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102-725: Woodbury Nishnabotna Formation ( Kansas ): D/Johnson Clay Member J/Terra Cotta Clay Member Formation ( San Juan Basin , etc.): Twowells Tongue Paguate Tongue Cubero Tongue Formation (sw Utah ): (undivided conglomerate) Group ( Dinosaur Ridge ): South Platte Formation Lytle Formation Group ( Denver Basin ): Muddy Formation Skull Creek Shale Plainview Sandstone Lytle Formation Group ( Williston Basin ): Mowry Shale Newcastle Formation Skull Creek Shale Inyan Kara Group ( Colorado Plateau ): Naturita Formation Cedar Mountain Formation The Dakota
204-550: A Dhegiha Siouan -speaking people who settled in Arkansas around the 13th century. The stem - kansa is named after the Kaw people , also known as the Kansa , a federally recognized Native American tribe. The tribe 's name (natively kką:ze ) is often said to mean "people of the (south) wind" although this was probably not the term's original meaning. Before European colonization , Kansas
306-699: A bending course for nearly 500 mi (800 km) across the western and southern parts of the state. With its tributaries, (the Little Arkansas , Ninnescah , Walnut, Cow Creek , Cimarron , Verdigris, and the Neosho ), it forms the southern drainage system of the state. Kansas's other rivers are the Saline and Solomon Rivers, tributaries of the Smoky Hill River; the Big Blue , Delaware , and Wakarusa , which flow into
408-474: A cycle of major progression of the seaway into the western interior of North America followed by retreat (see Walther's Law of Facies ). The sequences of the seaway typically express facies sequences of, first, a low-stand erosional surface discontinuity (possibly with development of soils ), then a transgressive pattern of terrestrial sand and mud followed by near shore marine sediments, a high stand pattern that may establish far-shore marine shale and limestone,
510-472: A few local exceptions, it is the oldest Cretaceous unit exposed in the northern Great Plains, including Kansas , Nebraska , Iowa , Minnesota , and Wisconsin , as well as the Desert Southwest . It generally consists of sandy , shallow marine or beach deposits with marine-influenced mudflat sediments, and occasional stream deposits. F.B. Meek and F.V. Hayden first used Dakota in 1862 to name
612-539: A life expectancy near the U.S. national average. In 2013, males in Kansas lived an average of 76.6 years compared to a male national average of 76.7 years and females lived an average of 81.0 years compared to a female national average of 81.5 years. Increases in life expectancy between 1980 and 2013 were below the national average for males and near the national average for females. Male life expectancy in Kansas between 1980 and 2014 increased by an average of 5.2 years, compared to
714-481: A male national average of a 6.7-year increase. Life expectancy for females in Kansas between 1980 and 2014 increased by 4.3 years, compared to a female national average of a 4.0 year increase. Using 2017–2019 data, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation calculated that life expectancy for Kansas counties ranged from 75.8 years for Wyandotte County to 81.7 years for Johnson County . Life expectancy for
816-522: A part of the Dakota sequences. Less common in the remote extents, particularly in the east, the shale is more representative of the deeper portions of the inland seaway. Moreover, shales on top of the upper Dakota on the plains of the east are usually assigned to the Granola or equivalent units, while in the west the thickest interbedding "tongues" of shale are generally assigned to the lower Marcos. Nevertheless, near
918-432: A population of less than 25,000, and upon reaching a population of more than 15,000, they may be certified as a city of the first class. First and second class cities are independent of any township and are not included within the township's territory. Note: Births in table do not add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number. The residents of Kansas have
1020-534: A regressive pattern of a return to near shore marine sediments to terrestrial mud and sand, and a final low-stand erosional surface. Five of the first sequences of the Western Interior Seaway are relevant to the Dakota classifications. The first sequence, typified by the Lytle Formation , did not complete the linkage of the north and south embayments before retreating. The second sequence is typified by
1122-449: A young city incorporated in 1960, has the largest population and the largest land area in the county. It is home to Johnson County Community College . Olathe is the county seat and home to Johnson County Executive Airport . The cities of Olathe, Shawnee , De Soto and Gardner have some of the state's fastest growing populations. The cities of Overland Park, Lenexa , Olathe, De Soto, and Gardner are also notable because they lie along
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#17328513198731224-493: Is Dinosaur Ridge . The best specimen is a partial skeleton of a nodosaurid ankylosaur called Silvisaurus condrayi . Other isolated ankylosaur material may also belong to Silvisaurus . Fossil dinosaur tracks are also known and include theropod and ankylosaur. A large ornithopod femur is known from Burt County, Nebraska as well as fossil dinosaur tracks from Jefferson County. Goniopholidids are also found here with Dakotasuchus kingi . From Colorado perspective, animations of
1326-617: Is a sedimentary geologic unit name of formation and group rank in Midwestern North America. The Dakota units are generally composed of sandstones , mudstones , clays , and shales deposited in the Mid-Cretaceous opening of the Western Interior Seaway . The usage of the name Dakota for this particular Albian - Cenomanian strata is exceptionally widespread; from British Columbia and Alberta to Montana and Wisconsin to Colorado and Kansas to Utah and Arizona . It
