UPPER PALEOZOIC FORMATIONS OF KANSAS ?oy 



was called the " Emporia blue" by Mr. Smith, 1 who states that 

 it is much more uniform than the upper, and that he has traced 

 it across Lyon county. He also identified it two miles east of 

 Harveyville, in Wabaunsee county, and four miles northwest of 

 Eureka, in Greenwood county. It appears to be a persistent 

 limestone for some considerable distance, which can be traced 

 and mapped, and is, therefore, probably entitled to rank as a sub- 

 stage of the Wabaunsee. 



formation. — Above the Emporia limestone, as 



described by Mr. Smith, is a zone nearly seventy feet thick, com- 

 posed mainly of shale, but with a foot of limestone and a five- 

 inch stratum of coal in the lower part, and a five-foot sandstone 

 near the top. Then comes a zone composed of five limestone 

 strata from one to two feet in thickness, separated by shales 

 from four to ten feet thick, and with a total thickness of twenty- 

 four feet. Mr. Smith named this zone the Emporia system, 2 

 and has represented its distribution three-fourths of the distance 

 across Lyon county. 3 He writes me, however, that " the five 

 limestones which I have included in the Emporia system are not 

 very persistent, and the character and thickness of the stone, as 

 well as the intervening shale, are subject to sudden changes. I 

 have been unable to identify it beyond the lines of this county." 4 

 It hardly appears desirable to regard this zone as entitled to the 

 rank of a formation. Then, according to the measurements of 

 Mr. Smith, there are 210 feet of rocks composed largely of sandy 

 shales, but also containing some thin beds of limestone, coal, and 

 sandstone. The most important coal stratum is ten inches in 

 thickness, and it occurs 75 y 2 feet above the base of this mem- 

 ber. So far as I am able to judge, it would appear advisable to 

 put these three members in one formation, giving it a thickness 

 of about three hundred feet. Dr. Adams ranked the rocks 

 included between the Emporia and Americus limestones as a 

 formation, which he has named in manuscript, and, therefore, no 

 name is proposed for this formation. 



i-Ibid., p. 2. 2 Bull. Lyon County Geol., 1902, p. 3. 



3 Trans. Kan. Acad. Set., Vol. XVII, 1901, p. 191 ; and Bull. Lyon County Geol., 

 P . 8. 



4 Letter of January 20,, 1902. 



