248 Kctnsas Academy of Science. 



FORMATIONS OF THE MARION STAGE OF THE 

 KANSAS PERMIAN.! 



By J. W. Beede, of Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind. 



^T^HE formations of the lower white Permian of Kansas have 

 -*- been well understood for some time. The upj)er part, largely 

 on account of its poor exposures and relatively weak escarpments, 

 has not heretofore been carefully worked out. The field-work of 

 the Kansas and Oklahoma surveys during the past summer has 

 thrown some light upon the importance and extent of these rocks. 



The formations here considered lie above the disputed beds of 

 the Meek, Swallow and others. They lie on the back slope of the 

 Flint Hills and form a relatively fertile plain of little relief, which 

 is in striking contrast to the rough topography of the Flint Hills 

 to the eastward. The region studied lies in Dickinson, Geary, 

 Morris and Marion counties of Kansas, and Kay and Noble coun- 

 ties of Oklahoma. Some of the formations may reach to the Ne- 

 braska line, though if they do they are quite thinned and changed 

 in appearance. The maps represent field-work done in two local- 

 ities near Marion, the type locality of the Marion stage, and the 

 vicinity of Herington and north to the Smoky Hill river. The 

 region about Marion and the immediate vicinity of Herington is 

 my own mapping, and that lying north of Woodbine is the work 

 of the Rev. John Bennett, the veteran stratigrapher of Kansas. 



The rocks of the section were early described in a general way by 

 Meek and Hayden. who traversed the region in two directions. 

 Their section of the rocks of the Marion formation, as given in the 

 general section of the region, is given below, the rocks numbered 

 from the top dowa. We begin with No. 5, the first one coming 

 within our region : 



5. Bluish, red, light-yellow and gray clays, and soft claystones, 

 with sometimes a few thin layers of magnesian limestone. 

 In many places these clays have been traversed in every di- 

 rection by cracks, into which calcareous and argillaceous mat- 

 ter have found their way, and subsequently became consoli- 

 dated so as to form thin seams of yellowish impure limestone, 

 which cross and intiersect each other at every angle. The red 

 clays are usually less distinctly laminated, contain more are- 

 naceous matter, and often show ripple-marks on the surfaces. 

 Locality, bluff's along Smoky Hill river above the mouth of 

 the Grand Saline 60 feet. 



1. By permission of the State Geologists of Kansas and Oklahoma. 



