Geologic Construction-Material Resources in Mitchell ^County, Kansas
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GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 106 June 1951 GEOLOGIC CONSTRUCTION-MATERIAL RESOURCES IN MITCHELL ^COUNTY, KANSAS Frank E. Byrne, Wendell B. Johnson, and Denzil W. Bergman PREPARED IN COOPERATION WITH THE STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION OF KANSAS R. C. Keeling, State Highway Engineer S. E. Horner, Chie* Geologist R. D. Finney, Chief Engineer Prepared as Part of a Program of the Department of the Interior for Development of the Missouri River Basin UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director Washington, D. C. Free on application to the Geological Survey, Washington 25, D. C. CONTENTS Page Page Introduction. .............. l Sanborn formation ......... 15 Purpose of the investigation ..... 1 Areal distribution ....... 15 Geography ............./1 General description ...... 16 Area covered by the investigation. 1 Representative measured section 16 Topography .......... 1 Thickness ........... 16 Drainage. ........... 1 Construction materials ..... 16 Climate ............ 1 Terrace deposits. ......... 16 Transportation routes ...... 3 Areal distribution ....... 16 Investigation procedure ....... 3 General description ...... 16 Acknowledgments .......... 3 Representative measured section 17 Characteristics of the outcropping Thickness ........... 17 stratigraphic units ........... 4 Construction materials ..... 17 General .............. 4 Alluvium ............. 17 Dakota sandstone .......... 4 Areal distribution ........ 17 Areal distribution. ....... 4 General description ...... 17 General description. ...... 4 Representative measured section 17 Representative measured section. @ Thickness. .......... 17 Thickness ........... 6 Construction materials ..... 17 Construction materials ..... 6 Inventory of construction materials ... 17 Graneros shale ........... 6 General. ............. 17 Areal distribution. ....... 6 Aggregate for concrete ....... 18 General description. ...... 6 Engineering and geologic Representative measured section. 7 characteristics ....... 18 Thickness ........... 7 Stratigraphic sources and per Construction materials ..... 7 formance characteristics ... 18 Greenhorn limestone ........ 7 Sanborn formation ..... 18 Areal distribution. ....... 7 Alluvium ......... 18 General description ....... 7 Road metal ............ 18 Lincoln limestone member. 7 Engineering and geologic Hartland shale member ... 8 characteristics ....... 18 Jetmore chalk member ... 8 Aggregate for concrete ... 18 Pfeifer shale member .... 8 Indurated rocks ...... 18 Representative measured sections 9 Limestone gravel ..... 19 Thickness ........... 13 Stratigraphic sources and per Construction materials ..... 13 formance characteristics ... 19 Carlile shale ............ 13 Sources of aggregate for Areal distribution. ....... 13 concrete ........ 19 General description . ...... 13 ' Indurated rocks ...... 19 Fairport chalky shale Dakota sandstone. ... 19 member ......... 13 Greenhorn limestone . 19 Blue Hill shale member ... 13 Carlile shale ..... 19 Codell sandstone member . 14 Niobrara formation. 19 Representative measured Sanborn formation ..... 19 sections ........... 14 Mineral filler ........... 19 Thickness ........... 14 Engineering and geologic Construction materials ..... 14 characteristics ....... 19 Niobrara formation ......... 14 Stratigraphic sources and per Areal distribution. ....... 14 formance characteristics ... 19 General description. ...... 15 Sanborn formation ..... 19 Representative measured Terrace deposits. ..... 20 section ........... 15 Riprap .............. 20 Thickness ........... 15 Engineering and geologic Construction materials ..... 15 characteristics ........ 20 CONTENTS (Continued) Page Page Inventory of construction mate rials -- Stratigraphic sources and per Continued formance characteristics . 20 R ip r ap - - C ontinue d Greenhorn limestone . 20 Stratigraphic sources and per Niobrara formation .... 20 formance characteristics . , 20 Subgrade and'embankment Dakota sandstone ..... 20 material............ 21 Greenhorn limestone . 20 Engineering and geologic Niobrara formation .... 20 characteristics ....... 21 Structural stone ......... 20 Stratigraphic sources and per Engineering and geologic formance characteristics . 21 characteristics. ...... 20 Fine-granular sediments . 21 Stratigraphic sources and per Coarse-granular sediments 21 formance characteristics . , 20 Broken or crushed rock . 21 Greenhorn limestone . , 20 Dakota sandstone . 21 Niobrara formation. , 20 Graneros shale . 21 Calcareous binder ........ 20 Greenhorn limestone . 21 Engineering and geologic Carlile shale . 1 characteristics. ...... 