CARBONIFEROUS AND PERMIAN FORMATIONS 1 69 



Dakota sandstone was deposited. Dr. Hayden saw the contact 

 of the Carboniferous and Cretaceous rocks ; but apparently at 

 localities where there is not such a clear line of unconformity, 

 for he said: "We find at one or two localities the Cretaceous 

 and Carboniferous beds in apposition ; and though the eye can 

 observe no apparent want of conformity in these beds, yet we 

 can readily imagine the tremendous effects of the erosion prior 

 to the deposition of the sandstone, from the fact that hundreds 

 of feet of clays and limestones must have been swept away."' 



In the lower limestone, No. 2, of the Green quarry are speci- 

 mens of Spirifer cameratus associated with other species of the 

 Wabaunsee formation ; while in the Parmlee quarry a similar 

 fauna with Spirifer cameratus I's, found in the yellowish shales. No. 

 6, above the quarry limestone. On account of this fauna and 

 their stratigraphic position, all of the Carboniferous rocks in 

 the vicinity of Louisville are referred to the Wabaunsee forma- 

 tion. On the Platte River, the Permian is not represented and 

 the Dakota sandstone rests unconformably on the limestones and 

 shales of the Wabaunsee formation. This is consequently a very 

 important section as it shows that the 800 feet of Permian rocks 

 exposed along the Kansas and Smok}' Hill rivers in Kansas have 

 disappeared and the Dakota sandstone of the Cretaceous system 

 rests on the Wabaunsee formation of the Missourian series or 

 Upper Carboniferous. This conclusion agrees with that of Dr. 

 Hayden who on his "Geological Map of Nebraska" published 

 in 1858 represented the Lower Cretaceous (now known as the 



' Fin. Rep. U. S. Geol. Sur. Nebraska, p. 9. Also on p. 8 is the statement that 

 "near the old Otoe village, eight miles above the mouth of the Platte [is] a good 

 exposure of the sandstone resting conformably on the Carboniferous limestone." As 

 early as 1858 Meek and Hayden reported the Cretaceous sandstone on the Platte 

 River as resting "directly upon Carboniferous rocks" near the mouth of the Elk Horn 

 River which is some twent}' miles above Louisville (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., Vol. 

 X, p. 259). However, it appears that in these early explorations of Meek and Hayden 

 they did not recognize the unconformity between the Carboniferous and Cretaceous 

 for in January 1859, they published the following statement : "In conclusion we would 

 state that, there is no unconformability so far as our knowledge extends, amongst all 

 the rocks of Nebraska and northeastern Kansas, from the Coal Measures to the top of 

 the most recent Cretaceous " (Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., \'ol. XXVII. p. 35). 



