyclothem. This classification is applicable to all of the Wabaunsee beds except one or two seemingly rudimentary cyclothems, which are not separately indicated by the present defined formations.

Each of the Wabaunsee formations contains ideally about ten subdivisions that are sufficiently important and persistent in a majority of cases to justify designation as named members. On the other hand, most of these members are very thin and it is clearly undesirable to burden classification by the addition of some scores of new stratigraphic names. Therefore, it is thought sufficient to designate the subdivisions of formations by the index number or descriptive characterization of the cyclothem phases.

The thickness of the Wabaunsee group in Kansas shows little variation although the thickness of several of its contained formations shows a considerable range. Excepting places where the Indian Cave sandstone at the base of the Big Blue series cuts out the upper beds, the thickness of the Wabaunsee group is about 500 feet. Where the channel sandstone just mentioned occurs, the thickness of the group is reduced 80 to 125 feet.

Northern Oklahoma equivalents of the Wabaunsee beds include all of the Buck Creek formation with the possible exception of the Turkey Run limestone and underlying shale and the basal part of the Sand Creek formation including the Grayhorse limestone and a few feet of the next succeeding beds. It appears, however, that as mapped in much of northern Oklahoma the boundary between the Buck Creek and Sand Creek formations represents the upper limit of the Wabaunsee group, and hence marks the position of the line between Pennsylvanian and "Permian" as recognized in Kansas. This boundary is traceable southward to the flanks of the Arbuckle Mountains. The Texas correlatives of the Wabaunsee group belong in the lower part of the Cisco group, but the exact stratigraphic boundaries are not determined. It is believed that the Thrifty and lower Harpersville formations are essentially equivalent to the Wabaunsee group of Kansas. Correlation with the eastern section of the Pennsylvanian is still less definite, but it is probable that the Wabaunsee is represented by the upper Monongahela beds.

As here classified, the Wabaunsee group contains the following formations, named in upward order: Severy shale, Howard limestone, White Cloud shale, Happy Hollow limestone, Cedar Vale shale, Rulo limestone, Silver Lake shale, Burlingame limestone, Soldier Creek shale, Wakarusa limestone, Auburn shale, Reading limestone, Harveyville shale, Elmont limestone, Willard shale, Tarkio limestone, Pierson Point shale, Maple Hill limestone, Table Creek shale, Dover limestone, Dry shale, Grandhaven limestone, Friedrich shale, Jim Creek limestone, French Creek shale, Caneyville limestone, Pony Creek shale, and Brownville limestone.

SEVERY SHALE, Haworth, 1898

1898, *Severy shale, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 67. Includes beds between top of Topeka limestone and base of Howard limestone. *Severy shale 1902, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 168. Same. *Severy shale 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 49. Includes beds between tHartford [Topeka] and Howard limestones. *Severy shale 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 111. As originally defined. *Severy shale 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 33. Same, classing it as member of Shawnee formation. *Severy shale 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 104. Same. *Severy shale 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 45. Same. *Severy shale 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2). Bull. 1, p. 53; Same.

1898, †Shunganunga shale, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 29. Name applied to beds between top of "Osage" [Nodaway] coal and base of Howard limestone. This unit is included without differentiation in the Severy where the Bachelor Creek limestone member of the Howard limestone is absent.

Type locality, Severy, Greenwood County, Kansas.

The Severy shale is the basal formation of the Wabaunsee group, as here redefined. It conformably overlies the Topeka limestone of the Shawnee group and. includes the beds up to the base of the Howard limestone. Depending on variations in the development of the limestone members of these contiguous formations, the lower arid upper boundaries of the Severy shale are drawn in different places at slightly different stratigraphic horizons. For example, where the Coal Creek member of the Topeka limestone is recognized, the base of the Severy is at the top of the Coal Creek limestone, but in places where the Hartford is the only member of the Topeka represented, the lower boundary of the Severy is considered to extend to the top of the Hartford limestone. Similar relationships are found in tracing the contact of the Severy and the Howard.

The Severy shale is chiefly a yellowish-brown and blue-gray sandy shale. Near the top the shale grades into very evenly bedded thin layers of tan or buff sandstone separated by partings of sandy shale. This sandy zone is rather distinctive in appearance and is very widespread. In northern Oklahoma the sandstone of the upper Severy is thicker, harder and much more irregularly stratified than in Kansas. It makes a bench that bears numerous scrub oaks. Where the sandstone is soft and thin-bedded, the Severy shale forms a smooth slope along the Howard escarpment extending from the outcrops of the Howard down to the dip-slope plain on the top of the Topeka limestone. Calcareous beds are mostly lacking in the Severy shale and except in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma no limestone beds are seen in the formation. In this southern area one or more thin hard dark-blue mollusk-bearing limestones are observed in the lower part of the Severy. It is possible, however, that these are related to the cyclic succession of the Topeka beds. Fossils are not found in most of the Severy shale, but small brachiopods and some other invertebrates are abundant locally just below the Howard limestone. The shale beds below the thin limestones included in the lower Severy of southern Kansas. contain well preserved gastropods and a few pelecypods.

The thickness of the Severy shale is rather constantly about 70 to 80 feet.

HOWARD LIMESTONE, Haworth, 1898

1866, †Spring Rock limestone (part), SWALLOW, G. C., Prelim. Rept., Geol. Survey of Kansas, Lawrence, p. 21. Name invalid because not a geographic term. Also, Swallow confused this limestone with beds much lower in the section. †Spring Rock limestone 1898, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 30. Same.

1896, †Osage City limestone, HALL, JOHN, Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 104.

1898, *Howard limestone, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 67. Name applied to thin limestone overlying Severy shale. *Howard limestone 1902, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 171. Same. *Howard limestone 1903, ADAMS, G.I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 50. Same. *Howard limestone 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 8, p. Ill. Same. *Howard limestone 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 33. Same, classing it as a member of the Shawnee formation. *Howard limestone 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 105. Same. *Howard limestone 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 45. Same. *Howard limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 54. Same, and names beds.

1898, †Quitman limestone, GALLAHER, J. A., Bien. Rept. Bur. Geol. and Mines, Missouri, p. 54. Name preoccupied by a Cretaceous formation of Texas.

Type locality, near Howard, Elk County, Kansas. Typically exposed in NE sec. 7, T, 29 S., R. 11 E.

The Howard limestone is a thin but extremely persistent formation that is of much interest to the student of sedimentation cycles in the Pennsylvanian rocks. The Howard lies between the Severy shale, below, and the White Cloud shale, above. Except in northern Kansas where topographic expression of the stratified rocks is blurred by effects of glaciation, the outcrop of the Howard beds is marked by a fairly distinct escarpment. This escarpment is less prominent than that of the Burlingame-Wakarusa limestones or those of limestones in the Shawnee group, but it is clearly differentiated in most places. South of Topeka for thirty miles the position of the outcrop of the Howard can be determined by the occurrence of numerous areas of coal stripping and by the location of small coal mines. The coal that is mined in this district occurs just below the Howard limestone.

The most complete development of the Howard limestone shows the presence of three limestone members and two shale members. These have been named, in upward order, Bachelor Creek limestone, Aarde shale, Church limestone, Winzeler shale, and Utopia limestone. The lithologic and faunal characteristics of the Howard will be described according to these members. It may be noted here that, although not yet studied in sufficient detail, there are features of the Howard sedimentary cycle that appear intermediate between the typical megacyclothems of the Shawnee group and the apparently simple cyclothems of the Wabaunsee group, in which no grouping into megacycles appears evident. The significance of these intermediate cyclic characteristics remains to be analyzed and interpreted.

HOWARD LIMESTONE

BACHELOR CREEK LIMESTONE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1932, *Bachelor Creek limestone, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 94. Classed as lowermost member of the Howard limestone.

Type locality, Bachelor Creek, sec. 33, T. 25 S., R. 11 E., about 5 miles east of Eureka, Kan.

The lowermost member of the Howard limestone, called the Bachelor Creek limestone, is developed in southern Kansas from Greenwood County southward. It is a hard, somewhat sandy, impure, bluish-gray limestone, that ranges in thickness up to about three feet. The rock is massive, but on weathering breaks into irregular shelly fragments of yellowish-brown color. Fossils are not common. They consist of scattered crinoid stem fragments and a few brachiopods and bryozoans. The member is distinguished by lithologic characters and by its position below the Nodaway coal.

HOWARD LIMESTONE

AARDE SHALE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1932, *Aarde shale, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 94. Classed as a member of the Howard limestone.

Type locality, Aarde farm, sec. 4, T. 26 S., R. 11 E., Greenwood County.

The Aarde shale member of the Howard limestone lies between the Bachelor Creek and Church limestone members. It is a bluish-gray to yellowish clayey and sandy shale about 3 to 7 feet thick. The very persistent Nodaway coal occurs in this member, locally near the base, elsewhere near the middle and in a few places near the top. The coal has been identified at numerous exposures from Nebraska, Iowa and northwestern Missouri, across Kansas, and extending 50 miles or more into Oklahoma. It varies in thickness from an inch or two to about 2 feet. The bed is mined at various places in Missouri and in the Osage County field south of Topeka, Kansas. Beneath the coal at some outcrops a distinct underclay, consisting of structureless sticky clay, is seen, but in other exposures well stratified shale is seen next below the coal. Fossil plants are collected from the beds immediately below or above the coal at a number of places, and a marine fauna consisting of pelecypods and a few kinds of calcareous brachiopods occurs rather commonly in the upper part of the Aarde member, Where the Bachelor Creek limestone is absent the Nodaway coal and other beds that are stratigraphically equivalent to the Aarde shale are classed as belonging at the top of the Severy shale, for it is not practicable to draw a boundary between two shale bodies. Moreover, it does not seem desirable in this case to indicate the observed relationships by a hyphenated term, such as Severy-Aarde shale. Beede applied the term Shunganunga shale to the few feet of beds between the top of the Nodaway coal and the base of the Church limestone, but there seems to be no good reason for recognizing this as a separate unit.

Certain details that are important from the standpoint of cyclic sedimentation remain to be worked out in study of the Aarde shale and equivalent strata that are classed as uppermost Severy. Some exposures in south-central Greenwood County in which the Bachelor Creek and Church limestone members are well developed, show in the upper part of the Aarde interval above the Nodaway coal, a few inches of dense, fine-grained bluish limestone. This thin limestone has the typical lithologic character of the so-called "middle limestones" of the Shawnee group megacyclothems, and like them it is overlain by black fissile shale. Some outcrops in northeasternmost Kansas, in southern Nebraska and across the Missouri River in Iowa and Missouri reveal similar black fissile shale with very abundant ostracodes, some corneous brachiopods and pelecypods, occurring a foot or two below the Church limestone. Locally there is an inch or two of calcareous shale or shaly limestone, apparently equivalent to the "middle limestone" at the base of the black shale and 1 to 3 feet above the Nodaway coal. The Bachelor Creek limestone is not present in this northern area. Putting together the known facts as to lithologic and faunal characters of the Howard stratigraphic units in various outcrops, there is good basis for the conclusion that this formation shows features of a rudimentary or partially developed megacyclothem. The Bachelor Creek limestone represents the culminating phase of Cyclothem A which contains the "lower limestone." The Aarde shale contains the terminal part of Cyclothem A, all of Cyclothem B to which the Nodaway coal and the locally developed "middle limestone" are referred, and the initial part of Cyclothem C, including the black slaty shale and overlying fossiliferous clay shale with corneous brachiopods and mollusks. The Church limestone, which is the only member. of the Howard observed to contain fusulinids, is the CUlminating phase of Cyclothem C, and although it consists of a single massive bed as seen in most exposures, it must be classed as an "upper limestone." The Winzeler shale and Utopia limestone may be interpreted as the terminal parts of Cyclothem C, for the latter exhibits the characters of a "super" or .7 bed in the cycle. This is not certain, however, for there are some exposures that appear to indicate proper classification of the Utopia member as belonging to a cycle next younger than the one to which the Church limestone belongs.