1428-682: Is also the home of Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center , Prairie Dunes Country Club and the Kansas State Fair . North of Wichita along Interstate 135 is the city of Newton , the former western terminal of the Santa Fe Railroad and trailhead for the famed Chisholm Trail . To the southeast of Wichita are the cities of Winfield and Arkansas City with historic architecture and the Cherokee Strip Museum (in Ark City). The city of Udall
1530-656: Is covered by glacial drift and loess . The western two-thirds of the state, lying in the great central plain of the United States, has a generally flat or undulating surface, while the eastern third has many hills and forests. The land gradually rises from east to west; its altitude ranges from 684 ft (208 m) along the Verdigris River at Coffeyville in Montgomery County , to 4,039 ft (1,231 m) at Mount Sunflower , 0.5 miles (0.80 kilometers) from
1632-662: Is defined by the Missouri River . The Kansas River (locally known as the Kaw), formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers at appropriately-named Junction City , joins the Missouri River at Kansas City , after a course of 170 mi (270 km) across the northeastern part of the state. The Arkansas River ( pronunciation varies ), rising in Colorado , flows with
1734-717: Is everywhere a common informal name for the unit, especially for the sandstone beds. The Dakota Group rank is employed along the territory of the Dakota Hogback in Colorado and Wyoming, the Colorado Plateau , the Dry Cimarron River , and the Denver Basin . This group ranking recognizes sequences and members that exhibit local formational characteristics, especially marine shales that are less developed or absent further from
1836-580: Is famous for producing massive colorful rock formations in the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains of the United States, and for preserving both dinosaur footprints and early deciduous tree leaves. Owing to extensive weathering of older rocks during the Jurassic and Triassic , the Dakota strata lie unconformably atop many different formations ranging in age from Precambrian to Early Cretaceous. With
1938-543: Is home to Fort Hays State University and the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, and is the largest city in the northwest with a population of around 20,001. Mancos Shale The Mancos Shale or Mancos Group is a Late Cretaceous (Upper Cretaceous) geologic formation of the Western United States . The Mancos Shale was first described by Cross and Purington in 1899 and was named for exposures near
2040-609: Is now the Arctic Ocean and connected with a short northward extension from the Gulf of Mexico. This marine transgression of the ocean onto what was formerly land, was completed by the late Albian (~100 MA) thereby dividing North America in half. On the eastern side of the Seaway, sediments that would become the Dakota Formation were deposited as coastal and nearshore marine sands and silts. As
2142-500: Is the 15th-largest state by area , the 36th most-populous of the 50 states, with a population of 2,940,865 according to the 2020 census, and the 10th least densely populated . Residents of Kansas are called Kansans . Mount Sunflower is Kansas's highest point at 4,039 feet (1,231 meters). The name Kansas derives from the Algonquian term, Akansa , for the Quapaw people. These were
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#17328513198732244-545: Is the Nevada-Utah border. These western sediments accumulated as nearshore and coastal sands and silts as well, and are counterparts to the Dakota Formation on the eastern side of the Seaway. However, these counterpart sediments originated from the other side of the sea and were carried by rivers flowing in opposite directions. These western sediments are equivalent to the Dakota Formation of the Great Plains, but are not exactly
2346-456: Is the largest city in central and north-central Kansas. South of Salina is the small city of Lindsborg with its numerous Dala horses . Much of the architecture and decor of this town has a distinctly Swedish style. To the east along Interstate 70 , the historic city of Abilene was formerly a trailhead for the Chisholm Trail and was the boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower , and
2448-543: Is the site of his Presidential Library and the tombs of the former president, First Lady and son who died in infancy. To the west is Lucas , the Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas. Westward along the Interstate, the city of Russell , traditionally the beginning of sparsely-populated northwest Kansas, was the base of former U.S. Senator Bob Dole and the boyhood home of U.S. Senator Arlen Specter . The city of Hays
2550-594: Is the terrestrial Lytle Formation , which is older than any other Cretaceous rock in Colorado or Kansas. The Skull Creek Shale and Plainview Sandstone of Colorado are also included in the Dakota Group, as is the Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah and its Buckhorn Conglomerate member. However, these units represent a separate seaway sequence in the time between the Lytle and "upper Dakota" (Mowry) sequences, and in
2652-521: The American Civil War these forces collided, entering into skirmishes and guerrilla conflicts that earned the territory the nickname Bleeding Kansas . These included John Brown 's Pottawatomie massacre of 1856. Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th state to join the United States. By that time, the violence in Kansas had largely subsided, but during
