HAWORTH: the stratigraphy of the KANSAS COAI. MEASURES. 279 



for the production by erosion of a rugged physiography, as is well 

 shown along the bluffs of the Kansas river, Mill creek, and at other 

 places. 



In our ascent from the base of the lower Coal Measures we finally 

 reach the Cottonwood Falls limestone, a system which extends 

 entirely across the state from north to south, and which is most 

 remarkable on account of its great lateral extent and uniformity of 

 characteristics, particularly so when we consider that nowhere 

 throughout the whole area studied does it vary to less than 5 feet 

 or more than 10 feet in thickness. It is also remarkable on account 

 of its association wiih an overlying shale-bed which is so filled with 

 invertebrate fossils of characteristic types that it can easily be recog- 

 nized wherever found. The Cottonwood Falls limestone is most 

 remarkable also for its uniformity of both texture and color, and 

 freedom from lateral and vertical seams. These make it exceedingly 

 desirable stone for building purposes, especially where large masses 

 are wanted. Quarries are operated in it in many localities such as 

 Manhattan, Alma, Eskridge, Americus, Cottonwood P'alls, Clements, 

 and other places to the south. The limit in size for rocks obtained 

 is only determined by the demand and the mechanical appliances for 

 operating the quarries. It is within the limits of reason to state that 

 blocks with surfaces hundreds of feet scpiare could be obtained which 

 would be entirely free from fissures or flaws of any description, not 

 only at one (juarry, but at many different quarries throughout the 

 state. The topographic features vary so greatly that the limestone is 

 exposed to the surface irregularly over a belt 20 miles or more in 

 width reaching across the state from Manhattan southward. Thus it 

 outcrops on the east at Eskridge, while the broad valley of Mill creek 

 cuts downward to it 20 miles away. It approaches to within a few 

 miles of Emporia, and is again found at Clements 30 miles to the 

 west, with many (juarries at intervening points. The division be- 

 tween the Permian and the Coal Measures has not been located 

 definitely, but will probably be placed not more than a hundred feet 

 above the Cottonwood Falls limestone, as the paleontologic evidence 

 upon which such a division must depend seems to show that the 

 greatest change of marine invertebrate life occurred not long after 

 the formation of the existing fossiliferous shales overlying the Cot- 

 tonwood Falls rock. 



RATIO OF LIMESTONE TO SHALES AND SANDSTONE. 



We have now given a hasty review the successive formations as 

 they occur one above another from the surface of the Mississippian 

 to the Cottonwood Falls limestone which marks the extent of areas 



