LAYER-CAKE STRATIGRAPHY FROM THE GEOBAKERY OR THE CLASSIC FLATLAND GEOLOGY OF THE MIDCONTINENT (USA)

The characters of the ... stratigraphic column and the recognition of unconformities at certain horizons provide a basis for conclusions as to the stability of the continental platform in this region... R.C. Moore 1936

The Midcontinent (USA), and Kansas in particular, is on the North American craton in the heartland of the American continent. As with other similar areas in the world, it is one of the classic examples of layer-cake stratigraphy. Thin beds are traceable for tens of thousands of square miles, essentially uniform and unchanged, and have been recognized for more than a century. In addition, the cyclic nature, on both a large and small scale, has been mused for nearly as long. Why is the craton the geobakery of the layer cake? First of all, the area has been stable with only minor up and down movement during many millions of years. Secondly, the base is a firm Precambrian crystalline foundation on which the cake layers could be created. And thirdly, the foundation has been inundated by the rise and fall of sealevel more times than can be counted. These factors, plus the world climate change through time, has created the cake as we see it today complete with ice-age glacial frosting.