Revision of Mississippian Stratigraphic Nomenclature in Kansas

Abstract

The following changes to the Mississippian stratigraphic nomenclature of Kansas are suggested: 1) the Chattanooga Shale is almost entirely Devonian in age with, perhaps, only the uppermost part early Mississippian; 2) the term Misener Sandstone should be used for a Devonian sandstone at the base of the Chattanooga, not for Mississippian sandstones at the base of the Mississippian carbonates; 3) Hannibal Shale should be used in Kansas instead of Boice Shale; 4) Compton Limestone should be used throughout Kansas instead of the somewhat poorly defined term "Chouteau Limestone," which should be abandoned; 5) Sedalia Formation should be used throughout the state (instead of Sedalia Dolomite); 6) Northview Shale should be used as a formation-rank unit in Kansas, occurring above the Sedalia Formation; 7) the term "Fern Glen Limestone" should be abandoned; 8) St. Joe Limestone Member should be replaced with Pierson Limestone at a formation rank; 9) Reeds Spring Limestone should be elevated from member rank to formation rank; 10) Elsey Formation is recognized only in the extreme southeastern part of Kansas (southeastern Cherokee County) where it is laterally continuous in adjacent parts of Missouri and Oklahoma; 11) Burlington-Keokuk Limestone should be used in those areas where lithostratigraphic separation is not possible; 12) the base of the Meramecian Stage probably occurs within the Warsaw Formation, not at its base as previously placed; 13) the Ste. Genevieve Limestone is Chesterian; 14) Cowley Formation is recognized as a formation-level stratigraphic unit (equivalent to all or part of the St. Louis-upper Chattanooga interval) in the subsurface of south-central Kansas; 15) the St. Louis Limestone in the subsurface of southwestern Kansas is composed of the Hugoton Member below and the Stevens Member above; and 16) the Shore Airport Formation is recognized as the post-Ste. Genevieve Chesterian unit in the subsurface of southwestern Kansas.