The Erosional History of the Flint Hills

Abstract

The Flint Hills (Frye and Schoewe, 1953) extend virtually across Kansas as a belt of rugged topography (Fig. 1) developed in gently westward-dipping alternating shales and cherty or flinty limestones that give their name to the hills. In their extent south of the glaciated area they have quite properly been considered the most prominent physiograhic feature of the State, yet since Haworth's (1896) discussion of the origin of the surficial gravels more than a half century ago their erosional history has received only brief mention (e.g. Jewett, 1941, pp. 17-21) in the physiographic literature, generally incidental to study of other geologic features. Although an exhaustive discussion of the problem is not intended here it is judged appropriate to report tentative conclusions reached from occasional observations over the past 15 years and a field reconnaissance of the chert gravel problem made in part in company with A. Byron Leonard and Howard G. O'Connor during the field seasons of 1950 and 1951. Data on Quaternary and Tertiary terraces and surficial chert gravels in Chase County (Moore, Jewett, and O'Connor, 1951) and Lyon County (O'Connor, 1953) have been published, as has a review of the inferred Pleistocene drainage history of the State( Frye and Leonard, 1952). Work is in press or under way on Osage County by O'Connor; Elk County by George Verville and Charles K. Bayne; and Wilson County by Holly C. Wagner.