GRAIN-SIZE AND PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF SUSPECTED LOESS IN ROWAN COUNTY, KY

A series of upper-level sedimentary deposits in Northern Rowan County Kentucky, mapped as weathered Nancy Member colluvium, do not have visual characteristics typical of weathered clay-rich siltstone, prompting speculation that they may be loess deposits. The deposits are uniformly light yellow color and are primarily angular quartz silt, rather than rounded quartz silt, and contain minor amounts of feldspar and mica. The deposits overlie more typical colluvium and thicken to the northeast. Here we present grain-size and sedimentary petrographic analyses of samples from the anomalous exposures, and compare them to samples from typical Nancy-sourced colluvium as well as the mapped loess deposit in Vanceburg, KY. Results of this study will be used to edit the surficial geology map of Rowan County.