Rock Island Coal Member

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Lithostratigraphy: Kewanee Group >>Spoon Formation >>Rock Island Coal 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 Rock Island (No. 1) Coal Member of the Spoon Formation was first called Coal Number 1 (Worthen, 1868, p. 6, 10, 11) because it was believed to be the oldest (the first deposited) minable coal in Fulton, Morgan, Scott, and Schuyler Counties. As the type section coal was correlated with the coal mined at Rock Island (Worthen and Shaw, 1873, p. 221, 229-232), the name Rock Island (No. 1) Coal came into general use.

Derivation

Other names

History/background

Type section

Type location

It is typically exposed in the Spoon River Bluff near Seville, Fulton County (Worthen, 1870, p. 194). This exposure was designated the type section (SW SW 23, 6N-1E) by Wanless (1957, p. 72, 201).

Type author(s)

Type status

Reference section

Reference location

Reference author(s)

Reference status

Stratigraphic relationships

The Rock Island Coal Member is the basal named member of the Spoon Formation in western Illinois.

Extent and thickness

In western Illinois the Rock Island (No. 1) Coal occurs only in widely scattered areas. It attains a maximum thickness of about 8 feet in belts trending east-west or northeast-southwest (Wanless, 1965, p. 27, 29-30; Searight and Smith, 1969, p. 13), in other places only a few inches to a foot or two of coal is present, and it is absent throughout broad areas.

Lithology

Core(s)

Photograph(s)

Contacts

Well log characteristics

Fossils

Age and correlation

The Rock Island Coal is tentatively correlated with the Assumption and the Litchfield Coals of west-central Illinois. It has been correlated with the Murphysboro Coal (Wanless, 1957), but the floras indicate it is lower than the Murphysboro (Kosanke, 1950). It is correlated with the Minshall Coal Member of Indiana.

Environments of deposition

Economic importance

Remarks

References

KOSANKE, R. M., 1950, Pennsylvanian spores of Illinois and their use in correlation: Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin 74, 128 p.
SEARIGHT, T. K., and W. H. SMITH, 1969, Strippable coal reserves of Illinois, Part 5B: Illinois State Geological Survey Circular 439, 22 p.
WANLESS, H. R., 1957, Geology and mineral resources of the Beardstown, Glasford, Havana, and Vermont Quadrangles: Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin 82, 233 p.
WANLESS, H. R., 1965, Environmental interpretation of coal distribution in the eastern and central United States: Illinois Mining Institute Proceedings, p. 19-35.
WORTHEN, A. H., 1868, Geology and paleontology: Geological Survey of Illinois, v. 3, 574 p.
WORTHEN, A. H., 1870, Geology and paleontology: Geological Survey of Illinois, v. 4, 508 p.
WORTHEN, A. H., and JAMES SHAW, 1873, Geology of Rock Island County: Geological Survey of Illinois, v. 5, p.217-234.

ISGS Codes

Stratigraphic Code Geo Unit Designation
3490
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