Water in Kansas. In most years, precipitation in the form of rain, sleet, or snow is greatest in eastern Kansas and gradually declines toward the west. The wettest spot, on average, gets 45 inches per year and the driest less than 20 inches. As a result, eastern Kansas has more surface water — rivers, creeks, lakes, and wetlands.GeoKansas. Presented by the Kansas Geological Survey Geology Extension, GeoKansas presents regional information about the geology and geography of Kansas. Photography Projects Photo Library The KGS has created a database to explore the photos taken by KGS staff over the years. Historical Aerial Photos of KansasFossils, Paleontology, and Geoarchaeology. Kansas rocks are full of fossils, the remains of plants or animals that have been preserved in rock. Through fossil finds, geologists and paleontologists piece together evidence of earlier life and landscapes on Earth.Kimberlite is one of only two igneous rocks found at the surface in Kansas. Extremely rare in the state, igneous rocks form from hot molten magma that pushes up toward the surface from Earth's interior then cools. The magma may cool and harden before reaching the surface or erupt onto the surface. Kimberlite forms in vertical structures in the ... The Smoky Hills region in north-central Kansas encompasses a range of hills composed largely of sandstone, a second composed largely of limestone, and a third composed largely of chalk. Although visibly …Sometimes, the sediment is cemented by minerals and other materials. Common sediments in Kansas: S and— rock fragments or mineral particles that range in diameter from about 1/16 to 2 mm (from 0.002 to 0.08 inches). Gravel —chipped or rounded rock fragments that typically range in diameter from about 3 to 75 mm (0.125 to 3 inches). The largest Kansas earthquake in recent years was a M 4.9 event in 2014 that was thought to have been caused by induced seismicity. The epicenter was in Sumner County near Milan, where some buildings suffered minor damage. At least 31 felt earthquakes in Kansas were documented in newspaper accounts and other sources between 1867 and 1976. Fossils in Kansas. Fossils specimens: Delocrinus, Acanthoceras, Meganeuropsis. Many Kansas rocks are full of fossils, the remains of plants or animals that have been preserved in rock. Through fossil finds, geologists and paleontologists piece together evidence of earlier life and landscapes on Earth. Concretion. Concretions are masses of mineral matter embedded within rock layers, including limestone, sandstone, and shale. They often take shape when minerals precipitating (settling) out of water collect around a nucleus, such as a pebble, leaf, shell, bone, or fossil. Concretions most often form in sediment before or as the sediment is ...Another catastrophic collapse—known as the Cargill sinkhole because of its proximity to the Cargill Salt company—left railroad tracks dangling precariously in midair and grew to 200 feet in diameter in just 14 hours in 1974. Three weeks later, the diameter stabilized at 300 feet. The KGS uses seismic reflection techniques to study sinkholes.Sep 22, 2023 · Kansas Geological Survey, 1930 Constant Ave., Lawrence, KS 66047-3724 phone 785-864-3965, Core Library 785-864-2098. Kansas Geologic Sample Repository, We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us.An unexpected strip of ravines and canyons, the Arikaree Breaks region in the northwestern tip of Kansas stands out in sharp contrast to the surrounding plain. The rugged canyonland, just two to three miles wide, cuts diagonally across northern Cheyenne County and stretches just across the state line west into Colorado and north into Nebraska ...The boulders and pebbles from local and distant rocks that were carried by glaciers are of many different types, including limestone, sandstone, quartzite, granite, and basalt. Rocks that have been transported into an area from far away are called erratics. Among the glacial erratics in northeastern Kansas, quartzite is one of the most common.When linked to human activities, it is referred to as "induced seismicity." Oil and gas operations, mining activities, geothermal energy production, construction, underground nuclear testing, and impoundment of large reservoirs can all be sources of induced seismicity. Beginning in 2013, Kansas saw an unusual increase in earthquake activity in ...The Smoky Hills region in north-central Kansas encompasses a range of hills composed largely of sandstone, a second composed largely of limestone, and a third composed largely of chalk. Although visibly different, they are unified by age—all were formed from sediment deposited during the Cretaceous Period, which lasted from 145 to 66 million ... The Oread Limestone, a formation common in eastern Kansas, was named in 1894 by Erasmus Haworth, the first director of the Kansas Geological Survey. He named it after Mount Oread, the hill on which the University of Kansas is located and where the limestone cropped out. The Dakota Formation, a familiar rock unit in central Kansas, got its name ...Vertebrate fossils—of gliding reptiles that dominated the sky, of sharks and swimming reptiles that ruled the