Members of the Borden 

Formation (Mississippian) 

In North-Central Kentucky

By ROY C. KEPFERLE

CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1354-B

Work done in cooperation with the 

Kentucky Geological Survey

A redefinition of the Holts claw 

Siltstone Member and a review of 

the stratigraphic relations 

brought out by geologic mapping
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

ROGERS C. B. MORTON, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

W. A. Radlinski, Acting Director

Library of Congress catalog-card No. 73-176231

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1971

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

Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 15 cents (paper cover)

Stock Number 2401-1223
CONTENTS

Page

Abstract ....... .................................................................................................... Bl

Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1

Previous nomenclature ..................................................................................... 3

Borden Group ........................................................................................... 3

New Providence Formation and Kenwood Sandstone .............. 3

Rosewood, Holtsclaw, Locust Point, Carwood, and Brodhead

Formations ..................................................................................... 5

Floyds Knob Formation ................................................................. 6

Muldraugh Formation ....................................................- .............. 6

Present nomenclature .................................................................................... 7

Borden Formation ................................................................--....... . . 7

New Providence Shale Member ..................................................... 7

Kenwood Siltstone Member ..................... ... .. .... ...... 9

Nancy Member ................................................................................. 9

Holtsclaw Siltstone Member ......................................................... 10

Muldraugh Member ......................................................................... 11

Measured sections ........................................................................................... 12

References cited ................................................................................................ 17

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

FIGURE 1. Index map of north-central Kentucky .................................... B2

2. Chart showing development of stratigraphic nomenclature

of the Borden Formation in north-central Kentucky ...... 3

3. Diagrammatic cross section showing units of the Borden 

Formation mapped in Kosmosdale, Valley Station, and 

Brooks quadrangles ................................... ............................. 4

4. Diagram showing relation of members of the Borden Formation from southernmost Jefferson County to Casey 

County ......................................... ............ ................................ 4

III

CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

MEMBERS OF THE BORDEN FORMATION 

(MISSISSIPPIAN) IN NORTH-CENTRAL KENTUCKY

By ROY C. KEPFERLE

ABSTRACT

The Borden Formation in north-central Kentucky consists of three widespread mappable units: a" basa! clay shale, a middle siltstone and silty 

shale, and an upper siliceous silty carbonate rock, respectively called the 

New Providence Shale Member, the Nancy Member, and the Muldraugh 

Member. These three mappable units have been recognized along the Mississippian escarpment west of the Cincinnati arch from Jefferson County, 

Ky., southward and eastward to Casey County, Ky. Two less widespread 

but locally mappable units are the Kenwood Siltstone Member and the 

Holtsclaw Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation. The Kenwood Siltstone lies on the New Providence Shale Member in easternmost outcrops 

in Jefferson and Bullitt Counties, Ky., and intertongues with the New Providence to the west and south. The Holtsclaw Siltstone Member is redefined 

from its original description in Jefferson County, Ky., where it lies on the 

Nancy Member and intertongues with the Nancy to the west and south. A 

widespread glauconitic zone, included in the base of the Muldraugh Member, 

is correlated with the glauconitic zone in the Floyds Knob Formation as 

used by Stockdale (1939).

INTRODUCTION

Current mapping in north-central Kentucky in cooperation with 

the Kentucky Geological Survey shows that previously named 

units of the Borden Formation are recognizable. In ascending 

order they are the New Providence Shale, Kenwood Siltstone, 

Nancy, Holtsclaw Siltstone, and Muldraugh Members. This report describes the use of units in the area from Jefferson County, 

Ky., southeastward to Casey County, Ky. (fig. 1), presents the 

historical development of stratigraphic names for the Borden 

Formation in Jefferson and Bullitt Counties, Ky. (fig. 2), and

Bl
B2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

86° ~T

!y. Borden CLARK

 x

FLOYD \

IFloydsKnob

1

£?'

Neww J

any/^\^< 

"-i / "^Louisville j

I yA~"~/ /^

t f (' ;-> JEFFERSON

Kenwood Hill

71/2-MINUTE QUADRANGLES

1 Kosmosdale

2 Valley Station

3 Brooks

4 Shepherdsville

5 Samuels

6 Lebanon Junction

7 Cravens 

3 Nelsonville 

9 New Haven

10 Howardstown

11 Yosemite

20 30 MILES

FIGURE 1. Index map of north-central Kentucky and adjacent areas showing 

localities and lines of section referred to in text and in figures 3 and 4.
BORDEN FORMATION (MISSISSIPPIAN) OF KENTUCKY B3

Butts 

(1915, 1922)

Warsaw 

("Harrodsburg") 

Limestone

Holtsclaw 

Sandstone

Rosewood 

Shale

Kenwood 

Sandstone

New 

Providence 

Shale

Stockdale 

(1931, pi. 2)

Upper 

Harrodsburg

Q. 

3 

O

C5 

c

01

 o 

o

CD

Guthrie 

Creek Member

* Leesville 

o Member

_i 

* Ramp Creek 

Member

Edwardsville 

Formation

Floyds Knob 

Formation

Carwood 

Formation

Locust Point 

Formation

Kenwood 

beds

New 

Providence 

Formation

Stockdale 

(1939)

Harrodsburg 

Limestone 

(restricted)

Borden Group

Muldraugh 

Formation

Edwardsville 

Division

Floyds Knob 

Formation/^

Brodhead 

Formation

Kenwood 

Sandstone 

Member

New 

Providence 

Formation

Kepferle (1966a, 

1968a, 1969) and 

Peterson (1966a, b, 

1967, 1968)

Harrodsburg 

Limestone

Borden Frmation

Muldraugh 

Member

member Shale L 

I* * Siltstone 

bed

Upper part

p^Siltstone 

(turbidite) 

[ bed

Lower part

This 

report

Harrodsburg 

Limestone

Borden Frmation

Muldraugh 

Member

Holtsclaw 

Siltstone 

Member

Nancy 

Member

[Kenwood 

Siltstone 

Member

New 

Providence 

Shale 

Member

*Harrodsburg. 

