Stratigraphy, Petrology, and Depositional 

Environment of the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member, Borden Formation 

(Mississippian), Kentucky and Indiana

GEOLOGICAl, SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1007

Prepared' in cooperation with the 

Kentucky Geological Swvey
Stratigraphy, Petrology, and Depositional 

Environment of the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member, Borden Formation 

(Mississippian), Kentucky and Indiana

By ROY C. KEPFERLE

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1007

Prepared in cooperation with the 

Kentucky Geological Survey

Paleocurrents, trace fossils, and fades analysis of a 

vertical profile through a terrigenous clastic sequence 

are combined to determine the pakogeography for a part 

of the Lower Mississippian

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1977
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

V. E. McKelvey, Director

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Kepferle, Roy Clark, 1926-

Stratigraphy, petrology, and depositional environment of the Kenwood Siltstone Member,

Borden Formation (Mississippian), Kentucky and Indiana. 

(Geological Survey professional Paper 1007) 

Bibliography: p. 47-49. 

Supt. of Docs. No.: 119.16:1007

1. Geology, Stratigraphic-Mississippian. 2. Siltstone-Kentucky. 3. Siltstone-Indiana. 4. Geology-Kentucky. 

5. Geology-Indiana. I. Kentucky. Geological Survey. II. Title: Stratigraphy, petrology, and depositional

environment of the Kenwood Siltstone Member. III. Series: United States. Geological Survey. Professional

Paper 1007. 

QE471.15.S54K46 551.7'51'09769 76-608334

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Washington, D.C. 20402

Stock Number 024-001-02994-4
CONTENTS

Page

Abstract _____________________________—__ 1

Introduction _____________ __ ______________ 1

Acknowledgments ______________________ 1

Review of previous work __ ________________ 1

General stratigraphy of Borden Formation _____________ 2

Stratigraphy of the Kenwood Siltstone Member ________ 7

Size and shape _ ________ _____ __________ 7

Bedding of siltstone_____________________ 7

Siltstone content ___________ _____________ 7

Petrology ———__———_____._______________ 10

Composition ____________________________ 11

Siltstone ____________________________ 11

Clay mineralogy ____________________ 18

Texture _____________________________ 18

Siltstone ___________________________ 18

Depositional environment indicators __________ 18

Bedding structures ______________________ 18

Internal sedimentary structures ____________ 20

External sedimentary structures____________ 23

Structures of organic origin ________________ 23

Paleocurrent analysis __—————————————————————— 25

Provenance _______________________—___— 28

Depositional model _______________________—— 30

Evidence from stratigraphy ___——__————————— 31

Evidence from petrology _______________——— 33

Evidence from bedding structures ——__————————— 36

Basin geometry ___—_—————__—————————— 37

Subsea fan model________________________ 38

Triggering mechanism of the turbidity currents _____ 39

Facies analysis and the vertical profile ________ __ 40

Environments of deposition __________________ 40

Basin-floor environment _________________ 40

Base-of-slope environment _______________ 44

Slope environment _____________________ 44

Platform environment __________——__—— 45

Erosional phase and depositional hiatus ______— 45

Carbonate platform environment __———_————— 45

The paleoslope and paleotectonics _____———__———— 45

References cited ___________________—_——— 47

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

FIGURE 1.

2.

3.

4.

12.

13.

14.

Index map of north-central Kentucky and adjacent Indiana ______—__——————— ————————— —————— 2 

Columnar section of the Borden Formation _______________——__——————————————————————— 3 

Correlation chart of stratigraphic nomenclature, Kentucky and Indiana ___—————————————————————— 4 

Diagrammatic cross section showing relation of Borden to Fort Payne _____________—_—————————— 5 

5-8. Maps showing:

5. Areal extent of Borden delta front __________________ ___—————————————————————

6. Area underlain by Kenwood Siltstone Member ___________-__—————————————————————

7. Thickness of the Kenwood Siltstone Member ________________————————————————————

8. Thickness of interval between base of Kenwood and base of Borden __—————————————————————— 

9. Fence diagrams of Kenwood ________ ____________________________——————————————

10. Cumulative curve showing thickness distribution of siltstone beds of the Kenwood ______ ——————— —————— 10

11. Photographs showing thick beds in the Kenwood __________________——-_——— ————— ——————— 11 

Map showing thickness of thickest siltstone bed in Kenwood ____________—_————— ————— ————— 12 

Diagrammatic cross sections of channel-fill types in the Kenwood ____________——————————————— 12 

Map showing siltstone:shale isoratios of the Kenwood ______————————————————————— —— ————— 13

15. Photomicrograph of basal contact, bed 2, Kenwood Hill ______________——————————————————————— 13

16. Pie diagrams of modal composition of Kenwood __________ _____ __________________ ______ 16

17. Diagram showing composition of siltstone of members of Borden ____________ ________________ 17

18. Photomicrographs of siltstone of the Kenwood ______________——___—______—____—_____ 17

19. X-ray diffractometer traces of typical Kenwood sample ___—__———____———___————__———__—— 19

20. X-ray diffractometer traces of clay from Kenwood ______—___———__———__———___———__—— 19

21. Triangular-plot textural analyses of the Kenwood _______________________________——__——— 20

22. Grain-size histogram in typical siltstone of the Kenwood _________________________________— 20

23. Columnar section of Kenwood type locality showing vertical variation ____________________________ 22

24. Grain-size curves for samples from base and top of siltstone and of shale bed in the Kenwood _____———_———— 23

25. C-M diagram showing grain-size image of the Kenwood _______________-___———_—————————— 23 

26-29. Photographs showing:

26. Planar lamination in siltstone of the Kenwood ________________ ____________—_——— 24

27. Internal bedding sequences in siltstone beds along Firetower Hill Road _______-._____ ——— ————— 25

28. Siltstone bed in the Kenwood along Pleiss Hollow __________________________________ 26

29. Sideritic "ironstone" concretions in Kenwood ______________________________________ 27

III
CONTENTS IV

Page

FIGURE 30. Diagrams showing flow regime related to structures in turbidite ___________________________ 28

31-35. Photographs showing:

31. Sole marks on the siltstone beds of the Kenwood _____________________- ————_____—— 29

32. Trace fossils ___________________________________________________________ 30

33. Trace fossils of Pascichnia affinities _________________________________________ 32

34. Trace fossil Chondrites sp ___________________________________________—_ 33

35. Trace fossils of Fodinichnia affinities ______________________________________——— 34

36. Diagrammatic classification of the trace fossils ________________________________________ 35

37. Diagrammatic ichnocoenose of the Borden delta front_________ ___ __________ _____ ___ _____ 35

38. Map and histogram of paleocurrent lineations and vectors, Kenwood________________________—— 37

39. Sketch map showing paleocurrents in the Borden Formation in Kentucky ____________————___——— 38

40. Diagrams showing variation of internal bedding sequence in turbidites ____________——————————— 41

41. Vertical profile and facies analysis of Borden Formation _______________________________——— 42

42. Block diagrams showing depositional environments ___________________________________ 43

43. Paleogeographic diagram of eastern interior ______________________._______________ 46

TABLES

Page

TABLE 1. Modal analyses of thin sections of siltstones of the Borden Formation ______ ______________ __——— 14

2. Statistical parameters for textural analysis of the Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation ____——— 21

3. Linear directional indicators in the Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation _____———————__——— 36

4. Characteristics of turbidites in ancient and modern environments and comparison with features of the Kenwood

Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation _____ ________ _____—————_ _———————————— 39

5. Comparison of proximal and distal turbidites, Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation ———————— 40

6. Characteristics of modern and ancient subsea fans relative to the Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden

Formation___________________________________________————______——— 40

7. Triggering mechanisms of turbidity currents, Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation ————————— 41
STRATIGRAPHY, PETROLOGY, AND DEPOSITIONAL

ENVIRONMENT OF THE KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER,

BORDEN FORMATION (MISSISSIPPIAN),

KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

By ROY C. KEPFERLE

ABSTRACT

The Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation (Mississippian) is a wedge of sediment that thins from 110 ft (33.5 m) to zero 

across a width of 10 mi (16 km) and that extends for 50 mi (80 km) 

along depositional strike from southern Indiana southeastward into 

north-central Kentucky.

Detailed petrologic analysis of the Kenwood discloses two rock 

types: an illitic clay to silt shale and a clayey siltstone, illite-arkose 

to illite-subarkose. The shale is similar to that of the New Providence 

Shale Member of the Borden Formation on which it lies or locally 

intertongues. The siltstone is poorly sorted, immature, and medium 

grained. Cumulative grain-size curves are strongly fine skewed and 

leptokurtic. Textural data plotted on a C-M diagram fall near the 

fine end of the turbidite field and in the field for pelagic suspension.

Internal bedding sequences are characterized by planar-bedding 

laminae but locally include the complete Bouma-sequence. Sole 

marks consist mainly of grooves and trace fossils.

Paleocurrents were generally west-southwest in water depth postulated as circalittoral (150-600 ft, or 46-180 m). Such paleocurrents, 

considered with a coarsening-upward vertical profile through the 

Nancy and Holtsclaw Siltstone Members of the Borden Formation, 

suggest that the siltstone beds of the Kenwood were deposited as a 

turbidite sequence that fanned out from two centers along the front 

of a prograding platform of sediment. The front of this platform 

marks the outer edge of the Catskill-Pocono delta system that began 

building westward in Late Devonian time. The end of the westward 

progradation is recorded by a widespread, burrowed, glauconitestrewn surface on the sediment platform. The glauconite probably 

originated during a depositional hiatus in Kentucky and Indiana 

after the final stages of the Acadian orogeny in the east.

INTRODUCTION

The Kenwood Siltstone Member in the lower part 

of the Borden Formation is fairly well exposed and 

crops out in a relatively small area (fig. 1). It is a turbidite sequence in which individual beds are timestratigraphic units that show paleocurrent directions. 

This report presents a depositional model for the Kenwood based on the interpretation of its shape and physical relations, paleocurrent markings, bedding, and 

trace fossils. This model, in combination with a facies 

analysis of the whole Borden Formation in the study 

area, is used to construct a picture of the paleogeography of the region in the Early Mississippian.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Support for part of the fieldwork and travel was furnished by a Penrose Grant from the Geological Society 

of America. The Indiana Geological Survey courteously 

furnished access to stratigraphic information in their 

files. I am indebted to many of my colleagues in the 

U.S. Geological Survey, particularly to Warren L. 

Peterson, who also recognized the Borden delta front in 

central Kentucky and whose discussions helped develop my concepts of depositional environments. Prof. 

Wayne A. Pryor and Prof. Paul Edwin Potter, University of Cincinnati, encouraged me to undertake the 

study. I benefited from visits to the outcrop area with 

Prof. Francis J. Pettijohn, Dr. Alan F. Thomson, and 

students from Johns Hopkins University. This report is 

based on part of a dissertation submitted June 1972 to 

the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of 

Doctor of Philosophy.

REVIEW OF PREVIOUS WORK

Early stratigraphic and paleontologic studies in the 

Lower Mississippian rocks of the region were summarized by Butts (1922) and Stockdale (1931, 1939). 

Butts discussed the Lower Mississippian rocks in eastern Kentucky in some detail, touched on relationships 

with the rest of the State, and attempted correlations 

with southern Indiana. Stockdale's early detailed 

study in Indiana was later expanded to unify the correlations of the Lower Mississippian rocks in Kentucky 

and Ohio. For 20 years after Stockdale's work, studies 

of the Borden were chiefly paleontologic (Gutschick, 

1954; Conkin, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1960).

Recent detailed geologic mapping in Kentucky has 

led to a redefinition of the Borden and some of its subdivisions (Weir and others, 1966; Sable and others, 

1966; Weir, 1970; Kepferle, 1971) and to reinterpretations of some of the depositional environments of some 

Mississippian units (Thaden and others, 1961; Sedimentation Seminar, 1969, 1972; Moore and Clarke,
KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

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FIGURE 1.—Index map of study area in part of north-central Kentucky and adjacent Indiana, showing counties and quadrangles 

referred to in text. Heavy line outlines area of figures 6, 7, 8, 12, 

14, and 38.

1970; Peterson and Kepferle, 1970; Kearby, 1971; 

Pryor and others, 1974).

In Indiana, stratigraphic relations and depositional 

environments of the upper part of the Borden have 

been restudied by Smith (1965), Whitehead (1973, 

1976), Lane (1973), Nicoll and Rexroad (1975), and 

students at the University of Indiana (Suttner and

Hattin, 1973). In Illinois, important contributions to 

interpretation of depositional environments in Borden 

equivalents have been made by studies of subsurface 

data (Swann and others, 1965; Lineback, 1966, 1968a, 

1969).

GENERAL STRATIGRAPHY 

OF BORDEN FORMATION

The Borden Formation is a complex sequence of dominantly terrigenous clastic rocks. In the central part of 

the study area, the general sequence is as follows, in 

ascending stratigraphic order: the New Providence 

Shale, the Kenwood Siltstone, the Nancy, the Holtsclaw Siltstone, and the Muldraugh Members (figs. 2, 3). 

The Floyds Knob Formation as used by Stockdale 

(1939, p. 191-200) is herein called the Floyds Knob Bed 

and is included as the basal part of the Muldraugh 

Member. Some members intertongue and intergrade 

with others. For example, the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member descends stratigraphically and intertongues 

with the New Providence Shale Member; similarly, the 

Holtsclaw Siltstone Member descends and grades out 

into the Nancy Member (fig. 4).

The Borden Formation in most of the study area 

overlies the New Albany Shale, an olive-black to 

grayish-black, silty, carbon-rich shale. In most of Indiana and locally in northern Kentucky (Conkin and 

Conkin, 1972; Kepferle, 1974), the two are separated 

by the Rockford Limestone, a single thin bed of 

greenish-gray to olive-gray, ferruginous, glauconitic, 

micrograined dolomitic limestone.

The New Providence Shale Member, the basal 

member of the Borden Formation, is mainly mediumgray to olive-gray silty clay shale, which weathers 

light greenish gray or yellowish gray. It is obscurely 

laminated. In fresh exposures, parting is commonly 

hackly and uneven to subconchoidal. Abundant to rare 

siderite concretions locally stand out along some bedding planes. Minor constituents are rare phosphate 

nodules and discontinuous thin beds and stringers of 

crinoidal limestone. The thickness of the New Providence ranges from 90 to 220 ft (27.4-67 m) in the study 

area. Fossils in the New Providence include 

brachiopods, crinoid plates, bryozoans, small horn corals, auloporid corals, foraminifers, and trace fossils. 

Biostratigraphic subdivisions of the New Providence 

(Conkin, 1957) have no apparent lithostratigraphic 

counterparts.

The Kenwood Siltstone Member, which consists of 

interbedded siltstone and shale, overlies and locally 

intertongues with the New Providence Shale Member. 

The thickness of the member is generally less than 40 

ft (12.2 m) but locally reaches 110 ft (33.5 m).

