Riese a ea ee a ee ae ee ee 
150 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY... 
mine all the stratigraphic details, it is considered that the observa 
tions are sufficiently valuable to be worthy of record. To the north | 
of this region the Permian and Upper Carboniferous rocks of cen- 
tral Kansas have been somewhat fully described by the writer,’ as 
well as those along the southern border of the state, from the 
western part of Cowley county westward.® The Upper Carbonifer- 
ous formations under consideration—the Wabaunsee and Cotton- 
wood—form the upper part of the Missourian series of Keyes; 
while the Neosho, Chase and Marion comprise all the Permian 
formations of Kansas in which fossils have been found in that 
state. For these three Permian formations and the overlying Wel- 
lington shales Prof. Cragin has proposed the name Big Blue series 
from the Big Blue river, in northern Kansas and southern: Ne- 
braska.? In southern Kansas, succeeding the Wellington shales, 
is a mass of red sandstones and shales, with a prominent gypsum 
deposit in the upper part, which is known as the Red-beds, or a 
Cimarron series. These rocks have been recently quite fully des- 
cribed by Prof. Cragin* and the writer;® but there is uncertainty as 
to their age. Prof. Cragin in his work correlated the series with 
the Texas Permian, and this correlation was accepted provisionally 
by the writer in the Kansas report. In that report a full review of 
the various published opinions in regard to the age of the Cimarron 
series was given, but since it was written three papers have been 
published referring to this question, which may be noticed in this 
connection. Dr. Williston says: ‘That these red-beds are not 
contemporaneous with the Texas Permian would seem assured, and 
I feel yet more confident that they are, what they were first con- 
sidered to be, of Triassic age.’’® 
In another publication Dr. Williston virtually expresses the same 
opinion when he says: ‘I believe yet more strongly, what I always 
3 
have believed, that the red-beds of Kansas are Triassic in age. 
It is quite true that their general lithologic appearance is certainly 
very similar to that of the Triassic rocks in other parts of the | 
United States. ] 
Prof. Grimsley, who has carefully studied the Kansas gypsum 1 
deposits, says that the Red-beds ‘probably mark the transition | 
from Permian to Cretaceous.’’® {| 
1 Bull. Geol. Soc, Amer., vol. vi, 1894, p. 29. Jour. Geol,, vol. 11, 1895, pp. 682, 764, Univ, i 
Geol. Surv. Kan,, vol. il, 1897, p. 58 ; 
2 Univ. Geol, Surv. Kun., vol. ii, p. 64 
| 8 Col. Coll. Studies, vol. vi, 1896, pp. 3 
| 4 Col. Coll. Stuies, vol. vi, p. 18. 
| 5 Univ. Geol. Surv. Kan.. vol. fi, p. 75. 
Science, N.S8., vol. v. ‘7 
Kan. Untv. Quar., vol vi, Jan.. 1897, Ser. A., p. 56, 
8 Bull. Geol. Soc, Amer.. vol. viii, March, 1897, p. 286. Kan. Univ. Quar., vol. vi, Jan, 
1897, Ser. A, p. 17, for the same statement, 
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