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Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 UMT
UPPER DEVONIAN SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY OF THE WESTERN APPALACHIAN BASIN AND GEOTECTONIC HISTORY OF THE LAKE ERIE CRUSTAL BLOCK
DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for
the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate
School of The Ohio State University
By
Marilyn Diane Wegweiser, M. S.
The Ohio State University 2000
Dissertation Committee:
Professor Loren E Babcock, Adviser Professor StigM. Bergstrom Professor Douglas E. Pride Professor Lawrence A. Krissek Professor Michael C. Hansen
Approved by
Department of Geological Sciences UMI Number 9971659
UMI*
UMI Microform9971659 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Leaming Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
Bell & Howell Information and Leaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT
Réévaluation of the Upper Devonian stratigraphy of the southern
Lake Erie shore region indicates the presence of a Type Two stratigraphie sequence within which occur smaller cycles recognized over long distances. The larger cycle have an eustatic origin; other recognized cycdes largely have an eustatic origin, and deposition has been affected by regional tectonic adjustments. When synthesized with published data
ôrom northeastern and mid-continental North America descnribing regional structural trends, the data firom this research suggests reactivated Precambrian basement faulting may have exerted allocydic control on deposition within this portion of the Appalachian basin. Sucdi controls can mimic sequence stratigraphie deposition. A sea-level curve suggesting the regional response to basin adjustment within the eustatic curve is derived firom interpretation of Upper Devonian units in the southern Lake Erie region.
u Dedicated to those who will always seek to discover the unknown, whose eyes turn to the h ills and to the sky in wonder, who stare at something old with awe, reverence, and amazement, and who will take the time to watch an ant’s nest, or stop to look underneath a rock ......
ui ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I thank my Advisor, Dr. Loren E. Babcock for his guidance, encouragement, conversations, and advice to me during completion of this project. I especially express my gratitude to the other members of my advisory committee. Dr. Stig M. Bergstrom, Dr. Lawrence A. Krissek,
Dr. Douglas E. Pride, and Dr. Michael C. Hansen for their support and stimulating conversations dealing with geology and my project. I would also like to thank Dr. William I. Ausich for his mentoring.
This doctoral dissertation would not have been possible without the support and ethereal companionship of David H. Woodham, Esq., who talked to me, encouraged me, and finally flogged me to finish. He has forever given me a part of himself in editorial and critical thinking.
Karen lyier has my gratitude for having made this dissertation what it is with her drafting expertise and helpful hints!
The Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geological Survey,
Dr. John Harper, Chief, Subsurface Geology, Dr. Samuel Berkheiser,
Chiefs Geologic Mapping, and James R. Shaulis, PG, all have my deepest gratitude for their selfless support and advice. They have all given me a geological piece of themselves, that I will strive to share with others.
I thank the Pennsylvania Bureau of Topographic and Geological
Survey, the Association of American Petroleum Geologists, The Friends iv of Orton Hall Fund of The Ohio State University, the American
Geophysical Union, the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies,
The Ohio State University Preparing Future Faculty Grant Program, and die National Science Foundation for support of this dissertation.
Lastly, I want to thank Dr. Arthur E. Wegweiser, for bearing with me while I hiked up creeks, hauled specimens out of valleys, destroyed a few field vehicles, tore up dissertation versions, gave three computers nervous breakdowns, pounded on rocks, and worried about finishing. 1 want to thank him for having the wisdom to let me choose my own path and to go my own way. I want to thank him for being able to separate teacher firom spouse, so that his “best student ever” could develop her potential. VITA
October, 6, 1955 Bom - Erie, Pennsylvania
1994...... A1.S., Geology, Paleontology and Stratigraphy The Ohio State University Coltunbus, Ohio
1994-1998...... Graduate Teaching Associate The Ohio State University
Research Publication
1999 Wegweiser, Marilyn D., Interpreting The Tectonic History Of The Lake Erie Crustal Block; Sequence Stratigraphy In A Dynamic Appalachian Basin; Invited Paper. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs^^, A78.
1998 Wegweiser, Marilyn D., et al., Geotectonic Environment of the Lake Erie Crustal Block, Guidebook, John A. Harper, Editor. 63rd Annual Field Conference of Pennsylvania Geologists.
1998 Wegweiser, Marilyn D., and L. E. Babcock. Sequence stratigrraphy in a tectonically dynamic foreland Basin: Upper Devonian (Famennian) western Appalachian basin. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, North-Central Section Mtg., Columbus, Ohio
1996a Wegweiser, Marilyn D., The Devonian Explosion of Life on Land: Early Records of Behavior &om Marginal Marine Settings of The Appalachian Basin. 6th North American Paleontological Conference; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute, Washington D. C.
VI 1996b Wegweiser, Marilyn D., New microvertebrate firom a Linton-like deposit in western Pennsylvanian: Icthyolith Issues, n. 7, p.34-35.
1996c Wegweiser, M. D., Integration of photomosaics and stratigraphy in the western Appalachian basin as an aid to identify potential hydrocarbon reservoirs: AAPG Bulletin, v. 80(9), p. 1532.
1996 Wegweiser, M. D. and L. E. Babcock. Integration of Photomosaics and Land-based Stratigraphy to Enhance Structural Interpretations of the Southern Lake Erie Shoreline: NE Section Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 28(3).
1995 Babcock, L. E., M. D. Wegweiser, A. E. Wegweiser, T. M. Stanley, and S. C. McKenzie. Horseshoe crabs and their trace fossils firom the Devonian of Pennsylvania: New data suggest reinterpretation of their sedimentary environments as marginal marine: Pennsylvania Geology, v. 26, n. 2, Pennsylvania Geological Survey; Cover Photo.
1995 Wegweiser, M. D., L. E. Babcock, L. I. Anderson, J. R. Shaulis, T. M. Stanley, and A. E. Wegweiser. Interpreting Invertebrate and Vertebrate Behavior firom the Upper Devonian of Western Pennsylvania. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 27(3) :94. SEPM Best Student Paper Award.
1995 Wegweiser, M. D. and L. E. Babcock. Wrench faulting as a model for morphotectonic features in the Paleozoic and Quaternary of the western Appalachian Basin Region. EOS, Supplement 17:S279.
1995 Babcock, L. E., M. D. Wegweiser, A. E. Wegweiser, T. M. Stanley, and S. C. McKenzie. Horshoecrabs and their trace fossils firom marginal marine hthofacies, Devonian of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Harrisburg, PA, Open File Report.
vii TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT...... ü
DEDICATION ...... üi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...... îv
VITA...... Vi
LIST OF TABLES...... xü
LIST OF FIGURES...... xiu
Chapters
CHAPTER 1...... 1
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW...... 1
Location and extent of study area ...... 3 Purpose of project...... 5 Support of Research Project ...... 8 Field work and methods of investigation ...... 8
CHAPTER 2...... 22
PREVIOUS GEOLOGICAL WORK IN NORTHEASTERN OHIO, NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA AND SOUTHWESTERN NEW YORK...... 22
Previous geological investigations in the study region ...... 22 Physiographic Provinces ...... 23 General geology and geography of the research region including northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and southwestern New York- ...... 23
vin Devonian System ...... 30 Paleogeographic and paleogeological setting of the environment of deposition of the Devonian strata of the research area ...... 32
CHAPTER 3...... 54
UPPER DEVONIAN STRATIGRAPHY, SOUTHERN LAKE ERIE SHORELINE REGION...... 54
Introduction ...... 54 Stratigraphie descriptions of Chautauquan rocks in southwestern New Y ork ...... 57 Chautauquan Series ...... 58 Canadaway Formation ...... 58 Dunkirk Shale Member...... 59 South Wales Shale Member ...... 61 Gowanda Shale M ember ...... 62 Laona Siltstone Member ...... 63 Westfield Shale Member...... 64 Shumla Sandstone Member ...... 65 Northeast Shale Member ...... 67 Chadakoin Formation ...... 68 Cattaraugus Formation ...... 71 Oswayo Formation ...... 73 Stratigraphie descriptions of Chautauquan rocks in northwestern Pennsylvania...... 75 Canadaway (formerly Perrysburg Formation) ...... 76 Shumla Sandstone Member ...... 77 Northeast Shale ...... 78 Girard Shale...... 81 Chadakoin Formation ...... 85 Lillibridge Sandstone Member ...... 88 Dexterville Shale Member ...... 90 EUlicott Shale M em ber ...... 92 Venango Formation ...... 94 Bimber Run Conglomerate Member ...... 97 North Warren Shale Member ...... 97 Pope Hollow Conglomerate Member ...... 98 Saegerstown Shale Member ...... 98 Amity Shale Member...... 99 Oswayo Formation ...... 99 ix Riceville Shale...... 99 Stratigraphie descriptions of Chautauquan rocks in Ohio ...... 100 Ohio S h ale ...... 100 Huron Shale Member ...... 101 Chagrin Shale M ember ...... 102 Three Lick Bed...... 103 Cleveland Shale Member...... 104 Summary and interpretation of regional stratigraphie trends in the Upper Devonian ...... 105
CHAPTER 4...... 154
GEOTECTONIC HISTORY OF THE LAKE ERIE CRUSTAL BLOCK: SOUTHERN LAKE ERIE SHORELINE REGION...... 154
Introduction ...... 154 Geological effects of cross-strike structural discontinuities in Upper Devonian rocks of the southern Lake Erie shoreline ______155
CHAPTER 5...... 193
SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY OF UPPER DEVONIAN STRATA IN THE SOUTHERN LAKE ERIE SHORELINE REGION...... 193
Introduction ...... 193 Discussion ...... 197 Subcycle I-IA: CanadawayFormation: Dunkirk Shale Member, Huron Shale Member, South Wales Shale Member, Gowanda Shale Member...... 199 Subcycle I-IIA: Huron Shale Member, Gowanda Shale Member, Laona Sandstone Member, Westfield Shale Member ______200 Subcycle I-EHA: Westfield Shale Member; Chagrin Shale Member; Northeast Shale, Girard Shale ...... 201 Subcycle I-IVA: Northeast Shale, Girard Shale, Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale, Chadakoin Formation ______202 Subcycle I-VA: Lillibridge Member, Dexterville Member, Chagrin Shale Member...... 203 Subcycle I-VIA: Dexterville Member, EUicott Member, Chagrin Shale Member______203 Subcycle I-VHA: EUicott Member, Venango 3rd Zone ______204 CONCLUSIONS...... 211
APPENDIX A ...... 222
PALEONTOLOGY...... 222
APPENDIX B ...... 232
STRATIGRAPinC COLUMNS...... 232
APPENDIX C ...... 238
SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPfflC TERMINOLOGY...... 238
BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 242
XI LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Previous stratigraphie nomenclature ...... 112
2. Facies description of upper Devonian Hthofacies ...... 117
XU LIST OF FIGURES
1. Study area enlargement indicating region of interest along the southern margin of Lake Erie and is explained further in Figure 2 ...... 12
2. Study region along the southern Lake Erie shoreline. Transect lines through Upper Devonian units are indicated by letters ...... 14
3. Regional relationships of Upper Devonian strata, modified after Roen and Walker, 1996...... 16
4. Diagram illustrating the relationship of magnafacies and parvafacies in the Catskill delta complex from Caster (1934) ...... 18
5. Caster’s (1934) magnafacies (relationship to this research described in Chapter 5) diagram showing lithological correlation for strata in the vicinity inland and south of the southern Lake Erie shoreline. Examples of formal or informal stratigraphie units typical of each magnafacies are indicated for each hthofacies type ...... 20
6. Research area counties firom which Upper Devonian strata were studied are identified by name. From west to east. Lake, Ashtabula (Asht.), and Trumball (Trum.) counties, Ohio; Erie, Crawford (Craw), and Warren counties, Pennsylvania; Cattaraugus (Catt.) and Chautauqua (Chat.) counties. New York ...... 38
7. The Central Lowland Province of the Appalachian Plateau with the research area shown enlarged, modified firom Harper (1998) ...... 40
8. Location of western Appalachian, basin and showing specific area of research (enlar^d) for this study; modified firom an Appalachian basin base map fi)und at http://wwwjiorthcoastenergy.com/ncemap.gifApril 7,1999 ...... 42
9. Subsurfiice of&et associated with a cross strike discontinuily, northw estern Pennsylvania; diagram modified firom Pees (1997) ______44
XÜÎ 10. Middle to late Devonian, paleogeography modeled after Kent and Op dyke (1985) 46
11. Inferred paleogeography of ancestral North America during the Late Devonian, modified firom Cooper, et al. (1990) ...... 48
12. Cartoon showing Catskill clastic wedge paleogeography modified firom Cooper, et al. (1990) ...... 50
13. Isopach map of the Devonian strata in the foreland basin of the central Appalachians (FaiU, 1985) ...... 52
14. Inferred shoreline positions of the Middle to Late Devonian in the Appalachian basin (Woodrow, 1985). Structural contours are of sedimentary u n its...... 52
15. Late Devonian deltaic environments in the research area, western Appalachian basin, modified firom Boswell et al. (1996) ...... 116
16. Bed containing lenticular cone-in cone structures, Lake Erie shoreline. Northeast Township, Pennsylvania, exposure of the Westfield Shale Member of the Canadaway Formation. Pocket knife for scale ...... 118
17. Topographic map showing proposed lectotype locality of the Northeast Shale, Twelve Müe Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Modified firom Map 61, Map 261, Berg and Dodge (1981) ...... 118
18. The Northeast Shale as seen in outcrop, along the southern Lake Erie shoreline, near the mouths of Sixmile and Sevenmüe Creeks, Erie County, Pennsylvania...... 120
19. “Zebra-bed laminae” (left side of photo) in the Northeast Shale, along the southern Lake Erie shoreline, near the mouths of Sixmile and Sevenmile Creeks, Erie County, Pennsylvania ______120
20. Reactivation surfaces (arrows) on the tops of arthropod trace containing ripples in the Northeast Shale Formation as seen in Cascade Creek, in Erie County, Penn^lvania ______122
XIV 21. An arthropod trace ôrom the Northeast Shale Formation, as seen in Sixmile Creek, in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Note smaller trace to lower right of photo...... 122
22. Tracks, and trail attributed to arthropods ôrom the lower Northeast Shale collected ôrom Cascade Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 124
23. The Northeast Shale as it appears underwater. Arrows point to black shale beds...... 124
24. The Girard Shale in outcrop. Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania...... 126
25. Crossbedded lamination in the Northeast Shale, mouth of unnamed tributary near Camp Fitch, West Springfield 7.5’ Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania...... 128
26. Concretions in the Girard Shale, Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania...... 128
27. Large cone-in-cone-bearing concretion in the Girard Shale, Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 130
28. Girard Shale outcrop. Elk Creek, Fairview, Pennsylvania. Bed containing large cone-in-cone concretions rising out of the water, in an upstream direction (away firom observer). Contact between the Girard Shale and Chadakoin Formation is highlighted ...... 130
29. Mudcracks in the Girard Shale, Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania...... 132
30. Mudcracks in the Girard Shale, mouth of unnamed tributary in Camp Fitch, West Springfield Quadrangle, northwestern Pennsylvania ...... 132
31. Girard Shale and Chadakoin Formation contact as seen in Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 134
32. Chadakoin Formation and Venango Formation as seen near the headwaters of Falls Run, western Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 136
XV 33. Cigar-shaped trace fossils found regionally at the base of the Venango Third Oil Sand, headwaters of Falls Run, near Howard, Falls, Edinboro North Quadrangle, Pennsylvania. Card scale is 10 cm ...... 136
34. Horseshoe shaped trace fossils possibly sand-doUar resting traces, top of Howard Falls, near the headwaters of Falls Run, Edinboro North Quadrangle, Pennsylvania. These fossils are found regionally at the base of the Venango Third Oil Sand ...... 138
35. Diagram indicating regional relationships of Upper Devonian strata in the southern Lake Elrie region, modified after Ettensohn et al. (1988) ____140
36. Global sea levels over time, including the Upper Devonian (from Plint et al. 1992)...... 142
37. The Chadakoin and Venango Formations, Union City Dam spillway, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 144
38. Venango Formation sedimentary features such as intraclastic conglomerate. Union City Dam spillway, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 144
39. Protolimulus resting trace attributed to horseshoe crabs, probably from the lower Venango Formation, LeBeoiif, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 146
40. Bifungites trace fossil from the lower Venango Formation, Union City Dam, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 146
41. Revised stratigraphie nomenclature for the Upper Devonian of northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and southwestern New York ...... 148
42. Environmental facies interpretation chart ...... 150
43. Inferred Late Devonian environments and relative sea level positions for the research area...... 152
44. A view to the northwest along the trend of the broken hinge-line of a low amplitude anticline located in Elk Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania. North is indicated by arrow ...... 165
XVI 45. A reverse fault with rock hammer for scale (box) in Elk Creek, Erie County Pennsylvania. This fault is orthogonal to the folding in the region and trends to the northeast. Arrows show direction of motion ...... 165
46. Northeast-trending reverse fault in Bilk Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania...... 167
47. Recognized cross-strike structural discontinuities in Ohio and Pennsylvania (Blahrety, 1996)...... 169
48. Potential surficial structures associated with strike-shp faulting and subvertical Suiting, (after Christie-Blick and Biddle, 1985) ------171
49 Aligned stream channels in the research area in northwestern Pennsylvania, (modified ôrom Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998). Base map from Map 190. Map 61 compiled by Berg (1981). Dashed lines infer positions of northeast trending thrust faults ...... 173
50. Basement firactures that could occur in the southern Lake Erie shoreline region due to movement along the Tyrone-Mt. Union (T-M), Pittsburgh Washington (P-W) strike-shp faults and other cross strike structural discontinuities (modified after H arper, 1989)...... 175
51. Locations of the Corry (C), Tyrone-Mt. Union (T-M), and Home-Gahtzen (H-G) Lineaments, the orthogonal fault seen in Figures 45 and 46, overlain on the locations of8000 oil and gas wells (modified firom Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998) ...... 177
52. Axial plane of northwest-trending anticline east of Sixmile Creek, Harborcreek 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 179
53. Offset in the Northeast Shale and Shumla Sandstone Member of the Canadaway Formation near Barcelona, New York ...... 179
54. An u nnam ed northwest-trending tributary entering Lake Erie. Note that the mouth of this stream is above lake level, as opposed to such tributaries as Elk Creek, Walnut Creek, and Twelvemile Creek, which all enter Lake Erie at water level...... 181
55. Fourmile Creek, in the Harborcreek 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania entering Lake Eîrie at lake level. Compare with Figure 54, wiudi shows the mouth of a stream entering the lake above water level.181 xvii 56. Diagramatic geologic cross section of the southern Lake Erie shoreline from Dunkirk, New York, to Harborcreek, Pennsylvania. Relative rotation of small blocks is indicated ...... 183
57. Northwest-trending buckling in the Girard Shale occurring perpendicular to Elk Creek, Swanville 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania. 185
58. Horizontal thrust fault and stacking observed in the Girard Shale, Edinboro North 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 185
59. Folded strata in the Chadakoin Formation in the wall of an unnamed tributary on the north side of Elk Creek, near Route 98, Edinboro North 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 187
60. Thrust fault in the Chadakoin Formation, spillway to Union City Dam, Crawford County, Pennsylvania ...... 187
61. Unlithified fault gauge in a thrust fault, in the Girard Shale in Elk Creek, Swanville 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...... 189
62. Thrust fault in the Girard Shale, Edinboro North 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Ehrie County, Pennsylvania. Vertical displacement is roughly 3 meters ...... 189
63. Regional earthquake epicenters as related to CSDs in the southern Lake Erie region. The data are firom the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC): Earthquake Search Results, Rectangular Grid Search, Latitude Range: 38 to 48, Longitude Range: -85 to -75, Number of Earthquakes shown: 150. Depth is in kilometers..» ...... 195
64. Approximate positions of highstand systems tracts (HST) and lowstand system tracts (LST) with respect to the regional geology contained with in parasequence SB1-SB2. SB symbolizes sequence boundary; MFS symbolizes maximum flooding surface; TST symbolizes transgressive system tract; TS symbolizes transgressive surface ...... 205
65. Map showing location of Presque Isle, Pennsylvania, (firom White, 1881).207
66. Rip up clasts in the lower Northeast Shale, near the mouth of Sevenmile Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania ------209
xvm 67. Depiction, of coseismic controls that result in strata that mimic sequence stratigraphie depositional styles (modified fiom McCalpin, 1997) ...... 214
68. Regional sea level curve as derived firom sequence stratigraphie interpretation of Upper Devonian units in the southern Lake Erie region. ..216
69. Regional sea level curve for the Upper Devonian of the southern Lake Erie shoreline region (see Figure 68) compared to the third-order Kaskaskian Sequence curve ...... 218
70. Revised regional stratigraphie correlation of Upper Devonian units in the southern Lake Erie shoreline region ...... 220
XIX CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
The western Appalachian basin contains classic sections of Upper
Devonian strata, many of which have been the focus of geologic studies more than 150 years. Traditional interpretations of the Devonian strata
&om this region have been used as a paradigm for regional interpretation of basin geology since the late 1800s.