The Nancy Member (Weir and others, 1966) directly
GENERAL STRATIGRAPHY OF BORDEN FORMATION

SYSTEM

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FORMATION, 

MEMBER, 

AND BED

Harrodsburg 

Limestone

Borden Formation

Muldraugh 

Member

Floyds Knob\ 

Bed \

Holtsclaw 

Siltstone 

Member

Nancy 

Member

Kenwood

Siltstone

Member

New 

Providence 

Shale 

Member

Rockford \ 

Limestone x

New Albany

Cl-i«l«

LITHOLOGY 

AND 

THICKNESS

IN FEET 

(METERS)

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DESCRIPTION

Limestone, dolomitic in part, and chert. Crinoidal 

biosparrudite.

Limestone, dolomite, and chert; silty, geodal; 

glauconitic at base; resistant.

Siltstone, argillaceous, calcareous in part. 

Brachiopods, trilobites. Calcareous concretions 

common near top; resistant.

Shale, silty, argillaceous, abundant trace fossils; 

moderately resistant.

Siltstone, tabular, very thin to thick beds, resistant; 

alternating with shale similar to that in unit below. Abundant trace fossils.

Shale, argillaceous, silty ; increasing clay toward 

base, phosphate nodules at base. Scattered 

siderite ironstone nodules; rare fossils, other 

than trace fossils; poorly resistant.

Limestone, thin, dense, gray; sparse in Kentucky.

Shale, silty, olive-black to grayish- black, pyritic; 

phosphate nodules in upper part, thin gray 

shale seams near base; fissile; carbonaceous. 

Callixylon newberryi.

FIGURE 2.—Generalized columnar section of the Borden Formation in north-central Kentucky.

overlies the Kenwood in easternmost exposures and to 

the west overlies the New Providence Shale Member 

(fig. 4). The Nancy is dominantly olive-gray to 

medium-gray clayey silt shale and ranges in thickness 

in the study area from 20 to 190 ft (6.1-57.8 m). Strata 

equivalent to the Nancy Member in Indiana include 

part of the Locust Point Formation and possibly some 

of the lower part of the Carwood Formation (fig. 3). 

Fossils in the Nancy include abundant "curly" tracefossil markings along the bedding and, in rare calcareous zones, crinoid columnals, bryozoans, and 

brachiopods.

The Holtsclaw Siltstone Member (Kepferle, 1971) 

overlies the Nancy Member in easternmost exposures 

and intertongues with the Nancy to the west in Jefferson and Bullitt Counties, Ky. (fig. 4). In Indiana, strata 

equivalent to the Holtsclaw are in the Carwood Formation (fig. 3). The Holtsclaw is medium-dark-gray to
KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

KENTUCKY INDIANA 

This report (Smith, 1965; Stockdale, 1939; Lineback, 1968b)

SYSTEM

MISSISSIPPIAN

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Lower Mississippian "^.,. . 

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FORMATION AND MEMBER

Salem Limestone

Harrodsburg Limestone

Borden Formation

Muldraugh Member

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Holtsclaw Siltstone Member

Nancy Member

Kenwood Siltstone Member

New Providence Shale Member

Rockford Limestone

New Albany Shale

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Upper Devonian

GROUP

Sanders 

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FORMATION AND MEMBER

Salem Limestone

Harrodsburg Limestone

Guthrie Creek Member

Leesville Member

Muldraugh Formation

Ramp Creek Member

Edwardsville Member

Floyds Knob Member

Carwood Formation

Locust Point Formation

Kenwood Sandstone Member

New Providence Formation

Rockford Limestone

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Clegg Creek Member

Camp Run Member

Morgan Trail Member

Selmier Member

Blocher Member

FIGURE 3.—Correlation chart comparing stratigraphic nomenclature of the Louisville area, Kentucky, with that used in southern Indiana. (The boundary between the Borden and Sanders Groups in Indiana has been redefined recently by Nicoll and 

Rexroad (1975, pi. 2). This redefinition does not affect the data presented in this report.)

dark-gray siltstone, which weathers olive gray to yellowish gray. The thickness of the Holtsclaw reaches 

about 130 ft (39.6 m). The upper 20 ft (6.1 m) is slightly 

coarser grained and is extensively bioturbated.

Brachiopods, gastropods, trilobites, and bryozoans are 

locally abundant, commonly as molds.

The complex of the Nancy and Holtsclaw is overlain 

by a silty glauconitic unit here called the Floyds Knob
GENERAL STRATIGRAPHY OF BORDEN FORMATION

UPPER 

MISSISSIPPIAN

LOWER 

MISSISSIPPIAN

w Harrodsburg Limestone

Muldraugh Member

Holtsclaw Siltstone 

Member

Glauconite zone

UPPER AND 

MIDDLE DEVONIAN New Albany Shale

FIGURE 4.—Diagrammatic cross section showing general relation of subdivisions of the Borden in the Louisville area to

the Fort Payne Formation of central Kentucky.

Bed. This bed is nearly everywhere marked by a conspicuous basal layer and a less prominent upper layer 

of greenish-black glauconitic silt. The layers locally 

coalesce but commonly are separated by 5-18 ft 

(1.5-5.5 m) of phosphatic, siliceous silty dolomite, 

dolosiltstone, clayey siltstone, or brownish-grey oolitic 

limestone. The bed contains abundant foraminifers 

(Conkin, 1954, 1960) and locally abundant pelmatozoans, brachiopods, and bryozoans. Because this glauconitic zone is thin, it has been for the most part 

mapped with the Muldraugh Member.

The Muldraugh is the uppermost member of the 

Borden in the area. It consists of olive-gray to 

medium-dark-gray dolomitic siltstone, dolosiltstone, 

and silty dolomite, irregularly interbedded with 

medium- to light-gray, coarse crinoidal limestones. 

Chert and siliceous geodes are common and locally accentuate a "knotty" mottled appearance of the outcrop. 

The thickness in the study area ranges from 20-60 ft 

(6.1-18.3 m). Bryozoans, crinoid columnals, sponge 

spicules, and brachiopods are locally common.

The Edwardsville has been included as a member in 

the lower part of the Muldraugh Formation in Indiana 

by Smith (1965) and Whitehead (1973, 1976) and is 

now considered by Nicoll and Rexroad (1975) as the 

uppermost formation in the Borden Group. It is missing or is in part equivalent to the Floyds Knob Bed in 

Kentucky (fig. 3).

The Harrodsburg Limestone overlies the Borden 

throughout a broad area in southwestern Indiana and 

west-central Kentucky, including the study area 

(figs. 3, 4). The Harrodsburg is a sparsely glauconitic, 

light-gray to light-olive-gray crinoidal limestone with 

a matrix that ranges from sparry clear crystalline calcite to micritic calcite. Scattered grains of glauconite 

and the sparry matrix of the Harrodsburg distinguish 

it from the crinoidal limestone of the Borden.

The lithology of the Borden Formation changes a few 

miles southwest of the western extent of the Kenwood. 

This change is marked by an incomplete termination of 

the dominantly terrigenous clastic siltstone and shale 

facies that constitute the main part of the Borden to 

the north and east and by a southwestward thickening 

of the dolomitic, calcareous, siliceous facies characteristic of both the Fort Payne Formation and the Muldraugh Member of the Borden (fig. 4). This narrow area 

of rapid stratigraphic change has been called the "Borden delta front" (Peterson and Kepferle, 1970, fig. 4). 

The strike of the front (fig. 5) is projected in subsurface 

to the northwest into central Indiana, where it coincides with the 100-ft isopach line of the Borden 

siltstone delta of Swann, Lineback, and Frund (1965). 

On the basis of detailed surface mapping, the front is 

thought to extend southeastward at least as far as the 

Elk Valley area of Tennessee (Englund, 1968, p. 10- 

11). The position of the front is thought to influence
FIGURE 5.—Map showing areal relationship of Borden delta front to the Kenwood 

Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation and the Knifley Sandstone Member of 

the Fort Payne Formation.

, A 85

E

Area unde

FIGURE 6.—Map (indexed in fig. 1) showing area underl

Member of Borden Formation and lines of section shown 
STRATIGRAPHY OF THE KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER

depositional patterns in units such as the Knifley 

Sandstone Member of the Fort Payne Formation (fig. 5; 

Sedimentation Seminar, 1972).

STRATIGRAPHY OF THE 

KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER

The Kenwood was named by Butts (1915, p. 148) for 

exposures of interbedded siltstone and shale on Kenwood Hill in the southern part of the city of Louisville, 

Jefferson County, Ky. (loc. E, fig. 6). Minor revisions of 

the original definition were made by Stockdale (1939, 

p. 109-111) and Kepferle (1972b). Detailed mapping, 

including that of Peterson (1966a, b, 1967,1968,1972), 

shows that the member is more extensive and generally thicker than previously recognized. Significant 

exposures, for which complete measured sections of the 

Kenwood are described separately (Kepferle, 1972c), 

are shown on figure 6.

Siltstone characterizes the Kenwood, even though 

shale is the dominant lithology. The siltstone, where 

freshly exposed, is medium gray to medium dark gray; 

it weathers medium light gray to light olive gray or 

yellowish gray and is commonly limonite stained to a 

dark yellowish orange. The shale, like the New Providence, is dark greenish gray, dark to medium gray, and 

olive gray to grayish green where fresh, and it weathers yellowish gray to light greenish gray.

SIZE AND SHAPE

The Kenwood is an irregular wedge-shaped body 

about 50 mi (80 km) long and 10 mi (16 km) wide 

(fig. 7) which dips gently southwestward to its pinchout 

and which has lost much of its thick northeastern edge 

to erosion (fig. 8). The Kenwood is thick in two areas 

along the eastern margin of the study area (fig. 7). The 

area of greatest thickness is the eastern part of the 

Shepherdsville quadrangle, Bullitt County, Ky., where 

the Kenwood is 110 ft (33.5 m) thick. The other area is 

north, in Brooks and Louisville West quadrangles, 

Jefferson County, Ky., where the Kenwood is 65 ft 

(19.8 m) thick.

The depositional dip of the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member ranges from about 5 to 20 ft/mi (0.9-3.7 m/km) 

relative to the base of the Borden (figs. 8, 9).

BEDDING OF SILTSTONE

The siltstone beds in the Kenwood are moderately 

indurated and form ribbed slopes and gullys in contrast 

to the less indurated more easily weathered shale. 

Most beds are planar and tend to maintain their thickness over the length of most exposures, which is seldom more than a few tens of feet long. The bed thickness ranges from less than 0.1 to 20 ft (3 cm-6.1 m),

and the graphic mean thickness is 0.7 ft (21.6 cm) as 

determined in much the same manner recommended 

for determining grain-size parameters (Folk, 1968, 

p. 44-50). (See fig. 10.) The thicker beds, such as those 

shown in figure 11, are generally found in the easternmost areas of outcrop (fig. 12). Rare examples of 

large differences of thickness in short distances are for 

the most part related to the accumulation or compounding of thicker beds in probable channel fills.

In channel fills.—Channel fills of the Kenwood are 

divided into three types on the basis of thickness, 

number, and geometry of the siltstone beds in the fill. 

Type I is shallow, narrow, and restricted to a single 

siltstone bed, whose top is planar (fig. 13a). Type II is 

filled with siltstone beds that are thicker than beds 

outside the channel and whose tops are planar (fig. 

13b). Type III consists of several inclined siltstone beds 

that tend to coalesce towards the center of the channel 

(fig. 13c). Thick beds in a type III channel fill that are 

replaced by shale are interpreted as rescour (fig. 13d). 

Theoretically, rescour could remove beds of type I or 

type II channels, but I know of no examples from the 

study area. In all the channel fills, sole marks on the 

basal beds are absent.

Distribution of siltstone beds in vertical section.— 

Siltstone beds in the Kenwood occur singly and in 

packages of several beds. The packages are continuous 

over greater distances than individual beds and thus 

are useful markers in studying the Kenwood. These 

packages may be grouped into three classes according 

to the arrangement of thick and thin beds in the package as suggested by Thomson (1971). Class I packages, 

characterized by thicker beds, possibly composite beds, 

appearing in the base of the package, are in a narrow 

band on the east margin of the area of outcrop. Class II 

packages, characterized by thicker composite beds in 

the middle of the package, are just west of the eastern 

outcrops. Class III packages, characterized by mainly 

separate beds, occupy the remainder and largest part of 

the area.

The number of siltstone beds is greater in the easternmost belt of outcrops than in the remainder of the 

area. Field observations suggest that the member, on 

average, contains about six to eight siltstone beds. At 

the featheredges, however, the Kenwood is a single 

siltstone bed. Where the member is thick, beds are 

more numerous; on the south end of Indian Grave 

Ridge in Nelson County, Ky. (loc. T, fig. 6), it contains 

as many as 37 individual siltstone beds.

SILTSTONE CONTENT

The siltstone content of the Kenwood decreases 

fairly regularly westward (fig. 14). The area containing 

the greatest percentage of siltstone is along the east
EXPLANATION

Location of thickness measurement

10 KILOMETERS

FIGURE 7.—Map showing thickness of the Kenwood Siltstone Member.

E

/ Area unde

FIGURE 8.—Map showing thickness of the interval betwe

Siltstone Member and the base of the Bord
Vertical 

METERS 150 -i

Kenwood 

Siltstone Member,

Auger hole

New Providence Shale Member,

O-1- 0

a «i o

D 5

ii i 1

3 5 10

10 

1

1 

15 20

15

1

1 

25

2

30 KILOM

Vertical 

METERS 200 -,

scale 

- 600 FEET- 500 IO

oi ^

M

FIGURE 9.—Fence diagrams of the Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation. Location of sections shown in figure 6.
10 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

0.05 0.1 0.2 0.3 

(.03)

0.5 0.8 1.0 1.5 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.06.0 10.0 16.0 20.0 

(.30) (3.0) (6.1)

THICKNESS IN FEET (METERS)

edge of outcrop about midway between Shepherdsville 

and Bardstown. Extending southward from this area is 

a narrow belt containing a high percentage of siltstone. 

Elsewhere the siltstone makes up only a small part of 

the member.

PETROLOGY

The Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation was studied petrologically in samples from two 

main areas. One of these is the Kenwood type section 

on Kenwood Hill, Jefferson County, Ky. (loc. E, fig. 6); 

the other is to the south, near Shepherdsville, Bullitt 

County, Ky. The textural parameters and composition 

of these Kenwood samples are compared with siltstone 

samples from three other members of the Borden Formation (Holtsclaw Siltstone Member, Farmers 

Member, and "Rockcastle freestone" beds of the Wildie 

Member) and the Knifley Sandstone Member of the 

Fort Payne Formation.

FIGURE 10.—Cumulative curve showing thickness distribution of 

siltstone beds of the Kenwood (arithmetic probability paper with 

thickness on a logarithmic scale).
PETROLOGY 11

COMPOSITION

Both siltstone and shale of the Kenwood are made 

up of silt and clay. The distinction between the two 

lithologies is based on the dominance of silt or clay 

(fig. 15).

