LIMESTONE AGGREGATE RESOURCES IN NORTHEAST KANSAS: INTEGRATED LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY, STABLE ISOTOPE CHEMOSTRATIGRAPHY, AND CATHODOLUMINESCENCE AS A TOOL TO EVALUATE CURRENT AND POTENTIAL AGGREGATE RESOURCES IN MIAMI COUNTY, KANSAS

Suburban expansion into historically dominant limestone aggregate producing areas of southwest metropolitan Kansas City (e.g., Johnson County, Kansas), has begun to limit future development and production of these resources. Tracing traditionally quarried units, such as the Pennsylvanian limestones of the Wyandotte Limestone Formation, southward into less developed Miami County has revealed aggregates of poorer quality that frequently do not pass specification requirements. Initial data indicate pervasive diagenesis of the Wyandotte Limestone Fm. throughout much of Miami County. Whereas the Wyandotte Limestone Fm. has traditionally passed specifications as a Class A aggregate in Johnson County, it rapidly turns into a friable iron oxidized sulfide-stained unit passing into Miami County. It appears that both significant oxidative and reducing fluids in multiple generations of diagenesis have degraded the Wyandotte Limestone Fm. through both modern and ancient diagenetic processes. Preliminary lithostratigraphic, stable isotope chemostratigraphic (δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O), and cathodoluminescence petrographic studies suggest the Wyandotte Limestone Fm. in Miami County experienced both extensive meteoric and hydrothermal alteration, significantly reducing this unit’s suitability as an aggregate resource.