2754-570: The Homestead Acts in 1862 accelerated settlement and agricultural development in the state. After the Civil War, many veterans constructed homesteads in Kansas. Many African Americans also looked to Kansas as the land of " John Brown " and, led by freedmen like Benjamin "Pap" Singleton , began establishing black colonies in the state. Leaving southern states in the late 1870s because of increasing discrimination, they became known as Exodusters . At
2856-414: The Kansa people. Its capital is Topeka , and its most populous city is Wichita ; however, the largest urban area is the bi-state Kansas City, MO–KS metropolitan area . For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Indigenous tribes . The first settlement of non-indigenous people in Kansas occurred in 1827 at Fort Leavenworth . The pace of settlement accelerated in
2958-498: The Köppen climate classification , Kansas has three climates: humid continental, semi-arid steppe, and humid subtropical. The eastern two-thirds of the state (especially the northeastern portion) has a humid continental climate , with cool to cold winters and hot, often humid summers. Most of the precipitation falls during both the summer and the spring. The USDA hardiness zones for Kansas range from Zone 5b (−15 °F to −10 °F) in
3060-805: The Mancos River nearby. The two geologists also traced the unit into the Telluride, Colorado area. W.T. Lee had traced the unit north into the Grand Mesa area, defining it as all marine shale between the Dakota and the Mesaverde. It was subsequently traced into Utah and New Mexico. During their work in New Mexico in 1924, J.B. Reeside, Jr., and F.H. Knowlton found that the Mancos Shale could be divided into biostratigraphic layers corresponding closely to formations of
3162-648: The Mesaverde Group. The lower marine Mancos Shale conformably intertongues with terrestrial sandstones and mudstones of the Dakota and in its upper part grades into and intertongues with the Mesaverde Group. The shale tongues typically have sharp basal contacts and gradational upper contacts. Whereas in the plains east of the Rocky Mountains certain mappable marine shales are identified as formations (e.g., Skull Creek , Graneros ), correlated deposits within
Dakota Formation - Misplaced Pages Continue
3264-625: The Mississippi River . The city of Atchison was an early commercial center in the state and is well known as the birthplace of Amelia Earhart . To the west, nearly a quarter million people reside in the Topeka metropolitan area. Topeka is the state capital and home to Washburn University and Washburn Institute of Technology . Built at a Kansas River crossing along the old Oregon Trail , this historic city has several nationally registered historic places. Further westward along Interstate 70 and
3366-573: The Providence Medical Center Amphitheater , the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame , and the annual Kansas City Renaissance Festival . Further up the Missouri River , the city of Lansing is the home of the state's first maximum-security prison. Historic Leavenworth , founded in 1854, was the first incorporated city in Kansas. North of the city, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest active Army post west of
3468-495: The San Juan Mountains Province . The Mancos is a diverse unit, with dozens of named subunits in different structural basins that often intertongue with other formations. The subunits and intertonguing formations (in italics) in each basin, in stratigraphic order, are: The Mancos Shale was first named by Charles Whitman Cross and C.W. Purington in 1899, for outcrops near the town of Mancos, Colorado and along
3570-691: The Union as a free state, hence the unofficial nickname "The Free State". Passage of the Homestead Acts in 1862 brought a further influx of settlers, and the booming cattle trade of the 1870s attracted some of the Wild West's most iconic figures to western Kansas. As of 2015, Kansas was among the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum , and soybeans . In addition to its traditional strength in agriculture, Kansas possesses an extensive aerospace industry. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles (213,100 square kilometers)
3672-521: The 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery debate. When it was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854 with the Kansas–Nebraska Act , conflict between abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri broke out over the question of whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state , in a period known as Bleeding Kansas . On January 29, 1861, Kansas entered
3774-486: The Civil War, on August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led several hundred of his supporters on a raid into Lawrence , destroying much of the city and killing nearly 200 people. He was roundly condemned by both the conventional Confederate military and the partisan rangers commissioned by the Missouri legislature . His application to that body for a commission was flatly rejected due to his pre-war criminal record. Passage of
3876-484: The Colorado border, in Wallace County . It is a common misconception that Kansas is the flattest state in the nation—in 2003, a tongue-in-cheek study famously declared the state "flatter than a pancake". In fact, Kansas has a maximum topographic relief of 3,360 ft (1,020 m), making it the 23rd flattest U.S. state measured by maximum relief. Around 74 mi (119 km) of the state's northeastern boundary
