Jeffersonville Limestone


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.
R. D. Perkins divided the Jeffersonville into five zones based on petrology and fossil content, and these are summarized below :Paraspirifer acuminatus zone
  • fenestrate bryozoan-brachiopod zoneBrevispirifer gregarius zoneAmphipora-zone
  • Coral zone

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 ''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 listed the following species in the Jeffersonville from outcrops in the vicinity of Hanover, Indiana:
  • 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 calypso
Ostracods were documented by Kesling and Peterson in 1958. 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.

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.