28 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
be well to mention a few facts concerning the glacial geology of the county. 
Although the general trend of the terminal moraine is northwest and southeast, 
this is but very roughly true of the part which lies in Shawnee county. Enter- 
ing the county a little north of Richland, it extends in a northwesterly direction 
towards Topeka, passes around the north side of Burnett’s Mound (three miles. 
southwest of Topeka), thence a little westward, where it bears to the southward 
to within a mile of Dover and crosses the west line of the county. The break in 
the divide at Pauline, which is fully a hundred feet in depth at that place, formed. 
an outlet to the water at the foot of the glacier.* 
HISTORICAL. 
MEEK AND Haypen.—In 1858, Messrs. Messrs. F. B. Meek and F. V. Hayden 
crossed Shawnee county on their ‘‘ Geological Explorations in Kansas Territory.’’ ¢ 
In this preliminary tour, one or possibly two sections were made in this county. 
The most important section was made near the old Baptist Mission. Here a sec- 
tion of 164 feet is given in detail. The place was probably near the place where 
the Topeka sugar works are now situated. The other section was one of 12 feet, 
somewhere southwest of Grasshopper creek. 
SwaLitow.— Later Prof. G. C. Swallow, in his ‘‘ Section of the Rocks of East- 
ern Kansas,’’ { 
{ gives a section of the rocks of eastern Kansas which crosses 
Shawnee county from west to east. The structure is given in detail, but con- 
tains several errors. He gives 32 strata, which are probably supposed to be 
contained within the county. This includes sandstone and shale strata, which 
change from one to the other, and can hardly be separated with any degree of 
distinctness. 
Sr. Joun.— Prof. O. St. John, in his article on the ‘‘ Geology of Kansas,’’ § 
gives a clear description of the Kansas Coal Measures and correlates the Topeka 
coal with that of Burlingame and Osage City. 
ProssErR.— Prof. Charles S. Prosser has recently done some work for the 
U.S. Geological Survey which extends into the county and is of considerable in- 
terest. He divides the upper part of the Upper Coal Measures || and Permian of 
eastern Kansas into formations, the lowest of which is the ‘‘ Wabaunsee.’’ The 
shale overlying the Osage City coal is the base of this formation. 
Hawortu.— In an article entitled ‘‘ The Stratigraphy of the Kansas Coal 
Measures,’ 4 Prof. E. Haworth gives the stratigraphy of the state in ascending 
order. Shawnee county is included in the section, and consequently its strata 
are correlated with those of the rest of the state. 
STRATIGRAPHY. 
1. TecumMsEH SHALEs.** — Beginning at the east line of the county and taking 
the strata in ascending order, is a series of shales of about 75 feet in thickness 
found east of Tecumseh and in the vicinity of Richland. These shalesare nearly 
non-fossiliferous, of fine texture, containing many ferruginous concretions, and 
occasional strata of soft, shaly sandstone. They are somewhat of an olive color. 
2. CatHoun Limestone.— Three strata of limestone, bluish to yellowish gray 
*Mr. B. B. Smyth discusses this subject in Vol. xrv, Transactions of this Academy, pp. 220-226. 
t Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1859, pp. 8-30. 
t Prelim. Rep. Geol. Sur. Kan., 1868, pp. 1-28. 
§ Third Biennial Rep. State Board Agriculture, Kansas, 1881-’82, pp. 571-579. 
|| Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. vi, pp. 29-54; also, Jour. Geol., Vol. 111, pp. 682-705, 764-800. 
§] Kan. Univ. Quar., Vol. 111, No. 4, April 1, 1895. 
_ **These names are simply local references to the particular strata for convenience of students 
in this county, and noother importance should be attached to them. 
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