sea, of dinosaurs and mammoths that roamed the land—are embedded in Kansas rocks and sediments. Some are common in specific locations. Others, such as dinosaurs, are rare. Several types of sharks and fish lived in the Pennsylvanian ...Kimberlite is one of only two igneous rocks found at the surface in Kansas. Extremely rare in the state, igneous rocks form from hot molten magma that pushes up toward the surface from Earth's interior then cools. The magma may cool and harden before reaching the surface or erupt onto the surface. Kimberlite forms in vertical structures in the ...Blending in with the surrounding High Plains landscape, the optimistically named Mount Sunflower in Wallace County is hard to spot on the horizon. Yet at 4,039 feet above sea level, it holds the distinction of being the highest point in Kansas. That puts it more than 3,300 feet above the state's topographic low point in southeastern Kansas. Ozark Plateau. The Ozark Plateau region is the smallest in Kansas, covering just 55 square miles in the southeastern tip of Cherokee County and the state. It is, however, part of the much larger regional Ozark Plateau that extends tens of thousands of square miles into Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. In Kansas, the Ozark Plateau region is ...Seismology—the study of elastic waves that travel on and beneath the surface of the earth—allows scientists to “see” underground. Geophysicists are scientists who study Earth's seismicity, gravity, magnetism, and other physical properties. At the KGS, they develop and use techniques and equipment to gather information about subsurface ...The U.S. Public Land Survey System (PLSS) was established shortly after the Revolutionary War as a way to describe and record parcels of land for legal purposes.More than 450,000 wells related to oil and gas production have been drilled in Kansas. The KGS's interactive Kansas oil and gas well and field map shows the location of all the named oil and gas fields in Kansas as well …See full list on geokansas.ku.edu The KGS county geologic mapping program makes basic geologic information about the state available to the public. Topographic maps produced by the U.S. Geological Survey show natural and manmade features on the surface as well as elevation contours. Topographic maps of Kansas in varying levels of detail are available from the KGS.Point of Rocks is west off of Kansas Highway 27 about 10 miles north of Elkhart. It is in the Cimarron National Grassland managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The grassland encompasses more than 108,000 acres of land left in poor condition after the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and restored by the federal government. Wagon ruts are visible in places.Post rock country is about 200 miles long, stretching diagonally southwest from near the Nebraska border in Washington County to just north of Dodge City in Ford County. East to west, it ranges from less than 10 miles to nearly 60 miles wide. Still dotted with the fence posts, the region also has many churches, barns, homes, bridges, businesses ...A fine- to coarse-grained rock, dolomite is generally gray or light in color in its unweathered state. It weathers to a buff or tan color when exposed to the elements. Dolomite is used in much the same way as limestone, including as building material and a component of cement. Dolomite is found mainly in central and southern Kansas. The Stone ...Silvisaurus was a plant-eating dinosaur with hard-plate body armor. It belongs to a family of herbivore, armored dinosaurs known as nodosaurs. The only dinosaur identified as a silvisaurus, so far, was found in Ottawa County, Kansas, in 1960.The only known specimen of Silvisaurus was found not in marine rock, as other dinosaurs in Kansas were, but in …Geodes are crystal-lined cavities in rocks. The crystals are formed when minerals precipitate (settle) out of groundwater in underground rock cavities.. The minerals deposited may vary, but in Kansas most geodes consist of quartz, chalcedony (a type of quartz), and calcite.They commonly form in limestone and can be found in many places in the Flint …Gypsum is a common mineral in Kansas. It is found in thick beds amid layers of sedimentary rocks, such as limestone, shale, and sandstone. Of the three varieties of gypsum—selenite, satin spar, and rock gypsum—Permian-age rock gypsum is mined in Barber County in south-central Kansas and in Marshall County in northeastern Kansas. …Sinkholes, also called sinks, develop slowly when the ground subsides a few inches a year or catastrophically when the surface drops tens of feet per second. A common instigator is groundwater that dissolves a sizable hole in an underground layer of halite (rock salt), gypsum, or other evaporite. If a void becomes so large that the evaporite ...Clams and their relatives (oysters, scallops, and mussels) are often called bivalves (or bivalved mollusks) because their shell is composed of two parts called valves. Bivalves have a long history. Their fossils first appear in rocks that date to the middle of the Cambrian Period, about 510 million years ago. GeoKansas. Presented by