Dakota Formation widespread in western Iowa, lower sandstone-dominated Nishnabotna Member, upper mudstone/shale-dominated Woodbury Member. Correlative Windrow Formation found as erosional outliers in northeastern and north-central Iowa. Primary lithologies: sandstone, quartzose, very fine to medium grained; mudstone/shale, light to dark gray, variably silty-sandy, noncalcareous (Woodbury Mbr.). Secondary lithologies: sandstone, medium to very coarse grained, part pebbly to gravelly, locally cemented by iron oxides (Nishnabotna Mbr., Windrow Fm.), gravel, quartz and chert clasts; siltstone; mudstone, red, pink, yellow-brown, black (carbonaceous). Minor: lignite; siderite (concretions, pedogenic sphaerosiderite pellets, cemented siltstone); massive iron ore, silty to sandy (Windrow Fm.). Maximum thickness Dakota Fm. 500 ft (150 m), commonly 100-300 ft (30-90 m); Windrow Fm. 40 ft (12 m).
Interval includes lower Marble Valley Member, upper Humboldt Member; “Iowa Falls Dolomite” (dolomite facies); formation shares partial regional facies relationships with Burlington Formation; not present in southeastern Iowa. Primary Lithologies: limestone, primarily coated grain/oolitic to peloidal, variably fossiliferous to intraclastic. Secondary Lithologies: dolomite; dolomitic limestone; limestone, dense, “sublithographic.” Minor: shale, gray, calcareous; oncolitic limestone; glauconite; chert; breccia. Maximum thicknesses in northern Iowa 150-170 ft (45-52 m); interval thins to south and southeast 20-70 ft (6-21 m).
Interval includes Burlington, Keokuk, and Warsaw formations. Upper Warsaw strata locally preserved at top of interval in extreme southeast Iowa are lower Meramecian age . Primary Lithologies: dolomite, part argillaceous to shaly; dolomitic limestone, fossiliferous; fossiliferous limestone (especially crinoidal packstone-grainstone). Secondary Lithologies: glauconitic limestone/dolomite; shale, gray to green-gray, part dolomitic, part silty; chert, nodular to bedded. Minor: quartz crystals, quartz geodes, chalcedony; phosphatic dolomite/limestone (“bone bed”); siltstone, dolomitic. Lithologies noted only in northern Iowa: oolitic limestone; “sublithographic” limestone; dolomite/chert breccia. Interval is erosionally beveled beneath sub-“St. Louis” and sub-Pennsylvanian unconformities. Maximum thicknesses in northern Iowa: 85-105 ft (26-32 m). Maximum thicknesses in southern Iowa: 155-240 ft (47-73 m).
Interval includes Prospect Hill, Chapin, Maynes Creek, and Wassonville formations; locally includes basal Crapo (“McCraney”) Formation in southeastern Iowa. Primary Lithologies: dolomite, part cherty to very cherty, part fossiliferous (Maynes Creek-Wassonville formations); limestone, skeletal to oolitic (Chapin Fm; lower Wassonville Fm/Starrs Cave Member; middle Maynes Creek/“Eagle City” member; basal Crapo Fm); siltstone (Prospect Hill Fm). Secondary Lithologies: shale, gray, silty (Prospect Hill Fm of southeastern Iowa); limestone, dense, “sublithographic” to stromatolitic (upper Maynes Creek Fm); limestone and dolomite, dense, nodular to banded, part silty (Crapo Fm). Maximum thicknesses for total interval: 100-175 ft (30-53 m). Thickness variations: Crapo (“McCraney”) Fm, 0-65 ft (20 m); Prospect Hill Fm, 0-90 ft (27 m), generally < 25 ft (8 m); Chapin Fm, 0-30 ft (9 m), generally < 10 ft (3 m); Maynes Creek Fm, 35-155 ft (11-47 m), thickest in central to northern Iowa; Wassonville Fm (southeast Iowa only), 0-70 ft (21 m), replaced to northwest by Maynes Creek and Chapin formations, beveled beneath sub-Burlington unconformity to southeast.
