KANSAS UNlVKRSriV ()UAKTERLY. 



Relative Value of Limestone, Sandstone, and Shale, lor 

 Stratio-raphic "Work in Kansas. 



ERASMUS HAWORIH. 



P'or the purpose of stratigraphic work in eastern Kansas the lime- 

 stone systems are much more important than aH others combined. 

 This is due to the great regularity of the limestone horizons, and 

 their persistence in lateral extent. From tne nature of their forma- 

 tion this might be expected, yet the difference in continuity between 

 the limestones, and the sanilstones and shales is greater than in many 

 other j^arts of the world. Numerous instances are known of 

 limestones not more than ten or twenty feet thick having a lateral 

 extent of from fifty to a hundred miles, while the sandstones rarely 

 extend continuously more than a fourth the distance. 



Again, the sanilstones and shales grade into each other with the 

 greatest frequency, nuuh more so indeed than either of them grades 

 into the limestone. Tlie latter occurs much less frecpiently than 

 seems to obtain farther east in Missouri*, or farther north in lowaf, 

 yet it is not wholly unknown. 



A few examjdes of the. persistency and extent of the limestone may 

 be interesting. The Oswego limestone, numbered 2 in Mr. Kirk's 

 section, extends from an undetermined distance in the Indian Terri- 

 toiy below Coffeyville to beyond Fort Scott on the northeast, a 

 distance of over fifty miles. Passing northeast from Oswego it rises 

 so as to cap the high hills north of Pittsburg, then falls to the much 

 lower level of the environs of Fort Scott. How far beyond the limits 

 of the state it extends is not known, but it undoubtedly reaches many 

 miles into Missouri. 



The Erie limestone, numbered 3 by Mr. Kirk, occurs about 100 feet 

 above the Oswego limestone. It covers the high land between the 

 Neosho and ^'erdigris rivers, constituting the upper limestone in the 

 vicinity of Independence, whence it extends south beyond the state 

 line. It reaches northeast probably to the Missouri line, although 

 it has not yet been traced that far. Over the southeastern portion 

 of its exposure it is generally quite thin, having been worn to a 

 feather edge by surface erosion. But farther back it becomes a 

 great limestone system, occurring in beds fully 60 feet thick along the 

 bluffs of the Neosho above Shaw. It is very abundant in the vicinity 



*Mo. G. S. Rep.. Pi-eliraiuary Report on Coal. Winslow. p. 24. 

 + Ia. G. S. Rep., Vol. 1, 1892. 



