The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1908-07-15
RERORT
OF the Geological and Soil Survey
in Adair County.
Editor of Adair County News:

The Geological formation in this county
range from the upper Cincinnati (Rich-
mond Division) Formation into the base
of the St. Louis. These formations
written in descending order are as fol-
lows:
ST, Louis Limestone
Waverly Formation
Ohio Black Shale
Clinton Limestone
Cincinnati Limestone and Shale.
The st. Louis is found only in the ex-
IRENE South Western portion of the
county. where it caps the high ridges
from Keltner to Sparksville
Very little of the limestone is ex-
posed, but the heavy flint and ebert
waste on those ridges is from this for
nation and must cover a considerable
portion of the limestone itself. Posi-
bly, there may be in some places as
much as 25 or so feet of the limestone.
The Waverly Formation in this region
will aggregate some $50 feet in thick
ness and forms the surface rock over the
most of the county. 1t does not po-
ssess the uniform character here that
it does in its more northern outcrops,
and even in the county shows consider
able variation.
In the southern part of the county,
limestone predominant in the upper
portion and give rise to the best agri-
cultural land in that section. The best
limestone land between Russell creek
and Green River also belongs to this
division of the Waverly.
The main portion of the Waverly and
especially the middle, consists of fiaggy
calcareous shales with some impure
limestone, and is full of geodes (hollow
concretions with quartz crystals lining
the cavities.) Where this phase of the
Waverly forms the surface the soils
are naturally poor. 1t forms the sur
face rock in the Flatwoods district of
the southern portion of the county, and
the lower slopes of most of the stream
\ areas.
The base of the Waverly in the North
4rn portion of the county is greenish
shale-the Linietta Shale-known To-
cally as ''soap stone"
ut gives rise tc poor soil and its pres
snce isl us9afy indicated by bare slopes
Fhiteisk IN color, where the shale has
" eatherssd to a white clay. This is the
.r,ost liLeR ~ sourde of clay with which
: rsni1 + cture cement, ushg for the
other ingredient the purer grades of
limestone found in the county.
At the base of the Waverly in the
northern portion of the county, within
one foot of tn e top of the Black Shale,
the shale is thickly studded with phos-
plate nodules-these are of varied
shapes, often as round as marbles and
are practically pure calcium phosphate;
as pure as the phosphate rock mined in
Tenn, and indeed these nodules were
formerly mined in the Duck River Re-
gion, before the richer or rather thick
er deposits of the Mt. Pleasant region
were discovered.
These will be an important source of
phosphoric acid for the farmers of
Adair county, when they begin to make
their own commercial fertilizers, or
better yet, begin to grind them and add
as crude phosphate to their lands, as
the farmers of ILL.,, are now doing, de.
pending upon decaying organic matter
turned under with the phosphate to
furnish the acids which will render the
phosphorus available.
These Linietta shales, with the phos-
plate nodules invariably at the base,
will be found in the Valley of Casey
Creek in the region about Knifey; and
along the Green River from the Casey
line to some where about the mouth
of Bryant Creek.
A small exposure of these shales also
occurs in the southern portion of the
county-on Big Creek, beginning about
mile below its functions with Dry
Fork, and also on Crocus creek, up as
. 1dI do CuC IIlOulu VI DOTIlS sOISGk,
uthe shales are blackish instead of green
ish and more slaty in character. The
phosphate nodules are not so uniformly
present in this section.
THE BLACK SHALE.
30-35 feet thick, is as the name in
dicates black bitumerous shale, hold
ing as high as IL per cent bitumerous
matter and source of oil and especial
ly gas in many cases when struck under
deep enough cover.
1t extends down the Green river as
far as the mouth of Bryant creek: Is
exposed in Casey creek near Knifley;
Is found in the stream bed of Big creek
on Ex-Gov. Hindman's land and close
to stream level up Crocus Creek for
about mile from the county line, goes
under and then comes up again about
Inroad P. O, 1t also from the Green
River exposure extends up Damron