Mississippian System
Type locality and use of name in Indiana: The name Fredonia was originally applied to rocks exposed near Fredonia, Caldwell County, Ky., by Ulrich and Smith (1905, p. 24, 39, 40). The term was first applied in Indiana by Cumings (1922, p. 507), who suggested that the Paoli Limestone, which then included all of what is now called the Ste. Genevieve as well as the present Paoli (Elrod, 1899, p. 259), was equivalent to the type Fredonia. Later Malott (1945, p. 1180; 1946; 1952, p. 8) was the first to apply the term in its present Indiana usage to rocks above the St. Louis Limestone and below his Rosiclare Sandstone (now Spar Mountain Member). The Fredonia is therefore the lowermost member of the Ste. Genevieve Limestone.
Description: The Fredonia Member in Indiana consists dominantly of oolitic limestone that is light gray to gray, medium grained, and most commonly in beds 0.5 to 2 feet (0.2 to 0.6 m) thick (Carr, 1973, p. 36). Cross bedding is commonly observed in exposures along the outcrop in Indiana. Dips are mainly 5/ to 20/ and are oriented northeastward and southwestward (Carr, 1973, p. 38-39). Skeletal and micritic limestones are generally less abundant than oolitic limestones, but in places they are the dominant types. The Lost River Chert Bed, an important marker, lies 15 to 40 feet (4.6 to 12.2 m) above the base of the Fredonia along most of the outcrop, but in the northern part of the outcrop in Owen and Putnam Counties it is locally lower.
The Fredonia ranges from 30 to 70 feet (9 to 21 m) in thickness on outcrop and in places exceeds 100 feet (30 m) in the subsurface it rests on the St. Louis Limestone. The upper contact of the Fredonia with the Spar Mountain Member appears to be a surface of local disconformity.
Correlation: According to Pinsak (1957, p. 21-22) and Swann (1963, p. 27, 49, 51), the Fredonia of Indiana outcrop usage correlates with the part of the original Fredonia of Ulrich and Smith (1905) that is below the Spar Mountain Sandstone Member and is therefore equivalent to the restricted Fredonia of Swann (1963) and of later Illinois usage (Willman and others, 1975, p. 142). The lower part of the Fredonia of Indiana, from somewhat above the Lost River Chert Bed downward, was referred by Watson (1982, p. 423-425) to the Horse Cave Member of the St. Louis Limestone. Although this part contains conodonts of the Apatognathus scalenus-Cavusgnathus Assemblage Zone (Rexroad and Collinson, 1963) and therefore correlates with the upper part of the St. Louis Limestone (Valmeyeran) of the Mississippi Valley, it remains here assigned to the Ste. Genevieve. The basal Fredonia rocks of Indiana are therefore older than the basal Fredonia rocks of Illinois (fig. 2).
The Fredonia is in the zone of common Platycrinites penicillus (Malott, 1952, p. 8) and therefore is in the Genevievian Stage of Willman and others (1975, p. 141-142).
