Coal Resources of the Cretaceous System (Dakota Formation) in Central Kansas

Abstract

The Cretaceous lignite-bearing strata (in the Dakota formation) crop out in the north-central part of the State, chiefly in Clay, Cloud, Ellsworth, Hodgeman, Lincoln, Ottawa, Republic, Rice, Saline, and Washington counties. Between 1875 and 12-40 more than 300,000 tons of lignite valued at approximately $1,000,000 were mined in Clay, Cloud, Ellsworth, Jewell, Lincoln, Mitchell, Republic, and Russell counties. The lignite where mined ranged from 12 to 36 inches in thickness and occurred within the uppermost 25 feet of the Janssen clay, upper member of the Dakota formation. It is estimated that there are approximately 55,000,000 tons of lignite from 12 to 36 inches thick remaining in the ground and 198,000,000 tons if all types of reserves--marginal, measured, and alleged--are considered.

This report includes a description of the geographic distribution, stratigraphic position, thickness, contact rocks, and physical and chemical characters of the Dakota formation coals. It also contains information on the history of Cretaceous coal mining, mining methods, production, and coal reserve data. The report consists of two parts. The first part deals with the lignite in general, whereas the second discusses in detail the occurrence, mining, mining districts, production, and reserves in each of the 10 counties in which the lignite has been mined as well as its occurrence in several other counties.

The demonstrated value of lignite as a possible future source of synthetic gasoline and other liquid fuels places the Kansas lignite deposits as a potential coal reserve.