3978-539: The Dakota Group, instead using the term Dakota Sandstone, of formation rank. Its subdivisions are recognized as members. Many authors have emphasized the fact that the marine Dakota Sandstone on the Colorado Plateau is intertongued with the marine lower part of the Mancos Shale, resulting in valid lithostratigraphic names such as the Whitewater Arroyo Tongue of the Mancos Shale which is directly overlain by
4080-468: The Dakota in the Denver Basin as (highest) " D ", " J ", "M", and "O" (lowest). Colorado's "D" and "J" of the driller's Denver Basin have been particularly important to Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma in their efforts of correlating their eastern outcrops with the Dakota units in the Denver Basin and the western units in general. Deposition of the sediments that would become the Dakota Formation began during
4182-419: The Dakota represent wet lowlands, rivers, flood plains, and beaches with a shoreline deeply undulating between deltas and brackish marine embayments . Ground water flowing from inland reacted with changes in pH , oxygenation , and salinity as it encountered seawater, depositing iron oxide and calcite in underground layers near shorelines. These minerals hardened the material and fossils to preserve evidence of
Dakota Formation - Misplaced Pages Continue
4284-563: The East, earning Dodge the nickname "Queen of the Cowtowns". In response to demands of Methodists and other evangelical Protestants , in 1881 Kansas became the first U.S. state to adopt a constitutional amendment prohibiting all alcoholic beverages , which was repealed in 1948. Anti-saloon activist Carrie Nation vandalized her first saloon in Kiowa in 1900. In 1922, suffragist Ella Uphay Mowry became
4386-543: The Great Plains and the Southwest, far greater in extent than the High Plains Aquifer , and famous for its artesian properties. Elsewhere, when deeper, especially in the Denver Basin , these same sands have been sought after for hydrocarbon reserves . " Drillers ", who navigate deep strata by monitoring material brought to the surface in the drilling mud , alphabetically designated the hydrocarbon "producing sands" of
4488-528: The Kansas River is Junction City with its historic limestone and brick buildings and nearby Fort Riley , well known as the home to the U.S. Army 's 1st Infantry Division (nicknamed "the Big Red One"). A short distance away, the city of Manhattan is home to Kansas State University , the second-largest public university in the state and the nation's oldest land-grant university, dating back to 1863. South of
4590-975: The Kansas River; and the Marais des Cygnes , a tributary of the Missouri River. Spring River is located between Riverton and Baxter Springs . Areas under the protection of the National Park Service include: In Kansas, there are currently 238 species of rare animals and 400 rare plants. Among those include: Smooth rockress , Virginia rail , Western Grotto Salamander , Royal Fern , Turkey-tangle , Bobolink , Cave salamander , Snowy Plover , Strecker's Chorus Frog , Peregrine falcon , and Black-footed ferret . Common animal species and grasses include: Crows , Deer , Lesser prairie chicken , Mice , Moles , Virginia Opossum , Prairie dogs , Raccoon , Eastern Gama Grass , Prairie Dropseed , Indian Grass , Little Bluestem , Switch grass , Northern Sea Oats , Tussock Sedge , Sideoats grama , and Big Bluestem . In
4692-647: The Mowry sequence are assigned to the Dakota Formation, while in the center the mudstones and marine shales are commonly assigned a separate unit between upper and lower sandstone units, and in the Southwest, the much thicker marine shales are assigned to tongues of the Lower Mancos . The Greenhorn Cycle is the final relevant sequence as it overlays all Dakota classifications, with the exception of certain sandstones of Graneros age , such as classified in Wisconsin and Iowa. Over
4794-515: The North to Zone 7a (0 °F to 5 °F) in the South. The western third of the state—from roughly the U.S. Route 83 corridor westward—has a semi-arid steppe climate. Summers are hot, often very hot, and generally less humid. Winters are highly changeable between warm and very cold. The western region receives an average of about 16 inches (410 millimeters) of precipitation per year. Chinook winds in
4896-819: The Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is in Smith County near Lebanon . Until 1989, the Meades Ranch Triangulation Station in Osborne County was the geodetic center of North America: the central reference point for all maps of North America. The geographic center of Kansas is in Barton County . Kansas is underlain by a sequence of horizontal to gently westward dipping sedimentary rocks . A sequence of Mississippian , Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks outcrop in
4998-447: The Plains states as well as in parts of the mountainous west. The predominant shales and mudstones are a source of hydrocarbons while the lenses and channels of sandstone form exploitable hydrocarbon reserves. Thus, the Dakota Group is an oil and gas source in the Denver Basin . When they are near the surface, these same structures function as aquitards and aquifers , respectively. The Dakota sandstones form crucial supplies of water on
5100-439: The Plains, especially on uplands between river valleys wherever it is found outside the boundaries of the Ogallala Aquifer . As the formation is uniquely terrestrial in origin, in contrast to the vast marine formations of the Plains, the Dakota has additional unique resources. Lignite coal has formed in the unit and was mined briefly in the 19th century. This supply was immediately mined for fuel by early American settlers, but
