GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE BATESVILLE MANGANESE DISTRICT AND SURROUNDING AREA WITH EMPHASIS ON THE CASON FORMATION, INDEPENDENCE, IZARD, SHARP, AND STONE COUNTIES, ARKANSAS

This map depicts the surface geology in an area of north-central Arkansas known historically as the Batesville Manganese District. It comprises several 7.5-minute series topographic quadrangles including the Guion, Mount Pleasant, Sandtown, and Cave City, and portions of the Bethesda, Batesville, Sulphur Rock, Charlotte, and Grange. This area highlights the outcrop belt of the Cason Formation which was mined historically for phosphate and manganese. It has become the subject of renewed interest due to recent analyses indicating that it contains a significant percentage of rare earth elements (Emsbo et al., 2015; Grosz et al., 1995).

The area spans the Springfield and Salem Plateaus within the Ozark Plateaus Province. Approximately 1100 feet of Middle Ordovician to Late Mississippian and Cretaceous carbonate and clastic rocks are exposed in this area. Valleys are typically filled with alluvium and hillsides are covered by colluvium, especially in areas where Penters Chert and the Boone Formation are mapped. There, a thick regolith composed of angular chert fragments and interstitial red clay drapes the bedrock and outcrops are rare. Quaternary terrace and alluvium deposits are present along the White River and larger drainages in the area. At least two separate terrace levels have developed along the White River: Scattered stranded terrace deposits, possibly Paleogene-aged, are primarily located on hilltops adjacent to the fall line which separates the Ozark Plateaus from the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain. Research into the origin and timing of these deposits is ongoing.

This map was produced for the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative, a grant program administered by the U.S. Geological Survey under Cooperative Agreement Award G19AC00261.