712 J. W. BEEDE 
black in color. Blue, gray, and drab are the prevailing colors. The 
limestones are blue or gray weathering to a buff, and are sometimes 
nearly white. They are almost invariably well lithified, more or less 
crystalline, and are not very porous. ‘The thickness of the whole 
succession, up to the Americus limestone, is over 2,000 feet or 2,500 
feet, including the Cherokee shales. 
The limestones do not all continue to the southern limit of Kansas, 
some of them pinching out before reaching the Oklahoma line and 
others soon after crossing it. Few of them pass beyond the Arkansas 
River in that state. It seems that the central part of the Kansas basin 
may have been to the northwestward during later Pennsylvanian 
time, since the shales frequently become thinner, and the limestones 
thicker in that direction, though this cannot be said of the lower part 
of the section. Above the Americus limestone the succession of 
limestones and shales continues for about 700 feet. However, the 
shales become more calcareous and marly, the limestones more porous 
and less crystalline; massive gypsum beds are intercalated, and coal 
in quantities is wanting. The limestones also weather white." 
These changes are significant of decided physical or climatic changes, 
as the local pools of the lower horizons showed no tendency to con- 
centrate and form massive gypsum deposits. Probably, also, the 
changed aspect of the limestones is indicative of these altered con- 
ditions. The first large deposits of gypsum occur just above the 
Cottonwood limestone in the lower part of the Garrison formation 
(Neosho member). Above these are the Wreford limestone, Florence 
flint, Fort Riley and Winfield limestones, heavily charged with chert, 
and separated by thick layers of shale. The outcrops of these 
formations form the “Flint Hills” of the eastern part of central 
Kansas. Over these strata are two soft limestones with three inter- 
vening shale beds and a variegated, brecciated, thin limestone. ‘These 
are grouped in the Marion stage, and end the regular succession of 
limestones and shales. Over the rocks of the Marion stage lie the 
Wellington shales, probably several hundred feet in thickness, 
composed of blue, green, and some red shales. Upon these shales 
lie 1,400 feet of Red Beds in Kansas. The upper part of the Red 
« Adams called attention to these lithologic features, in U. S. Geological Survey, 
Bulletin 211, pp. 70-78, 1903. 
