Age:

Devonian

Type designation:

Type section: The name “Selmier Member” of the New Albany Shale was first used by Lineback (1968, 1970) for greenish-gray to olive-gray shale exposed in its type section on the south wall of the Berry Materials Co. quarry in the NE¼NW¼ sec. 34, T. 7 N., R. 8 E., Jennings County, Indiana (Butlerville quadrangle) (Hasenmueller, 1986). The name was taken from the Selmier State Forest, which is 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of the type exposure (Hasenmueller, 1986).

Description:

Although the member is composed primarily of gray shale, it also contains thin beds of brownish-black shale, dolostone, limestone, and quartzose sandstone (Hasenmueller, 1986). It contains a fauna of conodonts and a few pelecypods and gastropods, and burrows and trace fossils are common (Hasenmueller, 1986). The subsurface Selmier was redefined by Hasenmueller and Bassett (1981) to include some of the dark-gray shales that Lineback (1970) included in the upper part of the underlying Blocher Member (Hasenmueller, 1986). At the base of the Selmier are light-gray quartz sandstone beds and laminae (Hasenmueller, 1986). These beds are present in a core from Jackson County (Hasenmueller and Bassett, 1981) and at several outcrops in Jennings, Scott, and Jefferson Counties (Lineback, 1970; Hasenmueller, 1986). North, west, and south of Jennings County and eastern Jackson County, the quartz-sandstone beds thin and are fewer in number (Hasenmueller and Bassett, 1981; Hasenmueller, 1986). The Selmier is absent from most of Harrison, Floyd, and Clark Counties (Hasenmueller, 1986). The member is 6 ft (1.8 m) thick near Scottsburg in Scott County and thickens northward to more than 40 ft (12 m) in southwestern Bartholomew County (Hasenmueller, 1986). The northward thickening of the Selmier in the shallow subsurface appears in part to be the result of a facies relationship with the overlying Morgan Trail Member (Hasenmueller and Bassett, 1981; Hasenmueller, 1986). The Selmier thickens to the southwest and in Posey County attains its maximum known thickness of 126 ft (38 m) (Hasenmueller, 1986).

Correlations:

The Selmier Member corresponds to the Spathiocaris Zone of Campbell (1946) (Hasenmueller, 1986). Samples from the base of the member contain conodonts that are indicative of the doI division of the German Devonian standard (Collinson and others, 1967; Hasenmueller, 1986). And a single sample from the upper part of the Selmier contains Palmatolepis quadrantinodosalobata, which is indicative of the doII division of the German Devonian standard (Collinson and others, 1967; Hasenmueller, 1986).

The Selmier Member is correlative with an unnamed shale of Meents and Swann (1965), the Sweetland Creek Shale of the New Albany Group mapped by North (1969, fig. 22) in southeastern Illinois (south of his vertical cutoff), the Sweetland Creek Member of the New Albany Shale mapped by Schwalb and Norris (1980) in northwestern Kentucky, and the lower part of the Sweetland Creek Shale mapped by North (1969) in the northeastern part of the Illinois Basin in Illinois (Hasenmueller, 1986). The Selmier is also mostly equivalent to the Selmier Shale mapped by Cluff and others (1981) in southeastern Illinois (Hasenmueller, 1986). Lineback (1968, 1970) and Hasenmueller (1986) noted that although it is not recognized in the Michigan Basin, it is stratigraphically equivalent to part of the Antrim Shale of northern Indiana and Michigan. Sandberg, Hasenmueller, and Rexroad (1994) reported that the Selmier Member, which contains faunas of the Early and Late rhenana and linguiformis Zones, is faunally and lithologically identical to the Paxton Member of the Antrim Shale in the Michigan Basin. It is lithologically similar to the Olentangy Shale of Ohio and may be equivalent to the upper part of the Olentangy, which Tillman (1970) determined is Late Devonian in age primarily on the basis of ostracod faunas (Hasenmueller and Bassett, 1981; Hasenmueller, 1986). The Selmier is also equivalent to the upper part of the Dowelltown Member of the Chattanooga Shale of Tennessee (Lineback, 1970; Hasenmueller, 1986).

The sandstone beds at the base of the Selmier are in the same stratigraphic position as thin sandy beds in the lower part of the Selmier Shale in eastern Illinois (Hasenmueller, 1986). These sandy beds in eastern Illinois have been tentatively equated with the Sylamore Sandstone in central and western Illinois by Collinson and Atherton (1975, p. 122) (Hasenmueller, 1986).

Regional Indiana usage:

Illinois Basin (COSUNA 11)
Supergroup: none
Group: none
Formation: New Albany Shale
Member: Selmier Member
Illinois Basin Margin (COSUNA 12)
Supergroup: none
Group: none
Formation: New Albany Shale
Member: Selmier Member
Cincinnati Arch (COSUNA 13)
Supergroup: none
Group: none
Formation: New Albany Shale
Member: Selmier Member
Kankakee Arch (COSUNA 14)
Supergroup: none
Group: none
Formation: New Albany Shale
Member: Selmier Member

Misc/Abandoned Names:

None

Geologic Map Unit Designation:

Dnas

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:

Campbell, Guy, 1946, New Albany Shale: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 57, p. 829–908.

Cluff, R. M., Reinbold, M. L., and Lineback, J. A., 1981, The New Albany Shale Group of Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey Circular 518, 83 p.

Collinson, Charles, and Atherton, Elwood, 1975, Devonian 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. 104–123.

Collinson, Charles, James, G. W., Swann, D. H., Becker, L. E., Carlson, M. P., Dorheim, F. H., and Koenig, J. W., 1967, Devonian of north-central region, United States, in International symposium on the Devonian System: Alberta Society of Petroleum Geologists, v. 1, p. 933Droste, J. B., and Shaver, R. H., 1977, Synchronization of deposition–Silurian reef-bearing rocks on Wabash Platform with cyclic evaporites of Michigan Basin, in Fisher, J. H., ed., Reefs and evaporites–concepts and depositional models: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Studies in Geology 5, p. 93–109.971.

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.

Hasenmueller, N. R., 1986, Selmier 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. 139–140.

Hasenmueller, N. R., and Bassett, J. L., 1981, Stratigraphy, in Hasenmueller, N. R., and Woodard, G. S., eds., Studies of the New Albany Shale (Devonian and Mississippian) and equivalent strata in Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey, p. 5–32.

Lineback, J. A., 1968, Subdivisions and depositional environments of New Albany Shale (Devonian-Mississippian) in Indiana: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 52, p. 1,291–1,303.

Lineback, J. A., 1970, Stratigraphy of the New Albany Shale in Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Bulletin 44, 73 p.

Meents, W. F., and Swann, D. H., 1965, Grand Tower Limestone (Devonian) of southern Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey Circular 389, 34 p.

North, W. G., 1969, The Middle Devonian strata of southern Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey Circular 441, 48 p.

Schwalb, H. R., and Norris, Ronald, 1980, Isopach map of Sweetland Creek Member of New Albany Shale, western Kentucky: Morgantown, W. Va., U.S. Department of Energy, Morgantown Energy Technology Center, METC\EGSP Series No. 903 [1981].

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.

Tillman, J. R., 1970, The age, stratigraphic relationships and correlation of the lower part of the Olentangy Shale of central Ohio: Ohio Journal of Science, v. 70, p. 202–217.