DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR BULLETIN 438 GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE ST. LOUIS QUADRANGLE MISSOURI-ILLINOIS BY N. M. FENNEMAN WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE 1911 CONTENTS. Introduction.....................................................".......... 7 Acknowledgments.................................................... 7 Location....................................:......................... 8 General relations....................................................... 8 Topography........................................................... 9 The upland....................................................... 9 General features................................................... 9 Small valleys...................................................... 9 Hock terraces.......:......!'...................................... 10 Relation of topography and underlying rocks................. .'... i ... 10 Mississippi flood plain.......................................... .". ...... 11 Drainage.............:........................................./...:... 12 Descriptive geology........................................................ 13 Stratigraphy.......................................................... 13 General section.................................................... 13 Detailed well sections..........................................'... 14 Well near Monks Mound........................................ 14 Well at the insane asylum.................................'..... 15 Belcher well................................................... 17 Ordovician system.........................................:....... 18 St. Peter sandstone........................................... 18 Formations above the St. Peter sandstone:...................... 18 Carboniferous system.............................................. 19 Mississipiau series............................................. 19 Kinderhook formation..................................... 19 Osage group (Burlington and Keokuk limestones)............ 20 Meramec group........................................... 21 Warsaw shale......................................... 21 Spergen limestone.................................... 22 St. Louis limestone................................... 23 Chester group...........:.................................. 24 Pennsylvanian series (" Coal Measures")........................ 25 General character......................................... 25 Cheltenham fire clay........... t .......................... 28 Sandstones............................................... 28 Coal..................................................... 29 Tertiary system................................................... 30 Lafayette gravel.............................................. 30 Composition.............................................. 30 Topographic position....................................... 31 Quaternary system. ............ ^...............................^... 31 Pleistocene deposits........................................... 31 Kansan drift..................... '. ............;...............: 31 Illinoian drift................................................ 32 Loess.......................................................... 33 Recent deposits:............................................... 34 Alluvium of the flood plain................................. 34 Terraces................................................... 34 3. 4 CONTENTS. Descriptive geology Continued. Page. Structural geology..................... ................................ 35 Regional dip....................................................... 35 Local transverse folds.............................................. 36 Geologic history............................................................ 36 Algonkian time....................................................... 37 Cambrian land interval................................................. 37 Cambro-Ordovician sedimentation ..................................... 37 Formation of magnesian limestone. .;............. .t................. 37 Sandstone making.................................................. 37 Middle Ordovician epoch.......................................... 38 Late Ordovician shale making...................................... 39 Silurian-Devonian land period .......................................... 39 Carboniferous sedimentation............................................ 40 Mississippian time................................................. 40 Kinderhook epoch.............................................. 40 Osage epoch.................................................. 40 Warsaw epoch........................;.......................... 41 Spergen epoch................................................. 41 St. Louis epoch... ; ............................................ 41 Chester epoch.................................................. 42 Mid-Carboniferous land epoch...................................... 42 Pennsylvanian time .................................. = ............ 42 Post-Carboniferous uplift and peneplain.................................. 43 Lafayette epoch........................................................ 44 Post-Pliocene uplift ................................................... 45 Pre-Quaternary dissection............................................... 45 Glacial history........................................................ 46 Kansan epoch..................................................... 46 Illinoian epoch......... ^........,....:............. 1................ 46 Loess epoch........................................................ 46 Wisconsin epoch.................................................. 47 Postglacial erosion ...................................................... 48 Stage of dissection.....:........................................... 48 Mississippi trough. ................................................ 48 Economic geology.......................................................... 49 Clay................................................................... Fire clay......................................................... Mining operations............................................. Stratigraphic position.......................................... Thickness..................................................... Roof............. ............................................. Floor......................................................... Local interruptions............................................. Water......................................................... Grades of clay.................................................. Uses........................................................... Distribution.................................................. Shale............................................................. Brick clay......................................................... Quarry rock............................................................ Spergen limestone.................................................. St. Louis limestone................................................. Pennsylvanian series............................................... CONTENTS. 5 Economic geology Continued. Page. Lime................................................................. 55 Cement materials....................................................... 55 Sand and gravel....................................................... 56 Glass sand............................ t........................... 56 Building sand..................................................... 57 Holder's sand...................................................... 57 Cement gravel...............: ...................................... 58 Oil and gas........................................................... 58 Area in St. Louis................................................... 59 Mississippi flood plain.............................................. 61 Region west of St. Louis........................................'.'... 62 Prospects.......................................................... 62 Coal..............'..............-..........'....................'......-. 63 Illinois........................................................... 63 Missouri.......................................................... 64 Water resources........................................................ 65 Streams and lakes.................................................. 65 Shallow wells. .............................-...--.- - - - - - - -- 65 Wells on the Mississippi flood plain............................. 65 Wells on the upland........................................... 66 Cisterns........................................................... 66 Springs........................................................... 67 Deep wells......................................................... 67 Carboniferous system.......................................... 67 Ordovician system............................................. 68 Flowing wells..................................................... 68 Index.................................:'.................................. 71 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Geologic map of St. Louis quadrangle......................... In pocket. Sink holes south of Stolle, 111. ..................................... 10 A, St. Peter sandstone, Pacific, Mo.; B, Cross-bedding in Spergen limestone, Meramec Highlands, Mo............................. 18 IV. Brecciated St. Louis limestone....................................