5202-409: The South Platte Formation. In eastern Utah and western Colorado, Young introduced the term Naturita Formation for a series of facies in the larger "Dakota Group". However, despite Witzke and Ludvigson logic, geologist have continued to refer to the Lower Cretaceous sequence of formations on the Colorado Plateau and the Rocky Mountains as the Dakota Group. The Dakota has provided several resources in
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#17328513198735304-419: The Twowells Sandstone Tongue of the Dakota Sandstone. In the western San Juan Basin, the lowermost part of the Dakota Sandstone, although of marginal marine origin in the eastern San Juan Basin, is a complex of non-marine sandstones. These relationships are especially well displayed in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico Beginning in the Early Cretaceous, the Cretaceous Seaway spread south from what
5406-437: The Western Interior Seaway including the landbridge between the Mowry retreat and the Graneros advance: Kansas Kansas ( / ˈ k æ n z ə s / KAN -zəss ) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States . It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named after the Kansas River , in turn named after
5508-644: The all-time highest temperature recorded in Kansas is (121 °F or 49.4 °C) on July 24, 1936, near Alton in Osborne County , and the all-time low is −40 °F (−40 °C) on February 13, 1905, near Lebanon in Smith County . Alton and Lebanon are approximately 50 miles (80 km) apart. Kansas's record high of 121 °F (49.4 °C) ties with North Dakota for the fifth-highest record high in an American state, behind California (134 °F or 56.7 °C), Arizona (128 °F or 53.3 °C), Nevada (125 °F or 51.7 °C), and New Mexico (122 °F or 50 °C). Known as rural flight ,
5610-401: The ancient preserved soils show that an extensive flood plain forest was present. This Cretaceous seaway experienced a number of geological sequences (rise and fall cycles of sea level relative to land elevation), which, during particular lowstands, temporarily reestablished a land connection between the east and west continent at the ancestral Transcontinental Arch . Each sequence represents
5712-418: The campus, Aggieville dates back to 1889 and is the state's oldest shopping district of its kind. In south-central Kansas, the Wichita metropolitan area is home to more than 600,000 people. Wichita is the largest city in the state in terms of both land area and population. 'The Air Capital' is a major manufacturing center for the aircraft industry and the home of Wichita State University . Before Wichita
5814-417: The center of the seaway. As these locations were at the time of formation the earliest and deepest areas of the seaway, these groups can include older ages of rocks than are usually included elsewhere under the Dakota name. The names of the member formations of the Dakota Group vary between these regions as the geology there is studied further; but, the earliest unit included in Dakota Groups, excluded elsewhere,
5916-411: The corresponding Skull Creek and Kiowa formations. These first two sequences are not present at the type area along the Missouri River. The sediments broadly considered as Dakota then record the Mowry sequence with the Muddy, J, or Lower Dakota sandstones and the D or Upper Dakota sandstones forming at the discontinuities at the beginning and end of that cycle. In the east the limited marine shales of
6018-453: The day. Precipitation ranges from about 47 inches (1,200 mm) annually in the state's southeast corner to about 16 inches (410 mm) in the southwest. Snowfall ranges from around 5 inches (130 mm) in the fringes of the south, to 35 inches (890 mm) in the far northwest. Frost-free days range from more than 200 days in the south, to 130 days in the northwest. Thus, Kansas is the country's ninth or tenth sunniest state, depending on
6120-432: The distinctive red sandstone exposures along the Missouri River near Dakota City , Nebraska. But, with this name, they applied the term "group", which at that time had the meaning of formation rank , as presently used. Dakota Formation is the unit's primary name and rank in the Great Plains . Formation rank is also applied in western extents (e.g., northeast Utah) as the unit thins and exhibits formational characteristics,
6222-435: The distribution of the Mancos are named as tongues of the greater Mancos Formation. Thus, the classification broadly corresponds with the Colorado Group classification of the Great Plains region. As such, various units of the Colorado Group are recognized within the Mancos in those areas where their distinct facies can be recognized. The Mancos occurs in the Basin and Range Province , the Colorado Plateau Province , and
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#17328513198736324-414: The eastern and southern part of the state. The state's western half has exposures of Cretaceous through Tertiary sediments, the latter derived from the erosion of the uplifted Rocky Mountains to the west. These are underlain by older Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments which correlate well with the outcrops to the east. The state's northeastern corner was subjected to glaciation in the Pleistocene and
6426-428: The ecology of those environments. Sandstone with dinosaur tracks in the upper Dakota above the marine Skull Creek Shale near Denver demonstrates that the seaway occasionally retreated from the area. Dinosaur fossils are very rare in the Dakota Formation and most of them come from Kansas. Some of them are found in Colorado and Nebraska. The most popular site for public viewing of Cretaceous dinosaur fossils in Colorado
6528-410: The fastest-growing in the country. Kansas has 627 incorporated cities . By state statute, cities are divided into three classes as determined by the population obtained "by any census of enumeration". A city of the third class has a population of less than 5,000, but cities reaching a population of more than 2,000 may be certified as a city of the second class. The second class is limited to cities with