SILTSTONE

Composition of the siltstone of the Kenwood 

Siltstone Member was studied in 46 thin sections of 

samples from 15 beds. Most samples are from near the 

top and base of beds, and some are from within the 

thicker beds. Three hundred point counts per thin section were made of framework grains and matrix to determine mineral percentages. As a check, qualitative 

mineralogy was determined by X-ray diffraction.

The major framework constituents of the siltstone 

are quartz, feldspar, and rock fragments. They make 

up from about 49 to 80 percent and average about 68 

percent of the rock. The matrix is chiefly sericitic illitic 

clay, limonite, and microcrystalline quartz. The matrix 

makes up from about 11 to 52 percent and averages 

about 28 percent. The matrix is obscured in unweathered samples by calcite or pyrite cement. Data for individual samples are shown in table 1 and summarized 

in figures 16 and 17.

Quartz constitutes 54-93 percent of the framework 

grains. Three types were identified: plain quartz (71 

percent of the quartz grains), poly crystalline quartz (21 

percent), and undulose quartz (8 percent). Diagenetic 

silica cement is suggested by overgrowths on some

FIGURE 11.—Photographs showing thick beds in the Kenwood Siltstone Member. A, Channel fill, type III, Cane Hollow, 

loc. N, figure 6. B, Channel fill, type II, Buttonmold Knob, loc. J, figure 6. C, Channel fill, type II, Rolling Fork, 

loc. W, figure 6. Channel-fill types shown diagrammatically in figure 13.
FIGURE 12.—Map showing thickness of thickest siltstone bed in the Kenwood 

Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation.

METERS FEET 

r 5

METERS FEET

- 40- 30

- 20

- 10

0 20 METERS 

Scale for b-d

FIGURE 13.—Diagrammatic cross sections of channel-fill types in the Kenwood 

Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation.
Area underlain by Kenwood Siltstone Membe 

of Borden Formation

FIGURE 14.—Map showing silts tone: shale isoratios of the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member of the Borden Formation.

Silttton*

CONTACT

Shale

0.5mm 

I_______l

FIGURE 15.—Photomicrograph of basal contact of siltstone bed 2,

Kenwood Hill, loc. E, figure 6, sample LW-1-20. oo
TABLE 1.—Modal analyses of thin sections of siltstones of the Borden Formation

[Tr.=trace]

Percentage of minerals in thin sections

Thin 

section 

No. Common

Quartz

Undulose

Polycrystalline Total

Feldspar

Orthoclase, 

untwinned Microcline Plagioclase

Chert and 

rock 

Total fragments

Mica

Biotite 

and Other 

Muscovite chlorite Total grains

Kenwood Siltstone Member, Kenwood Hill type section, Jefferson

LW-l-70 ....—.LW 1 61 ........

LW-1-60 ........

Do.

Bed 6

LW-1-52 .... _ .LW-1-50 .. __ .

Bed5

LW-1-43 — .... .

LW-1-42 ........LW-1-41 ........LW-1-40 ........

Bed 4

LW-1 36 ........LW-1-35 ....—.

LW 1 34 — __ ..

LW-1-33 ....—.LW-1-31 -._.....LW-1-30 —.-...

Bed3

LW-1-23 ........LW-1-21 ........

LW 1-20 ——..

Bed 2

LW-1-6 ..........

LW-1 5 ..........

LW-1-4 . __ ..... LW-1-3

LW 1 2— ... ...LW-1-1

Bedl

... 34.0... 36.3... 30.6

... 31.3

... 32.7... 29.7... 39.7... 34.7

... 34.3

... 39.7

19.0

... 37.6

... 32.65... 26.7... 28.4... 29.3... 36.4... 40.3... 28.0... 31.5

... 32.3

... 23.0— 19.0... 24.8

... 26.7

— 40.7... 43.4

— 36.3... 45.7

— 37.3

38 35

Kenwood Hill average

1.5

1.7 2.3 

2.4

2.14.0 

1.7

2.8

2.3 

3.7 

10.7 

.7

4.35

3.3 4.2 

8.0 

2.0 

4.0 

7.04.7

3.3 

4.3 4.34.0

3.3 

2.3 

1.4 

3.3 

2.3 

7.0

3.27

6.0

7.3 7.7 8.07.7

10.7 

10.3

10.5

7.7 

7.6 

19.3 

7.6

10.55

12.3 

9.0 

9.3 8.9 

10.7 

11.010.2

.3 

8.7 

14.3

7.8

18.0 

10.4 

6.6 

13.0 

14.7 

8.0

11.8

41.545.3 

40.6 41.742.5

44.4 51.7

48.044.3 

51.0 49.0 

45.9

47.55

42.3 41.6 

46.7 

47.3 

55.0 

46.046.5

36.0 

36.0 

37.7

36.6

48.0 

53.4 

51.4 

52.6 62.7 

52.353.4

27.5 0 Tr.

25.0 0 1.0 26.2 0 .6 23.0 .3 .424.7 .1 .722.3 0 1.0 

25.0 0 2.3

23.6 0 1.6

24.4 0 1.3 

17.7 .7 1.6 

13.0 0 1.0 

20.7 0 1.4

18.95 .2 1.3

19.0 0 2.0 

22.6 .3 1.6 12.7 .3 1.3 

24.8 0 1.0 

14.3 .3 1.7 

22.3 Tr. 1.3

19.3 .1 1.5

7.3 0 0 

28.0 0 .7 

14.3 Tr. Tr.16.5 Tr. .7

10.3 0 0.3 

16.3 0 1.0 

20.3 0 .4 

13.3 0 .7 

13.0 0 1.3 

9.7 0 .6

13.8 0 .7

27.5 8.0

26.0 3.7 26.8 6.1 23.7 4.325.5 4.723.3 6.0 27.3 7.3

25.3 6.6

25.7 7.0 20.0 13.0 

14.0 3.3 

22.1 3.8

20.45 6.8

21.0 7.3 25.5 6.5 14.3 6.0 

25.8 2.4 

16.3 5.7 

23.7 10.0

21.1 6.3

7.3 4.0 

28.7 7.0 

14.3 3.0

16.8 4.7

10.6 3.7 

17.3 7.3 20.7 5.2 

14.0 5.0 

14.3 2.0 

10.3 3.414.5 4.4

2.0 02.0 0.3 2.3 1.0 

1.3 01.9 .4

2.0 0.3 

1.0 1.7

1.5 1.0

0.7 0 

1.7 1.0 

.7 1.7 

0 0

.8 .7

0.3 0.3 

1.9 Tr. 

1.7 1.0 2.0 .7 

.7 .3 

1.0 .3

1.3 .4

1.0 0 2.0 0

.7 0

1.2 01.0 0.7 

1.0 .7 

2.5 .3 

.7 1.0 

1.0 .7 

Tr. 0

1.0 .6

County, Ky.

2.0

2.3 3.3 

1.32.3

2.3

2.7

2.5

0.7 

2.7 2.4 

0

1.50.7 

1.9 

2.7 

2.7 

1.0 

1.3

1.7

1.0 

2.0

.7

1.21.7 

1.7 

2.8 

1.7 

1.7 

Tr.

1.9

0

0 0 0

00 

0

00 

0 0 00

0 

0 0 

0 

.3 

0

Tr.

0 0 

000 

1.3

.7 

.7 

.6 .7

.7

Matrix

21

22.7 

23.2 29.0

25.024.0 

11.017.5

22.3 

13.3 

31.3 

28.223.8

28.7 25.5 

30.3 

21.8 

21.7 

19.0

24.5

51.7 26.3 

44.340.8

36.0 

19.0 19.2 

26.0 

18.7 

33.3

25.4

Bed average (percent, matrix-free basis)

Chert and 

Total rock 

grains Quartz Feldspar fragments

77.0 54.0 36.0 10.0

72.7 58.5 35.0 6.5 

80.0 60.0 32.0 8.074.8 63.5 27.5 9.0

73.9 63.0 28.5 8.5 

58.1 63.0 29.0 8.0

72.3 74.0 20.0 6.0 72.4 62 0 30.0 8.0

Unweathered Kenwood Siltstone Member, Brooks area, Bullitt County, Ky.

BR-1-1A

BB-1— IBBR-1-1C ____ . Bedl 

average ....

... 9.3... 23.7

... 15.3

... 16.1

12.3 13.6 10.3

12.1

5.4 5.0 5.7

5.4

27.0 42.3 

31.3

33.5

14.3 0 2.7 

10.7 0 2.3 

9.3 .7 2.0

11.43 .7 2.33

17 1.7 

13 2.0 12 1.7

14.0 1.8

1.3 1.0 2.0 .3 2.7 1.02.0 .8

2.3 

2.3 

3.7

2.8

0.3 

.7 

2.3

1.1

51.7 39.7 49.046.8 49.3 68 28 4
Kenwood Siltstone Member, Shepherdsville area, Bullitt County, Ky.

SH-l-T -———__ SH 1 M--.__— .... SH-l-B ............

Bed

SH-2-T ............

SH-2-B ...... __ ..

Bed

SH 3T ............

SH-3B ............

Bed

SH-4 ..............SH 5 ..............

SH-6 ..............

Bed

SH 16T ............

SH-16B ............

Bed

37 35 

43.3

38.4

28.8 

40.5

34.65

22.2 26.3

24.25

48.0 38.0 

28.538.2

47.7 

37.3

42.5

23 

21 

22.7

22.2

21.4 

22.6

22.020.4 

14.5

17.45

21 

18 

22

20.3

24.3 

26.3

25.3

0 

0 

0

0

0 

000 0

0

0 

0 

000 0

0

60 56 66

60.650.2 63.1

0 0 0 1.7 1.6 17 0 17 

0 0 0 9.0 4.0 0 0 O' 

0 0 0 2.7 1.0 .3 o .3

0 0 0 4.5 2.2 7 o 7

0 0 0 2.9 3.9 2.5 0 2.5 

0 0 0 3.7 1.7 2.2 0 2.2

56.65 0 0 0 3.3 2.8 2.35 0 2.35

42.6 0 0 0 7.4 2.8 09 0 09 

40.8 0 0 0 2.9 2.9 2'g Q ^9

41.7

69.0 

56.0 

50.5

58.572.0 63.6

67.8

000 5.15 2.85 1.9 Q 1.9

0 0 0 7.0 9.0 1.0 0 1.0 0 0 0 5.0 3.6 .7 0 .7 

0 0 0 8.5 4.0 000

0 0 0 6.8 5.5 .6 0 .6

0 0 0 3.3 0.7 0.7 0.7 1.4 0 0 0 6.0 3.7 .7 .7 1.4

000 4.65 2.2 .7 .7 1.4

0 

2.0 

0

.7

0.6 

.3

.45

1.8 

1.91.85

Tr. 0 0

0

0.6 

.6.6

35.0 

29.0 

30.031.3 67.3 90.0 6.7

39.9 

29.0

34.45 62.8 90.2 5.344.5 48.646.55 49.7 84.0 10.3

14.0 

34.7 37.0

28.6 70.8 82.6 9.622.0 24.723.35 74.65 90.8 6.2

3.3 

4.5

5.7

7.8 

3.0

Kenwood Siltstone Member, north end Kenwood Hill, Jefferson County, Ky.

LW-1T .. __ ...... LW-1B __ . _ .... Bed 43.0 44.0

43.5

22.0 

6.0

14.0

0 

0

0

65.0 50.0

57.5

0 0 0 7.0 6.5 000 0 0 0 9.0 4.5 .5 0 .50 0 0 8.0 5.5 .25 0 .25

0 

0

0

21.5 

36.0

28.75 71.0 81.0 11.2 7.8

Kenwood Siltstone Member, south end Kenwood Hill, Jefferson County, Ky.

LW 2T ............LW-2B ............

Bed

Kenwood Hill £ 

Bullitt County Total Kenwo

39.3

48.7

44.0

od average

20.4 

10.7

15.55

0 

00

59.7 

59.4

59.55

0 0 0 2.0 1.7 1.0 0 1.0 

0 0 0 4.6 1.0 1.3 o 1.3

0 0 0 3.3 1.35 1.15 0 1.15

0.3 

Tr.

1.15

35.3 33.7

34.5 64.2 92.8 5.1 

72.4 62.0 30.0

62.4 84.3 11.0

2.1 

8.0 

4.7 

5.9

Farmers Member, Lewis County, Ky.

VA 1 2A ..........VA-1-2B ..........

Bed

9.7

12.7

11.2

12.0 

5.78.85

8.6 8.68.6

30.3 20.0 Tr. 0.3 20.3 7.7 1.3 0.7 2.0 27.0 16.3 0 .7 17.0 3.3 .3 .7 1.028.65 18.15 Tr. .5 18.65 5.5 .8 .7 1.5

0. 

1.0

.5

39.7 

50.7

45.2 52.8 54 35.5 10.5

"Rockcastle freestone" beds, Wildie Member, Rockcastle County, Ky.

RF 1 T ............

RF-l-M ............RF-l-B .. _ .. __ . Bed

14.7 

11.3 10.0

12.0

11.6 13.0

14.7

13.1

13.3 13.3 

8.3

11.6

39.6 37.7 

33.0

36.8

17.0 Tr. 0.7 17.7 0.7 3.6 0.7 4.3 

23.3 0 1.3 24.7 .3 1.7 6.0 7.7 

16.3 .3 1.4 18.0 1.3 3.7 .6 4.3

18.9 .1 1.1 20.1 .8 3.0 2.4 5.4

0 

1.3 

Tr.

.4

37.7 25.3 

43.335.4 48.7 55 41 4

Holtsclaw Siltstone Member, Bullitt County, Ky.

Holtsclaw _ ___ . 27 13 0 40.0 0 0 0 5.0 3.0 000 n R9. H 4R R3 3 104 fi.3

I

F 

O

S

Ul
16 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

Whole rock

Polycrystallme and 

undulose quart

Kenwood Hill /?= 25 Shepherdsville /?= 16

Matrix free

FIGURE 16.—Pie diagrams showing average modal composition of Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation at two locations

(table 1)

quartz grains in the form of indistinct rims and by 

clusters of grains which seem to radiate from centers 

cemented with microcrystalline quartz. Minor bubble 

trains, reddish tetragonal cyrstallites, and rutile(?) 

needles are found in some of the quartz grains. 

Feldspar, second most abundant constituent, constitutes 5-36 percent of the framework grains. Potassium 

feldspar (95 percent of the feldspar grains), plagioclase 

(5 percent), and a trace of microcline were identified. 

Feldspar identification was based largely on cleavage, 

twinning, relief, and inclusions. Extinction angles 

measured on twinned plagioclase grains range from 5°
PETROLOGY 17

QUARTZ

•Orthoquartzite

ROCK FRAGMENTS 

AND CHERT

FIGURE 17.—Diagram showing composition of siltstone of Kenwood 

(solid dots) compared with that from Holtsclaw (Ho), Farmers 

(Fa), and Wildie (Rf) Members of the Borden Formation (open 

circles). +, average Kenwood composition; + Ks, south area; 

+ K, Kenwood Hill. (Classification from Folk, 1968).

to 16°, indicating the presence of oligoclase, albite, and 

andesine. Many feldspar grains are elongate cleavage 

fragments having a length-to-width ratio of as much as 

5:1. Some feldspar grains show overgrowths and solution embayments, and many show incipient sericitization (fig. 18).