Upper Interval (bedrock surface): sedimentary-clast breccia with shaly matrix, clasts and blocks of Cretaceous shale and varied Paleozoic lithologies entrained in silty-sandy clay matrix; minor clasts/grains of Proterozoic “red clastics “ (mudstone/siltstone), crystalline basement rock, devitrified melt rock. Lower Interval (variably present, locally forms bedrock surface): overturned ejecta flap, breccias of Paleozoic lithologies and Proterozoic “red clastics” preserved in general inverted stratigraphic order. Breccias overlie down-dropped blocks (ring graben) of Cretaceous and Paleozoic strata in normal stratigraphic succession. Maximum thicknesses: upper shaly breccia up to 700 ft (210 m); lower interval approx. 1000 ft (300 m).
Interval includes lower “St. Louis” (Meramecian) Croton and Yenruogis members; upper “St. Louis” (lower Genevievian) Verdi and Waugh members (interval does not correlate with type St. Louis of Missouri); Pella Fm (upper Genevievian); base includes Sonora Fm (Meramecian) in parts of southeast Iowa (Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Des Moines, Jefferson counties). Primary Lithologies: dolomite, part silty/sandy, part fossiliferous; limestone, part sandy to fossiliferous; part “sublithographic,” part argillaceous. Secondary Lithologies: dolomite/limestone breccia; shale/marl, green-gray, calcareous; sandstone, fine to medium-grained; siltstone; gypsum/anhydrite (south-central Iowa). Minor: limestone, oolitic; shale, gray; shale, red to pink; chert/chalcedony. Croton Member contains gypsum-anhydrite in subsurface outside of outcrop belt. Interval is erosionally beveled to locally absent beneath Pcl; Pella Formation absent over broader areas. Maximum thicknesses for total interval 60-150 ft (18-45 m); maximum thickness Pella Formation 75 ft (23 m); maximum thickness “St. Louis” Formation 75 ft (23 m); maximum thickness Sonora Formation 35 ft (11 m).
Lower Cherokee Group in southern, central, and western Iowa includes Kilbourn, Kalo, Floris formations (primarily Atokan-lower Desmoinesian, locally Morrowan at base); Raccoon Creek Group in eastern Iowa includes “Caseyville” and Tradewater formations (primarily Morrowan at most localities; locally includes Atokan-lower Desmoinesian Tradewater Formation in upper part). Primary Lithologies: shale/mudstone, light to dark gray, part silty to sandy; sandstone, very fine to medium grained; siltstone, gray. Secondary Lithologies: carbonaceous shale/mudstone, gray to black; phosphatic black shale; limestone, dense, part fossiliferous, part sandy; coal (beds locally > 2 ft). Minor: sandstone, coarse-grained to granular, part conglomeratic; mudstone, red to pink; limestone concretions (may be septarian); cone-in-cone limestone; siderite/ironstone concretions and pellets; pyrite. Maximum thicknesses Raccoon Creek Group in Muscatine-Scott counties: 230-250 ft (70-75 m). Maximum thicknesses Lower Cherokee Group across outcrop belt: 200-370 ft (60-113 m). Maximum thickness in southwest Iowa subsurface: 650 ft (200 m).
Interval includes Grassy Creek Shale, Saverton Shale, “Maple Mill” Shale, English River Formation, Louisiana Limestone (Lee County only), Aplington Formation (northern and western Iowa only), Sheffield Shale (central and northern Iowa). Famennian strata onlap Lime Creek Fm to the northwest. Primary Lithologies: shale, gray to green-gray, part silty; siltstone (especially English River Fm). Secondary Lithologies: shale, olive-brown and medium to dark brown, part laminated (Grassy Creek Fm, southeast Iowa); dolomite, part fossiliferous, part cherty, part argillaceous (Aplington Fm). Minor: interstratified dolomite and limestone, part fossiliferous (Louisiana Limestone); ooidal ironstone and phosphorite; phosphatic siltstone (“bone bed”); shale, red-brown. Maximum thicknesses in outcrop belt: southeast Iowa, 135-310 ft (41-95 m), thickest in Washington, Louisa, Des Moines counties; northern and central Iowa, 25-135 ft (8-41 m).
Primary Lithology: sedimentary clast breccia with shaly matrix; clasts and blocks of Cretaceous shale and varied Paleozoic lithologies in silty-sandy clay matrix. Minor Lithologies: grains or clasts of Proterozoic “red clastics” (mudstone/siltstone), Proterozoic crystalline basement, devitrified melt grains. Maximum thickness unknown, may reach thicknesses to 10,000 ft (3000 m).