OCR Text |
Show I NOTES ON THE TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS PERIODS OF I KANSAS.* BY B. F. MUDGE. J Tbe State of Kansas is about four huudred miles long from east to I west and about two huudred miles ( three degrees) iu width from north I to south. Its average altitude above the level of the sea, by the I List of Elevations by H. Gannett, United States Geological Survey, Mis- I cellaueous Publications No. 2, is not far from 1,780 feet. The lowest I point ia at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, and is 750 I feet. The highest is iu Cheyenne County, about 4,000 feet. The alti-i tilde of Moiotony station of the Kansas Pacific Railway on tbe west line of the State is 3,792 feet. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway station at Syracuse, Arkansas Valley, also near the west line, is 3,425 feet. I By inspection of the map of the State, it will be seen that the rivers [ drain the country in a southerly and easterly direction. As there is not a waterfall on any of the streams 7 feet in height, the descent is gradual, averaging 7& feet to the mile. The State is so well drained that there are very. tew valleys with stagnant ponds, and there is not a peat- swamp of fifty acres within its boundaries. i STRATIGRAPHICAL GEOLOGY. | | A general vertical section of all the formations seen in Kansas would be in descending series as follows: | I.- Quaternary system : Alluvium. Bottom prairie. Bluff or Loess. Drift. II.- Tertiary system: Pliocene. IIL- Cretaceous system: Niobrara. Dakota. V.- Carboniferous system: Permian. • . Upper Carboniferous. Coal- measures. Lower Carboniferous. ' There has been no State geologist duriug the past ten years, and the iuformation sbodied in this sketch was nearly all obtained while engaged in otter duties. In latiou to tbe classification of fossils, I have consulted the works of Lssquereux, tek, Marsh, and Cope. |