Smoky Hills

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Smoky Hills

The Smoky Hills are hills in the north central section of Kansas

Kansas

The State of Kansas is a Midwestern U.S. state in the Central United States of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the United States "Heartland"....
, USA. The hills contain many interesting rock formations and bluffs. The bluffs formed because of the draining of rivers into an ancient sea that once covered the area.

region is divided into three regions, based on the underlying rock outcroppings: The Dakota Formation

Dakota Formation

The Dakota Formation is composed of sedimentary rocks deposited on the east side of the Late Cretaceous seaway. F.B. Meek and F.V. Hayden named it for exposures along the Missouri River near Dakota City, Nebraska, Nebraska....
(sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock Particle size . Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust ....
), the Greenhorn Limestone

Limestone

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The Smoky Hills are hills in the north central section of Kansas

Kansas

Sub-regions

The region is divided into three regions, based on the underlying rock outcroppings: The Dakota Formation

Dakota Formation

Sandstone

Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
and the Niobrara Chalk.

The Dakota Formation forms the eastern region. This area includes the Smoky Hill buttes, which are capped by sandstone and provide a sharp contrast with the surrounding plains. One of the most notable buttes is Coronado Heights

Coronado Heights

Coronado Heights is a hill northwest of Lindsborg, Kansas. It is alleged to be the place where Francisco Vasquez de Coronado gave up his search for the Quivira and Cibola and turned around to return to Mexico....
in Saline County

Saline County, Kansas

Saline County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of 2000, the population was 53,597. The largest city and county seat is Salina, Kansas....
. There are concretions at Rock City

Rock City, Kansas

Rock City is a park located on hillsides overlooking the Solomon River in Ottawa County, Kansas. It is 3.6 miles south of Minneapolis, Kansas and just over 0.5 mile west of Kansas highway K-106 and the Minneapolis City County Airport on Ivy Road at ....
in Ottawa County

Ottawa County, Kansas

Ottawa County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of 2000, the population was 6,163. The largest city and county seat is Minneapolis, Kansas....
and Mushroom Rock State Park

Mushroom Rock State Park

Mushroom Rock State Park contains mushroom rocks formations in the Smoky Hills region of Kansas. They were formed by the erosion of a harder rock on top of a softer rock....
in Ellsworth County

Ellsworth County, Kansas

Ellsworth County is a U.S. county located in Central Kansas, in the Central United States United States. The population was estimated to be 6,332 in the year 2006....
. These are cemented by calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CalciumCarbonOxygen3. It is a common substance found as Rock in all parts of the world, and is the main component of seashells, snails, and eggshells....
.

The Greenhorn Limestone region in the central region is made up of thin (usually less than 6 inches), chalky limestones beds alternating with thicker beds of grayish shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clay minerals or muds. It is characterized by thin laminae breaking with an irregular curving fracture, often splintery and usually parallel to the often-indistinguishable bedding plane....
. This area is known as post rock country due to the practice of early settlers using limestone for buildings and fenceposts since trees were scarce.

The chalk

Chalk

Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. It forms under relatively deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
beds of the Niobrara Chalk are exposed in bluffs of the western Solomon

Solomon River

The Solomon River is a river in Kansas. The Solomon River begins its run near Hill City, Kansas in Graham County, Kansas. Between 1863 and 1864, European pioneers settled the area around this portion of the waterbody....
, Saline

Saline River

Saline River may refer to several rivers in the United States:*The Saline River in southwestern Arkansas, a tributary of the Little River*The Saline River in southern Arkansas, a tributary of the Ouachita River...
, and Smoky Hill River

Smoky Hill River

The Smoky Hill River is a river in the U.S. states of Colorado and Kansas....
s and in an irregular belt in the west. This area includes such Kansas landmarks as Castle Rock

Castle Rock (Kansas)

Castle Rock is a large limestone pillar in Gove County, Kansas reaching nearly 70 feet tall, within the Smoky Hills region....
and Monument Rocks

Monument Rocks (Kansas)

Monument Rocks are a series of large chalk formations in Gove County, Kansas, rich in fossils. It is a National Natural Landmark. It was the first landmark chosen by the US Dept....
in Gove County

Gove County, Kansas

Gove County is a U.S. county located in Northwest Kansas, in the Central United States United States. The population was estimated to be 2,721 in the year 2006....
. The chalk beds are known for the late nineteenth and early twentieth century excavations of exceptionally well-preserved fossils of marine reptiles such as the plesiosaur

Plesiosaur

Plesiosaurs were carnivore aquatic reptiles. After their discovery, they were somewhat fancifully said to have resembled , although they had no shell....
s and mosasaur

Mosasaur

Mosasaurs were serpentine marine reptiles. The first fossil remains were discovered in a limestone quarry at Maastricht on the Meuse in 1778. These ferocious marine predators are now considered to be the closest relatives of snakes, due to cladistic analysis of symptomatic similarities in jaw and skull anatomies....
s found in the uppermost member of the Niobrara Chalk, the Smoky Hill Chalk

Smoky Hill Chalk

The Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk Formation is a Cretaceous conservation Lagerst?tte, or fossil rich geological formation, known primarily for its exceptionally well-preserved marine reptiles....
.

Smoky Hills

Sub-regions

See also

External links