Pennsylvanian System
Type locality: The name Holland Limestone was first used by Wanless (1939, p. 87) for the marine limestone forming the roof of what was then called the Holland Coal near Holland, Dubois County, Ind. Although the Holland Coal was said to be the uppermost of three coals that crop out near Holland, no type section was designated for the limestone. The name Holland Limestone was later applied to what Franklin and Wanless (1944, p. 89, 91) termed the uppermost limestone near Holland, and a measured section in the SE¼NE¼NE¼ sec. 26, T. 3 S., R. 6 W., which included the Holland of present usage, was given. The limestone designated in 1944 as the Holland in this section is not, however, the uppermost limestone, and it is likely that the exposures described by Franklin and Wanless are in the NE¼NE¼NE¼ sec. 26, T. 3 S., R.6W.
Description: At the measured section the Holland Limestone Member consists in descending order of (1) chert that is light gray to dark gray blue and ferruginous, has a porous zone at the top, and is 1 foot (0.3 m) thick; (2) shale and clay that contain limestone pebbles and that have an aggregate thickness of 1.5 feet (0.5 m); and (3) limestone that is light gray, knobby, dense, and 0.5 foot (0.2 m) thick (Franklin and Wanless, 1944, p. 91). The Holland lies about 30 feet (9 m) above the Buffaloville Coal Member of the Brazil Formation and 70 feet (21 m) below the Seelyville Coal Member. The Holland is difficult to distinguish unless its identifying chert bed is present, because at least two other thin variable limestones and coals are in the lower part of the Staunton Formation.
The Holland has been traced through Spencer County (Hutchison, 1959), most of Dubois County (Hutchison, 1964), and most of Daviess County (Hutchison, 1971a). The Holland in Dubois County has been called the Upper Huntingburg Chert (Franklin and Wanless, 1944). A stratigraphic sequence that has as yet been identified only as similar to that of the Holland area extends more or less continuously northward to Warren County Hutchison, 1961).
Correlation: The Holland has been correlated with the Stonefort Limestone Member of southern Illinois (Winless, 1939, p. 87; St. Jean, 1957, p. 46-50) and the Creal Springs Limestone Member of Illinois (Searight, 1979, p. 85). The Holland fauna includes the fusulinids Fusulina and Wedekindellina (St. Jean, 1957, p. 46-50), which indicate a Desmoinesian age, but not Profusulinella (Thompson, Shaver, and Riggs, 1959, p. 773), which indicates a greater age and which St. Jean (1957) had nevertheless recorded in the Holland. The Holland lies well above the Lower Pennsylvanian ostracod zone called the Zone of Amphissites rothi by Thompson and Shaver (1964) and in the Middle Pennsylvanian Zone containing Amphissites centronotus. It also lies above the lowest rocks containing Fusulinella, which are in the Brazil Formation and in the overlying equivalent limestone above the Buffaloville Coal Member. Therefore, considering both faunas and stratigraphic position, the Holland is early Desmoinesian in age in mid continent terminology.
