Murray Bluff Sandstone Member

Lithostratigraphy: McCormick Group >>Abbott Formation >>Murray Bluff Sandstone Member
Chronostratigraphy: Paleozoic Erathem >>Pennsylvanian Subsystem >>Atokan 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 Murray Bluff Sandstone Member of the Abbott Formation (Weller, 1940, p. 40).

Derivation

Named for the hill called Murray Bluff in Saline County.

Type section

Type location

The type section occurs at Murry Bluff (NE 35, 10S-5E).

Stratigraphic relationships

The Murray Bluff Sandstone Member is the top member of the Abbott Formation in southern Illinois. A sandstone occurs at this position in the areas where the Litchfield and Assumption Coals of the Spoon Formation are present.

Extent and thickness

In the type section the sandstone is at least 60 feet thick and contains many liesegang rings (secondary iron-oxide diffusion banding). It is relatively thick in channel facies and thinner in nonchannel facies. The Murray Bluff has been identified at numerous localities throughout the outcrop area in southern Illinois, but its northward extent in the subsurface is generally not recognized.

Age and correlation

The Murray Bluff has been correlated with the Bernadotte Sandstone of western Illinois and the Aberdeen Sandstone Member of western Kentucky.

References

WELLER, J. M., 1940, Geology and oil possibilities of extreme southern Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey Report of Investigations 71, 71 p.

ISGS Codes

Stratigraphic Code	Geo Unit Designation
3560	tl-mb