the Kansas Geological Survey Geology Extension, GeoKansas presents regional information about the geology and geography …Before the surrounding area was settled, Cheyenne Bottoms was an intermittent marshland in a 64-square-mile basin. In the 1950s, the state of Kansas began developing it into a more permanent and stable wetlands and wildlife area. Dikes now divide the marsh into a series of pools, and water is diverted between pools to maintain suitable habitat.The largest Kansas earthquake in recent years was a M 4.9 event in 2014 that was thought to have been caused by induced seismicity. The epicenter was in Sumner County near Milan, where some buildings suffered minor damage. At least 31 felt earthquakes in Kansas were documented in newspaper accounts and other sources between 1867 and 1976.Fossils of the large, swimming reptiles called mosasaurs are common in western Kansas chalk beds, which were deposited in Cretaceous seas. Although mosasaur species varied in length, some grew to be more than 50 feet long. The longest one found in Kansas was about 40 feet long. Mosasaurs had long bodies, sharp teeth, and paddle-like limbs.A large field of the Sioux quartzite boulders sits on a hillside on Kansas Highway 99 a few miles north of I-70 in Wabaunsee County. The reddish boulders were likely dumped there as the ice melted and the glacier retreated north. Many of the boulders, also known as glacial erratics, are now stained green by lichen. Mount Mitchell Heritage ...Schermerhorn Cave within the park boundaries is one of numerous Mississippian limestone caves in the region. It can be reached by way of a fairly level walkway from the park's Nature Center. The spring issuing from the cave is home to the Long-tailed Salamander, Cave Salamander, and Grotto Salamander. When conditions are cool and damp, they ...Most sinkholes in central Kansas, whether natural or related to human activities, are the result of dissolution of halite (rock salt) by groundwater in the Hutchinson Salt Member. That thick salt bed—about 350 feet thick and 400 feet deep in the Hutchinson area—formed from deposits of salt and other sediment left behind when a shallow sea covering the area receded about 252 million years ...The Glaciated Region in northeastern Kansas was invaded by at least two of the eight or nine glaciers that ground their way down into the northern United States during the Pleistocene Epoch, between 2.6 million and 11,700 years ago. The first ice sheet to make it to Kansas covered just the far northeastern corner of the state before retreating ...Geologic time: A metaphor. Earth is at least 4.6 billion years old. Such an expanse of time is hard to grasp, but it is fundamental to understanding basic geologic processes, such as the build up and erosion of rock layers that shape and reshape Earth's surface. If you squeezed all of Earth's history into one calendar year, the first 4 billion ...Coal mining. Coal shovel. Coal was likely mined from a hillside near Fort Leavenworth in northeastern Kansas as early as 1827, the year the fort was established. By the late 1850s, Missourians were mining coal for use by blacksmiths near what is now Weir, in southeastern Kansas. Just before and after the Civil War, coal production became ... Rock City. Huge sandstone spheres ranging up to 20 feet in diameter cover an area roughly the size of two football fields at Rock City, about four miles south of Minneapolis in Ottawa County. Known as concretions, the spheres weathered out of a sandstone layer in the Dakota Formation. The sandstone was formed mainly from sand deposited along ...As oil prices have risen and fallen, production in the state has gone through boom and bust cycles. Through 2018, the cumulative production in Kansas is more than 6.7 billion barrels of oil and 41.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The most recent information about Kansas oil and gas production is available on the KGS website. The Crawford sinkhole, which causes Interstate 70 to sag west of Russell, has been linked to an improperly plugged and abandoned oil well. Because the well was not adequately sealed, groundwater leaked along the well casing into the Hutchinson Salt Member about 1,300 feet below the surface. An underground void was created where the salt ...Assessment of Groundwater Mineralization in the Upper Arkansas River Corridor. Links. Kansas By County , State Geological Surveys , Repositories of Geological Materials , Kansas Sites , Universities , Professional Organizations , more... Recent Earthquakes from the Survey's Network.The Glaciated Region in northeastern Kansas was invaded by at least two of the eight or nine glaciers that ground their way down into the northern United States during the Pleistocene Epoch, between 2.6 million and 11,700 years ago. The first ice sheet to make it to Kansas covered just the far northeastern corner of the state before retreating ... Sandstone, a sedimentary rock, is formed when grains of sand are compacted and cemented together over thousands or millions of years. The sand grains often are composed of the minerals quartz or feldspar that were worn off other rocks and ground down into