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Cincinnati Group

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Cincinnati Group
Stratigraphic range: Late Ordovician
Brachiopod-rich Cincinnatian limestone (Waynesville/Bull Fork Formation, Ohio)
TypeGroup
Sub-unitsDrakes Formation, Preachersville Member, Whitewater Formation, Liberty Formation, Waynesville Formation, Arnheim Formation, Grant Lake Limestone, Bellevue Member, Corryville Member, Mount Auburn Member, and Straight Creek Member, Miamitown Shale, Fairview Formation, Kope Formation, Clays Ferry Formation Point Pleasant Tongue
UnderliesCataract Group
OverliesTrenton Group
Location
RegionKentucky, Ohio, Indiana
CountryUnited States

The Cincinnati Group is a geologic group in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. It is Upper Ordovician in age. This geologic group is made up of member formations: Drakes Formation, Whitewater Formation, Liberty Formation, Arnheim Formation, Grant Lake Limestone, Miamitown Shale, Fairview Formation, and Kope Formation. There are also several members of the respective formations.[1] Most of these formations are highly fossiliferous.

Stratigraphy

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Drakes Formation

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Syneresis crack
Syneresis Cracks, Drakes Formation in Ohio

The Drakes Formation is a geologic formation in Kentucky. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ordovician period.

The Drakes Formation was named by Weir for outcrops near the East Fork of Drakes Creek in the Paint Lick quadrangle, southwestern east-central Kentucky.[2] This formation ranges from 20ft to 150ft thick, thinning northward. It includes four members, Saluda Dolomite Member, Preachersville Member, Rowland Member and Bardstown Member. These formations are made up of interbedded limestone and shale with units of dolomite ranging from a few inches to a few feet think.

Whitewater Formation

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The Whitewater Formation is a geologic formation in Ohio and Indiana. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ordovician Period.[3]

The Whitewater was first named by J. M. Nickles in 1903.[4] He described exposures of limestone and interbedded calcareous shale along the Whitewater River at Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana.

An excellent exposure of the Whitewater Formation is a roadcut located on Route 27 south of Richmond, Indiana, at 39.7877 N, -84.9014 W. It is typically called "Richmond South" in field guides and other publications.

Liberty Formation

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The Liberty Formation is a geologic formation in Ohio and Indiana. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ordovician Period.

Carbonate hardground from the Liberty Formation of southern Ohio.

Waynesville Formation

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The Waynesville Formation is a geologic formation in Ohio and Indiana. It preserves fossils from the Late Ordovician Period.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Davis, R. A. (1986), "Cincinnati region", Southeastern Section of the Geological Society of America, Geological Society of America, pp. 21–24, ISBN 0-8137-5406-2, retrieved 2025-06-16
  2. ^ Calloway Creek limestone and Ashlock and Drakes Formations (Upper Ordovician) in south-central Kentucky (Report). US Geological Survey. 1965.
  3. ^ "Geolex — Whitewater". ngmdb.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
  4. ^ Nickles, J. M., 1903, The Richmond Group in Ohio and Indiana and its subdivisions, with a note on the genus Strophomena and its type: American Geologist, v. 32, p. 202–218.