86 



ENVIRONMENT OF VERTEBRATE LIFE, ETC. 



A detailed description of these beds is given by Prosser, 1 from whose 

 paper the following descriptions are quoted: 



[Elmdale formation.] "It is about 130 feet in thickness, and composed of 

 yellowish to bluish shales, with thin beds of grayish alternating limestone, includ- 

 ing two or three thicker ones. About 30 feet above the base of the formation 

 is a friable limestone with a thickness in some localities of 4 feet, which is com- 

 posed to a large extent of the tests of Fusulina secalica Say. This stratum 

 weathers rapidly and leaves great numbers of Fusulina in the soil. About 35 

 feet higher is another conspicuous yellowish limestone, the center of which 

 weathers to a rough face, and from 10 to 15 feet below the top is a limestone 

 stratum from 3 to 5 feet in thickness. * * * 



"Neva limestone. This formation consists of a massive bluish-gray limestone 

 or of a lower and upper massive limestone, each one a little over 4 feet in thickness, 

 separated by 2 feet of shales, with a total thickness of about 10 feet. * : 



"Eskridge shales. * * * a mass of shales, with perhaps some thin limestone 

 layers, varying from 30 to 40 feet in thickness. The shales are of greenish, 

 chocolate, and yellowish color, and usually form covered slopes between the two 

 conspicuous limiting limestones. * * * 



[Cottonwood limestone.] "This is a massive light gray to buff-colored, fora- 

 miniferal limestone, frequently composed of two layers with a thickness of about 

 6 feet. It contains very few fossils, with the exception of Fusulina secalica Say, 

 which is extremely abundant in its upper part, * * *" [called Alma limestone 

 by Prosser]. 



"Garrison formation. This formation is composed of two members, the 

 yellowish fossiliferous shales at the base, formerly called the Cottonwood shales, 

 and the upper one, composed of the alternating gray limestones and various 

 colored shales called the Neosho, with a total thickness of from 140 to 145 feet. 

 The lower shales have a thickness of 13 feet near Strong, but decrease to 2 or 3 

 feet in the northern part of the state. * * * 



1 Prosser, C. S., Revised Classification of the Upper Paleozoic Formations of Kansas, Jour. 

 Geol., vol. x, p. 708, 1902. 



