| Willard Formation Willard Shale | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: [1] (Virgilian stage) [2] | |
| Type | Formation |
| Unit of | Wabaunsee Group |
| Underlies | Zeandale Limestone |
| Overlies | Emporia Limestone |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Argillaceous shale |
| Other | Thin arenaceous shales, sand |
| Location | |
| Region | Kansas |
| Country | United States |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Willard, Kansas [3] |
| Named by | Beede [3] |
| Year defined | 1898 [3] |
The Willard Formation, also referred to as Willard Shale, is a Late-Carboniferous geologic formation in Kansas, extending into Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma. [2] [1]
The full face of the formation is exposed for easy access on the north bank of Deep Creek at the public park, Pillsbury Crossing, in southeast Riley County, Kansas, [4] about 25 miles (40 km) west of the type location at Willard, Kansas. [3]
Colorado is a geologic name applied to certain rocks of Cretaceous age in the North America, particularly in the western Great Plains. This name was originally applied to classify a group of specific marine formations of shale and chalk known for their importance in Eastern Colorado. The surface outcrop of this group produces distinctive landforms bordering the Great Plains and it is a significant feature of the subsurface of the Denver Basin and the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. These formations record important sequences of the Western Interior Seaway. As the geology of this seaway was studied, this name came to be used in states beyond Colorado but later was replaced in several of these states with more localized names.
The Ogallala Formation is a Miocene to early Pliocene geologic formation in the central High Plains of the western United States and the location of the Ogallala Aquifer. In Nebraska and South Dakota it is also classified as the Ogallala Group. Notably, it records the North American Land Mammal Ages (NALMAs) Hemphillian, Clarendonian, and Barstovian. It also includes an excellent record of grass seeds and other plant seeds, which can be used for biostratigraphic dating within the formation. The Ogallala Formation outcrops of Lake Meredith National Recreation Area preserve fish fossils. Similar specimens from the same unit are found at Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument in Texas.
The Oread Limestone is a geologic unit of formation rank within the Shawnee Group throughout much of its extent. It is exposed in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Iowa. The type locality is Mount Oread within Lawrence, Kansas. It preserves fossils of the Carboniferous period. Although it has significant shale members, its limestone members are resistant and form escarpments and ridges. Limestone from the unit is a historic building material in Kansas, particularly in the early buildings of the University of Kansas; standing examples include Spooner Hall and Dyche Hall.
The Graneros Shale is a geologic formation in the United States identified in the Great Plains as well as New Mexico that dates to the Cenomanian Age of the Cretaceous Period. It is defined as the finely sandy argillaceous or clayey near-shore/marginal-marine shale that lies above the older, non-marine Dakota sand and mud, but below the younger, chalky open-marine shale of the Greenhorn. This definition was made in Colorado by G. K. Gilbert and has been adopted in other states that use Gilbert's division of the Benton's shales into Carlile, Greenhorn, and Graneros. These states include Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and New Mexico as well as corners of Minnesota and Iowa. North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana have somewhat different usages — in particular, north and west of the Black Hills, the same rock and fossil layer is named Belle Fourche Shale.
The Greenhorn Limestone or Greenhorn Formation is a geologic formation in the Great Plains Region of the United States, dating to the Cenomanian and Turonian ages of the Late Cretaceous period. The formation gives its name to the Greenhorn cycle of the Western Interior Seaway.
The Inyan Kara Group is a geologic group classification applied in South Dakota and adopted in portions of Wyoming and Montana. It preserves fossils of the mid-Cretaceous period. Of late Albian age, this classification correlates with the lower Dakota Formation known in the southwest corner of the State.
The Valentine Formation is a geologic unit formation or member within the Ogallala unit in northcentral Nebraska near the South Dakota border. It preserves fossils dating to the Miocene epoch of the Neogene period and is particularly noted for Canid fossils. This unit consists of loosely-consolidated sandstone that crumbles easily. These sands carry the water of the Ogallala Aquifer and is the source of much of the water in the Niobrara River. A particular feature of the Valentine is lenticular beds of green-gray opaline sandstone that can be identified in other states, including South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. Although three mammalian fauna stages can be mapped throughout the range of the Ogallala, no beddings of the Ogallala are mappable and all attempts of formally applying the Valentine name to any mappable lithology beyond the type location have been abandoned. Even so, opaline sandstone has been used to refer to this green-gray opalized conglomerate sandstone that is widely found in the lower Ogallala Formation.
