Carlile Shale

{{Infobox rockunit

| name = Carlile Shale

| image = Fairport Chalk Member of the Carlile Formation in Ellis County, Kansas 01.png

| imagesize = 330px

| caption = Rare exposure of the Fairport Chalk member of the Carlile Shale in southern Ellis County, Kansas

| type = Geological formation

| age = Turonian
~{{fossil range|93.9|89.8}}

| period = Turonian

| prilithology = Shale, chalky to carbonaceous

| otherlithology = Limestone
Sandstone
Siltstone
Septarians
Bentonite

| namedfor = Carlile Spring and Carlile Station, 21 mi west of Pueblo, Colorado{{cite web | title = Geologic Unit: Carlile | series = Geolex — Unit Summary | work = National Geologic Database | publisher = United States Geological Survey | url = https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/Units/Carlile_6965.html | access-date = 2017-02-03 }}

| namedby = Gilbert

| year_ts = 1896

| region = Mid-continental

| country = United States

| coordinates = {{coord|38.376|N|104.979|W|display:inline}}

| unitof = Colorado Group (lower); or
Benton Formation
Mancos Group (NM)

| subunits = Juana Lopez (CO, NM)
Codell Sandstone
Blue Hill Shale
Fairport Chalk

| underlies = Niobrara Formation

| overlies = Greenhorn Limestone

| thickness = {{convert|170|-|230|ft|m}}

| extent =

| area =

| map = {{Location map+ | United States#Colorado

| relief = 1

| width = 250

| float = center

| places =

{{Location map~ | United States#Colorado

| lat_deg = 38.376

| lon_deg = -104.979

| mark = Lightgreen pog.svg

| marksize = 12

}}

| map_caption =

}}

The Carlile Shale is a Turonian age Upper/Late Cretaceous series shale geologic formation in the central-western United States, including in the Great Plains region of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.[http://mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/sgmc-unit.php?unit=NDKn;0 USGS.gov: Mineral resources of the Niobrara and Carlile Formations]

History of investigation

The Carlile Shale was first named by Grove Karl Gilbert for exposures at Carlile Spring, located about {{convert|21|mi|km|sp=us}} west of Pueblo, Colorado. He described it as a medium gray shale, capped with limestone or sandstone, and assigned it to the Benton Group.{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Gilbert |first1=G.K. |chapter=The underground water of the Arkansas Valley in eastern Colorado |editor1-last=Walcott |editor1-first=C.D. |volume=17 |number=2 |pages=551–601 |title=Seventeenth Annual report of the United States Geological Survey to the Secretary of the Interior, 1895-1896 |date=1896 |doi=10.3133/ar17_2|doi-access=free }} By 1931, William Walden Rubey and his coinvestigators had mapped it into Kansas{{cite journal |last1=Rubey |first1=W.W. |last2=Bass |first2=N.W. |year=1925 |title=The geology of Russell County, Kansas, with special reference to oil and gas resources |journal=Kansas Geological Survey Bulletin |volume=10 |number=1 |pages=1–86}} and the Black Hills. Rubey also first assigned it to the Colorado Group.{{cite journal |last1=Rubey |first1=W.W. |title=Lithologic studies of fine-grained Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks of the Black Hills region |journal=U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper |date=1931 |volume=165-A |pages=A1–A54 |doi=10.3133/pp165A|doi-access=free |bibcode=1931usgs.rept....4R }} C.H. Dane assigned it to the Mancos Shale in New Mexico in 1948.{{cite journal |title=Geology and oil possibilities of the eastern side of the San Juan Basin, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico |last1=Dane |first1=C.H. |journal=U.S. Geological Survey Oil and Gas Investigations Map |volume=OM-78 |year=1948 |url=https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_5439.htm |accessdate=23 November 2020}}

Description

The formation is composed of marine deposits of the generally retreating phase (hemi-cycle) of the Greenhorn cycle of the Western Interior Seaway, which followed the advancing phase of the same cycle that formed the underlying Graneros Shale and Greenhorn Formation.{{cite journal |last1=McLane |first1=Michael |title=Upper Cretaceous Coastal Deposits in South-Central Colorado--Codell and Juana Lopez Members of Carlile Shale |journal=AAPG Bulletin |date=1982 |volume=66 |doi=10.1306/03B59A26-16D1-11D7-8645000102C1865D}} As such, the lithology progresses from open ocean chalky shale (with thin limestones) to increasing carbonaceous shale to near-shore sandstone.{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=Timothy |last2=Arthur |first2=Michael A. |title=Organic carbon production and preservation in response to sea-level changes in the Turonian Carlile Formation, U.S. Western Interior Basin |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |date=May 2006 |volume=235 |issue=1–3 |pages=223–244 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.09.031|bibcode=2006PPP...235..223W }} Near the center of the seaway, currents in the remnant shallows sorted skeletal remains into a mass of calcareous sand. The contact between the Carlile Shale and the overlying Niobrara Formation is marked by an unconformity in much of the outcrop area, but where an unconformity is not discernible, the boundary is typically placed at the first resistant, fine-grained limestone bed at the base of the Niobrara Formation.{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Norman R. |title=The Carlile-Niobrara contact and lower Niobrara strata near El Vado, New Mexico |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series |date=1974 |volume=24 |pages=259–266 |citeseerx=10.1.1.513.8769 }}

