Note on the Distribution of the Cheyenne 



Sandstone. 



BY CHARLES S. I'ROSSER. 



In the writer's report on the "Comanche Series of Kansas" he 

 referred a yellowish, quartzitic sandstone outcropping near the 

 base of Arilla hill, in the southern part of Comanche county, to be 

 Cheyenne sandstone. ^ The rocks in the draw studied by the au- 

 thor were partly covered, and later studies of better exposures by 

 Messrs. Vaughn and Gould and Prof. Ward have shown that too 

 great a thickness was assigned to this stratum, and that it does not 

 rest on the top of the Red-beds, but is separated from them by 

 from three to ten feet of their black shales.- It appears probable 

 that there is some variation in the thickness of these strata as ex- 

 posed in the different draws at the foot of Arilla hill. 



This yellowish to brownish sandstone belongs in the lower part 

 of the Kiowa formation, as stated by Prof. Ward,'* instead of 

 representing the Cheyenne sandstone. Since Vol. II of the Uni- 

 versity Geological Survey of Kansas was published. Prof. Cragin 

 has studied some of the fossils from this sandstone and has written 

 me as follows: 



"There are only two of the fossils which I am willing to take 

 the chances of naming. These are Aviciila belvidcrensis and 

 Cuciillcfa reccdens with little doubt. Some of the others, perhaps, 

 are Tapes belvidcrensis and Cardium sp., and possibly Cypriincria, 

 in small phase, and one or two other genera are represented; but 

 I feel confident of only two. 



"You will remember that I have mentioned lenses of sandstone 

 as occurring in the Kiowa shales and carrying regular Kiowa 

 fossils, and these casts and the attached rock-samples have the ap- 



1 Univ. Geol. Sur of Kan., vol. ii, pp. 143-44. 



2 Mr. Vaughn's section gives above the Rod-beds five feet of yellowish clays, fol- 

 lowed by ten feot of black paper shales, capped by one foot of brown sandstone, above 

 which are again black shales, (Am. Jour. Sci., IV. series, vol. iv, 1897, p 46.) Prof. Ward 

 wrote me tliat the sandstone was not over ten feet in thickness, below which were 

 three or four feot of black paper shales which lie directly on the Red beds. Mr. 

 Gould'.s section for the same strata is two to si.\ feet of yellowish clay on the Red- 

 bods, then si.x to ten feet of black shales with one to two feet of sandstone containing 

 fossils. 



3 Science, N. S,, vol. vi, Nov. 36, 1897, p. Slii. 



(135) KAN. UNIV. QUAK., VOL. VIII, NO. 3, .JULY, 1899, SERIES A. 