HOWARD LIMESTONE

CHURCH LIMESTONE MEMBER, Condra, 1927

(?) 1918, Bird Creek limestone, HEALD, K. C., AND MATHER, K. F., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 686, p. 153. Name applied to first limestone above the Turkey Run limestone [Topeka] in Osage County, Oklahoma. Subsequently (Okla. Geol. Survey, Bull. 35, p. 78, 1925) included in the formation called Buck Creek.

1927, *Church limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 54. Classed as the lower member of the Howard limestone. in southern Nebraska.

Type locality, Church farm, on Turner Creek southeast of Du Bois, Neb.

The Church limestone is the most persistent and important limestone member of the Howard formation. It overlies the Aarde shale or, where the Bachelor Creek limestone is absent and Aarde shale is not differentiated, it is considered as forming the basal unit of the Howard, resting on Severy shale. The Church member is overlain by the Winzeler shale.

The lithologic and faunal characters of the Church limestone are remarkably constant throughout its long outcrop from Nebraska and Iowa to north-central Oklahoma. After one has become acquainted with these characters it is easy to recognize the member and it is a valuable stratigraphic datum. The color of the Unweathered limestone is rather dark-blue to blue-gray. On weathering a zone a few inches thick adjacent to exposed surfaces is altered to drab or brownish-blue and a thin coating of rich chestnut brown or chocolate color is developed over the surface. The rock is very hard, dense and brittle, breaking with a sub conchoidal fracture when struck by a hammer. Commonly there is a single massive bed that represents the entire thickness of the member, but locally there are two or more even layers. Along the outcrop in most places rectangular joint blocks, somewhat rounded at the edges by solution, are separated from the rock in place. Locally the limestone breaks into irregularly shaped large shelly fragments. The most common fossils are crinoid stem fragments and large productids belonging to the genus Dictyoclostus. Specimens of Enteletes are common in the Bird Creek (Church 1) limestone in northern Oklahoma. These and less common other fossils are not abundant, but are scattered at random through the fine-grained matrix. Large specimens of Ottonosia ("Cryptozoon") are noteworthy in some exposures. At the top of the limestone is a thin crust with very abundant bryozoans among which Rhombopora and Streblotrypa are especially noteworthy. Fusulinids occur sparsely in the upper part of the Church limestone in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. Locally near Topeka there are abundant fusulinids.

The thickness of the Church limestone ranges from about 1.5 to 6 feet, the average being a little over 2 feet.

The Church limestone is believed to correspond exactly to the bed called Bird Creek limestone in Osage County, Oklahoma, but this is not yet determined with sufficient definiteness to warrant use of Bird Creek (which is the older term, and about as much used as Church) as the name of a member of the Howard limestone in place of Church.

HOWARD LIMESTONE

WINZELER SHALE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1932, *Winzeler shale, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 94. Classed as a member of the Howard limestone.

Type locality, Winzeler farm, sec. 4, T. 26 S., R. 11 E., Greenwood County, Kansas.

The Winzeler shale occurs between the Church limestone, below, and the Utopia limestone, above. It is about 3 to 8 feet thick, bluish-gray or yellowish and clayey to calcareous. The lower part contains a marine fauna in which a variety of bryozoans and a few brachiopods are most common. This member is recognizable from Nebraska and Iowa southward to Oklahoma, but locally where the Utopia limestone disappears, the beds immediately overlying the Church limestone are classed as White Cloud shale.

HOWARD LIMESTONE

UTOPIA LIMESTONE MEMBER, Moore, 1932

1932, *Utopia limestone, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc. Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 94. Classed as uppermost member of the Howard limestone.

Type locality, just east of the village of Utopia, sec. 5, T. 25 S., R. 11 E., Greenwood County, Kansas.

The Utopia limestone is the uppermost member of the Howard limestone, occurring between the Winzeler shale member of the Howard, below, and the White Cloud shale, above; It is a rather thin, but very persistent and distinctive stratigraphic unit that differs lithologically and in faunal content from other limestone beds of the Howard formation. In central and southern Kansas the Utopia member consists in most places of a single hard bed of dense rather dark bluish limestone that breaks along vertical joint planes into rectangular blocks. The color of the weathered rock is light brownish-gray. Exposed surfaces are slightly rough because of etching by solution that leaves fine horizontally disposed platy fragments of shells and algal growths standing in relief. The limestone resembles a compacted coquina and hence may be described as coquinoid. This textural feature which in field notes has been described frequently as "oatmeal rock," and the abundance of algal material of the type called Osagia are distinguishing characters of this phase of the Utopia limestone. In northern Kansas and southern Nebraska, outcrops of the Utopia member commonly show somewhat shaly light bluish-gray limestone that in places is highly fossiliferous. A variety of brachiopods, bryozoans and some mollusks are observed.

The thickness of the Utopia limestone ranges from less than one foot to a known maximum of about 4 feet.

WHITE CLOUD SHALE (Condra, 1927), Condra, 1930

1895, †Burlingame shale (part), HAWORTH, E., Am. Jour. Sci., (3), vol. 50, p. 461. †Burlingame shale 1896, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 162. †Burlingame shale 1898, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 30. †Burlingame shale 1902, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 174. †Burlingame shale 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 51.

1898, †Osage City shale (part), HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 67.

1908, Scranton shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNIDTT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 112. Scranton shale (part) 1915, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 33. Classes Scranton as member of the Shawnee formation. Scranton shale (part) 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 105. Same. Scranton shale (part) 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 45. Same Scranton shale (part) 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 56. Names subdivisions, in upward order: Rock Lake shale, South Bend limestone, †Plattford shale, †Cass limestone, White Cloud shale, Rulo limestone, Silver Lake shale. The first four of these are named from the Platte Valley and do not belong in the Scranton at all.

1927, White Cloud shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 58. Name applied to beds between the Howard limestone below and the Rulo limestone above. Contains the Happy Hollow limestone in upper part. Classes White Cloud shale as a member of the Scranton shale.

1930, *White Cloud shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 3, p. 53. Restricts name to beds between the Howard limestone below and the Happy Hollow limestone above. Classes White Cloud shale as a member of the Scranton shale. *White Cloud shale 1932, CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Same.

Type locality, near White Cloud, Doniphan County, Kansas.

The White Cloud shale includes beds occurring between the top of the Howard limestone and the base of the Happy Hollow limestone. It comprises the lower part of the succession of beds formerly included in the Scranton shale which was defined to extend from the top of the Howard limestone to the base of the Burlingame limestone. Since the Happy Hollow and Rulo limestones havebeen discovered to be extremely persistent stratigraphic units that represent the calcareous deposits of separate and distinct cyclothems that are correlative with other Wabaunsee cyclothems, there seems to be no good reason for recognizing as a formation the grouping of beds that has been included under the term Scranton. Consistent application of the principles of classification and nomenclature that are given elsewhere in this paper, requires that the White Cloud shale and other units previously considered as members of the Scranton shale, should be treated as formations.

The White Cloud shale consists of bluish or yellow-brown clayey and sandy shale, about 30 to 80 feet in thickness. Locally there are beds of shaly to massive sandstone in the upper part, and north of Topeka channel sandstone, with a foot or two of moderately coarse conglomerate at the base, occurs below the middle of the White Cloud shale. These sandy and conglomeratic deposits are interpreted as the initial phase of the Happy Hollow cyclothem. Fossils are rare or absent at most outcrops of the White Cloud shale. Both marine invertebrates, chiefly mollusks, and land plant remains have been observed but further paleontologic studies are needed. The White Cloud shale is traceable from Iowa and Nebraska entirely across Kansas into Oklahoma.

HAPPY HOLLOW LIMESTONE, Condra, 1927

1895, †Burlingame shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1898, †Osage City shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1908, Scranton shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1927, *Happy Hollow limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 58. Applies name to limestone in the White Cloud shale member of the Scranton shale. *Happy Hollow limestone 1930, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 3, p. 53. Classes Happy Hollow as a member of the Scranton shale, restricting White Cloud to beds below this limestone. *Happy Hollow limestone 1932, CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Same.

Type locality, Happy Hollow Creek, northeastern Doniphan County, Kansas.

The Happy Hollow limestone occurs next above the White Cloud shale and lies next below the Cedar Vale shale. It is the so-called "salmon bed," distinguished by a peculiar salmon-yellow or pinkish-brown color, noted by various geologists along the Missouri river in northwestern Missouri, northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska. When Condra introduced the name Happy Hollow, he defined this limestone as a member of the Scranton shale, thinking it sufficiently distinctive and important to be worthy of at least local differentiation under a geographic name. It was not suspected, as has since been clearly determined, that the Happy Hollow limestone is traceable across Kansas and that it is identifiable in Oklahoma where it shows lithologic and faunal characters almost exactly like those seen in northeastern Kansas.

The Happy Hollow limestone consists typically of a single massive bed of pinkish-brown, somewhat impure limestone that tends to weather in rounded or irregularly porous surfaces. At some places it is very sandy and locally it is soft and somewhat shaly, so that its outcrop is difficult to trace. The presence of abundant robust Triticites is a common feature. Some sections show clearly an upper part of the limestone that lacks fusulinids and most other invertebrates but contains Osagia and other algal material. This part of the formation, which clearly represents the regressive algal-molluscan limestone phase (No. .7) of the cyclothem, appears to rest disconformably on the fusulinid-bearing limestone (No. .5), the contact being sharp and irregular. Locally there is a little shale between these two limestone phases. A dark bluish limestone containing mollusks, brachiopods and bryozoans (No. .3) has been observed a foot or two below the fusulinid limestone at some places. The thickness of the Happy Hollow limestone ranges from about 1 foot to 7 or 8 feet. It extends from Cass County, Nebraska, at least to southern Osage County, Oklahoma. Its distinctive lithologic and faunal characters make it a useful horizon marker.

CEDAR VALE SHALE, Condra, 1930

1895, †Burlingame shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1898, †Osage City shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1908, Scranton shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1930, *Cedar Vale shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 3, p. 53. Applies name to beds between the Happy Hollow limestone below and the Rulo limestone above. Classes it as a member of the Scranton shale. *Cedar Vale shale 1932, CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Same.

Type locality, near Cedar Vale, Chautauqua County, Kansas. Exposed in east, bluff of Caney river, in sec. 12, T. 34 S., R. 8 E.

The Cedar Vale shale comprises the middle part of the interval formerly termed Scranton shale. The top of the Happy Hollow limestone forms its lower boundary and the base of the Rulo limestone its upper boundary. The Cedar Vale shale is bluish to yellowish brown, includes clayey and sandy beds and near the top contains the very persistent Elmo coal. At many places the few feet of beds underlying this coal consists of soft shaly sandstone or of hard fairly massive sandstone. The sandstone, sandy shale and coal in the upper part of the Cedar Vale represent the initial, terrestrial deposits of the Rulo cyclothem. Fossils are uncommon in most parts of the Cedar Vale shale. The topmost beds, between the Elmo coal and the base of the Rulo limestone, contain a mixed fauna of marine mollusks, brachiopods and bryozoans. The thickness of the Cedar Vale shale averages about 25 feet. The formation is traceable from southern Nebraska to northern Oklahoma.