Rock fragments are the third most abundant framework constituent, ranging from 6 to 10 percent. Identified fragments include mudstone, phyllitic quartzite, 

and chert, although some chert classed as rock fragments may be secondary.

Mica is conspicuous but not abundant in the Kenwood. The larger flakes range in abundance from a 

trace to nearly 3 percent. The smaller sericitic flakes 

are considered a part of the matrix. Of the large flakes, 

muscovite makes up all but about one-sixth, and chlorite, most of the remainder. Four mica varieties based 

on color (pink, colorless, brown, and green) were seen 

in some residue from samples analyzed for texture. 

Most mica flakes are subparallel to the bedding 

laminae; some flakes are bent by postdepositional compaction.

Other grains found in trace amounts are glauconite 

and the heavy minerals zircon, tourmaline, rutile, and

FIGURE 18.—Photomicrographs of siltstone of the Kenwood. A, Silt 

grains in a pyrite matrix in cross-polarized light; Kenlite quarry, 

loc. L, figure 6; feldspar grain (f) shows overgrowth (o) accentuated 

by differential extinction (sample BR-1-1C). B, Clay-filled burrow 

in siltstone bed in plain light; Shepherdsville quadrangle, loc. R, 

figure 6 (sample SH-2T). C, Pyrite lamina in cross-polarized light; 

calcite matrix, loc. L, figure 6 (sample BR-1-1B). 0.1mm ]
18 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

hornblende. The glauconite appears to be pelletal 

aggregates of possible fecal origin. Zircon is well 

rounded. Tourmaline grains are light blue-green and 

somewhat rounded at the ends.

Bulk X-ray mineralogy.—Qualitative and semiquantitative X-ray diffraction analyses of the siltstone in 

general corroborate the thin-section analyses; they indicate, however, that feldspar is less abundant than 

thin-section analyses suggest and is probably 15-25 

percent of the total framework grains. (See fig. 19.)

Classification.—The siltstone of the Kenwood, according to modifications of a classification by Folk 

(1968, p. 124) and following recommendations of 

Picard (1971, p. 187), is clayey siltstone, illitesubarkose to illite-arkose. The siltstone of the Farmers 

is an illite-lithic arkose and that of the Wildie is the 

most arkosic of the samples studied. The sandstone of 

the Knifley Sandstone Member of the Fort Payne Formation is the least arkosic, an illite-sublitharenite 

(fig. 17).

Maturity.—Indices of maturity that depend on composition are generally related to abundance of quartz, 

feldspar, and rock fragments. The siltstone of the 

Kenwood is considered submature on the basis of its 

subarkosic to arkosic composition.

CLAY MINERALOGY

The clay fraction in five shale beds was examined by 

X-ray diffraction following suggestions of Warshaw 

and Roy (1961). The typical radiograph trace for the 

clay (fig. 20) shows that the main component is illite. 

Strong peaks at 14 A and 7 A indicate a chlorite plus 

vermiculite. I have seen similar patterns from the API 

standard Beaver Bend illite.

The approximate composition of the clay fraction of 

the interbedded shale of the Kenwood is 87 percent 

illite, 10 percent chlorite, and 3 percent vermiculite, as 

determined by the technique proposed by Schultz 

(1964) for semiquantitative clay-mineral estimation.

TEXTURE

The Kenwood, according to the scheme of nomenclature proposed by Folk (1954) is composed of mediumgrained sandy siltstone and siltstone, and silt shale to 

mud shale. (See fig. 21.)

SILTSTONE

Siltstone of the Kenwood has an average mean grain 

size (Mz) of 5.36$, or 0.024 mm, which is mediumgrained silt on the Wentworth scale. Mean grain size 

ranges from 4.37$ to 6.17$ (0.048-0.014 mm). The 

siltstone is poorly to moderately sorted; the inclusive 

graphic standard deviation (<rz ) ranges from 0.88$ to

1.96$ and averages 1.28$. The frequency curves are 

strongly fine skewed (fig. 22); inclusive graphic skewness (Ski) ranges from +0.24 to +0.81 and averages 

+0.62. The curves are also leptokurtic to extremely 

leptokurtic; graphic kurtosis (KG) values range from 

1.35 to 5.50 and average 3.46. (See table 2.)

Coarsest grain.—The coarsest grain was determined 

from an average of the 10 coarsest grains in each 

siltstone thin section. The results for samples from 

Kenwood Hill are plotted with median diameter as determined from mechanical analysis on a vertical profile 

of the measured section (fig. 23). This plot shows a 

slight tendency to fine upward in both coarsest grain 

and median grain size in the se'quence as a whole and 

in five of the six individual beds for which a comparison 

can be made. This upward fining in grain size, or grading in the Kenwood siltstone beds, is shown by all beds 

for which samples from both the base and top of the 

beds were analyzed texturally. The tendency to fine 

upwards in the bed results from a decrease or loss of 

the very fine sand fraction in the upper part of the beds 

(fig. 24).

Textural maturity.—The siltstone is texturally immature according to the maturity scheme applied to 

sandstone by Folk (1968, p. 108), in that the siltstone 

grains are subangular to angular and most samples 

contain more than 5 percent clay.

DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT INDICATORS

Statistical measures of textural data for the Kenwood show no significant pattern when plots are made 

of inclusive graphic skewness versus graphic kurtosis, 

graphic mean versus inclusive graphic skewness, and 

graphic mean versus inclusive graphic standard 

deviation.

Passega (1957) proposed the C-M diagram, which 

compares the grain size of the 99th percentile (or first 

percentile on cumulative grain size curves plotted 

herein) with the mean. Textural data for the siltstone 

of the Kenwood, plotted on the modified C-M diagram, 

fall near the fine end of the turbidite field and continue 

between that field and the field for pelagic suspension 

(fig. 25).

These plots and the positive skewness of the textural 

curves for the Kenwood show that both the siltstone 

and silt shale were deposited under conditions in which 

winnowing currents were rare or absent. Comparison 

with textural plots of Passega (1957) suggests that the 

deposits originated from pelagic suspension or turbidity currents.

BEDDING STRUCTURES

Bedding structures in the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member of the Borden Formation include bedding
Degrees 26

FIGURE 19.—X-ray diffractometer trace of typical sample of Kenwood siltstone. The 

CuKa radiation was generated by a General Electric XRD-5 X-ray diffractometer 

at 40 kilovolts and 16 milliamperes, using a nickel filter. The specimen was 

irradiated through a 3° slit, the goniometer rotating at 2° 26 per minute (sample 

BR-1-1C). Composition estimated from X-ray analysis following techniques of 

Schultz (1964) and Harrison and Grimes (1970).

Degrees 26

FIGURE 20.—Typical X-ray diffraction patterns for the 

beds of the Kenwood (sample LW-1
20 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

FIGURE 21.—Silt-sand-clay triangular plot of textural analyses of the 

Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation. (Classification from Folk, 1968, p. 28.)

CD 20 -

6 7 

GRAIN SIZE (phi units)

FIGURE 22.—Histogram of grain size in a typical siltstone sample of 

the Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation.

laminae, ripples, and sole marks of current origin as 

well as trace fossils.

INTERNAL SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES

Ubiquitous among the bedding structures in the 

siltstone beds of the Kenwood are planar horizontal 

bedding laminae. These laminae are subparallel to the 

base of the beds and in most beds appear to make up 

the only internal bedding structure of depositional origin. (See X-radiograph, fig 26.) Some of this lamination 

can be seen in thin section and appears to be due to 

microsorting of grain layers and interlayers of clayey 

laminae. Some of the lamination is enhanced in thin 

section by orientation of elongate grains and mica 

flakes subparallel to the base of the bed. Upon weathering, the beds show a tendency to part along these 

laminae.

Convolute laminae and associated flame structures 

are rare (fig. 27). Zones in which they occur are less 

than 0.5 ft (15 cm) thick and constitute less than a 

third of the thickness of the bed. The convolutions approach in appearance the inverted-mushroom shape of 

load casts or an arrested interchange between two 

layers of differing density, in which the upper layer 

was more dense than the lower. The origin has been 

attributed to refluidization during deposition of the bed 

(ten Haaf, 1956, p. 194).

Ripple laminae are sparse; most are a single 

"starved" layer one ripple amplitude in height, in 

which the ripple amplitude is less than 0.1 ft (3 cm) and 

the wavelength is 0.3-0.4 ft (9-12 cm). Most beds in 

which ripple laminae are visible also contain convolute 

laminae below the rippled layer. As shown in figure 28, 

there are three rippled layers, one below and one above 

a convoluted layer and a third as climbing ripples.

Bedding without laminae is sparse. Along the Lookout Tower Road section in Bernheim Forest (loc. O, 

fig. 6), the basal part of a siltstone bed is apparently 

unlaminated but is overlain by horizontal laminae (fig. 

275).

A form of grading in some of the beds (bed 4, loc. E, 

fig. 6) is shown by a lag concentrate of ostracode (?) 

tests; other beds include clay clasts near their bases.

Sideritic concretions are common within the siltstone beds. The concretions occur as individual spherical zones of cement, grading to coalescing zones that 

impart a pseudolayering to the bed. Rarely do beds 

contain more than one layer of such concretionary 

zones; commonly, the zone is restricted to the middle of 

the bed (fig. 29). The zones are most prevalent in beds 

thicker than 1 ft (30 cm), and the zones appear to occupy about the same interval as does the rarely observed convolute bedding, implying a genetic relationship between the two. Weathering alters these layers 

to limonite in concentric Liesegang rings that further 

obscure the original bedding. Siderite also occurs in the 

shale beds.

More conspicuous because of their contrast with the 

enclosing sediments are continuous zones of siderite 

nodules in the New Providence Shale Member below 

the Kenwood. In the Lebanon Junction (Peterson, 

1967) and Shepherdsville quadrangles (Kepferle, 

1968a), the sideritic zones appear to be continuations of 

the siltstone beds of the Kenwood. The centering of a 

nodule on a thin siltstone bed, as shown in figure 29, 

shows the transition of one type of occurrence to the 

other. Zones along which the siderite concretions are 

concentrated were probably slightly more porous than 

the adjacent sediment and were avenues for iron-rich
PETROLOGY 21 

TABLE 2.—Statistical parameters for textural analysis of the Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation

[Analysts: Helen Bataia R. F. Gantnier, and R. C. Kepferle, U.S. Geol. Survey] 

Grain size in phi units at designated percentile on cumulative curves

Sample no.

LW-1T ____________

LW-1B ____-__-_-_.______

LW-2T _________ __ _____

LW-2B ____________

SH-1T __________________

SH-1M ____________

SH-1B ____________ _

SH-2T

SH-2B ______ ___ __ _ _

SH-3T _________ _

SH-3B __________________

SH-4 ____________________

SH-5 ______________

SH-6 ____________________

SH-16T __________________

SH-16B __ __ __ _

C2

3.85

3.75

3.70

3.40

3.40

3.10

2.85

3.45

3.30

4.10

3.85

3.60

3.75

3.90

2.70

2.15

5

4.20

4.05

4.10

3,80

3.95

3.70

3.50

4.00

3.90

4.35

4.15

3.95

4.05

4.20

3.20

2.95

16

4.50

4.35

4.40

4.20

4.35

4.20

4.10

4.45

4.35

4.60

4.45

4.20

4.35

4.45

3.85

3.75

25

4.65

4.50

4.60

4.40

4.90

4.75

4.65

4.75

4.65

4.70

4.60

4.60

4.65

4.80

4.20

4.10

Md 50

Siltstone

4.95

4.80

4.95

4.75

5.20

5.10

4.95

5.30

5.20

4.95

4.90

4.75

4.85

4.95

5.05

4.90

75

5.25

5.10

5.95

5.15

6.00

5.65

5.80

5.80

5.75

5.20

5.20

5.10

5.15

5.25

5.85

5.70

84

5.55

5.20

7.40

5.40

7.60

7.00

7.00

7.25

7.25

5.35

5.35

5.25

5.90

5.40

6.80

6.10

95

10.30

10.00

10.20

10.20

10.35

10.22

9.45

10.62

10.35

10.25

10.25

8.00

8.55

9.20

10.30

10.20

Mzi(<t>)

