Kansas Rocks and Minerals

The rocks of Kansas are the basis of our extensive mineral industries; they supply the parent materials for our soils; and they contain our important groundwater supplies. In a very real sense, the economic well-being of the state is linked to the materials that are found below the surface. The purpose of this booklet is to summarize, as far as possible in nontechnical terms, the various kinds of rocks and minerals found in Kansas and to describe them so that students, amateur collectors, and other interested persons can identify them.