RULO LIMESTONE, Condra and Bengston, 1915

1895, †Burlingame shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1898, †Osage City shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1908, Scranton shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1915, *Rulo limestone, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Publ., vol. 9, p. 14. Refer to bed, 1.3 feet thick, next below the Burlingame limestone. Classed as lowermost member of the "Nemaha formation." *Rulo limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 58. Applies name to limestone in the Scranton shale, next beneath the Silver Lake shale member. *Rulo limestone 1932, CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Same as last.

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neh Acad. Sci., Publ., vol. 9, p. 14.

Type locality, about 2.5 miles north of Rulo, Richardson County, Nebraska.

The Rulo limestone overlies the Cedar Vale shale and underlies the Silver Lake shale. The limestone can be recognized by its lithologic characters and position just above the Elmo coal and between the Happy Hollow and Burlingame limestones. The Rulo limestone and Elmo coal were confused with the Howard limestone and Nodaway coal in some of the early geologic work, but there is no occasion for such confusion if attention is given to stratigraphic relationships and to lithologic characters of the limestones.

The Rulo limestone is a bluish-gray rock in fresh exposures and appears in some cases faintly mottled with irregular light-brownish areas. The limestone weathers brown or dark-gray. In general, it appears as a single massive bed that breaks along joints into fairly large rectangular blocks. A tendency to disintegrate in small chips is observed in some exposures, and locally the bed is distinctly shaly. Argillaceous, silty or sandy impurities are commonly present. Fossils are abundant in some outcrops but are few in others. Brachiopods and bryozoans are most common. Small fusulinids have been observed in a few places. The presence of.a transgressive molluscan phase is indicated by occurrence of numerous pelecypods at the base in some exposures and a thin zone of algal limestone at the top locally marks the regressive algal-molluscan phase of the typical cycle. In general, however, the different calcareous elements of the cyclothem are not well differentiated in the Rulo limestone. The thickness of the Rulo averages about 2 feet. The bed is identified at many places from Nebraska to northern Oklahoma.

SILVER LAKE SHALE (Beede, 1898), Condra, 1927

1895, †Burlingame shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1898, †Osage City shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1898, Silver Lake shale, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 30. Name applied to beds between the top of the "Silver Lake" [Elmo] coal and the base of the "Stanton" [Burlingame] limestone; includes a thin limestone [Rulo] near base.

1908, Scranton shale (part), HAWORTH. (See under White Cloud shale.)

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Publ., vol. 9, p. 14.

1927, *Silver Lake shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 58. Restricts to apply to beds between top of Rulo limestone and base of Burlingame limestone. Classed as the uppermost member of the Scranton shale. *Silver Lake shale 1932, CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Same.

Type locality, in vicinity of Silver Lake, Shawnee County, Kansas.

The Silver Lake shale includes the strata that lie between the Rulo limestone, below, and the Burlingame limestone, above. It is somewhat variable in lithologic character, in some places consisting chiefly of bluish-gray and yellowish clay shale, with or without platy impure beds of limestone, and in other places being composed largely of light yellowish-brown sandy shale and shaly sandstone. Locally a coal bed is found in the upper part of the shale. This shale includes the upper part of the Rulo cyclothem and the lower part of the Burlingame cyclothem. Some outcrops of the Silver Lake shale yield remains of land plants and some show fairly abundant marine mollusks, brachiopods, bryozoans and other invertebrates. These kinds of fossils reflect different phases in the sedimentary cycle that are unequally developed in various places. Two or more dissimilar fossil zones may be seen in a single exposure of the shale. The thickness of the Silver Lake shale averages about 25 feet. The formation may be traced practically continuously from Nebraska across Kansas into northern Oklahoma.

BURLINGAME LIMESTONE, Hall, 1896

1894, †Wyckoff limestone, HAWORTH, E., AND KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Quart., vol. 2, p. 111. Name preoccupied by Ordovician formation in Minnesota.

1896, *Burlingame limestone, HALL, JOHN, Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 105. Applies name to brown, shelly limestone "8 feet thick, just west of Burlingame" next above shale "150 or 200 feet thick." *Burlingame limestone 1902, PROSSER, C. S., Jour. Geol., vol. 10, p. 704. Probably in part includes Wakarusa limestone. *Burlingame limestone 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 112. Same. *Burlingame limestone 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 106. Classes the Burlingame as a member of the Wabaunsee formation. *Burlingame limestone MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 48. Same. *Burlingame limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 76. Classes Burlingame as part of the "Nemaha beds." *Burlingame limestone 1929, BASS, N. W., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 12, p. 40.

1898, †Eureka limestone, HAWORTH, E., Kan. Univ. Geol, Survey, vol. 3, p. 67. Name preoccupied by Ordovician formation in Nevada.

1902, †Barclay limestone (part), ADAMS, G. I., Mss., in Beede, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 175. As used by Beede, the Barclay includes beds from the base of the Burlingame to the top of the Elmont ("Emporia"). †Barclay limestone 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 51.

1915, Tarkio limestone, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 34. This name was erroneously used for beds in northwestern Missouri that were regarded as equivalent to the Burlingame.

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Publ., vol. 9, p. 14. †Nemaha formation 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 76. Uses the term "Nemaha beds" for strata from base of Burlingame limestone to top of Tarkio limestone, but (p. 71) states that "the name Nemaha formation is dropped provisionally." †Nemaha formation 1932, CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Strata from the base of the Burlingame to the top of the Tarkio are called "Nemaha limestone." Moore was not consulted on this usage and has never adopted it.

Type locality, Burlingame, Kan. The limestone makes a fairly prominent escarpment that crosses the west part of Burlingame.

The Burlingame limestone occurs next above the Silver Lake shale and lies beneath shale that is called Soldier Creek. As here defined, the Burlingame limestone comprises the various types of calcareous deposits and interbedded shale beds that occur in the middle portion of the Burlingame cyclothem. Careful examination of the literature and studies in the field make reasonably certain the conclusion that the limestone now called Wakarusa and the Soldier Creek shale, which occurs between the Wakarusa and Burlingame, have been included by various writers in the Burlingame limestone at a number of places. This applies to descriptions of outcrops throughout much of central and southern Kansas where the Burlingame and Wakarusa are relatively close together and form what. is essentially a single escarpment. Good reasons for restricting application of the term Burlingame to the lower of these two limestones lie in their persistent lithologic and faunal differences, but especially in the clearly defined evidence that they belong to different sedimentary cycles. Hall's original description of the Burlingame limestone seems to apply to the formation as here recognized, that is, without inclusion of shale and limestone that are now classed as Soldier Creek and Wakarusa, respectively. Apparently Hall did not see these beds above the brown Burlingame limestone "8 feet thick just west of Burlingame," but in any case it is believed that use of Burlingame should be restricted to beds below the Soldier Creek shale.

Prosser's [Prosser, C. S., Jour. Geol., vol. 3, p. 688, 1895] original definition of the "Wabaunsee formation" placed the base of this unit, now classed as a group, at the "Osage coal" [Nodaway (?)] but Haworth [Haworth, E., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 3, p. 94, 1898] later redefined this boundary, placing it at the base of the Burlingame limestone. The only apparent reason for this change is the topographic prominence of the Burlingame escarpment which makes it conveniently traceable across the state. This relationship to the long adopted definition of Wabaunsee has given to the Burlingame somewhat more prominence than it deserves. The distinctness of topographic expression just mentioned is quite as much due to the presence of resistant Wakarusa beds a little above the Burlingame, as it is to thickness and resistance of the Burlingame limestone. When this is noted, the Burlingame becomes neither more nor less important as a stratigraphic marker than other limestones in the Wabaunsee group.

The Burlingame limestone is perhaps chiefly distinguished by its strongly brown color and thick bedding, as seen in most outcrops. The rock is hard, medium-to fine-grained, and is commonly rather unfossiliferous. Many exposures show a peculiar mottled color and apparently brecciated structure, with irregularly shaped fragments of dense gray or light brownish limestone in a matrix that becomes very dark-brown on weathering. This type of rock is generally somewhat porous, and it may contain numerous fine calcite veins and other markings. Some beds of the Burlingame are light-gray and rich in fossils, but the color of the weathered rock is brown.

Different kinds of limestone and different assemblages of fossils, which are recognizable as representatives of certain parts of the sedimentary cycle, are seen in the Burlingame formation, but the development of these various phases is very unequal from place to place along the outcrop. At the base of the formation locally is limestone that contains abundant pelecypods and a few brachiopods such as Derbya and Juresania but no fusulinids. This clearly represents the transgressive molluscan phase (No. .3) of the cyclothem. A few inches of shale overlies the molluscan limestone, or limestone with fusulinids occurs next without a shale parting. The fusulinids of the Burlingame are mostly small and may easily be overlooked. There are many outcrops of Burlingame, however, that lack fusulinid-bearing beds. A very important element of the formation as observed in most places is the limestone classed as the regressive, algal-molluscan (No. .7) phase of the cyclothem. This includes the massive apparently brecciated rock at many outcrops, beds that contain abundant Osagia and other algal material, thin-bedded, platy, very dense limestone that is unfossiliferous, molluscan limestone with well preserved fossils, and locally conglomeratic limestone. A number of gastropods are found in this part of the Burlingame. In northern Kansas there is a remarkable development of algal limestone of two or three sorts at this horizon. One of these consists of beds and local "reefs" of sponge-like bodies, subspherical or irregular in shape, and an inch to 4 or 5 inches in diameter. These bodies were interpreted by Beede as sponges and he applied to them the name Somphospongia. They are believed to be algal, however,

The thickness of the Burlingame limestone ranges from about 4 to 16 feet, the average being about 8 feet. The formation has been mapped from southern Nebraska across Kansas and has been identified 40 miles or more south of the Kansas-Oklahoma line.

SOLDIER CREEK SHALE (Beede, 1898), Condra, 1927

1898, Soldier Creek shale, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 30. Applies name to shale "40 feet or less thick" above the "Stanton" [Burlingame] limestone and beneath the Wakarusa limestone.

1898, Stanton limestone (part), BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 30. As explained below (Condra, 1927) the shale now called Soldier Creek comprises the middle portion of Beede's "Stanton" [Burlingame] limestone.

1902, †Barclay limestone (part), ADAMS, G. I., in Beede, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 175. †Barclay limestone 1903, ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 51. Same (?). †Barclay limestone 1905, SMITH, A. J., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 19, p. 150. Same.

1908, Burlingame limestone (part ?), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 8, p. 112. Burlingame limestone 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 106. Burlingame limestone 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 48. Burlingame limestone 1929, BASS, N. W., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 12, p. 41.

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A. (See under Burlingame limestone, above.)

1927, *Soldier Creek shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 77. Applies Beede's name to shale between Burlingame and "Wakarusa" limestones and classes it as a member of the Humphrey shale. It appears from studies of Beede's sections that the limestone called Wakarusa by Condra is included in Beede's "Stanton" [Burlingame] and that the original application of Wakarusa was to the limestone that has subsequently been called lower Emporia by most Writers. Because the beds called Wakarusa by Condra belong to a sedimentary cycle that is distinct from that of the Burlingame limestone, it is desirable to differentiate them from Burlingame, and because of consistent use of Wakarusa in this sense in describing many sections in recent literature, it is deemed advisable to follow Condra's unintentional transposition of stratigraphic terms. The name Soldier Creek shale, therefore, will be applied as by Condra to the next lower shale unit than that originally designated by this term. The sequence of the units is the same as given by Beede, but the application is modified.