== Gallery ==

{{Gallery

|File:Fairport Chalk Member of the Carlile Formation in Ellis County, Kansas 02.png|The lower {{convert|25|ft|m}} of the Fairport Chalk member in southern Ellis County, Kansas.

|File:On the Great Plains, Kansas, 294 miles west of Missouri River. (Boston Public Library).jpg|1867, bluffs west of Hays, behind the seated soldiers is pre-settlement digging in the Blue Hill Shale, possibly for selenite.

|File:No. 51. The 'Hog Back' at Ellis, Kansas. (7008429651).jpg|The bare Blue Hill Shale slopes at Yocemento as they appeared in 1873 to Robert Benecke.

}}

== Fossil content ==

Upper Turonian series plesiosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the strata of its Blue Hill Shale Member in Kansas.[https://www.jstor.org/stable/40588245?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Jstor.org: "Probable plesiosaur remains from the Blue Hill Shale (Carlile Formation)" in Kansas"], Kansas Academy of Science, 2009. The Carlile in eastern South Dakota contains shark teeth, fossil wood and leaves, and ammonites.[https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1253/report.pdf] William A. Cobban and E.A. Merewether (1983), Stratigraphy and paleontology of mid-Cretaceous rocks in Minnesota and contiguous areas. USGS Professional Paper 1253.

=Reptiles=

==Crocodyliforms==

class="wikitable" align="center"
colspan="7" align="center" \| Crocodyliforms
Genus	Species	Location !Stratigraphic position !Material	Notes	Images
Terminonaris \|T. cf. T. browni \| Russell County, Kansas.{{Cite journal \|last1=Shimada \|first1=Kenshu \|last2=Parris \|first2=David C. \|date=2007 \|title=A Long-Snouted Late Cretaceous Crocodyliform, Terminonaris cf. T. browni, from the Carlile Shale (Turonian) of Kansas \|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20476300 \|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science \|volume=110 \|issue=1/2 \|pages=107–115 \|doi=10.1660/0022-8443(2007)110[107:ALLCCT]2.0.CO;2 \|jstor=20476300 \|s2cid=86273062 \|issn=0022-8443\|url-access=subscription }} \|Fairport Chalk Member. \|A partial rostrum. \| A pholidosaur. \|

class="wikitable" align="center"

colspan="7" align="center" | Crocodyliforms

Genus

Species

Location

!Stratigraphic position

!Material

Notes

Images

Terminonaris

|T. cf. T. browni

| Russell County, Kansas.{{Cite journal |last1=Shimada |first1=Kenshu |last2=Parris |first2=David C. |date=2007 |title=A Long-Snouted Late Cretaceous Crocodyliform, Terminonaris cf. T. browni, from the Carlile Shale (Turonian) of Kansas |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20476300 |journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science |volume=110 |issue=1/2 |pages=107–115 |doi=10.1660/0022-8443(2007)110[107:ALLCCT]2.0.CO;2 |jstor=20476300 |s2cid=86273062 |issn=0022-8443|url-access=subscription }}

|Fairport Chalk Member.

|A partial rostrum.

| A pholidosaur.

==Plesiosaurs==

colspan="7" align="center" \| Plesiosaurs
class="wikitable" align="center"
Genus	Species	Location !Stratigraphic position !Material	Notes	Images
Megacephalosaurus \|M. eulerti \|Near Fairport, Kansas.{{Cite journal \|last1=Schumacher \|first1=Bruce A. \|last2=Carpenter \|first2=Kenneth \|last3=Everhart \|first3=Michael J. \|date=May 2013 \|title=A new Cretaceous Pliosaurid (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) from the Carlile Shale (middle Turonian) of Russell County, Kansas \|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263690337 \|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology \|volume=33 \|issue=3 \|pages=613–628\|doi=10.1080/02724634.2013.722576 \|bibcode=2013JVPal..33..613S \|s2cid=130165209 }} \|Fairport Chalk Member. \|A skull & anterior cervical material (FHSM VP-321). \|A pliosaurid. \|File:Megacephalosaurus eulerti MP.png
Plesiosauria \| \| Mitchell County, Kansas. \|Blue Hill Member. \|Portions of a rib (FHSM VP-17299). \| May represent a large elasmosaur or pliosaur. \|