5.00

4.78

5.58

4.78

5.72

5.43

5.35

5.67

5.60

4.97

4.90

4.73

4.37

4.93

5.23

4.92

Skt

+0.45

+.34

+ .68

+ .39

+.46

+.47

+.55

+.57

+.51

+.43

+.38

+ .28

+.50

+.32

+.33

+.24

«*(*>

1.20

1.11

1.68

1.27

1.78

1.69

1.62

1.70

1.70

1.08

1.14

.88

1.07

1.00

1.81

1.89

KG

4.18

4.07

1.86

3.50

2.39

2.96

2.12

2.58

2.41

4.83

4.17

3.34

3.72

4.54

4.46

4.96

LW-1-70 4.11 4.52 4.62 4.83 5.04 7.30 10.57 5.55 +.807

Shale

1.641 5.08

LW-1-62 ....... _

LW-1-61 __________

LW-1-60 __________

LW-1-52 __________

LW-1-51 __________

LW-1-50 __________

LW-1-43 __________

LW-1-42 __________

LW-1-41

LW-1-40 __________

LW-1-36 __________

LW-1-35

LW-1-34 _ __ __ _

LW-1-33

LW-1-32 ___________

LW-1-31 __________

LW-1-30 ___________

LW-1-23 ___________

LW-1-21 ___________

LW-1-20 __________

LW-1-6 ____________

LW-1-5 _____________

LW-1-4

LW-1-3 ____-____-

LW-1-2 ________ __

LW-1-1 _____________

________ 4.06

________ 3.96

_ _ __ 3.84

________ 4.02

__ __ _ 3.97

3.90

4.10

3.88

________ 3.98

_ __ _ 3.87

________ 4.12

4.15

________ 4.07

________ 4.11

__ . 4.05

4.03

__ ___ _ 4.03

________ 4.23

________ 4.16

________ 4.22

________ 4.18

_ __ ___ 4.05

________ 4.08

___ ___ 4.00

_ __ ___ 3.95

__ __ _ 3.82

4.19

4.22

4.12

4.33

4.18

4 19

4.15

4.28

4.28

4.40

4.22

4 19

4.12

4.67

4.50

4.52

4.50

4.45

4.38

4.57

4.44

4.40

4.57

4.51

4.50

4.62

4.50

4.43

4.35

4.68

4.58

4.52

4.58

4.62

4.62

4.62

4.62

4.62

4.87

4.80

4.73

A CO

4.54

4.51

5.13

4.89

5.07

4.82

4.78

4.90

4.87

A 00

4.88

A 00

4.88

A QA

4.86

4.86

P. 1 6.

5.08

4.95

4.80

4.75

4.73

6.24

7.11

5.55

5.40

5.50

5.88

5.93

c no

5.42

5.59

6.73

6.40

5.20

5.00

4 95

4.98

8.71

7.57

8.48

7.06

6.80

6.73

6.90

7.46

6.95

6.02

7.19

6.75

7.68

7.85

7.88

6.45

7.00

6.00

5.75

5.57

10.65

10.38

10.47

10.00

9.60

9.50

10.18

10.32

10.10

9.56

9 96

10.16

10.10

10.00

10.15

10.05

10.02

10.50

10.40

10.38

10.46

10.18

10.25

8.40

8.10

8.42

6.17

5.65

6.02

5.48

5.36

5.30

5.49

5.58

5.40

5.07

5.39

5.52

5.46

5.51

5.51

5.37

5.42

6.01

5.81

5.86

5.82

5.24

5.43

5.06

4.96

4.88

+.765

+ .771

+.726

+.753

+.732

+ .707

+ .760

+.731

+.739

+ .650

+ .777

+.788

+.781

+ .789

+.782

+.736

+.751

+.774

+.760

+ .808

+.745

+ .790

+ .720

+.697

+.550

1.697

1.943

1.506

1.407

1.403

1.468

1.711

1.525

1.225

1.430

1.512

1.515

1.471

1.582

1.427

1.460

1.762

1.653

1.734

1.528

1.025

.925

.955

1.17

1.56

1.03

2.53

2.69

2.25

2.01

1.89

3.38

4.36

5.03

3.17

2.97

2.42

2.31

2.42

2.63

1.34

1.45

1.49

5.50

4.07

3.73

3.64

3.51

LW-1-54 __________

LW-1-44 __________

LW-1-37 __________

LW-1-10 __________

LW-1-9 ____________

LW-1-7 ____________

3.60

___ _ _ 4.10

________ 3.45

________ 3.80

_ _ _ 3.86

__ _ __ 3.92

4.40

4.38

4 48

4.65

4.68

5.20

5.70

5.32

5.14

5.45

5.68

5.62

6.09

5.75

6.15

6.40

6.90

6.74

7.18

8.50

9.00

8.48

QIC

9 10

10.00

9.78

9 55

10.10

10.05

10.95

10.90

10.88

11.05

11.00

7.20

7.57

7.28

6.26

7.41

7.68

+0.444

+.403

+.432

+.529

+.419

+ .270

1.113

2.028

2.104

2.072

2.133

2.05

.932

.865

.945

.963

.875

.878

fluids during formation of the concretions.

Locally, a zone as much as 0.4 ft (12 cm) thick is in 

the shale immediately beneath a siltstone bed. The 

zone is similar to zones called the "pre-phase" by 

Meischner (1964, p. 159), who ascribed their origin in 

limestone turbidites to currents in advance of the main 

density current. These currents are capable of moving 

bottom material for a short distance and redepositing it 

before the main current passes and without being incorporated into or mixed with material contained in 

the main current.

Reverse grading, indicated by an upward increase in 

grain size in the upper half of the bed, was seen in one 

bed on Kenwood Hill (loc. E, fig. 6). Similar reverse

grading has been reported from turbidites by Beall 

(1970, p. 490).

With the exception of reverse grading, "pre-phase" 

deposits, and siderite associated with the zone of convolute bedding, the internal sequence of structures in 

siltstone beds of the Kenwood is similar to that attributed to turbidites by Bouma (1962, fig. 8). The internal 

sequence that Bouma labelled Ta through Te fits an 

experimentally produced sequence of structures made 

by deposition from a steadily decreasing flow regime 

(Simons and others, 1965, fig. 21), where the basal part 

of the beds is massive and graded (Ta), overlain by planar horizontal laminae (Tb), in turn overlain by convolute or rippled laminae (Tc), succeeded by planar
22 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

Elevation

in feet 

(meters)

750- 

(228)

740-

(225)

730 - 

(222)

720 - 

(219)

710 - 

(216)

700- 

(213)

Lithology

m

' ~ ~\

-^— :^-' — -*

<33.-jtty.ery

_ __ __ __ _ /

:<&: *&:<&:

HHH^7

X X V

Grain size Bearing of Percent Sample No. 

0 scale sole marks matrix (all LW-1)

1 1 I I 1 i I I I I i i 

2345678 10 20 30 40 50

Cp Mz

1

1 

1 

1 

f --- J 0 70

» • t. —— 1

!

62 

• *"* — /—**. O 61

*, r- > ^ J 1

/ t ^ /

( t=* Q) \ 1

"1 \

1 v~-"> (D / *

t > \

i P 34 i ^ ZL 0 —— n 3233

J i_— , ^ ii

^. J >0 23

" V ' ^ < 21

^ 0 ^N, ?0°

, /-»"! ^

( ^ r 5

. > \

/ ' >

• • / <. \

125 62 5 31 ' 215 6 7 ' 8 3. 9 MICROMETERS 10 20 3040 50 

i i i i l' i i 1 ———————— 1 —— 1

FIGURE 23.—Columnar section of exposure of Kenwood Siltstone Member at type locality (loc. E, fig. 6), showing 

vertical variation in coarsest grain estimated from thin section (Cp), graphic mean grain size (Afz), and sole

mark lineation.

laminae (T^), and finally grading into a pelitic interval 

(Te). (See diagram correlating the flow regime and 

structures in an ideal turbidite, fig. 30.) 

Siltstone beds of the Kenwood that show most or all

of this sequence were noted in two localities: along the 

Fire tower Hill section in Bernheim Forest (loc. O, fig. 

6) and along Pleiss Hollow section (loc. B, fig. 6; fig. 28), 

west of New Albany, Ind.
PETROLOGY 23

6 7 

SIZE (phi units)

10

FIGURE 24.—Cumulative grain-size curves for samples from base 

(LW-1-1) and top (LW-1-23) of separate siltstone beds and of a silt 

shale bed (LW-1-44) in the Kenwood Siltstone Member.

uj o

n^i *•

R 4

543 

MEDIAN GRAIN SIZE (phi units)

FIGURE 25.—C-M diagram showing grain-size image of the Kenwood 

(classification from Passega, 1957).

EXTERNAL SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES

On some siltstone beds, the upper surface appears to 

be rippled; low-amplitude compound or cuspate ripples 

are common. Internally, most of the ripples show dipping lamination from which a current direction can be 

determined. Because for the most part the upper surface of the siltstone beds appears gradational with the 

overlying pelitic interval, external current-produced 

structures on the upper surfaces of beds are sparse.

The basal surface of siltstone beds in the Kenwood is 

abrupt and planar, with the exception of sole marks. 

The sole marks include casts of various impressions on 

the clay-rich slightly firm substrate of the siltstone 

beds. In order of abundance these casts include marks 

made by tools and currents and trace fossils. The most 

abundant tool marks are grooves, brush casts, prod, 

bounce, and roll marks. Less common among the substratal marks are current crescents, flute casts, 

ruffled-groove marks described by Dzulynski and 

Simpson (1966, p. 201), and furrow-flute casts. (See 

fig. 31.)

Most of these structures are indicative of moderate 

cohesiveness in the underlying shale at the time the 

siltstone beds were deposited. This cohesiveness is well 

illustrated in the diagram of Hjulstrom (1939, fig. 1), 

which indicates that clays are cohesive to the extent 

that a higher velocity current is required for erosion to 

take place than that required to transport silt.

Many of the substratal features are current controlled. Some give an orientation, others, a vector sense 

to the paleocurrents that influenced their formation. A 

few beds, notably the basal bed in the Kenwood, show 

complete lack of sole marks; their contact with the underlying shale is planar and smooth.

STRUCTURES OF ORGANIC ORIGIN

A variety of trace fossils appears on the upper and 

lower surfaces of the siltstone beds, within the beds, 

and in the shale between the siltstone beds. Most earlier workers in the Borden have noted "curly" worm 

marks, now assigned to Sca/arita&a (Conkin and Conkin, 1968) and fucoids such as Taorcwrws, now commonly referred to as Zoop/iycos.

Trace fossils commonly noted in the Kenwood 

Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation include 

Sca/ar^w6a mzssozmercsis Weller 1899, Cosmo/7iap/ie?, 

Zoop/iycos Massalango 1853, C/tonrfrifes Sternberg 

1833, ATereites Maclay 1839, Lophoctenium, 

Teichichnus, Paleophycos? Hall, and Planolites. In addition, several types of burrows were found for which 

no identification could be made from the available literature (mainly Hantzschel, 1962). These include vertical borings, most of which are fairly straight and 

nonbranching and have slightly irregular walls within 

which a clay filling commonly weathers out to form a 

simple Skolithus-like hole; the clay filling locally contains a siltstone plug that is crescent shaped in cross 

section. Common straight trails on the upper surface of 

the siltstone beds are tentatively attributed to orthoconic cephalopods. Representative photographs are 

included in figures 32 through 35. The ichnocoenosis of 

the Kenwood is shown in the diagrams (figs. 36, 37) 

which relate the trace fossils to position within the 

siltstone beds of the Kenwood and to the Borden delta 

front.

The distribution density of trace fossils in the 

siltstone beds of the Kenwood is compatible with the 

turbidite origin suggested by the internal sequence of 

structures in the siltstone beds. The lack of borings and 

burrows near the base of the beds and the abundance of 

burrows near the top can be explained by rapid
24 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

FIGURE 26.—Photographs showing planar lamination in siltstone of the Kenwood. A, 

X-radiograph of thin slab, loc. E, figure 6, sample LW-1-20. B, Bed beneath overhang 

along Crooked Creek, loc. P-Q, figure 6.

sedimentation of the siltstone relative to the shale. 

Such rapid sedimentation could have effectively buried 

the extant bottom fauna, some of which could have 

survived by escaping upward through the silt layers.

Reestablishment of the fauna after silt deposition was 

generally slow and was dependent on a relatively long 

interval of time under conditions of slow pelagic 

sedimentation. This is indicated by the lack of trace
PALEOCURRENT ANALYSIS 25

FIGURE 27.—Photographs showing internal bedding sequences in siltstone beds along Firetower Hill 

road, loc. 0, figure 6. A, Convolute laminae (Tc) (from Bouma, 1962). B, Massive bedding (Ta) 

overlain by laminated bedding sequence (Tb) in 1.2-ft. (36-cm) siltstone bed.

fossils throughout siltstone beds that are separated 

from overlying siltstone beds by only a thin seam of 

shale and by the relative abundance of trace fossils in 

the upper parts of siltstone beds overlain by shale beds

thicker than 0.5 ft (15 cm).

PALEOCURRENT ANALYSIS

Sedimentary structures in the Borden Formation
26 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

30

40 —

FIGURE 28.—Siltstone bed in Kenwood member along Pleiss Hollow, loc. B, figure 6. Basal planar lamination (Tb) 

overlain in turn by layer of starved ripples (Tc), planar (Tb), convolute lamination (Tc), and planar laminae (Tb), a 

second layer of starved ripples (Tc), more planar laminae (Tb), and at the top, a zone of climbing ripples (Tc). 

(Bouma-sequence notation explained in fig. 30.)

east of the Cincinnati arch were identified as paleocurrent indicators by Rich and Wilson (1950; also Rich,

1950; Wilson, 1950). Since then, additional data have 

been provided for the Kenwood (Kepferle, 1968a, 1969,
PALEOCURRENT ANALYSIS 27

FIGURE 29.—Photographs showing sideritic concretions (Fe) in Kenwood Siltstone 

Member. A, Concretionary zone in middle of massive-bedded siltstone, loc. N, figure 6. 

B, Concretion centered on a thin siltstone bed along State Highway 61, loc. R, figure 6.

1972a, b, 1974), the Farmers Siltstone Member as used 

by Moore and Clarke (1970) and Clarke (1969), the 

Edwardsville Member as used by Whitehead (1973), 

and the "Rockcastle freestone" beds of the Wildie 

Member of the Borden Formation (Weir, 1970). All 

these studies indicate transport from east to west during Early Mississippian Borden deposition.

Linear indicators are more abundant in the Kenwood than are unidirectional indicators and include, in 

decreasing order of abundance, grooves, bounce, and 

brush casts on the base of the beds, and parting lineation and oriented fossils within the beds. Unidirectional indicators are less than 10 percent of the total 

indicators measured and include prod casts, load casts, 

flute casts, furrow flute casts (as used by McBride, 

1962, p. 57), chevron casts on the base of beds, and
28 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

Flow regime related to structures 

(Simons and others, 1965, fig. 21)

Sequence of internal bedding in turbidites 

(Bouma, 1962. fig. 8)

0.01

0.1

1.0

4.0

LOWER 

REGIME

No ripples when 

d >0.60 mm

Dunes

Plane bed-antidunes

E Pelitic interval

n Upper interval of 

parallel lamination

Interval of current 

ripple lamination

Lower interval of 

parallel lamination

Graded and massive 

A interval of Harms and 

Fahnestock (1965, fig. 12)

1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 

Median fall diameter, in mm

FIGURE 30.—Diagrams showing flow regime related to structures in an ideal turbidite.

ripple foresets and flame structures associated with 

internal convolutions within beds. Unidirectional current indicators are sufficiently abundant to permit inference of a general directional sense of the paleocurrents that deposited the Kenwood Siltstone Member of 

the Borden Formation.

Flute, prod, and ripple foresets are considered the 

most directionally sensitive of the current indicators. 

Clasts showing imbrication and imbricated-fossil 

fragments were seen in float. Drag casts, called chevron casts (Dunbar and Rodgers, 1957, p. 185), appear to 

have been formed by a tool being dragged across a pelitic bottom.

Flame structures have been attributed to penecontemporaneous drag during the formation of load casts. 

This may cause the tips of the flame structures to be 

bent in a downcurrent direction (Pettijohn and Potter, 

1964, pi. 53B). Both upcurrent- and downcurrentdirected flame structures, however, occur in a single 

bed within a few inches of each other in the Kenwood.

Channels in the Kenwood were not included with the 

paleocurrent analysis because their orientation and 

continuity are too inferential.

All directional data for the Kenwood are treated as 

linear in the initial and summary groupings. Data are 

grouped according to subareas consisting of one-sixth 

of a TVa-minute quadrangle (table 3) and are summarized as a moving-average map and current rose 

(fig. 38). Vector analysis of 37 unidirectional measurements is based on individual rather than grouped 

data but is otherwise similar to the method outlined by 

Potter and Pettijohn (1963, p. 262-265). The resultant 

vector mean is 246° with a standard deviation of ±51°. 

Preferred orientation of 78°-258° is confirmed for the 

linear data by the Tukey Chi Square Test, as outlined 

by Rusnak (1957, p. 53-54), using nine 20-degree 

classes from 0° to 180°. By comparison, the summary 

for the nongrouped linear data (n=526) indicates a 

mean of 67°-247° with a standard deviation of ±32°. 

Thus, the dominant paleocurrent system was to the 

west-southwest, normal to the strike of the Borden 

delta front. Paleocurrents parallel to the front were 

rare.