**Not on all reference maps.

FIGURE 2. Development of stratigraphic nomenclature of the Borden Formation in north-central Kentucky.

illustrates stratigraphic relations brought out by mapping (figs. 

3 and 4).

PREVIOUS NOMENCLATURE

BORDEN GROUP

The Borden Group was named by Cumings (1922) in Indiana, 

and was first applied by Stockdale (1931, pi. 2) in Kentucky to a 

sequence of clayey and silty shale and siltstone overlain by silty 

siliceous and clayey carbonate. The Borden Group was reduced 

to formational rank during the current mapping program in Kentucky. The following discussion includes only the major stratigraphic names used in north-central Kentucky. Previous nomenclature of Lower Mississippian rocks in north-central Kentucky 

is shown in figure 2.

New Providence Formation and Kenwood Sandstone

The New Providence Shale was named as a formation by Borden (1874) for exposures near New Providence (now Borden,
B4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

BROOKS 

QUADRANGLE

KOSMOSDALE 

QUADRANGLE

VALLEY STATION 

QUADRANGLE

Harrodsburg Limestone

Muldraugh Member

Holtsclaw Siltstone Member

Nancy Member

Kenwood Siltstone Member

New Providence Shale Member

New Albany Shale

FIGURE 3. Diagrammatic cross section along Jefferson County line 

showing units of the Borden Formation mapped in Kosmosdale, 

Valley Station, and Brooks quadrangles. Line of section shown in 

figure 1.

Holtsclaw 

Siltstone 

Member

New Providence Shale Member

Kenwoo

Siltstone

Member

r300'

-200'

-100'

FIGURE 4. Diagram showing relation of members of the Borden Formation from southernmost Jeff erson County to Casey County. Line of 

section shown in figure 1.
BORDEN FORMATION (MESSISSIPPIAN) OF KENTUCKY B5

fig. 1), Clark County, Ind. He described the formation as 80-120 

feet of greenish shale that immediately overlies the Rockford 

Limestone (Lower Mississippian) which, in turn, overlies the 

New Albany Shale. Butts (1915, p. 135-147) used the name New 

Providence Shale for the green shale in Jefferson County that 

lies above the New Albany Shale and below a sequence of alternating siltstone and shale that he called the Kenwood Sandstone. 

The boundaries of the New Providence Shale as used by Butts 

(1915) differed from the boundaries at the type area in Indiana 

because the Kenwood is not present in the Indiana type area, 

and the Rockford Limestone is not present in Jefferson County. 

Not recognizing that the Kenwood drops stratigraphically relative to the base of the Borden together with the appearance and 

gradual increase in thickness of an overlying tongue of New 

Providence, Stockdale modified Butts' definition of the New 

Providence to include the Kenwood as the upper member of the 

New Providence Formation. Stockdale (1939, p. 108) believed 

the Kenwood cropped out only in Floyd County, Ind., and in 

Jefferson and Bullitt Counties, Ky. The Kenwood is now known 

to extend southward into the Nelsonville and New Haven quadrangles in Nelson County, Ky. (Peterson, 1966a, b). In these 

areas Stockdale included the Kenwood equivalents in the New 

Providence.

Rosewood, Holtsclaw, Locust Point, Carwood, and Brodhead Formations

The interval between the top of the Kenwood and the base of 

the carbonate sequence in north-central Kentucky was divided 

locally into two units: a basal silty shale and an overlying sandy 

siltstone called, respectively, the Rosewood Shale and Holtsclaw 

Sandstone by Butts (1915) and the Locust Point and Carwood 

Formations by Stockdale (1931).

Butts (1915, p. 150) assigned a total thickness of 190 feet to 

the bluish-gray unevenly fissile Rosewood Shale, named for exposures in Indiana, opposite Kosmosdale, Ky. The base was placed 

at the top of the Kenwood. The top of the shale was: defined as 

the base of the Holtsclaw. Butts (1915, p. 152) assigned a thickness of 15-25 feet to tne Holtsclaw Sandstone which, lying immediately below the base of his Warsaw ("Harrodsburg") Limestone, consisted of a "bluish-gray or buffish, rather loosely cemented, soft and easily disintegrated, very fine-grained, thick to 

massive bedded stratum * * *." He described the basal part as 

being commonly gradational with the underlying Rosewood.

In a section measured at Holsclaw Hill in Jefferson County,
B6 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

Stockdale (1931, p. 113) assigned the upper 68 feet of the interval between the top of the Kenwood and the base of the overlying 

carbonate sequence to the Carwood Formation and the lower 163 

feet of the interval to the Carwood (?) and Locust Point Formations, the upper 28 feet of which graded into the overlying massive rock. Stockdale later (1939, p. 140) assigned the entire 231- 

foot interval to the Brodhead Formation. Weir, Gualtieri, and 

Schlanger (1966, p. F6) recently abandoned the name Brodhead 

because the unit was not defined in terms of its lithology and 

was therefore not mappable as originally defined.

