Marine Paleocurrent Directions in Limestones of the Kansas City Group (Upper Pennsylvanian) in Eastern Kansas

Abstract

Cross-bedding directions in limestones of the Kansas City Group have a bimodal distribution on both a local and regional scale. In each unit the primary mode to the southwest, whereas the secondary mode is in the opposite direction. The strike of megaripples In these deposits is normal to these trends. Cross bedding in associated sandstones, in contrast, is unimodal, with the average direction trending to the southwest in Kansas, west and northwest near the Oklahoma-Kansas state line, and northward in south-central Oklahoma. These data indicate that marine paleocurrent systems during deposition of limestones of the Kansas City Group moved back and forth perpendicular to the shore and were probably the result of ebb and flow of tides.