From the distribution of current sense shown on 

figure 38, at least two local dispersal centers are postulated. Through upcurrent projection along the 

moving-average linears, one of the centers appears to 

have been in what is now easternmost Jefferson 

County, Ky., the other in what is now western Spencer 

County, Ky. (See fig. 1.) Vector means calculated for 

directional data from the two separate areas differ 

from each other by less than 2°. This suggests that the 

mode and amount of dispersion from both postulated 

centers were about the same.

PROVENANCE

A source area composed mainly of plutonic rocks and
PROVENANCE 29

FIGURE 31.—Photographs showing sole marks on siltstone beds of the Ken wood Siltstone Member. A, Two sets of grooves 

(g) and a sinuous trace fossil, possibly Planolites sp. (P), loc. N, figure 6. B, Load casts with bulbous ends pointing 

downcurrent as established from nearby chevrons associated with groove casts, loc. N, figure 6.

including some sedimentary and metamorphic rocks is 

suggested by the freshness of some of the feldspar, the

angularity of the grains, and the dominance of 

K-feldspar over plagioclase, as well as the sodic nature
30 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

of the plagioclase. The wide range of weathering shown 

by the feldspar, and the immaturity reflected by the 

general angularity of grains and the high matrix content, suggest that the relief of the source area was 

moderately high. Hence, the source area may have 

been tectonically active. The weathered feldspar also 

indicates that the climate was humid in part.

The lack of sand coarser than very fine in any of the 

Borden sediment in the study area indicates that the 

dispersal center was distant. The lack of maturity indicates that deposition was rapid.

Analyses of paleocurrent structures indicate an 

easterly source for the silt in the Kenwood Siltstone, 

the Farmers, and the "Rockcastle freestone" beds of the 

Wildie Members of the Borden Formation (fig. 39). The 

Mississippian Berea Sandstone is postulated by Pepper, de Witt, and Demarest (1954, p. 99) to have originated in eastern Canada, in that heavy minerals preclude a granite-cored Appalachia as a direct source of 

first-generation sand. The source of siltstone for the 

Kenwood, the Farmers, and the "Rockcastle freestone" 

beds is postulated as a granite-cored Appalachia. Thus, 

it appears that the source of sand in the Berea was not 

the same as that for the silt in the Kenwood.

A highland source to the east and southeast has been 

postulated by Bartlett (1974) for the Lower Mississippian Price Formation in southwest Virginia; this 

source is suggested mainly from an eastward thickening of the Price and by isolith and lithofacies maps of

the Price. Bartlett correlated all but the uppermost 

member of the Price with the Grainger Formation in 

Tennessee. In a petrologic study of the Grainger Formation, Hasson (1972, p. 54, 57) found that the upper 

sandstone in the Grainger is arkosic and that potassium feldspar and plagioclase are found in the proportion of 10 to 1. Because this proportion is similar to 

that in the Borden siltstone I have studied and because 

the Borden Formation correlates stratigraphically 

with the Grainger and the Price Formations, the 

source of the terrigenous clastic materials in the 

Borden Formation must have been to the east and 

southeast, similar to that of the Grainger and Price 

Formations.

DEPOSITIONAL MODEL

The siltstone beds of the Kenwood Siltstone Member 

of the Borden Formation were probably deposited from 

sediment carried by turbidity currents, which spread 

out from the edge of a prograding delta platform. The 

turbidite nature of these beds is indicated by their 

similarities to key features of ancient and modern turbidites: geometry, petrology, structures, fauna, and the 

nature of the enclosing sediment (Cline, 1970, p. 89- 

91; Kuenen, 1964, p. 10-13), as shown in table 4.

Only two of the listed criteria have not been recognized in the Kenwood: one is a correlation between bed 

thickness and maximum grain size; the other is the 

presence of plant remains (table 4, Nos. 25, 26).

tufa.

FIGURE 32.—Photographs showing trace fossils. A, Nereites-like pattern (N) in vertical cross section of bed; 

possibly related to Zoophycos sp., as in C; loc. 0, figure 6. Photograph by W. A. Pryor. B, Zoophycos-like 

form(z) with crescentic burrow (c), loc. R, figure 6. C, Larger Zoophycos-like form, loc. 0, figure 6.
DEPOSITIONAL MODEL 31

EVIDENCE FROM STRATIGRAPHY

Stratigraphically, the Kenwood is part of a mass of 

sediment believed to be of deltaic origin (Swann and

others, 1965; Lineback, 1966, 1968a; Peterson and 

Kepferle, 1970). Recent studies of modern deltas have 

found turbidites as part of the prodelta cone (Ewing

FIGURE 32.— Continued.
32 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

FIGURE 33.—Photographs showing trace fossils of Pascichnia affinities, loc. Q, figure 6. 

A, Lophoctenium sp. B, Unidentified Pascichnia.

and others, 1958; Shepard, 1951; Phleger, 1951). I 

suggest that the Kenwood is the turbidite facies of a 

deltaic environment.

Many turbidite characteristics listed in table 4 are 

applicable to the Kenwood and indicate a turbidite 

origin for its siltstone. In common with ancient and 

modern turbidites, the siltstone beds of the Kenwood 

alternate with the finer shale beds (table 4, No. 1). The 

shale beds lack all evidence of shallow-water deposition (table 4, No. 2) and show little change in bedding and composition from that of the underlying New 

Providence Shale Member of the Borden Formation 

(table 4, No. 3).

The thickness of the siltstone beds ranges from less 

than 0.1 ft (3 cm) to as much as 20 ft (6 m) and averages 

about 0.5 ft (15 cm) (table 5, No. 17). The siltstone beds 

are thickest near the dispersal centers inferred from 

paleocurrent data and are thinner distally (table 4, No. 

21). This is true also for the overall geometry of the 

Kenwood, which is thickest near the postulated dispersal centers. The slope on which the siltstone beds were 

deposited was generally less than 1° (table 4, No. 18) 

and is regarded as representative of the slope on the 

sea bottom during the time of deposition.

The fewer than 40 beds within a vertical sequence of 

the Kenwood indicate a triggering mechanism of short
DEPOSITIONAL MODEL 33

-**j&i ,Jr * wX«^^lfe-i- ^?k l " ?<&>? $&*:*§***•&>- —%^,rA -K«ML^

FIGURE 34.—Photographs showing trace fossil Chondrites sp. A. In a vertical section (loc. O, fig. 6) associated with 

flame structure along a possible amalgamated contact above which is massive bedding and below which is 

planar-laminated bedding. Photograph by W. A. Pryor. B. Along bedding-plane surface, loc. R, figure 6.

duration and moderate intensity, be it seismic shock, 

storm, hyperpycnal currents, or simply oversteepening 

along the upper margin of the slope.

EVIDENCE FROM PETROLOGY

Compositional and textural similarities between the 

Kenwood and known turbidites would seem logically to
34 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

FIGURE 35.—Photographs showing trace fossils of Fodinichnia affinities. A, Scalarituba missouriensis Weller (S) with 

smaller Cosmorhaphe? sp. (C) on upper surface of siltstone bed along St. Andrews Church Road, loc. D, figure 6.B, 

Orthoconic cephalopod? trails, loc. N, figure 6.
DEPOSITIONAL MODEL 35

Toponomy 

(from Martinsson, 1970)

Ichnocoenose Typical trace fossils

Activity class

Exichnia (between beds)

Scolor/fubo 

Cosmorfiopfie

Epichnia 

(upper surface)

Endichnia 

(within bed)

Hypichnia 

(lower surface)

Exichnia 

(between beds)

Zoophycos

Orthoconic cephalopod trail 

Chondn'tes 

Scalarituba

Zoophycos 

Teich/chnus 

Chondn'tes

Po/eophycus 

Nereites? 

iopfiocfen/um 

Plono/ifes

Scalarituba 

Cosmorfiopfie

FIGURE 36.—Diagrammatic classification of the trace fossils of the Kenwood according to toponomy and activity class. (Domichnia, 

dwelling burrow; Fodinichnia, feeding burrow; Pascichnia, feeding trail; Cubichnia, resting trail; Repichnia, crawling trail; after 

Seilacher, 1953).

S\r\ale

New Providence

EXPLANATION

Sticklike trace Lophocfemum Chondnfes Zoophycos Scalarituba Cosmorhophe? Teichichnus Orthoconic cephalopod

FIGURE 37.—Diagrammatic ichnocoenose of the Borden delta front.
36 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

TABLE 3.—Linear directional indicators in the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member of the Borden Formation

[Total standard deviation: ±32°]

Quadrangle

Do.

Lanesville

Louisville West _ __ _ 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Valley Station _____

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 

Brooks

Do. 

Do. 

Pitts Point

Do. 

Do.

Do. 

Lebanon Junction _ __ _ 

Cravens

New Haven

Summary __ _ _

Sector

we

SW 

SE

NE

NW

we

SW 

EC 

SE

NW

NE

we

SE 

EC

NW

we

SW

NE

EC

SW 

SE

we

SW 

SE

we

we

Observations

3

9 

4

4

2 

12 

35 

3 

126 

23

19 

6 

4

1 

11

41 

40

20

14 

57 

13

45 

13 

19

1

526

Linear 

mean 

(degree)

83

72 

82

78

85 

62 

70 

70 

82 

65

62 

59 

42 

50 

54

56 

61 

50

86

53 

89 

43

85 

59 

16

35

67

Vector 

length

2.96

8.79 

3.96

3.96

1.99 

11.84 

34.08 

3.00 

87.27 

22.70

18.57 

5.92 

3.77

ia?2

39.64 

38.20

15.18

13.24 

46.94 

996

39.74 

9.64 

17.17

168.36

Length 

(percent)

98.6

97.7 

98.9

98.9

99.6 

98.7 

97.4 

100.0 

69.3 

98.7

97.5 

98.8 

94.4 

100.0 

97.4

96.7 

95.5 

100.0

75.9

94.6 

82.3 

76.6

88.3 

74.2 

90.4

100.0

31.9

be independent, as they are governed in part by the 

nature of the source sediment. In common with turbidites, however, the silt of the Kenwood is rich in 

feldspar, angular quartz, mica, and pyrite and contains 

traces of glauconite (table 4, No. 20). A lag concentrate 

of ostracode tests found in bed four on Kenwood Hill 

(loc. E, fig. 6, sample LW-1-40, fig. 23) is a characteristic found in other turbidites (table 4, No. 23), as is 

the occurrence of mud galls in the base of a Kenwood 

siltstone bed in the vicinity of Shepherdsville, Ky. (table 4, No. 19).

Texturally, the original sediment in the coarsest 

beds is mainly coarse silt (table 4, No. 4), for which 

sorting is poor (table 4, No. 13). No correlation was 

found between bed thickness and grain size, as is reported for most turbidites (table 4, No. 25).

EVIDENCE FROM BEDDING STRUCTURES

Internal sedimentary structures.—Obvious grading is 

rare in the Kenwood because of the minute variations 

in grain size of the siltstone. The basal massive layer, 

Ta of the Bouma sequence (fig. 30), is commonly referred to as the graded layer, but in fact, the entire bed 

may be graded in the sense of Kuenen (1953, p. 1049): 

"The lower, main part of a graded bed is generally 

massive***. The upper part is slightly or distinctly 

laminated." Size analyses of the Kenwood in table 2 

indicate internal grading of an entire bed, defined 

mainly by the percentage of the coarsest fraction 

measured in a given bed. A comparison of cumulative 

curve parameters of grain-size analyses of the basal, 

middle, and uppermost parts of nearly every bed

examined shows this grading. A comparison of 

median-grain size also shows the same fining-upward 

tendency, but the upper parts of most beds are gradational with the overlying pelite, Te of the Bouma sequence, and, as shown in the photomicrograph in figure 

ISA, contain additional clayey material introduced as 

burrow fillings.

The shale beds in the Kenwood represent the tails 

of the turbidity currents, Te of the Bouma sequence, 

and pelagic sedimentation. The occurrence of siderite 

nodules within shale beds is suggested as one possible 

indicator of the presence of the Te interval where the 

basal part of the sequence (Ta through Td) may not 

have been deposited.

External sedimentary structures.—As characteristic 

of ancient and modern turbidites, the Kenwood 

siltstone beds have abrupt bases that commonly show 

sole marks (table 4, Nos. 6, 7). Because the sole marks 

are molds of the surface on which the beds were deposited, they are an indication of the flow regime of the 

depositing current. As such, sole marks are also indicators of the distance from dispersal centers of the currents (Walker, 1967).

Inasmuch as the highest flow regime attained by a 

turbidity current is probably reached at the foot of the 

slope on which the current was generated, flute casts 

are reported by Walker (1967) to be more prominent in 

proximal turbidites, whereas grooves predominate in 

distal turbidites. Groove casts are common throughout 

the siltstone beds of the Kenwood. Flute casts are 

common mainly in the eastern exposures, and there, 

some of the thicker beds show completely smooth basal 

surfaces. The presence of flutes may indicate beds deposited under conditions of the upper flow regime, 

whereas the presence of only grooves may indicate 

deposition under conditions of a somewhat lower flow 

regime. Hence, an eastern source for the depositing 

currents is indicated by the distribution of types of sole 

marks in the Kenwood as well as by the directional 

structures of the sole marks.

All gradations of substrate planation have been observed in the Kenwood. Some trace-fossil burrows show 

rims truncated by brush casts or grooves, indicating 

that the burrows were formed before the siltstone beds 

were emplaced. In the more distal siltstone beds of the 

Kenwood, trace fossils were emplaced after deposition 

of the siltstone, as is indicated by destruction of the 

current-scoured or tool-marked surface by trails made 

by browsing or burrowing organisms (fig. 34).

A summary of geometry and external features useful 

in determining proximal and distal parts of turbidite 

sequences proposed by Walker (1967) is applied to the 

Kenwood in table 5.
DEPOSITIONAL MODEL 37

FIGURE 38.—Moving-average map and summary histogram of paleocurrent lineations and vectors, Kenwood Siltstone Member.

BASIN GEOMETRY

Paleocurrents dominantly parallel to the long dimension of the turbidite unit indicate a trough fill; 

paleocurrents perpendicular to the long dimension of 

the unit indicate a basin-marginal fill (Walker, 1970, 

p. 223-227). The west-southwest trend of the Kenwood 

paleocurrents, perpendicular to the north-northwest 

axis of the member, indicates it is a basin-marginal 

rather than a trough-filling turbidite sequence.

The northwestward trend of the basin margin during 

the deposition of the Kenwood is paralleled in the 

Lower Mississippian sequence of central Kentucky by

at least three other stratigraphic features: the Holtsclaw Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation, the 

Knifley Sandstone Member of the Fort Payne Formation, and the Borden delta front—the boundary between the Borden and the Fort Payne Formations 

(fig. 5). These features, like the Kenwood, have a primary depositional dip to the west-southwest (Hrabar 

and others, 1971; Sedimentation Seminar, 1972, p. 4). 

