Introduction to Kansas Geology. 9 
start and travel over the exposed edges of the successive formations 
throughout a considerable portion of the entire column. 
Of the above-mentioned geological column Kansas geology deals 
only with the Carboniferous and younger rocks, excepting as we 
may penetrate far below the surface of the earth by drill or imagi- 
nation to consider those which lie beneath the surface. The por- 
tion of the column above the Devonian is well represented in our 
state. 
The geologic structure of Kansas, when considered on a grand 
scale, is simple, but in detail often becomes complex and difficult. 
In the extreme southeast part of the state over an area not exceed- 
ing thirty square miles, dense limestones and interbedded chert 
rocks, with the residual products produced by their superficial 
decay, constitute all that is to be seen of the geologic formation. 
These limestones and cherts extend westward as far as prospecting 
with the drill has yet shown their presence or absence, constituting 
the floor upon which rest all the remaining parts of the rock forma: 
tions of the state. Could we examine below this floor we would 
find that it in turn rests on other rocky layers and they on others, 
for a distance of about 2000 feet, at which place the drill would 
reach the solid granite or gneiss or shist below which no limestones 
or sandstones or shales could be found. But the limestone and flint 
beds above mentioned are the floor for the Kansas formations, and 
may well serve as a limit to our present investigations. In the 
eastern part of the state this floor universally dips to the west, 
the southwest or northwest, varying in places to a considerable 
extent, but being moderately uniform, and the superimposed strata 
one above the other follow this inclination. This westward dip of 
the strata and the eastward dip of the surface serve to bring the 
succeeding strata individually to the surface like the ends of shingles 
on the house roof. As we pass westward the surface rises from 
the horizon but rises doubly fast from the limestone and cherty 
floor, so that could we dig a trench from the eastern line of the 
state westward following the surface of the floor, it would rapidly 
become deeper, and in its walls would be exposed the successive 
layers of rock one above the other as they actually occur. But the 
westward sloping of the strata is not continued throughout the 
