National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Testing of Sites 41LT172 and 41LT354 in Luminant's Kosse Mine, Limestone, Texas Page: 3
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NATURAL SETTING
The Kosse Mine is located within the Post Oak Savannah region of east central Texas (Gould 1975).
This area is also within the West Gulf Coastal Plain physiographic province (Fenneman 1938). The
vegetation consists primarily of upland pastures, forested slopes, and bottomland forests and
wetlands. Vegetation communities that occur in the mine area include upland hardwood forests and
pastures, bottomland/riparian forests, grasslands, mesquite brushland, hydric communities,
aquatic habitats, regenerative areas, and disturbed land.
SURFACE GEOLOGY
The surface geology of the Kosse Mine is dominated by the Eocene-aged Calvert Bluff Formation,
which is mostly composed of "mudstone with various amounts of sandstone, lignite, ironstone
concretions, and in the uppermost part, locally glauconitic" (Proctor et al. 1970). The floodplain of
Steele Creek and the lower reaches of its largest tributaries (Owens Creek and Polecat Creek) are
dominated by Holocene alluvial deposits that include "indistinct low terrace deposits; gravel, sand,
silt, silty clay, and organic matter" (Proctor et al. 1970). Some of the gravel in the Holocene alluvial
deposits may have been suitable for knapping by local prehistoric populations and is the most likely
raw material source for the chert and quartzite lithic artifacts recovered during previous survey
within the mine (cf. Dixon and Sherman 2010; Sherman and Watkins 2007; Sherman et al. 2006).
The sandstone and ironstone in the Calvert Bluff Formation, if it outcrops locally, may have served
as a raw material resource for prehistoric populations for making ground stone tools and grinding
implements or for use in roasting pits (see Sherman et al. 2007). Significant deposits of clay suitable
for pottery manufacture were recorded in southern Limestone County and northern Robertson
County, and specifically, near Headsville (Potter and McKnight 1931). A large outcrop of kaolinite,
which appeared to have been exploited at least historically, was identified at site 41LT424
(Sherman and Watkins 2007). The Eocene-aged Willis Point Formation outcrops just to the west of
the Kosse Mine on either side of the Little Brazos River. This formation is mostly white calcareous
clay in the upper part but has a thin bed of limestone in the middle part (Proctor et al. 1970).
SOILS
General Soil Map Units within the Kosse mine area (Griffin 1998) are Edge-Tabor or Crockett-
Normangee soils. These soils typically have a dark brown fine sandy loam surface layer underlain
by a red clay subsoil. Specific soil types mapped at the two sites tested are listed in Table 1, withPrivate and Confidential
Atkins 100021558/110187 3
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Atkins North America, Inc. National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Testing of Sites 41LT172 and 41LT354 in Luminant's Kosse Mine, Limestone, Texas, report, February 2012; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth839205/m1/12/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.