6630-566: The first female gubernatorial candidate in the state when she ran as "Mrs. W.D. Mowry". She later stated that, "Someone had to be the pioneer. I firmly believe that some day a woman will sit in the governor's chair in Kansas." Kansas suffered severe and environmental damage in the 1930s due to the combined effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl , and large numbers of people left southwestern Kansas in particular for better opportunities elsewhere. The outbreak of World War II spurred rapid growth in aircraft manufacturing near Wichita in
6732-490: The former route of the Santa Fe Trail . Among cities with at least one thousand residents, Mission Hills has the highest median income in the state. Several institutions of higher education are located in Northeast Kansas including Baker University (the oldest university in the state, founded in 1858 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church ) in Baldwin City, Benedictine College (sponsored by St. Benedict's Abbey and Mount St. Scholastica Monastery and formed from
6834-510: The heat index in those three cities is usually lower than the actual air temperature. Although temperatures of 100 °F (38 °C) or higher are not as common in areas east of U.S. 81, higher humidity and the urban heat island effect lead most summer days to heat indices between 107 and 114 °F (42 and 46 °C) in Topeka , Lawrence , and the Kansas City metropolitan area . Also, combined with humidity between 85 and 95 percent, dangerous heat indices can be experienced at every hour of
6936-464: The last few decades have been marked by a migratory pattern out of the countryside into cities. Out of all the cities in these Midwestern states, 89% have fewer than 3,000 people, and hundreds of those have fewer than 1,000. In Kansas alone, there are more than 6,000 ghost towns and dwindling communities, according to one Kansas historian, Daniel C. Fitzgerald. At the same time, some of the communities in Johnson County (metropolitan Kansas City) are among
7038-441: The late Early Cretaceous ( Albian ). This deposition marked a reversal from over 100 million years of erosion (most of the Mesozoic ). This reversal was due to rising of the mouth of the rivers, called a rise in base level, as the Cretaceous Seaway formed. This rise lowered the gradient of the rivers causing them to deposit sediment inland because their velocity could no longer sustain high volumes of sediment. Measurements show that
7140-414: The marine shales are absent, and fossil pollen species correlate with those found in the unit on the Missouri River . In the San Juan Basin and other intermontane basins and plateaus of the Southwest , Dakota Sandstone is the formal name for the oldest Cretaceous sandstone as well as tongues of that terrestrial sandstone extending into the dark marine shales of the Mancos . However, Dakota Sandstone
7242-428: The merger of St. Benedict's College (1858) and Mount St. Scholastica College (1923)) in Atchison, MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Ottawa University in Ottawa and Overland Park, Kansas City Kansas Community College and KU Medical Center in Kansas City, and KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Less than an hour's drive to the west, Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas , the largest public university in
7344-470: The name Dakota in spite of many efforts to apply localized names. Historically, Lower Cretaceous strata in the Rocky Mountain region have been called the Dakota Formation based on assumed correlation with the type section of the Dakota of the Great Plains. Witzke and Ludvigson have argued that use of the name "Dakota" must reflect actual, not presumed correlation based on stratigraphy and composition of
7446-460: The plains to the east, the same units are named Kiowa Shale and Cheyenne Sandstone , which are considered separate from the Dakota Formation as defined in Kansas and, moreover, do not appear at the type location in Nebraska. However, subsequent sequence stratigraphic and palynostratigraphic research has demonstrated that the Dakota Formation at the type location includes sand and mudstones covering
7548-580: The range of the usage of the Dakota name, the unit is primarily known for its massive beds of sandstone, which commonly shows shades of red, but also gray, yellow, or white. The sand was carried and deposited by rivers or accumulated in dunes or shoreline strands, and later cemented by red iron oxide or white calcite , depending on the local groundwater conditions that followed the sedimentation. The degree of cementation can range from softly crumbling to resistant to hammering. The sandstone beds can have local conglomerations of gravel. The composition of
7650-468: The rivers flowed westward and southwestward towards the encroaching sea from source areas near the present-day Great Lakes . The point of deposition slowly moved eastward as the seaway rose. This change is seen by a gradual shift in the composition of sandstones from having a lot of Paleozoic-age rock detritus in Kansas to sandstones having all Precambrian crystalline rock debris in Iowa. This shift means that
7752-479: The rivers had completely eroded away the Paleozoic rocks in the river source area by the time the Seaway rose high enough for the rivers to deposit sediments in Iowa. The very top of the Dakota Formation was deposited along the coast as indicated by some fossil marine invertebrates . Fossil plants, coal deposits and kaolinite clays show that the climate was warm and wet during deposition of the Dakota Formation. Some of
