proceedings: geological society 331 



in central Wyoming as the shale which lies above the Teapot sandstone 

 and below a- marine sandstone which is correlated with the Fox Hills 

 of northeastern Wyoming and of the type locality in South Dakota. 



The Fox Hills of central Wyoming is represented in the southern 

 Wyoming section near Rawlins by the lower 800 feet of the ''Lower 

 Laramie," a series of sandstones which yields a marine Cretaceous 

 fauna. In Carbon County, as mapped by Veatch, this zone is found 

 in the upper part of the Lewis, the base of the Lower Laramie hav- 

 ing been drawn at the top of the marine beds. .It thus appears that 

 the Fox Hills sandstone of the type locality is represented in southern 

 Wyoming by a marine sandstone which overlies or forms the upper 

 part of the Lewis. If the Mesaverde of Carbon County, Wyoming, 

 is traced eastward into the Laramie Basin, it is found that the lower 

 member (Parkman) forms the conspicuous "Pine Ridge" near Rock 

 River Station, the upper portion of the Mesaverde (Teapot) having 

 been either entirely removed or obscured by overlying beds. The 

 Lewis shale is not recognized in the Laramie Basin, and together with 

 the overlying marine sandstone member of the Laramie (which is 

 correlated with the Fox Hills), appears now not to extend east of the 

 Medicine Bow. In the Laramie quach'angle, as mapped by Darton 

 in the Laramie-Sherman folio, Steele shale is overlain by Mesaverde 

 sandstone, while the corresponding section east of the Laramie Moun- 

 tains on Horse Creek, shown on the Sherman quadrangle, consists 

 of Pierre shale overlain by "Fox Hills" sandstone. Darton regards 

 the base of the Mesaverde as mapped on the Laramie quadi'angle as 

 the approximate stratigraphic equivalent of the base of the "Fox Hills" 

 of the Sherman quadrangle, and this view is confirmed by Lee, who 

 visited and collected from both localities in 1914. The base of the 

 "Fox Hills" as mapped on the Sherman quadrangle would thus be the 

 same as the base of the Mesaverde (Parkman) This horizon is about 

 4000 feet lower stratigraphically than the Fox Hills of central Wyoming, 

 which overlies the Lewis shale. 



The "Fox Hills" of the Sherman quadrangle as exposed on Horse 

 Creek has heretofore been regarded as the stratigraphic equivalent of 

 the "Fox Hills" of the Denver Basin, which has been traced by Darton 

 northward from the original locality near Platteville to the Wyoming 

 line. The "Fox Hills" of the Denver Basin corresponds with the "Fox 

 Hills" of the Colorado Springs region as describecl by Richardson and 

 others. If the "Fox Hills" of the Denver Basin is the same as that of 

 the Sherman quadrangle, then it appearig probable that the term "Fox 

 Hills" as used in the Denver Basin relates to a much lower stratigraphic 

 horizon than that occupied by the Fox Hills of northeastern Wyoming 

 and in the type locahty in northern South Dakota. The "Fox Hills" 

 of the Denver Basin is apparently equivale^nt to the lower Mesaverde 

 (Parkman) of southern Wyoming, while the Fox Hills of the type lo- 

 cality is equivalent to the basal "Lower Laramie" of southern Wyom- 

 ing, the top of the Lewis as mapped by Veatch. 