pebbles. Sandstone varies in color depending on the color of the sand grains it …Sandstone -capped hills characteristic of the Chautauqua Hills region are visible along a 14-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 160 between Longton in Elk County and Elk City in Montgomery County. The sandstones capping the hills along this route are the Tonganoxie Sandstone Member of the Stranger Formation and the Ireland Sandstone Member of the ...GeoKansas. Presented by the Kansas Geological Survey Geology Extension, GeoKansas presents regional information about the geology and geography of Kansas. Photography Projects Photo Library The KGS has created a database to explore the photos taken by KGS staff over the years. Historical Aerial Photos of KansasLike their relatives—starfishes, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and brittle stars—crinoids are echinoderms, animals with rough, spiny surfaces and a special kind of radial symmetry based on five or multiples of five. Crinoids have lived in the world's oceans since at least the beginning of the Ordovician Period, roughly 485 million years ago.The 300-acre Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens in Johnson County encompasses several miles of mulched walking trails winding through wooded hills and valleys as well as manicured parkland and gardens. The trails provide a close-up look at Pennsylvanian -age limestone outcrops and younger alluvial fill— silt, sand, and other ...Like their relatives—starfishes, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and brittle stars—crinoids are echinoderms, animals with rough, spiny surfaces and a special kind of radial symmetry based on five or multiples of five. Crinoids have lived in the world's oceans since at least the beginning of the Ordovician Period, roughly 485 million years ago.Point of Rocks is west off of Kansas Highway 27 about 10 miles north of Elkhart. It is in the Cimarron National Grassland managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The grassland encompasses more than 108,000 acres of land left in poor condition after the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and restored by the federal government. Wagon ruts are visible in places.Silvisaurus was a plant-eating dinosaur with hard-plate body armor. It belongs to a family of herbivore, armored dinosaurs known as nodosaurs. The only dinosaur identified as a silvisaurus, so far, was found in Ottawa County, Kansas, in 1960.The only known specimen of Silvisaurus was found not in marine rock, as other dinosaurs in Kansas were, but in …Fossils, Paleontology, and Geoarchaeology. Kansas rocks are full of fossils, the remains of plants or animals that have been preserved in rock. Through fossil finds, geologists and paleontologists piece together evidence of earlier life and landscapes on Earth.Learn more about earthquakes, sinkholes, landslides, and environmental issues facing Kansas today and the KGS role in addressing them. Discover Kansas’ rich geologic …Sinkholes, also called sinks, develop slowly when the ground subsides a few inches a year or catastrophically when the surface drops tens of feet per second. A common instigator is groundwater that dissolves a sizable hole in an underground layer of halite (rock salt), gypsum, or other evaporite. If a void becomes so large that the evaporite ... Vertebrate fossils—of gliding reptiles that dominated the sky, of sharks and swimming reptiles that ruled the sea, of dinosaurs and mammoths that roamed the land—are embedded in Kansas rocks and sediments. Some are common in specific locations. Others, such as dinosaurs, are rare. Several types of sharks and fish lived in the Pennsylvanian ...Fossils in Kansas. Fossils specimens: Delocrinus, Acanthoceras, Meganeuropsis. Many Kansas rocks are full of fossils, the remains of plants or animals that have been preserved in rock. Through fossil finds, geologists and paleontologists piece together evidence of earlier life and landscapes on Earth.Color elevation map of Kansas. The elevation in Kansas rises gradually from east to west. The lowest point, at 679 feet above sea level, is where the Verdigris River exits the state into Oklahoma just south of Coffeyville in Montgomery County. The highest point, at 4,039 feet above sea level, is on the Colorado border in Wallace County.Chert. Commonly known as flint, chert is found in many Kansas limestones as nodules or continuous beds. It is a sedimentary rock composed of microscopic crystals of quartz (silica, SiO 2 ). It is opaque and ranges in color from white to dull gray or brown to black. Chert breaks with a shell-like ( conchoidal) fracture, and the edges of the ...Post rock country is about 200 miles long, stretching diagonally southwest from near the Nebraska border in Washington County to just north of Dodge City in Ford County. East to west, it ranges from less than 10 miles to nearly 60 miles wide. Still dotted with the fence posts, the region also has many churches, barns, homes, bridges, businesses ...The Kansas Geological Survey has no regulatory authority but does extensive research concerning water resources, particularly groundwater. As a