This page is a first draft from memory, it is mostly accurate, but many facts are to be verified. The Geology of Indiana by Mellot 100 years ago, is a good reference. I do not have a copy.
Introduction
The geology of Indiana rests on 4 main events.
The above events explain the karst (sinkholes and caves) topograpy of the Norman Upland, the poor soils of the Crawford and Norman Uplands, and the coal and petroleum deposits.
Summary
The central United States were once a warm ocean connecting Hudson Bay
to the Gulf of Mexico. Layers of limestones resulted from the beds of coral.
Layers of shales and limestones were also deposited. Most of Indiana was
covered by glaciers which left layers of glacial till consisting of granite
dust and boulders. Lakes covered vast areas and black organic layers were
deposited in much of Northern Indiana. Crawford County lies in the non-glaciated
region of ocean beds now lifted 800 feet above sealevel. Most of the soils
in Crawford County developed from weathered sandstones, siltstones, and
shales, but there was a tiny amount of loess (wind-blown material). These
soils are known as the least fertile in Indiana. The topograpy is very
hilly and much of the rainfall runs off. The land is mostly best suited
for pasture and trees, but corn, soybeans, small grains, and hay cn be
grown with care to reduce erosion. Bedrock and fragipan limit root penetration
and water capacity.
The Inland Sea
The Cincinnati Uplift caused all the layers of ocean deposited rock to
slope to the southwest toward the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers. A given layer of rock is hundreds of feet higher at Cincinnati
than at Cairo, Illinois. If you keep that slope constantly in mind, it
is easier to understand the origin of coal fields, oil fields, gas fields,
caves, and sinkholes in this area of sedimentary rocks.As you drive west
from Louisville, Kentucky, on Interstate Highway I-64, you cross the 1200
wide Ohio River and the Alluvial bottom lands on which the Town of New
Albany was built. Modest Floods occur every year and have flooded the bottom
two stories in 1937. After crossing a couple miles of these bottom lands,
I-64 rises steeply up the face of the New Albany Shale Escarpment. While
covered with forests, this soft shale has eroded steeply in geological
times. When you reach the top
Move all the above to a page called Geology of Indiana having emphasisis on S Indiana. The let reader come back to this page. Or I could begin with a Geology of the USA, or even the world.
To be continued----------
In the warm tropical sea hundreds of feet of linestones and shales were laid down. The Cincinnati Uplift raised those beds so that they now slope from Ohio to the point were the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi.
Mississippi oil and coal measures of western Crawford County to Evansville
Underground layers of limestone give the karst topography of the Norman Upland. The Norman Upland includes western Floyd County, most of Harrison County and some of Eastern Crawford County. The drainage of the Norman Upland is into sinkholes which drain into caves below. The caves empy into Blue river. The New albany shale below this layer of caves is impervious to water and due to the slope of the shale all the the water drains toward the southwest.
On the terrace of the Ohio River just east of Old Leavenworth, The Ramsey Water Company has drilled huge wells down into sandstone layers. The Company pumps huge volumes of drinking water to supply most of the people of Harrison County.
Points to be written:
New Albany shale, Falls of the Ohio Fossil Coral beds. gas, oil, coal, caves, sinkholes, steep land, fertility, Mansfield sandstone,
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