The Cretaceous Dakota Sandstone in Cimarron County comprises three sandstone units and intervening mudrocks; it overlies the Kiowa

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Shale Member of the Purgatoire Formation. Deposits include shoreface, beach (foreshore) and dune, estuarine and tidal channel, marine marginal bay and swamp/marsh in a generally progradational sequence associated with marine regression in the Western Interior.

The shoreface sand, characterized by ripple lamination, bioturbation and the trace fossils Teichichnus and Thalassinoides, is fine-grained, 5-10 m (15-30 ft) thick and grades into the underlying Kiowa Shale. Beach and associated dune deposits are 2-5 m (6-16 ft) thick, medium to fine-grained, medium to thick-bedded, tabular-planar cross-bedded, and lenticular; cross-bed paleocurrent headings are northeasterly and northwesterly. Estuarine channel deposits are 3-5 m (10-16 ft) thick, trough to tabular-planar cross-bedded, and medium to coarse-grained with local conglomerate overlying the scoured base which commonly cuts into the Kiowa Shale or overlying shoreface sandstone; rip-up clasts and wood pieces are common but trace fossils are rare; southeasterly and southwesterly paleocurrents predominate.

Tidal channel deposits are thinner (up to 2 m or 6 ft) and finer grained (medium to fine-grained) than the estuarine channel deposits; they occur within fine-grained sandstone and mudrock sequences, are trough cross-bedded, and commonly contain trace fossils (e.g., Skolithos) and wood fragments. Marine marginal (tidal flat or bay?) deposits comprise fine-grained sandstone, siltstone and interbedded shale, that are 1-3 m (3-10 ft) thick with abundant burrows, small ripple marks, and parallel lamination. These grade into the fine to very fine-grained sandstones, siltstones, shales, and coals of the swamp/marsh deposits that are 1-5 m (3-16 ft) thick and contain ripple marks, burrows, other trace fossils, and parallel lamination.

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