Areal Geology of the Illinois Fluorspar District
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STATE OF ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRATION AND EDUCATION AREAL GEOLOGY OF THE ILLINOIS FLUORSPAR DISTRICT Part 3 - Herod and Shetlerville Quadrangles James W. Baxter George A. Desborough Chester W. Shaw ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY John C. Frye, Chief URBANA CIRCULAR 413 1967 AREAL GEOLOGY OF THE ILLINOIS FLUORSPAR DISTRICT Part 3 - Herod and Shetlerville Quadrangles James W. Baxter, George A. Desborough, and Chester W. Shaw ABSTRACT This report and map of the Herod and the Illinois part of the Shetlerville 7;-minute Quadrangles complete the geologic remapping of the Illinois fluorspar district. These quadrangles include portions of eastern Pope, westernHar- din, and southern Saline Counties and comprise the west- ern part of the mineralized district. Twenty-nine sedimentary rock units ranging from Lower Devonian to middle Pennsylvanian in age, and two units of Pleistocene age, are differentiated on the geologic map. In addition, the top and bottom of major sandstone members within formations of Pennsylvanian age are delin- eated wherever possible. The Herod and Shetlerville Quadrangles occupy a position on the north and west flanks of a large domal anti- cline that extends southeastward from the Shawneetown- Rough Creek Fault Zone in northern Pope, southern Saline, and southernGallatin Counties into Kentucky. Hicks Dome, subsidiary to the domal anticline, but located on its axis, forms a structural apex on the eastern margin of the Herod Quadrangle. North and west of Hicks Dome, the strata dip into the Moorman-Eagle Valley Syncline. Hicks Dome lies between two major northeast-trend- ing grabens that transect the domal anticline-the Rock Creek Graben on the east and the Dixon Springs Graben on the west. Strata between and within the grabens are marked by numerous faults and fractures. Most major faults in these areas trend northeast-southwest but some cross faults ace northwest-trending. The north and west flanks of Hicks Dome are marked by numerous radial and arcuate faults; the latter have a concentric relation to the dome. 2 ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 413 Intrusive igneous rocks-mica peridotite dikes, lam- prophyric dikes, and intrusive breccias with igneous affin- ities-occur, particularly in the vicinity of Hicks Dome. Some of the faults and breccias are mineralized and principally carry fluorspar. Fluorspar production has been significant, although small compared to the Rosiclare and Cave in Rock areas. Two limestone quarries are now oper- ating in the vicinity of Shetlerville, both producing from the Ste. Genevieve (~ississippian)Limestone. Coal seams in the Caseyville and Abbott (Pennsylvanian) Formations have been prospected locally but are generally thin and probably not laterally persistent as minable coals. INTRODUCTION The Herod 7*-minute Quadrangle and the Illinois part of the Shetlerville 7i-minute Quadrangle constitute the western part of the Illinois fluorspar district and include portions of Pope, Hardin, and Saline Counties (fig. 1). This report is the last of a series of three in which Part 1 (Baxter, Potter, and Doyle, 1963) covered quadrangles in the eastern portion and Part 2 (Baxter and Desborough, 1965) quadrangles in the central portion of the district. Geologic mapping in the Herod and Shetlerville Quadrangles was carried on jointly by the Industrial Minerals Section and the Coal Section of the Illinois State Geological Survey. The senior author coordinated the mapping program, com- piled the geologic map in its final form, and prepared the report. George A. Des- borough mapped Pennsylvanian strata and was primarily responsible for the field determination of the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian contact. Chester W. Shaw mapped Mississippian strata of Chesterian age, and lames W. Baxter mapped those of Valmeyeran age (fig. 2). We wish to acknowledge the cooperation received from the mineral indus- tries operating in the district as well as the consultations with numerous colleagues at the Illinois State Geological Survey and with representatives of the U. S. and Kentucky Geological Surveys. TOPOGRAPHY The area of this report is part of the Shawnee Hills section of the Interior Low Plateaus Physiographic Province (Hor- berg, 1950, p. 19, 25). It is an area of rough topography in which ridges mark the outcrop or presence of the resistant sandstone units and depressions mark areas underlain by less resistant shales and limestones. Areas underlain by lime- stone locally exhibit sinkhole topography. Figure Illinois The topographic surface is one of 1 - Part of southern show- ing the location of (a) Herod and (b) considerable relief. The highest point, Shetlerville 7i-minute Quadrangles. ILLINOIS