20 Niobrara formation . ILLUSTRATIONS Page Plate 1. Map showing construction materials and geology of Mitchell County, Kans. ... In pocket Figure 1. Index map of Kansas showing area covered by this report and by other construction materials investigations reports .................. 1 2. Chart showing temperature ranges at C'oncordia, Kans.. .............. 1 3. Chart showing precipitation ranges at Beloit, Kans. ................ 1 4. Outcropping Stratigraphic units in Mitchell County, Kans., and their construction materials .................................. 5 TABLE Page Table 1. Summary of materials tests In pocket GEOLOGIC CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL RESOURCES IN MITCHELL COUNTY, KANSAS INTRODUCTION Purpose of the Investigation short distance southeast of Tipton in the area known as the Blue Hills. The State Highway Commission of Kansas and the United States Geological Survey are co The two most conspicuous typographic fea operating in the compilation of a State-wide in tures in the county are the valley of the Solomon ventory construction materials. A field party River and the Blue Hills. The valleys of the composed of personnel from the two cooperat North and South Forks of the Solomon River, ing agencies was sent into Mitchell County, which join in the vicinity of Cawker City to form Kans. , in the summer of 1948 to investigate the Solomon River, are incised about 50 Teet be .sources of engineering construction materials. low the general level; in the eastern part of the This report of the Mitchell County investigation county, the valley of the Solomon River has been is a part of the general inventory and a contri incised to a depth of about 150 feet. In the valley bution to the geologic mapping and investigation is an extensive terrace which, in the vicinity of of mineral resources being made in connection Glen Elder, is only slightly more than a mile with studies of the Missouri River basin. \J wide but increases in width to almost 4 miles at the eastern boundary of the county. The primary objective of the investigation The Blue Hills in the southwestern part of was to accumulate all field and laboratory data Mitchell County stand conspicuously above the pertaining to the geologic materials in Mitchell general level. The hills are buttes and mesas County that would be of use in the construction capped by the Fort Hays limestone member of of dams, highways, airports, and other engi the Niobrara formation. (See pi. 1 and fig. 4.) neering structures. Additional geologic data Their steep slopes have been cut into the Carlile are included in this report but only to the extent shale. The highest of the hills project almost of providing information useful in the develop 300 feet above the surrounding upland plain. ment of the prospects reported in the inventory, or for the location of other materials required Most of the area of Mitchell County is oc for future engineering needs. cupied by a rolling upland plain only moderately dissected by the tributaries of the Solomon River Geography in the central and northern parts of the county and by those of Salt Creek in the southern part. Area Covered by the Investigation The walls of the valleys through which the smaller streams flow are gently sloping for the Mitchell County is in the second tier of most part- a shoulder formed by the Greenhorn Kansas counties south of the Nebraska border limestone (see pi. 1 and fig. 4) marks the top of and in the seventh tier west of the Missouri man- of the valley walls. I.iterstream areas are border. (See fig. 1.) It comprises 20 townships flat to rounded. and covers an area of about 720 square miles. The county is bounded on the north by Jewell Drainage and Cloud Counties, on the east by Cloud and Surface drainage in Mitchell County is con Ottawa Counties, on the south by Lincoln Coun trolled by the Solomon River ami its tributaries. ty, and on the west by Osborne County. (See pi. 1.) The longest tributaries, Walnut and Clay Creeks, head in the Blue Hills and flow Topography northward. Salt Creek is the largest stream in the southern part of the county. It is another The average altitude of Mitchell County is tributary of the Solomon River, which it joins in 1, 500 feet. The lowest point, about 1,310 feet, the northern part of Saline County. is on the Solomon River at the east boundary and the highest point, about 1, 885 feet, is a Climate 1 Missouri River Basin, conservation, control, and use Mitchell County is in an area of continen of water resources: 78th Cong.. 2d sess., S. doc. 191, tal-type climate in which the summers are rel 1944. atively long and hot and the winters short and Report in Report prepo ration published Figure I. Index map of Kansas showing areas covered by this report and by other construction materials investigations EXPLANATION EXPLANATION - Days in which precipitation 'n *h' ch maximum temperature was more than 90° f. Data