7854-592: The same ages and sequences as the "marine shale facies of the Graneros" and "early Late Albian Kiowa-Skull Creek". In certain places, the classification is undivided; for example, in far southwest Utah , the strata is designated the Dakota Conglomerate without further division. When nearer the surface (within a couple thousand feet/hundreds of meters), the sandstone beds of the Dakota Formation form various Dakota Aquifers , important water sources in some areas of
7956-521: The same strata. Individual formations in the western Dakota Group have local names. In Wyoming, the term Cloverly Formation has been expanded by some authors to include sediments formerly placed within the Dakota Formation. Along the Colorado Front Range, the lower, terrestrial beds, or facies, of the Dakota Group are sometimes called the Lytle Formation, and near-shore marine facies are called
8058-664: The same time, the Chisholm Trail was opened and the Wild West era commenced in Kansas. Storied lawman Wild Bill Hickok was a deputy marshal at Fort Riley and a marshal at Hays and Abilene . Dodge City was home to both Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp , who worked as lawmen in the town. The Dalton Gang robbed trains and banks throughout Kansas and the Southwest and maintained a hideout in Meade . In one year alone , eight million head of cattle from Texas boarded trains in Dodge City bound for
8160-405: The sand and gravel varies depending on the sources of the rivers that made each deposit. The amount of sandstone, averaging 25-50%, can very greatly over short distances between extremes of 5% to 80%. The general remainder of the unit, however, generally in complementary 80% to 5% proportions, is layered mudstone and clay deposited on floodplains, swamps, and estuaries. Similar to the sand,
8262-564: The seaway continued to deepen and widen, this eastern shoreline moved progressively eastward; however, accumulation of abundant sediment delivered by massive rivers limited shoreline advancement past the type location throughout the Cenomanian until overtopped by the Greenhorn Seaway in the early Turonian . Meanwhile, on the western side of the seaway, sediments were carried eastwards and northeastwards by rivers from mountains located along what
8364-409: The sedimentary rock. To the west of the Rocky Mountains, such as on the Colorado Plateau, this sequence of Upper Cretaceous, predominately sandstone, sedimentary rocks was recommended to be known as the Dakota Group, to dispel any suggestion of direct facies correlation. However, few authors of papers on the Dakota west of the Rocky Mountains, especially on the Colorado Plateau, recognize the Dakota as
8466-569: The sites of present-day Denver , Colorado Springs , and Pueblo . The first non-military settlement of Euro-Americans in Kansas Territory consisted of abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters who founded the town of Lawrence and attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Missouri and Arkansas continually sent settlers into Kansas Territory along its eastern border to sway votes in favor of slavery prior to Kansas statehood elections. Directly presaging
8568-451: The so-called Battle of Kansas , and the aerospace sector remains a significant portion of the Kansan economy to this day. Kansas is bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. The state is divided into 105 counties with 628 cities , with its largest county by area being Butler County . Kansas is located equidistant from
8670-405: The soil-forming mud was modified by groundwater conditions to accumulate iron oxide or calcite. Coloration can be dark to light red, grey, yellow, and white. Iron oxide accumulation can approach the hardness and luster of hematite . In evidence of the general low-lying nature of the Dakota's lush, hot-house Earth environment, lignite and coal have formed in various areas. Marine shale is also
8772-750: The source. Western Kansas is as sunny as parts of California and Arizona . Kansas is prone to severe weather, especially in the spring and the early-summer. Despite the frequent sunshine throughout much of the state, due to its location at a climatic boundary prone to intrusions of multiple air masses, the state is vulnerable to strong and severe thunderstorms. Some of these storms become supercell thunderstorms; these can produce some tornadoes , occasionally those of EF3 strength or higher. Kansas averages more than 50 tornadoes annually. Severe thunderstorms sometimes drop some very large hail over Kansas as well. Furthermore, these storms can even bring in flash flooding and damaging straight line winds. According to NOAA,
8874-468: The state as a whole was 78.5 years. Life expectancy for the United States as a whole in 2019 was 78.8 years. The northeastern portion of the state, extending from the eastern border to Junction City and from the Nebraska border to south of Johnson County is home to more than 1.5 million people in the Kansas City (Kansas portion), Manhattan, Lawrence, and Topeka metropolitan areas . Overland Park ,
8976-515: The state, and Haskell Indian Nations University . To the north, Kansas City , with the second largest land area in the state, contains a number of diverse ethnic neighborhoods. Its attractions include the Kansas Speedway , Sporting Kansas City , Kansas City Monarchs , and The Legends at Village West retail and entertainment center. Nearby, Kansas's first settlement Bonner Springs is home to several national and regional attractions including
