Galena Group

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Galena Group
Stratigraphic range: Darriwilian-Sandbian
Trochonema.jpg
Unidentified Trochonema from the Galena Group
Type Group
Sub-units Decorah Shale, Dunleith Formation, Wise Lake Formation, Dubuque Formation [1]
Underlies Maquoketa Group
Overlies Platteville Limestone
Location
Country United States
Extent Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois

The Galena Group or Galena Limestone refers to a sedimentary sequence of Ordovician limestone that was deposited atop the Decorah Shale. It is part of the Ordovician stratigraphy of the Upper Midwestern United States. It was deposited in a calm marine environment, and is fossiliferous. [2]

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Decorah Shale

The Decorah Shale is a fossiliferous shale that makes up the lowermost formation in the Galena Group. The Decorah lies above the Platteville Limestone and below the Cummingsville Formation in the sedimentary sequence that formed from the shallow sea that covered central North America during Ordovician Time. The Decorah consists of three members : Spechts Ferry, Guttenberg, and Ion. The Spechts Ferry member is organic-rich and suggests a large influx of terrigenous sediment during deposition. The Guttenberg is characterized by nodular calcareous beds and contains several K-bentonite deposits. The Ion Member, present in the southern Decorah in Iowa, is characterized by alternating beds of shale and limestone.

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Douglas Lake Member Geologic formation in [[Tennessee]], United States

The Douglas Lake Member is a geologic unit of member rank of the Lenoir Limestone that overlies the Mascot Dolomite and underlies typical nodular member of the Lenoir Limestone in Douglas Lake, Tennessee, region. It fills depressions that are part of a regional unconformity at the base of Middle Ordovician strata, locally the Lenoir Limestone, that separates them from the underlying Lower Ordovician strata, locally the Knox Group.

The Edinburg Formation is an Ordovician-age geological formation in Virginia. It is primarily composed of basinal limestone and shale, and is one of the younger units in the "Middle Ordovician" sequence of the Shenandoah Valley. However, fossils have shown that it actually was deposited in the early part of the Late Ordovician. There are two major facies encompassed by the Edinburg Formation. The more abundant Liberty Hall facies consist of evenly bedded black limestone and shale. In a few areas, the Liberty Hall facies intertongue with the Lantz Mill facies. The Lantz Mill facies are grainy or cobbly wackestone which weathers to a buff brown color. Fossils are diverse, including graptolites, brachiopods, and trilobites.

References

  1. Raatz, William; Ludvigson, Greg (1996). "Depositional environments and sequence stratigraphy of Upper Ordovician epicontinental deep water deposits, eastern Iowa and southern Minnesota". Special Paper of the Geological Society of America. 306 via ResearchGate.
  2. Mossler, J. and Benson, S., 1995, 1999, 2006, Fossil Collecting in the Twin Cities Area. Minnesota at a Glance: Minnesota Geological Survey: University of Minnesota.