Swope Formation

Outcrop showing Elm Branch Shale (lowest, undercut), Middle Creek Limestone, Hushpuckney Shale (slumping hillside), and Bethany Falls Limestone (highest cliff). Note soft, eroded shale undercutting Middle Creek Limestone and slumped slope representing Hushpuckney Shale, with little or no shale visible on the surface - both typical of shale members of the Kansas City Group in many outcrops and road cuts. Knobtown, Missouri.

This image illustrates the first three stages of a typical cyclothem as found in eastern Kansas and western Missouri. **Stage 1, Outside Shale (non-marine). **Stage 2, Middle Limestone (fast-rising seawater). **Stage 3, Core Shale (deep seawater). **In situ, shale layers are often seen as slumping hillside. As the Hushpuckney Shale layer in this photo, the shale is covered with soil and not seen. **Middle Limestone often has beds separated by a thin shale layer - as we see here with the Middle Creek Limestone's two relatively thin beds of limestone separated by a very thin layer of shale. The two limestone beds range from 0.5 to 1.5 ft in thickness, and the thin shale layer is just a fraction of an inch. Here, you see the effects of water erosion on the two separated layers of limestone. (Bed of Cedar Creek in Lees Summit, Missouri)