The research reported here focuses on those western Appalachian basin rocks that crop out along the southern Lake Erie shoreline. It has long been thought that these Upper Devonian Chautauquan
(Famennian) rocks were well studied. Previous researchers, however, have noted that hirther investigation was required on these rocks to better interpret the geologic history (White, 1881; Caster, 1934; Pashin and Ettensohn, 1995).
Major problems exist in this area with respect to stratigraphy, and the problems of correlation and identification. These problems must be addressed in order to provide more accurate regional and global 1 correlation. Some of the problems were pointed out by Caster (1934), and
Pashin and Ettensohn (1995). Pashin and Ettensohn (1995) and Caster
(1934), recognized that correlation diffîculties exist because of a paucity of stratigraphie information available for Devonian rocks that are exposed along the southern Lake Erie shoreline, and because of a perception that all basic work had been completed. The intent of th is research is to fill in the gaps with as much new ground-truth data as possible, to better interpret the stratigraphie, paléontologie, and tectonic history of the Upper Devonian rocks located in this portion of the western Appalachian basin.
Studied rocks firom the southern Lake Erie shoreline are contained within the Chautauquan Stage of North American usage (coeval to the
Famennian of international usage) of the Upper Devonian. Strata include the Canadaway Group, Chadakoin Formation, Venango
Formation, and the Ohio Shale. Broad geological interpretations have been drawn firom the rocks that are exposed along the southern Lake
Erie shoreline based upon previous studies that were conducted farther inland (Hall, 1843; White, 1881; Prosser, 1912; Caster, 1934). These
Upper Devonian rocks traditionally have been grouped with the Catskill delta rocks. Longstanding regional difficulties with correlation of Upper
Devonian units along the southern Lake Erie shoreline have led to 2 separate stratigraphie nomenclatures that largely follow state boundaries (White, 1881; Caster, 1934; Pashin and Ettensohn, 1995).
The contusions firom this work provide exciting new results for the geological history of this region. This research and that of recent workers (Harper, 1998, 1999; Baird, 1999; Jacobi, 1999) suggest that
geological surprises still exist, to be discovered, in areas that have long been considered by many to be well known and understood. This
research has integrated a number of geological methods such as
traditional mapping techniques, sequence stratigraphy, remote sensing,
and GIS (geological information system) to provide a higher resolution interpretation of the region.
Location a nd extent of studv area
Northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and southwestern
New York (Figure 1), USA, is a classic area for the study of both upper
Paleozoic and Quaternary geology. It has attracted interest firom
geologists dating back to the early days of geological studies in the
United States. Classically, students of geological history and analysis of the Devonian are directed to study these rocks. Comprehensive surveys of the geology of the region have been undertaken by the geological surveys of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New
York. Early publications include Hall (1843), Carll (1875), White (1881),
Lesley (1885), (1889a), (1889b), (1890) and remain a useful source of information more than a century later. Notably, northwestern
Pennsylvania is the region where the petroleum industry was bom, and many publications of the Second Pennsylvania Geological Survey were devoted to the origin and occurrence of petroleum in this area (e.g., Carll,
1875,1880,1883; Randall, 1875). Since the 1870’s, a literature has been developed concerning the geology of the area, including those of Prosser,
(1912), Tesmer (1963, 1975) Lewis (1968,1976, 1988), Schiner and
Kimmel (1972), Perm (1979), Lewis in Coogan, et al. (1986), Coogan et al.
(1986), Feldman, (1992), Pashin and Ettensohn (1992a), Hopkins, (1992).
Harper (1998, 1999) Babcock et al. (1995), Babcock and Wegweiser
(1999) and Wegweiser and Babcock (1995,1998). Regional studies undertaken in the early part of the twentieth century and the latter part of the nineteenth century often are cited in guidebooks of the an n u al fteld conferences of Pennsylvania geologists (e.g., Thomas and others,
1987; Seven, 1992; Harper, 1999), and those of the New York State
Geological Association (e.g., Brett and Scatterday, 1994; Baird and others, 1999). Purpose of project
One purpose of this dissertation is to integrate traditional mapping techniques, sequence stratigraphy, remote sensing, and GIS
(geological information system) with existing information in the vicinity of the southern Lake Erie shoreline (Figure 2). Integration of new data will provide the opportunity to view the rocks with a different perspective and facilitate a higher resolution interpretation of the geological history of the southern Lake Erie shoreline region. A second purpose of this research is to more clearly correlate strata regionally across state boundaries. Those who have worked in the southern Lake
Erie shoreline region have stated that more stratigraphie work needs to be done in the area (Caster, 1934; Pashin and Ettensohn, 1995).
Longstanding regional difficulties with correlation of Upper Devonian stratigraphie units along the southern Lake Erie shoreline have led, in part, to separate stratigraphie nomenclatures in the different geographic areas that Isurgely follow state boundaries. The present research has found that regional tectonism has been in part responsible for stratigraphie anomalies that seem to be present in the area.
Additionally, detailed stratigraphie work conducted during dry-spells has provided biostratigraphic data that allows reinterpretation of the regional environments of deposition. The parvafacies and magnafacies of
Caster (1934) are now related to regional stratigraphie trends.
Results of this research contribute significantly to an improved understanding of the correlation and tectonic history of this part of the western Appalachian basin. This study intends to provide a higher resolution overview of the stratigraphy, paleontology, tectonic history, and sea level history of this geographic region. New stratigraphie, paléontologie, structural and tectonic information help to solve a longstanding problem of stratigraphie correlation through Upper
Devonian strata across state boundaries in the area of northeastern
Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York.
The objectives of this research are to provide a better understanding of the following:
• What, if any, are the relationships of "parvafacies" and "magnafacies"
(Figures 4 and 5) of Caster (1934) to sequence-stratigraphic packages
contained within the stratigraphie interval?
• What, if any, are the sequence-stratigraphic boundaries within the
Upper Devonian of this region, which includes the stratigraphie
interval of Upper Devonian (Chautauquan) rock that is exposed at
the southern Lake Erie shoreline (Figure 3)?
• What was the general depositional environment in the study area 6 during the Late Devonian, and how were paleoenvironments
influenced by shifts in relative sea level?
• What is the regional relationship of Upper Devonian rocks in
northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and southwestern
New York (Figure 3)?
• What, if any, is the relative sea-level curve for this part of the
western Appalachian basin based on the sequence-stratigraphic
packages?
• What was the tectonic setting of the region?
A) Has the tectonic setting been consistent throughout the
Phanerozoic?
B) Has the tectonic setting aSected depositional environments and
biofacies within the region?
Sunnort of Research Project
Funds for held research were provided by the American
Association of Petroleum Geologists; the National Association of
Mineralogical Societies; Friends of Orton Hall Fund of The Ohio State
University; and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey. Funding to support travel to professional meetings to present results were provided by the American Geophysical Union; the
Friends of Orton Hall, and the National Science Foundation Fund for
Student Travel Grant. Arthur E. Wegweiser provided all additional necessary support for this project.
Field work and methods of investigation
This project involved integration of field, laboratory, and computer techniques. Geologic fieldwork began in the center of the research area in Erie County, Pennsylvania (Figure 2). The reasons for that are: a base camp was readily and inexpensively available; it was possible to start at the regional horizontal datum. Lake Erie, and walk layer by layer upsection to the top.
Sections to be measured were selected firom stream outcrops, roadcuts, and railroad cuts. All sections were mapped on existing 7.5' topographic quadrangle maps available for the area. These topographic maps are on a scale of 1:24,000 (one inch equals 24,000 inches or 600 feet; approximately 200 meters). Correlation by walking the contact is not always possible in this area due to land ownership issues, dense vegetation, lack of rock outcrop, or urban development. If at all possible strata were inspected whenever an outcrop was found in the study area, 8 regardless of topographic position. Elevations were obtained for outcrop firom both topographic maps, an altimeter, and by using GPS (global positioning system). Stratigraphie thickness was measured using a
Jacob’s staff.
Lake Erie forms an important horizontal datum in the study region. Excellent bluff exposures of semi-continuous outcrops exist between Dunkirk, New York, and Painesville, Ohio. Approximately 50 kilometers of semi-continuous outcrop were investigated from both land and water. A diving boat was rented in order to obtain offshore photos and provide access to otherwise inaccessible outcrops. A photo-mosaic was taken of these bluffs from the deck of the boat in some cases, some sections were physically inspected, and some sections were measured using a range finder. Using keybeds that were visible from the lake, northwest-trending anticlines and syndines in the region were located for future study. Strikes of fold axes were taken using the shipboard navigational equipment. Some of the structures were physically measured for strike and dip.
Biostratigraphic data were compiled, by examining outcrops and collecting paleontological samples. This new information was integrated with published data for the region to better understand the paleoenvironmental setting during the time of deposition. Selected fossil 9 specimens pertaining to this study are deposited in the Paleontology
Collection of the Orton Geological Museum at The Ohio State University,
Columbus, Ohio, and in the U. S. National Museum Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, D. C.
Lithostratigraphic data were collected during the course of measuring the stratigraphie sections. Lithology, bedding thickness, color, bounding surfaces, and sedimentary structures were noted for use in interpretation of the depositional environment. Lithostratigraphic criteria indicative of unconformities so were identified during the field studies. Among these criteria are black shale lithofacies and truncation surfaces. These data were then integrated with regional sequence stratigraphie information.
Existing earthquake data were collected firom GIS (geologic information systems) records and used to map major faults throughout the study region. Field data, after interpretation, were related to accessible seismic and geophysical data to better understand the relationship of geomorphology and basin development to tectonics.
10 Color description of the weathered and the fresh surfaces of rocks follows The Rock Color Chart (Rock Color Chart Committee, 1984), patterned after the MimseU Color Chart. Descriptions of bedding thickness and lamination (Chapter 3) used herein follow McKee and
Weir (1953).
11 Figure 1. Study area enlargement indicating region of interest along the southern margin of Lake Erie and is explained further in Figure 2.
12 = transect
F igure 1. 13 Figure 2. Study region along the southern Lake Erie shoreline. Transect lines through Upper Devonian units are indicated by letters.
14 transect
Figure 2. 15 Figure 3. Regional relationships of Upper Devonian strata, modified after Roen and Walker, 1996.
16 Southwestern Northwestern Northeastern 1 1 U) < New York Pennsylvania Ohio
Bedford Shale ) Knapp Knapp ^ Bedford Formation Formallon Cussewago Cussewago Shale Sandstone Sandstone ' Oswayo ^ RIcevllle Shale Conewango Group niae Lick Bed Chadakoln Gtiagrin Conneaut Group Formation Stiate CT Norttieast Stiale
Stiumla Sandstone CL Westfield Shale Gtiagrin Shale
Laona Sandstone Huron Member Gowanda Shale
Dunkirk Dunkirk Shale Shale
Figure 3. 17 Figure 4. Diagram illustrating the relationship of magnafacies and parvafacies in the Catskill Delta complex firom Caster (1934).
18 plane of contemporaneity strafi^rapbiçunU cPorvofocKS
F igure 4. 19 Figure 5. Caster's (1934) magnafacies (relationship to this research described in Chapter 5) diagram showing lithological correlation for strata in the vicinity inland and south of the southern Lake Erie shoreline. Examples of formal or informal stratigraphie units typical of each magnafacies are indicated for each lithofacies type.
20 3
en
■ : L-T.', . \ ■ É : .'■ I.I.I ■■»- % m .’s. . . N> ^f\-' MAcrmciEs rwîmiES rV\GrWA1E5 rmwmEs mamciES riAcrwiES • ' E ’" "B'' "X" CLEVEUm "i A;^::i B::BE7D STETITOT C A T S K I L t . TIOGA •pocono’ CHAPTER 2 PREVIOUS GEOLOGICAL WORK IN NORTHEASTERN OHIO, NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, AND SOUTHWESTERN NEW YORK Previous geological investigations in the study region A description of Upper Devonian stratigraphy and the geology of northeastern Ohio was reported by Prosser (1912) as a Bulletin in the Fourth Series of the Geological Survey of Ohio. Orton (1893) previously conducted an investigation of the region. The geology of northwestern Pennsylvania was first pubhshed in a report of progress by the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania by I. C. White (1881). The geology of the study region in southwestern New York has been studied. Early investigations were undertaken by Hall (1840, 1843), Ashbumer (1880), Clarke (1899, 1902), and Chadwick (1933). Some examples of more recent investigations are Caster (1934), Tesmer (1975), Baird (1999), Brett and Baird (1985), Broadhead et al. (1982), Jacobi (1999), and Wegweiser (1998). 22 Physiographic Provinces The eastern United States is subdivided into a number of physiographic provinces. From east to the west, they are recognized as the Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Ridge and Valley, Appalachian Plateau, and the Central Lowlands. Northeastern Ohio lies within the Glaciated Appalachian Plateau Section of the western Appalachian Plateau, according to the new Ohio Geological Survey Physiographic Provinces Map (Brockman, 1998). Northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York lie within the Glaciated Pittsburgh Plateau section of the Uplands section of the western Appalachian Plateau, according to the newest version of the Pennsylvania Physiographic Provinces Map (Sevon, 1998). The study area is within the boundaries of the Appalachian Plateau. During the Devonian, this area was part of the western Appalachian basin. General geology and geography of the research region in clu d in g northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania,and southwestern New York. Topography in the Appalachian Plateau is dominated by evidence of Pleistocene glaciation. Topography consists of gentle rolling uplands in Ohio grading eastward, through Pennsylvania and New York into rugged stream valleys displaying deeply incised bedrock. 23 Broad rounded uplands dominate the landscape to the west in northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania. The uplands are cut by long subparallel stream valleys typically having a northwest- southeast orientation. Predominantly flat-floored valleys are separated brom adjacent uplands by steep slopes that occur on one or both sides of the valley. Valleys are linear and subparallel. Occasionally, however, some valleys and stream paths are perpendicular to this general orientation. Local relief may be as much as 200 meters (600 feet), but is generally less. Elevations range firom about 247 meters (742 feet) above mean sea level to about 467 meters (1,400 feet). The regional drainage pattern is dendritic; however, stream lineation is structurally controlled (Chapter 5). Bedrock, much of which is covered by glacial deposits or lake sediments, consists of sandstone, sütstone, shale, and conglomerate. Bedding in the rocks is nearly horizontal with a regional dip ranging firom 0 degrees to 7 degrees south. Regional strike is nearly east-west. These rocks are relatively soft and were easily eroded into linear landforms by Pleistocene continental glaciers as they flowed over pre existing drainage channels (Harper, 1998, 1999). The physiographic section in northeastern Ohio contains all or part of Lake, Ashtabula, and Trumbull counties. It includes all or almost all of Erie, Crawford, Warren, and Venango counties in northwestern 24 Pennsylvania. Parts of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties. New York, lie within this physiographic area. In northeastern Ohio, Ashtabula County, Ohio, is bordered by Geauga County, Ohio, to the west and to the southwest. Lake County borders it to the west and TYumball County to the south. It is bordered by Erie County, Pennsylvania to the east. Drainage is to the St. Lawrence and Mississippi watersheds. Rocks exposed at the surface indude Upper Devonian, deposits through purportedly Mississippian rocks. Erie, Crawford, and Venango Counties, Pennsylvania (Figure 6) represent a southeastward-trending shce of crust across northwestern Pennsylvania from the Lake Erie shore inward (Figure 6). The region is part of the Central Lowland Province of the Appalachian Plateau (Figure 7). Surface exposures through the three county area indude Upper Devonian through Pennsylvanian strata, as well as Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. The upper Paleozoic rocks represent a variety of relatively shaUow-water marine to marginal-marine environments that existed in the western part of the Appalachian foreland basin (Figure 8). These rocks tend to be horizontal yet they show dear structural complications, both at the surface and in the subsurface (Figure 9). Tectonic activity seems to have occurred intermittently throughout the 25 Phanerozoic, and has influenced sedimentary patterns and biofames patterns in the western Appalachian basin (Harper, 1989,1999; Harper et. al., 1998, Wegweiser and others, 1998). Historical seismiscity (Chapter 5) suggests that minor adjustments along faults in northwestern Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Lake Erie, and Canada continues to take place intermittently. The Pymatuming earthquake of September 25, 1998, centered on the Ohio- Pennsylvania border (Chapter 5), is an example of such adjustments. The origin of faults and minor folds in the region is conjectural. It is likely that these structures are related to minor reactivation of basement faults that developed during the initial rifting of Laurentia &om the rest of the supercontinent Rodinia during the late Neoproterozoic. Geomorphological features in the region, such as stream valleys, tend to align along subsurface faults (Harper, 1999; Jacobi, 1999). Glacial activity during the Pleistocene has probably enhanced the effects of these minor but interesting structural features (Wegweiser and others, 1998; Harper 1998, 1999). Erie County, Pennsylvania, extends southward firom the southern shore of Lake Erie, and has an area of about 1995 square km (770 square mQes). It was chosen as the starting point for this research. Crawford County, Penn^lvania, borders Erie County to the south. To the east it is 26 bordered by Chautauqua County, New York and Warren County, Pennsylvania; to the west it is bordered by Ashtabula County, Ohio (Figure 6). The Lake Erie shoreline, which trends northeastward, is relatively straight except for Presque Isle - a large hook-shaped peninsula north of the city of Erie (see Delano, 1988). Present lake level is about 173.5 m (573 feet) above sea level, and forms an important regional horizontal datum for assessing stratigraphie relationships of Paleozoic units in the vicinity of the shoreline. Rising firom the lake is a discontinuous set ofblufÈ, composed of Quaternary clays, sands, or diamicts, or Upper Devonian strata. The bluffs are highest in the eastern part of the county, where they rise approximately 24 m (80 feet) to 36 m (120 feet) above lake level. Southward firom the