Tuscaloosa_Formation
The Embayment Mega Group is found from the Gulf of Mexico north to southern Illinois.
| Embayment Megagroup | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Eocene–Cretaceous | |
| Type | Mega Group |
| Sub-units |
|
| Thickness | upto ~1000' |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Sandstone, Clay |
| Other | Siltstone, Lignite |
| Location | |
| Region | |
| Country |  United States |
| Extent | Gulf Coast Plain to Southern Illinois |
Mounds Gravel
The Mounds Gravel is found in southern Illinois. It is composed of chert and quarts pebbles.[1]
Grover Gravel
The Grover Gravel (Rubey, 1952) is found in western Illinois. Named for Grover, Missouri. It is composed of chert pebbles, quartz pebbles, as well as a matrix of quartz sand.[1]
Willcox Formation
The Wilcox Formation is a sand formation that is part of the Embayment Megagroup. It runs from southern Illinois to the State of Mississippi. It thickens moving southward, starting at about ~20' thick in outcrops in Illinois to 250' thick in Mississippi.[2]
Porters Creek Formation
The Porters Creek is found in southern Illinois. It is massive in nature and lacks bedding or has weak bedding surfaces. it is composed of over 80 percent montmorillonite. This clay is mined commercially in Pulaski County, Illinois.
Clayton Formation
The Clayton Formation is made up of clay. The clay is green to buff in color and is silty throughout. At the formation's base it becomes sandy with pebbles. The pebbles are made of chert and are black or white in color.[2]
Owl Creek Formation
The Owl Creek Formation is a geologic formation ranging from Tennessee to Mississippi. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period. Ornithomimids and ceratopsid remains are known from the formation. The ceratopsid tooth could represent a chasmosaurine.[3]
McNairy Formation
The McNairy Formation was formed as a deltaic deposit. The upper and lower parts consists of cross-bedded white to light grey micaceous sand. The middle section is made up of grey to blackish silt, with beds of lignite. This formation is up to 450'.[2]
Post Creek Formation
The Post Creek Formation was once called the Tuscaloosa Formation. It has been renamed due to inconsistencies with dating the formation. It is composed of chert gravel and has moderate cementations by silica or kaolinite.[4]
Baylis Formation
The Baylis Formation is Cretaceous in age and found in the western sections of the Embayment Megagroup. It rests unconformably on Carboniferous age rock. It is composed of medium to fine grained quartz sand. The upper part of the formation is the Kiser Creek Member. It also contains lenses that may contain, clay, silt and pebbles. The lower member is the Hadley Gravel Member and contains mostly pebbles.[2]
- Willman, H. B., and John C. Frye, 1970, Pleistocene Stratigraphy of Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin 94, 204 p.
- Willman, H. B., Elwood Atherton, T. C. Buschbach, Charles Collinson, John C. Frye, M. E. Hopkins, Jerry A. Lineback, and Jack A. Simon, 1975, Handbook of Illinois Stratigraphy: Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin 95, 261 p.
- Farke, Andrew A.; Phillips, George E. (2017-05-23). "The first reported ceratopsid dinosaur from eastern North America (Owl Creek Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Mississippi, USA)". PeerJ. 5: e3342. doi:10.7717/peerj.3342. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 5444368.
- Harrison, Richard W. and Ronald J. Litwin, 1997, Campanian coastal plain sediments in southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois— significance to the early geologic history of the northern Mississippi Embayment: Cretaceous Research 18, no. 5, p. 687-696.