The Lorton coal bed (Wabaunsee Group: Virgilian) of Late Pennsylvanian age is formally recognized as a bed-level stratigraphic unit in the Root Shale in Kansas. A stratigraphic reference section in Lyon County, Kansas, is given for the Lorton coal bed

Brady, Lawrence L.

Maples, Christopher G.

English

Biodiversity Informatics

A Reference Section for the Pennsylvanian Lorton Coal Bed (Root Shale: Wabaunsee Group) in Kansas Lawrence L. Brady and Christopher G. Maples Kansas Geological Survey, 1930 Constant Avenue, Lawrence, Kansas 66047 Abstract The Lorton coal bed (Wabaunsee Group: Virgilian) of Late Pennsylvanian age is formally recognized as a bed-level stratigraphic unit in the Root Shale in Kansas. A strati-graphic reference section in Lyon County, Kansas, is given for the Lorton coal bed. Introduction The Wabaunsee Group (Pennsylvanian:Virgilian) in Kansas is notable for its general historical lack of coal-mining activity compared with older, Desmoinesian coals of the Cherokee Group. Over the years, the most consistently mined coal from the Wabaunsee Group in Kansas has been the Nodaway coal bed (Howard Limestone). Whitla ( l 940) and Schoewe (1946) provided excellent summaries of min-ing efforts and nomenclatural histories for many of the Wabaunsee Group coal beds. During work on a stratigraphic lexicon for the state of Kansas, it became apparent that the informally named Lorton coal in the Wabaunsee Group was laterally extensive enough to form a coal horizon of stratigraphic importance and suffi-ciently easy to recognize to justify formal bed status. It is the purpose of this paper to assign formal bed status to the Lorton coal bed in the upper part of the Root Shale. In addition, a measured reference section of the Lorton coal bed in Kansas is given. Lorton Coal Bed The Lorton coal bed has been well known in an informal sense in Kansas for most of this century. Moore (1935 [ 1936], p. 240) noted that the Lorton coal bed was one of the most persistent and well-known late Paleozoic coal beds in the midcontinent, with exposures from Oklahoma to Ne-braska. Schoewe ( l 946, p. 49) noted that the Lorton coal was one of the few Wabaunsee Group coals that had been mined in more than one county (Greenwood, Pottawatomie, Lyon, and Wabaunsee). In Nebraska, the Lorton Coal, one of only three Wabaunsee Group coals formally recognized (Burchett, l 977, p. 23), occurs in the French Creek Shale Member (Root Shale), immediately below the Nebraska City Limestone Member of the Wood Siding Formation. The Lorton coal bed can be observed in Kansas where the upper 10-ft (3-m) interval of the Root Shale (=French Creek Shale Member) is exposed. Overlying the Root Shale is the Nebraska City Limestone Member of the Wood Siding Formation. The Lorton coal bed commonly is at least 1-3 inches (2-8 cm) thick throughout the outcrop belt of the Root Shale in Kansas, however a maximum thickness of 17 inches (43 cm) has been reported for the Lorton coal bed in Lyon County, Kansas (Schoewe, 1946, p. 100-102). Mohler ( 1891) reported a coal in Greenwood County near the Green-wood-Lyon County line that was 37 inches (94 cm) thick, which was noted by Schoewe (1946, p. 93) as possibly being the Lorton coal. We selected a reference section for the Lorton coal bed in Kansas along the Kansas Turnpike in Lyon County, Kansas (figs. 1 and 2), because of the unusually good quality of this exposure (which generally is poor in the Root Shale), ease of accessibility, and typical thickness for the Lorton coal bed (fig. 3). References Burchett, R. R., 1977, Coal resources of Nebraska: Nebraska Geological Survey, Resource Report No. 8, 183 p. Mohler, M., 1891, Kansas State Board of Agriculture, 7th Biennial Report: Kansas State Board of Agriculture, part I, p. 1-282 Moore, R. C., I 935 [I 936], Stratigraphic classification of the Pennsylvanian rocks of Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 22, 256 p. Schoewe, W. H., 1946, Coal resources of the Wabaunsee Group in eastern Kansas: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 63, 144 p. Whitla, R. E., 1940, Coal resources of Kansas-post-Cherokee deposits: Kansas Geological Survey, Bulletin 32, 64 p. 17 18 Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin 230 / V ' CJ ·-"----;:::, 1110· I 1 2 5 6 9 ~-I , I /13 14 17 18 3 4 7 8 11 ,-... __ 12 ---15 16 19 20 FIG URE }-LOCALITY OF LORTON COAL BED REFERENCE SECTION NEAR ROAD MARKER 129, along northwest side of Kansas Turnpike (NE SW sec. 32, T. 18 S., R. 11 E.), Lyon County, Kansas (Emporia, Kansas, 7 .5-min quadrangle) . 0 0 1 km . T. 17 . S. 1 mi Brad and Map'e - Lorton coal bed 19 FIGURE 2-L. L. BRADY t DI ATES THE BASE OF THE LORTO o L BED AT IT PRI IP L REFERE E ECTIO I Lvo Co TY. ote the cro bedded and tone (unit 1 in fig. 3) at the ba e of the exposure. 20 Kansas Geological Survey ft m 5 16 <ii >. .0 ."!:= E () a., C'Cl ~ ~ a., ~ 6 .0 -a.,(/) z ~ ::::i 14 4 12 10 3 8 2 6 4 2 0 0 Bulletin 230 ......__-·. ~--.· __ · __ . -unit 2 FIGURE 3-REFERENCE SECTION FOR THE LORTON COAL BED IN K ANSAS. 6. Limestone (Nebraska City Limestone Member, Wood Siding Formation), argillaceous, and calcareous shale, weathered to yellowish gray (5Y7/2); contains Myalina (Orthomyalina), Derbyia, productid brachiopods, and crinoid debris ; section incomplete-[>2.0 ft (>60 cm)]. 5. Claystone (uppermost part of Root Shale) , dark-gray (N3), grades upward to medium-gray (NS); contains plant debris; partially slump covered, but can be exposed with digging-[3.0 ft (91 cm)]. 4. Coal (Lorton coal bed, French Creek Shale Member, Root Shale), black (N l), banded, mainly fusain and clarain, with shaly laminae in upper 0.1 ft (3 cm); I-inch (2-cm)-thick clay ironstone zone at base-[0.7 ft (21 cm)]. 3. Shale, light-olive-gray (5Y6/l) with thin siltstone to very fine grained sandstone laminae (lenticular bedding); grades up-ward into clay shale near base of Lorton coal bed; upper 0.5 ft ( 15 cm) carbonaceous with plant fossils; thickness variable-[ 1.0-3.5 ft (30-106 cm)]. 2. Sandstone and shale, sandy to silty, light-olive-brown (SYS/6) to light-olive-gray (SYS/2); sandstone thin-bedded, fine to very fine grained, lenticular to flaser bedded depending on presence of shale; rare to common pyrite concretions up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick in sandstone-[4.3 ft (130 cm)]. I. Sandstone, light-olive-gray (SYS/2), fine-grained, cross bedded, massive, micaceous , with pyrite nodules near base; basal part of section covered-[>4.0 ft(> 120 cm)]. Elevation of base of exposed sandstone approximately I, 160 ft (estimated from Emporia, Kansas , 7.5-min quadrangle). 

A Reference Section for the Pennsylvanian Lorton Coal Bed (Root Shale: Wabaunsee Group) in Kansas

https://journals.ku.edu/kgsbulletin/article/download/20482/18442

A Reference Section for the Pennsylvanian Lorton Coal Bed (Root Shale: Wabaunsee Group) in Kansas

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