Floyds Knob Formation

Stockdale (1931, p. 193-196) named a thin unit of glauconitic 

silt and limestone the Floyds Knob Formation, designating the 

type locality near Floyds Knob, Ind., and later traced this marker 

bed around the exposures of Lower Mississippian rocks from Indiana through Kentucky, nearly to Ohio (1939, p. 84). He-stated" 

(1939, p. 84) "It is an all-important *keyf horizon in the tracing 

of the lithologic facies of strata both above and below and in 

establishing correlations across the region." In north-central Kentucky the unit is commonly represented by a single layer of glauconitic silt. Locally, however, it is composed of two thin layers 

separated by as much as 15 feet of silty dolomite, greenish siltstone, or brownish-gray oolitic limestone. Stockdale misldentified 

the unit in southeastern Hardin and eastern Larue Counties, Ky., 

because he did not recognize the abrupt drop of the glauconitic 

bed(s) relative to the base of the Borden. The recent mapping of 

this drop (Peterson, 1966a, b; Kepferle, 1966a) emphasizes the 

pertinence of the Floyds Knob as a key horizon. However, because the Floyds Knob is generally too thin to be considered a 

mappable unit, it has been included on some recent maps with 

the overlying Muldraugh Member (Peterson, 1967, 1968; Kepferle, 1968a) and on others with the underlying shale member 

(Kepferle, 1966a, b, 1967; Peterson, 1966a, b; Weir, 1970, p. 33), 

according to the affinities of the lithologies represented.

Muldraugh Formation

The Muldraugh Formation was named by Stockdale (1939, 

p. 200) for exposures of "calcareous, cherty rock" south of Phillipsburg, Marion County, Ky. He equated the unit with the combined Edwardsville and Lower Harrodsburg division in Indiana. 

The lower contact was the top of the glauconitic Floyds Knob 

Formation; the upper contact in the area from Jefferson to
BORDEN FORMATION (MISSISSIPPIAN) OF KENTUCKY B7

Marion Counties was denned as the base of crinoidal limestone 

of the Harrodsburg Limestone (restricted). Weir, Gualtieri, and 

Schlanger (1966, p. F22) redefined the base to include cherty 

and dolomitic limestone and siltstone "a few feet to several tens 

of feet below the glauconitic siltstone that Stockdale (1939) assigned to the Flovds Knob Formation." More recently Weir (1970, 

p. 33) conformed to Stockdale by placing the base of the Muldraugh at the top of the uppermost glauconite seam.

Sable, Kepferle, and Peterson (1966) revised the upper contact 

to exclude all the typical Harrodsburg Limestone as manifested 

in the equivalents of the Guthrie Creek Member and Leesville 

Limestone Member of Stockdale (1929, p. 239-240). In part of 

south-central Kentucky, rocks correlative with the Harrodsburg 

Limestone are included in the Salem and Warsaw Limestones 

(Weir and others, 1966, p. F8). To the east, as lithology recognizable as typical Harrodsburg becomes more obscure, the top 

of the Muldraugh is placed at the base of a persistent sand bed 

forming the base of the Salem Formation (Weir, 1970, p. 34).

PRESENT NOMENCLATURE

BORDEN FORMATION

The Borden Formation in north-central Kentucky consists of 

three widespread mappable units: a basal clay shale, a middle 

siltstone and silty shale, and an upper siliceous silty carbonate 

rock called, respectively, the New Providence Shale Member, the 

Nancy Member, and the Muldraugh Member. Two less widespread 

but locally mappable units are the Kenwood Siltstone and the 

Holtsclaw Siltstone Members of the Borden Formation. The thickness of the formation here ranges from about 220 feet in the 

south to 425 feet in the northern part of the study area. Phosphate nodules in a greenish-gray clay shale matrix mark the 

basal foot of the Borden, which lies conformably on the black 

fissile-weathering New Albany Shale. The Borden is overlain with 

apparent conformity by the pelmatozoan-bryozoan limestone of 

the Harrodsburg Limestone.

New Providence Shale Member

The unit here designated as the New Providence Shale Member of the Borden Formation is generally the same as the unit 

termed the lower part of the shale member of the Borden Formation (fig. 2) on geologic quadrangle maps of areas in Bullitt, 

Hardin, Nelson, Larue, and Marion Counties (Kepferle, 1966a, 

1967, 1968a, 1969; Peterson, 1966a, b, 1967, 1968). In detail, an
B8 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

exception is the inclusion of beds that now would be assigned 

to the Kenwood Siltstone Member. The unit has been mapped as 

the New Providence Shale Member in the Yosemite quadrangle 

in Casey County (Taylor and Lewis, 1971) and in Brooks, Valley 

Station, and Kosmosdale quadrangles, Jefferson and Bullitt Counties (Kepferle, 1971a, b).

As its name implies, the New Providence Shale Member is 

chiefly shale. It is dark greenish gray, medium gray, or less commonly reddish gray and weathers light greenish gray to yellowish 

gray. Size analyses indicate that it is composed of nearly equal 

amounts of clay and silt-sized particles and has a trace of very 

fine sand (Peterson, 1966b). The silt is quartzose, and the silt 

content increases upward in the member. Siderite concretions as 

much as 2 feet in diameter occur sparsely to abundantly along the 

bedding planes. Flattish phosphate nodules as much as a foot 

long are very abundant in the basal 12 inches, and scattered 

smaller nodules occur higher in the unit. The basal nodule-bearing zone, included in the New Albany Shale by Lineback (1968, p. 