1927, †Humphrey shale (Smith, 1905) (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 71. Classes Soldier Creek shale as the lowest member of Humphrey shale, but the writer concludes that the type Humphrey does not include Condra's Soldier Creek shale.

Type locality, not designated but presumably it is on "Big and Little Soldier creeks about 3 miles from Silver Lake," Shawnee County, Kansas.

The Soldier Creek shale overlies the Burlingame limestone and underlies the Wakarusa limestone. As noted in connection with references to the literature given above, it has seemed desirable to follow usage rather than priority in determining the present application of the term Soldier Creek. Beede introduced the name for the shale between the "Stanton" [Burlingame] and Wakarusa limestones, a definition which as regards stratigraphic sequence is here retained. Beede's original Wakarusa limestone, however, is identified as the unit here called Reading limestone,. and the Wakarusa limestone as now defined by usage, mainly by Condra, was included in the upper part of Beede's "Stanton" [Burlingame] limestone. It is apparent, therefore, that application of Soldier Creek is transferred to a shale that lies below that originally signified.

The Soldier Creek shale is a bluish-gray to bluish, clayey to sandy or silty micaceous stratigraphic unit that locally contains a little sandstone. Locally, also, a thin coal bed occurs in the upper part of the shale, but in most places this is absent. Fossils are not common. In a few places there are marine invertebrates at the top of the shale just below the Wakarusa limestone. The Soldier Creek is 15 to 25 feet thick in southern Nebraska and part of northern Kansas, but near Kansas river and southward for many miles it is less than 6 feet thick. In southern Kansas this shale is 12 to 18 feet in thickness. The minimum observed thickness is about 2 feet. That the Soldier Creek shale may properly be differentiated as a formational unit according to principles applied in dividing the strata of the Wabaunsee group is indicated by the fact that the Burlingame and Wakarusa limestones belong to entirely separate cyclothems and by the persistence of the shale from southern Nebraska to northern Oklahoma.

WAKARUSA LIMESTONE (Beede, 1898), Condra, 1927

1898, Wakarusa limestone, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 30. "A limestone 2 to 4 feet in thickness, very fossiliferous and a fine building stone" which is "40 feet or less" above the "Stanton" [Burlingame} limestone. This limestone is identified in the type locality as equivalent to the lower Emporia limestone of common usage.

1898, Stanton limestone (part), BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol, 15; p. 30. The limestone now called Wakarusa comprises the upper part of. Beede's "Stanton" [Burlingame] limestone.

1902, †Barclay limestone (part), ADAMS, G.I., etc. (See under Soldier Creek shale.)

1908, Burlingame limestone (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., etc. (See under Soldier Creek shale.)

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A. (See under Burlingame limestone, above.).

1915, †Fargo limestone, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Publ., vol. 9, p. 14. Classed as a member of the tNemaha formation.

1927, *Wakarusa limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 66. Applies name to limestone beds about 6 feet thick that occur about 25 feet above the Burlingame limestone in Nebraska. This usage seems to agree with Beede's original definition but when the limestone called Wakarusa by Condra is traced to southern Shawnee County, Kansas, it is found to comprise the upper member of Beede's "Stanton" limestone. It is desirable to differentiate this unit from the Burlingame limestone, and because Condra's use of Wakarusa is the only one since the original publication and because this name has been extensively employed recently with the application given by Condra, it is here retained with Condra's definition. This is a case where usage desirably takes precedence over priority of definition.

1927, Humphrey shale (SMITH, 1905) (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 71. Condra classes the Wakarusa limestone as the middle member of the Humphrey shale, but the writer concludes that the type Humphrey does not include Condra's Wakarusa limestone.

Type locality. The Wakarusa limestone of Beede was "named from the fine exposure of this rock on Wakarusa Creek immediately south of Auburn." The beds called Wakarusa by Condra and here designated by this name are present along Wakarusa Creek south of Auburn, but much better exposures are to be found on Kansas highway 10 west of Topeka in sec. 35, T. 11 S., R. 13 E., and along the creek north of the highway near this place.

The Wakarusa limestone comprises the first resistant unit; above the Burlingame limestone. The shale beneath it is called Soldier Creek and that above it is the Auburn. The most persistent and distinctive element in the Wakarusa formation is a thick-bedded or massive dark bluish hard limestone that contains large fusulinids, Ottonosia, a robust Dictyoclostus, crinoid stem fragments, Fistulipora, and a varied assemblage of other brachiopods, bryozoans, and some additional groups of invertebrates. The limestone is vertically jointed as seen in most places. On weathering the Wakarusa becomes mottled gray and light-brown or the rock is changed entirely to brown. Both lithologic and faunal characters serve readily to distinguish the Wakarusa limestone from the underlying Burlingame and it can be differentiated from somewhat similar lithologic phases of the Reading and Elmont limestones by observation of stratigraphic position and faunal characters. The limestone just described represents the culminating or fusulinid phase of the Wakarusa cyclothem. Locally a molluscan limestone, or a limestone containing an assemblage of mollusks and brachiopods, occurs below the fusulinid-bearing limestone. Above this latter rock, also, there are algal-molluscan or fine-granular unfossiliferous sandy limestones that represent phase No. .7 of the ideal cyclothem. Where these additional limestone units are found the Wakarusa limestone includes two or more limestone beds and the shale that occurs between them. The thickness of the Wakarusa limestone ranges from about 2 feet to about 18 feet, the latter thickness including somewhat more shale than limestone. The formation is traceable from Nebraska into northern Oklahoma.

The so-called "Cryptozoon limestone" of Osage County, Oklahoma, which is a widely recognized datum in this part of the Pennsylvanian column in northern Oklahoma, is the fusulinid-bearing phase of the Wakarusa limestone.

AUBURN SHALE (Beede, 1898), Condra, 1927

1898, Auburn shale, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 30. Applies name to shale "8 to 20 feet in thickness" between Wakarusa limestone below and Elmont limestone above. Since the Wakarusa of Beede is identified as equivalent to the lower Emporia and the Elmont to the upper Emporia of authors, the term Auburn was originally applied to the middle shale member of the Emporia limestone.

1898, Soldier Creek shale, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 30. Present application of Auburn shale is synonymous with Beede's original Soldier Creek shale.

1902, †Barclay limestone (part), ADAMS, G. I., in Beede, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 175. Beede, using Adams' manuscript name, included under this term the beds from the base of the Burlingame to the top of the Elmont [upper Emporia].

1903, †Olpe shale (part), ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 52. This unit includes beds from the top of the †Barclay [Burlingame and Wakarusa] to the base of the Emporia.

1905, †Humphrey shale (part), SMITH, A. J., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 19, p. 150. Includes strata from the top of the †Barclay [Burlingame and Wakarusa] to the base of the Reading [lower Emporia]. †Humphrey shale 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 71. Employs this term for beds between the Burlingame and Emporia limestones. †Humphrey shale 1929, BASS, N. W., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 12, p. 41. Same.

1908, Willard shale (Beede, 1898) (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 113. Erroneously applies this name to the beds between Burlingame [includes Wakarusa in part] and Emporia. Willard shale 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 106. Same. Willard shale 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 48. Same.

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A. (See under Burlingame limestone, above.) .

1927, *Auburn shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull.. 1, p. 78. Applies name to shale 10 to 25 feet thick between the Wakarusa and Emporia as identified by him. As indicated in the discussion of Wakarusa limestone, Condra has used this term for a lower bed than Beede's Wakarusa which corresponds to the lower member of Condra's Emporia. Therefore, application of the name Auburn shale is transposed to a lower unit that appears to be the same as Beede's original Soldier Creek shale. Because greater importance is attached to usage in recent literature than to the claims of priority of definition in the case of a term that had been unused except in the original rather obscure paper, we shall follow Condra's placement of the Auburn shale.

Type locality, not designated, but undoubtedly it is in the vicinity of Auburn, Shawnee County, Kansas. Good exposures of this shale occur along Wakarusa Creek (near NE. cor. sec. 26, T. 13 S., R. 14 E., southwest of Auburn.

The Auburn shale includes the strata between the top of the Wakarusa limestone, below, and the base of the Reading limestone, above. It is a more complex unit than most of the shale formations of the Wabaunsee group, for it includes not only the terminal clastic portion of the Wakarusa cyclothem and the initial clastic part of the Reading cyclothem, but in addition there are several identifiable phases of what appears to be a partially developed cyclothem belonging between the Wakarusa and Reading cyclothems. This intermediate incomplete cyclothem is named Auburn. Because of the complex nature of the Auburn shale; it is desirable to describe briefly the various recognized subdivisions. It should be borne in mind that variations along the strike of the shale make this attempt to generalize the description according to zones somewhat difficult.

The lowermost part of the Auburn, comprising the terminal part of the Wakarusa cyclothem, consists of yellowish-brown or gray sandy shale, mostly lacking in fossils. The upper limit of this zone is not clearly defined in most places, and where a definite sandstone or red zone that may be interpreted as marking the base of the Auburn cyclothem is absent, the sandy and silty beds up to the lower coal horizon of the Auburn shale may be grouped together.

The lower part of a cyclothem that belongs above the Wakarusa and that is distinct from the Reading cyclothem is clearly marked in many places by sandstone or red shale and locally by coal and underclay in the lower part of the Auburn shale. These nonmarine deposits are overlain by shale and thin even-textured fine-grained blue limestone beds that contain marine pelecypods and commonly the brachiopod Linoproductus. Other brachiopods, bryozoans and crinoid remains are fairly abundant in the shale at some exposures. A blocky, somewhat impure limestone about 0.4 to 0.5 feet thick, with very even top and bottom, is identified in this zone entirely across Kansas and in northern Oklahoma. It is underlain by a thin platy limestone that carries plant fragments and some pelecypods. The persistence and uniformity of characters of these thin layers for scores of miles along the outcrop is very striking and the horizon is a very useful stratigraphic marker.

No fusulinid-bearing limestone beds have been observed in the Auburn cyclothem but at least in Shawnee County there is a locally prominent No. .7 limestone phase with abundant molluscan and algal fossil remains. Near Kansas river this limestone is a resistant scarp-making limestone, 5 feet thick. It is coquinoid and in part conglomeratic and cross-bedded, as is the habit of many of the No. .7 phases of the cyclothem. Very dark, nearly black clay shale just beneath this limestone in some outcrops contains an interesting fauna of well preserved pectinoid and other pelecypods and a profusion of large ostracodes.

The upper part of the Auburn shale includes the terminal portion of the Auburn cyclothem, and the initial portion of the Reading cyclothem. The base of the latter cyclothem is clearly marked throughout southern Kansas by a persistent platy sandstone that can be recognized easily in numerous outcrops. This sandstone is 1 to 3 feet thick in most places but in northern Oklahoma it becomes thicker and somewhat less thin-bedded. The overlying shale contains remains of mollusks, chiefly pelecypods and some brachiopods, but in most places it is not very fossiliferous. A thin coal horizon belongs at the base of this zone.

The thickness of the Auburn shale ranges from about 20 to 70 feet. The formation is identified in Nebraska and is continuous southward across Kansas into Oklahoma.

READING LIMESTONE, Smith, 1905

1896, †Emporia limestone (part), KIRK, M. Z., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 1, p. 80. It is impossible to determine to which of three or more different limestones exposed near Emporia Kirk intended to apply this name. Judging from localities cited by him it appears that he considered as identical, beds that are actually 75 feet or more apart stratigraphically. †Emporia limestone 1902, PROSSER, C. S., Jour. Geol., vol. 10, p. 706. Includes bed here called Reading and a higher 2-foot blue limestone separated by 4 feet of shale. †Emporia limestone 1908, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 113. Same. †Emporia limestone 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 106. †Emporia limestone 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 48. Same. †Emporia limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 65. Same. †Emporia limestone 1929, BASS, N. W., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 12, p.42.

