Beekmantown Group, Upper Part

Beekmantown Group, Upper Part (Clarke and Schuchert, 1899) - Locally preserved upper beds are light- to medium-gray- to yellowish-gray-weathering, medium-light- to medium-gray, aphanitic to medium-grained, thin- to thick-bedded, locally laminated, slightly fetid dolomite. Medium-dark to dark-gray, fine-grained, medium-bedded, sparsely fossiliferous limestone lenses occur locally. Lower beds are medium-dark- to dark-gray, medium- to coarse-grained, mottled surface weathering, medium- to thick-bedded, strongly fetid dolomite that contains pods and lenses of dark-gray to black chert. Cauliflower-textured black chert beds of variable thickness occur locally. Gradational lower contact is placed at top of laminated to thin-bedded dolomite of the lower part (Obl) of the Beekmantown Group. Contains conodonts high in the Rossodus manitouensis zone to low zone D of the North American midcontinent province as used by Sweet and Bergstrom (1986). Upper beds are included in Epler Formation; lower beds are included in Rickenbach Dolomite of Drake and Lyttle (1985) and Drake and others (1985); entire upper part (Obu) is Ontelaunee Formation of Markewicz and Dalton (1977). Thickness ranges from 0 to 244 m (0-800 ft).