That the Kenwood is older than these other features 

implies that the general orientation of this part of the 

basin persisted throughout most of the Early Mississippian.
38 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

OHIO

INDIANA

A^

I

OT

»r

c3- 

,<*•

/

KENTUCKY

\ '

O I

/

8 16 MILES if 02

r^n i r

0 8 16 24 KILOMETERS

FIGURE 39.—Sketch map showing paleocurrents in the Borden Formation in Kentucky.

A vertical dimension of the basin geometry can be 

found, according to Klein (1974), by taking the total 

thickness of the prograding deltaic sequence. This 

thickness, from the base of the Borden to the top of the 

Holtsclaw Siltstone Member in the central part of the 

study area (section K-M, fig. 9), is 375 ft (114 m); the 

thickness of the sequence from the base of the Kenwood 

to the top of the Holtsclaw is 265 ft (81 m). This compares with basinal deltas in European Carboniferous 

sequences that range in thickness from 31.40 m to 

89.32 m as cited by Klein (1974, table 1). During the 

deposition of the Kenwood turbidites, the eastern 

margin of the basin lay immediately east of and parallel to the north-northwest-trending Kenwood, and the 

basin floor sloped gently westward at less than 15 ft/mi 

(2.8 m/km) in water deepening from 265 to 375 ft (81 to 

114m).

SUBSEA FAN MODEL

Submarine canyons long have been considered an 

appropriate environment for the occurrence of turbidity currents; the probable depositional sites of turbidites, logically, was assumed to be the subsea fan at the 

mouth of the canyon (Ericson and others, 1952; Bates, 

1953). Sampling programs have substantiated this 

(Gorsline and Emery, 1959; Bouma and Shepard, 1964; 

Piper and Normark, 1971). Although some of the findings concerning modern and ancient subsea fans are 

applicable directly to the Kenwood, many of the characteristics of these fans are not represented clearly in 

the Kenwood. These characteristics come under the 

broad headings of location, geometry, fabric, sedimentary structures, and fossil content (table 6).

Characteristics.—From the discussion of basin
DEPOSITIONAL MODEL 39

TABLE 4.—Characteristics of turbidites in ancient and modern environments and comparison with features of the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member of the Borden Formation

Kenwood 

Siltstone Member

Ancient and modern turbidites 

(Cline, 1970, p. 89-91; Kuenen, 1964, p. 10-13)

Partly No basis for 

Similar similar comparison

1. Alternating fine- and coarse-grained strata ________ x

2. Fine-grained beds are mainly pelagic clay or shale,

lacking evidence of shallow-water deposition ___ x

3. Fine-grained beds tend to be uniform ____________ x

4. Sediment in the coarse-grained beds tends to be sand 

but may be as fine as silt or as coarse as conglomerate-_______________________ x

5. Coarse-grained beds are generally graded, but grading

varies and may be obscure________________ x

6. Lower surfaces of the coarse-grained beds commonly

show sole marks _____________________ x

7. The bases of coarse-grained beds are abrupt; the tops 

may be somewhat less abrupt or gradational into the 

overlying shale __________________ x

8. The sole marks have directional properties in which 

vectoral properties are less common than are 

linear _____________________________________ x

9. Where several beds are one above the other, the directional properties tend to be uniform for all the 

beds ______________________

10. Internal bedding shows the entire Bouma-sequence 

(Bouma, 1962) locally, truncated base or missing 

parts being more common than a complete cycle._ x

11. The laminated divisions (Tb or Tj) are common in very

fine sand- and silt-sized beds_______________ x

12. Organic trails (trace fossils) may occur on the upper bed 

surfaces where gradation occurs and may be missing 

where beds are truncated or are immediately overlain 

by another turbidite with only a thin or missing shale 

interbed __________________________ x

13. Sorting is poor ____________________ x

14. Subaerial and shallow-water features such as mud

cracks and algal colonies are absent ________ x

15. Shallow-water fauna are absent except where displaced

and incorporated into the coarse-grained beds ______ x

16. Large-scale crossbedding is absent __________ x

17. The thickness of the beds may vary from a few millimeters to 6 m _________________ x

18. Nearly all deep-sea turbidites are found on slopes of less

than 1°___________________________ x

19. Mud may occur as lumps in beds ____________ x

20. The sand or silt may be rich hi feldspar, angular quartz,

glauconite, mica, and pyrite __________ x

21. Thinner beds are farther from the dispersal center __ x

22. Proximal beds show top-truncated Bouma sequences

and fewer fines than do distal beds ____________ x

23. A lag concentrate of shells, one to two shells thick, is

found locally at the base of the beds __________ x

24. Thick stratigraphic sequences have vertical changes in 

bedding style resulting from thickness variations in 

shale, sandstone, or both __________________ x

25. Bed thickness shows a strong correlation with grain size

26. Plant remains are sparse to abundant __________

geometry and depositional dip, the Kenwood is attributed to the base-of-slope environment similar to that 

for modern fans (table 6, item 1).

The fan shape of the areal distribution, similar to 

that of modern fans and sediment cones (table 6, item 

5), is obscured in the Kenwood by the coalescing of two 

penecontemporaneous fans that make up a single 

lithostratigraphic unit. Like modern fans (Haner, 

1971), the Kenwood tends to thicken towards the 

apices (fig. 7); cross sections (W-T and M-J, fig. 9) suggest that the paleosurfaces were concave up near the 

apex and convex up distally. Because the extreme 

proximal beds of the Kenwood are no longer preserved 

in the section, the gradient near the apex can no longer 

be determined; distally, like modern fans, the gradient 

merges with the basin, as demonstrated by the asymptotic distal approach of the Kenwood to the base of the 

Borden Formation (fig. 9). The remaining radius of the 

Kenwood, 10 mi (15 km), is within the 10-15-km 

radius characteristic of modern fans.

The greater discrepancy between the Kenwood and 

the subsea fan model, however, is that the thickness of 

the turbidite accumulation of the Kenwood is less than 

100 ft (30 m), whereas the total accumulation of turbidite sequences in both the ancient and recent is 

commonly one or two orders of magnitude greater.

Distribution of the typical Bouma-sequence of internal bedding structures shows little variation in the 

Kenwood. The sequence Tb e is most abundant. Sequences Tb_e, Ta_e, and Ta, e are extremely rare or 

obscure and show little relation to the models proposed 

by Bouma (1962) and Haner (1971). (See fig. 40.) The 

presence of channels in the proximal part of the Kenwood is in accord with the fan models of both Walker 

(1967) and Haner (1971). The nearly complete lack of 

all but trace fossils in the Kenwood is characteristic of 

sediment from modern subsea fans.

Revised subsea fan model.—The Kenwood turbidites 

appear to be a special case of a subsea fan that requires 

modification of the existing model to fit the particular 

process-response factors it embodies. Because the 

lithology and geometry of the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member is repeated areally and possibly vertically in 

the Borden in at least three additional units—the 

Farmers Member1 , the "Rockcastle freestone" beds of 

the Wildie Member, and the Lampkins Sandstone 

Member of the Carwood Formation of Stockdale (1931) 

in the Indiana outcrops—a modified subsea fan model 

is proposed to aid in deciphering the details of their 

paleogeographic setting.

The "thin" subsea-fan model proposed here for the 

Kenwood was built from a dispersal center that was 

short-lived geologically. This negates persistent 

episodic fault movement. The thin-fan model in itself 

lacks indications of distance from the shore or depth of 

the water. Creation of a fan-shaped body would require 

a dispersal point such as a distributary channel down 

which sediment was introduced to the shelf floor and 

down which the turbidity currents came episodically. 

Indications of distance from the shore and some measure of depth may be gained by examining the stratigraphic relations in reference to the vertical profile 

(Visher, 1965).

TRIGGERING MECHANISM OF THE TURBIDITY CURRENTS

The turbidity currents of the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member of the Borden Formation appear to have been 

triggered by mechanisms of a wide range of intensity, 

because the beds range in thickness from less than 0.1

'Moore and Clarke (1970, p. 213) confirmed the suggested turbidite nature of the Farmers 

(Kepferle, 1968b) and delineated a westward-facing paleoslope in water ranging in possible 

depth from 675 to less than 100 ft (206-30.5 m) on the basis of earlier estimates of the 

environment of deposition proposed for the Chattanooga-Ohio-New Albany Shale below the 

Borden.
40 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

TABLE 5.—Comparison of proximal and distal turbidites, Kenwood 

Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation

[Listed in the order of Walker (1967, table 2)]

Proximal Distal

A. Beds thick, as much as 20 ft

(6m).

B. Beds of mainly silt grains __ 

C. Individual beds amalgamated.

D. Beds irregular in thickness __ 

E. One washout, five channels _ 

F. Mudstone partings thin, occasionally poorly developed or 

absent; siltstone: shale ratio 

high.

G. Beds content graded______

H. Base of siltstone always

sharp; top often sharp; rare

Ta-e sequences.

I. Laminations common; ripples

rare.

J. Scour marks present; tool 

marks common.

Beds thin, one exception.

Beds of mainly silt grains.

Individual beds not amalgamated.

Beds fairly uniform in thickness.

No washouts, no channels.

Shale partings well developed; 

siltstone:shale ratio low.

Beds content graded.

Base of siltstone always sharp; 

top often sharp; Ta_e sequences absent.

Laminations common; ripples 

absent.

Scour marks absent; tool marks 

less common.

ft to 20 ft (3 cm to 6 m). Similar ranges in the thickness 

of the shaly beds indicate intervals between generative 

incidents estimated to range from a few years to several thousand years. Of the mechanisms listed on table 

7, seismic shock seems most in accord with the evidence from the Kenwood turbidites.

FACIES ANALYSIS AND THE VERTICAL PROFILE

Information necessary to recognize sedimentary sequences in a vertical profile has been described by 

Visher (1965) as three types: (1) physical sedimentary 

aspects in terms of bedding, grain size, sorting, and 

sedimentary structures, (2) biologic aspects in terms of 

paleoecology, and (3) presence and significance of 

sedimentary breaks. For the sake of interpretation, I 

have considered the entire Borden Formation as well 

as the underlying New Albany Shale and the overlying 

Harrodsburg Limestone within the study area. The 

columnar section of this sequence of rocks, plus the 

vertical profile in terms of the three types of information listed above, is shown in figure 41. Also shown is 

my interpretation of the environmental significance of 

this information relative to the vertical profile.

ENVIRONMENTS OF DEPOSITION

The depositional environments of the Borden Formation can be characterized morphologically in order of 

decreasing depth of water as (1) basin-floor, (2) baseof-slope, (3) slope, and (4) platform. As a group, these 

environments have been assigned depositionally to a 

deltaic environment (Rich, 1951a; Swann and others, 

1965; Peterson and Kepferle, 1970). I am using the 

expanded definition of the term "delta" as proposed by 

Moore and Asquith (1971, p. 2566): "The subaerial and 

submerged contiguous sediment mass deposited in a

TABLE 6.—Characteristics of modern and ancient subseafans relative 

to the Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation

Characteristic of modern and ancient fans Similarity to Kenwood

(Compiled from Haner, 1971; Sullwold, 1960, 1961; ————

Walker, 1967; others cited in text) Yes No Uncertain

Location:

1. Base of slope____-_——— —— _______ — ——— ___ x

2. Common at mouth of submarine canyon ________

3. Large where canyon heads near shore __________

4. Small where canyon heads far from shore _____ 

Geometry:

5. Fan shaped _______________________ x?

6. Thickest near apex ____ ——— __ — —— —— x

7. Surface concave up near apex ___________ x?

Surface convex up distally ___——___ — __ —— — - x?

8. Gradient 3° near apex _________________ x? 

Gradient merges with basin distally _______- x

9. Radius 10-15 km_____________________ x

10. Thickness ranges into thousands of feet (l-3xl03m) 

Sedimentary structures, fabric, and fossils:

11. Sedimentary structures vary with location _____— x

12. Current structures in pattern radiating from apex x

13. Channels present, more numerous proximally _— x

14. Channels tend to radiate from apex————————— x

15. Definite downslope decrease in grain size ______

16. Benthonic fauna rare or absent with exception of

trace fossils ____________———_ — _ x

body of water (ocean or lake) primarily by the action of 

a river."

A deltaic sequence is well suited to facies analysis. 

The sedimentary facies and breaks in sedimentation 

involved in the vertical profile study of the Borden are 

listed with the anticipation that an environment of 

deposition can be proposed for each. A black-shale 

facies is represented by the pre-Borden New Albany 

Shale. The first of two hiatuses in sedimentation is 

represented by the zone of phosphate nodules at the 

base of the Mississippian sequence. Four terrigenous 

lithologic facies are recognizable in the clastic part of 

the Borden, above which the second major break in 

sedimentation is identified by a bioturbated glauconitic surface, followed in turn by two carbonate rock 

facies.

BASIN-FLOOR ENVIRONMENT

The black-shale facies typifies the early phase of the 

basin-floor environment. It covers a wide area and 

forms the base for the ensuing greenish-gray shale and 

siltstone which spread over it from the east during the 

Early Mississippian. The black-shale environment is 

mainly anaerobic, implying poor circulation; this assessment is supported by the clay- to silt-sized constituent particles, which apparently accumulated at a 

slow rate. Conant and Swanson (1961, p. 54-55) 

suggested an accumulation rate of about 5 cm/1,000 

years.

If the depth of water in which the black-shale facies 

accumulated were known, it could furnish a strong 

basis for interpreting the environment of deposition of 

the overlying Mississippian green shales. Recent 

workers have suggested that the euxinic environment 

in which these black shales like the New Albany accumulated may have been in deep water (Rich, 1951b 

p. 2038-2039), shallow water (Pepper and others, 1954, 

p. 97; Conant and Swanson, 1961, p. 60-62), or of var-
DEPOSITIONAL MODEL 41

A

Hypothetical form

B

Segmented fan sequence

Upper fan

ENTRENCHMENT 

INTERSECTION ZONE

\N Middle fan

V\

I \ MEANDERING

\

I

I Lower fan

I

l

I

'

' BRAIDING

Tb -

r

From Bouma (1962, fig. 25A) From Haner (1971, fig. 15)

FIGURE 40.—Diagrams showing variation of internal bedding sequence in turbidites according to position on

subsea fan.

led depths (Lineback, 1968b, p. 1303). James (1971) indicated that deeper water may be a more prevalent 

deposition environment for black shale than is shallow 

water, proposing that the anoxic-water system results 

from the development of a widespread density gradient 

which inhibits circulation of bottom water. The absolute depth of the basin in which the black shale was 

deposited remains unknown. An upward decrease in 

gray-shale beds and a widespread basal thin sand interpreted as a transgressive sheet sand suggest to me 

that the Devonian black shale was deposited in an environment that was gradually increasing in depth 

through time and possibly ranged from circalittoral to 

infralittoral.

