Columbus Limestone
| Columbus Limestone | |
|---|---|
| Stratigraphic range: Devonian | |
 Etched section of hand sample of Columbus Limestone from Kelleys Island | |
| Type | Sedimentary |
| Unit of | Onondaga Group |
| Sub-units | Bellepoint, Marblehead, Tioga Ash Bed, Venice, Delhi, Klondike, East Liberty |
| Underlies | Bass Islands Formation, Delaware Formation, and Ohio Shale |
| Overlies | Lucas Formation |
| Thickness | 0 to 105 feet[1] |
| Lithology | |
| Primary | Limestone |
| Other | Sandstone |
| Location | |
| Region | Cincinnati Arch of North America |
| Extent | Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ontario |
| Type section | |
| Named for | Columbus, Ohio |
| Named by | Mathur, 1859 |
The Columbus Limestone is a mapped bedrock unit consisting primarily of fossiliferous limestone. It occurs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the United States, and in Ontario, Canada.
Description
[edit | edit source]Depositional environment
[edit | edit source]The depositional environment was most likely shallow marine.
Stratigraphy
[edit | edit source]The Columbus conformably overlies the Lucas Dolomite in northeastern Ohio, and unconformably overlies other dolomite elsewhere. It unconformably underlies the Ohio Shale in northwestern Ohio and the Delaware Limestone in eastern Ohio.[2]
Its members include: Bellepoint, Marblehead, Tioga Ash Bed, Venice, Delhi, Klondike, and East Liberty.
Notable Exposures
[edit | edit source]- The type section is located in Columbus, Ohio.
- The glacial grooves on Kelleys Island are cut into the Columbus Limestone. It is also quarried there.
- An exposure in Ontario is located at Ingersoll, Ontario.[3]
Fossils
[edit | edit source]The Columbus Limestone contains brachiopods, trilobites, bryozoans, mollusks, corals, stromatoporoids and echinoderms (including crinoids).
Due to their mid-continent depositional environment, the fossils are almost free of deformation caused by tectonic activity common in the Appalachian Mountains.
Corals
[edit | edit source]| Taxon | Species | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Syringopora | S. tabulata | [4] |
| Favosites | F. hemispherica minuta | |
| Emmonsia | E. polymorpha | |
| Thamnoptychia | T. alternans | |
| Pleurodictyum | Indeterminate | |
| Coenites | C. dublinensis |
| Taxon | Species | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Prismatophyllum | P. rugosum | [4] |
| Hexagonaria | H. anna | |
| Eridophyllum | E. seriale | |
| Synaptophyllum | S. simcoense | |
| Amplexus | A. yandelli | |
| Zaphrenthis | Z. perovalis | |
| Heterophrentis | H. nitida | |
| Cystiphylloides | C. americanum | |
| Odontophyllum | O. convergens | |
| Siphonophrentis | S. gigantea | |
| Hadrophyllum | H. dorbignyi | [5][6] |
Cephalopods
[edit | edit source]| Taxon | Species | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Werneroceras | W. staufferi | Goniatite[7] |
| Tornoceras | T. eberlei | |
| Goldringia | G. cyclops | [5][8] |
Other Invertebrates
[edit | edit source]| Taxon | Species | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spirifer | S. macrothyris | Brachiopod[5] |
| Brevispirifer | B. gregarius | |
| Laevidentalhum | L. martinei | Gastropod[5] |
| Nucleocrinus | N. verneulli | Crinoid[5] |
Fish
[edit | edit source]| Taxon | Species | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Drepanaspidae | Indeterminate | From the East Liberty Member ("East Liberty bone bed")[6] |
| Cephalaspidae | ||
| Gyracanthus? | ||
| Plectrodus | ||
| Acanthodii | ||
| Machaeracanthus | M. major | |
| "Acanthoides" | A. dublinensis | |
| Coccosteus | C. spatulatus | |
| Ptyctodus | ||
| Rhynchodus | ||
| Palaeomylus | ||
| Cladoselachidae | ||
| Phoebodus | ||
| Onychodus | O. sigmoides |
Age
[edit | edit source]Relative age dating of the Columbus Limestone places it in the Early to Middle Devonian period.
Economic Uses
[edit | edit source]The Columbus has been mined for aggregate. Its Calcium carbonate content is 90% or higher.[9]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Columbus Limestone, Mineral Resources On-Line Spatial Data, United States Geological Survey https://mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/sgmc-unit.php?unit=OHDc%3B0
- ^ Ohio Division of Geological Survey, 1990 (rev. 2000, 2004), Generalized Column of Bedrock Units in Ohio; Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey, 1p. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Portals/10/pdf/stratcol.pdf Archived 2010-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ehlers, G. M., and Stumm, E. C., 1951, Middle Devonian Columbus limestone near Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, AAPG Bulletin; v. 35; no. 8; p. 1879-1888. August.
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c d e Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Wells, J.W., 1944, Middle Devonian bone beds of Ohio: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 55, no. 3, p. 273-302.
- ^ Sweet, W. C., and Miller, A. K., 1956, Goniatites from the Middle Devonian Columbus Limestone of Ohio, Journal of Paleontology, vol. 30, No. 4, p 811-817. July.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ GeoFacts No. 25, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).