1300-1301), is correlated with the nodule-bearing zone that underlies the Rockford Limestone in Indiana. The shale is noncalcareous except for local small limestone concretions, scattered crinoidal debris, and rare thin lenses of crinoidal limestone. Dolomite, 

pyrite, and cone-in-cone concretionary carbonate layers are rare.

The thickness of the New Providence Shale Member is commonly less than 120 feet, although in outcrop its range is from 

about 250 feet in the Brooks and Valley Station quadrangles (fig. 

1) to 55 feet in the Howardstown and Nelsonville quadrangles. 

The unit thins irregularly to the south and west. It is 50 feet 

thick in the core of a hole drilled at the Belle Scott quarry in 

Meade County, Ky. (Kepferle and Peterson, 1964), less than 5 

feet thick in the core at Summit, Ky. (Moore, 1964), and 15 feet 

thick in the core at Green River Dam, Taylor County, Ky. (See 

fig. 1.) Most of this thinning occurs west of a line extending 

roughly through the southeast corner of the Howardstown quadrangle and the southwest corner of the Kosmosdale quadrangle 

and is ascribed to nondeposition rather than to erosion (Peterson and Kepferle, 1970).

West of this line the New Providence is overlain mainly by the 

Muldraugh Member and is separated from the Muldraugh by a 

disconformable contact commonly marked by a glauconite-rich 

zone. Eastward the New Providence Member is overlain mainly 

by the silty shale of the Nancy Member, except for an area in 

central Jefferson and northern Bullitt Counties, where it is over-
BORDEN FORMATION (MISSISSIPPIAN) OP KENTUCKY B9

lain by the Kenwood Siltstone Member. (See fig. 3.) The upper 

part grades into the Nancy Member, the contact marked only 

by a subtle upward increase in silt content in the section. The 

higher silt content imparts greater resistance to the shale and 

produces steeper and more stable slopes in the Nancy Member, 

in contrast to gentler slopes that result from slump, sliding, and 

creep in the less resistant clay shale of the New Providence Shale 

Member.

The New Providence is readily distinguished from the dark 

brittle New Albany Shale on which it lies with an abrupt conformable contact.

Kenwood Siltstone Member

The Kenwood Sandstone, named by Butts in 1915 (p. 148-150), 

is here redesignated the Kenwood Siltstone Member of the Borden 

Formation. The type exposure is on Kenwood Hill in the southeast partrof the Louisville West T1/^-minute quadrangle, Jefferson 

County, Ky. The Kenwood Siltston6%Tember has been mapped 

or recognized from the New Haven quadrangle in Kentucky 

northward into Floyd County, Ind. Its stratigraphic relations are 

diagrammed in figures 3 and 4. A reference section at Kenlite 

quarry in Bullitt County, Ky., is described on page B14. The Kenwood Siltstone Member is a sequence of alternating siltstone and 

shale. The siltstone is light gray to medium gray, weathers yellowish gray, and is generally limonite stained on bedding surfaces 

and joints. The staining is from oxidation of pyrite which is 

locally common. Graded, laminated, and ripple bedding and sole 

marks indicate that the silt was deposited from turbidity currents (Kepferle, 1968b). Individual beds are from less than 0.1 

foot to more than 20 feet thick, but commonly are less than 1 

foot thick. They occur singly or in a sequence of as many as 

30 tabular beds, reaching a maximum aggregate thickness of 

100 feet in the Samuels quadrangle (Kepferle, 1969). The shale 

at places makes up more than 60 percent of the unit.

On Kenwood Hill, in South Park Hills in the Brooks quadrangle, and in the Samuels and New Haven quadrangles, the 

Kenwood lies above the New Providence Shale Member and below 

the Nancy Member. South and west it drops stratigraphically 

from 5 to 20 feet per mile relative to the base of the Borden 

Formation by intertonguing with the New Providence Shale 

Member. The Kenwood pinches out within a few feet of the base 

of the New Providence in the Lebanon Junction quadrangle 

(Feterson, 1967).
BIO CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

Nancy Member

The Nancy Member was named for exposures of the basal 

Borden Formation in Pulaski County, Ky., by Weir, Gualtieri, 

and Schlanger (1966, p. F11-F13). A basal light-greenish-gray 

clay shale described by Weir (1970, p. 44) in the lower part of 

the Nancy at Halls Gap is probably equivalent to the New Providence Shale Member of this report. The usage of the name Nancy 

Member is herein extended northwestward and is applied to the 

unit mapped by Peterson (1966a, b, 1967, 1968) and Kepferle 

(1966a, b, 1967, 1968a, 1969) as the upper part of the shale 

member of the Borden Formation in north-central Kentucky 

west of the Cincinnati arch. The Nancy Member in this area, 

chiefly greenish gray to olive gray and comprising clayey to 

argillaceous silty shale and shaly siltstone, minor resistant siltstone, and thin discontinuous lenses of crinoidal limestone and 

clayey shale, lies below the Muldraugh or Holtsclaw Siltstone 

Members and above the New Providence Shale or the Kfinwood 

Siltstone Members (figs. 2**). A description of the Nancy Member is included as part of the reference section of the Holtsclaw 

Siltstone Member (p. B12).

The abrupt disconformaole contact between the Nancy Member 

and the overlying Muldraugh Member is commonly marked by a 

thin glauconitic siltstone locally associated with an oolitic limestone as much as 12 feet thick in the Muldraugh. Locally in 

Jefferson and Bullitt Counties, the Nancy Member intergrades 

with the overlying Holtsclaw Siltstone Member, and the contact 

between the two is placed at the lowest continuous ledge-forming siltstone bed within the zone of gradation.

