Classification of Red Beds at Point of Rocks, Morton County, Kansas
A Historical Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/cres.v0i262.11841Abstract
The age of red beds exposed below the bluff-capping Ogallala Formation at Point of Rocks in Morton County, Kansas, has been disputed since they were first recognized in the late 1800s. Over the years, nearly 25 maps and reports have variously classified the strata as Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic, or Permian, creating an interesting history of speculation and stratigraphic nomenclature. Many of the interpretations relied on the indirect method of comparing lithologies to similar exposures in surrounding states, but none were in-depth studies. Until recently, the Kansas Geological Survey has considered the rocks to be Jurassic based on Zeller (1968), the currently recognized stratigraphic guide and chart for Kansas. A comprehensive study by Smith et al. (2015)--using outcrop descriptions, subsurface information, and detrital zircon data--constrained the age of the red beds at Point of Rocks, assigning them to the Guadalupian Big Basin Formation, the uppermost Permian unit in Kansas.
References
Croxton, N. M., Geist, J. W., and Peterson, A. E., 1998, Bridge foundation geology report, K-27 over the Cimarron River, Morton County, Kansas: Kansas Department of Transportation, Topeka, Kansas, 8 p.
Gould, C. N., 1901, The Dakota Cretaceous of Kansas and Nebraska: Kansas Academy of Science Transactions, v. 17, p. 122-178.
Haworth, E., 1896, A reconnaissance geologic map of Kansas; in, The University Geological Survey of Kansas, Vol. I: University Geological Survey of Kansas, v. 1, 320 p., Plate 31. [available online]
Jewett, J. M., 1959, Graphic column and classification of rocks in Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, 1 sheet.
Johnson, W. C., Woodburn, T. L., and Messinger, L. G., 2009, Surficial geology of Morton County, Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Map M-116, scale 1:50,000. [available online]
Kansas Geological Survey, 1964, Geologic map of Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Map M-1, 1:500,000 scale.
Kansas Geological Survey, 1991, Geologic map of Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Map M-23, 1:500,000 scale.
Kume, J., and Spinazola, J. M., 1985, Geohydrology of sandstone aquifers in southwestern Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Irrigation Series 8, 49 p. [available online]
Liggett, G. A., and Zakrzewski, R. J., 1997 (revised 1998), Final report on the geological and paleontologic investigation of the Cimarron National Grassland: Fort Hays State University and U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service contract #CC2-2-12-94-07-028, 29 p.
Liggett, G. A., Zakrzewski, R. J., and McNinch, K. L., 1998, Geologic and paleontologic investigation of the Cimarron National Grassland, Morton County, Kansas: Dakoterra, v. 5, p. 123-126.
McLaughlin, T. G., 1942, Geology and ground-water resources of Morton County, Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 40, 126 p. [available online]
McNinch, K. L., 1996, An integrated GIS database, geologic and paleontologic reconnaissance, and areal correlation of soils to geology within Cimarron National Grasslands (sic), Morton County, Kansas: M.S., Fort Hays State University, 99 p.
Merriam, D. F., 1963a, Triassic rocks in Kansas: The Compass, v. 40, no. 2, p. 122-127.
Merriam, D. F., 1963b, The geologic history of Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 162, 317 p. [available online]
Moore, R. C., Frye, J. C., and Jewett, J. M., 1944, Tabular description of outcropping rocks in Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 52, pt. 4, p. 137-212. [available online]
Moore, R. C., Frye, J. C., Jewett, J. M., Lee, W., and O'Connor, H. G., 1951, The Kansas rock column: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 89, 132 p. [available online]
Moore, R. C., Frye, J. C., Jewett, J. M., Lee, W., and O'Connor, H. G., 1952, Graphic column of Kansas rocks: Kansas Geological Survey, 1 sheet.
Moore, R. C., and Haynes, W. P., 1917, Oil and gas resources of Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 3, 391 p. [available online]
Moore, R. C., and Landes, K. K., 1937, Geologic map of Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, scale 1:500,000.
Norton, G. H., 1939, Permian redbeds in Kansas: Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 23, no. 12, p. 1,751-1,815.
O'Connor, H. G., 1963, Changes in Kansas stratigraphic nomenclature: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 47, no. 10, p. 1,873-1,877.
Sawin, R. S., 2015, Copies of archived correspondence pertinent to the decision to classify the exposure at Point of Rocks, Morton County, Kansas, as Jurassic by the Kansas Geological Survey in 1967: Kansas Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2015-2, 11 p. [available online]
Schoff, S. H., 1939, Geology and ground-water resources of Texas County, Oklahoma: Oklahoma Geological Survey, Bulletin 59, 248 p.
Smith, H. T. U., 1940, Geological studies in southwestern Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 34, 212 p. [available online]
Smith, J. J., Platt, B. F., Ludvigson, G. A., Sawin, R. S., Marshall, C. P., and Olcott-Marshall, A., 2015, Enigmatic red beds exposed at Point of Rocks, Cimarron National Grassland, Morton County, Kansas: Chronostratigraphic constraints from uranium-lead dating of detrital zircons: Kansas Geological Survey, Current Research in Earth Sciences, Bulletin 261, 17 p. [available online]
Voegeli, P. T., and Hershey, L. A., 1965, Geology and ground-water resources of Prowers county, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey, Water-Supply Paper 1772, 97 p. [available online]
Zeller, D. E., ed., 1968, The stratigraphic succession in Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 189, 81 p., 1 plate. [available online]
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors can view article download statistics for published articles within their accounts.
