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Lithofacies and biofacies of the Haney Limestone (Mississippian), Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky
Abstract
The Haney Limestone of middle Chesterian age, is a relatively thin, widespread stratigraphic unit that crops out in a continuous belt along the southern and eastern margins of the Illinois basin. It is part of a well defined rhythmic sequence that is characterized by alternating clastic and carbonate units, and has been interpreted as representing a transgressive phase. Regressive phases in the sequence are represented by the underlying Fraileys Shale-Big Clifty Sandstone and the overlying Hardinsburg Sandstone. A quantitative facies analysis based on lithologic and biologic properties of samples collected from measured sections along the outcrop belt reveals the existence of eight lithofacies and six biofacies. Two additional lithofacies are recognized from empirical data. Facies are defined by means of a Q-mode cluster analysis, which is a multivariate statistical technique designed to define groups of related samples. Percentage composition estimates of lithic and biotic constituents were obtained from thin section point-count analyses and served as the data on which the statistical analysis is based. Recognized lithofacies are: fossiliferous shale, interbedded shale and limestone, skeletal packstone, skeletal grainstone, oolite grainstone, oolite packstone, skeletal-oolite packstone, skeletal wackestone, lithoclast wackestone, and lime mudstone. Biofacies are the endothyrid, paleotextulariid, endothyrid-paleotextulariid, Rhombopora, fenestrate bryozoan, and bryozoan-pelmatozoan. Environmental parameters derived from lithofacies and biofacies, the interrelationships of the facies, and a comparison to the modern carbonate environments of the Great Bahama Bank form the basis for the establishment of depositional environments represented in the Haney Limestone. The nature of the environments indicates that, for the most part, the Haney was deposited under shallow shelf conditions with normal salinities, good circulations, and varying degrees of turbulence. The environments that existed within this general framework included: outer shelf, oolite shoal, protected shoal, unprotected shoal, perpheral lagoon, inner lagoon, and prodelta. The spatial and temporal distribution of these environments was controlled primarily by a sequence of highly mobile oolite shoals that developed on topographic highs and migrated back and forth across a shallow platform throughout the period of carbonate deposition. The sedimentary history of the Haney begins with carbonate deposition in the marine environments of the western half of the Illinois basin. As the basin subsided, sea level rose and rapidly transgressed upon a low coastal plain in the eastern half of the basin that had been formed by deposition of the Big Clifty Sandstone. Carbonate deposition continued until it was terminated by renewed terrigenous influx that resulted in the delta complex of the Hardinsburg Sandstone.
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Citation
Vincent, Jerry William (1971). Lithofacies and biofacies of the Haney Limestone (Mississippian), Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -173283.
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