Age:

Ordovician

Type designation:

Type locality: The name “Saluda Bed” was first used by Foerste (1902, p. 369) in describing a cliff-forming gray silty dolomitic limestone exposed along Saluda Creek 6 miles (10 km) south of Hanover, Jefferson County, Indiana (Burger, 1970; Gray and Burger, 1986).

History of usage:

The name “Saluda” replaced the term “Madison Beds” (of Borden, 1874, and others), which was preoccupied (Gray and Burger, 1986). The Saluda has been known as a member of the Whitewater Formation (Shideler, 1914; Fox, 1962), as the Saluda Limestone (Patton, Perry, and Wayne, 1953), and as the Saluda Formation (Brown and Lineback, 1966; Hatfield, 1968) (Gray and Burger, 1986). Because of its limited areal extent, Gray (1972, p. 21-22) reassigned the Saluda, with member status, to the Whitewater Formation (Gray and Burger, 1986).

Description:

The Saluda Member consists principally of dolomitic mudstone and dolostone. In its lower part it contains a distinctive zone rich in the corals Columnaria and Tetradium that is traceable from Clark County to Wayne County (Brown and Lineback, 1966; Gray and Burger, 1986). The base of this zone marks the base of the Saluda Member north of Jefferson County, but in Jefferson and Clark Counties a dolomitic mudstone, commonly about 25 ft (8 m) thick, underlies the coral beds and defines the base of the member (Gray and Burger, 1986).

The Saluda Member is about 60 ft (18 m) thick in the Madison area but thins to 14 ft (4 m) in Decatur County and to 9 ft (3 m) in Wayne County (Brown and Lineback, 1966; Gray and Burger, 1986). This northward thinning is mostly complemented by a corresponding thickening in the rest of the Whitewater Formation (Gray and Burger, 1986).

Distribution: The Saluda is recognized only in the outcrop area and in the near subsurface, although a horizon that approximates the base of the Saluda was traced in the subsurface across the state by Gray (1972) (Gray and Burger, 1986).

Boundaries:

Together the coralline and cliff-forming dolomitic beds of the Saluda contrast well with the interbedded limestone and shale of the underlying Dillsboro Formation and make the conformable contact between these units distinct (Gray and Burger, 1986). The Saluda in most places is conformably overlain by rubbly limestone and calcareous shale that characterize the rest of the Whitewater Formation, and the contact is placed at the highest dolomitic bed (Brown and Lineback, 1966, p. 1,021-1,022; Gray and Burger, 1986). In Clark County and part of Jefferson County, however, the upper part of the Whitewater Formation is absent, and the Saluda Member is overlain disconformably by the Brassfield Limestone (Silurian) or by the Osgood Member of the Salamonie Dolomite (Silurian) (Gray and Burger, 1986).

Correlations:

The Saluda Member is Richmondian in age and on the basis of a lithostratigraphic study by Gray (1972) and further subsurface study by John B. Droste (oral communication, 1983) appears to be correlative with the lower part of the Brainard Shale of western Indiana and Illinois (Gray and Burger, 1986). In Kentucky, it is recognized as the Saluda Member of the Drakes Formation (Peterson, 1966), and a thin extension into a small area in western Ohio was recognized by Hay (1981) (Gray and Burger, 1986).

Regional Indiana usage:

Cincinnati Arch (COSUNA 13)
Supergroup: none
Group: Maquoketa Group
Formation: Whitewater Formation
Member: Saluda Member
Kankakee Arch (COSUNA 14)
Supergroup: none
Group: Maquoketa Group
Formation: Whitewater Formation
Member: Saluda Member

Misc/Abandoned Names:

Madison Beds, Saluda Bed, Saluda Formation, Saluda Limestone

Geologic Map Unit Designation:

Ows

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:

Borden, W. W., 1874, Report of a geological survey of Clark and Floyd Counties, Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Annual Report 5, p. 133–189.

Brown, G. D., Jr., and Lineback, J. A., 1966, Lithostratigraphy of Cincinnatian Series (Upper Ordovician) in southeastern Indiana: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 50, p. 1,018–1,023.

Burger, A. M., 1970, Saluda Formation, 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. 157–159.

Foerste, A. F., 1902, The Cincinnati Anticline in southern Kentucky: American Geologist, v. 30, p. 359–369.

Fox, W. T., 1962, Stratigraphy and paleoecology of the Richmond Group in southeastern Indiana: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 73, p. 621–642.

Gray, H. H., 1972, Lithostratigraphy of the Maquoketa Group (Ordovician) in Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Special Report 7, 31 p.

Gray, H. H., and Burger, A. M., 1986, Saluda 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. 135–136.

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.

Hatfield, C. B., 1968, Stratigraphy and paleoecology of the Saluda Formation (Cincinnatian) in Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky: Geological Society of America Special Paper 95, 34 p.

Hay, H. B., 1981, Lithofacies and formations of the Cincinnatian Series (Upper Ordovician), southeastern Indiana and southwestern Ohio: Oxford, Ohio, Miami University, Ph.D. thesis, 238 p.

Patton, J. B., Perry, T. G., and Wayne, W. J., 1953, Ordovician stratigraphy, and physiography of part of southeastern Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Field Conference Guidebook 6, 29 p.

Peterson, W. L., 1966, Geologic map of the New Haven quadrangle, Nelson and Larue Counties, Kentucky: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ-506.

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.

Shideler, W. H., 1914, The upper Richmond beds of the Cincinnati Group: Ohio Naturalist, v. 14, p. 229–235.