Waldron Shale

Last updated
Waldron Shale
Stratigraphic range: Homerian [1]
Waldron Shale (Middle Silurian) (St. Paul Stone Quarry, St. Paul, Indiana, USA) 4 (21833021510).jpg
Waldron Shale (St. Paul Stone Quarry, St. Paul, Indiana)
Type Formation
Underlies Lego Limestone and Louisville Limestone
Overlies Laurel Formation and Salamonie Dolomite
Location
Country United States
Extent Indiana, Kentucky, and Mississippi

The Waldron Shale is a geologic formation in Indiana. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period. These fossils comprise at least three different benthic communities primarily living in the inter-reef, deep waters that were stable for much of the Wenlockian epoch. [2] Many of these fossils are found most frequently around microbioherms constructed by small encrusting organisms which protected other species from the effects of storms. [3] [2]

This formation was named by Moses N. Elrod, M.D. in 1883. He wrote about in a report about the geology of Decatur County, Indiana.

"The Upper Niagara shale bed, is the calcareous clay, shale and thin strata of limestone overlying the quarry stone, and closing the Niagara period and group. The greater per cent of the mass is carbonate of lime. In Shelby county, they are known as the Waldron beds. In my report on Bartholomew county, I generally called this formation Calcareous shale, which is appropriate so far as chemical composition is concerned, but the presence of another calcareous shale at the base of the Niagara group in this county, not seen in Shelby and Bartholomew, necessitates the use of a more specific term. Following the rule of priority, Waldron being the place where the Upper Niagan bed fossils were first found and studied, I shall refer to it by the name of Waldron shale. In general it is made up of thin laminae of shale, frequently erroneously called slate, with bands of limestone near bottom; and where constantly wet, the shale is replaced by clay. Where exposed to atmospheric influences it weathers to a buff or ochrey-colored friable clay, scarcely distinguishable from the surrounding yellow clay; where protected, the color is uniformly a drab or blue, with occasional streaks of green. The Waldron shale is not uniformly found at all the places where both the Niagara and Corniferous groups outcrop. It was seen only on Clifty creek and Flat Rock, in the west and northwest parts of the county. In thickness, it ranges from ten inches to six feet. At certain places the upper shale is highly fossiliferous, as at St. Paul, and at Hartsville, less than one mile west of the Decatur county line; at some points no fossils could be found, and very few at others." [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aymestry Limestone</span> Geologic formation in England

The Aymestry Limestone is a fossiliferous limestone of Gorstian age deposited in a warm shallow sea near the eastern margin of the Iapetus Ocean. It occurs in England in the Ludlow Group, between the Upper and Lower Ludlow Shales. It derives its name from Aymestrey (sic), Herefordshire, where it may be seen on both sides of the River Lugg. It is well developed in the neighbourhood of Ludlow and occupies a similar position in the Ludlow shales at Woolhope, the Abberley Hills, May Hill and the Malvern Hills.

The Ludlow Group are geologic formations deposited during the Ludlow epoch of the Silurian period in the British Isles, in areas of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wills Creek Formation</span> Bedrock unit in the Eastern United States

Wills Creek Formation is a mapped Silurian bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decorah Shale</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Formation</span>

The Stephen Formation is a geologic formation exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia and Alberta, on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It consists of shale, thin-bedded limestone, and siltstone that was deposited during Middle Cambrian time. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of soft-bodied fossils: the Burgess Shale biota. The formation overlies the Cathedral escarpment, a submarine cliff; consequently it is divided into two quite separate parts, the 'thin' sequence deposited in the shallower waters atop the escarpment, and the 'thick' sequence deposited in the deeper waters beyond the cliff. Because the 'thick' Stephen Formation represents a distinct lithofacies, some authors suggest it warrants its own name, and dub it the Burgess Shale Formation. The stratigraphy of the Thin Stephen Formation has not been subject to extensive study, so except where explicitly mentioned this article applies mainly to the Thick Stephen Formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cincinnati Arch</span> Geologic uplift in the Midwestern United States

The Cincinnati Arch is a broad structural uplift between the Illinois Basin to the west, the Michigan Basin to the northwest, and the Appalachian Basin and Black Warrior Basin to the east and southeast. It existed as a positive topographic area during late Ordovician through the Devonian period which stretched from northern Alabama northeastward to the southeastern tip of Ontario. Fossils from the Ordovician are commonplace in the geologic formations which make up the Cincinnati Arch and are commonly studied along man made roadcuts. The Nashville Dome of Tennessee and the Jessamine Dome or Lexington Dome of central Kentucky make up the central portion of the arch. In the northern part, north of Cincinnati, Ohio, the Cincinnati Arch branches to form the Findlay and Kankakee arches. The Findlay plunges under Ontario and reappears as the Algonquin Arch further north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamiami Formation</span> Late Miocene to Pliocene geologic formation in the southwest Florida peninsula

The Tamiami Formation is a Late Miocene to Pliocene geologic formation in the southwest Florida peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barstow Formation</span> Geologic formation in the Mojave Desert near Barstow, San Bernardino County, California

The Barstow Formation is a series of limestones, conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones and shales exposed in the Mojave Desert near Barstow in San Bernardino County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queenston Formation</span>

The Queenston Formation is a geological formation of Upper Ordovician age, which outcrops in Ontario, Canada and New York, United States. A typical outcrop of the formation is exposed at Bronte Creek just south of the Queen Elizabeth Way. The formation is a part of the Queenston Delta clastic wedge, formed as an erosional response to the Taconic Orogeny. Lithologically, the formation is dominated by red and grey shales with thin siltstone, limestone and sandstone interlayers. As materials, comprising the clastic wedge, become coarser in close proximity to the Taconic source rocks, siltstone and sandstone layers are predominant in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brassfield Formation</span>

The Brassfield Formation, named by A.F. Foerste in 1906, is a limestone and dolomite formation exposed in Arkansas, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee and West Virginia in the United States. It is Early Silurian in age and well known for its abundant echinoderms, corals and stromatoporoids. In Ohio, where the unit has escaped dolomitization, the Brassfield is an encrinite biosparite with numerous crinoid species.

