page_title: Fencepost limestone
section_title: Identification
hierarchical_section_title: Fencepost limestone / Geological context / Identification
caption_attribution_description: English: St Josephs Church and Parochial School in Hays, Kansas
context_page_description: Fencepost limestone, Post Rock limestone, or Stone Post is a stone bed in the Great Plains notable for its historic use as fencing and construction material in north-central Kansas resulting in unique cultural expression. The source of this stone is the topmost layer of the Greenhorn Limestone formation. It is a regional marker bed as well as a valued construction material of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Kansas. This stone was very suitable for early construction in treeless settlements and it adds a notable rust orange tint to the region's many historic stone buildings. But the most famous use is seen in the countless miles of stone posts lining country roads and highways. This status gives rise to such regional appellations as Stone Post Country, Post Rock Scenic Byway, and The Post Rock Capital of Kansas. This rustic quality finds Fencepost limestone still used in Kansas landscaping today.
context_section_description: The Fencepost limestone can be identified in the field and in buildings by the unusual character and content of the rock itself; but also by understanding of features of the general geology of the locations, especially the marker beds that prove the identity of the Fencepost bed.
  The "Fencepost" limestone forms a conspicuous ledge in the Blue Hills subregion of the Smoky Hills. Both above and below the Fencepost are zones of unusual, flatten spheroid or ovoid limestone concretions. About 6 feet (2 meters) below the Fencepost is a small but pervasive marker bed that unambiguously identifies the Fencepost limestone above; the "Sugar Sand", a 1–2 inches (2.5–5.1 cm) bentonite seam filled with a "sand" of calcite crystals.   
  Other nearby beds
  In the field, other nearby limestone beds with similar visual features can be confused for the Fencepost limestone; moreover, some of these limestone beds have also seen limited use in fencing or building.  However, these are also prominent marker beds and their features can help locate and identify the Fencepost by comparison.
  The Shellrock bed of the Jetmore Limestone member (marker bed J-13, 17–20 feet (5.2–6.1 m) below the Fencepost) is broadly similar to the Fencepost; and of the other limestone bed in these units, it is the most frequently used unit after the Fencepost, both for fence posts and for building. It is distinguished by being generally a little thicker than the Fencepost but mostly by having many, many more Inoceramus labiatus shells. It also tends to form a ledge or terrace below that made by the Fencepost. In posts and buildings, the Shellrock is light grey to white and lacks limonite staining. The Shellrock also has many parting lines and tends to spall, and the slopes below its outcrop are heavily littered by spalled I. labiatus fossils.
  The "limestone above the Fencepost" (marker bed F-2, about 4 feet (1.2 m) above the Fencepost) appears in coloration and hardness to be a thinner version of the Fencepost. Like the Fencepost, it has sufficient toughening calcite to be classified as a limestone. On weathering, it does not become as orange as the higher, marly chalks. In place of I. labiatus, the main distinguishing macrofossils are slender, calcite-filled belemnites. In the field, this limestone lays in contact with the 2 inches (5.1 cm) thick F-1 bentonite marker bed. In construction, generally as tough as the Fencepost stone, this limestone was used for brick, flagging, or coping. To expose an area of the Fencepost limestone for quarrying, a nearly equal area of F-2 must first be exposed and quarried off. The Jewell County Jail illustrates an unusual exploitation of this situation; courses of Fencepost limestone alternate with courses of different half-height limestone of which the F-2 is a local source.
  The third Fairport marker bed (marker bed F-3, about 17 feet (5.2 m) above the Fencepost) is a limestone that can also be distinctly noticeable and form the highest actual edge of the bluff, higher and set back from the actual Fencepost outcrop. In the field and in construction, it is thinner and somewhat less durable, is missing mollusk shells, and has a more uniform yellow-orange coloration rather than streaks.
  There is a practical association between the Fort Hays Limestone and the thin Fencepost bed. The Fort Hays Limestone is "perhaps the most conspicuous physiographic boundary in Kansas." The outcrop of the Fencepost limestone bluffs invariably lies 5–40 miles south or east of the Fort Hays limestone bluffs.  The Fort Hays Limestone has been used in buildings.  It was also used somewhat for fenceposts. However, when put in contact with the soil, it absorbs considerable moisture causing it to break apart in winter freezes. On the other hand, the Fencepost has remarkable durability when set in the ground, and was used for foundations. Particularly, certain churches in Ellis and Hays have been faced with blocks of Fort Hays Limestone, but have foundations built from Fencepost limestone.
caption: St Josephs Church, Fort Hays lm. facing, Fencepost lm. foundation and trim
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