Holtsclaw Siltstone Member

The Holtsclaw Sandstone of Butts (1915, p. 148-150) is herein 

redefined as the Holtsclaw Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation. Detailed mapping indicates that this unit thickens to 

as much as 130 feet to the south and west before grading into 

the Nancy Member.

The Holtsclaw Siltstone Member is equivalent to the unnamed 

siltstone in the upper part of the shale member of the Borden 

Formation in the Shepherdsville quadrangle (Kepferle, 1968a) 

and to Stockdale's (1939, p. 147) Lebanon Junction Siltstone 

Member of the Brodhead Formation. It is similar to the Halls 

Gap Member of the Borden Formation in south-central Kentucky (Weir and others, 1966). The Holtsclaw pinches out within 

a few miles south and west of the type section.

No type section was designated by Butts (1915, p. 151-152),
BORDEN FORMATION (MISSISSIPPIAN) OF KENTUCKY Bll

who named the unit for exposures on Holtsclaw Hill, now called 

Holsclaw Hill on the recommendation of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. However, because of long established usage, the 

original spelling of the geologic unit is retained. A type section 

is here designated along Holsclaw Hill Road on the west side of 

the ravine west of Holsclaw Hill, Valley Station quadrangle, Jefferson County and is presented on pages B12 B13. The top of the 

section is 2.3 miles south of Fairdale, one-fifth of a mile west of 

the Holsclaw Lookout tower in Jefferson County Memorial Forest; .the base of the section is in the creek bed west of the road, 

about 1.8 miles south of Fairdale. The unit is chiefly mediumgray to olive-gray siltstone that weathers yellowish gray or light 

olive gray. The silt, somewhat calcareous and clayey, is medium 

to fine according to size analyses and locally is interbedded with 

thin shale and crinoidal limestone. The Holtsclaw Siltstone is 

distinguishable from the Nancy Member on the basis of topographic^ expression. The Holtsclaw tends to weather to massive 

cliffs or steep smooth surfaces on southwest-facing slopes in contrast to the shaly slopes characteristic of the Nancy. The Holtsclaw is less clayey than the Nancy.

The siltstone of the Holtsclaw intergrades and intertongues 

with the shale of the Nancy. Where the Holtsclaw is overlain by 

the Muldraugh Member, the upper boundary is abrupt and is 

marked by the distinct basal glauconitic marker bed of the Floyds 

Knob Formation as used by Stockdale (1939). (See figs. 2-4.)

Muldraugh Member

The Muldraugh Member as here used is the same as that modified from Stockdale (1939) by Weir, Gualtieri, and Schlanger 

(1966, p. F36-F37) from the type section south of Phillipsburg, 

Marion County. Throughout, the member consists of a complexly 

interstratified sequence of yellowish-gray- to light-olive-grayweathering dolomitic siltstone, silty dolomite, and coarse crinoidal 

limestone with common to abundant geodes and chert. Nearly 

everywhere, the base of this unit is marked by glauconite, commonly in a single layer, but locally in two thin layers separated 

by a sequence which includes as much as 15 feet of silty dolomite, 

greenish siltstone, or brownish-gray oolitic limestone somewhat 

dissimilar from the units above and below. This glauconite and 

associated sequence includes beds that Stockdale (1931, p. 193- 

217) named the Floyds Knob Formation. Although this unit is 

persistent throughout most of the area of outcrop of Lower 

Mississippian rocks in north-central Kentucky, it nowhere attains 

a mappable thickness. Nevertheless, it is valuable as a marker
B12 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

bed at the base of the Muldraugh Member. In and southeast of 

southern Nelson County, the glauconitic bed(s) have been included with equivalents of the Nancy Member as defined by Weir 

(1970, p. 33).

The upper contact of the Muldraugh Member in north-central 

Kentucky is placed at the base of the Harrodsburg Limestone as 

modified from Stockdale (1939) by Sable, Kepferle, and Peterson 

(1966). The lower contact of the Muldraugh Member is described 

in the discussion of the underlying units.

MEASURED SECTIONS

Holsclaw Hill section

[Type section of the Holtsclaw Siltstone Member of the Borden Formation. Measured with 

barometer, hand level, and tape by E. G. Sable and R. C. Kepferle, October 1962; revised 

by Kepferle, August 1970; along Holsclaw Hill Road on west side of ravine west of Holsclaw 

Hill, Jefferson County. The top of the section is the top of the hill 2.3 miles south of Fairdale, Ky. (Valley Station quadrangle)] , 

Mississippian: - Thickness

Harrodsburg Limestone (incomplete) : (feet)

24. Limestone, cherty, deeply weathered ......................................... 23

Borden Formation (incomplete) : 

Muldraugh Member:

23. Limestone, dolomitic, cherty; weathers pale yellowish

orange (WYR 8/6) ; x poorly exposed................................ 17

22. Limestone, crinoidal; partly silicified to chert in beds 0.3

ft thick; interbedded with limestone as below................ 5

21. Limestone, dolomitic, very fine grained, medium-light-gray 

(N6) to light-gray (N7) ; weathers pale yellowish 

orange (WYR 8/6) to dark yellowish orange (WYR 

6/6); obscurely laminated and has "knotty" appearance 

around small quartz geodes 1-2 cm (centimeters) in 

diameter; poorly exposed; some beds as much as 1 ft 

thick; splits with irregular parting to beds commonly 

0.1-0.3 ft thick.......................................................................... 30

