Paleoenvironmental interpretation of the bandera shale formation, marmaton group, desmoinesian stage, middle Pennsylvanian in southeastern Kansas.

Abstract

In southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma the Bandera Shale Formation (BSF) (Middle Pennsylvanian) crops out from Linn to Labette Counties in Kansas and in Nowata County, Oklahoma in units ranging from 12 cm to 20 m thick. The BSF consist of shale, sandstone, and coal, is stratigraphically located between the underlying Pawnee Limestone and overlying Altamont Limestone Formations of the Marmaton Group. Preliminary results from 6 stratigraphically measured exposures, lithologic and petrographic analyses, sedimentary structures and fossil evidence indicate that variability in the BSF can be related to marginal marine depositional environments. Previous studies from rock exposures have interpreted the BFS to be non-marine in origin [1, 2, & 3]. Recently a subsurface log analysis has interpreted the BSF as mainly marine [4]. This study serves to clarify the discrepancy between log and rock exposure interpretations.