Lake Erie and capped by Upper Devonian strata is the Portage Escarpment. The escarpment ranges firom an elevation of about 394 meters (1300 feet) to 515 m (1700 feet) above sea-level. Four terraces representing separate highstands of ancestral Lake Erie during the Pleistocene are evident in Erie County. In Harbor Creek and Northeast Townships, terraces occur at 224 to 232 meters (740 to 765 feet), 241 to 265 meters (795 to 875 feet), 324 meters (1070 feet), and 348.5 meters (1150 feet) in elevation above sea level. Drainage in the eastern part of Erie County is southward through French Creek and its tributaries. Drainage in the western part of Erie 27 County is northward into Lake Erie through Elk and Conneaut creeks and their tributaries. Upper Devonian rocks are the youngest exposed strata in the region. Trace fossils are present in most of the units, but the Chadakoin Formation is noteworthy for having a great variety and abundance of body and trace fossils of marine and marginal-marine origin (Babcock and others, 1995, 1998). Crawford County, Pennsylvania (Figure 6) covers an area of about 2590 square km (1000 square miles). Crawford County is bordered by Erie County to the north, Warren County to the east, Venango County to the southeast, and Mercer County to the south. Topography is dominated by creeks that flow between long, narrow divides. These divides are mostly composed of Pennsylvanian conglomerates and sandstone. Upper Devonian and Mississippian strata are exposed in the drainage basins. Drainage in the eastern part of Crawford County is southeastward through French Creek, Sugar Creek, and their tributaries into the Allegheny River. Drainage in the western part of Crawford and Erie counties is southward into the Beaver River through Franklin, Crooked, and Shenango creeks and their tributaries. Devonian and Mississippian strata dominate the surface rocks in the northern and western part of the county, but Pennsylvanian strata are present in the low hills in the 28 southeastern part of the county. Oil Creek, the site of Colonel Edwin Drake's famous 1859 oil well is located in the southeastern comer of the county, near Titusville, Pennsylvania. Venango County, Pennsylvania (Figure 6), is bordered to the northwest by Crawford County, and has an area of about 1710 square km (660 square miles). Warren County borders it to the northeast. Forest and Clarion counties border it to the east, Mercer County borders it to the south and to the west. Topography in the county is rough, with the surface strongly dissected by the Allegheny River and its tributaries. The Allegheny River flows in a southwestward direction into Venango County firom Forest County. The river changes course to the southeast near the middle of Venango County. Sizable streams that enter Allegheny Creek in Venango County are (firom north to south) French Creek, Sandy Creek, Scrubgrass Creek, Oil Creek, and Pithole Creek. Upper Devonian, Mississippian, and Pennsylvanian rocks are exposed Paleozoic rocks in Venango County. Cattaraugus County, New York, is bordered on the west by Erie County, Pennsylvania and to the south by Warren County, Pennsylvania (Figure 6). Topography is rough and deeply dissected. The region contains a portion of the Lake Erie Plain and the Allegheny Plateau. Valley floors are covered with till. The divide between the St. Lawrence 29 and Mississippi watersheds runs nearly east-west through the county. Upper Devonian and Mississippian rocks are exposed in the county. Devonian System Upper Devonian rocks exposed in the study region are entirely siliciclastic and are subdivided in this study on both a Uthologic and paléontologie basis. Sequence stratigraphie evidence is used for regional correlation. A detailed discussion of the strata is presented in Chapter 3. The Famennian-age Chautauquan Series (Clarke and Schuchert, 1899, p. 874) includes all rock included in this research. For the purpose of clarity, discussion of stratigraphie unit will begin in New York and work to the west in to Ohio. Regional correlation of the units in the region can be quite confusing due to the large number of stratigraphie names. The names of the regional sandstone exposures are in the Lexicon of Geologic Names of the United States for 1936-1960 (Keroher and others, 1966). The Canadaway Formation of New York was named by Chadwick (1933, p. 355) and is considered by some to be in part coeval to units found in the Perrysburg Formation (Pepper and de Witt, 1951). The Canadaway Formation includes the following units: Dunkirk Shale 30 Member (Clarke, 1903, p. 24), the South Wales Shale Member (Pepper and deWitt, 1951), Gowanda Shale Member (Chadwick, 1919, p. 157), Pepper and de Witt, 1951), Laona Sandstone Member (Beck, 1840, p. 57), Westfield Shale Member (Chadwick, 1923, p. 69), Shumla Sandstone Member (Clarke, 1903, p. 25), and the Northeast Shale Member (Chadwick, 1923, p. 69). Canadaway Formation strata are considered to be coeval with Perrysburg Formation rocks (e.g., Berg and others, 1986), and to be coeval with Ohio units contained within the Ohio Shale (Andrews, 1870) most specifically rock within the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale (Prosser, 1903). The Conneaut Group (Rickard, 1964) rocks of southwestern New York are coeval to the Chadakoin Formation (Chadwick, 1923) of Pennsylvania and to the Chagrin Shale (Prosser, 1903) of the Ohio Shale (Andrews, 1870). Rocks of the Connewango Group (Butts, 1908, 1910) of southwestern New York are considered to be coeval to the Venango Formation (Lesley, 1892), the Venango Group (White, 1875-79; Carll, 1880) and with Cattaraugus Formation (Clarke, 1902, p. 525). Connewango Group, Cattaraugus Formation, and Venango Group are coeval to the Chagrin Shale Member (Prosser, 1903) of the Ohio 31 Shale (Andrews, 1870). These rocks are generally considered to be part of the Catskill delta complex (Barrell, 1913-1914). Above the Venango Group the correlation becomes unclear. This is primarily due to the fact that critical sections described by Pepper and de Witt (1951) for regional correlation now lie beneath the waters of Pymatuming Dam and Kinzua Reservoir and similar sections are not known elsewhere. Geographical Setting Geological evidence indicates a low latitude position for the western Appalachian basin during the Late Devonian (Figure 10). Siliciclastic sediments in the basin were deposited in response to the Acadian late Caledonian orogenies (Figure 11). A paleolatitude of approximately 4 degrees south has been inferred (Van der Voo and others, 1979). Using paleomagnetic data, BLent and Opdyke (1978) estimated a Southern Hemisphere paleolatitude of approximately 1 degree for rocks of Catskill Delta age (Frasnian-Famennian) of cratonic North America (Figure 12). The Upper Devonian rock was partly eroded and its sediments reworked and redeposited during the Late Carboniferous to Permian Alleghenian Orogeny (Figure 11). A paleolatitudinal reconstruction for the Devonian that assumes 32 Euramerica was assembled in the aftermath of the Acadian Orogeny was used for this research (Figures 10, 11 and 12). Paleomagnetic data (Van der Voo and others 1979) support the interpretation that during the Devonian terrain ôrom Laurentia and Avalonia converged as the lapetus Ocean closed. The magnetic evidence supports clockwise rotation of most cratonic terrain during closure, followed by a northward translation of Acadia and Meguma (part of Nova Scotia), (Kent and Opdyke 1978). In the paleocontinental setting of the circum-Atlantic, the tectonic settings of the converging microcontinent of Avalonia and the continent of Laurentia results in southern Britain, France, and Spain being part of Acadia (Van der Voo, 1981). This strongly suggests that during the Devonian these terrains were not microcontinents at all, but part of Euramerica some 1,240 km (2000 miles) south of Laurentia. Thus the Catskill delta (Old Red Sandstone) deposMonal sites were in an equatorial position. As Avalonia and Laurentia closed in on each other, the Acadian Orogeny affected all of the Appalachian orogen firom Alabama northeastward to Newfoundland (Faill, 1985). The rocks affected include all of the Genesee through Canadaway Group and their correlative units. Age of these strata is approximately Frasnian to Toumaisian. 33 During this time, the tectonic history of the region was marked by the southward migration of deformation during the Devonian-Mississippian transition and subsequent collision with the Virginia promontory (Ettensohn, 1985). Uplift accompanying the Acadian Orogeny provided the sediments of the Catskill Delta redbeds and sediments that were infilling the Appalachian basin. Northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and southwestern New York were affected by at least three orogenies, the Middle to Late Ordovician Taconic orogeny, the Devonian Acadian orogeny, and the Late Carboniferous to Permian Alleghenian orogeny. The Paleozoic orogenies resulted in enormous amounts of sediments being deposited into the Appalachian basin. In addition, it appears that pre-existing zones of weakness in the form of subvertical strike-slip faults were present in basement rocks. These permitted adjustment and episodic regional tectonism to the west within the Appalachian basin. The origin of these strike-shp faults is suggested to have occurred during the break up of Rodinia (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1995; 1998; Harper, 1999; Jacobi, 1999). Initial Devonian orogenic activity affecting the research region produced basin subsidence and the transgressive sequence associated 34 with the Taghanic Onlap. This includes the black Genesee and Burket shales of New York. The slowing of basin subsidence to the east resulted in cyclic deposition and an increase in siliciclastic deposition. There are four recognized cycles within the Appalachian basin that begin with deposition of the Genesee Shale in New York (Pepper and de Witt, 1950, 1951; Pepper and others, 1956; Colton and de Witt, 1958; de Witt and Colton, 1959; Rickard, 1975). The Cleveland Shale Member of the Ohio Shale denotes the fifth and final qrcle of deposition within the tectophase (Ettensohn, 1985). Regional tectonic activity resulted in nearshore cyclic onlap-offiap deposition in the research area (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1995, 1998; Babcock et. al, 1995; Wegweiser, 1999; Harper, 1998, 1999; Jacobi, 1999;). In the southwestern portion of the basin the shales are relatively thinner than the coeval shales seen in the northeastern United States (Figure 13). Fossil evidence suggests that the sediments were deposited in a anaerobic paleoenvironment. The siliciclastic succession prograded to the northwest and the west as the basin filled. The Appalachian depositdonal basin, a foreland basin with a migrating foiebulge (Jacobi, 1981; Jacobi et. al., 1999) existed firom the Middle Devonian to the Late Devonian. The portion of the basin now 35 occupied by Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia underwent considerable subsidence during the Devonian (Faill, 1985). Spatial changes occurred during the Devonian in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. The environment of deposition in the region was episodically affected by regional tectonism (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1995, 1998; Wegweiser, 1999; Harper 1985, 1998,1999; Jacobi, 1981, 1999). As a result some portions of the basin were subaerially exposed (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1995,1998,1999; Wegweiser, 1999). Paleointerdeltaic shorelines and paleodeltaic shorelines are located in Warren County, Pennsylvania (Figure 6) (CarU, 1883; Dodge, 1992). The prograding delta system provided siliciclastic sediments to the west along a deltaic shoreline at least twenly-five-kilometer long (Dodge, 1992). Centers of these deltaic shorelines were approximately 41 km (26 miles) apart and were separated by barrier bars and interdeltaic shorelines that had no barriers. Tectonic elements could have masked the depositional effects of the two shorelines. Regional tectonic elements range firom large-scale faults to broad uplifts (Dodge, 1992). In summary, during the Late Devonian the area of North America containing northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York was located at the low latitudes (Figures 10,11, and 12). The clastic sediments being deposited along the shoreline 36 (Figure 14) shifted in response to orogenic activity caused by colliding and merging continents. In addition, deposition responded to regional episodic tectonism. The mountains to the east and the southeast affected the paleodimate (Figures 10, 11, and 12). This study shows that the stratigraphie relationships of Upper Devonian rocks along what is now the southern Lake Erie shoreline provide a key to unlocking the Devonian geologic history of this part of cratonic North America. 37 Figure 6. Research area counties firom which Upper Devonian strata were studied are identified by name. From west to east. Lake, Ashtabula (Asht.), and Trumbull (Trum.) counties, Ohio; Erie, Crawford (Craw), and Warren counties, Pennsylvania; Cattaraugus (Catt.) and Chautauqua (Chat.) counties. New York. 38 L a k e E r i e Cattaraugus Chautauqua Warren Crawford Trumbafl Ohio Pennsylvania 50 Km Figure 6. 39 Figure 7. Map of Pennsylvania showing physiographic provinces (Compiled by WD.Sevon, Third Edition, 1996). The Central Lowland Province is indicated at upper left. Adjacent areas of Ohio and New York alos are included in the Central Lowland Province. 40 g I, AUIM H (•<*«♦• «'•<■ ASIA MAP U PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCES OP PENNSYLVANIA I* »»i H* W* I • • * DO» f .»% U I— ^ — r — 1— »------— i <1 jii n m «' Kv OkKioled Glodalod l low S«Non High Ploleou Section MoMoui Sodion Gfocloled Pillxbwgh / ( naieou t OiotMM Section Pithbyrgh low PQteou Section *> NIW fNGtANO - 1-, »nM*in •UfNiAI» «k > Piedmont Uplond /SecHon (m. j ^„As' ^ ' Î > P VI VA MO •UffMOGf ir APPALACHIAN PLATEAUS PROVINCE NIDGE AND VALLEY PNOVINCE MWlNCt PIEDMONT PNOVINCE $vweo($ IXPIANAIION HIM.I AMPVAM» I I M H \ I int I SMV nUHtnsi CNovisi I liPUl \H|4lt*A I Pe, *» m • *f>(Pf«l S f i e - e IlM i l.f v f l R***H, I t^ ll« < A i 4l 4 I'nVii tf| ,,f*|»f*,„ I ' elfii.l Hf* . fVy P'llN lN l fA *>•** All » M e,» I I,H e * A fP w n l$ 4 * l*-*i I' * .» |ij WfP**i I 'tii, f * *e|ff« I I f l*«* I I'»»», ,»f*ll,»» > rt ,«••• I'll*»»** I e ,« tn *-»t «nil If* H «• | e lit** I tei,*«i P l f ,# |" *l*l»t>» If* It ». Lf*tf«t If* !• I t 4<««|«tf| |t t H I* It* If f t I * w*»l lew VApt.' fftltei fLe ♦, le I Imp *f*:H ei Apllfr** A»t i* fi If* If'fi It* »« *f • •I il I* » 11**11 Nl'* IfA Figure 8. Location of western Appalachian basin and showing specific area of research (enlarged) for this study; modified firom an Appalachian basin base map found at http://wwwjiorthcoastenergy.com/ncemap.gif April 7, 1999. 42 00 Appalachian Basin Lak#Erl* Figure 9. Subsurface ofiset found regionally by a number of sources is difKcuIt to identify at the surface without familiarity with the inter-regional lithologie intercalations; diagram modified after Pees (1997). 44 SP 6 sonSi^ Figure 10. Middle to late Devonian paleogeography modeled after Kent and Opdyke (1985). 46 Middle te Late Devonian 20 ' 20*1 laurentia 7» w SOUTH ( AMERICA AFRICA 60“S Figure 10. 47 Figure 11. Inferred paleogeography of ancestral North America during the Late Devonian, modified fiom Cooper et al. (1990). 48 lAkROIN BASJN between craion ■no i»w>geoc*ne Figure 11. 49 Figure 12. Cartoon showing Catskill clastic wedge paleogeography modified firom Cooper et al. (1990). 50 Acadian Orogen CatsMtt d a s tic \m d g e OM Red Sandstone NW O ho NW Pennsylvania Sc Pennsylvania Shadow marme shell Delta Alluvial plain Alluvial fans a c to m c M source land o fT a co m cS orogeny (a) Figure 12. 51 Figure 13. Isopacfa. map of the Devonian, strata in the foreland basin, of the central Appalachians (Faill, 1985) Figure 14. Inferred shoreline positions of the Middle to Late Devonian, in the Appalachian basin (Woodrow, 1985). Structural contours are of sedimentary units. 52 Figure 13. @ Wyoming lote (s) Snydoflob# 0 FuNoniolM 0 Augusttiotw Figure 14. 53 CHAPTERS UPPER DEVONIAN STRATIGRAPHY, SOUTHERN LAKE ERIE SHORELINE REGION Introduction The stratigraphie correlation of Upper Devonian strata in the southern Lake Erie shoreline region is reevaluated in this chapter. Strata, nomenclature, and descriptions used to describe units historically considered regional lithostratigraphic equivalents are listed at the beginning of each section. Lithologies of the units as they occur in each state are described. Stratigraphie nomenclature used for approximately the last one hundred years is used in the descriptions. Stratigraphie relationships and new interpretations are summarized at the chapter end. Upper Devonian hthofacies of northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and southwestern New York were examined using traditional geologic held methods to gather ground-truth data. The strata were then examined remotely from the vantage point of Lake Erie. 54 Some stratigraphie relationships in this region have been unclear and according to Pashin and Ettensohn (1995), their elucidation is vital for the proper interpretation of the Upper Devonian in this part of the Appalachian basin. Réévaluation and correlation, new stratigraphie identification, and new descriptions will be of assistance to others in geologic mapping on a regional basis. Information for this stratigraphie correlation is fiom unpublished data collected fiom 1990 through 1996 while mapping in Erie County as a volunteer for the Pennsylvania Geologic Survey, and during research for this Ph.D. dissertation collected fiom 1994 through 1998, and by integration of existing published data. Northeastern Ohio stratigraphy and geology has been previously described (Newberry, 1870; Prosser, 1912; Cushing et al., 1931; Hyde, 1953, Pashin and Ettensohn, 1995; Hellstrom and Babcock, in press). Northwestern Pennsylvania stratigraphy and geology has been mapped as undifferentiated Devonian by Berg and others (1985), and was previously mapped by White (1881). Upper Devonian strata in southwestern New York were described in detail by Tesmer (1963,1975). Rocks examined during this research are assigned to the Upper Devonian Chautauquan Series (Figure 3). Upper Devonian stratigraphie units measured and examined are present along the Lake Efiie shoreline (Figures 2 and 6) in northwestern 55 Pennsylvania (Erie County), and adjacent parts of northeastern Ohio (Ashtabula, and Lake counties) and southwestern New York (Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties). The discussion of these units herein provides a framework for réévaluation of regional interpretations of many Upper Devonian units, including sections that are a considerable distance from the Lake Erie shore. Differences in stratigraphie nomenclature currently exist for Upper Devonian strata exposed in the three states that border the southern margin of Lake Erie (Table 1, Figure 6). Some of these differences are historical in origin, because different state geological surveys have tended to use separate nomenclature. Mapping along the southern Lake Erie margin (Figures 2 and 6) reveals distinct lithofacies differences within some Upper Devonian rocks. Lithofacies differences in some cases nearly coincide with the state boundaries. Stratigraphie units are grouped in this chapter according to the states in which the units were historically recognized. The discussion follows the units from east to west. This style of grouping provides a framework for discussion and better understanding of the relationships of stratigraphie units exposed along the Upper Devonian outcrop belt from southwestern New York through northwestern Pennsylvania to northeastern Ohio. 56 Nomenclature, stratigraphy, and correlation as revised are summarized in the chapter conclusions. Stratigraphie descriptions of Chautauquan rocks in southwestern New York Strata were measured to determine the nature of the Chautauquan rock in the study area. Representatives of the sections measured are found in Appendix 1 and include those firom: (1) Conneaut Creek in the Ashtabula Quadrangle (Ohio), (2) Turkey Creek in the North Springfield Quadrangle (PA), (3) Elk Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania, (4) unnamed tributary of Elk Creek found in the Edinboro North Quadrangle (Pennsylvania), (5) Porter Run, Edinboro North Quadrangle (Pennsylvania), (6) Sixmile Creek, Harborcreek Quadrangle, (Pennsylvania), (7) Twelvemile Creek, Northeast Quadrangle (Pennsylvania), and (8) Twentymile Creek, Northeast Quadrangle (Pennsylvania). An east-west photo mosaic survey included most of the southern Lake Erie shoreline area of Ashtabula and Trumball counties, Ohio and Erie County, Crawford County, and Warren County, Pennsylvania, and Chautauqua County and Cattaraugus County, New York. Geographic locations of transects that contain representative measured sections are indicated in Figures 1,2, and 6. 