20. Siltstone, dolomitic; weathers dark yellowish orange

(WYR 6/6); small quartz geodes 1-2 cm in diameter.... .9

19. Mudstone, clayey, glauconitic; weathers pale brown (5YH 

5/2); dusky-green (5G 3/2) to greenish-black (5GY 

2/1) glauconitic pellets concentrated along bedding 

planes ......................................................................................... .7

18. Limestone, light-brownish-gray (SYR 6/1); fine to 

medium fossil fragments with scattered coarse fossil 

debris including crinoids; oolitic; very finely cross laminated; in a single bed having basal relief of as much 

as 0.4 ft in sharp contact with underlying unit. This

1 Color names with numbers based on "Rock-Color Chart," by Goddard and others (1948).
BORDEN FORMATION (MISSISSIPPIAN) OF KENTUCKY B13

Holsclaw Hill section Continued

Mississippian Continued

Borden Formation Continued Thickness 

Muldraugh Member Continued (feet) 

and unit 19 are equivalent to the Floyds Knob Formation as defined by Stockdale (1931).................................... 1.8

Total Muldraugh Member................................................ 55.4

Holtsclaw Siltstone Member:

17. Siltstone, yellowish-gray (5F 7/2) ; in thin planar beds 

0.1 ft thick; contains brachiopods and bryozoan fragments; upper part contains thin silty clay shale interbeds ... ...................................................................................... 1.5

16. Siltstone, greenish-gray (5GF 6/1) ; weathers yellowish 

gray (5F 7/2); slightly sandy, massive, with incipient 

partings 1-3 ft apart; scattered orthotetid brachiopods.. 5.9

15. Siltstone, light-greenish-gray (5G 8/1) ; calcareous; partings irregular, average 0.1 ft; grades laterally to more 

massive limy siltstone; bryozoan bearing......---... .- . . .7

14. Siltstone, greenish-gray (5GF 6/1) to dark-greenish-gray 

(5GF 4/1) ; weathers dark yellowish orange (10F# 6/6) 

to moderate yellowish brown (10 YR 5/4) ; slightly sandy, 

dominantly massive; discontinuous laminations transected 

by darker clay lenses 1 mm (millimeter) thick and 1 cm 

across that may represent burrow cross sections ............ 24.7

13. Limestone, medium-gray (N5) to brownish-gray (5F 

4/1) ; crinoidal fossil fragments; silty admixture; 

matrix microgranular; clay partings 0.1-0.3 ft apart.... 1.3

12. Siltstone, light-olive-gray (5F 5/2) ; weathers yellowish 

gray (5F 7/2) to pale olive (10F 6/2) or pale yellowish 

brown (WYR 6/2) ; shaly in part; poorly to moderately 

resistant to weathering; partings as much as 0.5 ft 

thick average 0.1 ft thick; very porous; contains more 

clay in lower 16 feet than in upper 10 feet...................... 26.5

11. Siltstone, olive-gray (5F 4/1); having commonly limonitestained calcareous scattered crinoid columnals................ .5

10. Covered .......................................................................................... 5.3

9. Siltstone, moderate-yellowish-brown (10YR 5/4) to darkyellowish-orange (10F.R 6/6), sandy, weathered; juts 

out above unit below; small pits on surface due to differential weathering of borings... ..................................... 1.0

8. Siltstone, yellowish-gray (5F 7/2) to medium-light-gray 

(NQ), slightly iron stained; irregularly shaly bedded; 

grades laterally to massive weathering face; indistinct 

irregular laminae; scattered medium-dark-gray (N4) 

ellipsoidal to spherical 0.1-0.5-ft-thick limestone concretions that weather with dark iron stain; vertical 

Zoophycos markings as much as 0.2 ft long ............... 32.8

Total Holtsclaw Siltstone Member 100.2
B14 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

Holsclaw Hill section Continued

Mississippian Continued

Borden Formation Continued ,. ,

Thickness

Nancy Member: (feet) 

7. Shale, light-olive-gray (5F 5/2); weathers same; silty, 

clayey; clay-filled borings; hackly parting; sideritic 

concretions as much as 0.2 ft thick; poorly exposed...... 14.0

6. Covered .......................................................................................... 23.9

5. Shale, light-olive-gray (5F 5/2); weathers same; silty,

clayey; grades laterally into clayey shale........................ 15.9

Total Nancy Member... .................................................... 53.8

Upper tongue of New Providence Shale Member:

4. Covered, probably like unit 3 below........................................ 70

3. Clay shale, light-olive-gray (5F 5/2) to greenish-gray

(5F 6/1); weathers greenish gray.................................... 5.0

Total upper tongue of New Providence Shale Member ...................................................................................... 75

Kenwood Siltstone Member (elev 585 ft by altimeter) :

2. Siltstone, yellowish-gray (5F 7/2), resistant; in single

bed; limonite stained at base................................................ .5

1. Shale, olive-gray (5F 6/2) to greenish-gray (5GF 6/1);

clayey; base not observed..................................................... 5+

Total Kenwood Siltstone Member.................... ............. 5.5+

Total Borden Formation..................................................... 290+

Kenlite quarry section

[Reference section of the Kenwood Siltstone and the lower tongue of the New Providence 

Shale Members of the Borden Formation. Measured with altimeter, hand level, and tape 

by E. G. Sable and R. C. Kepferle, October 1962; up west face of Kenlite quarry, half 

a mile west of State Highway 1020 and 1.6 miles south of Brooks, Bullitt County (Brooks 

quadrangle) ]

Mississippian:

Borden Formation (incomplete) : Thickness 

Upper tongue of New Providence Shale Member (?) : (feet) 

