HAWORTH: THE SIRATIGRAPHV OF THE KANSAS COAL MEASURES. 277 



west in the vicinity of Elk City it is fully loo feet thick. Northeast of 

 this it diminishes in thickness until at lola it is only 40 feet. Still 

 farther northeast it diminishes more, so that in places it is not more 

 than 20 feet thick, but in the vicinity of Olathe it thickens locally to 

 at least 50 feet. Northward from here it reaches to the bluffs along 

 the Kansas and JMissouri rivers, is a prominent heavy limestone at 

 the top of the bluff in Kansas City, and extends far to the north and 

 east into the state of Missouri. Its southeastern outcropping marks 

 the crest of a row of bluffs from the south line of the state to the 

 vicinity of Mound City, at which place the Thayer shales decrease in 

 thickness to such an extent that the topographic features due to the 

 lola limestone coincide with similar ones produced by the Triple 

 limestone. 



Above the lola limestone is a thin bed of shales with no marked 

 characteristics and of but little stratigraphic importance. Above 

 these we encounter the Carlyle limestone, the northeastern limitations 

 of which have not been fully determined. At some places it seems 

 to occur, while at others it is scarcely noticeable. From lola north- 

 ward to Kansas City, and thence up the Kansas river to Lawrence, a 

 thin limestone system is found above the lola limestone which cor- 

 responds in position and thickness very well with the Carlyle lime- 

 stone and quite likely is the same, although exact correlations have 

 not been made. 



Above the Carlyle limestone the Lane shales are next reached. 

 They extend almost across the state from Kansas City to the south- 

 west and have an important role in jiroducing the topography along 

 the upper parts of the Pottawatomie river valley. Passing upward 

 from the Lane shales the next formations met with are the (iarnett, 

 or Burlington limestones. These are composed of two distinct 

 systems usually separated from 8 to 12 feet by an intervening bed of 

 shale. Their most interesting feature is their great lateral extent. 

 Passing upward from these, the Lawrence shales are next encountered. 

 Here for the first time we have a formation which thickens to the 

 northward and thins toward the south. The Lawrence shales are 

 nearly 300 feet thick at Lawrence and are perha|:)s less than 100 

 south of the Neosho river. They even up to a considerable extent 

 the persistent tendency of the lower formations to thicken toward the 

 southwest, and in this way have liftetl the overlying limestones to a 

 position more nearly horizontal in a north and south line. Aside 

 from these features they are remarkable for the coal which they carry, 

 as developed in Franklin and in Douglas counties, and particularly 

 for the sandstones which have so many marks showing that they were 

 marginal deposits. Away to the southwest beyond the Neosho river 