1903, Emporia Blue limestone (part), SMITH, A. J., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 18, p. 100.

1903, †Olpe shale (part), ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211. This name was employed for beds between the top of the †Barclay (Wakarusa) limestone and the "Emporia limestone," the latter indicating beds more than 60 feet above. the Reading [= lower Emporia of recent common usage].

1905, *Reading limestone, SMITH, A. J., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 19, p. 150. Smith designated as "Reading blue limestone" the prominent dense blue bed that forms the lower member of the Emporia limestone as commonly recognized. Subject only to considerations of priority, Reading is a valid stratigraphic name, but the descriptive term "blue" is to be omitted (see Stratigraphic Code, Geol. Soc. Am., Bull., vol. 44, p. 434, art. 7i, 1933). Wakarusa limestone (Beede, 1898) has priority over Reading and if we are correct in concluding that Beede's term was applied to the same unit as later called Reading, the proper designation for this limestone is Wakarusa. Application of the latter term to another unit by Condra, however, and the desirability of retaining this usage as applied to many sections in recent papers, lead us to selection of Smith's term as the next one that is available.

1915, †Preston limestone (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Fubl., vol. 9, p. 16.

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A. (See under Burlingame limestone, above.)

Type locality, in the vicinity of Reading, Lyon County, Kansas. Excellent exposures in roadcut near NW. cor. sec. 33, T. 17 S., R. 13 E., one mile west and one mile north of Reading.

The Reading limestone includes one to three beds of limestone and the shale between these beds. The formation rests on the Auburn shale and is followed by the Harveyville shale. The Reading comprises the lower part of the beds that previously have been called Emporia limestone, or in northern Oklahoma, the Stonebreaker limestone. The term Emporia has been so variously applied to strata in the middle part of the Wabaunsee group that much confusion is encountered in the literature. Condra [Condra, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 59-76, 1927] discusses the subject of nomenclature of these beds and on the grounds of usage, primarily, applies the name Emporia to beds that are here termed Reading, Harveyville and Elmont, collectively. This accords with previous practice of the Kansas Geological Survey. Since in most sections, but not all, the Reading and Elmont limestones are closely associated, commonly forming a single escarpment, it may appear to some that it is undesirable to abandon Emporia as a stratigraphic term. Argument can be advanced that because the Harveyville shale is thin and accordingly the Reading and Elmont are close together, these units should be assigned rank as members of the Emporia formation. This is not done because it is perfectly clear that the Reading and Elmont represent different sedimentation cycles and because other limestone formations of the Wabaunsee group are made up of the calcareous phases of single cyclothems.

The most persistent subdivision of the Reading limestone is the fusulinid-bearing member which consists of one to three or four layers of rather dark-blue, fine-grained, dense, hard limestone that show prominent vertical joints. The weathered rock is light bluish-gray mottled or blotched with light brownish or lemon-yellow areas. In places the entire thickness of the fusulinid-bearing member is colored yellowish brown. Fossil fragments tend to weather in relief. Fusulinids are abundant in this part of the Reading limestone occurring with or without other types of invertebrates. Locally, the fusulinids are somewhat rare. A limestone bed containing numerous pelecypods and some brachiopods occurs in some outcrops below the fusulinid-bearing limestone. This represents phase No. .3 of the typical Wabaunsee cyclothem and it is the lowermost member of the Reading. Phase No. .7 of the cyclothem is represented in many exposures of the Reading limestone, especially in the southern part of Kansas. In some cases this is found in the upper part of the bed that contains fusulinids, but commonly it is ru distinct bed separated by a few inches to several feet of shale from phase No. .5. The distinguishing feature of this uppermost member is the presence of Osagia or other algal remains accompanied in most instances by some mollusks. Fusulinids are absent. The shale beds that occur between limestones of the Reading formation are blue-gray and clayey to calcareous. In places marine fossils are found in the shales.

The thickness of the Reading limestone ranges from about 1.5 feet to 15 feet. The formation is continuous from southern Nebraska to northern Oklahoma, being represented in the latter region by the lower part of beds classed as the Stone breaker limestone.

HARVEYVILLE SHALE, Moore, 1934

1896, †Emporia limestone (part), KIRK, and authors. (See under Reading limestone.)

1903, †Olpe shale (part), ADAMS. (See under Reading limestone.)

1915, †Preston limestone (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A. (See under Reading limestone.)

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A. (See under Burlingame limestone.)

1934, *Harveyville shale, MOORE, R. C., in stratigraphic section of Pennsylvanian and "Permian" rocks of Kansas river valley, by MOORE, R. C., ELIAS, M. K., and NEWELL, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, issued December. *Harveyville shale 1936, MOORE, R. C., this paper, first formal description.

Type locality, near Harveyville, southeastern Wabaunsee County, Kansas. A good section is seen in sec. 25, T. 15 S., R. 13 E.

The Harveyville shale, which is first defined in this report, includes the beds that occur between the Reading limestone, below, and the Elmont limestone, above. It includes the clastic terminal part of the Reading cyclothem and the clastic and carbonaceous initial phases of the Elmont cyclothem. The shale is mostly bluish or yellowish-brown and clayey, but locally there is sandy shale and thin, platy sandstone. A coal bed occurs locally above the sandstone. Pelecypods and some other invertebrates are found between the coal horizon and the base of the Elmont limestone.

The thickness of the Harveyville shale ranges from less than a foot in a few places to an observed maximum of about 25 feet. The shale is identified at many places from Nebraska to Oklahoma and is undoubtedly continuous across Kansas.

ELMONT LIMESTONE, Beede, 1898

1896, †Emporia limestone (part), KIRK, M. Z., and authors. (See under Reading limestone.)

1898, *Elmont limestone, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 30. A limestone "very fossiliferous, 1 to 2 feet in thickness . . . found on the tops of the hills near Elmont." According to Beede's section this limestone occurs between the Auburn shale below and the Willard shale above. It appears from study of the type sections that the Elmont is equivalent to "upper Emporia" of authors and that the Wakarusa limestone as originally used corresponds to the "lower Emporia."

1903, †Olpe shale (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Reading limestone.)

1915, †Preston limestone (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A. (See under Reading limestone.)

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A; (See under Burlingame limestone.)

Type locality, Elmont, northern Shawnee County, Kansas.

The Elmont limestone comprises the upper part of the Emporia limestone as previously recognized by the Kansas Geological Survey. It lies between the Harveyville shale, just described, and the Willard shale. Exposures in the vicinity of Elmont show a strong development of phase No. .7 of the Elmont cyclothem but the fusulinid-bearing phase (No. .5) is poorly developed or absent. Elsewhere, especially in southern Kansas, the fusulinid limestone is prominent. It is a dense, hard, dark-blue rock, very much like the Reading limestone, but it commonly bears much more closely spaced vertical joints and it is typically a single massive bed that weathers light bluish. In southern Shawnee County the lowest member of the Elmont is a dense, very fine-grained unfossiliferous blue limestone that contains round pebbles of limestone slightly different in color and texture from the matrix. Elsewhere a limestone with mollusks and some brachiopods occurs in this position, or else there is no representative of phase No. .3 of the cyclothem. East of St. George, Pottawatomie County, the No. .3 and No. .5 phases of the Elmont cyclothem are joined to form a massive bed 2 to 4 feet thick that is locally strongly conglomeratic at the base. The upper member of the Elmont, representing phase No. .7, is a blue, fine-grained, fossiliferous or unfossiliferous limestone that ranges in thickness from less than an inch to 6 or 8 feet. Algal remains and mollusks are found commonly. A few miles north of Topeka this phase is represented by about 8 feet of light bluish-gray coquinoid limestone that is massive or shows fairly distinct cross-bedding. This thick development of the No. .7 phase of the cycle is very local.

The thickness of the Elmont limestone ranges from about 1 to 15 feet. The formation is traced from Nebraska across Kansas to northern Oklahoma where it has previously been included as the upper part of the Stonebreaker limestone.

WILLARD SHALE, Beede, 1898

1898, *Willard shale, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 31. This name is applied to the shale, about 55 feet thick, between the Elmont [upper Emporia of authors] and the "Chocolate" [Tarkio] limestones. *Willard shale 1902, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 176. *Willard shale 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 69. Shale between Emporia and Tarkio limestones.

1903, †Olpe shale (part), ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull, 211, p. 52. This unit was defined to include beds between the †Barclay [Burlingame and ?Wakarusa] and "Emporia" limestone, the latter being the "Emporia system" of A. J. Smith (Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 19, p. 150, 1905) which includes Maple Hill to Grandhaven of present classification. The "Emporia" of Adams and Smith thus belongs 60 feet or more above the Emporia as generally defined.

1908, Admire shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Kan. Univ. Geol. Survey, vol. 9, p. 114. Erroneously place the Willard shale below the Emporia limestone and class beds between the Emporia and Americus limestones as Admire shale. Admire shale 1917, MOORE, R. C., AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 106. Same. Admire shale 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 6, pt. 2, p. 48. Same.

1908, Not Willard shale, HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J., Survey, vol. 9, p. 113. See Auburn shale. Kan. Univ. Geol. Not Willard shale 1917, MOORE, R. C. AND HAYNES, W. P., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull. 3, p. 106. Same. Not Willard shale 1920, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Bull 6, pt. 2, p. 48. Same.

1915, †Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A. (See under Burlingame limestone.)

Type locality, Willard, western Shawnee County, Kansas.

The Willard shale is defined to include the beds lying between the top of the Elmont limestone, below, and the base of the Tarkio limestone, above. South of the point in Lyon County where the Tarkio limestone disappears, the Willard is overlain by the Pierson Point shale and the combined shale unit is designated as the Willard-Pierson Point shale. South of Emporia the Maple Hill limestone likewise disappears, so that there is a continuous shale and sandstone section from the base of the Willard to the top of the Table Creek shale. This combination of shales that are distinct in the north is called Willard-Table Creek shale in southern Kansas.

The Willard shale includes the upper part of the Elmont cyclothem and the lower part of the Tarkio cyclothem. The boundary between these cyclothems is marked in some sections by the contact between clayey or sandy shale in the lower part of the Willard and massive light-tan sandstone in the upper part. The sandstone is prominent at many places in northern Kansas and southern Nebraska but it thins and disappears toward the south. This is a departure from the general rule that sandy deposits become more prominent southward and that clastic units are thicker in the south than in the north. It is worthy of note that the thickness of the Willard-Table Creek shale in southern Kansas, about five feet, is only one fourth as thick as the Willard shale in parts of northern Kansas and less than one sixth the combined thickness of Willard, Tarkio, Pierson Point, Maple Hill and Table Creek in northern Kansas. The color of the Willard shale is mostly dark bluish and brown. Fossils are not common.

The thickness of the Willard shale ranges from about 30 to 60 feet in northern Kansas and southern Nebraska, maximum thickness being observed near Kansas river.

TARKIO LIMESTONE (Calvin, 1900), Condra and Bengston, 1915

1867, †Chocolate limestone, SWALLOW, G. C., Am. Ass'n Adv. Sci., Proc., vol. 15, p. 67. Applied name to "coarse, rough, porous gray and chocolate limestone, full of a very large, ventricose Fusulina" on Mill Creek, eastern Wabaunsee County and eastward. This is clearly the rock now called Tarkio limestone. The term "Chocolate limestone" is not available because it is not derived from a geographic name. 1868, SWALLOW, G. C., Kan. Geol. Survey, Prelim. Rept., p. 19. †Chocolate limestone 1898, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 27.

