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21-737: The Skull Creek Shale corresponds with the Kiowa Shale . This article about a specific stratigraphic formation in Nebraska is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to the Cretaceous period is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kiowa Shale The Kiowa Formation or Kiowa Shale is a Cretaceous geologic formation in Kansas, diminishing to member status in Colorado and Oklahoma. In Colorado,

42-574: A dissected plain covered by tallgrass and mixed-grass prairie . The Smoky Hills were formed by erosion of sedimentary deposits from the Cretaceous period and expose chalk , limestone , and sandstone rock outcroppings . The Smoky Hills region is part of the Plains Border subregion of the Great Plains . It occupies nearly all of north-central Kansas, bordered on the west by the High Plains , on

63-486: A thick layer of river mud and sand (Cheyenne) was deposited over the exposed Permian and Jurassic rocks of those plains. As the seawater spread and deepened, the deeper water deposited finer erosional sediments resulting in shale (Kiowa). After a few million years, the land rose and the seawater retreated, leaving a return to terrestrial sand, gravel, and mud (lower Dakota). Together, the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and lower Dakota record

84-674: A turn of the Smoky Hill River from the South to the East, the southeast corner of Salina rises upon a gently sloped bluff of tough shale ( Wellington Formation ). That landmark bluff is topped by the lower sandstones of the Kiowa Shale, possibly the "Longford Member" or similar material. Atop the hill in Indian Rock Park lie many sandstone outcrops and large sandstone boulders as remnants of the base of

105-859: The Niobrara Chalk . The Dakota Formation forms the eastern region. This area includes the Smoky Hill Buttes , which are capped by sandstone and provide a sharp contrast with the surrounding plains. One of the most notable buttes is Coronado Heights in Saline County . Pawnee Rock was another Dakota Sandstone landmark in the region. There are concretions at Rock City in Ottawa County and Mushroom Rock State Park in Ellsworth County . These are cemented by calcium carbonate . The Greenhorn Limestone region, Blue Hills or Kearney Hills , in

126-685: The Sevier orogeny commenced the subduction of the oceanic Farallon Plate underneath the continental North American Plate . With the unusual shallow subduction of the Farallon Plate, a broad and shallow seaway began to open generally north and south over the North American continent, named the Western Interior Seaway . As the sea water widened (transgressed) over the midcontinent, the east shore advanced over low plains. As that shoreline advanced,

147-512: The Kiowa Shale was classified as a member of the now abandoned Purgatoire Formation . In the vicinity of Longford, Kansas , the local Longford member comprises thinly bedded siltstone, clay, polished gravel, lignite, and sandstone suggests a river and estuary environment. In other regions, the same strata is called Skull Creek Shale , named after its exposure in Skull Creek, in Wyoming . At

168-497: The Kiowa Shale. This article about a specific stratigraphic formation in Kansas is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Smoky Hills The Smoky Hills are an upland region of hills in the central Great Plains of North America. They are located in the Midwestern United States , encompassing north-central Kansas and a small portion of south-central Nebraska . The hills are

189-658: The Smoky Hill Buttes range of the Smoky Hills . While the tops of the buttes are resistant red Dakota sandstone, the first three hairpin turns of the access road climb up a slope of grass-covered Kiowa Shale. Small exposures of Kiowa Shale may be found along these turns or the nearby foot paths. The City of Salina was developed on a flat flood plain between the Smoky Hill River and the Saline River . However, just across

210-541: The Smoky Hills for flood control and irrigation purposes, creating several reservoirs . These include Cedar Bluff Reservoir , Kanopolis Lake , Kirwin Reservoir , Waconda Lake , Webster Reservoir , and Wilson Lake . Land use in the Smoky Hills consists primarily of cropland and rangeland . The region is sparsely populated with numerous communities of varying size, but no large cities. The two largest communities in

231-466: The Smoky Hills region are Salina, Kansas and Hays, Kansas . Elevations in the Smoky Hills range from about 1,200 feet (370 m) in the river valley near Salina to about 2,400 feet (730 m) at the western edge of the region. The region is divided into three regions based on the underlying Cretaceous rock outcroppings: The Dakota Formation ( sandstone ), the Greenhorn Limestone , and

