Age:

Pennsylvanian

Type designation:

Type area: The name "Dicksburg Hills Sandstone" was given by Malott (1948, p. 131, 137-138) to exposures in the Dicksburg Hills in the SW¼ sec. 18, T. 1 N., R. 10 W., southern Knox County, Indiana (Wier, 1970, 1986).

History of usage:

First used: Malott (1939, p. 114 ) first used the name "Dicksburg Hills" for a thick massive sandstone above the Hazleton Bridge formation near Hazleton in Gibson County, Indiana.

Revised rank: Wier in unpublished manuscripts and in 1970 (p. 44-45) reduced the rank of this sandstone to a member and included the unit in the Patoka Formation.

Miscellaneous: The unit has been called the "Murphys Bluff Formation" (Malott, 1937, p. 277) in Clark County, Illinois, and Sullivan County, Indiana (Wier, 1970, 1986). In southern Indiana it is the upper part of the Inglefield Sandstone of Fuller and Clapp (1904) (Wier, 1970, 1986).

Description:

The Dicksburg Hills Sandstone Member is a massive fine- to coarse-grained cross-bedded sandstone containing quartz and clay pebbles (Wier, 1970, 1986). The sandstone is 50 ft (15 m) thick at Dicksburg Hills and more than 80 ft (24 m) thick in northwestern Posey County and southwestern Gibson County (Wier, 1986).

Distribution: The Dicksburg Hills Sandstone Member is exposed from Vanderburgh County to Vigo County (Wier, 1970, 1986). The member is not as prominent west of its outcrop as is the underlying Inglefield Sandstone Member of the Patoka Formation (Wier, 1970, 1986).

Regional Indiana usage:

Illinois Basin (COSUNA 11)
Supergroup: none
Group: McLeansboro Group
Formation: Patoka Formation
Member: Dicksburg Hills Sandstone Member

Misc/Abandoned Names:

Murphys Bluff Formation

Geologic Map Unit Designation:

*pdh

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:

Fuller, M. L., and Clapp, F. G., 1904, Description of the Patoka quadrangle: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Atlas, Folio 105, 12 p.

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.

Malott, C. A., 1937, Murphys Bluff and Hayden Branch Formations, in Payne, K. A., Pennsylvanian Ostracoda from Sullivan County, Indiana: Journal of Paleontology, v. 11, p. 277–279.

Malott, C. A., 1939, The Hazleton Bridge Formation of the Upper Pennsylvanian of southwestern Indiana [abs.]: Indiana Academy of Science Proceedings, v. 48, p. 114.

Malott, C. A., 1948, The geology of the Dicksburg Hills, Knox County, Indiana: Indiana Academy of Science Proceedings, v. 57, p. 125–141.

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., 1970, Dicksburg Hills Sandstone 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. 44–45.

Wier, C. E., 1986, Dicksburg Hills Sandstone 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. 37.