Lime Kiln Road: Fort Atkinson Dolomite

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay


North of Scray's Hill, a low straight scarp marks the edge of the Fort Atkinson Member of the Maquoketa Formation.
SE 1/4 NE 1/4 Sec. 29 T23N R21E; Bellevue 7.5' quadrangle

A small pit on the west side of Lime Kiln Road provides the most accessible exposure of the Fort Atkinson dolomite. The pit was originally developed by the Atlas Powder Company

From just north of the pit, the Fort Atkinson scarp is a drift-mantled low rise.
The pit was prominent in the 1980's but has been completely filled in. In the former pit glacial striations were observed to trend 030. Weathered waste piles were sources of nice brachiopod fossils as well as occasional cephalopods, crinoids and trilobites.
A view from just south of the pit. The flat bench is the top of the Fort Atkinson. The sharp rise is the edge of the Silurian dolomite, underlain by the

Joints in the pit were measured with trends of 025-030, 050-055 and 070-075 degrees. The straight scarp marking the edge of the dolomite trends 053, parallel to one of the joint sets, although it is the least significant set.

The scarp ends just about at the road and no outcrops are observed in the valleys to the east. This locality is on the south edge of a broad and deep buried valley whose northern wall is just south of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay campus. East of the road the contact of the Fort Atkinson probably swings east and then southeast to follow the buried valley wall.


Reference

Dutch, S. I., 1980; Atlas Powder Company Quarry in Stieglitz, R. D., editor, Geology of Northeastern Wisconsin, 44th Annual Tri-State Geological Field Conference Guidebook, P. 130-131.

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Created 19 May 1999, Last Update 19 May 1999