1900, Not Tarkio limestone, CALVIN, S., Iowa Geol. Survey, vol. 11, p. 397. Applied name to rocks on Tarkio Creek, north of Coin, Page County, Iowa. G. E. Condra, who has studied carefully the type exposures of the Tarkio concludes (1934) that the strata named Tarkio by Calvin are unquestionably equivalent to beds that have been called Emporia in Kansas.

1908, Admire shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J. (See under Willard shale.)

1915, Not Tarkio limestone, HINDS, H., AND GREENE, F. C., Mo. Bur. Geol. and Mines, (2), vol. 13, p. 34. Erroneously designate the Burlingame limestone by this name.

1915, *Tarkio limestone, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Publ., vol. 9, p. 8. Apply this name to the topmost limestone of the "Nemaha formation." The next lower limestone is the †Preston [Reading-Elmont]. *Tarkio limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 61-73, 79. Further defines and describes relations of limestone now called Tarkio. *Tarkio limestone 1932, CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Shows Tarkio limestone as now generally defined, between Willard and Pierson Point shales. Classed as a member of the "Nemaha limestone," although Moore was not consulted and has never accepted use of this term.

1915, Nemaha formation (part), CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A. (See under Burlingame limestone.)

Type locality. Since it appears that usage of the past 20 years has led to designation by the name Tarkio of a limestone that is not recognized at the locality on Tarkio Creek, north of Coin, Iowa, and since it is desirable to continue to use Tarkio in its currently understood sense, the exposures of the Tarkio on Mill Creek, southwest of Maplehill, Kansas, which were noted by Swallow in 1867 under the designation of "Chocolate limestone," may appropriately be chosen as a new "type locality." This procedure may at first seem anomalous, but it is theoretically and practically in accord with principles of good stratigraphy.

The Tarkio limestone is a distinctive formation that occurs next above the Willard shale and beneath the Pierson Point shale. As indicated by the name used by Swallow in 1867, "Chocolate limestone," the rock typically weathers to a very strong brown color, which, however, is somewhat more yellow in hue than chocolate. The limestone is moderately hard and in most outcrops appears as a single massive bed. It breaks down in irregularly shaped shelly slabs. Except locally the thickness and resistance of the formation are sufficient to produce a well defined escarpment. Aside from lithologic features, the most prominent character of the Tarkio limestone is the presence almost everywhere of extremely abundant large ventricose fusulinids (Triticites ventricosus) which weather in relief, and because of their nearly white color, appear in strong contrast to the brown matrix. This feature is so striking and so unlike most other limestones in this part of the section that it is possible to identify exposures of Tarkio very easily. Some outcrops of this limestone show a gray color and these resemble in appearance certain exposures of the Dover limestone which also contains abundant large fusulinids. Observation of stratigraphic position establishes the identity of the formation in cases where there is any possible question on basis of other characters. Above the fusulinid-bearing limestone there is present in some outcrops a few inches to 4 or 5 feet of algal limestone that lacks fusulinids but contains mollusks and some brachiopods. This represents phase No. .7 of the cyclothem. It is not a persistent unit. Mollusk-bearing beds without fusulinids, corresponding to phase No. .3 of the cyclothem, are also seen locally at the base of the Tarkio.

The Tarkio limestone ranges in thickness from less than a foot in a few places to a maximum of about 10 feet, as seen in the vicinity of Maplehill in eastern Wabaunsee County, Kansas. The formation is traced from Nebraska southward to northern Lyon County, Kansas, but no outcrops identifiable as Tarkio have been found farther south.

Throughout the region in which it is developed, the Tarkio limestone is a very valuable horizon marker that is not easily confused with any other stratigraphic unit. Nevertheless, there has been confusion in the literature concerning it. Hinds and Greene (1915) called the Burlingame limestone of northwestern Missouri Tarkio. Condra and Bengston (1915) identified the beds now called Tarkio in Nebraska and Kansas with Calvin's Tarkio limestone in Iowa and thus extended use of the term into these states. It appears that the limestone of Nebraska and Kansas called Tarkio by Condra and Bengston and subsequently by Condra and various others had not previously been differentiated by any name, although it was miscorrelated by some geologists with other units. The latest conclusions of Condra, based on restudy of the Iowa type exposures and additional knowledge concerning Nebraska formations, are that the Tarkio limestone of Calvin is not the same as that of Condra and Bengston and of later authors. The type Tarkio is believed to be equivalent to beds here called Reading and Elmont, or at least to part of these units that were formerly grouped under the name Emporia limestone. It seems obviously unwise in this case to attempt to rearrange nomenclature on the basis of priority alone, especially since the Tarkio type locality as indicated by Calvin appears ill suited to characterization either of the Reading or Elmont limestones, which on grounds of cyclic development are to be recognized separately. Also, usage has firmly established application of Tarkio to the distinctive limestone with large fusulinids that occurs next above the Elmont limestone, and if this usage should not be continued the limestone above the Elmont would have no name. We follow the principle of usage in accepting Tarkio for the limestone designated by Condra and Bengston, and because this limestone is not recorded on Tarkio Creek, in Iowa, it seems desirable to indicate an alternative locality where the bed now called Tarkio is typically shown. This is on Mill Creek, southwest of Maplehill, Kan.

PIERSON POINT SHALE, Condra, 1927

1908, Admire shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J. (For references see under Willard shale.)

1927, †McKissick Grove shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 74, 80. Includes beds from top of Tarkio to base of Brownville.

1927, *Pierson Point shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 80. Includes beds between the Tarkio and Maple Hill limestones. Classed as a subdivision of the McKissick Grove shale member of the Wabaunsee formation. *Pierson Point shale 1932, MOORE, R. C., AND CONDRA, G. E., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Con f., classification chart.

1932, †McKissick shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Corresponds to McKissick Grove shale as defined above. This classification and nomenclature has never been accepted by Moore, however.

Type locality, Pierson Point, on Missouri river a few miles southeast of Falls City, Neb.

The Pierson Point shale comprises beds lying between the Tarkio and Maple Hill limestones. It consists of bluish clay shale and yellowish-brown sandy, micaceous shale, the total thickness ranging from about 6 to 25 feet. Locally in the north the upper portion is nearly black. A persistent zone of shaly to thin-bedded tan or buff sandstone, 1 to 4 feet thick, appears in the upper middle part of the Pierson Point shale in Kansas. The sandstone marks the initial phase of the Maple Hill cyclothem. Above the sandstone, near the top of the shale, is a coal bed that in places attains a thickness of nearly a foot. It is observed at most outcrops between the Kansas and Cottonwood rivers in Kansas. Marine fossils, consisting of pelecypods, brachiopods and bryozoans chiefly, occur above the coal but other parts of the Pierson Point shale are mostly unfossiliferous. Some of the historically famous Nebraska City fossils, described in early writings by Geinitz and by Meek, come from the Pierson Point shale.

The Pierson Point shale is traced some distance northward from its type locality in Nebraska and extends continuously southward to Lyon County, Kansas. South of the point where the Tarkio limestone disappears the Pierson Point rests directly on the Willard shale and because it is not practicable to separate these contiguous, lithologically similar units, the shale between the Elmont and Maple Hill limestones, about 90 feet thick near Emporia, is termed Willard-Pierson Point shale. South of Emporia where the Maple Hill limestone also disappears there is a continuous shale section from the Elmont limestone to the Dover limestone. This shale may be called Willard-Table Creek shale. It contains some sandstone beds, one of which is probably a continuation of the sandy zone, in the Pierson Point shale, but it is not possible to differentiate the Pierson Point shale. The coal bed of the upper Pierson Point has not been observed south of northern Lyon County.

MAPLE HILL LIMESTONE, Condra, 1927

1903, †Emporia limestone (part, ADAMS, G.I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 52. Includes beds identified as equivalent to Maple Hill to Grandhaven, inclusive, in present classification.

1908, Admire shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J. (For references see under Willard shale.)

1927, †McKissick Grove shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 74, 80. Includes beds from top of Tarkio to base of Brownville.

1927, *Maple Hill limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 80. Classed as subdivision of the McKissick Grove shale. *Maple Hill limestone 1932, MOORE, R. C., AND CONDRA, G. E., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., Classification chart.

1932, †McKissick shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O. (See under Pierson Point shale.)

Type locality, on Mill Creek, south of Maplehill, eastern Wabaunsee County, Kansas.

The Maple Hill limestone consists in most places of a single bed of bluish-gray, somewhat sandy limestone, 1 to 4 feet thick. It is fairly hard and commonly forms a bench a little above the escarpment of the Tarkio limestone. The rock is intersected by two or more systems, of rather widely spaced vertical joints and in some places there are large rectangular or rhomb-shaped blocks along the outcrop. The joints are locally much enlarged by solution. On weathering the Maple Hill limestone commonly appears reddish-brown but in some places it is rather a brownish-gray. Fossils are rare in some outcrops of the Maple Hill, but in others they are abundant. Small slender fusulinids are very common in the southern part of the outcrop area but not in the north. Crinoid stem fragments, several kinds of brachiopods and bryozoans and a few pelecypods and gastropods may be found at most exposures of this limestone.

The Maple Hill limestone extends from Emporia northward into Nebraska. Because the Pierson Point shale is much thinner, on the average, than the Table Creek shale, the outcrop of the Maple Hill

is closer to that of the Tarkio than to the Dover escarpment. At Emporia, however, the Maple Hill limestone is less than 5 feet below the Dover limestone, and in Lyon County these limestones form a single escarpment. The Maple Hill bed is readily distinguished by lithologic and faunal characters from the Tarkio and Dover limestones.

TABLE CREEK SHALE, Condra, 1927

1903, †Emporia limestone (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Maple Hill limestone.)

1908, Admire shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J. (For references see under Willard shale.)

1927, †McKissick Grove shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull, 1, pp. 74, 80. Includes beds from top of Tarkio to base of Brownville.

1927, *Table Creek shale, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 80. Includes beds between the Maple Hill and Dover limestones. Classed as subdivision of the McKissick Grove shale. *Table Creek shale 1932, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 96.

1932, †McKissick shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O. (See under Pierson Point shale.)

Type locality, Table Creek at Nebraska City, Neb.

The Table Creek shale includes the strata that occur between the Maple Hill and Dover limestones. The shale is largely bluish-gray in color, and clayey to sandy in character. In many places the upper part of the Table Creek consists of tan or buff sandstone which is shaly, platy or fairly massive. This sandstone is the basal phase of the Dover cyclothem. The underlying shale contains marine fossils in many places and represents the terminal part of the Maple Hill cyclothem. This horizon furnished part of the famous Nebraska City fossil collections described by Geinitz in 1866 and by Meek in 1872. The fauna is by no means so varied or the specimens so abundant as in many other Pennsylvanian formations of Nebraska and Kansas. Near the top of the Table Creek shale is a widely persistent thin coal bed that is locally worked in Missouri and Iowa. It is known as the Nyman coal. The coal extends almost uninterruptedly across southeastern Nebraska and northern Kansas and is recognized locally in southern Kansas.

