C. W. Honess — Stanley Shale of Oklahoma, 63 



Art. Y.—The Stanley Shale of Oklahoma; by C. W. 



HOXESS. 



[Bj permission of C. W. Shannon, Director, Oklahoma Geological Survey, 

 Norman, Oklahoma.] 



Introduction. 



Althoiigli the Stanley shale was not defined and named 

 until 1902^ the strata composing this formation have been 

 kno^\m since the fore part of the 19th century, when the 

 early explorers and travelers entered the regions of the 

 outcroppings and wrote brief descriptions of the topog- 

 raphy and described some of the exposures.^' ^ 



In January, 1857, the Arkansas Geological Survey was 

 organized and D. I). Owen made State Geologist. His 

 explorations and studies led him into all parts of the 

 State and by 1860 his second report appeared, which had 

 to do with the middle and southern counties of Arkansas, 

 including the area of outcrop of the Stanley in that State. 

 His work was of the nature of a reconnaissance, and his 

 untimely death prevented his writing all of the report; 

 nevertheless he succeeded in determining, at least to his 

 own satisfaction, the general position in the geological 

 column of the Jackf ork and Stanley, both of which he as- 

 signed to the ^^ sub-Carboniferous, '^ i. e. ^^at least not 



lower than the base of the 'sub-Carboniferous' and 



the highest and newest of this great series of sandstones, 

 slates and shales not younger than the base of the true 

 coal measures."^ 



Since his time several geologists have studied the Stan- 

 ley both in Arkansas and in Oklahoma, notably J. A. 

 Taff,^ George H. Girty,« and H. D. Miser.^ 



^ Taff, J. A. : Atoka Folio of the TJ. S. Geol. Survey, No. 79, page 4 

 ("from the village of Stanley in the Kiamitia Valley, where it is extensively 

 exposed"). 



^Nuttall, Thos. : "A Journal of Travels into Arkansas Territory during 

 the year 1819, ' ' etc., pp. 296, Philadelphia, 1821. 



^Ward, J. A.: "A Geological Eeconnaissance of the Arkansas Eiver,'* 

 Cincinnati, 1853. 



* Owen, D. D. : 2nd Kept, of a Geological Reconnaissance of the middle and 

 southern counties of Arkansas for 1859-60, pp. 13-153. Philadelphia, 1860. 



' Taff, J. A. : Atoka Folio, No. 79, U. S. Geol. Survey, Atlas. 



«Girty, Geo. H.: Fauna of the Caney Shale, U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 

 377. 



■^ Miser, H. D. : Manganese Deposits of Caddo Gap and DeQueen Quad- 

 rangle. U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 660-C. 



