The St. Louis Limestone is a large
geologic formation
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...
covering a wide area of the midwest of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It is named after an exposure at
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. It consists of sedimentary
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
with scattered
chert
Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a ...
beds, including the heavily chertified
Lost River Chert Bed in the
Horse Cave Member. It is exposed at the surface through western
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
and
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the ...
, including the city of
Clarksville, Tennessee
Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 202 ...
. The limestone deposit is
Mississippian in age, in the
Meramecian series, roughly 330-340 million years old.
Fossils commonly found in the St. Louis include the
rugosa
The rugosa, also called the tetracorallia or horn coral, are an extinct order of solitary and colonial corals that were abundant in Middle Ordovician to Late Permian seas.
Solitary rugosans (e.g., '' Caninia'', '' Lophophyllidium'', '' Neoza ...
n corals ''
Lithostrotion'' and ''
Lithostrotionella'' and the
bryozoan ''
Fenestrellina''.
See also
*
List of types of limestone
This is a list of types of limestone arranged according to location. It includes both formal stratigraphic unit names and less formal designations.
Africa Egypt
* Tura limestone, used for the Great Pyramid casing stones
* Mokattam limestone; ...
References
Limestone formations of the United States
Mississippian United States
Carboniferous Kentucky
Carboniferous Missouri
Carboniferous geology of Virginia
Carboniferous geology of Tennessee
Mississippian Illinois
Carboniferous southern paleotropical deposits
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