37. Covered to top of ridge, probably clay shale........................ 2.5

Kenwood Siltstone Member:

36. Siltstone, well-jointed bed.......................................................... .4

35. Clay shale, medium-gray (N5) ; weathers light olive gray

(5F 5/2); interbedded with clayey silt shale ................. 6.0

34. Siltstone, sandy; thin lens.......................................................... .1

33. Clay shale, poorly exposed......... ............................................ 1.4

32. Siderite concretions, iron-oxide-coated ................................. .2

31. Clay shale, very silty, poorly exposed ................................. 3.0

30. Siltstone; limonite cemented in part........................................ .5
BORDEN FORMATION (MISSISSIPPIAN) OF KENTUCKY B15

Mississippian Continued

Borden Formation Continued Thickness 

Kenwood Siltstone Member Continued (feet) 

29. Clay shale, silty, weathered..,................................. .......... . 1.1

28. Siltstone ........................................................................................ .8

27. Clay shale, silty; contains nodular siderite concretions...... 4.9

26. Siltstone and clay shale, interbedded; thins along line of 

section from a maximum of 5.0 ft to 0.9 ft siltstone, 

0.4 ft shale, 0.6 ft siltstone, 0.7 ft shale, and 0.3 ft 

siltstone; sole marks on siltstone beds.............................. 2.9

25. Clay shale, similar to unit 23; iron stained in part............ 1.7

24. Siltstone, similar to unit 22; sandy; single massive bed

with local limonite concentrations-.......--.--.....----. ............ 1.8

23. Clay shale, medium-gray (N5), silty; weathers light olive

gray (5F 5/2).......................................................................- 2.0

22. Siltstone, yellowish-gray (5F 7/2), sandy; limonite along

partings in lower 0.5 ft; upper part massive.... ............. 1.9

21. Clay shale, dark-gray (N3) ; weathers medium light gray

(NQ) with blue tint................................................... .8

20. Siltstone, yellowish-gray (5F 7/2), sandy, micaceous.- - .5 

19. Clay shale, grayish-olive (10F 4/2), silty; in slightly

weathered lower half, fresh surface is dark gray (N3).. 2.3 

18. Siltstone, moderate-yellowish-brown (10F.R 5/4) ; weathers dark yellowish orange (WYR 6/6) to dark reddish 

brown (WR 3/4); sandy. 3.6

17. Clay shale, dark-gray (Af3) to medium-dark-gray (2V4) ; 

weathers with a blue tint or to yellowish gray (5F 

7/2); silty, micaceous; weathers shaly to nodular; reddish-brown 2-mm-wide markings resembling reed impressions or straight borings on bedding surface; 

medium-light-gray (NQ) siderite concretions which 

weather yellowish brown and are 0.4 ft thick and 0.8 

ft in diameter. . .. .. . .. 4.2

16. Siltstone, similar to unit 18; sandy . . 2.0

Total Kenwood Siltstone Member.. 42.1

Lower tongue of New Providence Shale Member:

15. Clay shale, medium-gray to medium-dark-gray (2V3-4) ; 

weathers medium light gray (N5) ; slightly micaceous; 

siltier than underlying unit; shaly parting enhanced by 

weathering; gypsum in veinlets along partings. Contains layers of brownish-gray (5YR 4/1) to light-brown 

(5F.R 5/6) spheroidal siderite concretions that weather 

moderate red (5R 4/6) to dark yellowish orange (10F.R 

6/6) ; septarian; fractures filled with calcite and eelestite; contain crinoid plates... . .. 13.3

14. Clay shale, similar to unit 15 but somewhat less silty; 

ellipsoidal siderite concretions fairly abundant, as much 

as 0.5 by 1.5 ft......-.-.-...............-.....-. . . 15.9

13. Covered .......................................................................................... 3.0

12. Clay shale, dark-greenish-gray (5G 4/1); weathers
B16 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

Kenlite quarry section Continued

Mississippian Continued

Borden Formation Continued Thickness 

Lower tongue of New Providence Shale Member Continued (feet) 

medium gray (AT4) to medium light gray (N5) ; uppermost 0.2 ft fossiliferous with crinoid columnals and 

well-preserved brachiopods; scattered ellipsoidal to 

rounded siderite concretions 0.3 by 0.5 ft........................ 28.8

11. Siderite concretions, discontinuous lenses.............. ............. .2

10. Clay shale, greenish-black (5G 2/1) ; parting irregular,

blocky; scattered concretionary lenses in lower 5 ft. 14.6

9. Clay shale, greenish-gray (5G 6/1) to dark-greenish-gray 

(5G 4/1) ; in cross section grayish-red (10R 4/2) 

lenticular borings 1 mm wide on bedding planes; small 

phosphatic nodules as much as 0.1 ft in diameter........ 13.5

8. Clay shale, olive-gray (5F 4/1) ; weathers greenish gray 

(5G 6/1); unctuous; markings on bedding plane like 

those in unit 17 ................................................................... .. 12.0

7. Clay shale, dark-greenish-gray (5GF 4/1); similar to unit

5 below . .... .................................. . ... . ... 5.5

6. Siderite concretions, lenses as much as 0.3 ft thick; interbedded with shale; 1-2.5 ft lateral extent..-..-..-.....--- 1.0

5. Clay shale, weathers medium light gray (5GY 4/1) ;

poorly exposed ........................................................ ........... 7.5

4. Clay shale, olive-gray (10F 4/2) to dark-greenish-gray 

(5G 6/1); slightly silty; blocky with irregular smooth 

horizontal parting 0.02 ft apart; large sideritic concretions in float.............................................................................. 3.0

