Outcrop Features of the Mansfield Formation in Southwestern Indiana

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
1962-11
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Indiana Geological & Water Survey
Abstract
The Mansfield Formation of early Pennsylvanian age crops out in an area of approximately 1,700 square miles in southwestern Indiana. Three-fifths of the formation consists of sandstone; most of the remainder is finer clastic rocks. Limestone, chert, coal, and iron ore make up approximately 2 percent of the formation. Many similar rock types are found among the several formations upon which the Mansfield unconformably rests, but the assignment of questionable outcrops either to the Mansfield Formation or to an older formation can usually be accomplished with some confidence, because many outcrops contain either diagnostic rock types or indicative rock features. The various rocks of the Mansfield Formation are, for the most part, arranged in a crudely cyclic pattern. The several cyclic units of a region tend to be similar in makeup and different from those of adjacent regions. Three lithofacies that reflect these areal variations can be recognized and are here named: the Shoals Lithofacies is characterized by cross-stratified sandstones, the Bloomfield Lithofacies by gray shales, and the Cannelton Lithofacies by mudstones and thick clays. The distribution of these lithofacies suggests that these rocks were deposited at or near the shoreline, that there was a fairly large delta in the southern part of the outcrop area, and that this delta was an important factor controlling the sedimentary pattern during early Pennsylvanian time.
Description
Indiana Geological Survey Report of Progress 26
Keywords
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, Lithostratigraphy, Petrology, Mansfield Formation, Pennsylvanian, Indiana
Citation
Gray, H. H., 1962, Outcrop features of the Mansfield Formation in southwestern Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Report of Progress 26, 40 p., 8 figs.
DOI
Link(s) to data and video for this item
Relation
Rights
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.
Type
Technical Report