57 Chautauquan Sfirffis The Chautauquan Series was proposed (Clarke and Schuchert, 1899) for rocks exposed in Chautauqua County, New York. In recent usage (e.g., Tesmer, 1975), the Chautauquan Series includes, in ascending order, the Canadaway, Chadakoin, Cattaraugus, and Oswayo formations. Chautauquan strata in New York, and coeval strata in northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio, overlie those of the Upper Devonian Seneca Series (Java Formation in western New York), and underlie those of the Lower Mississippian (Pocono Group in western New York). The Chautauquan Series has been correlated (e.g., Rickard, 1964; Seven and Woodrow, 1985; Woodrow and others, 1988) to the Famennian Series of Europe. Canadawav Formation Chadwick (1933) named the Canadaway Formation for rocks exposed along Canadaway Creek, in Chautauqua County, New York. The Canadaway Formation as now recognized comprises in ascending order the Dunkirk Shale Member, South Wales Shale Member, Gowanda Shale Member, Laona Siltstone Member, Westfield Shale Member, Shumla Siltstone Member, and Northeast Shale Member (Tesmer, 1975). 58 La developing an alternate classification of the Chautauquan units of western New York, Pepper and deWitt (1951) recognized a new term, Perrysburg Formation, that embraced the Dunkirk, South Wales, and Gowanda Shale Members. The term Perrysburg is derived firom exposures found along Big Indian Creek, Perrysburg Township in Cattaraugus County, New York. Rickard (1964), following the usage of Pepper and de Witt (1951), elevated the Laona, Westfield, Shumla, and Northeast to formation rank. In this scheme, the Perrysburg, Laona, Westfield, Shumla, and Northeast Formations comprise the Canadaway Group. Oliver and others (1969) adopted this approach, although they did not recognize the Laona and Shumla as mappable units. For the purposes of this work the Canadaway Formation is recognized. The Canadaway Group corresponds to the Portage Formation or Portage Group rocks of many early authors (e.g.. Hall, 1843; Lesley, 1875,1876; White, 1878; Clarke, 1903) and the Jennings Formation of Darton (1892). Dunkirk Shale Member The Dunkirk Shale Member was named (Clarke, 1903) for exposures of thinly laminated, fissile black shale at Point Gratiot, Dunkirk, Chautauqua County, New York. The contact between the 59 Dunkirk Shale Member and the underlying light to medium gray Hanover Shale Member of the Java Formation (Senecan Series) is transitional over an interval of approximately one meter and is identified by alternating layers of black and blue-gray shale. Body fossils observed at Point Gratiot are of low diversity, comprising mostly linguloid brachiopods, carbonized plant remains, dermal armor of fishes, and conodonts (Tesmer, 1963). Trace fossils, especially simple burrows that are principally horizontal, are locally abundant near the base of the unit in some layers and at gray shale- black shale contacts. Calcareous (sometimes septarian) concretions, 15 to 150 cm in diameter, occur in several intervals. A petroleum odor is common on fieshly broken surfaces of this unit. South and southwest of Brockton, New York, the Dunkirk Shale Member dips below the surface and can be traced in the subsurface throughout northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio (Pees, 1997). Equivalent strata in Ohio include part of the Huron Shale Member of the Ohio Shale. The Dunkirk Shale Member ranges in thickness firom 4 to 26 meters. It is has a paucity of burrows and had a high input of organic carbon (black shale). It has a high gamma-ray signature. The pauchy of body fossils, and the low diversity of the ichnofauna assemblage, integrated with the sedimentologic characteristics suggest that it was 60 deposited under stressed ecological conditions. It is interpreted to reflect a transgressive event followed by restriction of the basin of deposition. It is interpreted as a transitional black shale mega-facies (Table 2 and Figure 15). South Wales Shale Member The South Wales Shale Member was named (Pepper and deWitt, 1951) for exposures of light-to-medium gray, thinly laminated shale, with interbedded dark gray shale and medium gray siltstone, along a tributary to the East Branch of Cazenovia Creek, south of South Wales, Erie County, New York. The contact between the South Wales Shale Member and the underlying Dunkirk Shale Member is transitional and placed at the stratigraphically highest mapped thick black-shale interval of the Dunkirk Shale Member. Body fossils, mostly gastropods, are rare in the South Wales Shale Member, but some bedding planes contain numerous Planolites burrows in convex epirelief and convex hyporeliefl Some siltstone beds of this member show ripple marks. The South Wales Shale Member ranges in thickness firom 6 to 18 meters. It probably represents deposition during a forced regression (discussed in more detail in Chapter 5). The increase in lighter colored silly-shale suggests an increase in energy and in bottom water 61 oxygenation. Ripple marks are an indication of an increase in energy, as well. The impoverished faunal assemblage suggests at least some stressful conditions for organisms. The environment of deposition is considered to be both aerobic and nearshore, in the transitional platform facies (Table 2 and Figure 15). Gowanda Shale Member The Gowanda Shale Member was named (Chadwick, 1919) for exposures of interbedded hght-to-medium gray and dark gray thinly laminated shale, silty shale, and siltstone in Cattaraugus Creek, Gowanda, Cattaraugus County, New York. The contact between the Gowanda Shale Member and the underlying South Wales Shale Member is transitional. The contact is placed at the base of a dark gray shale bed that is 1.5 to 2.4 meters thick overlying the medium gray shale of the South Wales Shale Member. Body fossils, principally gastropods, bivalves, ammonoid cephalopods, nautiloid cephalopods, brachiopods, crinoids, worms, fish plates, conodonts, and plant remains, are locally common in this member. Trace fossils known firom the unit include Zoophycos and Planolites in convex epirelief and hyporelief Some siltstone beds of this member show ripple marks or hummocky cross stratification. 62 The Gowanda Shale Member ranges in thickness firom 11 to 85 meters. The abundant body fossils suggest deposition in an aerobic environment. The presence of marine fossils suggests that the Gowanda Shale Member was deposited in a proximal facies, in a nearshore marine environment such as the delta lobe facies (Table 2 and Figure 15). This interpretation is consistent with previous environmental interpretations (Tesmer, 1975). Laona Siltstone Member The Laona Siltstone Member (Beck, 1840) was named fijr exposures of light gray siltstone with thin interbeds of gray shale and silty shale in Canadaway Creek, Laona, Chautauqua County, New York. The contact between the Laona Siltstone Member and the shale of the underlying Gowanda Shale Member is sharp. Body fossils, including brachiopods, bivalves, bryozoans, and crinoids possibly allocthonous), are present in some localities. Reactivation surfaces and Baser beds can be seen at the millimeter-scale laminae at Barcelona, New York, and in the Westfield Quadrangle along the Lake Erie shoreline exposures. Thicker beds can show cross bedding. The Laona Siltstone Member grades into the overlying Westfield Shale Member and ranges in thickness firom 0.3 to 6 meters. The siltstone Hthology, sedimentary 63 structures and included fossils imply that the Laona Siltstone Member was deposited in a proximal nearshore marine environment in the tidal flat facies (Table 2 and Figure 15). Westfield Shale Member The Westfield Shale Member was named (Chadwick, 1923) for exposures of thinly laminated medium gray shale interbedded with thin siltstone layers found in Chautauqua Creek, Westfield, Chautauqua County, New York. Exposures can be found in Barcelona, New York, and in the Westfield Quadrangle along the Lake Erie shoreline. The contact between the Westfield Shale Member and the underlying Laona Siltstone Member is transitional, being placed at the point upsection where shale beds dominate in number over siltstone beds. A thin, lenticular cone-in-cone layer (Figure 16) is generally found a few centimeters below the contact with the overlying Shumla Sandstone Member. Similar occurrences of lenticular cone-in-cone extend laterally westward into Pennsylvania for approximately 41 km (about 25 miles). Body fossils in this member include brachiopods and conodonts (Tesmer, 1963). Tesmer (1963) reported fiiat the Westfield Shale Member ranges in thickness firom 33 to approximately 74 meters. The depositional 64 environment is interpreted to have been a transitional nearshore environment, in the lower shoreface platform facies. Shumla Sandstone Member The Shum la Sandstone Member of the Canadaway Formation was named (Clarke, 1903) for exposures of light gray fine grained sandstone with interbedded gray shale and silty shale in Canadaway Creek, near Shumla, Chautauqua, New York. The Shumla Sandstone Member forms a sharp contact with the shale of the underlying Westfield Shale Member of the Canadaway Formation. Excellent exposures of the Shumla Sandstone Member occur near lake level at approximately 190 meters (570 feet) above mean sea level (MSL) near Barcelona, New York. Exposures (Topping out along the Lake Erie shoreline in southwestern New York can be traced westward into Pennsylvania. Body fossils in this member are reported (Tesmer, 1975) to incdude conodonts. Trace fossils in this member include Zoophycos and abundant Planolites found in convex epirelief and hyporelief at the base of the unit. Asymmetrical ripples, climbing ripples, reactivation surfaces, and fiaser beds are common in the Shumla Sandstone Member. The Shumla Sandstone Member is a key bed in the research area. It can be traced westward firom New York into Pennsylvania, where it is exposed along 65 the southern Lake Erie shoreline. It is offset approximately 3 meters by a normal fault that occurs just east of the New York-Pennsylvania state border, near Ripley, New York. The Shumla Sandstone Member occurs above the water level of Lake Erie in some places and below the water level in other places. The Shumla Sandstone Member is useful for identifying the limbs of subtle S 3mchnes and anticlines (Wegweiser et al., 1997,1998, 1999) that can be seen &om Lake Erie when looking southward toward land. The Shumla Sandstone Member disappears below water level just east of the city of Erie, Pennsylvania. It reappears above lake level in Elk Creek, in western Erie County, Pennsylvania (White, 1881) where it is directly overlain by the Girard Shale (White, 1881) rather than the Northeast Shale Formation. The Shumla Sandstone Member ranges in thickness firom about 30 cm to 1.5 meters but is usually about 30 cm in thickness in the research area along the southern Lake Erie shoreline. It forms an excellent key bed in the region. The S h u m la Sandstone Member consists of cross-bedded quartz sandstone with fiaser bedding and reactivation surfaces. The basal surface of the unit contains abundant Planolites trace fossils in convex hyporelief. The contact with the overlying Northeast Shale member of the Canadaway Formation is sharp. Based on the well sorted texturally mature lithologie character of the sediments, the types of sedimentary 66 structures, and the abundant repichnia and pascbichnia of Planolites, the Sbumla Sandstone Member is interpreted to bave been deposited in the transitional winnowed platform edge facies, possibly even a sboal, and in a marine environment (Table 2 and Figure 15). Northeast Sbale Member The Northeast Sbale Member was named (Chadwick, 1923) for exposures of medium gray and bluish-gray sbale and silty sbale with interbedded gray and bluish-gray siltstone and sandstone beds ranging from a few centimeters up to 60 cm thick in Northeast Township, Elrie County, Pennsylvania. The contact between the Northeast Shale Member and the underlying Shumla Sandstone Member is transitional, being placed at the point upsection where shale beds dominate in number over siltstone beds. Body fossils in the eastern portion of the research area include a moderately diverse assemblage of brachiopods, bryozoans, and crinoids. Trace fossils in the Northeast Shale Member include a variety of horizontal and vertical traces, including arthropod domichnia, cubichnia, and pascbichnia. Some of the siltstone beds show oscillation ripple marks, reactivation surfaces, lag deposits, and fiaser bedding. There are rare occurrences of cone-in-cone. Natural gas has been reported from sandstone layers in this unit (Smith, 1982). 67 The Northeast Shale Member ranges in thickness firom about 44 to 136 meters. The unit is interpreted to have been deposited in the transitional nearshore environment (Tesmer, 1975; Hopkins, 1992) (Table 2 and Figure 15). It is the “zebra-bed facies” (Table 2) based on the lithology, sedimentary structures, and fauna. Chadakoin Formation Chadwick (1923) named the Chadakoin Formation for gray siltstone and shale exposed along the Chadakoin River, in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York. Tesmer (1975) estimated that the (Chadakoin Formation ranges in thickness firom 23 to 227 meters. Caster (1934) subdivided the Chadakoin Formation into three units: Lillibridge, Dexterville, and EUicott Members. All three units can be identified in New York and in northwestern Pennsylvania. Use of the “lillibridge Member^ has been virtually discontinued in New York, but it is still used in Pennsylvania. Further discussion on the Lillibridge Formation as it appears in Pennsylvania follows later in this chapter. Near the Ohio- Pennsylvania border, the members lose their distinctive characteristics as described by Caster (1934), and grade laterally into rock more recognizable Hthologically as the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale. 68 Some authors have left the Chadakoin Formation undivided into members, at least in certain regions (e.g., Tesmer, 1975), whereas others (Williams, 1887; Chadwick, 1933; Caster, 1934; Manspeizer, 1963) have divided the formation into multiple members. Caster (1934) first described the Dexterville Member and the EUicott Member of the Chadakoin Formation and these members can be recognized westward firom New York into Pennsylvania. Tesmer (1953) combined the Lillibridge Sandstone with the DexterviUe Member of the Chadakoin. However, lithologicaUy correlative strata found westward in Pennsylvania can be identified using Caster's (1934) descriptions. Various authors have recognized at least six members of the Chadakoin Formation. Those six members are in ascending order: 1) Lillibridge Member, 2) DexterviUe Member, 3) Cuba Sandstone Member, 4)Hinsdale Member, 5) EUicott Member, and 6) Rawson Member. In this study only the Lillibridge Member, the DexterviUe Member, and the EUicott Member are recognized. The contact between the Chadakoin Formation and the underlying Northeast Shale Member of the Canadaway Formation is transitional in New York. In Twentymile and Twelvemile Creeks in Pennsylvania, the contact is identifiable. It is placed a t th e point upsection firom the lakeshore where chocolate-brown colored fine silty sandstone beds (on 69 the order of centimeters in thickness) begin to intercalate with the blue- gray siltstone beds of the Northeast Shale Member. The basal interval of the Lillibridge Member contains a chocolate brown sandstone bed about 24 cm thick. This was a quarry sand of the "Portage Flags" according to White, (1881). This chocolate colored sandstone bed is a key to recognizing the base of the Chadakoin Formation when the units are traced westward. The Dexterville Member consists of gray micaceous shale and siltstone containing the marme alga Foerstia and the brachiopod "Pugnoides" duplicatus. Numerous monospecific brachiopod layers are present in the Dexterville Member. The uppermost Chadakoin unit, the EUicott Member, consists of fossiliferous gray shale and siltstone. Body fossils in the Chadakoin Formation include locaUy abundant brachiopods (including the inarticulate brachiopod Lingula), bivalves, bryozoans, gastropods, nautiloid cephalopods (orthoconic and coiled), sponges, horseshoe crabs, crinoids, ophiuroids (rare), conulariids, fish, plants (common), and other fossils are also known firom the unit (primarily the EUicott Member) (Babcock et aL, 1998). The Chadakoin. Formation includes a diverse trace fossil assemblage, including Planolites, Isopodichnus, Protolimulus, and others, found in both convex and concave epireUef and hyporelief OBabcock et aL 1998). Occasional 70 shell-rich (principally brachiopod-rich) lenses, inferred to be storm lag deposits, are present in this member. The Chadakoin Formation essentially comprises the Chemung Formation or Chemung Group of early authors (e.g.. Hall, 1843; Lesley, 1875,1876; White, 1878; Clarke, 1903). The sediments of the Chadakoin Formation are interpreted to have been deposited in a proximal deltaic environment, (Table 2), in a shallow marine to possibly estuarine and delta lobe setting. The Chadakoin Formation includes small interdistributary channels. Cattaraugus Formation The Cattaraugus Formation was proposed by Clarke (1902) for channelform quartz conglomerates and tan sandstone lenses interbedded with gray, thin-bedded micaceous sandstone, gray siltstone, green sandy shale, and gray to reddish-brown shale intervals exposed in Cattaraugus County, New York. The contact between the Cattaraugus Formation and the underlying Chadakoin Formation is transitional, being placed at the base of the first persistent conglomerate, coarse sandstone, or reddish- brown shale of the Cattaraugus Formation. Body fossils in this formation include brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods, nautiloid cephalopods, edrioasteroids, fishes, and plants. Some of the reddish-brown shale of 71 this formation is inferred to be of paleosol origin (Dodge, 1995). Tesmer (1975) estimated that the thickness of the Cattaraugus Formation ranges from 129 to 159 meters in Cattaraugus County, New York. Dodge (1995) reported that some conglomeratic intervals of the Cattaraugus Formation have been recognized locally as members. However, the stratigraphie relationships of these intervals have not been fully determined. Some of the intraformational conglomerate intervals have received formal names that are used locally. They are the Pope Hollow Conglomerate Member, Salamanca Conglomerate Member, Tunangwant (or Tuna) Conglomerate Member, and Wolf Creek Conglomerate Member (Keroher, 1966). The Cattaraugus Formation and the Oswayo Formation together correspond lithologicaUy to the CatskiU Formation or CatskQl Group of some early authors (e.g., HaU, 1843; Lesley, 1875, 1876; White, 1878). Today, the term “CatskiU” is most commonly used for more eastward- occurring facies that are lateraUy equivalent to the Cattaraugus and Oswayo Formations. CatskiU facies of current usage are ones that were more proximal to the CatskiU delta plain than those strata found farther west in the Appalachian basin. Butts (1908) used the term Connewango Group for exposures of rock cropping out along Connewango Creek, Warren County, Penm^lvania. The term Connewango Group was used 72 to embrace the Cattaraugus and Oswayo Formations (e.g., Tesmer, 1963, 1975). The Connewango Group (Butts, 1908, 1910) of southwestern New York is considered to be equivalent to the Venango Formation (Lesley, 1892) or Venango Group (White, 1875-79; Carll, 1880) of Pennsylvania. The Cattaraugus Formation is interpreted to be a proximal tidal flat facies based on the lithology (Table 2 and Figure 15). Oswavo Formation The Oswayo Formation was proposed by Glenn (1903) for gray to olive-green sandy shale interbedded with silty shale and sandstone beds ranging up to 30 cm in thickness and exposed in hills near Oswayo Creek, PortvQle Township, Cattaraugus County, New York. The contact between the Oswayo Formation and the underlying Cattaraugus Formation is sharp and disconformable. The base of the Oswayo Formation is the level where gray shale overlies reddish-brown shale of the Cattaraugus Formation. The Oswayo Formation extends firom the highest red bed of the Cattaraugus Formation to the base of the overlying Knapp Formation (Glenn, 1903), regardless of the composition of the Oswayo interval (Dodge, 1992). The contact between the Oswayo Formation and the overlying Knapp Formation (Mississippian) is sharp and disconformable. Body fossils in this formation include brachiopods 73 (induding "Camarotechia" allegania, which is absent firom the underlying formation) bivalves, nautiloid cephalopods, bryozoans, and plants. Trace fossils in this formation include various vermiform traces principally oriented along bedding planes. Tesmer (1975) estimated that the thickness of the Oswayo Formation ranges firom 46 to 64 meters. Brachiopod-rich beds (coquinites) are present in some intervals of the Oswayo Formation, particularly in the lower part of the formation. A list of fossils found in the Oswayo Formation is in Appendix A. Caster (1934) and Fettke (1938) have recognized the coquinite- bearing lower part of the Oswayo Formation as a distinct subunit of the formation. Caster (1934) introduced the term Roystone Coquinite Zone for that interval. Fettke (1938) intaroduced the term Marvin Creek Limestone Member for the same. The Oswayo Formation and the Cattaraugus Formation together correspond to the CatskiU Formation or CatskQl Group of some early authors (e.g., HaU, 1843; Lesley, 1875, 1876; White, 1878). Woodrow and others (1988) used the term RiceviUe Shale in place of the Oswayo Formation for strata exposed in Cattaraugus County, New York. The RiceviUe Shale, as origtnaUy recognized firom Erie County, Pennsylvania, is more restricted in scope. The RiceviUe Shale and the Oswayo Formation are intergradational between Chautauqua County, New York, 74 and Warren County, Pennsylvania. Sediments of the Oswayo Formation are interpreted to have been deposited in a proximal nearshore environment, in the tidal flat facies (Table 2 and Figure 15). Stratigraphie descriptions of Chautauquan rocks in northwestern Pennsvlvam'a In northwestern Pennsylvania, it is common practice (e.g., Berg and others, 1986) to recognize the Perrysburg Formation rather than the Canadaway Formation. However, for the purposes of this work, the Canadaway Formation is recognized instead. Use of the Canadaway Formation provides consistency in stratigraphie nomenclature across the two states. In the type areas of both the Canadaway and the Perrysburg Formations, only the Canadaway Formation is recognized. Lithological changes occurring within the units are discussed unit by unit below. The Canadaway Formation in Pennsylvania is composed of the following rock units in ascending order: the Dunkirk Shale Member, South Wales Shale Member, Gowanda Shale Member, Laona Sandstone Member, Westfield Shale Member, and Shumla Sandstone Member. The Northeast Shale and Girard Shale are assigned formation ran k . 