9078-515: The territory of Kansas was integrated into Spanish Louisiana . During that period, Governor Luis de Unzaga 'le Conciliateur' promoted expeditions and good relations with the Amerindians . Explorer Antoine de Marigny and others continued trading across the Kansas River , especially at its confluence with the Missouri River , tributaries of the Mississippi River . In 1803, most of modern Kansas
9180-584: The town of Mancos, Colorado . The unit is dominated by mudrock that accumulated in offshore and marine environments of the Cretaceous North American Inland Sea . The Mancos was deposited during the Cenomanian (locally Albian ) through Campanian ages , approximately from 95 million years ago ( Ma ) to 80 Ma. Stratigraphically the Mancos Shale fills the interval between the Dakota and
9282-466: The trail are still visible in the prairie today. In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state. The Kansas–Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing Nebraska Territory and Kansas Territory , and opening the area to broader settlement by whites. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included
9384-535: The western limits, where the Dakota "pinches out" between the Morrison and the Mowry, the unit returns to the totally terrestrial sand-mud-sand pattern and fossil pollens of the Nebraska type location. These characteristics of chaotic, land-formed sandbanks and mudflats lying above flinty, whiter marine megacyclic Permian limestones and below grey, rhythmic, chalky shales , persist for thousands of miles, locally variable as they may be, causing common use of
9486-549: The winter can warm western Kansas all the way into the 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) range. The south-central and southeastern portions of the state, including the Wichita area, have a humid subtropical climate with hot and humid summers, milder winters, and more precipitation than elsewhere in Kansas. Some features of all three climates can be found in most of the state, with droughts and changeable weather between dry and humid not uncommon, and both warm and cold spells in
9588-594: The winter. Temperatures in areas between U.S. Routes 83 and 81 , as well as the southwestern portion of the state along and south of U.S. 50 , reach 90 °F (32 °C) or above on most days of June, July, and August. High humidity added to the high temperatures sends the heat index into life-threatening territory, especially in Wichita, Hutchinson , Salina , Russell , Hays , and Great Bend . Temperatures are often higher in Dodge City , Garden City , and Liberal , but
9690-741: Was acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase . Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican–American War in 1848, when these lands were ceded to the United States . From 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory . The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, New Mexico . Wagon ruts from
9792-566: Was 'The Air Capital' it was a Cowtown. With a number of nationally registered historic places, museums, and other entertainment destinations, it has a desire to become a cultural mecca in the Midwest. Wichita's population growth has grown by double digits and the surrounding suburbs are among the fastest growing cities in the state. The population of Goddard has grown by more than 11% per year since 2000. Other fast-growing cities include Andover , Maize , Park City , Derby , and Haysville . Wichita
9894-459: Was decidedly inferior to larger supplies of coal in the southeast of Kansas. The widespread bog environments of the Dakota period resulted in concretions of iron, forming hematite , limonite , and beds of "ironstone", which are common in the Janssen clay member of Kansas. Smelting of this limited iron source was only briefly attempted in conjunction with the lignite mining. The iron-cemented sandstone
9996-420: Was found to be a durable and colorful building material on the treeless 19th century Plains. Historic 1860s buildings of Fort Harker (Kansas) and Fort Larned are constructed of this stone. The Dakota clays are quarried for tile and brick manufacture. Uranium is also found concentrated in the Dakota sandstone where percolating uranium-rich water has deposited the mineral in the aquifers. The sands and muds of
10098-594: Was occupied by the Caddoan Wichita and later the Siouan Kaw people . Tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison . The first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado , who explored the area in 1541. Between 1763 and 1803,
10200-465: Was one of the first cities to add the city commissioner and city manager in their form of government. Wichita is also home of the nationally recognized Sedgwick County Zoo. Up river (the Arkansas River ) from Wichita is the city of Hutchinson . The city was built on one of the world's largest salt deposits (of what would form Strataca ), and it has the world's largest and longest wheat elevator. It
10302-566: Was the site of the deadliest tornado in Kansas on May 25, 1955; it killed 80 people in and near the city. Southeast Kansas has a unique history with a number of nationally registered historic places in this coal-mining region. Located in Crawford County (dubbed the Fried Chicken Capital of Kansas), Pittsburg is the largest city in the region and the home of Pittsburg State University . The neighboring city of Frontenac in 1888
10404-471: Was the site of the worst mine disaster in the state in which an underground explosion killed 47 miners. " Big Brutus " is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) outside the city of West Mineral . Along with the restored fort, historic Fort Scott has a national cemetery designated by President Lincoln in 1862. The region also shares a Media market with Joplin, Missouri , a city in Southwest Missouri. Salina
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