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252-526: The central region is made up of thin—usually less than 6 inches (15 cm)—chalky limestone beds alternating with thicker beds of blue-gray chalky shale . This area is known as post rock country due to the practice of early settlers using limestone for buildings and fenceposts since trees were scarce. The Chalk Hills are the beds of the Niobrara Chalk exposed in Fort Hays Limestone bluffs of

273-570: The east; and the Blue Hills and Chalk Bluffs constituting the Rolling Plains and Breaks Ecoregion in the west. The Republican River , Saline River , Solomon River , and Smoky Hill River all flow eastward through the Smoky Hills from their sources in the High Plains. Beginning in the 1940s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation dammed these rivers at points in

294-540: The easternmost belt; the two western belts are known as the Blue Hills. The hills of the westernmost belt are also known as the Chalk Bluffs. The Blue Hills escarpment forms the boundary with the High Plains to the west. The Environmental Protection Agency divides the region into two Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregions : the Smoky Hills proper constituting the Smoky Hills Ecoregion in

315-778: The first sequence of the Western Interior Seaway, referred to as the Skull Creek/Kiowa Cycle, and the particular time-constrained marine environment is named the Skull Creek/Kiowa Sea. Later cycles of the interior sea would follow, including the Greenhorn Sea and the Niobrara Sea Coronado Heights is a public park established on one of the Dakota remnant hills forming the hummocky outliers of

336-621: The lands of future Kansas and neighboring states were raised well above sea level. The marine Permian rocks of the Midcontinent Seaway were exposed to the atmosphere and eroded by wind, rain, and rivers. Some terrestrial soils accumulated in the Jurassic , raising the Red Hills of southern Kansas and western Oklahoma. Broadly, the definition of the Kiowa unit is restricted to marine deposits, mostly

357-625: The massive shale. Pyrite -rich (iron disulfide) terrestrial mud, sand, and gravel below the marine shale are assigned to the Cheyenne Sandstone formation. The Limonite -rich (iron oxidide) terrestrial sands and muds above the marine shale are assigned to the base of the (lower) Dakota Formation in Kansas, the "J" oil sands of the Denver Basin , the Muddy Sandstone , or other correlating rocks. Approximately 160 million years (Ma) ago,

378-646: The northeast by the Dissected Till Plains , on the east by the Flint Hills , and on the south by the Arkansas River lowlands. The region extends into south-central Nebraska, bordered on the north by the Rainwater Basin . It consists of three belts of hills, all running southwest to northeast, which correspond to the underlying geological formations (see geology section ). The Smoky Hills proper comprise

399-463: The time of the classification of the Kiowa (later 1900s), units were defined primarily by appearance and content in the context of the succession of fossils ; and marine (ocean) sediments and fossils were generally assigned to units separate from terrestrial (land) sediments and fossils. From the final, Late-Permian retreat of the Midcontinent Seaway to the Mid-Cretaceous, some 200 million years,

420-667: The uppermost member of the Niobrara Chalk, the Smoky Hill Chalk. The mixed-grass prairie of this region hosts a large variety of wildlife species. Coyotes, mule deer, northern myotis bats , the eastern spotted skunk , and some kangaroo rats live in the Smoky Hills. Birds in the region include meadowlarks , prairie chickens , barn owls, burrowing owls , the common nighthawk , dickcissels , lark sparrows , northern bobwhites , red-headed woodpeckers , piping plovers , Upland Sandpipers . Monarch and Regal Fritillary butterflies are also seen. Reptiles include massasauga snakes,

441-478: The western Solomon , Saline , Smoky Hill , and Republican Rivers , and in an irregular belt of Smoky Hill Chalk bluffs further west. This area includes such Kansas landmarks as Castle Rock and Monument Rocks in Gove County . The chalk beds are known for the late 19th and early 20th century excavations of exceptionally well-preserved fossils of marine reptiles such as the plesiosaurs and mosasaurs found in

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