75 Canadawav Formation (formerly Perrysburg Formation) Pepper and deWitt (1951) named the Perrysburg Formation (now Canadaway Formation) for rocks that are lithologicaUy similar to a restricted part of lower Canadaway Formation. It comprises, in ascending order, the Dunkirk Shale Member, South Wales Shale Member, and Gowanda Shale Member. The type locality for the Canadaway Formation (Perrysburg Formation) in Pennsylvania is exposures along Big Indian Creek in Perrysburg Township, Cattaraugus County, New York. The name Perrysburg Formation (now Canadaway Formation) was designated for the thin wedge of deltaic rocks lying between the base of the Dunkirk Shale and the base of the Laona Sandstone (Pepper and deWitt, 1951). Perrysburg Formation (now Canadaway Formation) rocks in the research area include the: Dunkirk Shale Member, Westfield Shale Member, Laona Siltstone Member, Westfield Shale Member, and Shumla Sandstone Member. Regional correlation across southwestern New York, northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern Pennsylvania is made possible by using the base of the Dunkirk Shale. The Dunkirk Shale is correlative to the base of the Huron Shale Member (Newberry, 1870) of the Ohio Shale in Ohio and in northwestern and southern West ^rginia (Pees, 1997; Hellstrom and Babcock, in press). The top of the Canadaway Formation 76 (Perrysburg Formation) is defined in southwestern New York and northwestern Pennsylvania to be at the base of the Laona Siltstone. It ranges in thickness firom about 110 meters to 150 meters. Sbumla Sandstone Member White (1881) identified the Shumla Sandstone as the "Portage Flags" of the lake region. The Shumla Sandstone along the southern lake Erie shoreline in Pennsylvania tends to be dominated by a white or tan, fine-grained sandstone, rather than being dominated by siltstone, as it is in southwestern New York. In Pennsylvania this formation m a in tain sa relatively uniform thickness of about 30 cm, and is an excellent key bed that can be traced westward nearly to Ohio. It disappears below the surface west of the cily of Erie, Pennsylvania. Subtle anticlines and synclines, as well as a variety of faults in the Upper Devonian rocks of Erie County, Pennsylvania, are easy to distinguish, particularly along the Lake Erie shore, by following the outcrop of the Shumla Sandstone Member. In eastern Erie County, Pennsylvania, the Northeast Shale overlies the Shumla Sandstone Member. However, in western Erie County (Elk Creek, fi»r example), the Girard Shale directly overlies the Shumla Sandstone Member. 77 Northeast Shale The Northeast Shale Formation (Chadwick, 1923) was named for exposures of interbedded thin laminae of light blue-gray siltstone and black shale exposed in discontinuous outcrops in Northeast Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania (Figure 17). The Northeast Shale is a lateral hthological equivalent of the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale (Hellstrom and Babcock, in press) of Ohio. Exposures at the mouth and in the bedding planes and highwalls of Twelvemile Creek, in the Harborcreek 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania (Figures 18 and 19) are here designated as the lectotype section of the Northeast Shale Formation. Chadwick (1923) considered the Northeast Shale to include all of the strata between the Shumla Sandstone (then Siltstone) and the Girard Shale of White (1881). The lectotTpe section of the Northeast Shale Formation occurs at the mouth of Twelvemile Creek and extends upsection approximately 35 m eters firom the Lake E rie shoreline. The contact between the Northeast Shale and the underlying Shumla Sandstone Formation is sharp and distinct. The base of the Northeast Shale is marked locally by an intraformational conglomerate with the clasts being of a Shumla Sandstone Member lithology. The 78 Northeast Shale is a heterogeneous unit containing thin centinieter scale lenses of light blue-gray shale layers and black shale layers (Figure 19). Ebccellent exposures of the Northeast Shale occur at the mouths of Twentymile Creek, Sixteenmile Creek, Twelvemile Creek, Eightmile Creek, Sevenmile Creek, Sixmile Creek, Fourmile Creek, Walnut Creek, and Elk Creek in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Cascade Creek, in the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, shows exposures of the Northeast Shale but here its lithology has changed, with the laminae now being on the order of millimeters rather than centimeters in thickness. The blue and black beds give the Northeast Shale a distinct “zebra-bed” look (Figure 19). The change to thinner bedding makes the Northeast Shale very difGcult to find, as it frequently occurs as clay draped lenses on oscillation ripple troughs having reactivation surfaces on the crests (Figure 20). These lenses can be found on the bottoms of bedding planes of the blue-gray siltstone of the Girard Shale. It briefly reappears as the bedrock of the mouths of Walnut and Elk Creeks, in western Erie County, Pennsylvania. The Northeast Shale ranges in thickness firom about 7 meters to 136 meters near the Pennsylvania New York border. The Northeast Shale comprises interbedded sets of thinly laminated blue-gray and black shale. The black shale beds are thinly laminated and sometimes petroliferous. Natural gas has been reported 79 ârom sandstone layers (Richards et al. 1987). The siltstone layers near the base of the Northeast Shale especially the tops of the ripples, contain abundant arthropod resting trace fossils (Figure 20). Some of these trace fossüs were attributed to the activity of eurypterids (Figure 21) (Wegweiser, 1995). Others might have been constructed by other arthropods (Figure 22). These easily identifiable traces make the unit an excellent key bed in the region and they occur within approximately 7 meters (21 feet) of the base of the Northeast Shale. The most common macroscopic plant feund in the Northeast Shale is Pseudobomia inom ata, a Devonian lycopod. Other body fossils reported in the Northeast Shale in New York include brachiopods, gastropods, and bivalves. There is no record of body fossils fiom the Northeast Shale in Pennsylvania. The Northeast Shale, a good marker horizon in northwestern Pennsylvania, is exposed at the Lake Erie shoreline firom Northeast Township westward to Cascade Creek. In Cascade Creek in the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, it is very thin and occurs at an elevation of approximately 247 meters (740 feet) above MSL at that locality it grades laterally in to the Girard Shale. In Cascade Creek it appears as lags in oscillatory ripple troughs of siltstone beds interbedded with blue-gray 80 shale. Trace fossils are present near the mouth of Cascade Creek. Also present are some very thin lenses of cone-in-cone structures (Figure 16). The conspicuous contrast between the blue-gray siltstone layers and the black shale layers make the Northeast Shale a distinctive unit. In addition, it directly overlies the Shumla Sandstone, also a distinctive unit. The lithologically constrained arthropod trace fossil horizon adds to the usefulness of the basal Northeast Shale as a marker horizon in the region. Two units, the Shumla Sandstone and the Northeast Shale, allow for reasonably accurate measurement of o8set on fault planes exposed in the vicinity of the Lake Erie shoreline, and below water. The distinctive interbedding of black shale and medium blue-gray siltstone, each bed being about 3 to 5 cm in thickness, makes the Northeast Shale easy to see and identify in outcrop and below water in depths of up to 3 meters (Figure 23). The environment of deposition for the Northeast Shale is interpreted to be the nearshore, transition zebra-bed facies (Table 2 and Figure 15). Girard Shale Formation The Girard Shale (White, 1881), is similar in litiiology to the lower part of the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale (Prosser, 1912). The 81 Girard Shale was named (White, 1881) for thinly laminated, generally non-fossiliferous, sandy or sdty shale exposed in the walls of Elk Creek (Figure 24) in Girard Township, Pennsylvania. White (1881) described the Girard Shale as the unit overlying the Northeast Shale. Caster (1934) indicated that the Girard Shale was an odd, small magnafacies between the Cleveland Shale Member and the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale (Figures 4 and 5). Tesmer (1975) placed the Girard Shale at the top of the Northeast Shale. Shiner and Kimmel (1972) and Berg et al. (1981), using previously published information, considered the Girard Shale to be a formation (Berg et al., 1981). The Girard Shale is estimated to be 30 to 75 meters in thickness. Overall uniformity in appearance and multiple occurrence of stacking due to multiple, nearly horizontal thrust faults. Repetition of the section by faulting renders the actual thickness of the Girard Shale difficult to ascertain. WTiite (1881) speculated that thickness m i^ t be as much as 183 meters (550 feet). Bedding laminae can be as thin as a few grains thick, and as thick as a few millimeters. In some parts of the section these laminae are li^ t gray sandy-silt interbedded with dark gray to black shale. The thickest exposure of die Girard Shale is feund in Elk Creek in western Erie 82 County Pennsylvania (Figures 24 and Figure 25). The thickness near the type section is due in part to thrust faults that stack the shale beds. No section of the Girard Shale is known that does not have some degree of faulting or fracturing. There are no distinct, laterally continuous key beds within the Girard Shale that can be used with confidence as keybeds for regional correlation. Body and trace fossils are rare. Certain facies within the Girard Shale can be reasonably identified and contain recognizable assemblages. In Elk Creek, near the "Ford" for the creek, shown in the Edinboro North 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, assemblages are restricted to infrequent ichnofbssils such as Arthraria, Bifungites, and highly bioturbated beds. Rare shell lags of brachiopod fragments occur in thin lenses and are generally composed of small articulate brachiopods. Strata containing monospecific assemblages of the inarticulate brachiopod Lingula spatulata (Hall) are present. Common trace fossils include Arthraria, Bifungites, Skolithos, and Psiloichnius. A layer of small septarian concretions a few centimeters in diameter occurs within the Girard Shale (Figure 26). In Elk Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania, where they are well exposed the layer occurs at about 246 meters (740 feet) above MSL. The concretions form a keybed 83 that is truncated by a thrust fault in Elk Creek, near the confluence of Elk Creek and Porter Run. Large concretions of cone in-cone structures, one meter or larger in diameter, occur in the Girard Shale (Figure 27). Excellent exposures of cone-in-cone concretion structures (Figure 27) occur in the Edinboro North 7.5® Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania, in the bed of Elk Creek and in other east-west running streams in western Erie County, Pennsylvania, such as Walnut Creek. Forty-two of these structures found in Elk Creek, Ehie County, Pennsylvania, had an average diameter of 1.5 meters (about 4.5 feet) and an average thickness of about 22 cm (1 foot). The layer of large cone-in-cone concretions (Figure 28) is truncated by a fault on the north side of Elk Creek at approximately 42®59'15" N, 80“ 13' 57" W, in the mouth of an unnamed tributary (Appendix B). By the time it is truncated this key bed has risen to approximately 240 meters (720 feet) above MSL. Sedimentary structures, such as distinct mudcracks (Figures 29 and 30), help to interpret the environment of deposition fer the Girard Shale. The Girard Shale and even some of the Northeast Shale sediments were subaerially exposed at times. These units, which have been historically considered to be deposited in a deep, anoxic marine basin, are now reinterpreted using these new data to have been 84 deposited in a nearshore, shallow marine environment (Babcock et al., 1995; Wegweiser, 1995, 1999; Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998). The Girard Shale sediments are interpreted to have been deposited in a tidal flat facies or potentially the platform facies containing areas of topographical highs. Chadaknin Formation The Chadakoin Formation (Chadwick, 1923) is recognizable in northwestern Pennsylvania, and grades laterally westward into the Ohio Shale. The Chadakoin Formation ranges up to 135 meters (450 feet) in thickness and consists of interbedded greenish-gray to light-gray or reddish-purple-gray siltstone. The siltstone is interbedded with medium- gray to medium dark-gray or reddish-purple-gray shale. Sandstone that is composed of very fine-to-fine grained, light greenish-gray grains and weathering to light gray and buff in color forms interbeds with the siltstone and shale. Iron staining of the strata is ôrequent. Brachiopods, rostroconchs, peleqypods, and ichnofossils, are common. Sedimentary structures such as oscillation ripples, reactivation surfaces, small channels, and fossil hash beds are locally present. Three distinct lithologie intervals that correspond to Caster's (1934) descriptions of the Lillibridge, Dexterville, and EUlicott Members 85 of the Chadakoin can be identified in northwestern PennsylvaniaThe top of the Warren First Sand (a driller's term) marks the base of the Chadakoin Formation (Dodge, 1992) and can be seen in highwall exposures along Elk Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania (Figure 31). These stratigraphie units grade laterally into the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale of northeastern Ohio. In a westward direction, from southwestern New York, into northwestern Pennsylvania, to northeastern Ohio, along the southern Lake Erie shoreline, shale and siltstone of the Chadakoin Formation varies locally from medium-gray to reddish-brown in color. White to reddish-brown petroliferous sandstone beds containing long cigar-shaped trace fossils are present locally near the top of the formation. The contact between the Chadakoin Formation and the underlying Girard Shale is transitional (Figure 31). This transition of beds is identical to that which lies above the Northeast Shale in eastern Erie County, Pennsylvania. The contact is placed at the point where fine-grained chocolate colored, weathered sandstone beds (on the order of centimeters in thickness) become intercalated with the thinly laminated dark-gray and light-gray beds of the Girard Shale (Figure 31). These sands have a fresh surface that is very fine greenish- gray to buff The thickest sandstone is approximately 24 cm (about 9.5 inches) in thickness and can be mapped regionally as far east as Warren 86 County, Pennsylvania (Dodge, 1992). This is a key bed marking the base of the Chadakoin Formation throughout northwestern Pennsylvania. In parts of Erie County, Pennsylvania, the Chadakoin Formation includes a diverse trace fossil assemblage including Planolites, Arthraria, Bifungites, Spirophyton, Protolimulus, and Cruziana-]Hk.e traces. Sedimentary structures include shell-rich beds (inferred storm lag beds), beds of flat intraclasts derived ûrom the Chadakoin Formation, and rare soft sediment deformation structures. Other sedimentary structures present in reddish-brown (inferred marginal-marine) lithofacies include mudcracks, flaser bedding, and reactivation surfaces (Babcock and others, 1995). The lower part of the Chadakoin Formation in Pennsylvania (Lillibridge Member) is poorly fbssiliferous. The middle part (Dexterville Shale Member) contains channelform deposits with abundant fauna, including rostroconchs found in life position. These channels are interpreted to be interdistributary tidal channels located between sandier, cross-bedded, migrating bar deposits throughout the region. Numerous h i^ y bioturbated beds occur throughout the unit. Near the top of the unit, in inferred EUicott Member-equivalent rocks are ripple tro u ts with pinkish colored lag deposits.. In driller's terms, these lags regionally are infbrmally called “Driller's Pink Rock.” “DrilleFs Pink 87 Roc^ lags are mauve colored lags, probably the Hthologic equivalent of the "Tanner's Hill Redbeds" present to the east (Cliff Dodge, personal communication, 1998). These lag-containing beds likely represent a tongue of the Catsldll Formation. The Chadakoin Formation is interpreted to be a proximal delta lobe facies, possibly an estuarine deposit in places (Dodge, 1992; Hopkins, 1992; Babcock et al., 1995; Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998; Wegweiser, 1995, 1998,1999). T.illibriHPA S an d ston e M em ber Caster (1934) named the Lillibridge Sandstone Member for exposures along Lillibridge Creek near Portville, New York. The Lillibridge Sandstone Member is usually not recognized as a member of the Chadakoin Formation in New York. To the east it is combined with the Dexterville Member of the Chadakoin Formation (Tesmer, 1953). Nevertheless, in Pennsylvania using CasteFs (1934) descriptions, I consider the Lillibridge Sandstone Member to be a recognizable lithofacies of the Chadakoin Formation. Contact with the underlying units, the Northeast Shale to the east or the Girard Shale to the west, is gradational (Figure 31). The contact begins with the appearance of thinly bedded sandstone. The top of the Lillibridge member is a 30-to-35 cm- 8 8 thick chocolate brown, pink to olive-gray sandstone that weathers to a pale pinkish gray. The unit consists of intercalated flaggy sandstone and gray shale. It contains rare fossils. Dodge (personal communication, 1992) indicates that this sandstone is distinct in the subsur&ce on gamma-ray logs and is known as the Warren First Sand. The Lillibridge Sandstone Member of the Chadakoin Formation was known as a quarry sandstone of minor importance in northwestern Pennsylvania. Lags containing broken bits of brachiopod shells, frequently small (a few millimeters) Leiorhynchus brachiopods and what could perhaps be coprolite or vertebrate gastric residue (vomit lags) are present. Putative cephalopod roll marks occur on bedding planes of the basal sandstone. The Lillibridge Sandstone Member of the Chadakoin Formation grades westward into the Ohio Shale Formation. The Lillibridge Sandstone Member is interpreted to have been deposited in a proximal delta lobe facies of a nearshore shallow marine environment (Dodge, 1992; Hopkins, 1992; Babcock et al., 1995; Wegweiser, 1998, 1999) (Table 2 and Figure 15). 