Huworth—Stratigraphy of the Kansas Coal Measures. 465 
this in turn is older than any of the shale beds above, a con- 
dition which obtains throughout the whole of the Coal 
Measures, each particular limestone or shale system bei ng older 
than any and all of the rocks placed above it in our general 
section (Plate 1X) and younger than those placed below.* 
Every broad fact in the stratigraphy observed during three 
‘summers of extended field work by the writer and his assist- 
ants imply this. The paleontologic evidence also favors this 
view. A review of the fauna given shows that there has been 
a gradual progression from older to more recent forms con- 
tinuously from the Cherokee shales upwards. 
Third. The general character of the shales throughout the 
whole of the Coal Measures is such that they must have been 
deposited, in the main, in shallow water, probably ocean water. 
‘The great frequency of ripple marks and other physical prop- 
erties indicate this. The Burlingame shales with their rep- 
tilian tracks are at least one hundred and twenty-five miles 
northwest of the Cherokee shales and geologically about 2200 
feet above the base of the Coal Measures. The coastal area 
must therefore have progressed westward as geologic time 
advanced. 
fourth. The thickness of the Kansas Coal Measures cannot 
be much if any less than 2500 feet. In the general section 
herewith presented (Plate [X) it amounts to 2750 feet, but in it 
the average thickness of each formation is given as it is known. 
As some of them, particularly the Thayer, the Lane, and the 
Lawrence shales, are known to have different thicknesses in 
different parts of the state, it is presumable that no one point 
could be found with all the systems as thick as given in the 
general section. However, at Cherryvale the known thick- 
ness from the top of the hills is a little over 1100 feet, while 
* This statement may seem unnecessary, but those who have carefully followed 
the writings of Winslow and Keyes on the Coal Measures of Missouri and Iowa 
will recall that different views have been expressed. See Winslow, Bulletin Am. 
Geol. Soc., vol. iii, p. 109, and Mo. Geol. Surv. Preliminary Report on Coal, pp. 
19-32, Keyes, Ia. Geol. Sur., vol. i, 1892, pp. 84-85: ‘‘ At the same time it must 
be remembered that this does not necessarily imply that the * lower’ measures 
are to be considered much older than the ‘upper,’ but rather that along the great 
and successive planes of sedimentation different beds of the upper and lower 
divisions were laid down contemporaneously ;” and vol. ii, p. 160: ‘‘ Heretofore 
the general impression has been that the ‘Lower’ Coal Measures of the state 
were deposited prior to the laying down of the rocks of the Upper Division. 
Recent investigation seems to show that the two were formed contempo- 
raneously ;” p. 161, ‘‘The ‘Lower’ Coal Measures are not then a series of beds 
laid down previous to the deposition of the ‘ Upper’ Coal Measures. Each par- 
ticular part of the former was deposited at the same time as portions of the latter 
farther seaward. .. As a whole, the ‘Lower’ Coal Measures do actually lie 
_ beneath the ‘Upper’ Coal Measures; but the line of separation is nota line 
drawn parallel, but obliquely to the planes of sedimentation.” See also figs. 9 
and 10, p. 162; Mo. Geol. Surv., vol. iv, p. 80-81; and this Journal, vol. 1, pp. 
241-242. 
