Ancient Oceans, Orogenic Uplifts, and Glacial Ice: Geologic Crossroads in America’s Heartland

This volume, prepared for the 130th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Indianapolis, includes compelling science and field trips in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio. A wealth of geologic and human history collides in the Midwest, a confluence that led to the growth of America's industry over the past two centuries. Guides in this volume depict this development from the establishment of New Harmony, the birthplace of American geology, through the construction of Indianapolis's modern skyline. Underpinning this growth were the widespread natural resources-limestone, coal, and water-that built, powered, and connected a growing nation. Take a journey through the Heartland to sand dunes, outcrops, quarries, rivers, caves, and springs that connect Paleozoic stratigraphy with the assembly of Gondwana, continental glaciation with Quaternary geomorphology and hydrology, and landscape with the human environment.
Lower to middle Paleozoic sequence stratigraphy and paleontology in the greater Louisville, Kentucky, area
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Published:December 10, 2018
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CiteCitation
Carlton E. Brett, Kyle R. Hartshorn, Christopher B.T. Waid, Patrick I. McLaughlin, Katherine V. Bulinski, James R. Thomka, Timothy R. Paton, Rebecca L. Freeman, Benjamin F. Dattilo, 2018. "Lower to middle Paleozoic sequence stratigraphy and paleontology in the greater Louisville, Kentucky, area", Ancient Oceans, Orogenic Uplifts, and Glacial Ice: Geologic Crossroads in America’s Heartland, Lee J. Florea
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ABSTRACT
The Cincinnati Arch region of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana is an icon of North American Paleozoic stratigraphy, as it exposes strata ranging from Ordovician to Pennsylvanian in age. In particular, the highly fossiliferous Ordovician, Silurian, and Middle Devonian successions have been extensively studied since the nineteenth century, and continue to serve as a crucial proving ground for new methods and models of biostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphy in mixed clasticcarbonate depositional settings. These strata are locally capped by Middle Devonian limestones with their own diverse fauna and unique depositional history. Outcrops near Louisville, Kentucky, provide an excellent opportunity to examine these strata firsthand and discuss sequence stratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, sedimentary environments, and paleoecology. A series of new roadcuts south of Mount Washington, Kentucky, exposes the lower to middle Richmondian Stage (Upper Ordovician, Cincinnatian) and presents a diverse suite of marine facies, from peritidal mudstones to offshore shoals, coral biostromes, and subtidal shales. These exposures are well suited for highlighting the revised sequence stratigraphy of the Cincinnatian Series, presented herein. Nearby outcrops also include much of the local Silurian succession, allowing an in-depth observation of Llandovery and Wenlock strata, including several chemostratigraphically important intervals that have improved regional and international correlation. Supplementary exposures east and north of Louisville provide context for subjacent and superjacent Ordovician-Silurian strata, as well as examples of lateral facies changes and unconformities. Additionally, the Falls of the Ohio at Clarksville, Indiana, features an exceptional outcrop of the overlying Middle Devonian succession, including an extensive and well-preserved biostrome of corals, sponges, and other marine fauna. These fossil beds, coupled with significant exposures in local quarries, are critical for understanding the paleoecology and stratigraphy of the Middle Devonian of the North American midcontinent.
- Anthozoa
- biostratigraphy
- biostromes
- carbonate rocks
- chemostratigraphy
- Cincinnati Arch
- Cincinnatian
- clastic rocks
- Cnidaria
- coastal environment
- correlation
- depositional environment
- Devonian
- facies
- field trips
- guidebook
- Indiana
- Jefferson County Kentucky
- Kentucky
- Llandovery
- Louisville Kentucky
- Lower Silurian
- marine environment
- Ohio
- Ordovician
- outcrops
- paleoecology
- paleontology
- Paleozoic
- Porifera
- quarries
- road log
- sedimentary rocks
- sequence stratigraphy
- Silurian
- unconformities
- United States
- Upper Ordovician
- Wenlock
- Falls of the Ohio