89 Dexterville Shale Member Caster (1934) named the Dexterville Shale for a coarsening- upward succession of interbedded blue-gray shale, siltstone and sandstone. As it undergoes lateral lithofacies changes, the Dexterville Shale Member becomes chocolate brown colored and interbedded with olive-greenish-gray sandstone. Bedding style is generally hummocky and cross-stratified. Both oscillation and asymmetrical ripples are common. Bedding can be discontinuous, with reactivation surfaces. Coarsening- upward facies successions of approximately one meter thick are common, as is pinching out of sandstone beds. Channel deposits are present in the Dexterville Shale Member. These contain cross-bedded sandstone, siltstone and shale. Some siltstone beds present are thoroughly bioturbated. The contact between the underlying Lillibridge Sandstone Member of the Chadakoin Formation and the Dexterville Shale Member is gradational in some exposures and sharp in others. A very hght gray siltstone layer, approximately 6 cm thick containing Protosalvinia (Foerstia), marks the contact and it occurs throughout northwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio (Chitaley, 1989). Caution must be urged, however, in using this siltstone layer containing Protosalvinia (foerstia), as a key bed to estimate proximity to the base of the Dexterville Shale 90 Member because the Chadakoin Formation in Pennsylvania contains more than one stratigraphie occurrence of these fossils. The Dexterville Shale Member is "type Chadakoin" in that it contains an abundant and easily recognizable marginal marine fauna (Caster, 1934). It is easily recognizable due to the repeated occurrence of monospecific brachiopod beds th a t occur in th e unit. The Dexterville Shale Member coarsens and grades upward fiom blue gray shale interbedded with fiaggy sandstone beds containing an abundant brachiopod fauna into chocolate brown shale, siltstone, and flaggy sandstone. The extremely abundant brackish marine to marine fauna in the Dexterville Shale Member is listed in Appendix 1. Some sandstone units in the Dexterville Shale Member have been deformed by compression. Most of the more resistant layers have ripple marks, many of them with lags. Ladderback ripples can be found near the top of the Dexterville Shale Member. In addition, near the top of the Dexterville Shale Member is a persistent interval of strata that contains vertebrate fossils. These fossils are placoderms, primarily arthrodires and antiarchs. Sediments of the Dexterville Shale Member were deposited in a nearshore marginal marine environment within the proximal delta lobe facies (Babcock et aL, 1995; Wegweiser, 1998,1999; Wegweiser and 91 Babcock, 1998). The interpretation is based on the style of bedding, the sedimentary structxires, and the fauna (Table 2 and Figure 15). Ellicntt Shale Member Caster (1934) named the EUicott Shale Member for dark gray to medium gray and chocolate-brown-colored shale exposures near the Hunt Road between AshviUe and Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York. In eastern Erie County, Pennsylvania, the EUicott Shale Member resembles this description but it changes lateraUy westward, becoming lithologicaUy equivalent to the Ohio Shale. The contact between the underlying DexterviUe Shale Member and the EUicott Shale Member of the Chadakoin Formation is sharp and distinct, being marked regionaUy by a buff-colored, fine-grained sandstone bed approximately 10 cm thick that is heavily bioturbated with Planolites ichnofossils. The EUicott Shale Member represents a shaUowing upward unit and contains blue- gray shale, siltstone, and flaggy sandstone with an abundant brackish marine to marine fauna. There are reddish lags in ripple troughs near the top of the formation. Monospecific spiriferid, productid, and chonetid brachiopod beds are common. Orthoconic and coiled cephalopods and placoderms are present in the EUicott Shale Member. 92 Approximately one meter below the contact between the EUicott Shale and the overlying Venango Third Oil Sand is an interval containing Chonetes lepidus (Figures 31 and 32). This one-meter-thick bed is a regional key bed and can be traced lateraUy throughout the region (Caster, 1934). Caster (1934) noted this occurrence in Chautauqua County, New York, and it occurs also in the eastern portion of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Clifford Dodge, personal communication, 1998; Ed Hopkins, personal communication, 1998). This research confirms that in nearly aU outcrops of the uppermost 1.5 meters of the EUicott Shale Member examined here, this key bed occurs even as far west as northeastern Ohio. Occasional sheU-rich (firagments; principaUy brachiopod-rich) lenses inferred to be storm lag deposits are present in this member. Body fossUs in the EUicott Shale Member include locaUy abundant, firequently monospecific, beds of brachiopods (including the inarticulate brachiopod Lingula). Body fossfls found include bivalves and rare bryozoans, gastropods, and rostroconchs. One cross bedded sUtstone interval found in a channel deposit exposed along Route 98 south of McEean, in Erie County, Pennsylvania, contains specimens of the rostroconch Pseudoconocardia in life position. The EUicott Shale Member additionally contains rare nautUoid cephalopods (orthoconic and coUed), 93 sponges, horseshoe crabs, crinoids (rare), ophiuroids (rare), connlariids, fish, and plants (common). The EUicott Shale Member includes a diverse trace fossil assemblage, including Planolites, Isopodichnus, and Selenichnites, The inferred environment of deposition for the EUicott Shale Member is that of the proximal delta lobe facies (Table 2 and Figure 15). Venango Formation CarU (1880) proposed the name Venango Group for white to tan, oU-bearing, quartz sandstone (locaUy conglomeratic sandstone) with interbedded gray to reddish-brown shale and sUty shale exposed in Venango County, Pennsylvania,To the east (in New York), the Venango Formation seems to be the westward equivalent of the more conglomeratic Cattaraugus Formation. Lesley (1892) regarded the Venango as a formation, and that usage has largely been foUowed by others. The Venango Formation ranges in thickness fiom about 24 to 30 meters. The contact between the Venango Formation and the underlying Chadakoin Formation is transitional. Approximately three meters of flaggy sandstone beds interbedded occasionally with very thin shale layers marks the base of the Venango Formation. A thi(^ sandstone bed 94 (the Venango Third Oil Sand of informal usage) (Figures 3 1 and 32) marks the first regionally correlative bed of the Venango Formation. A reddish sandstone unit, about 25 cm in thickness occurs approximately 2 meters below the base of the Venango Formation. It contains large, cigar-shaped trace fossils (Figure 33) and horseshoe-shaped traces (Figure 34). The sandstone redbed containingthese unusual and persistent trace fossils is considered to be a Hthological equivalent of the "Tanners Hill Redbeds" of central Pennsylvania (Clifford Dodge, personal communication, 1998). Additionally, this bed exudes a strong petroliferous odor, is darkly stained, and can be extremely slippery when wet due to the hydrocarbon content. This key bed is traceable laterally throughout the region. Body fossils in this formation include locally abundant brachiopods, and less common bivalves, gastropods, and nautiloid cephalopods. The Venango Formation includes intervals containing a variety of trace fossils, including Planolites, Protolimulus, and Cruziana- like traces. Trace fossils are most numerous on the bases of some sandstone beds. Occasional shell-rich (principally brachiopod-rich) lenses are present. The Venango Formation has been divided into a large number of members or informal units. Commonly, three major petroleum-producing 95 sandstone intervals are recognized. In descending order, the w ay drillers commonly identify units, they are the Venango First Oil Sand, Venango Second Oil Sand, and Venango Third Oil Sand. Locally, as many as seven petroleum-producing sandstone intervals have been reported (White, 1881). Some of the members recognized locally are the Bimber Run Conglomerate Member, Amity Shale Member, Saegerstown Shale Member, Pope HoUow Conglomerate Member, and North Warren Shale Member. These conglomerates are discussed because of their widespread regional use in driller’s reports. It is necessary to identify their locations and lithology in order to clarify some regional nomenclature. The Venango Formation has been interpreted in the literature as a winnowed platform edge facies and as a proximal tidal flat facies (Dodge, 1992; Hopkins, 1992). It is both, depending on the geographic location of the outcrop. It grades laterally westward, in to the upper part of the Ohio Shale Formation (Chagrin Shale Member). Nomenclature that has been used regionally to mean the same thing as the Venango Formation, according to Caster (1934) include; "LeBeouf Sandstone, Howard Quarry Sandstone, and Carroll Quarry rock. Additionally, the names Pope Hollow Conglomerate, Wolf Creek Conglomerate, Panama Conglomerate, and Portville Conglomerate have been used to refer to the Venango Third Oil Sand. 96 Rimhftr Run Conglomerate Member Caster (1934) named the Bimber Rim Conglomerate Member for approximately 33 meters of rock cropping out in Bimber Run, a small tributary of the Allegheny River in Watson Township, Warren County, Pennsylvania. The Bimber Run Conglomerate Member underlies the North Warren Shale Member. It is locally known as the "Tanner's Hül Quarry Rock" or the "Asylum Sandstone," and the "Jackson Station Conglomerate (CarU, 1883). The probable depositional environment for the Bimber Run Conglomerate Member is nearshore marine in the transitional winnowed platform edge barrier or tidal bar facies. North Warren Shale Member Caster (1933) named this member for the occurrence of shale in the quarries near the North Warren Asylum and Tanner's HiU Quarries (now a reservoir) located on Tanner's HiU, in Warren County, Pennsylvania. The North Warren Shale Member overUes the Bimber Run Conglomerate Member and underlies the Pope HoUow Conglomerate Member. Sediments of the North Warren Shale Member are interpreted as having been deposited in nearshore shaUow marine 97 conditions, in a proximal delta lobe setting as an interdistributary channel deposit. Pope Hollow Conglomerate Member CarU (1883) named the Pope HoUow Conglomerate Member for the conglomerate bed found in the Venango Formation that underhes the Saegerstown Shale Member and overUes the North Warren Shale Member. The name is derived from the occurrence of conglomerate at Pope HoUow in Chautauqua County, New York. The probable depositional environment for the Pope HoUow Conglomerate member is a transitional winnowed platform edge barrier or tidal bar facies. Saegerstown Shale Member Chadwick (1925) named the Saegerstown Shale Member for the shale that underhes the Woodcock Sandstone Member. The Saegerstown Shale Member is an intercalated shale and sUtstone unit that crops out in the vicinity of Saegerstown, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in outorops along French Creek. The Saegerstown Shale Member is interpreted as having been deposited in a proximal delta lobe setting as an interdistributary diannel deposit. 98 Amity Shale Member Chadwick (1925) named the Amity Shale for chocolate colored shale that grades into a coquinite in places. It is abundantly fossiliferous and characterized by Spirifer dysjunctus and other fossils. Tomastik (1996) described the member as containing a fauna characteristic of interdistributary channels. It underlies the Panama Conglomerate Member and overlies the Saegerstown Shale Member. The name is derived firom rocks that are foimd in Amiiy Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania. The Amity Shale Member is interpreted as having been deposited in a proximal delta lobe setting as an interdistributary channel deposit. Oswavo Formation Refer to the previous discussion on the Oswayo Formation of New York, above. The Oswayo Formation is usually recognized in eastern Erie County, Pennsylvania. Riceville Shale White (1881) proposed the Riceville Shale for gray to bluish-gray silty or sandy shale and shaly sandstone exposed in Oil Chreek, west of 99 Riceville, Venango Counly, Pennsylvania. The contact between the Riceville Shale and the underlying Venango Formation is sharp and disconformable. The contact between the Riceville Shale and the overlying Cussewago Sandstone (Mississippian) is sharp and disconformable. To the east (in eastern Erie County, Pennsylvania), the Riceville Shale grades into the Oswayo Formation. To the west, the Riceville grades laterally into the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale. Body fossils in this formation include brachiopods and nautiloid cephalopods. The Riceville Shale ranges in thickness firom about 8 to 16 meters. The Riceville Shale Member is interpreted as having been deposited in a proximal delta lobe facies as an interdistributary channel deposit. Stratigraphie descriptions of Chautauouan rocks in Ohio Ohio Shale The Ohio Shale was proposed by Andrews (1870) for black, bituminous, thinly laminated shale exposed in hills adjacent to the Ohio River in southern Ohio. In northeastern Ohio, the Ohio Shale comprises, in ascending order, the Huron Shale Member, Chagrin Shale Member, ICO Three lick Bed of the Chagrin Shale Member (Hellstrom and Babcock, in press), and the Cleveland Shale Member. Huron Shale Member Newberry (1870) named the Huron Shale Member for black, thinly laminated shale exposed in the Huron River Valley, Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio. Locally, the member contains thin, interbedded black and gray shale layers. The contact between the Ohio Shale and the gray shale of the underlying Olentangy Shale (in Ohio) or the Hanover Member of the Java Formation (in Pennsylvania) is sharp and disconformable. Macroscopic body fossils in this formation include fish, nautiloid cephalopods, and plants. Scarce trace fossils occur in intervals of interbedded black and gray shale and are mostly restricted to Planolites-Wne burrows. The Huron Shale Member contains several intervals of large calcareous concretions, ranging up to 3 meters in diameter, and thin calcareous lenses containing cone-in-cone structures. Pyrite occurs throughout the Huron Shale Member. A petroleum odor is common on fireshly broken surfaces of this unit. The Huron Shale Member ranges in thickness firom about 40 to 85 meters (Hellstrom and Babcock, in press). It is traditionally correlated in 101 the subsurface in the manner of Pees (1997) as the lithologie equivalent to the Dunkirk Shale Member of the Canadaway or Perrysburg Formation. Commonly, in the literature, the Huron Shale Member, as recognized here, has been referred to as the lower tongue of the Huron Shale Member (see Hellstrom and Babcock, in press). The Huron Shale Member was presumably deposited in an anaerobic environment, with restricted circulation and a high organic input, resulting in formation of black shale (Table 2 and Figure 15). Chagrin Shale Member Prosser (1903) named the Chagrin Shale Member for gray shale interbedded with thin sandstone and siltstone exposed in the Chagrin River Valley, Lake County, Ohio. The contact between the Chagrin Shale Member and the underlying Huron Shale Member is transitional (Prosser, 1903), being placed at the point where gray shale beds dominate in number over black shale beds. Body fossils in this member include brachiopods, bivalves, gastropods, nautiloid cephalopods, conulariids, phyllocarid crustaceans, decapod crustaceans, fish, and plants. The Chagrin Shale Member includes a diverse assemblage of trace fossils including Planolites, Palaeophycus, Skolithos, 102 Uialassinoides, Lingulichnus, Chondrites, Gordia, Cochlichnus, Rusophycus, Cruziana, Zoophycos, and Chagrinichnites (Hannibal, 1997). Thin bands of phosphatic concretions, many of which contain body fossils, are present in several locations. The Chagrin Shale Member ranges in thickness firom about 30 to 110 meters. The Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale is interpreted to represent a transitional platform facies (Table 2 and Figure 15). Three Lick Bed The Three Lick Bed (Provo et al., 1977) of the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale is a basin wide stratigraphie marker (e. g., Hellstrom and Babcock, in press). It is a thin, gray unit interbedded with thin black shale beds, and in northeastern Ohio it contains small, elliptical, septarian and iron carbonate concretions (Hansen, 1994). Hansen (1994) reported that some concretions formed around the remains of fossils such as brachiopods, bivalves, cephalopods, conulariids, crinoids, and fishes. The Three Lick Bed was deposited as a transitional zebra-bed facies (Table 2 and Figure 15). 103 CTftvftTand Shale Member Newberry (1870) named the Cleveland Shale Member for black, organic-rich thinly laminated shale exposed near Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The contact between the Cleveland Shale Member and the gray shale of the underlying Chagrin Shale Member is sharp and disconformable in places. Body fossils in this member include fish, nautiloid cephalopods, and plants. Trace fossils are few, and mostly restricted to Planolites-^& burrows that occur in a few thin beds. Trace fossils tend to occur in intervals containing interbedded black and gray shales. A petroleum odor is common on fireshly broken surfaces of this unit. The Cleveland Shale Member up to 12 meters thick. At least three intervals of large, flattened concretions occur in the Cleveland Shale Member and have been observed along Big Creek and its tributaries in the Cleveland area. Locally, the Cleveland Shale Member contains intervals of large calcareous concretions, some containing cone-in-cone structures (Lewis, 1988). Lewis (1988) and Hellstrom and Babcock (in press) have reported that the Cleveland Shale Member of the Ohio Shale contains a sparse body fossil assemblage consisting of inarticulate and articulate brachiopods, gastropods, conodonts, fossil wood, and fish. The Cleveland Shale Member is interpreted to have been deposited in a 104 nearshore shallow marine environment, as a proximal restricted delta lobe facies, based on the body fossil assemblage (Table 2 and Figure 15). Summary andinterpretation of regional stratigraphie trends in the Unner D evonian Stratigraphie units recognized in both southwestern New York and northeastern Pennsylvania show dramatic thinning southward and westward through New York and Pennsylvania (e. g., Dunkirk Shale Member of the Canadaway Formation, Northeast Shale). Stratigraphie units recognized in northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania thin to the north and east (e. g.. Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale, Huron Shale Member of the Ohio Shale, Cleveland Shale Member of the Ohio Shale). Stratigraphie thickness for most units named &om New York are greatest in Cattaraugus County, New York, of intermediate value in Chautauqua County, New York, and thinnest in Erie County, New York (Figure 35). Stratigraphie thickness for most units named from Pennsylvania (Northeast Shale and Girard Shale) are greatest in the eastern portion of northwestern Pennsylvania, and thinnest to the west (Figure 35). Stratigraphie thickness for most units named foom Ohio (e. g., Cleveland Shale Member of the Ohio Shale) are 105 thinnest at the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and thicken to the west and to the south (Figure 35). Black shale units tend to be thickest to the west, in Ohio, thinning eastward through northwestern Pennsylvania and into New York (Figure 35). The bases of the black shales (Dunkirk Shale, Huron Shale Member of the Ohio Shale, and the Cleveland Shale Member of the Ohio Shale) indicate the region underwent three significant flooding events. Eustatic (global) sea level changes are likely responsible for these flooding events (Johnson and others, 1985; Woodrow and others, 1988) (Figure 36). Other factors, such as tectonic subsidence resulting firom coUisional events in the Acadian erogenic region, seem to have played lesser roles in the development of these blac^ shales (Ettensohn, 1985). Local flexure has exerted some influence on stratigraphie patterns through the study area (Ettensohn, 1985; Wegweiser et al., 1998; Harper, 1998,1999; Jacobi, 1999; Wegweiser, 1999). These local influences however (Chapter 4), do not appear to have substantially obscured the larger eustatic signature in the case of these strata (Figure 36). Chautauquan strata in the southern Lake Erie shore area traditionally have been interpreted to have been deposited in subtidal marine environments except for the coarse, usually conglomerate- 106 bearing units. The strongest evidence for this interpretation is the presence of body fossils characteristic of marine environments. Study of sedimentary characteristics, some body fossils, and trace fossils found in association with certain lithofacies, however, has changed the perception of the depositional environments of some units (Babcock et al., 1995; Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998, 1999; Wegweiser, 1995, 1999) (Table 2 and Figure 15). Parts of the Chadakoin Formation exhibit evidence of deposition in proximal marginal-marine settings (Dodge, 1992; Hopkins, 1992; Babcock et al., 1995; Wegweiser, 1998,1999; Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998). Intervals of the Chadakoin Formation at Union City Dam, Erie County, Pennsylvania, contain redbeds, mudcracks, and oscülation ripple marks, and reactivation surfaces (Figures 37 and 38). Such structures together suggest deposition on intermittently exposed tidal flats (Babcock et aL, 1995,1998). Many of the marine body fossils present are inferred to represent euryhaline organisms (e.g., the inarticulate brachiopod Lingula ) and horseshoe crabs (Figure 38), or organisms that lived in shallow subtidal areas and that were washed onto the tidal flat after death. Large accumulations of fragmented brachiopod shells in places appear to represent storm lags. Traces in soft sediment left by horseshoe crabs, together with Arthraria, Bifungites 107 (Figure 39) and Spirophyton traces are characteristic of environments of fluctuating salinity and intermittent water cover. Locally, the Girard Shale also contains mudcracks, oscillation ripple marks, and trace fossils such as Bifungite (Figure 39) suggesting tidal flat deposition. This research supports E. O. Ulrich’s (1912) suggestion that there was a land mass in the vicinity of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border during the Devonian. The Venango Formation consists of a series of alternating shale, sandstone, and conglomeratic sandstone that can exhibit lateral thinning on an order of up to a few tens of meters. It is inferred to largely represent deposition as barrier bars, and bar finger sands in a relatively nearshore coastal setting. Overall, Chautauquan strata (Figure 40) in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and adjacent Chautauqua County, New York, seem to represent a variety of relatively "deep" subtidal depositional environments (e.g., Dunkirk Shale Member). These coarsen stratigraphically upward through "shallower" subtidal environments (e.g., Gowanda Shale Member, Northeast Shale). They continue to coarsen stratigraphically upward into coastal or marginal-marine environments (e.g., Chadakoin Formation, Girard Shale Formation, and Venango Formation). Units near the top of the Upper Devonian include partly fluvial environments (conglomerate and some sandstone facies of 108 the Cattaraugus Formation). The general trend is that within the large cycles there occurs a series of smaller scale shoaling-upward successions punctuated by relatively small flooding events. Named stratigraphie units to a large extent reflect this smaller-scale pattern of cyclicity (Figure 36). Within the named units, still smaller cycles are represented. Some of the corresponding lithologie units recently have been correlated over distances exceeding 100 km (Hellstrom and Babcocüc, in press). Thinning of many stratigraphie units in the vicinity of state boundaries suggests the presence of autocychc controls on deposition in this area. The anomalous tendency of certain persistent key beds such as the Shumla Sandstone to thin near the Pennsylvania-New York boundary suggests syndepositional autocycHc controls operating on the basin (Chapter 4). Such autocyclic factors may have included minor movement along faults associated with cross-strike discontinuities, (Chapter 4) or CSDs (Rodgers and Anderson, 1987,* Wegweiser et al., 1998; Harper, 1989, 1999; Wegweiser, 1999). Rotation of small lithospheric blocks along the trend of the l^orone-Mt. Union CSD may have elevated parts of the Chadakoin Formation and the Girard Shale dose to sea level during the Late Devonian (Rodgers and Anderson, 1984; Harper, 1989; Wegweiser et al., 1998; Wegweiser, 1999). Considerably deeper epicontinental marine waters covered adjacent 109 areas while this occurred. Depositional interpretations have been revised for the region based on some of this new information (Table 2 and Figures 15 and 41). The Northeast Shale is considered a member of the Canadaway Formation if found in New York, and is considered a formation if found in Pennsylvania. This persistent difference in usage over this particular stratigraphie unit may continue. However, in consideration of its considerable thickness and clear mappability it is recommended that it be considered as a formation in both states. The Canadaway Formation and Venango Formation grade westward into the Ohio Shale. Sandstone reservoir units in the Venango Group are locally known by their formal and informal names and by drillers terms. This practice perpetuates regional nomenclature and correlation inaccurames primarily in geographic areas where units are missing. However, these names have been widely applied in publications of the Pennsylvania Topographic and Geologic Survey and the West Virginia Geologic and Economic Survey (Boswell et al., 1996). These terms are in use regionally in various producing districts, and as such retaining them is valid (Boswell et al., 1996). The type sections for some of the units such, as the Bedford Shale (Pepper and de Witt, 1953) are now located underwater in Pymatuming Reservoir or Kinzua Reservoir. For those included in the no Venango Group, it makes verification of the original interpretation of these units and their regional lateral correlation difficult. Use of the current nomenclature (Table 1) for the major Venango Formation sands should continue. There is difficulty in describing accurately the regional correlation of the sandstones and shales of the Venango Formation. This is due in part to the plethora of local stratigraphie names in common usage. Units such as the Bimber Run Conglomerate, for example, were n am ed for local outcrops of discontinuous sandbars. Use of the Bimber Run Conglomerate, North Warren Shale, Amity Shale, and Pope Hollow Conglomerate, should be discontinued and these units should be integrated into their respective Venango Oü Sands. Using detailed lithologie observations, Upper Devonian strata of the southern Lake Erie region can now be correlated with the Ohio Shale. The Girard Shale Formation in addition to the faunal associations contains mudcracks and is reinterpreted as having been subaerially exposed. The resulting sea-level curve for the region is compiled using lithostratigraphic data (Figure 43). Ill TABLE 1- PREVIOUS STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE Middle to Upper Devonian stratigraphie nomenclature for the Appalachian basin according to Milici (1996). Southwestern Northwestern Northeastern Southeastern Southwe New York Pennsylvania Ohio Ohio Pennsylv pjltoapp Ricavilitt FOtm Formation Oswayo Qstmo ChadakOK) . Cornea ut Group Formation ^ Chagnn Shale § - ■ Shumla Sandstone o Westfield Shale Member Huron Member Perrysburg Oumorlc Dunkirk Shale Shale Formation Hanover Shale Mbr. Pipe Creek Shale Mbr. Angola Shale Member Rhinestreet Shale Mambei r Cediaque Shale Member TuHyUmestcne | TwUyUmealone TuOyLimeatone TuUyUmeslon I MaicehisSI 1 1 2 TIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE m 'a n stratigraphie nomenclature for the to Milici (1996). Northwestern Northeastern Southeastern Southwestern Northwestern Southern Pennsylvania Ohio Ohio Pennsylvania West Virginia West Virginia Ricavifle Fbfmatioru Oswayo Oswtyo Chadakotn Chadakoin Chagnn Formation Fdrmadon Shale Chagnn Shale % Huron Member Huron Member! Perrysburg Dunkirk Shale Formation m o v e r Hanovtr Shale kfer. StuMbr. Pipe Creek StuMbr Angola Shale Member I: RhinesMAt Shale Member Hamilton Group TuKUmaitonc TulirUmMtone Tuiy umestooe 1 1 2 TABLE 2. FACIES DESCRIPTION OF UPPER DEVONIAN LITHOFACIES PROXIMAL FACIES Tidal Flat facies: occasional redbeds, sandstone to conglomerate; reactivation ripples, daser bedding, intradasts. Supratidal to intertidal fauna. Restricted delta lobe facies: fine sediments in cut oflponds, lagoons, tidal channels, and beaches. Fresh, salt, and hypersaline water occured. Subaerial exposure occurs. Shale and fine grained siltstone dominate over sandstone units; terrigenous material contribution; euryhaline to nearshore neritic fauna, supratidal to intertidal fauna. Delta lobe facies: interdistributary channels, lagoons, bays, water depth probably shallow to a few tens of meters. Salinity and circulation probably variable. Intertidal to subtidal fauna. TRANSITIONAL FACIES Winnowed platform edges: barrier bars, tidal bars, shoals. Deposition is of sandstone and conglomerate; climbing ripples. Intertidal to subtidal fauna. Platform facies: water depth varies ficom a few meters to tens of meters, generally oxygenated. Deposition is of shale, siltstone, and sandstone; ecological character varies depending on water energy, organic buildup (possible encrusting sheets such as of algae). Subtidal fauna, including possible sessile forms. “Zebra-bed” facies: black shale interbedded with fine sandstone, siltstone and shale. Sandstone and siltstone dominate over shale. Supratidal to intertidal fatma. Fluvial facies: conglomerate interbedded with cross-bedded sandstone. Rip up clasts, imbricate bedding. Rare terrestrial fossils (plants) 113 Table 2, continued. Black shale faciès: circulation is restricted, organic input is high, euxinic and hypersaline conditions may exist. Can occur in terrestrial, fresh water, and marine conditions. Water depth can be extremely shallow to deep. Rare, pyritized fossils, some ichnofossils, cone-in cone structures may be present.. PART n : SCALE AND HETEROGENEITY SCALE------HETEROGENEITY M ega ------basin wide Facies ^ Transitional; sandstone and siltstone bedding equal to or less than shale ^ Proximal: sandstone and siltstone bedding dominant over shale, bioturbation is common. Macro outcrop to outcrop Subfacies • Transitional A. black shale facies: petroliferous smell; pyritized fossils, such as Lingula. B. zebra-bed facies: nearly equal parts of black shale, siltstone and fine sandstone; large terrigenous fossils common; bioturbation by arthropods common, rythmic bedding. C. platfr)rm facies: sandstone, siltstone, and shale are approximately equal; occasional flute casts. D. winnowed platform edges: sandstone and siltstone dominate over shale; climbing ripples, soft sediment deformation, possible seismites, variable water depth. 114 Table 2, continued. Subfacies - Proximal A. Delta lobe facies: sandstone and siltstone units occur in multiple thin layered beds usually greater than shale units; trace fossils. B. Restricted delta lobe facies: shale greater than or equal to thin siltstone and sandstone; reactivation surfaces, flaser beds, occasional mudcracks; bioturbation is common, abundant body and trace fossils C. Tidal flat facies: sandstone and siltstone dominate over shale; rip-up clasts, graded beds, redbeds common, flaser bedding, mudcracks, reactivation ripples, ladderbac^ ripples, imbricate bedding, and conglomerate lenses frequent. Mixture of fossil forms. 115 Figure 15. Late Devonian deltaic environments in the research area, western Appalachian basin; modified fiom Boswell et al. (1996). 116 g en SOUTHEAST fluvial facias tidal flat Mack afiale fades zebra*lied fades delta lobe winnowed platform edges festrictMl delUi lobe NORTHWEST zelira-lied fades laribrm.adi•isgr lied fades platform fades ick aftale facies % Figure 16. Bed containing lenticular cone-in cone structures. Lake Erie shoreline, Northeast Township, Pennsylvania, exposure of the Westfield Shale Member of the Canadaway Formation. Pocket knife for scale. Figure 17. Topographic map showing proposed lectotype locality of the Northeast Shale, Twelve Mile Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Modified firom Map 61, Map 261, Berg and Dodge (1981). L18 Figure 16. Figure 17. 119 Figure 18. The Northeast Shale as seen in outcrop, along the southern Lake Erie shoreline, near the mouths of Sixmile and Sevenmile Creeks, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 19. “Zebra-bed laminae” (left side of photo) in the Northeast Shale, along the southern Lake Erie shoreline, near the mouths of Sixmile and Sevenmile Creeks, Erie County, Pennsylvania. 120 Figure 18. Figure 19. 121 Figure 20. ReactivatioiL surfaces (arrows) on the tops of ripples cross-cut fay arthropod traces in the Northeast Shale Formation as seen in Cascade Creek, in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 21. An arthropod trace from the Northeast Shale Formation, as seen in Sixmile Creek, in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Note smaller trace to lower right of photo. 122 Figure 20. Figure 21. 123 Figure 22. Tracks, and trails attributed to arthropods firom the lower Northeast Shale collected fi-om Cascade Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 23. The Northeast Shale as it appears underwater. Arrows point to black shale beds. 124 Figure 22. / Li Figure 23. 125 Figure 24. The Girard Shale in outcrop, Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania. 126 Elk Creek Figure 24. 127 Figure 25. Crossbedded lamination in the Northeast Shale, mouth of unnamed tributary near Camp Fitch, West Springfield 7.5’ Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 26. Concretions in the Girard Shale, Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania. 128 Figure 25. / m Figure 26. 129 Figure 27. Large cone-in cone-bearing concretion in the Girard Shale, Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 28. Girard Shale outcrop, Elk Creek, Fairview, Pennsylvania. Bed containing large cone-in-cone concretions rising out of the water, in an upstream direction (away &om observer). Contact between the Girard Shale and Chadakoin Formation is hi^ilighted. 130 Figure 27. Figure 28. 131 Figure 29. Mudcracks in the Girard Shale, Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 30. Mudcracks in the Girard Shale, mouth of unnamed tributary in Camp Fitch, West Springfield Quadrangle, northwestern Pennsylvania. 132 2 :50PM -0 30:00 7/26/94 Figure 29 Figure 30. 133 Figure 31. Girard Shale and Chadakoin Formation contact as seen in Elk Creek, western Erie County, Pennsylvania. 134 I Chadakoin Formatio Girard Shale Elk Creek Figure 31. 135 Figure 32. Chadakoin Formation and Venango Formation as seen near the headwaters of Falls Run, western Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 33. Cigar-shaped trace fossils found regionally at the base of the Venango Third Oü Sand, headwaters of Falls Run, near Howard, Falls, Edinboro North Quadrangle, Pennsylvania. Card scale is 10 cm. 136 Fam Run Figure 32. Figure 33. 137 Figure 34. Horseshoe-shaped fossils possibly sand-doUar resting traces, top of Howard Falls, near the headwaters of Falls Run, Edinboro North Quadrangle, Pennsylvania. These fossils are found regionally at the base of the Venango Third Oil Sand. 138 Figure 34. 139 Figure 35. Diagram indicating regional relationships of Upper Devonian strata in the southern Lake Erie region, modified after Ettensohn et al. (1988). 140 Figure 36. Global sea levels over time, including the Upper Devonian (from Flint et al., 1992). 142 1ST ORDER CYCLES 2ND ORDER CYCLES (SUPERCYCLES) RGATIVE CHANGES OF SEA LEVEL naATtVE CHANGES OF SEA LEVEL GLOBAL FALLING— ► ■*— R19NG PERIODS RI9NQ TECTONIC mCSENTSCALEVtl CYCLES PnESENT SEA LEVEL -ÙUATERNÀRV- TERTIARY 100- 100 ZUNI JURASSIC -200 •TAnrorNFTtNa TRIASSIC ‘ ABSAROKA PERMIAN 3 0 0 - PENNSYLVANIAN 300 MlSSlSStPPIAN KASKASKIA DEVONIAN -4 0 0 - 1 SILURIAN TIPPECANOE ORDOVICIAN 5 0 0 - 500 CAMBRIAN SAUK PRECAMBRIAN Figure 36. 143 Figure 37. The Chadakoin and Venango Formations, Union City Dam spillway, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 38. Venango Formation sedimentary features such as intraclastic conglomerate. Union City Dam spillway, Erie County, Pennsylvania. 144 Figure 37. Figure 38. 145 Figure 39. Protolimulus resting trace attributed to horseshoe crabs, probably from the lower Venango Formation, LeBeouf, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 40. Bifungites trace fossil from the lower Venango Formation, Union City Dam, Erie County, Pennsylvania. 146 mm V , Figure 39 \ \ / Figure 40. 147 Figure 41. Revised stratigraphie nomenclature for the Upper Devonian of northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and southwestern New York. 148 NE OH NWPA SWNY B e re a S s Bedford Sh Venango 3rd Zone Cleveland Member North Warren Shale Elllcott Member' Ib Oextervilte M em bers UllibndAe Mbr § O) Girard Shale Northeast Sh Shum la S s Westfield Sh g- Huron Sh Mbr — LaonaSs — ^ Gowanda Sh ? S Wales Mbr Dunkirk Shale Figure 41. 149 Figure 42. Environmental faciès interpretation chart. 150 Proximal Facies Transitional Facies Tidal Fiat Restricted Delta Lobe Winnowed Platform Zebra Bed Black Shale Fluvial Delta Lobe Platform Edges Laona Sts. Mbr Chadakoin Fm. Oowanda Sh. Mbr Shumla Ss. Mbr s. Wales Sh. Mbr. Northeast Sh. Dunkirk Sh. Cattaraugus Fm.(Ellicott Sh. Mbr) Chadakoin Fm. Westfield Sh. Mbr. Three Lick Bed Huron Sh. Oswayo Fm. (Lillibridge'Mbr.) Chagrin Sh. Mbr. Cleveland Sh. (Dexterville Mbr.) Girard Sh. Cleveland Sh. Mbr Venango Fm. F ig u re 42. 151 Figure 43. Inferred Late Devonian environments and relative sea level positions for the research area. 152 S a a L evel LOW HIGH ■ ria* Venango Zbne iilU ic (■*<> iiëal r t i i iater ■Kiribatary laaatb ba OELTA SLOPE SHELF MISSISSIPPMN KASKASKIA DEVONIAN F ig u re 43. 153 CHAPTER 4 GEOTECTONIC HISTORY OF THE LAKE ERIE CRUSTAL BLOCK: SOUTHERN LAKE ERIE SHORELINE REGION "With such general conformity over such an area is it possible that the whole Erie Shale of the Ohio system can thin to a knife edge in the section in Huron County next north of Ashland - letting the Waverly down on to the Huron? Supposing my identification of the Ashland Waverly Conglomerate with my Oil Lake group to stand good, the Ashland Erie group is 900' thick. Can all this be lost in crossing one county line?" I. C. White, 1881 Introduction Historically, the surface stratigraphy of the southern Lake Erie shoreline has been considered to be dominated by flat-lying siliciclastic rock units (Orton, 1881; White, 1881; Hall, 1885; Girty, 1904,1912; Prosser, 1912; Caster, 1934). However, some passages firom papers, such as that made by I. C. White above suggests that these men understood that certain complexities were present in the Upper Devonian of northwestern Pennsylvania and adjacent areas. White (1881), Prosser 154 (1912) and Caster (1934) were aware of the regional lithologie expression of discomformities and for reasons unknown did not publish on them. Initial reconnaissance in the southern Lake Erie shoreline region in Erie and Crawford Counties Pennsylvania took place in the middle 1800s during the oil boom days (White, 1881). Orton (1881) mapped northeastern Ohio at the same time. Regional geological interpretations published during the middle and late 1800s have for many years tended to dominate stratigraphie interpretations of the southern Lake Erie shoreline. Subsequent studies in northeastern Ohio (Girty, 1904, 1912; Prosser, 1912; Caster, 1934) and northwestern Pennsylvania (Caster, 1934) followed the accepted paradigm of layer cake stratigraphy in their interpretations. Caster (1934) however, voiced unease with this interpretation and suggested a need for further research. Pashin and Ettensohn (1995) remarked that regional research was needed in northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania to more correctly interpret the regional geology. Geological effects of aross-strike structural discontinuities in Upper Devonian rocks of the southern T,ake Erie shoreline Data gathered while doing research in the vicinity of the southern Lake Erie shoreline has revealed the presence of a surprising number of 155 small structural features. These include low amplitude anticlines (Figure 44), reverse faults (Figures 45 and 46) and thrust faults. Most such features crop out in stream channels that are structurally controlled (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1996, 1998; Harper, 1999; Jacobi, 1998, 1999; Wegweiser, 1999). Such featiures are also evident along the Lake Erie shoreline. The occurrence of the surface features coincides with the structural trends of cross strike structural discontinuities (CSDs), (Harper, 1989, 1998; Wegweiser and Babcock, 1996, 1998; Wegweiser, 1999). A series of major northwest-trending CSDs is recognized extending across much of the southern Lake Erie shoreline (Figure 47). The area underlain by these structures includes northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and southwestern New York (Ganich and Gold, 1977; Lavin and others, 1982; Beinkafiier, 1984; Palmquist and Pees, 1984; Harper, 