Historical:Paint Creek Group

Lithostratigraphy: Pope Megagroup >>Paint Creek Group
Chronostratigraphy: Paleozoic Erathem >>Mississippian Subsystem >>Chesterian Series >>Gasperian Stage
Allostratigraphy: Kaskaskia Sequence

Authors

Elwood Atherton, Charles Collinson, and Jerry A. Lineback

Name Origin

The Paint Creek Group (S. Weller, 1913, p. 120; Swann, 1963, p. 76) is named for Paint Creek, a stream in Randolph County.

Type Section

The type section of the Paint Creek Group is along a tributary west of McCuen School (E1/2 2, 5S-9W).

Extent and Thickness

The Paint Creek Group is recognized only in western Illinois.

Description

The Paint Creek Group is dominantly shale and limestone and consists of the Downeys Bluff, Bethel, and Ridenhower Formations (fig. M-25). Although the Bethel is normally a sandstone, it is shale in that area and includes a bed of bright red shale. The name was formerly used in southeastern Illinois for the strata now included in the Ridenhower Formation.

Fig. M-25 -- Columnar section of the Chesterian Series (after Swan, 1963), showing biozones (after Collinson et al., 1971). In the columnar section, the blank areas are shale.

References

SWANN, D. H., 1963, Classification of Genevievian and Chesterian (Late Mississippian) rocks of Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey Report of Investigations 216, 91 p.
WELLER, STUART, 1913, Stratigraphy of the Chester Group in southwestern Illinois: Illinois Academy of Science Transactions, v. 6, p. 118-129.

ISGS Codes

Stratigraphic Code	Geo Unit Designation
4380	Mpc