Chemical Composition, Stratigraphy, and Depositional Environments of the Black River Group (Middle Ordovician), Southwestern Ohio
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Chemical composition, stratigraphy, and depositional environments of the Black River Group (Middle Ordovician), southwestern Ohio DAVID A. STITH Ohio Geological Survey, Fountain Square, Building B, Columbus, Ohio 43224 ABSTRACT The Ohio Geological Survey's acquisition porous, very argillaceous tan to light-gray in 1971 of three mineral exploration cores dolomite with some intercalated green The chemical composition and stratig- provided a means of examining the Black shale. raphy of the Black River Group in south- River Group. The study area in southwest- Correlatives of the Trenton are the Tren- western Ohio were studied. Chemical ern Ohio (Fig. 1) (Stith, 1979) is limited to ton Limestone in Indiana and the Lexington analyses were done on two cores of the where the high-purity zones of the Black Limestone in Kentucky. The Black River Black River from Adams and Brown Coun- River generally are less than 2,000 ft deep. Group is correlative to the Black River ties, Ohio. These studies show that sub- The lithology of the Black River Group Limestone in Indiana and the High Bridge stantial reserves of high-carbonate rock was studied in detail in the three cores Group in Kentucky. The High Bridge is (96% to 98 + % CaCO:! plus MgCO,) are (Adams, Brown, and Highland Counties). composed of, in ascending order, the Camp present in the Black River at depths of less In addition, five shorter (10- to 50-ft) cores, Nelson Limestone, the Oregon Formation, than 800 ft, in proximity to Cincinnati and geophysical logs from 50 wells, and all and the Tyrone Limestone. The Wells Creek the Ohio River. drill-cutting samples available from wells in Formation is the Wells Creek Dolomite in Stratigraphic studies show that the Black the area were used in the stratigraphic Kentucky. In Indiana, rocks underlying the River Group has eight marker beds in its characterization of the group. Black River are termed Chazyan and in- middle and upper portions and three dis- The Black River was sampled on a 1 -ft in- clude the Wells Creek of Ohio and Ken- tinct lithologic units in its lower portion; terval in the Adams and Brown County tucky and all or part of the lower argilla- these marker beds and units are present cores. X-ray diffraction analyses for calcite, ceous unit of this study. throughout southwestern Ohio. The Black dolomite, and quartz were run on 5-ft com- River Group correlates well with the High posites of these samples. Chemical analyses STRATIGRAPHY Bridge Group of Kentucky. Depositional were run on those zones indicated as high environments of the Black River are similar carbonate by the X-ray work on the Adams The lower third of the Black River Group to those of the High Bridge and to present- and Brown County cores. Atomic absorp- in Ohio is a mixture of micritic, burrowed, day tidal flats in the Bahamas. tion spectrophotometry was used for most and argillaceous limestones that can be di- of the analyses. All samples were analyzed vided into three units: upper and lower ar- INTRODUCTION for calcium, magnesium, silicon, aluminum, gillaceous limestones and pure limestone in iron, and potassium, and about one-half of the middle (Fig. 2). The basal unit of the Surface deposits of high-purity carbonate the samples were analyzed for sodium, Black River, the lower argillaceous unit, is rock are scarce in southwestern Ohio. Rock manganese, and strontium. All samples also made up of interbedded micrite, fine- with greater than 95% CaC03 is termed were analyzed for sulfur and phosphorus. grained dolomite, argillaceous micrite, and high calcium, and rock with greater than shaly greenish limestone. All are laminated 95% total carbonates, CaC03 and GEOLOGIC SETTING in part. This unit is assigned to the Black MgC03, is termed high carbonate. Al- River rather than to the underlying Wells though mining is generally more expensive The Black River Group in Ohio is not ex- Creek Formation primarily on the basis of than quarrying, the lack of surface deposits posed at the surface. It is shallowest in ex- lithology. Most of the limestone in this unit requires the consideration of possible sub- treme southwestern Ohio on the crest of the is essentially the same — micritic, pelletal, surface sources. The most likely possibility Cincinnati Arch. The Black River is 400 to fossiliferous, laminated, and argillaceous in in southwestern Ohio is the Middle Or- 500 ft of micritic and pelletal limestone, large part — as that in the argillaceous beds