The Kope Formation is one of the three component bedrock formations of the Maquoketa Group that primarily consists of

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

(75%) with some limestone (25%) interbedded. In general, it has a bluish-gray color that weathers light gray to yellowish-gray and it occurs in northern Kentucky, southwest Ohio, and southeast Indiana, United States.

Description

Depositional environment

The depositional environment of the Kope was shallow marine. The central North American continent was a tropical epeiric sea at the time. Jennette and Pryor (1993) interpret the Kope, along with the Bellevue and

Fairview Formation The Fairview Formation is a geologic formation in Ohio. It preserves fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, s ...

s, as a progradational succession on a carbonate ramp. The Kope is the most distal facies of the ramp complex.

Notable outcrops

The type section of the Grand Avenue Member is a cliff to the west of Grand Avenue in Cincinnati,

Hamilton County, Ohio Hamilton County is located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 830,639, making it the third-most populous county in Ohio. The county seat and largest city is Cincinnati. The county i ...

.Ford, J.P., 1967, Cincinnatian geology in southwest Hamilton County, Ohio: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 51, no. 6, p. 918-936. The type section of the Wesselman Tongue of the Kope Formation is an east-facing embankment on an unnamed creek that is followed by Wesselman Road in Miami Township, Hamilton County, Ohio. The embankment is south of Zion Hill bridge.

Fossil content

Brachiopods, trilobites, bryozoans, rugose corals, and

echinoderms An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea li ...

(including crinoids, asteroids, and edrioasteroids) are all present in the Kope. Due to their mid-continent depositional environment, the fossils are almost free of deformation caused by tectonic activity common in the Appalachian Mountains. The brachiopods '' Dalmanella'' sp., '' Hebertella'' sp., ''

Leptaena ''Leptaena'' is an extinct genus of mid-sized brachiopod that existed from the Dariwilian epoch to the Emsian epoch, though some specimens have been found in strata as late in age as the Tournasian epoch. Like some other Strophomenids, ''Lept ...

'' sp., '' Petrocrania'' sp., '' Philhedra'' sp., ''

Platystrophia ''Platystrophia'' is an extinct genus of brachiopods that lived from the Ordovician to the Silurian in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. It has a prominent sulcus and fold. It usually lived in marine lime mud and sands. Distrib ...

'' sp., '' Pseudolingula'' sp., '' Rafinesquina'' sp., ''

Sowerbyella ''Sowerbyella'' is a genus of fungi in the family Pyronemataceae. The genus has a widespread distribution, and contains 17 species found mostly in Europe and China. The genus was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by John Axel Nannfeldt i ...

'' sp., '' Strophomena'' sp., '' Trematis'' sp., and '' Zygospira'' sp. have been recorded from the Cincinnatian Series, which includes the Kope Formation. The trilobites such as '' Triarthrus eatoni'', ''

Cryptolithus tessellatus ''Cryptolithus'' is a genus of extinct trinucleid trilobites that lived during the Ordovician period. They were mostly blind. They are found in the United States, Canada, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, France, the Czech Republic, Morocco and Tu ...

'', and '' Proetidella parviusculus'' have been identified in the Kope, and the Ohio State Fossil, ''

Isotelus maximus ''Isotelus'' is a genus of asaphid trilobites from the middle and upper Ordovician period, fairly common in the Northeastern United States, northwest Manitoba, southwestern Quebec and southeastern Ontario. One species, ''Isotelus rex,'' is ...

'', can most likely be found in it. The bryozoans '' Ceramophylla'' sp., '' Eridotrypa mutabilis'', '' Peronopera vera'', '' Batostoma jamesi'', '' Dekayia aspera'', '' Heterotrypa ulrichi'', '' Parvohallopora'' sp., and '' Amplexopora septosa'' have been found in the Kope. Among echinoderms, the crinoids '' Cincinnaticrinus varibrachialis'', '' Ectenocrinus'' sp., and ''

Iocrinus ''Iocrinus'' is an extinct genus of crinoid (sea lilies and feather stars). It is an early Form (zoology), form of crinoid, from the Ordovician Rock (geology), rock of North America, England, and Gilwern Hill, Powys in Wales. Selected species ...

'' sp. are present in the Kope. Edrioasteroids and asteroids (starfish), generally rare, are common in overlying formations, and may be present in the Kope.''Fossils of Ohio'', p. 245-246

Age

Relative age dating of the Kope places it in the Late Ordovician period.

References

Bibliography

''Fossils of Ohio''
Bulletin 70, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey, Edited by Rodney M. Feldmann and Merrianne Hackathorn, 577 p., 232 plates (some in color), drawings, maps, and tables, 1996. {{Chronostratigraphy of Ohio Geologic formations of Indiana Geologic formations of Kentucky Geologic formations of Ohio Upper Ordovician Series Ordovician System of North America Ordovician Ohio Ordovician Kentucky Ordovician Indiana Ordovician south paleopolar deposits Ordovician southern paleotemperate deposits Limestone formations of the United States Shallow marine deposits Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of North America Paleontology in Indiana Paleontology in Kentucky Paleontology in Ohio Katian