St. Peter Sandstone

St. Peter Sandstone
Stratigraphic range: Middle Ordovician
Old mine entrances in the St. Peter Sandstone formation in Pacific, Missouri, where it is still actively quarried nearby.
TypeFormation
Unit ofAncell Group
UnderliesDutchtown Formation, Glenwood Shale, Joachim Dolomite, and Wells Creek Formation
OverliesBeekmantown Dolomite, Everton Formation, Shakopee Dolomite
Location
RegionMidwest
CountryUnited States
ExtentArkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin and West Virginia
Type section
Named forSt. Peters River (now Minnesota River), Minnesota[1]
Named byDavid Dale Owen

The St. Peter Sandstone is an Ordovician geological formation. It belongs to the Chazyan stage of the Champlainian series in North American regional stratigraphy, equivalent to the late Darriwilian global stage. This sandstone originated as a sheet of sand in clear, shallow water near the shore of a Paleozoic sea and consists of fine-to-medium-size, well-rounded quartz grains with frosted surfaces. The extent of the formation spans north–south from Minnesota to Arkansas and east–west from Illinois into Nebraska and South Dakota. The formation was named by Owen (1847)[2] after the Minnesota River, then known as the St. Peter River. The type locality is at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers near Fort Snelling, Minnesota.[3] In eastern Missouri, the stone consists of quartz sand that is 99.44% silica.

  1. ^ Owen, David (1847). "Preliminary report containing oulines of the progress of the geological survey of Wisconsin and Iowa, up to October 11, 1847". U.S. 30th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Executive Document serial set. 504 (2): 169, 170.
  2. ^ Owen, D.D., 1847, Preliminary report of the geological survey of Wisconsin and Iowa: U.S. Gen. Land Office Rept., 1847, p. 160-173.
  3. ^ Stauffer, C. R. (1934). "Type Paleozoic Sections in the Minnesota Valley". The Journal of Geology. 42 (4): 337–357. doi:10.1086/624173.