THE RELATION OF THE FORT SCOTT FORMATION TO 
THE BOONE CHERT IN SOUTHEASTERN KANSAS 
AND NORTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA? 
WALTER R. BERGER 
Bartlesville, Oklahoma 
The Fort Scott formation is a limestone with interbedded shales 
of the lower Pennsylvanian system in southeastern Kansas and 
northeastern Oklahoma. The outcrop of this formation extends 
from the region north and east of Fort Scott (T. 255., R. 25 E.), 
Kansas, southwestward to several miles south and east of Broken 
Arrow (T. 18 N., R. 14 E.), Oklahoma, where it is thin and too 
much covered for further mapping. The Boone chert (Osage 
series) of the Mississippian system is a hard, cherty limestone 
which outcrops in the extreme southeastern part of Kansas and the 
northeastern corner of Oklahoma. These two limestone horizons 
dip gently to the west and are separated in this area by the Cherokee 
formation. The Cherokee formation (Pennsylvanian) consists 
largely of shale with a few limestone and sandstone beds. ‘Toward 
the southern edge of the area under discussion other formations 
appear between the Boone chert and the Fort Scott formation. 
They are known as the Mayes’ limestone, the Fayetteville, the 
Pitkin, and the Morrow formations and consist largely of limestone 
with some shale. These affect only the area south of the territory 
discussed. 
The map on page 619 shows a number of isobathic lines, or lines 
connecting points of equal intervals, between the top of the Fort 
Scott formation and the top of the Boone chert. These intervals 
were determined from measured geologic sections on the outcrop 
of the formations and from about five hundred records of wells 
which have been drilled to the Boone chert, west of the outcrop 
« Published by permission of the chief geologist, Empire Gas and Fuel Company. 
2L. C. Snider, Okla. Geol. Surv. Bulletin No. 24, p. 27. 
618 
