At the beginning of the Rocky Mountains uplift, the final floor of the Western Interior Seaway was elevated several thousand feet (thousands of meters) above sea level. The pattern of erosion of material from the northeast into the midcontinent was largely reversed from the previous drainage patterns of the Cretaceous and earlier periods so that material eroded from the Rocky Mountains was carried eastward on to expansive, geologically weathered plains. This material included quartz and feldspar from Precambrian granite, but also residue from the uplifted shale, limestone, and sandstone accumulated from the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods, as well as igneous rock from Cenozoic volcanism.
Many rivers carried this material from the mountains to the east. What each river carried from different parts of the mountains varied, changing also as the geography of the Rocky Mountains evolved.
Owing to the low amount of sloping, vast quantities of sand and gravel were dumped on the plains in broad and overlapping alluvial fans rather than being carried into the Mississippi River.
Over this time, many volcanic ash falls occurred and have been identified to their source, including several from the Yellowstone Supervolcano and two from the Jemez Caldera.[3]
Lithostratigraphy
From bottom to top, the Ogallala was deposited as overlapping alluvial fans of sand and gravel, displaying bedding resulting from river flows and flooding. Much of this material remained unconsolidated; however, significant modification occurred as the material deepened, particularly with the cementation of the sand and gravel with calcium carbonate and silica.
The top of the Ogallala is defined by a thick cap rock of hard limestone or caliche, broadly called "algal limestone". Patterns of thin lines in the "limestone" suggested algal origin to frontier geologists (calcite and silica deposited within mats of algae under a shallow lake). However, the material is determined to be mostly caliche that formed after deposition of the sand and gravel from the mountain rivers was sharply reduced and the climate became arid or semiarid. This extensive and resistant material established the broad flat expanses of the High Plains. Most of the material that overlies this bed is wind-blown Pleistocene loess,[5] while the Blanco Formation overlies the Ogallala in Texas and southwestern Kansas. Much of the underlying sand and gravel is unconsolidated or poorly consolidated such that it easily erodes away, leaving in western Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas a range of dramatic high bluffs that define the boundary of a "high plain".[6]
The lowest, oldest deposits filled in the shallow valleys of the weathered rocks that were exposed at that time,[7] which ranged in age from Cretaceous in Nebraska and Kansas to Permian in Texas. As the rivers built up the alluvial fans, subsurface water circulation varied, resulting in localized formation of caliche, and shallow lakes formed between natural levees, which deposited limestone. These consolidated lenses, distributed in within the middle portion, do not represent any particular horizon; but do cap intermediate bluffs below valley rims. Because of their bluff-forming nature and resemblance to concrete or mortar, these lenses are described as "caprock" or "mortar beds". Various ash falls were locally deposited, supplying silica for the formation of agate and chert in the upper portion and opal in the lowest portion.
Other than the lower opaline sandstone zone and the "Algal limestone", the Ogallala has no persistent lithological marker beds beyond the stated generalities of local chert beds in the upper zone and local caliche "mortar bed" lenses in the middle zone. It may be the case that consolidation of the caliche of the "Algal limestone" occurred broadly at the same time but in whatever material was at the local surface after deposition of the sand and gravel ceased. And, while the "Algal limestone" is a marker bed, it does not establish correlation of the specific beds in which the caliche formed.
Biostratigraphy
Faced with particularly rich collections of terrestrial Neogene vertebrate fossils, Nebraska geologists recognized the distinct North American land mammal ages (NALMA) within the Ogallala; Clarendonian, Hemphillian, and Blancan sufficient to attempt definitions of formations on a biostratigraphic basis. The Ogallala's rich grass seed record was also used to develop biostratigraphic successions within the unit. Unfortunately, no correlation with any consistent rock bedding can be established over the Ogallala's range.[3]
These Nebraskan biostratigraphic classifications elevated the Ogallala to group status with three members Kimball (youngest), Ash Hollow, and Valentine (oldest). Kansas geologists attempted to carry these classifications into the state; but, the state has since abandoned the three divisions. Like the remainder of High Plains states, Kansas considers the Ogallala to be a formation.[3] However, it is convenient to informally divide the Ogallala into the three general zones with these names:[5]
Kimball - the upper zone with the "Algal limestone", agate, and chert beds
Ash Hollow - the broad middle zone with the additional caprock "mortar beds"
Valentine - the lowest zone with the opaline sandstone
Gallery
East side of Blanco Canyon, TX, showing the locally red-colored Ogallala Formation and the bright white color of the Blanco Formation.
^Rex C. Buchanan; B. Brownie Wilson; Robert R. Buddemeier; James J. Butler Jr. "The High Plains Aquifer". Kansas Geological Survey, Public Information Circular (PIC) 18.
^"Geologic Unit: Ogallala". National Geologic Database. Geolex — Significant Publications. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
^John C. Frye; A. Byron Leonard; Ada Swineford (1956). Stratigraphy of the Ogallala Formation (Neogene) of Northern Kansas, Bulletin 118. University of Kansas Publications, State Geological Survey of Kansas. p. Methods of Correlation. .... It is quite clear ... that the bed belongs to the Ogallala and is the capping rock of the section. .... Frye (1945a) presented an hypothesis of "Algal limestone" formation in lakes that occupied consequent depressions and abandoned channel segments, after deposition had virtually ceased on the piedmont plain of alluviation that marked the top of the Ogallala deposits.
^John C. Frye; A. Byron Leonard; Ada Swineford (1956). Stratigraphy of the Ogallala Formation (Neogene) of Northern Kansas, Bulletin 118. University of Kansas Publications, State Geological Survey of Kansas. p. Methods of Correlation. ... and the configuration of the lower surface indicates location of preexisting valleys and the most likely locale of earliest sedimentation. ... Therefore, it is expectable that the lowest, hence oldest, members be present in low areas of the bedrock, ... The relation of the configuration of the erosional surface at the base of the Ogallala to the stratigraphy of the formation has been fully recognized only recently (Merriam and Frye, 1954)
Sources
Hunt, ReBecca K., Vincent L. Santucci and Jason Kenworthy. 2006. "A preliminary inventory of fossil fish from National Park Service units." in S.G. Lucas, J.A. Spielmann, P.M. Hester, J.P. Kenworthy, and V.L. Santucci (ed.s), Fossils from Federal Lands. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 34, pp. 63–69.
