The Late Pleistocene Loesses of Central Kansas

Abstract

The texture and composition of widespread loess deposits in central and northern Kansas are described. The discovery of buried soils in uplands of these areas provides basis for correlating loesses of the central part of the State with those in northern Kansas and in Nebraska. The loess deposits are classed as belonging to the Sanborn formation, originally defined in northwesternmost Kansas, inasmuch as they correspond to the type section of the Sanborn in lithologic character and stratigraphic span. Subdivisions of the Sanborn formation are correlated with units in Nebraska and Iowa and are here designated the Loveland silt member (Loveland soil at the top), the Peoria silt member (Brady soil at the top), and the Bignell silt member (surface soil at the top). Names are not proposed for the channel facies of the silt members.