Age:

Pennsylvanian

Type designation:

Type locality: The type locality designated by Wier (1951) was in the NW¼SW¼ sec. 31, T. 14 N., R. 9 W., south of Universal, Vermillion County, Indiana (Burger and Wier, 1970, 1986).

Description:

The name “Universal Limestone Member” (of the Dugger Formation) was first used by Wier (1951) for a mottled gray and brown limestone that is fine grained, argillaceous, and fossiliferous (Burger and Wier, 1970, 1986). Ranging from 0.1 to 11.9 ft (<0.1 to 3.6 m) in thickness, this unit can be recognized beneath the Danville Coal Member near the top of the Dugger Formation throughout most of the Indiana outcrop (Burger and Wier, 1970, 1986). The limestone is thickest and most persistent in Vermillion and Vigo Counties but can be seen in some abandoned strip mines in Warrick County as a tan and dark-gray limestone that is mottled, dense, and nonfossiliferous (Burger and Wier, 1970, 1986). In Sullivan and Knox Counties its stratigraphic position is generally marked by a calcareous shale or calcareous siltstone (Burger and Wier, 1970, 1986). The Universal ranges from less than 1 foot (0.3 m) to about 5 ft (1.5 m) in thickness in the subsurface in Posey County and is missing from some areas in that county (Burger and Wier, 1986).

Correlations:

The Universal Limestone Member correlates, at least in part, with the Bankston Fork Limestone Member of Illinois (Hopkins and Simon, 1975; Burger and Wier, 1986).

Brown, Rexroad, and Fritch (1995) described the conodonts of the Bankston Fork Limestone Member of the Carbondale Formation from seven sections in southern Illinois. They noted that the distribution of Neognathodus and Diplognathodus indicated a fairly late Desmoinesian age for the Bankston Fork, but that the correlation of the Bankston Fork with sections in Indiana and Kentucky was problematic.

Regional Indiana usage:

Illinois Basin (COSUNA 11)
Supergroup: none
Group: Carbondale Group
Formation: Dugger Formation
Member: Universal Limestone Member
Illinois Basin Margin (COSUNA 12)
Supergroup: none
Group: Carbondale Group
Formation: Dugger Formation
Member: Universal Limestone Member

Misc/Abandoned Names:

None

Geologic Map Unit Designation:

*du

Note: Hansen (1991, p. 52) in Suggestions to authors of the reports of the United States Geological Survey noted that letter symbols for map units are considered to be unique to each geologic map and that adjacent maps do not necessarily need to use the same symbols for the same map unit. Therefore, map unit abbreviations in the Indiana Geologic Names Information System should be regarded simply as recommendations.

COSUNA areas and regional terminology

Names for geologic units vary across Indiana. The Midwestern Basin and Arches Region COSUNA chart (Shaver, 1984) was developed to strategically document such variations in terminology. The geologic map (below left) is derived from this chart and provides an index to the five defined COSUNA regions in Indiana. The regions are generally based on regional bedrock outcrop patterns and major structural features in Indiana. (Click the maps below to view more detailed maps of COSUNA regions and major structural features in Indiana.)

COSUNA areas and numbers that approximate regional bedrock outcrop patterns and major structural features in Indiana.

Major tectonic features that affect bedrock geology in Indiana.

References:

Brown, L. M., Rexroad, C. B., and Fritch, T. G., 1995, Conodonts of the Bankston Fork Limestone Member, Carbondale Formation (Pennsylvanian, Desmoinesian), from southern Illinois [abs.]: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, North-Central and South-Central Sections, v. 27, no. 3, p. 42.

Burger, A. M., and Wier, C. E., 1970, Universal Limestone Member, in Shaver, R. H., Burger, A. M., Gates, G. R., Gray, H. H., Hutchison, H. C., Keller, S. J., Patton, J. B., Rexroad, C. B., Smith, N. M., Wayne, W. J., and Wier, C. E., Compendium of rock-unit stratigraphy in Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Bulletin 43, p. 180–181.

Burger, A. M., and Wier, C. E., 1986, Universal Limestone Member, in Shaver, R. H., Ault, C. H., Burger, A. M., Carr, D. D., Droste, J. B., Eggert, D. L., Gray, H. H., Harper, Denver, Hasenmueller, N. R., Hasenmueller, W. A., Horowitz, A. S., Hutchison, H. C., Keith, B. D., Keller, S. J., Patton, J. B., Rexroad, C. B., and Wier, C. E., Compendium of Paleozoic rock-unit stratigraphy in Indiana–a revision: Indiana Geological Survey Bulletin 59, p. 159.

Hansen, W. R., 1991, Suggestions to authors of the reports of the United States Geological Survey (7^th ed.): Washington, D.C., U.S. Geological Survey, 289 p.

Hopkins, M. E., and Simon, J. A., 1975, Pennsylvanian System, in Willman, H. B., Atherton, Elwood, Buschbach, T. C., Collinson, Charles, Frye, J. C., Hopkins, M. E., Lineback, J. A., and Simon, J. A., Handbook of Illinois stratigraphy: Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin 95, p. 163–201.

Shaver, R. H., coordinator, 1984, Midwestern basin and arches region–correlation of stratigraphic units in North America (COSUNA): American Association of Petroleum Geologists Correlation Chart Series.

Wier, C. E., 1951, Geology and coal deposits of the Linton quadrangle, Greene and Sullivan Counties, Indiana: U.S. Geological Survey Coal Investigations Map C 9, scale 1:24,000.