Kope Formation (OHOk;0)

State	Ohio
Name	Kope Formation
Geologic age	Ordovician
Lithologic constituents	Major Sedimentary > Clastic > Mudstone > Shale (Bed)Shale(75%) and limestone(25%) interbedded; gray to bluish gray weathers light gray to yellowish gray; planar, thin to thick bedded; 200 to 260 feet thick. Minor Sedimentary > Carbonate > Limestone (Bed)Shale(75%) and limestone(25%) interbedded; gray to bluish gray weathers light gray to yellowish gray; planar, thin to thick bedded; 200 to 260 feet thick.
Comments	Secondary unit description from USGS Lexicon website (ref. OH017) and OH013: The Kope-Fairview-Bellevue succession is the first of three major progradational units that compose the Cincinnatian Series in the Cincinnati, OH, area. Each succession is interpreted as a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate ramp. The Kope Formation, consisting of approximately 80 percent calcareous and argillaceous shale and 20 percent coarse to fine-grained limestones and siltstones, is the most distal facies of the ramp complex. The Kope averages 60 m in thickness. The Grand Avenue Member is recognizable along the Ohio River and consists of 3 to 4 m of interbedded shale and limestone similar to the overlying Fairview Formation. The Grand Avenue becomes indistinguishable 20 km to the north. The Kope thickens northward (up to 110 m) and becomes less fossiliferous and increasingly carbonaceous. Fossil assemblages are characterized by small brachiopods; thin, branching trepostome bryozoans; trilobite and crinoidal species; and minor bivalves. Unit is time transgressive. Age shown as Late Ordovician (Edenian and Maysvillian) for the most part, but also as late Middle Ordovician (Champlainian) locally in southwestern OH, where it interfingers with the underlying Point Pleasant Tongue of the Clays Ferry Formation and with the Utica Shale (Jennette and Pryor, 1993).
References	Slucher, E.R., (principal compiler), Swinford, E.M., Larsen, G.E., and others, with GIS production and cartography by Powers, D.M., 2006, Bedrock geologic map of Ohio: Ohio Division of Geological Survey Map BG-1, version 6.0, scale 1:500,000. Jennette, D.C. and Pryor, W.A., 1993, Cyclic alternation of proximal and distal storm facies; Kope and Fairview Formations (Upper Ordovician), Ohio and Kentucky: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 63, no. 2, p. 183-203. USGS Geologic Names lexicon found at: http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/ https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/search
NGMDB product	NGMDB product page for 82513
Counties	Adams - Brown - Butler - Clermont - Hamilton - Montgomery - Warren

State

Name

Kope Formation

Geologic age

Ordovician

Lithologic constituents

Major

Sedimentary > Clastic > Mudstone > Shale (Bed)Shale(75%) and limestone(25%) interbedded; gray to bluish gray weathers light gray to yellowish gray; planar, thin to thick bedded; 200 to 260 feet thick.

Minor

Sedimentary > Carbonate > Limestone (Bed)Shale(75%) and limestone(25%) interbedded; gray to bluish gray weathers light gray to yellowish gray; planar, thin to thick bedded; 200 to 260 feet thick.

Comments

Secondary unit description from USGS Lexicon website (ref. OH017) and OH013: The Kope-Fairview-Bellevue succession is the first of three major progradational units that compose the Cincinnatian Series in the Cincinnati, OH, area. Each succession is interpreted as a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate ramp. The Kope Formation, consisting of approximately 80 percent calcareous and argillaceous shale and 20 percent coarse to fine-grained limestones and siltstones, is the most distal facies of the ramp complex. The Kope averages 60 m in thickness. The Grand Avenue Member is recognizable along the Ohio River and consists of 3 to 4 m of interbedded shale and limestone similar to the overlying Fairview Formation. The Grand Avenue becomes indistinguishable 20 km to the north. The Kope thickens northward (up to 110 m) and becomes less fossiliferous and increasingly carbonaceous. Fossil assemblages are characterized by small brachiopods; thin, branching trepostome bryozoans; trilobite and crinoidal species; and minor bivalves. Unit is time transgressive. Age shown as Late Ordovician (Edenian and Maysvillian) for the most part, but also as late Middle Ordovician (Champlainian) locally in southwestern OH, where it interfingers with the underlying Point Pleasant Tongue of the Clays Ferry Formation and with the Utica Shale (Jennette and Pryor, 1993).

References

Slucher, E.R., (principal compiler), Swinford, E.M., Larsen, G.E., and others, with GIS production and cartography by Powers, D.M., 2006, Bedrock geologic map of Ohio: Ohio Division of Geological Survey Map BG-1, version 6.0, scale 1:500,000.

Jennette, D.C. and Pryor, W.A., 1993, Cyclic alternation of proximal and distal storm facies; Kope and Fairview Formations (Upper Ordovician), Ohio and Kentucky: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 63, no. 2, p. 183-203.

USGS Geologic Names lexicon found at: http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/

https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/search

NGMDB product

NGMDB product page for 82513

Counties

Adams - Brown - Butler - Clermont - Hamilton - Montgomery - Warren