GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 61 
usually but little sandstone, except along the southern border of the state, and 
the limestones succeed each other at short intervals, so that the platforms are 
not very wide and their surfaces are generally undulating. West of the [ola es- 
carpment and the Carlyle, which blends with the former, lies an area which is 
more diversified, due to the manner in which erosion has acted upon the heavy 
beds of sandstone which are present as the equivalent of the Le Roy shales* 
further north. North of the Neosho river sandstones are represented but spar- 
ingly in the Le Roy shales; but south of the river they gradually displace the 
shales, until in Chautauqua county they are everywhere predominant. From 
their exposure here they are named the Chautauqua sandstones. At Yates 
Center they become conspicuous, producing the hills upon which the town is 
built. From here the area broadens to the south, its eastern border passing west 
of Buffalo, Fredonia, and Tyro, while its western border runs approximately from 
Yates Center to Toronto, Fall River, Elk Falls, Sedan, and Elgin. 
The area will here be described under the geographical name of the Chautau- 
qua Sandstone Hills. These hills are as characteristic a feature of the southeast- 
ern part of the state as are the Flint Hills; and I here propose the name as one 
best applicable, since it is already employed somewhat in common usage for a por- 
tion of the area. The surface is intersected by many small streams which have 
deep valleys. The Verdigris, Fall and Elk rivers cross it, occupying narrow, deep 
channels, which are down to base level except along the western portion. The 
valleys of these rivers are narrow and walled in by bluffs, which show heavy 
sandstones as their protecting element. The low hills, which are the prominent 
feature of the area, are usually covered by a growth of jack-oaks. The sandy 
soil is seemingly adapted to their growth; for where the limestone areas are ap- 
proached the oak timber begins to disappear. There are some small areas outside 
of the Chautauqua platform which have a similar growth of timber, as west of 
Thayer and south of Independence, along the west bluff of the Verdigris, where 
the Thayer shales,+ which lie between the Independence and Iola limestones, 
carry a great deal of sandstone. Although the Chautauqua sandstone hills are 
nowhere very high, the difference in elevation over the entire surface being no- 
where greater than 250 feet, yet they make traveling difficult because of the rocks 
which wear to the surface on the slopes, and the sand which accumulates in the 
wagon roads from the disintegration of the sandstones. 
BURLINGTON ESCARPMENT. 
The limestones exposed in Burlington { and just south of the town form the 
protecting element in the next escarpment. This escarpment, known as the Bur- 
lington, is prominent west of Le Roy Junction and along Turkey creek. It runs 
to the southwest, passing two miles west of Vernon and then around the head of 
Owl creek. The limestone is present three miles west of Yates Center; but the 
heavy sandstones which produce the hills at Yates Center mask the escarpment, 
as indeed they do in most places from there to the southern border of the state. 
This limestone formation is the upper limit of the Le Roy shales and Chautauqua 
sandstones, but the general character of the Chautauqua hills area persists to the 
next succeeding escarpment. The line of outcrop of the limestone is from Yates 
Center to Toronto, thence west of Coffeyville to Fall River, Longton, Sedan, 
Chautauqua Springs, and Elgin. In places the limestone, being underlaid by 
shales or softer sandstone, persists as a prominent element in the surface fea- 
* Haworth and Kirk: Kans. Univ. Quart., vol. II, p. 110. 
+ Haworth: Univ. Geol. Suryv., vol. I, p. 157; see also foot-note. 
¢t Haworth and Kirk: Kans. Uniy. Quart., vol. II, p. 110, 