==Squamates==

colspan="7" align="center" \| Squamates
class="wikitable" align="center"
Genus	Species	Location !Stratigraphic position !Material	Notes	Images
Coniasaurus \|C. cf. C. crassidens \| Russell County, Kansas.{{Cite journal \|last1=Shimada \|first1=Kenshu \|last2=Ystesund \|first2=Tracy K. \|date=2007 \|title=A Dolichosaurid Lizard, Coniasaurus cf. C. crassidens, from the Upper Cretaceous Carlile Shale in Russell County, Kansas \|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20476320 \|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science \|volume=110 \|issue=3/4 \|pages=236–242 \|doi=10.1660/0022-8443(2007)110[236:ADLCCC]2.0.CO;2 \|jstor=20476320 \|s2cid=86027583 \|issn=0022-8443\|url-access=subscription }} \|Fairport Chalk Member. \|2 incomplete vertebrae (FHSM VP-4418). \| A dolichosaurid. \|File:Coniasaurus.jpg
Russellosaurina \| \|Ellis County, Kansas.{{Cite journal \|last=Schumacher \|first=Bruce A. \|date=2011 \|title=A 'woollgari-zone mosasaur' (Squamata; Mosasauridae) from the Carlile Shale (Lower Middle Turonian) of central Kansas and the stratigraphic overlap of early mosasaurs and pliosaurid plesiosaurs \|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41309621 \|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science \|volume=114 \|issue=1/2 \|pages=1–14 \|doi=10.1660/062.114.0101 \|jstor=41309621 \|s2cid=84678673 \|issn=0022-8443\|url-access=subscription }} \|Middle of the Fairport Chalk Member. \|7 successive proximal caudal vertebrae (FHSM VP-17564). \|A russellosaurine mosasaur. \|

=Fish=

==Cartilaginous fish==

colspan="7" align="center" \| Cartilaginous fish
class="wikitable" align="center"
Genus	Species	Location !Stratigraphic position !Material	Notes	Images
Cretodus \|C. houghtonorum \|North-central Kansas.{{Cite journal \|last1=Shimada \|first1=K. \|last2=Everhart \|first2=M. \|date=July 2019 \|title=A New Large Late Cretaceous Lamniform Shark from North America, with Comments on the Taxonomy, Paleoecology, and Evolution of the Genus Cretodus \|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology \|volume=39 \|issue=4 \|pages=e1673399 \|language=en \|doi=10.1080/02724634.2019.1673399\|bibcode=2019JVPal..39E3399S \|s2cid=209439997 }} \|Blue Hill Shale. \|A partial skeleton consisting of 134 disarticulated teeth, 61 vertebrae, 23 placoid scales, and fragments of calcified cartilage. \|A mackerel shark. \|
Cretoxyrhina \|C. mantelli \| Dixon County, Nebraska.{{Cite journal \|last1=Johnson-Ransom \|first1=Evan \|last2=Shimada \|first2=Kenshu \|last3=Kirkland \|first3=James I. \|date=April 2016 \|title=The Late Cretaceous Lamniform Shark,Cretoxyrhina mantelli, from the Fairport Chalky Shale Member of the Carlile Shale in Northeastern Nebraska \|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301798722 \|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science \|volume=119 \|issue=2 \|pages=208–210 \|doi=10.1660/062.119.0212 \|s2cid=88299661 \|issn=0022-8443}} \|Fairport Chalky Shale Member. \|A tooth (UNSM 129549). \| A large mackerel shark. \|File:Ginsu shark (Cretoxyrhina mantellii).jpg
rowspan="3" \|Ptychodus \|P. latissimus \|Kansas.{{Cite journal \|last=Hamm \|first=Shawn A. \|date=2020 \|title=The First Occurrence of Ptychodus latissimus from the Codell Sandstone Member of the Carlile Shale in Kansas \|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science \|volume=123 \|issue=3–4 \|doi=10.1660/062.123.0311 \|s2cid=226238444 \|language=en}} \|Codell Sandstone Member. \|3 teeth. \|A ptychodontid. \|
P. mammillaris \|North of Schoenchen, Ellis County, Kansas.{{Cite journal \|last1=Everhart \|first1=Michael J. \|last2=Darnell \|first2=Michelle K. \|date=2004 \|title=Occurrence of Ptychodus mammillaris (Elasmobranchii) in the Fairport Chalk Member of the Carlile Shale (Upper Cretaceous) of Ellis County, Kansas \|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3627900 \|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science \|volume=107 \|issue=3/4 \|pages=126–130 \|doi=10.1660/0022-8443(2004)107[0126:OOPMEI]2.0.CO;2 \|jstor=3627900 \|s2cid=85825569 \|issn=0022-8443\|url-access=subscription }} \|Fairport Chalk Member. \|A medial tooth (FHSM VP-15284). \|A ptychodontid. \|File:Ptychodus mammillaris.JPG
P. sp. \|Ellis County, Kansas.{{Cite journal \|last=Shimada \|first=Kenshu \|date=1997 \|title=Shark-Tooth-Bearing Coprolite from the Carlile Shale (Upper Cretaceous), Ellis County, Kansas \|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3628001 \|journal=Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science \|volume=100 \|issue=3/4 \|pages=133–138 \|doi=10.2307/3628001 \|jstor=3628001 \|issn=0022-8443\|url-access=subscription }} \|Blue Hill Shale Member. \|A tooth contained in a coprolite (FHSM VP-13325). \|A ptychodontid. \|