The Table Creek shale ranges in thickness from about 25 feet in southern Nebraska to 50 feet or more in Wabaunsee County, Kansas. Southward from this region the thickness gradually diminishes until at Emporia less than 5 feet of shale separates the Maple Hill and Dover limestones. South of Emporia the Table Creek is not separable from underlying shale that represents the Pierson Point and Willard shales of areas to the north. This combined shale section which is about 100 feet thick near Emporia thins southward to about 15 feet in parts of Chautauqua County, Kansas.

DOVER LIMESTONE, Beede, 1898

1898, *Dover limestone, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Acad. Sci., Trans., vol. 15, p. 31. Name applied to limestone about 4 feet thick near Dover, Shawnee County, Kansas, and to southwest. Occurs between "Dover shale and sandstone," about 85 feet thick, below, and "Rossville shale and sandstone," above. *Dover limestone 1902, BEEDE, J. W., Kan. Univ. Sci. Bull., vol. 1, p. 177. Same. Occurs about 85 feet above the "Chocolate [Tarkio] limestone." *Dover limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 80. Classes as subdivision of †McKissick Grove shale. 1932, MOORE, R. C., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., p. 94.

1903, †Emporia limestone (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Maple Hill limestone.)

1908, Admire shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J. (For references see under Willard shale.)

1927, †McKissick Grove shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 74, 80. Includes beds between top of Tarkio and base of Brownville.

1932, †McKissick shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O. (See under Pierson Point shale.)

Type locality, in vicinity of Dover, Shawnee County, Kansas.

The Dover limestone is an important although thin formation that is traced from Oklahoma across Kansas and southern Nebraska into Iowa. As observed at the type locality, a few miles southwest of Topeka, and at many other places in northern Kansas and Nebraska, the Dover most closely resembles the Tarkio limestone, perhaps mainly because both of these units contain an abundance of very large fusulinids. Very unlike the rich-brown color of the weathered Tarkio, however, the weathered Dover limestone is lightgray, and it is generally much softer than the Tarkio. Numerous large Cryptozoon growths, which are rare or absent in the Tarkio, are seen in most outcrops of the Dover. In much of northern Kansas only the fusulinid-bearing limestone is present, but south of Kansas River algal bed with abundant Osagia, and in places what appear to be other types of algal growths, occurs above the fusulinid bed. Extending southward from Greenwood County there is a dense, fine-grained blue limestone carrying a mixed fauna of mollusks, brachiopods and bryozoans, that appears a few feet below the fusulinid-bearing bed. This represents phase No. .3 of the Dover cyclothem, the fusulinid bed being phase No. .5 and the algal bed phase No. .7. The blue bed becomes thicker and harder southward, while the phase No. .5 bed decreases in thickness and the fusulinids disappear, although Cryptozoon growths are still abundant. The algal bed is very persistent and prominent in the southern area. The changes in the composition of the Dover limestone along the outcrop have been determined by detailed field work that includes mapping and the careful study of many sections.

The Dover limestone is about 2 to 4 feet thick in northern Kansas and Nebraska, but where the three limestone members are present in southern Kansas the formation is about 15 to 20 feet thick.

DRY SHALE, Moore, 1934

1903, †Emporia limestone (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Maple Hill limestone.)

1908, Admire shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNm'T, J. (For references see under Willard shale.)

1934, *Dry shale, MOORE, R. C., in stratigraphic section of Pennsylvanian and "Permian" rocks of Kansas river valley, by Moore, R. C., Elias, M. K., and Newell, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, issued December. *Dry shale, 1936, MOORE, R. C., this paper. Defined to include beds between the Dover limestone, below, and the Grandhaven limestone, above.

Type locality, Dry Creek, southwest of Emporia, Kan., in sec. 5, T. 20 S., R. 11 E.

The term Dry shale is here applied to shaly beds, 5 to 20 feet or more thick, that separate the Dover limestone from the next higher limestone, which is called Grandhaven. The shale is bluish-gray and clayey for the most part, but sandy beds appear in places. A thin coal bed occurs near the top of the Dry shale in southern Kansas, the coal and sandy beds belonging to the Grandhaven cyclothem. The shale between the top of the coal and the base of the Grandhaven limestone is locally rich in marine fossils, calcareous brachiopods and bryozoans being dominant.

The Dry shale is a well defined stratigraphic unit from Shawnee County, Kansas, southward to the Oklahoma line, but northward it coalesces with the Friedrich shale above the Grandhaven limestone, for the Grandhaven disappears. It is possible--indeed, there is some explicit indication--that the Grandhaven beds grade laterally northward into shale, but it is not practicable to subdivide the shale section between the Dover and Jim Creek limestones. This may be designated, accordingly, as the Dry-Friedrich shale.

GRANDHAVEN LIMESTONE, Moore, 1935

1903, †Emporia limestone (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Maple Hill limestone.)

1908, Admire shale (part), HAWORTH, E., AND BENNETT, J. (For references see under Willard shale.)

1934, *Grandhaven limestone, MOORE, R. C., in stratigraphic section of Pennsylvanian and "Permian" rocks of Kansas river valley, by Moore, R. C., Elias, M. K., and Newell, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, issued December. *Grandhaven limestone 1936, MOORE, R. C., this paper. Name applied to limestone between the Dover limestone, below, and the Jim Creek limestone, above.

Type locality, sec. 31, T. 13 S., R. 14 E., near Grandhaven, Shawnee County, Kansas.

The Grandhaven limestone overlies the Dry shale and underlies the Friedrich shale. It comprises the only persistent limestone beds that occur between the rather easily recognized Dover limestone, below, and the Jim Creek limestone, above. There are commonly two limestone members which are separated by a few feet of shale. The lower limestone is gray to bluish in color, and unlike the Dover, commonly weathers brown,-in some cases a strong reddish-brown. It contains numerous fusulinids and some other invertebrates in some exposures, but elsewhere fusulinids are sparse or absent. Toward the south this limestone is thinner and finer grained, weathers shelly, and in many ways resembles outcrops of the Maple Hill limestone. There are numerous brachiopods, but few or no fusulinids. The changes in faunal character along the strike of this member are similar to those observed in the No. 5 phase of the Dover limestone, in which northern outcrops show abundant fusulinids and Cryptozoon, but southern outcrops lack the fusulinids and retain numerous Cryptozoon remains. The upper limestone member of the Grandhaven formation is characterized by an abundance of algal deposits, mostly of the Osagia type. This bed so closely resembles some outcrops of the upper member of the Dover that it is easy to mistake one for the other unless attention is given to stratigraphic sequence. The algal bed of the Grandhaven limestone is very light-gray, weathering almost white, and in some exposures the prominent, rounded algal growths give the rock a resemblance to conglomerate. The shale between the two limestones is mostly bluish-gray, and clayey to calcareous. Locally, as along the south side of Cottonwood River near Emporia, the upper Grandhaven is strongly, cross-bedded and it contains an abundant brachiopod and bryozoan fauna, in which are included also some molluscans.

The thickness of the Grandhaven limestone averages about 10 feet. The lower limestone is 2 to 5 feet in the north, but only 0.5 foot in the south. The upper limestone is 1 to 2 feet thick in most places, but locally attains a thickness of 8 feet or more. The intermediate shale is 4 to 10 feet thick. The Grandhaven limestone is recognized from Shawnee County southward to Oklahoma, but is not seen north of Kansas river. The formation clearly belongs to a cycle of sedimentation distinct from that of the Dover limestone.

FRIEDRICH SHALE, Moore, 1934

1903, Admire shale (part), ADAMS, G. I., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 211, p. 52. Includes beds between Grandhaven and Americus limestones of present classification. (For additional references see under Willard shale.)

1927, †McKissick Grove shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 74, 81.

1927, Pony Creek shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), p. 80. Includes beds between top of Dover limestone and base of Brownville limestone.

1932, †McKissick shale (part); CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O. (See under Pierson Point shale.)

1932, †Frenck shale (part), MOORE, R. C., AND CONDRA, G. E., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., classification chart. This term, derived from erroneous spelling of French Creek on maps, was applied to beds between the Dover limestone, below, and the Jim Creek [Nebraska City] limestone above. The Grandhaven limestone is not recognized north of Kansas river.

1934, *Friedrich shale, MOORE, R. C., in stratigraphic section of Pennsylvanian and "Permian" rocks of Kansas river valley, by Moore, R. C., Elias, M. K., and Newell, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, issued December. *Friedrich shale, 1936, MOORE, R. C., this paper. Defined to include beds between the Grandhaven limestone, below, and the Jim Creek limestone, above.

Type locality, Friedrich Creek, sec. 6, T. 22 S., R. 11 E., Greenwood County, Kansas.

The term Friedrich shale is here proposed to include clayey and sandy beds that lie between the Grandhaven and Jim Creek limestones. The unweathered shale is chiefly bluish-gray, but outcrops of weathered shale commonly appear yellowish or brownish. Locally there is sandstone in the upper part of this zone and at least in southern Greenwood County a thin coal bed appears a little below the Jim Creek limestone. Myalina and other pelecypods, and some brachiopods, bryozoans and other marine fossils appear near the top of the Friedrich shale, but in some outcrops fossils are rare or absent.

The thickness of the Friedrich shale averages about 15 feet. The unit is clearly identifiable throughout the region in which the Grandhaven limestone is developed, that is from Shawnee County, Kansas, southward, but farther north where the Grandhaven is not seen, the shale lying between the Dover and Jim Creek limestones may be called Dry-Friedrich shale.

JIM CREEK LIMESTONE, Moore, 1934

1903, Admire shale (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Friedrich shale and Willard shale.)

1927, †McKissick Grove shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 74, 81.

1927, Pony Creek shale (part), CONDRA, G. E. (See under Friedrich shale.)

1932, †McKissick shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O. (See under Pierson Point shale.)

1932, Not Jim Creek limestone, MOORE, R. C., AND CONDRA, G. E., Kan. Geol, Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., classification chart. The name Jim Creek was erroneously applied to limestone north of Kansas river now recognized as equivalent to the Nebraska City limestone, which is here classed as lowermost member of the Caneyville limestone.

1932, †Frenck shale (part), MOORE, R. C., AND CONDRA, G. E., Kan. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., classification chart. The Jim Creek limestone, as now recognized, occurs in the middle part of the so-called Frenck shale of this reference.

1934, *Jim Creek limestone, MOORE, R. C., in stratigraphic section of Pennsylvanian and "Permian" rocks of Kansas river valley, by Moore, R. C., Elias, M. K., and Newell, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, issued December. *Jim Creek limestone1936, MOORE, R. C., this paper. Name applied to persistent limestone lying between Grandhaven or Dover limestone, below, and Caneyville limestone, above.

Type locality, on Jim Creek, sec. 29, T. 7 S., R. 11 E., Pottawatomie County, Kansas.

A thin but surprisingly persistent limestone that in many places carries slender fusulinids is here designated as the Jim Creek limestone, from a locality in Pottawatomie County, Kansas. The limestone is known to extend into Oklahoma and Nebraska, but nowhere is the observed thickness greater than 2 feet. The Jim Creek is a useful horizon marker and it belongs to a sedimentation cycle that is distinct from those containing the adjacent Grandhaven and Caneyville limestones. Hence it is desirable in spite of the thinness of the unit to differentiate it as an independent formation. The Jim Creek limestone is fine-grained, hard and bluish-gray or bluish in fresh exposure. The weathered rock is commonly brown and gray and in most cases there are reddish or purplish tones. The bed appears as a single massive layer that is vertically jointed, but on prolonged weathering there is a tendency for the rock to break down in small shelly chips. A large variety of marine fossils, including especially brachiopods, bryozoans and pelecypods, is found in the Jim Creek limestone in some places.