dovician Black River Group. The Black with some dolomitic and argillaceous and units higher in the Black River. River correlative, the High Bridge Group, is zones. It is overlain by the Trenton Lime- The lower argillaceous unit of the Black quarried in central Kentucky and is mined stone, a fine- to coarse-grained bioclastic River Group and the Wells Creek Forma- near Carntown and Maysville, Kentucky, limestone. In most places the Black River is tion are the units most affected by relief on along the Ohio River. underlain by the Wells Creek Formation, a the post-Knox unconformity surface. In This article is based on a paper presented at a symposium entitled "Industrial Minerals of the Upper Midwest," held in April 1980. Geological Society of America Bulletin, Part I, v. 92, p. 629-633, 3 figs., 1 table, September 1981. 629 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/92/9/629/3419178/i0016-7606-92-9-629.pdf by guest on 03 October 2021 630 D. A. STITH 10 20 30 miles —L~i r1 1 r- "7- 10 20 30 kilometers I N LOGAN I SHELBY 2 UNION I " L i f - J I 14.%11 '"J 12 T-~ • I . _ • RANDOLPH 11 13* 10 64 I ' DARKE I CHAMPAIGN I 16 I- MIAMI •3 L_17_ ~1 9« 2 I r — 1 I I * i V R— CLARK MADISON WAYNE -L.J 3. Ì < I J 9 !o MONTGOMERY i PREBLE "I"" I— I GREENE UNION I I FAYETTE I I I * h- r- "T -L. —I 2 1 7 I 4l Í 3' Í BUTLER / FRANKLIN WARREN -I CLINTON 7 , j6 / 81 » '-,7 5»Äle) I 4 s H-y I / y i -ti - 1- 'I- / 3-S / t ru i DEARBORN HAMILTON ? I HIGHLAND I I I i I I I f VOJ CLERMONT Í L r 5 OHIO J BOONE »KENTON/ \ STUDY AREA 5(c) » I — JL \ BROWN * J J CAMPBEU^J r ADAMS AMENDER #1 (C) \ > I TZERLANDN \ J V—^ I M ,—- ^ !^tu8KV /"\ j ^ GALLATIN J „_---*6, 7(c) „„«„, I PENDLETON BRACKEN / N, I / GRANT \ OWEN / MASON 1 LEWIS • well location 6 permit number of Ohio well; (c), core continuous through Black River Group Figure 1. Study area and well locations. three wells, in Champaign, Clinton, and There are no known cores from wells with from 50 to 74 ft in thickness. In a few Highland Counties, this section is absent this particular lithology, and sample recov- localities, the Carntown is thin or absent because of highs that extend into the posi- ery was too poor in the ten wells to assign because of relief developed on the post- tion of overlying units. In approximately 10 an exact unit to the section. Knox unconformity surface. The top of the other wells, the entire lower argillaceous Overlying the lower argillaceous unit is Carntown unit is 320 to 400 ft below the unit-Wells Creek section is replaced by 10 the Carntown unit (Stith, 1979), a thick top of the Black River Group. to 50 ft of argillaceous dolomitic limestone section of very pure limestone and dolo- The uppermost unit in the lower third of that is difficult to assign to either unit. mitic limestone. The unit normally ranges the Black River Group is the upper argil- Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/92/9/629/3419178/i0016-7606-92-9-629.pdf by guest on 03 October 2021 BOONE CO., KENTUCKY BENDER #1 laceous unit, which consists of micritic and pelletal limestone with a moderate amount of dolomite. The limestone and dolomite are dark colored and argillaceous in part, with partings and interbeds of dark-gray to TRENTON black shale and shaly limestone. LIMESTONE The middle third of the Black River Group is predominantly burrow-mottled micritic and pelletal limestone. This is the typical Camp Nelson lithology of the cen- tral Kentucky outcrop area. The burrows are dolomitized, and the matrix limestone is dolomitized in part. There are two marker beds in the middle third of the Black River that are about 95 to 120 ft apart; marker bed II is in the lower part of the section and marker bed I is at the top of the section. Marker bed II is 10 to 20 ft of burrowed micritic and pelletal limestone. It is dark colored and argillaceous in large part, with some carbonaceous shale and shaly lime- stone. Marker bed I is five to ten ft of inter- bedded argillaceous dark-colored micritic limestone and fine-grained dolomite, with sparse to moderate amounts of carbona- ceous shale and shaly limestone. The upper third of the Black River Group is composed of interbedded micritic and pelletal limestone and fine-grained dolomite and, in general, correlates with the Tyrone BLACK Limestone and the Oregon Formation of Kentucky. In the upper third of the Black RIVER River Group are found six marker beds. Present at or near the base of the upper GROUP third are dolomitic beds equivalent to the Oregon. The rocks in the upper third of the Black River are argillaceous in part and laminated in part. Argillaceous material is concentrated mainly above marker b.