The thin zone of phosphate nodules overlying the 

black shale in the study area and included in the basal 

New Providence Shale Member represents a depositional hiatus in most of the Kentucky part of the study 

area. The entire Kinderhookian interval is attributed 

to this phosphatic zone and the several inches of green 

shale and discontinuous Rockford Limestone above it 

(Lineback, 1968b, fig. 7; Conant and Swanson, 1961, 

p. 67). Thus, deposition on the basin floor appears to 

have been minimal in earliest Mississippian time, and

the zone of phosphate nodules on the black shale appears to have been synchronous. The regularity and 

continuity of this zone indicate that it was not swept by 

strong currents. (See fig. 42, block T^)

Deposition on the basin floor resumed in a somewhat 

more aerated environment. Dominantly green clayey 

sediment prevailing throughout most of the study area 

indicates pelagic deposition from a distant terrigenous 

source. The thickening of the clayey sediment in an 

easterly direction in the study area indicates that this

TABLE 7.—Triggering mechanisms of turbidity currents, Kenwood 

Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation

Characteristic

Generative 

mechanism

Floods2 _________

Hyperpycnal flow3 _ _ 

Oversteepening4 __ 

Seismic shock5 ___ _.

Intensity

Variable Uniform

X 

X 

X

X 

X 

X

Cyclic

X 

X 

X 

X

Interval

Episodic

X 

X 

X

Years

1-100 

1-100 

1-100 

10-100 

10-1,000 

1-1,000

Number

10-100 

50-100 

50-100 

50-100 

2-1,000 

50±

'Daly (1936); Passega (1962). 

2Heezen and others (1964).

"Terzhagi, in Mathews and Shepard (1962); Huang and Goodell (1970). 

"McBride and others (1971).

5Gutenberg (1939); Heezen and Ewing (1952); Heezen and Drake (1964); Ryan and Heezen 

(1965); Ambraseys (1960); Houtz (1962); Coulter and Migliaccio (1966).
42 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

FORMATION 

MEMBER, 

AND BED

Harrodsburg 

Limestone

LITHOLOGY

AND 

THICKNESS

(METERS!

PALEOCURRENT 'RATE Of DEPOSIT

I

Holtsclaw 

Siltstone 

Member

New — —~^ 

Providence

Shale 

Member

Rockford \

Limestone, thin, dense, gray; sparse in Kentucky.

New Albany 

Shale

65-130 

(20-39)

T

FIGURE 41. Vertical profile and facies analysis of the Borden Formation, north-central Kentucky.
DEPOSITIONAL MODEL 43

EXPLANATION

Holtsclaw Siltstone 

and Nancy Members

Kenwood Siltstone Member 

(showing turbidites)

New Providence Shale Member

Phosphate nodule

New Albany Shale

Current vector, unidirectional

Current vector, bidirectional

T4 late(?) Osagean

Deposition of Floyds Knob Bed 

of Muldraugh Member

T3 middle(?) Osagean

Deposition of Kenwood Siltstone 

Member

T2 early(?) Osagean

Deposition of New Providence 

Shale Member

TiKmderhookian 

Initial Borden deposition

FIGURE 42.—Sequential block diagrams showing depositional environments of the Borden Formation.
44 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

source was to the east (Peterson and Kepferle, 1970, 

fig. 4C).

The characteristics of the basin-floor environment 

after the accumulation of the phosphate nodules were:

1. Beds essentially flat lying; surface sloping slightly 

to the west at less than 10 ft/mi (1.9 m/km).

2. No significant bottom current.

3. Epifauna and infauna sparse.

4. Low oxygenation, as shown by local siderite, 

glauconite, and phosphate indicative of Eh from 0 

to -0.25, pH from 7.0 to 7.8± (Krumbein and 

Garrels, 1952, fig. 8).

5. Widespread muddy bottom from pelagic sediment.

6. Depth greater than 265 ft (81 m).

BASE-OF-SLOPE ENVIRONMENT

The upper silty clay shale of the New Providence 

Shale Member and the flat-lying tabular siltstone and 

channel-fill siltstone beds of the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member were deposited on a virtually flat basin floor at 

the base of a slope leading upward to a prograding 

deltaic or paralic platform (fig. 42, block T2 ). The shale 

of the New Providence becomes increasingly silty, 

changes from green to gray, and contains increasingly 

abundant trace fossils upwards. These fossils are 

mainly of the small boring types; possible sticklike 

plant remains less than 1 mm thick are more common 

near the base of the sequence. Because deposition was 

somewhat more rapid near the base of the slope, the 

surface was somewhat steeper here than farther out on 

the basin floor. From these generalities and from details discussed earlier in the paper concerning the New 

Providence and the Kenwood, the characteristics for 

the base-of-slope environment for the Borden in the 

study area were:

1. Beds virtually flat lying; surface sloping to the west 

at 10-25 ft/mi (1.9-4.7 m/km).

2. Relatively low-energy gravity-driven density currents from a slope that faced west; currents were 

episodic, debouching from at least two minor canyons (fig. 42, block T3 ).

3. Benthonic infauna expressed as trace fossils relatively abundant.

4. Low oxygenation; Eh from 0 to -0.25; pH from 

7.0 to 7.8t, similar to that in basin-floor environment.

5. Bottom muddy with increasing amount of silt.

6. Depth shallows from the basin floor by ±100 ft 

(±30 m).

SLOPE ENVIRONMENT

The rocks above the dominantly clay shale of the 

New Providence were deposited in the slope environment. The siltstone and silty shale of this environment, 

the Nancy and Holtsclaw Siltstone Members, show

obscurely ripple-laminated bedding that is disturbed 

by bioturbation in increasing amounts upwards. Scattered invertebrate remains also become increasingly 

abundant upwards in the rock sequence and include 

brachiopods, bryozoans, gastropods, trilobites, and 

scattered banks of crinoidal limestone. In the sediment 

immediately overlying the Kenwood, fall-off (depositional dip) to the west is shown in the coarser and more 

resistant massive siltstone of the Holtsclaw (Kepferle, 

1971, 1972a, b).

The magnitude of the slope environment is evident 

in the relief of the contact between the Muldraugh 

Member and the underlying units of the Borden Formation along the Borden delta front (Peterson and 

Kepferle, 1970, fig. 4B), less than 10 mi (16 km) west of 

the west edge of the Kenwood. This contact is marked 

in Kentucky by the Floyds Knob Bed, a bored surface 

and glauconitic deposit, which I interpret to represent 

a hiatus in sedimentation. It shows the form of the sea 

floor at the time building of the delta front ceased and 

probably is characteristic of the topography during the 

deposition of the clastic unit (fig. 42, block T4 ). No 

marked lithologic changes take place in the preMuldraugh Borden between the Borden delta front and 

the Kenwood outcrops, indicating that depositional environments were about the same over this broad area. 

Hence, the slopes down which the turbidity currents 

flowed to introduce the siltstone of the Kenwood to the 

base-of-slope environment were about the same as the 

slope of the front marked by the Floyds Knob Bed. Relief on the front is about 200 ft (61 m) over distances 

ranging from 4 to 8 mi (6.4-12.8 km). The slope ranges 

from about 25 to 50 ft/mi (4.7-9.4 m/km) over the entire distance. Locally the slope is as much as 120 ft/mi 

(22.7 m/km)—slightly more than 1° (Peterson and 

Kepferle, 1970, fig. 4B). Similar slopes are common on 

modern deltas (Fisk, 1961; Mathews and Shepard, 

1962; Alien, 1970).

Compaction may have modified slightly the original 

relief on the depositional front. On the basis of studies 

of the Fraser River delta, Mathews and Shepard (1962) 

indicated that muds tend to undergo compaction and 

lose 50 percent of their original volume and that most 

of this takes place within 2,000 years of deposition. 

Accumulation on major deltaic cones ranges from 10 

to 30 cm/1,000 years (Ewing and others, 1958; Huang 

and Goodell, 1970; Stanley and Huang, 1971). Thirty 

cm/1,000 years is estimated as an average rate of accumulation for the Borden clastic rocks. At this rate, 

only the top meter of sediment would be relatively uncompacted in the Borden. The remaining postdepositional compaction would be small and would have little 

effect on the relief of the front. In other words, the slope 

preserved in the geologic record is virtually the slope 

present during the deposition of the Kenwood. Con-
DEPOSITIONAL MODEL 45

straints one must consider are penecontemporaneous 

and postdepositional basinal subsidence, both of which 

are accounted for in the cross sections in figure 9 and 

the block diagrams in figure 42.

The characteristics of the slope environment in the 

study area are:

1. Surface slopes range from 25 ft/mi to more than 120 

ft/mi (4.7-22.7 m/km) over a distance of 4-8 mi 

(6.4-12.8 km).

2. Local small canyons carried turbidity currents of 

moderate energy; upper part of slope swept by 

low-energy surface-generated currents.

3. Epifauna and infauna increase in abundance upwards.

4. Somewhat higher oxygenation than at base of slope; 

Eh from 0 to -0.25, pH from 7.5 to 8.5±.

5. Widespread muddy substrate, increasingly silty 

near top.

6. Depth of water infralittoral (below tidal zone to 150 

ft (46 m)) to circalittoral (150-600 ft (46-182 m)) 

(Krumbein and Sloss, 1963, p. 259).

PLATFORM ENVIRONMENT

In pre-Muldraugh deposition, no sediment accumulated on the platform except, perhaps, the uppermost 

few feet of the Holtsclaw Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation, or, where the Holtsclaw is absent, the 

Nancy Member. The sediment of these few feet is 

mainly siltstone or clayey silt shale containing abundant brachiopods, bryozoans, gastropods, trilobites, 

and scattered banks of crinoidal limestone, and trace 

fossils. Original ripple lamination is obscured by 

bioturbation. Trace fossils are more abundant in the 

clayey shale. Most of the platform may have been 

swept by surface storm and tidal currents.

The characteristics of the Borden delta platform in 

the study area were:

1. Beds virtually flat; surface sloping to the west only 

slightly if at all.

2. Surface currents from waves and tides moderate to 

low energy.

3. Epifauna relatively abundant.

4. Eh -0.1 to -0.2, pH 7.8±; lack of limestoneproducing organisms attributed to turbid water.

5. Bottom mainly silty mud.

6. Depth below tide level in upper infralittoral zone 

(24-60 ft (7-18 m)).

EROSIONAL PHASE AND DEPOSITIONAL HIATUS

The erosional phase is represented by the Floyds 

Knob Bed of the Muldraugh Member. The bed is persistent, is as much as 15 ft (4.6 m) thick, and contains at 

least one and in many places two layers in which 

glauconite is concentrated. Sparsely distributed oolitic 

limestone and local thin beds showing bimodal

crossbedding (Kepferle, 1972 a) possibly represent a 

shoaling environment within the tidal zone. 

Glauconite-filled burrows in the surface of the underlying slope deposits indicate a hiatus in sedimentation on 

this surface. The hiatus probably represents a shift in 

the dispersal pattern of the terrigenous clastic materials, followed by marine transgression over the platform, resulting in some erosion of the platform sediment in Kentucky. (See fig. 42, block T4 .)

CARBONATE PLATFORM ENVIRONMENT

An infralittoral origin (20-150 ft, or 6-46 m) for the 

sediment of the Muldraugh Member of the Borden is 

suggested by a dominance of calcite and dolomite silt, 

by the inferred abundance of anhydrite and gypsum as 

precursors of quartz geodes (Chowns and Elkins, 1971, 

1974), and by the bryozoan-crinoid-brachiopod invertebrate fauna. The increase in locally derived carbonate in the Muldraugh corresponds with a decrease in 

terrigenous detritus reaching this part of the sedimentary platform. Initial dip to the southwest in some 

of the associated limestone and sandstone bodies 

(Sedimentation Seminar, 1972) indicates that this infralittoral environment was swept intermittently by 

westward-flowing currents that winnowed crinoidal 

communities and redeposited the debris as banks on 

the foreset slopes of the platform edge. Eventually this 

thin layer of carbonates prograded westward to the 

edge of the terrigenous sediment platform on which 

deposition had virtually ceased. That this westward 

advance was far more complicated than I have stated is 

brought out by recent studies of the Edwardsville 

Member of the Muldraugh Formation of Indiana usage 

(Lane, 1973; Whitehead, 1973, 1976) and by the poorly 

understood relation of the Muldraugh Member and the 

Nada and Renfro Members of the Borden in eastcentral Kentucky (Weir and others, 1966, Weir, 1970).

THE PALEOSLOPE AND PALEOTECTONICS

A west-southwest paleoslope during the deposition of 

the Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation is indicated by:

1. The southwest stratigraphic descent of the Kenwood Siltstone Member within the Borden.

2. The southwest imbrication of the individual 

siltstone beds in the Kenwood.

3. The west-southwest direction of sole marks and 

other paleocurrent indicators within the Kenwood, which indicate deposition from downslope 

currents.

4. Analogy with the west-southwest slope of the Borden delta front, as revealed by the configuration of 

the Floyds Knob Bed. 

Orientation and migration of the paleoslope.—The

strike of the paleoslope during Kenwood deposition
46 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

paralleled closely the depositional strike of the Kenwood. By the end of terrigenous clastic deposition in 

the Borden of this area, the strike of the paleoslope 

swung slightly west of the depositional strike (fig. 5). A 

comparison of the paleocurrents for the Kenwood with 

those of the Farmers Member of the Borden in northeastern Kentucky indicates that the paleocurrent 

system was virtually constant (fig. 39). Because of 

similarity in inferred paleocurrents and petrology of 

the Kenwood and the Farmers, a current-deflecting 

deep-weathering lowland along the axis of the Cincinnati arch as postulated by Pepper, de Witt, and Demarest (1954, pi. 13) for Early Mississippian (Kinderhookian) time could not have been emergent during 

deposition of these siltstone bodies.

Paleotectonics.—The implication of this westward 

persistence of paleoslope is that the tectonic setting of

the Eastern Interior and Appalachian basins in the 

Late Devonian continued into Early Mississippian 

time. The final stages of the Acadian orogeny in and 

east of New England fostered the maximum westward 

advance of the Pocono alluvial wedge (Meckel, 1970, 

p. 54). A comparison with studies of Early Mississippian paleocurrents and paleotectonics of the Appalachian basin indicates that the terrigenous clastic 

materials of the Borden constitute the distal marine 

edge of this westward-prograding terrigenous clastic 

wedge. Dwindling paroxysms of minor strain release, 

perhaps far to the east, initiated slope failure and turbidity currents along the front of the active distributary channels of the major streams. Two such channels 

on the delta front in central Kentucky were the dispersal centers for the turbidites of the Kenwood Siltstone 

Member. (See fig. 43.)

90° 85'

0 50 100 150 MILES

' I I 

0 50 100 150 200 KILOMETERS

EXPLANATION

Water Delta plain

\

Shoreline (average) Delta lobe Tectonic highlands source Cratonic source

Abandoned meander Fluviatile paleocurrent 

(from Meckel, 1970)

Turbidite paleocurrent

Number indicates sequence of deposition

(Weir, 1970; Moore and Clarke, 1970; this paper)

FIGURE 43.—Paleogeographic diagram of eastern interior during deposition of Kenwood Siltstone Member and related Lower Mississippian rocks prior to final establishment of Borden delta front, showing composite of paleocurrents. (River names from Pepper 

and others, 1954.)
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48 KENWOOD SILTSTONE MEMBER, BORDEN FORMATION, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA

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