FLUORSPAR DISTRICT 3 Williams Hill, in sec. 7, T. 11 S., R. 7 E., reaches an elevation of 1064 feet above sea level. Normal pool level of the Ohio River, held by the dam located downstream at Golconda. is 310 feet, giving a total relief of 754 feet. In the Herd Quadrangle, limestone of Devonian age and an intrusive brec- cia of uncertain age form a topographic high in the central part of a structural dome that has its apex near the southeastern edge of the quadrangle. The limestone and breccia are surrounded by a belt of less resistant New Albany and Springville Shales that underlie a broad topographic depression, which is bordered by a prominent ridge capped by siltstone and chert of the Fort Payne Formation. In the quadrangles east of the Herod and Shetlerville Quadrangles, three terrace levels of late Wisconsinan age were recognized at elevations of 350, 360, and 380 to 390 feet. However. the lowest terrace generally cannot be differentiated from the present floodplain of the Ohio Riv- er. The intermediate terrace is the best de- veloped and most widespread of the three terraces, and remnants of it are well pre- served. The high terrace was not recognized. STRATIGRAPHY Sedimentary strata that crop out in the Herod and Shetlerville Quadrangles have a thickness in excess of 4000 feet. The stra- tigraphic column and the manner in which the units are differentiated on the geologic map are shown in table 1. The rock stratigraphic classification shown in figure 3 incorporates recent reclassification of Genevievian and Chesterian rocks (Swann, 1963) and the ear- lier classification of rocks of Pennsylvanian age (Kosanke et al., 1960). DEVONIAN SYSTEM HUNTON LIMESTONE MEGAGROUP Devonian limestone and chert of the Hunton Megagroup (Swann and Willman, 1961, p. 478) are believed to lie near the surface in a small area at the apex of Hicks Dome in sec. 30, T. 1.1 S.. R. 8 E. and sec. 25, T. 11 S., R. 7 E. Exposures are poor and consist mainly of residual chert. Layers of grayish brown chert in red clay at one time were exposed by the roadside in the SW~ sec. 30 (Weller, Grogan, and Tippie, 1952, p. 58). The probable thickness exceeds 250 Figure 2 - Areas mapped by Baxter, feet, and on the basis of thicknesses in near- Desborough, and Shaw. 4 ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 413 TABLE 1 - STRATIGRAPHIC COLUMN Quaternary System Approx. Pleistocene Series thick- Recent (stream alluvium) ness Wisconsinan Stage (terrace deposits, silt and sand) (feet) Pennsylvanian System Kewanee Group Spoon Formation (shale) McCormick Group Abbott Formation Murray Bluff Sandstone (medium to coarse, micaceous sandstone) Undifferentiated (shale, thin-bedded argillaceous sand- stone, Delwood Coal Member) Finnie Sandstone (micaceous, argillaceous sandstone) Undifferentiated (shale, thin-bedded sandstone, Willis Coal Member) Grindstaff Sandstone (fine- to medium-grained sandstone) Undifferentiated (shale, thin-bedded sandstone) Caseyville Formation Pounds Sandstone (medium- to coarse-grained conglom- eratic sandstone) Undifferentiated (shale, thin-bedded sandstone, Gentry Coal Member, Sellers Limestone Member) Battery Rock Sandstone (medium- to coarse-grained can- glomeratic sandstone) Lusk Shale (shale, thin-bedded sandstone) Mississippian Systw Top of Chesterian Series Pope Megagroup Kinkaid Formation (gray, cherty limestone) Degonia Sandstone (shale, thin-bedded siltstane and sand- stone, chert) Clore Formation (shale, limestone, siltstane, thin-bedded sandstone) Palestine Sandstone (sandstone, silty shale, siltstone) Menard Limestone (limestone and shale) Waltersburg Formation (shale, thin-bedded sandstone or siltstone) Vienna Limestone (limestone, shaly limestone) Tar Springs Sandstone (sandstone, shale, thin coals) Glen Dean Limestone (limestone, shale) Hardinsburg Sandstone (sandstone, shaly sandstone, shale) Golconda Group Haney Limestone (medium- to thick-bedded limestone) Fraileys Shale (shale, siltstone, thin limestone beds) Beech Creek Limestone (coormonly silty limestone) West Baden Group Cypress Sandstone (sandstone, shale, siltstone) Ridenhower Formation (shale, shaly sandstone, siltstone, thin limestone lenses) Bethel Sandstone (sandstone, basal conglomerate) ILLINOIS FLUORSPAR DISTRICT 5 TABLE 1 - Continued Mammouth Cave Megagroup (feet) Cedar Bluff Group Downeys Bluff Limestone (fassiliferous limestone, shale) 25-40 Yankeetown Shale (shale, siltstone, limestone) 15-30] Renault Limestone 30-45 Shetlerville Member (medium gray, partly oolitic, dense limestone) Top of Valmeyeran Series Levias Member (light gray, oolitic limestone, fossiliferous limestone) 15-35 Pre-Cedar Bluff Formations Aux Vases Sandstone Rosiclare Member (calcareous sandstone, sandy limestone) 15-35 Ste. Genevieve Limestone Joppa Member (oolitic limestone, fine-grained limestone) Karnak Member (oolitic limestone) Spar Mountain Sandstone