Waldron Shale

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Waldron Shale
Stratigraphic range: Homerian[1]
Waldron Shale (Middle Silurian) (St. Paul Stone Quarry, St. Paul, Indiana, USA) 4 (21833021510).jpg
Waldron Shale (St. Paul Stone Quarry, St. Paul, Indiana)
TypeFormation
Underlies and Louisville Limestone
OverliesLaurel Formation and Salamonie Dolomite
Location
CountryUnited States
ExtentIndiana, Kentucky, and Mississippi

The Waldron Shale is a geologic formation in Indiana. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period.

This formation was named by Moses N. Elrod, M.D. in 1883. He wrote about in a report about the geology of Decatur County, Indiana.

"The Upper Niagara shale bed, is the calcareous clay, shale and thin strata of limestone overlying the quarry stone, and closing the Niagara period and group. The greater per cent of the mass is carbonate of lime. In Shelby county, they are known as the Waldron beds. In my report on Bartholomew county, I generally called this formation Calcareous shale, which is appropriate so far as chemical composition is concerned, but the presence of another calcareous shale at the base of the Niagara group in this county, not seen in Shelby and Bartholomew, necessitates the use of a more specific term. Following the rule of priority, Waldron being the place where the Upper Niagan bed fossils were first found and studied, I shall refer to it by the name of Waldron shale. In general it is made up of thin laminae of shale, frequently erroneously called slate, with bands of limestone near bottom; and where constantly wet, the shale is replaced by clay. Where exposed to atmospheric influences it weathers to a buff or ochrey-colored friable clay, scarcely distinguishable from the surrounding yellow clay; where protected, the color is uniformly a drab or blue, with occasional streaks of green. The Waldron shale is not uniformly found at all the places where both the Niagara and Corniferous groups outcrop. It was seen only on Clifty creek and Flat Rock, in the west and northwest parts of the county. In thickness, it ranges from ten inches to six feet. At certain places the upper shale is highly fossiliferous, as at St. Paul, and at Hartsville, less than one mile west of the Decatur county line; at some points no fossils could be found, and very few at others."[2]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ The Silurian of central Kentucky, U.S.A.: Stratigraphy, palaeoenvironments and palaeoecology
  2. ^ Collett, John, ed. (1884). Thirteenth Annual Report Indiana Geological Survey Annual Report 1883. Indianapolis: Indiana Department of Geology and Natural History. p. 111.
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