St. Louis Limestone

The St. Louis Limestone is a large geologic formation covering a wide area of the midwest of the United States. It is named after an exposure at St. Louis, Missouri. It consists of sedimentary limestone with scattered chert beds, including the heavily chertified Lost River Chert Bed in the Horse Cave Member. It is exposed at the surface through western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, including the city of Clarksville, Tennessee. The limestone deposit is Mississippian in age, in the Meramecian series, roughly 330-340 million years old.

St. Louis Limestone
Stratigraphic range: Mississippian Sub-period
Rock anhydrite (St. Louis Limestone; subsurface gypsum mine in Martin County, Indiana)
TypeGeological formation
Unit ofBlue River Group
Sub-unitsDover Chert, Horse Cave Member, Sisson Member
UnderliesSte. Genevieve Limestone
OverliesSalem Formation
Thicknessup to 100 feet (30 m)
Lithology
PrimaryLimestone
OtherShale, chert
Location
RegionIllinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri
CountryUnited States
Type section
Named forSt. Louis, Missouri
Named byEnglemann
Year defined1847

Fossils commonly found in the St. Louis include the rugosan corals Lithostrotion and Lithostrotionella and the bryozoan Fenestrellina.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.