r 



Geological Papers. 77 



and the Pawnee limestone, twenty-five feet. The limestones abound 

 in low anticlines and synclines, and may be easily traced along a 

 line extending from Fort Scott southwestward. Excellent outcrops 

 may be found near Girard, Oswego, and Parsons. The lowest lime- 

 stone is burned for cement near Fort Scott. Fossils are abundant 

 near the decomposing limestones. The shales thicken to the 

 southward. 



(3) Pleasanton Beds, 275 feet. These beds include the Ban- 

 dera (Lower Pleasanton) shales, 100 feet; Parsons (Altamont) 

 limestone, 25 feet, and the Dudley (Upper Pleasanton) shales, 150 

 feet. The Parsons limestone thins northward and disappears near 

 Pleasanton. Coal is mined at Pleasanton, and some thin layers of 

 sandstone are quarried for flagging on the Marmaton river near 

 Fort Scott. The shales are thicker southward. 



(4) Erie {Bronson) Beds, 21b feet. These include the Hertha 

 (Bethany Falls) limestone, 15 feet; Ladore (Mound Valley) shale, 

 100 feet; Mound Valley limestone, 10 feet; Cherryvale (Gales- 

 burg) shales, 120 feet, and Independence (Dennis) limestone, 30 

 feet. The limestones of the Erie beds are best developed to the 

 northeastward, and become thinner bedded and more argillaceous 

 to the southwestward. They contain many fossils. The shales 

 thicken southward, and contain much arenaceous material. They 

 supply excellent clay for vitrified brick, especially at Cherryvale. 

 The Erie beds are a dominant feature of the topography of the 

 country from eastern Miami county to eastern Montgomery county. 

 The shales thin to the northward. 



Remarks : In the eastern part of Allen and the western part of 

 Bourbon counties the Erie (Bronson) beds lose in part the shale 

 strata, and the limestones thicken so as locally to form an almost 

 continuous bed of limestone sixty to eighty feet in thickness. This 

 is one of the heaviest of the limestones penetrated in drilling for oil. 

 The Independence limestone of these beds carries a large amount 

 of flint in its lower portion ; the upper portion is an oolite which 

 exhibits cross-bedding and false bedding, and attains a thickness 

 in some places of fifteen feet. 



(5) lola Beds, thickness ,830 feet. These include Chanute 

 (Thayer) shales, 150 feet ; lola (Earlton) limestone, 30 feet ; Con- 

 crete (Lane) shale, 75 feet; Allen (Stanton, Garnett, Carlyle) 

 limestone, 30 feet ; Vilas shale, 45 feet. The shales of the lola beds 

 are better developed in thickness southward, and the Chanute 

 shales contain much sandstone in the central and southern counties 



