Intraclastic pebbly limestone in the Mississippian of Kentucky, USA.
This is an unusual limestone horizon in western Kentucky's Mammoth Cave, the longest cave on Earth, with 426 mapped miles as of March 2024. Most limestones are fossiliferous limestones or micritic limestones (= fine-grained) or oolitic limestones. This example has limestone pebbles - such rocks are called intraclastic limestones. The pebbles are angular and have been interpreted as being produced and deposited during a high-energy storm event or by erosive tidal currents (see Palmer, 1981). This lithology occurs in a laterally-persistent horizon.
Stratigraphy: Spar Mountain Member, Ste. Genevieve Limestone, upper Middle Mississippian
Locality: western wall of Boone Avenue at Y-intersection of Boone Avenue with Rose's Pass, Mammoth Cave Ridge, western Kentucky, USA
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Reference cited:
Palmer, A.N. 1981. A Geological Guide to Mammoth Cave National Park. Teaneck, New Jersey, USA. Zephyrus Press. 196 pp.
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