Creal Springs Limestone Member

Lithostratigraphy: Kewanee Group >>Spoon Formation >>Creal Springs Limestone Member
Chronostratigraphy: Paleozoic Erathem >>Pennsylvanian Subsystem >>Desmoinesian Series
Allostratigraphy: Absaroka Sequence

Primary source

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.

Contributing author(s)

M. E. Hopkins and J. A. Simon

Name

Original description

The Creal Springs Limestone Member of the Spoon Formation (Kosanke et al., 1960, p. 32, 64, 65).

Derivation

Named for Creal Springs, Williamson County.

Type section

Type location

The type section consists of exposures in the sandstone quarry east of Creal Springs (NE SE SE 25, 10S-3E).

Stratigraphic relationships

In the type area the Creal Springs lies on the Granger Sandstone, but throughout much of its extent it is separated from the underlying Murphysboro Coal by several feet of gray shale.

Extent and thickness

The Creal Springs is lenticular and occurs sporadically in a large part of southern Illinois.

Lithology

The Creal Springs Limestone is gray, argillaceous, and in places cherty. It is seldom over 2 feet thick and contains an open-marine fauna.

Age and correlation

In some places it was once correlated with the Curlew Limestone, but the fusulinids it contains indicate it is younger than the Curlew (Thompson et al., 1959).

References

KOSANKE, R. M., J. A. SIMON, H. R. WANLESS, and H. B. WILLMAN, 1960, Classification of the Pennsylvanian strata of Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey Report of Investigations 214, 84 p.
THOMPSON, M. L., R. H. SHAVER, and E. A. RIGGS, 1959, Early Pennsylvanian fusulinids and ostracodes of the Illinois Basin: Journal of Paleontology, v. 33, p. 770-792; Illinois State Geological Survey Reprint 1959-P.

ISGS Codes

Stratigraphic Code	Geo Unit Designation
3350	--