Age:

Mississippian

Type designation:

Type section: The name "Falling Run Member" of the Sanderson Formation was first used by Campbell (1946), who designated the type section on Falling Run Creek at the end of Market Street, New Albany, Indiana (Hasenmueller, 1986). The type section is in the NW¼SE¼ sec. 3, T. 3 S., R. 6 E., Floyd County (New Albany quadrangle) (Hasenmueller, 1986).

History of usage:

Revised rank: The Falling Run was reduced in rank to the status of bed by Lineback (1968, 1970) (Hasenmueller, 1986).

Description:

The Falling Run Bed consists of sparsely fossiliferous phosphatic nodules in a 0.2- foot-thick (0.06-m) zone near the top of the Clegg Creek Member of the New Albany Shale (Lineback, 1970) (Hasenmueller, 1986). The nodules range in shape from spherical to ellipsoidal and are as much as 0.7 foot (0.2 m) long in the elongate forms (Lineback, 1970) (Hasenmueller, 1986).

Distribution: In the outcrop area in southeastern Indiana the Falling Run Bed has been traced from Floyd County as far north as Jackson County (Hasenmueller, 1986). Phosphate nodules have been found at a similar stratigraphic position in a core of the New Albany Shale in Dubois County in southwestern Indiana (Hasenmueller, 1986). The Falling Run Bed has been reported at two unusual exposures in Saline and Hardin Counties in southeastern Illinois (Hasenmueller, Boberg, Lumm, Frankie, Hamilton-Smith, and Comer, 1994) and in a cored section of the New Albany Shale Group in Wayne County (Cluff, Reinbold, and Lineback, 1981) (Hasenmueller, 1986).

Boundaries:

Throughout most of southern Indiana the overlying Underwood Bed is not present, so that the Falling Run Bed is directly overlain by the Henryville Bed in most of that part of the state (Lineback, 1968, 1970) (Hasenmueller, 1986).

Correlations:

The Falling Run Bed is probably earliest Mississippian in age (Burger, 1970) (Hasenmueller, 1986).

Regional Indiana usage:

Cincinnati Arch (COSUNA 13)
Supergroup: none
Group: none
Formation: New Albany Shale
Member: Clegg Creek Member
Bed: Falling Run Bed

Misc/Abandoned Names:

None

Geologic Map Unit Designation:

Mnafr

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:

Burger, A. M., 1970, Falling Run Bed, 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. 55.

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.

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, Henryville Bed, 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. 59–60.

Hasenmueller, N. R., Boberg, W. S., Lumm, C. B., Frankie, W. T., Hamilton-Smith, T., and Comer, J. B., 1994, Stratigraphy, in Hasenmueller, N. R., and Comer, J. B., eds., Gas potential of the New Albany Shale (Devonian and Mississippian) in the Illinois Basin: Indiana Geological Survey, Illinois Basin Consortium Illinois Basin Studies 2, p. 13–22.

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.

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.