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Outcrop and thin section scale descriptions of Silurian carbonates within the Hiawatha National Forest, Mackinac County, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, USA

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Abstract

Silurian carbonate outcrops within the southern part of the St. Ignace District of the Hiawatha National Forest (Mackinac County, Michigan) were examined to develop a local description of the exposed geology. The bedrock geology consists of the Manistique Group (dominantly the Cordell Formation) and the Engadine Group (Rockview Formation, Rapson Creek Formation, and Bush Bay Formation). Building on observations and differentiation from previous investigations, outcrops were selected to describe the macroscopic characteristics of these formations in attempt to develop a local description that would be more useful compared to confusing regional descriptions for researchers and forest officials. In Mackinac County, the Cordell Formation is a dark-to-light gray, chert-rich dolostone with abundant corals, stromataporoids, brachiopods, and echinoids. The Rockview Formation is a dark gray-to-white, chert-poor dolostone with microbiolite laminations, and brachiopod molds. The Rapson Creek Formation is a light gray-to-white, chert-free dolostone with abundant stromatoporoids. The Bush Bay Formation is light reddish brown to white in color, chert-poor, crystalline dolostone with abundant echinoids, brachiopods, and corals.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the St. Ignace Ranger District of the Hiawatha National Forest for permission to collect field data and rock samples for this study. In particular, we would like to thank Robert West and Eric Drake for their support. We would also like to thank Fort Hays State University, Moravian College, Sam Houston State University, and Shawnee State University for their financial support. Most importantly, we wish to thank the following undergraduate students who have worked on this project over the last several years: M. Isaac Burton, Kaitlyn Gauvey, Mark Hahn, Jessica Leesburg, Allison Quiroga, Mallory Ramos, and Jordan Vega. This paper was built upon undergraduate student research projects by: Quiroga et al. (2015, 2016), Ramos et al. (2015), Vega et al. (2015, 2016), Gauvey et al. (2017), and Leesburg et al. (2017, 2018a; b), along with a preliminary synthesis report by Sumrall and Larson (2016). Finally, the authors wish to thank two anonymous reviewers whose critiques and suggestions improved the quality of this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geosciences, Fort Hays State University, 600 Park Street, Hays, KS, USA

    Jonathan B. Sumrall

  2. Department of Natural Sciences, Shawnee State University, 940 Second Street, Portsmouth, OH, USA

    Erik B. Larson

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  1. Jonathan B. Sumrall
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Correspondence to Jonathan B. Sumrall.

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Sumrall, J.B., Larson, E.B. Outcrop and thin section scale descriptions of Silurian carbonates within the Hiawatha National Forest, Mackinac County, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, USA. Carbonates Evaporites 35, 105 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-020-00640-2

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