research and service division of the University of Kansas, it undertakes studies on the analysis of hydrologic basins, the High Plains and Dakota aquifers, recharge, and stream-aquifer interaction. The ...Clams and their relatives (oysters, scallops, and mussels) are often called bivalves (or bivalved mollusks) because their shell is composed of two parts called valves. Bivalves have a long history. Their fossils first appear in rocks that date to the middle of the Cambrian Period, about 510 million years ago.Explore Southwest Kansas. The High Plains of southwest Kansas, bisected by part of the Arkansas River Lowlands, are known for farmland and feedlots. But geologic sites of interest include two large sinkholes, a high outcrop once important to travelers on the Santa Fe Trail's Cimarron Cutoff because it signaled water was nearby, and an area once ...The Kansas Geological Survey (KGS), a research and service division of the University of Kansas, is charged by statute [1] with studying and providing information on the geologic resources of Kansas. The KGS has no …Blending in with the surrounding High Plains landscape, the optimistically named Mount Sunflower in Wallace County is hard to spot on the horizon. Yet at 4,039 feet above sea level, it holds the distinction of being the highest point in Kansas. That puts it more than 3,300 feet above the state's topographic low point in southeastern Kansas.Clams and their relatives (oysters, scallops, and mussels) are often called bivalves (or bivalved mollusks) because their shell is composed of two parts called valves. Bivalves have a long history. Their fossils first appear in rocks that date to the middle of the Cambrian Period, about 510 million years ago.Learn more about earthquakes, sinkholes, landslides, and environmental issues facing Kansas today and the KGS role in addressing them. Discover Kansas' rich geologic history, unusual and unexpected topography, and natural resource gems in every corner of the state. Maps, oil and water well drills, seismic sensors, and other geologic tools ...Sphalerite or zinc sulfide (ZnS) is the most important mineral of zinc ore. Also called zinc blende, blende, blackjack, and mock lead, pure sphalerite is nearly colorless, but it is commonly brown, yellow, black, or dark red because of impurities. It has a white to dark-brown streak, always lighter than the color of the specimen.Most sinkholes in central Kansas, whether natural or related to human activities, are the result of dissolution of halite (rock salt) by groundwater in the Hutchinson Salt Member. That thick salt bed—about 350 feet thick and 400 feet deep in the Hutchinson area—formed from deposits of salt and other sediment left behind when a shallow sea covering the area receded about 252 million years ...Dolomite. The mineral dolomite is the main component of the sedimentary rock that is also called dolomite. It is similar to the mineral calcite but contains magnesium as well as calcium. Just based on looks, the rock dolomite is often impossible to distinguish from limestone, which is composed mainly of calcite. Dolomite crystals are usually ...Sandstone, a sedimentary rock, is formed when grains of sand are compacted and cemented together over thousands or millions of years. The sand grains often are composed of the minerals quartz or feldspar that were worn off other rocks and ground down into pebbles. Sandstone varies in color depending on the color of the sand grains it comprises ... Point of Rocks is west off of Kansas Highway 27 about 10 miles north of Elkhart. It is in the Cimarron National Grassland managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The grassland encompasses more than 108,000 acres of land left in poor condition after the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and restored by the federal government. Wagon ruts are visible in places.4 Images. In eastern Kansas, most water used for d, The 10-acre park in Wyandotte County offers a sweeping view of the rivers and t, Kimberlite is one of only two igneous rocks found at the surface in Kansas. Extremely rare in the stat, The KGS's interactive Kansas oil and gas well and field map shows the location of all the named , Sandstone -capped hills characteristic of the Chautauqua Hills region are visible along a 14-mile stretch , Short-legged rhinoceras (Teleoceras) Teleoceras was a rhinoceros that grazed on g, Learn more about earthquakes, sinkholes, landslides, and environm, The Glaciated Region in northeastern Kansas was invaded by at l, GeoKansas. GeoKansas, hosted by the Kansas Geological Surv, Concretions in Kansas are formed from any of a number of minerals, inc, Sandstone, a sedimentary rock, is formed when grains of sand a, The Kansas Geological Survey has no regulatory authority but, Kansas is defined by being a centrally located state. Fla, Vertebrate fossils—of gliding reptiles that dominated, The Flint Hills were formed by the erosion of Permian-age limestone, The petroleum industry is a major contributor to the economy o, In 2021, Kansas City, MO-KS had a population of 2.18M people , In October 2020, The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the .