The Council Grove Group is a geologic group in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska as well as subsurface Colorado. It preserves fossils dating to the Carboniferous-Permian boundary. This group forms the foundations and lower ranges of the Flint Hills of Kansas, underlying the Chase Group that forms the highest ridges of the Flint Hills.
The Wabaunsee Group is a Late-Carboniferous geologic group in Kansas, extending into Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The unit is recognized in the subsurface by drillers in Colorado as Wabaunsee Formation.
The Emporia Formation, also referred to as Emporia Limestone, is a Late-Carboniferous geologic formation in Kansas, extending into Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
The Tarkio Limestone, is a Late-Carboniferous member of the Zeandale Formation in Kansas, extending into Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri. The unit was named for outcrops in the Tarkio Valley in northwestern Missouri, however, R.C. Moore designated a typical exposure of this unit on Mill Creek, southwest of Maple Hill, Kansas. Owing to its unusual coloration, an early name for this rock was chocolate limestone. This rock can be recognized by its coloration and abundant fusulinids, Triticites ventricosus, protruding from the surfaces, giving a "raspy" texture.
The Foraker Formation is a geologic formation in Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. It preserves fossils dating to the Carboniferous period.
The Johnson Formation is a thick geologic formation of soft shale with thin, resistant beds of chalkier mudstone and limestone in Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma rarely exposed outside of road cuts. It preserves fossils dating back to the late-Carboniferous period.
The Red Eagle Formation is a geologic formation ranging from Oklahoma, through Kansas, into southeast Nebraska of the United States. Its members define the Carboniferous-Permian boundary in Kansas.
The Grenola Formation is an early Permian geologic formation (Wolfcampian) with its exposure running north and south through Kansas and extending into Nebraska and Oklahoma, notably having the Neva Limestone member, which is a terrace-forming aquifer and historic Flint Hills building stone source secondary to the Cottonwood Limestone.
The Benton Shale is a geologic formation name historically used in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. In the "mile high" plains in the center of the continent, the named layers preserve marine fossils from the Late Cretaceous Period. The term Benton Limestone has also been used to refer to the chalky portions of the strata, especially the beds of the strata presently classified as Greenhorn Limestone, particularly the Fencepost limestone.
Cottonwood Limestone, or simply the Cottonwood, is a stratigraphic unit and a historic stone resource in east-central Kansas, northeast-central Oklahoma, and southeastern Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. It is the lowest member of the Beattie Limestone formation and commonly outcrops within the deep valleys and on top of the scenic residual ridges of the Flint Hills.
The Roca Formation is an early Permian geologic formation (Wolfcampian) with its exposure running north and south through Kansas and extending into Nebraska and Oklahoma, notably comprising varicolored black, brown, gray, green, red, and blue shales, mudstones, and limestone, some of which representing Permian paleosols.
The Lawrence Formation, also referred to as Lawrence Shale, is a Late-Carboniferous geologic formation in Kansas, extending into Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma. This unit was named by Erasmus Haworth in 1894, the year that Haworth founded the Kansas Geological Survey in Lawrence, Kansas, having personally surveyed the formation the year before.
Haskell Limestone is a geological unit name originating in Kansas and used in adjoining states. The Pennsylvanian period unit was named by R.C. Moore for the Haskell Institute in the southeast of Lawrence, Kansas in 1931. The name has been applied to various beds within this range, and assigned as a member variously to the Lawrence Formation, Cass Formation, and Stranger Formation, and significant legacy literature exists for each classification. These three formations now comprise the Douglas Group.
The Willard formation, named from a village in Shawnee County, Kansas, was differentiated by Beede in 1898. In some reports of the Kansas Geological Survey an error in correlation of units appears, but the Willard is now recognized as the shale between the Elmont and Tarkio limestones.
Distribution--This shale is exposed in a small area on both sides of Deep Creek in southeastern Riley County. It can easily be seen at Pillsbury Crossing ....
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