3. Clay shale, greenish-gray (5GF 6/1) to dark-greenishgray (5G 4/1); lower 0.1 ft contains dark-yellowishorange (10F.R 6/6) and dark-yellowish-brown (10F.R 

4/2) silty concretionary phosphate nodules; upper 0.1 

ft contains medium-gray (M>) to medium-dark-gray 

(Af4) phosphatic (?) concretions with granular centers.. .8

2. Clay and clay shale; dark-yellowish-orange (10F.R 6/6)

clay; greenish-gray (5GF 6/1) clay shale . . .2

Total lower tongue of New Providence Shale Member.. 119.3

Total Borden Formation 163.9

Devonian:

New Albany Shale (elev 551 ft by altimeter) :

1. Shale, grayish-black (N2) to brownish-black (SYR 6/1) ; 

phosphate and pyrite nodules commonly 0.1 ft in diameter. 

U.S. Geol. Survey fossil locality 7656-SD at base of exposure in which are conodonts of Late Devonian age.. 3.5+
BORDEN FORMATION (MISSISSIPPIAN) OF KENTUCKY B17

REFERENCES CITED

Borden, W. W., 1874, Report of a geological survey of Clarke and Floyd 

Counties, Indiana: Indiana Geol. Survey 5th Ann. Rept., p. 134-189.

Butts, Charles, 1915, Geology and mineral resources of Jefferson County, 

Kentucky: Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 4, v. 3, pt. 2, 270 p.

 1922, The Mississippian series of eastern Kentucky: Kentucky Geol. 

Survey, ser. 6, v. 7, 188 p.

Cumings, E. R., 1922, Nomenclature and description of the geological formations of Indiana, in Handbook of Indiana geology: Indianapolis, 

Indiana Dept. Conserv. Pub. 21, pt. 4, p. 403-570.

Goddard, E. N., chm., and others, 1948, Rock-color chart: Washington, D.C., 

Natl. Research Council (repub. by Geol. Soc. America, 1951), 6 p.

Kepferle, R. C., 1966a, Geologic map of the Howardstown quadrangle, central Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-505.

 1966b, Geologic map of the Elizabethtown quadrangle, Hardin and 

Larue Counties, Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-559.

 1967, Geologic map of the Colesburg quadrangle, Hardin and Bullitt 

Counties, Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-602.

 1968a, Geologic map of the Shepherdsville quadrangle, Bullitt County, 

Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-740.

 1968b, Turbidites in the Lower Mississippian Borden Formation of 

central Kentucky [abs.]: Geol. Soc. America Spec. Paper 115, p. 390-391.

 1969, Geologic map of the Samuels quadrangle, north-central Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-824.

 1971a, Geologic map of the Brooks quadrangle, Bullitt and Jefferson 

Counties, Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-961. (In 

press.)

1971b, Geologic map of the Valley Station quadrangle and part of

the Kosmosdale quadrangle, north-central Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey

Geol. Quad. Map GQ-962. (In press.) 

Kepferle, R. C., and Peterson, W. L., 1964, Lithologic and radioactivity log

of Bell Scott quarry drill hole, Meade County, Kentucky: U.S. Geol.

Survey open-file report, 1 sheet. 

Lineback, J. A., 1968, Subdivisions and depositional environments of New

Albany Shale (Devonian-Mississippian) in Indiana: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., v. 52, p. 1291-1303. 

Moore, F. B., 1964, Lithologic and radioactivity log of Summit area drill

hole, Hardin County, Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey open-file report, 1

sheet. 

Peterson, W. L., 1966a, Geologic map of the New Haven quadrangle, Nelson

and Larue Counties, Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map

GQ-506.

 1966b, Geologic map of the Nelsonville quadrangle, central Kentucky: 

U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-564.

 1967, Geologic map of the Lebanon Junction quadrangle, central Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-603.

1968, Geologic map of the Cravens quadrangle, Bullitt and Nelson

Counties, Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ-737. 

Peterson, W. L., and Kepferle, R. C., 1970, Deltaic deposits of the Borden 

Formation in central Kentucky, in Geological Survey research, 1970: 

Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 700-D, p. D49-D54. [1971],
B18 CONTRIBUTIONS TO STRATIGRAPHY

Sable, E. G., Kepferle, R. C., and Peterson, W. L., 1966, Harrodsburg Limestone in Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1224-1, 12 p.

Stockdale, P. B., 1929, Stratigraphic units of the Harrodsburg limestone: 

Indiana Acad. Sci. Proc., v. 38, p. 233-242.

 1931, The Borden (Knobstone) rocks of southern Indiana: Indiana 

Dept. Conserv., Div. Geology Pub. 98, 330 p.

1939, Lower Mississippian rocks of the east-central interior: Geol.

Soc. America Spec. Paper 22. 248 p.

Taylor, A. R., and Lewis, R. Q., Sr., 1971, Geologic map of the Yosemite 

quadrangle, Casey and Lincoln Counties, Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey 

Geol. Quad. Map GQ-910.

Weir, G. W., 1970, Borden Formation (Mississippian) in southeast-central 

Kentucky, in Geol. Soc. America, Southeastern Sec., Guidebook for 

field trips, 18th Ann. Mtg., Lexington, Ky.,,1970: Kentucky Geol. Survey, p. 29-48.

Weir, G. W., Gualtieri, J. L., and Schlanger, S. 0., 1966, Borden Formation 

(Mississippian) in south- and southeast-central Kentucky: U.S. Geol. 

Survey Bull. 1224-F, 38 p.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1971 O 443-521