Kansas Geological Survey, Current Research in Earth Sciences, Bulletin 254, part 1
Next Page--Introduction and Prior Work

Channels Ran Through It--The Lawrence Formation at Lone Star Lake, Douglas County, Kansas

Paul Enos, Robert D. Jefferson¹, and Staci L. Goetz²
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045

¹Present address: GX Technology Corporation, 225 E 16th Ave, Suite 1200, Denver, CO 80203
²Present address: Earth Tech, Inc., 4135 Technology Parkway, Sheboygan, WI 54301

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Abstract

The upper part of the Ireland Sandstone Member of the Lawrence Formation exposed in the spillway of Lone Star Lake, southwest of Lawrence, Kansas, consists of abundant pinstripe-bedded shales and siltstones; thin, lenticular sandstone and siltstone beds; and meter-scale, channel-form sandstone and mudstone lenses. Soft-sediment-deformation structures, including load casts, ball-and-pillow, and pseudonodules are abundant. The lenticular and pinstripe bedding with bipolar paleocurrents suggests tide-influenced deposition. The crosscutting, channel-form deposits are interpreted as tidal channels in an environment with low energy but rapid sedimentation. The depositional environment was a tide-dominated, muddy upper estuary cut by tidal channels. Gravitational instabilities resulting from rapid deposition of sand over saturated mud produced inverse-density gradients that resulted in soft-sediment deformation.

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Kansas Geological Survey
Placed online July 16, 2008
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