The Jim Creek limestone has been traced from northern Oklahoma across Kansas into Nebraska.

FRENCH CREEK SHALE, Moore, 1934

1903, Admire shale (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Friedrich shale and Willard shale.)

1927, †McKissick Grove, shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 74, 81.

1927, Pony Creek shale (part), CONDRA, G. E. (See under Friedrich shale.)

1932, †McKissick shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O. (See under Pierson Point shale.)

1932, †Frenck shale (part), MOORE, R. C., AND CONDRA, G. E., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., classification chart. The French Creek shale comprises the upper part of what was, termed Frenck shale in this paper.

1934, *French Creek shale, MOORE, R. C., in stratigraphic section of Pennsylvanian and "Permian" rocks of Kansas river valley, by Moore, R. C., Elias, M. K., and Newell, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, issued December. *French Creek shale, 1936, MOORE, R. C., this paper. Defined to include beds between the Jim Creek limestone, below, and the Caneyville limestone, above.

Type locality, French Creek, northeastern Pottawatomie County, Kansas.

The French Creek shale comprises the beds between the Jim Creek and Caneyville limestones. It is bluish-gray or yellowish-brown in color, and clayey to sandy in texture. The upper part commonly contains some light brownish or tan sandstone which may be fairly hard, thick and massive. There is much variation in this shale from place to place, but it is clear that the lower part represents the terminal part of the Jim Creek cyclothem and that the upper part, including the sandstone beds, belongs to the Caneyville cyclothem. N ear the top, of the French Creek shale is a thin but very persistent coal bed that has been termed by Condra the Lorton coal. This coal crops out at many places from Oklahoma to Nebraska and is one of the most widespread of the known Late Paleozoic coal beds of the northern Mid-Continent region. Above the coal and beneath the Nebraska City limestone member of the Caneyville formation there is dark-colored shale with an abundant marine fauna characterized especially by large Myalina shells, Derbya and some other forms.

The thickness of the French Creek shale averages about 30 feet. The formation is recognized across all of Kansas.

CANEYVILLE LIMESTONE, Moore, 1934

1903, Admire shale (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Friedrich shale and Willard shale.)

1918, Grayhorse limestone, BOWEN, C. F., U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 686, p. 138. This limestone is included in the present Caneyville limestone, comprising its uppermost member.

1927, †McKissick Grove, shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 74, 81.

1927, Pony Creek shale (part), CONDRA, G. E. (See under Friedrich shale.) 1927, Nebraska City limestone, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 116. This limestone, classed by Condra as a subdivision of the Pony Creek shale, is here defined as the basal member of the Caneyville limestone.

1932, †McKissick shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O. (See under Pierson Point shale.)

1932, Jim Creek limestone, MOORE, R. C., AND CONDRA, G. E., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., classification chart. The so-called Jim Creek limestone of this reference is equivalent to the Nebraska City member of the Caneyville limestone.

1934, *Caneyville limestone, MOORE, R. C., in stratigraphic section of Pennsylvanian and "Permian" rocks of Kansas river valley, by Moore, R. C., Elias, M. K., and Newell, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, issued December. *Caneyville limestone, 1936, MOORE, R. C., this paper. Defined to include beds from the base of the Nebraska City limestone to the top of the Grayhorse limestone.

Type locality, sec. 11, T. 32 S., R. 8 E. Named from Caneyville Township, Chautauqua County. Kansas.

The term Caneyville limestone is here proposed to include beds from the base of the limestone previously designated as Nebraska City to the top of the limestone called Grayhorse. Field studies have shown that the Nebraska City limestone is a molluscan bed that represents the No. .3 phase of a cyclothem for which no fusulinid-bearing, or No. .5 phase, was known until recently, when outcrops in Chautauqua County, Kansas, of this expected phase were discovered. Above the fusulinid-bearing limestone in Chautauqua County is a fragmental, algal and molluscan limestone, that clearly represents the No. .7 phase of this cyclothem. It is traced southward into the Grayhorse limestone of Osage County, Oklahoma, and it is thus determined that the Nebraska City and Grayhorse limestones are parts of a single cyclothem which includes the unnamed fusulinid-bearing limestone between them in southern Kansas. Neither Nebraska City nor Grayhorse is available as a name for the three limestones and the shales included between them. Hence, the new term Caneyville is introduced. No name is proposed for the fusulinid-bearing limestone member of the Caneyville, and it is thought that none is needed. If all of the persistent subdivisions of Wabaunsee formations were to be given names as members, there would be a wholly unwarranted addition of some scores of unnecessary new stratigraphic terms. Perhaps it is awkward to refer to "transgressive molluscan phase," "fusulinid phase" and "algal-molluscan phase" or to use numbers for the phases of the cyclothem, but this seems preferable to the alternative of burdening the literature with a multitude of additional stratigraphic names of doubtful value. The terms Nebraska City and Grayhorse happen to have been introduced and it is perhaps not necessary to kill them.

The Nebraska City member of the Caneyville limestone is a bluish or greenish-gray sandy limestone that weathers light-yellowish brown. It is rather soft and does not make a prominent outcrop in most places. Brachiopods, bryozoans and some mollusks are common in this bed. The stratigraphic position of the member with reference to the Jim Creek, Brownville, and other distinctive limestones in this part of the section, and the occurrence of a coal bed a few inches below the member, are the chief means of recognizing the Nebraska City limestone. This limestone ranges in thickness from less than 1 foot to about 5 feet, the average being about 1.5 feet.

The fusulinid-bearing limestones, which represents the No. .5 phase of the Caneyville cyclothem, is a bluish-gray, massive slightly arenaceous bed with vertical joints. Few fossils other than long slender specimens of Triticites occur. The thickness of this limestone averages about 1 foot, and the maximum observed thickness is about 1.5 feet. It occurs 5 to 10 feet above the Nebraska City limestone.

The Grayhorse member of the Caneyville limestone is very different in appearance from the other two limestone members. It is medium- to coarse-grained, appears fragmental or coquinoid, and is rather strongly ferruginous. Broken surfaces of the unweathered rock commonly show curved cleavage surfaces of iron or magnesium-bearing carbonate crystals. In some exposures the bed appears massive but commonly there is distinctly evident cross-bedding. Large specimens of Myalina of the M. subquadrata type are the most common type of fossil. The Grayhorse limestone ranges in thickness from about 0.5 to 5 or 6 feet, the average being about 1 foot. This member occurs 5 to 15 feet above the fusulinid-bearing limestones.

The average total thickness of the Caneyville limestone is 15 to 20 feet. The formation extends from northern Oklahoma across Kansas to southern Nebraska.

PONY CREEK SHALE (Condra, 1927), Moore, 1934

1903, Admire shale (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Friedrich shale and Willard shale.)

1927, †McKissick Grove shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, pp. 74, 81.

1927, Pony Creek shale (part), CONDRA, G. K, Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 81. As defined by Condra the Pony Creek shale included the beds between the top of the Dover limestone and the base of the Brownville limestone. Pony Creek shale (part) 1932, CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Same. Classed as a subdivision of the "McKissick shale." Pony Creek shale (part) 1932, MOORE, R. C., AND CONDRA, G. E., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., classification chart. The term Pony Creek is applied in this paper to beds between the top of the "Jim Creek [Nebraska City] limestone" and base of the Brownville limestone.

1932, †McKissick shale (part), CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O. (See under Pierson Point shale.)

1934, *Pony Creek shale, MOORE, R. C., in stratigraphic section of Pennsylvanian and "Permian" roads of Kansas river valley, by Moore, R. C., Elias, M. K., and Newell, N. D., Kan. Geol. Survey, issued December. *Pony Creek shale, 1936, MOORE, R. C., this paper. Name restricted to include beds between top of Caneyville limestone and base of Brownville limestone.

Type locality, along Pony Creek between the Kansas-Nebraska boundary and 2 miles south of Falls City, Neb.

As first used, the term Pony Creek shale was applied to beds lying between the Dover limestone, below, and the Brownville limestone above. The Jim Creek and Nebraska City limestones are present in Nebraska but were regarded as rather unimportant subdivisions of the Pony Creek shale. Because of evidences of successive cyclothems that have been discovered in the Wabaunsee group, it has appeared desirable to recognize the Grandhaven, Jim Creek and Caneyville limestones, and the shales between them as independent units of correlative rank, and the term Pony Creek is here restricted to the upper part of the original Pony Creek shale, that is, to beds lying between the Caneyville and Brownville limestones. Thus defined the Pony Creek shale comprises 5 to 20 feet of bluish and bluish-gray shale and locally some red clayey or sandy shale. The middle part locally contains some sandstone. The lower Pony Creek shale is mostly unfossiliferous, but the upper part commonly contains a variety of brachiopods and bryozoans, with Marginifera wabashensis and Chonetes granulifer among the most common species. A thin coal bed which belongs to the Brownville cyclothem appears in the upper middle part of the Pony Creek, just beneath the fossiliferous marine zone, in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. The Pony Creek shale extends entirely across Kansas and is well developed both in Nebraska and northern Oklahoma.

BROWNVILLE LIMESTONE, Condra and Bengston, 1915

1903, Admire shale (part), ADAMS, G. I. (See under Friedrich shale and Willard shale.)

1915, *Brownville limestone, CONDRA, G. E., AND BENGSTON, N. A., Neb. Acad. Sci., Publ., vol. 9, p. 17. Name applied to limestone, 2.5 to 6 feet thick, in Missouri river bluffs, south of Brownville, and near Peru, Neb. *Brownville limestone 1927, CONDRA, G. E., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 1, p. 81. Classed as basal subdivision of the "Admire shale member" of the Wabaunsee formation. *Brownville limestone 1932, CONDRA, G. E., MOORE, R. C., AND DUNBAR, C. O., Neb. Geol. Survey, (2), Bull. 5, Table C, p. 18. Same as Condra, 1927. *Brownville limestone 1932, MOORE, R. C., AND CONDRA, G. E., Kan. Geol. Soc., Guidebook, Sixth Ann. Field Conf., classification chart. Classed as a unit correlative in rank with †McKissick Grove shale and Admire shale, and lying between them.

Type locality, bluffs of Missouri river just south of Brownville, Nemaha County, Nebraska.

The Brownville limestone is a very widespread and distinctive formation that is here regarded as the uppermost stratigraphic division of the Wabaunsee group. At most places the Brownville consists of one or two beds of bluish-gray, hard limestones that weather yellowish or somewhat reddish brown. Some outcrops show rock that appears impure and sandy, but in most places the limestone is fairly pure, dense, massive and fine-grained. Commonly the Brownville limestone weathers in angular or rounded blocks or it disintegrates in irregularly shaped shelly fragments. The occurrence of abundant shells of Marginifera wabashensis characterizes most outcrops and in addition exposures in Kansas commonly show the presence of fairly numerous large fusulinids, the bryozoan Meekopora, the brachiopod Chonetes granulifer and crinoid stem fragments. Not infrequently these fossils occur in clusters or "nests" between which the rock contains only scattered fossils. A bed with algal and molluscan remains, classifiable as phase No. .7 of the typical cyclothems, occurs above the fusulinid-bearing (phase No . . 5) bed in parts of Chautauqua County, Kansas.

The Brownville limestone was named from outcrops in southeastern Nebraska. It has been traced entirely across Kansas and is known to extend at least 50 miles southward into Oklahoma. The thickness of the formation ranges from about 2 to 8 feet.

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Kansas Geological Survey, Geology
Placed on web Sept. 28, 2016; originally published November 15, 1935.
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