The Traverse Group is a geologic group in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio comprising middle Devonian limestones with calcareous shale components. Its marine fossils notably include Michigan's state stone, the Petoskey stone, among other corals and records of ancient marine life. A range of trilobites has also been found in the Traverse Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitewater Formation</span> Geologic formation in Ohio and Indiana

The Whitewater Formation is a geologic formation in Ohio and Indiana. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ordovician period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delmar Formation</span> Geologic formation in California

The Delmar Formation is a geologic formation best exposed in seashore cliffs at Del Mar and Solana Beach in California, overlayed by Torrey Sandstone. The formation rocks comprise the barrier bar for Los Peñasquitos Lagoon and have three sub-facies that can be classified as ancient oyster reefs, tidal flats and sublittoral channels and ponds The formation is a result of sedimentary infilling of a large Eocene Delmar lagoon and contains fossils from that period. First identified as "Delmar Sand" by Hanna in 1926. Frederiksen dates the formation as early Lutetian.

The Attawapiskat Formation is a geologic formation in Ontario. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period.

The Mount Hawk Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Devonian age. It is present on the western edge of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin in the Rocky Mountains and foothills of Alberta. It consists primarily of limestone and mudstone, and was named for Hawk Mountain in Jasper National Park by R. de Wit and D.J. McLaren in 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lulworth Formation</span>

The Lulworth Formation is a geologic formation in England. It dates from the late Tithonian to the mid Berriasian. It is a subunit of the Purbeck Group. In Dorset, it consists of three members, which are in ascending order, the Mupe Member, the Ridgway Member, and the Warbarrow Tout Member. The Mupe Member is typically 11 to 16 m thick and largely consists of marls and micrites with interbeds of calcareous mudstone. The Ridgeway Member is about 3 to 7 m thick and consists of in its western portion carbonaceous muds, marls and micrites, in the east the muds are replaced by micritic limestone. The Warbarrow Tout Member is 17 to 39 m thick and consists of limestone at the base and micrite and mudstone for the rest of the sequence, this member is the primary source of the vertebrate fossils within the formation. Elsewhere the unit is undifferentiated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buildwas Formation</span>

The Buildwas Formation, formerly called Wenlock Shale and Buildwas Beds, is a geologic formation in Shropshire, England. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period. The formation is the defining formation of the Sheinwoodian age of the Wenlock epoch, the Middle Silurian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dent Group</span>

The Dent Group is a group of Upper Ordovician sedimentary and volcanic rocks in north-west England. It is the lowermost part of the Windermere Supergroup, which was deposited in the foreland basin formed during the collision between Laurentia and Avalonia. It lies unconformably on the Borrowdale Volcanic Group. This unit was previously known as the Coniston Limestone Group or Coniston Limestone Formation and should not be confused with the significantly younger Coniston Group.

The geology of Ohio formed beginning more than one billion years ago in the Proterozoic eon of the Precambrian. The igneous and metamorphic crystalline basement rock is poorly understood except through deep boreholes and does not outcrop at the surface. The basement rock is divided between the Grenville Province and Superior Province. When the Grenville Province crust collided with Proto-North America, it launched the Grenville orogeny, a major mountain building event. The Grenville mountains eroded, filling in rift basins and Ohio was flooded and periodically exposed as dry land throughout the Paleozoic. In addition to marine carbonates such as limestone and dolomite, large deposits of shale and sandstone formed as subsequent mountain building events such as the Taconic orogeny and Acadian orogeny led to additional sediment deposition. Ohio transitioned to dryland conditions in the Pennsylvanian, forming large coal swamps and the region has been dryland ever since. Until the Pleistocene glaciations erased these features, the landscape was cut with deep stream valleys, which scoured away hundreds of meters of rock leaving little trace of geologic history in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic.

References

  1. The Silurian of central Kentucky, U.S.A.: Stratigraphy, palaeoenvironments and palaeoecology
  2. 1 2 Peters, Shanan E.; Bork, Kennard B. (June 1999). "Species-Abundance Models: An Ecological Approach to Inferring Paleoenvironment and Resolving Paleoecological Change in the Waldron Shale (Silurian)". PALAIOS. 14 (3): 234. doi:10.2307/3515436. ISSN   0883-1351.
  3. Archer, Allen W.; Feldman, Howard Randall (April 1986). "Microbioherms of the Waldron Shale (Silurian, Indiana): Implications for Organic Framework in Silurian Reefs of the Great Lakes Area". PALAIOS. 1 (2): 133. doi:10.2307/3514506. ISSN   0883-1351.
  4. Collett, John, ed. (1884). Thirteenth Annual Report Indiana Geological Survey Annual Report 1883. Indianapolis: Indiana Department of Geology and Natural History. p. 111.