The Devonian Jeffersonville Limestone is a mapped bedrock unit in Indiana and Kentucky. It is highly fossiliferous. The Vernon Fork Member contains Volcanic ash associated with the Tioga Bentonites.
Description The Jeffersonville is a coarse grained, dark gray, thick bedded, fossiliferous limestone.Butts, Charles, 1915, Geology and mineral resources of Jefferson County, Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey [Report], 4th series, v. 3, pt. 2, 270 p.
R. D. Perkins (1963) divided the Jeffersonville into five zones based on petrology and fossil content,Ronald D. Perkins, 1963, Petrology of the Jeffersonville Limestone (Middle Devonian) of Southeastern Indiana: Geological Society of America Bulletin (1963), 74(11):1335-1354 abstract and these are summarized below (in stratigraphic order): Paraspirifer acuminatus zone (top) fenestrate bryozoan-brachiopod zone Brevispirifer gregarius zone Amphipora-zone Coral zone (base, overlies Geneva Dolomite or Louisville Limestone)
Fossils The Jeffersonville Limestone is well known for its fossils, including the well-exposed corals, many in life positions, at Falls of the Ohio.
Edward Kindle described many species from the Falls of the Ohio in 1899: Brachiopods: Atrypa aspera, A. reticularis, Chonetes mucronatus, C. yandellanus, Cyrtina hamiltonensis, Derbya keokuk, Discina sp., Leiorhynchus quadricostatum, Orthis iowensis (?), O. livia, Pentamarella arata, Pentamerus nueleus, Productella subamleata var. catarafla, Productus burlingtonensis, Spirifer acuminatus, S. arctisegmentus, S. byrnesi, S. euruteines, S. gregarius, S. keokuk, S. oweni, S. segmentus, S. subattenuatus, Stropheodonta (now Strophodonta) arctostriatus, S. demissa, S. hemispherica, S. perplana, S. varicosus, Syringothyris texta, Terebratula lincklaeni Rostroconch: Conocardium trigonale (?), C. cuneus Corals: Blothorphyllum decorticatum, Conularia micronema, Cyathophyllum rugosum, Diphyphyllum sp., Favosites hemisphericus, Michelinia cylindrica, Thecia minor, Zaphrentis giganteus, Z. ungula Gastropods: Callonema bellatulum, C. imitator, Platyceras dumosum, Platvstoma lineatum, Trochonema rectilatera, Holopea sp., Pleurotomaria sp., Turbo shumardi Bivalves: Actinopteria boydi, Aviculopecten sp., Glyptodesma occidentale, Macrodon sp. (?), Modiomorpha affinis, M. mytiloides, Ptychodesma sp. Trilobites: Proetus canaliculatus, P. crassimarginatus, P. microgemma, Dalmanites anchiops var. sorbrinus, D. selenurus
Campbell and Wickwire (1955) listed the following species in the Jeffersonville from outcrops in the vicinity of Hanover, Indiana:Formations of Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian Rocks in the vicinity of Hanover, Indiana. Compiled by Guy Campbell and Grant T. Wickwire, 1955 full text Corals: Heliophyllum halli, Hexagonaria prisma, Favosites turoinatus, F. limitaris, Emmonsia emmonsi, E. epidermatus, Synaptophyllum simcoense, Homalophyllum exiguum, Zaphrentis phyrgia, Blothrophyllum promissum, Alveolites sps., Michelinia sps. Bryozoa: Sulcoretepona gilberti, Polypora shumardi Gastropods: Platyceras dumosum, Bellerophon patulus Brachiopods: Paraspirifer acuminatus, Brevispirifer gregarius, Fimbrispirifer divaricatus, Meristina nasuta, Megastrophia hemispherica Bivalves: Turbinopsis shumardi, Glyptodesma occidentali, Conocardium cuneus Crinoid: Nucleocrinus verneuili Trilobites: Phacops rana, Anchiops anchiops Cephalopods: Gyroceras indianense
Other trilobites include the following: Arctinurus sp., Anchiopsis anchiops, Anchiopsis tuberculatus, "Calymene" platys, Coronura aspectans, C. myrmecophorus, C. helena, Crassiproteus clareus, C. crassimarginatus, C. macrocephalus, Greenops kindlei, Odontocephalus bifidus, O. magnus, Odontochile pleuroptyx, Phacops nasutus, Phacops pipa, Trypaulites calypsoTrilobites at the Falls of the Ohio, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of State Parks and Reservoirs, Interpretive Services (brochure) Delo, David M., 1940. Phacopid Trilobites of North America. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 29.Stumm, E. C., 1954. Lower Middle Devonian Phacopid Trilobites from Michigan, Southwestern Ontario, and the Ohio Valley. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, Ann Arbor, MI. Vol. XI, pp. 201-221.
Ostracods were documented by Kesling and Peterson in 1958.Robert V. Kesling and Rex M. Peterson, 1958, Middle Devonian Hollinid Ostracods from the Falls of the Ohio: Micropaleontology. Vol. 4, No. 2 (April 1958), pp. 129-148 Genera identified include: Abditoloculina, Adelphobolbina, Ctenoloculina, Flaccivelum, Hollina, Hollinella, and Subligaculum.
The Blastoids Codaster alternatus and Codaster pyramidatus, among others, were identified by Cline and Heuer in 1950 at Falls of the Ohio.L. M. Cline and Edward Heuer, 1950, The Codaster alternatus-Codaster pyramidatus Group of Blastoids from the Mid-Devonian of North America: Journal of Paleontology Vol. 24, No. 2 (March 1950), pp. 154-173
Notable exposures Type locality is at Falls of the Ohio State Park near Louisville, Kentucky.
Age Relative age dating places the Jeffersonville in the lower to middle Devonian. Devera and Fraunfelter identified it as Emsian-Eifelian based on coral and foraminifera.
See also List of types of limestone
References
External links Indiana Geological Survey page on Jeffersonville Limestone KYANA Geological Society Devonian page, showing photographs of fossils collected from the Jeffersonville and other formations guidebook Silurian and Devonian Geology and Paleontology at the Falls of the Ohio, Kentucky/Indiana, 42nd Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Professional Geologists, fieldtrip guidebook, 2005