UPDATE ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPIAN TO LOWER PENNSYLVANIAN STRATIGRAPHY IN STONE, CLEBURNE, AND INDEPENDENCE COUNTIES, ARKANSAS.

Recent geologic mapping by the Arkansas Office of the State Geologist (OSG) through multiple STATEMAP grants has resulted in new observations and interpretations of the stratigraphy of the Late Mississippian (Chesterian) and to Early Pennsylvanian (Morrowan) interval in Stone, Cleburne, and Independence counties in north-central Arkansas. The focus of this presentation is the Imo Interval, the Cane Hill Member of the Hale Formation, and the Witts Springs Formation, which represent all of the strata from the top the Pitkin Limestone to the base of the “middle Bloyd sandstone” in the study area. This is a predominantly siliciclastic interval with very minor carbonates. Here, we present new insights into the nomenclature, formational contacts, lateral extent away from the type sections, and other data collected during this ongoing project.