1989,1999; Coogan, 1991; Wegweiser and Babcock 1996,1998; Pees, 1997; Jacobi, 1999; Wegweiser, 1999). These large faults extend to Precambrian basement and have been interpreted as reactivated Precambrian wrench faults (Harper, 1989; 1999). The CSDs probably developed during the initial stages of the rifting of the ancestral North American-Greenland continent (Laurentia) firom the rest of the Rodinia supercontinent during the late Neoproterozoic-Early Cambrian 156 (see Dalziel et al., 1994). Lineaments expressed on a gravity anomaly map (Lavin et al., 1982) indicate that the CSDs recognized in Pennsylvania and adjacent states continue northwest into Ontario, Canada. Horizontal offset suggested by Lavin et al., (1982) is approximately 60 kilometers. Mapping of lineaments, joints, folds, and faults cropping out in creek beds and creek high walls provides a new perspective on basement geologic controls affecting Paleozoic surfîcial geology in northwestern Pennsylvania and the surrounding regions. Such structures suggest that regional tectonics occurring due to episodic movement along the CSDs during the Paleozoic would have a^ected topography and thus depositional environments. Regional episodic uplift offers an explanation for the occurrence of subaerial exposure during deposition of Chautauquan strata now located in the research area. Major strike-slip faults, such as the CSDs, are associated with both subsurface and surface structures close to the principal zone of displacement. Christie-Blick and Biddle (1985) have shown that motion along major faults, such as the CSDs, due to strike-slip movement punctuated with occasional episodic movement, results in a distinctive suite of structures and geomorphological features (Figure 48). Features that form close to the principal zone of displacement near a subvertical strike-slip fault include en echelon faulting (normal, reverse, and thrust), 157 folding, and aligned stream channels. Rogers and Anderson (1984) and Wegweiser and Babcock (1996) discussed the presence of anticlines along the Tyrone-Mt. Union CSD and the effects of flower structures on both anticlines and geomorphology. Stream alignment is common in the research area (Figure 49). Harper (1989), through subsurface mapping in Pennsylvania, recognized at least ten cross-strike structural discontinuities. Flaherty (1996) showed six major northwest trending CSDs affecting the southern Lake Erie shoreline (Figure 47). Harper (1998) and Wegweiser and Babcock (1998) inferred locations of faults subparallel to these major faults. The Tyron-Mt. Union lineament extends northwestward through western Erie County, Pennsylvania, and into Lake Erie (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1996,1998; Wegweiser, 1999). The Home-Gallitzen Lineament runs through northeastern Ohio, east of Cleveland, Ohio. The Blairsville- Broadtop Lineament runs through northeastern Ohio, east of Cleveland (Figure 6 and 47). Harper (1999) has recognized yet another lineament named the Corry Lineament (Figure 47). The Corry Lineament extends northwestward firom Warren County, Pennsylvania (Figures 6 and 47), and passes near the Pennsylvania-New York border (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998). Jacobi (1999) showed several major lineaments affecting the subsurface of southwestern New York. 158 The trend of the cross-strike structural discontinuities through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, and along the southern Lake Erie shoreline is northwest, but concomitantly associated, nearly orthogonal, obhque strike-shp, thrust, and reverse faults trend northeastward. Together, these faults have created assemblages of small blocks having an orthogonal fracture system (Harper, 1989; Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998; Wegweiser, 1999) (Figure 50). The sense of motion on an individual block at any given time can be semi-independent of the motion on an adjacent block. The cross-strike structural discontinuities, together with their associated faults, evidently were intermittently active during the Paleozoic, as judged from strong local thickness differences in strata deposited in the vicinity of the fault zones (Harper, 1989; Coogan, 1991). Minor folds are associated with both northwestward- and northeastward- trending faults. Paleozoic strata have been affected both by draping over deep-seated structures (thick-skinned tectonics) and by detachment (thin-skinned tectonics, much of which is related to basement structures). The CSDs may have played a role in the structural development of the western Appalachian basin, and they seem to have influenced regional patterns of coastal onlap and basin-fîll history in that area (Harper, 1999). 159 The distribution of sedimentary facies, hydrocarbon sources, reservoirs, and traps, bears a strong relationship to the orthogonal firacture systems associated with CSDs (Palmquist and Pees, 1984; O'Neil and Anderson, 1984; Harper, 1989; Coogan, 1991; Wegweiser and Babcock 1998). The timing of fluid migration, diagenetic processes, and phenomena such as oil degradation, are probably related to the timing of motion along individual fractures (Figure 51). Lake Erie water level is the regional horizontal datum, and by using certain key beds (Shumla Sandstone Member of the Canadaway Formation and the Northeast Shale), the subtle structures of the region are revealed (Figures 52, 53, 54 and 55). The key beds occur in positions above and below the lake level. Using boat compass and GPS, it is possible to get a rough position of the positions of the limbs of the sub parallel synclines and anticlines in the region. The Loran, a type of side scan sonar device was also used to gather a low resolution sound of the lake bottom. It revealed an increase in firacturing occurring in the subsurface that is associated with the inferred positions of the supposed lineaments. Much bedrock firacturing occurs near the mouth of Elk Creek in western Erie County, Penni^lvania. Coastal erosion by the waters of the lake results in excellent semi- continuous exposures, providing an opportunity to view geologic 160 structures. A transect parallel to the southern Lake Erie shoreline (Figures 1 and 2) from Dunkirk, New York, to Geneva, Ohio was taken via a dive and salvage boat, using both GPS positioning and Loran sounding equipment. This transect was taken to ascertain if the structures observed in creek beds draining into Lake Erie extend on strike to the northwest would be visible in the blufis along the southern Lake Erie shoreline (Figures 54 and 55). The structures do extend on- strike to the northwest. Cross-sections taken of the structural features cropping out along the shoreline, such as the feature mapped from Dunkirk, New York, to Harborcreek, Pennsylvania (Figure 56), reveal the presence of subtle synclines and anticlines that exist in the region. Structural features such as anticlines and synclines exposed at the surface in southwestern Erie County, Pennsylvania, parallel the general trend of the Tyrone-Mt. Union Lineament (Harper, 1989; Wegweiser and Babcock, 1996; 1998,1999). Folds are most evident in the Girard Shale, but some folding is also evident in the Chadakoin Formation (Figures 57 and 58). Folds are often broken along their hinges (Figures 44, 45, 52, 57. 58), resulting in impressive, though small-scale, faults and folds (Figures 44, 45, 52, 57. 58, 59, 60, 61, and 62). The surface pattern of lineaments in northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and southwestern New York (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1996) mimics the orthogonal 161 fracture pattern that has been inferred from subsurface studies (Harper and Laughrey, 1987; Harper, 1989; Palmquist and Pees, 1984) (Figure 53). The principal zone of displacement in northeastern Ohio in the southern Lake Erie shoreline region is the Home-Gallitzen CSD (Figure 47). It extends through an area of Lake County, Ohio, where it is interpreted as a zone of principal displacement in the subsurface (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998). The Tyrone-Mt. Union CSD extends through the area of Elk Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1996, 1998; Wegweiser 1999). The Corry Lineament extends through the area of Fourmile and Sixmile Creeks in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and crosses into southwestern New York in Chautauqua County, (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998; Harper, 1999) (Figure 47). CSDs are represented at the surface by various faults and folds (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1996; 1998; Wegweiser, 1998). Princq)al zones of displacement are characteristically associated with flower structures, blind thrusts, subparallel strike-slip faults, en echelon folds, and synthetic and antithetic faults (see Christie-Blick and Biddle, 1985). Some of the tectonic activity that produced these structures in the research region was probably related to reactivation of down-to-the- basement faults during Acadian tectonic events and development of the 162 Appaladiian foreland basin (Beardsley and Cable, 1983). Evidence of syndepositional movement is provided by regional Late Devonian stratigraphie patterns (Wegweiser and others, 1998). The anomalous local occurrence of marginal-marine lithofacies in the Chadakoin Formation of northwestern Pennsylvania (Babcock and others, 1995), for example, is inferred to be the result of local rotation and incomplete subaerial exposure of small, tectonically active blocks during the Late Devonian (Figure 50). Geomorphological patterns in the southern Lake Erie region appear to have been in part influenced by structures associated with the cross strike structural discontinuities. The northwestward or northeastward trends of some stream channels (e.g., aligned stream valleys) found in northwestern Pennsylvania (Figure 62) and lakes occurring on the same structural trend (e.g., Chautauqua Lake in Chautauqua County, New York) are interpreted as being related to the CSDs (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1996,1998). Some streams, such as Four Mile Creek in Erie County, Pennsylvania, have been shown to follow the axes of northwest-trending anticlines and synclines (Turner et al-, 1999). Some of these channels were no doubt enhanced by erosion due to Pleistocene glaciation (Harper, 1998,1999). Stratified drift deposits filling buried glacial valleys coincide with the positions of CSDs cutting 163 across the structural grain of the western Appalachian area (Harper 1989; 1999). Some activity along CSDs in the southern Lake Erie shoreline region is neotectonic. Evidence in support of this is the unlithifîed gouge in many of the fault planes (Figures 45, 46, 53, 58, 60, 61, and 62). Recent earthquakes occurring in northeastern and eastern Ohio, northwestern and western Pennsylvania, and southwestern New York, demonstrate that the systems still are active (Hansen, 1994, 2000; Dewey and Hopper, 1998). Faults that extend through Quaternary sediments in northwestern Pennsylvania are still active (Figure 62) and indicate that neotectonic movement has occurred along the IVrone-Mt. Union fracture system. Data on the recent occurrences of earthquakes in the southern Lake Erie region (Hansen, 1994, 2000; Dewey and Hopper, 1998, 1999) indicate a close correspondence between the inferred positions of CSDs and associated faults, and earthquake epicenters. Earthquakes in the area extend from Cleveland, Ohio, to western New York and are thought to be related to the release of stress along CSDs or associated structures (Figure 63). 164 Figure 44. A view to the northwest along the trend of the broken hinge- line of a low amplitude anticline located in Elk Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania. North is indicated by the arrow. Figure 45. A reverse fault with rock hammer for scale (box) in Elk Creek, Erie County Pennsylvania. This fault is orthogonal to the folding in the region and trends to the northeast. Arrows show direction of motion. 165 A Figure 44. F igure 45. 166 Figure 46. Northeast-trending reverse fault in Elk Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania. 167 F ig u re 46 168 Figure 47. Recognized cross-strike structural discontinuities in Ohio and Pennsylvania (Flahrely, 1996). 169 r F igure 47. 170 Figure 48. Potential surfîcial structures associated with strike-slip faulting and subvertical faulting (after Chnstie-Blick and Biddle, 1985). 171 Structures Associated with Strike-Slip Faulting plan-view arrangement of structures associated with an idealized right-lateral (dextral) strike-slip fault horsetail splay releasing bend synthetic shear restraining bend secondary sttear antilhetic shear 10 km ( y PDZ retaining bend and B) oblique fdid in-line horst & graben parallel ^ forced adaptation to slight divergence; monocline pull-aparts, an echeion normal faults, en ectteion and graben slices within the PDZ normal faults negative flower structure F ig u re 48. 172 Figure 49. Aligned stream channels in the research area in northwestern Pennsylvania, (modified firom Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998). Base map from Map 190. Map 61 compiled by Berg (1981). Dashed lines infer positions of northeast trending thrust faults. 173 1 inlch'='62,50a #f90. F ig u re 49. 174 Figure 50. Basement ôractures that could occur in the southern Lake Erie shoreline region due to movement along the Tyrone-Mt. Union (T- M), Pittsburgh Washington (P-W) strike-slip faults and other cross strike structural discontinuities (modified after Harper (1989). 175 ake Ene WV relative motion of this block created byC tis in northwestern Pennsylvania with respect to surrounding blocks in northeastern Ohio and southwestern New York F igure 50. 176 Figure 51. Locations of the Corry (C), Tyrone-Mt. Union (T-M), and Home Galitzen (H-G) Lineaments, the orthogonal fault seen in Figures 45 and 46, overlain on the locations of 8000 oil and gas wells (modified fiom Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998). 177 16 Km F igure 51. 178 Figure 52. Axial plane of northwest trending anticline east of Sixmile Creek, Harborcreek 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 53. Offset in the Northeast Shale and Shumla Sandstone Member of the Canadaway Formation near Barcelona, New York. 179 Lake Erie Figure 52. F ig u re 53. 180 Figure 54. An unnamed northwest-trending tributary entering Lake Erie. Note that the mouth of this stream is above lake level, as opposed to such tributaries as Elk Creek, Walnut Creek, and Twelvemile Creek, which all enter Lake Erie at water level. Figure 55. Fourmile Creek, in the Harborcreek 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania entering Lake Erie at lake level. Compare with Figure 54, which shows the mouth of a stream entering the lake above water level. 181 Girard Shal Figure 54. F ig u re 55. 182 Figure 56. Diagramatic geologic cross section of the southern Lake Erie shoreline from Dunkirk, New York, to Harborcreek, Pennsylvania. Relative rotation of small blocks is indicated. 183 7 r3 0 * 4 < rw TTSBWW Batcolona,NY DunkkkNY 4 y i 8 W N 42*10*1(rN OunMrtcth J S S S b t t * • 22 km Lake Erie surface level (173 m; 572 ft) F igure 66. 184 Figure 57. Northwest-trending buckling in the Girard Shale occurring perpendicular to Elk Creek, Swanville 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 58. Horizontal thrust fault and stacking observed in the Girard Shale, Edinboro North 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania. 185 Figure 57. F ig u re 58. 186 Figure 59. Folded strata in the Chadakoin Formation in the wall of an unnamed tributary on the north side of Elk Creek, near Route 98, Edinboro North 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 60. Thrust fault in the Chadakoin Formation, spillway to Union City Dam, Crawford County, Pennsylvania. 187 Figure 59. F igure 60. 188 Figure 61. Unlithifîed fault gouge îu a thrust fault, in the Girard Shale in Elk Creek, Swanville 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Figure 62. Thrust fault in the Girard Shale, Edinboro North 7.5 Minute Quadrangle, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Vertical displacement is roughly 3 meters. 189 Figure 61. F ig u re 62. 190 Figure 63. Regional earthquake epicenters as related to CSDs in the southern Lake Erie region. The data are firom the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC): Earthquake Search Results, Rectangular Grid Search, Latitude Range: 38 to 48, Longitude Range; 85 to -75, Number of Earthquakes shown: 150. Depth is in kilometers. 191 % H -150 -300 5DD m s n * F igure 63. 192 CHAPTERS SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY OF UPPER DEVONIAN STRATA IN THE SOUTHERN LAKE ERIE SHORELINE REGION Introduction The area south of the Lake Erie shoreline has long been an area from which more stratigraphie data were needed, refine stratigraphie correlation (Caster, 1934; Pashin and Ettensohn, 1995). New data acquired during this research allow the establishment of higher resolution sequence stratigraphy along the southern Lake Erie shoreline. Sequence stratigraphie terminology used in this discussion is after Walker and James (1992) and appears in Appendix B. Devonian rocks of the western Appalachian basin provide an excellent suite of strata for the application of sequence stratigraphy. The strata are well exposed and the vertical and lateral changes in facies are associated with Hthologic changes and discontinuities that can be seen in outcrop. Here, an xmconformily-boxmd parasequence within an Upper Devonian third-order sequence is described. The entire suite displays a 193 shallowing upward pattern with trangressive system tracts decreasing in magnitude. Sequence stratigraphy uses a process-oriented or genetic approach to identify and interpret sedimentary packages. Factors influencing the deposition of genetic sedimentary packages include but are not limited to: eustatic sea-level changes, ocean steric (thermohaline) changes, glacial accretion and wastage, liquid water on land, hthosphere subduction, basin subsidence rate, sediment supply to the basin, basin geometry, and regional tectonics. Sequence stratigraphie interpretations can draw upon multiple sources of information such as unconformities, black shales, obrution deposits, event stratigraphy deposits, seismite deposits, and tempestite deposits. Integration of data to produce a genetic sequence stratigraphie interpretation of strata include several techniques. Inspection, measuring, and description of stratigraphie data at outcrops, remote gathering of outcrop stratigraphie data (Lake Erie to shoreline), integration of existing biostratigraphic data, and identification of tectonic influences operating directly on the basin throughout the Phanerozoic. Depositional sequences, the basic sequence stratigraphie unit, are bounded by regional unconformities or their correlative conformities 194 (VaiL et al., 1977). Transgressive surfaces and maximum flooding surfaces mark basin responses to external influences. Christie-Blick et al. (1990) have noted limitations to the methods of sequence stratigraphie interpretation that include: 1) a history of uncritical interpretation of all second- and third-order sequence boundaries; 2) uncertainties that occur with respect to the absolute ages of the sequence boundaries and correlation; and 3) much difSculty with respect to inferring the amplitudes of actual sea-level changes and their causes. There are five orders of sea-level cycles that are generally accepted (Flint et al., 1992). First-order cycles, of which two have been recognized in the Phanerozoic each lasting approximately 200-400 million years, have been identified (Figure 36). First-order cycles generally are interpreted as being related to the accretion and break-up of supercontinents. Second-order cycles last 10 to 100 m illion years and are the supercycles termed the Sloss Sequences cycles (Figure 36). Third- order cycles last approximately 1 to 10 m illion years but in general are considered to last less than 3 m illion years. Fourth-order cycdes last approximately 200,000 to 500,000 years and fifth-order cycles last approximately 10,000 to 200,000 years. Goodwin and Anderson (1985) suggest that small-scale (l-to-5 meter thicdc) basin wide stratigraphie 195 punctuated aggradational cycles can be identified, representing tens of thousands of years of time. There are controls that potentially can operate on third order cycles as well as other cycles. Previously it was thought that the accretion and depletion of continental ice masses were the prevailing control on third-order cycles (Vail et al., 1977; Haq et al., 1988). Kauffinann (1984) su^ested that third-order cycdes correspond to periods of tectonic and volcanic activity such as in the Cretaceous of the western United States. Amplification of the eustatic cycle, or separate intrabasinal cycles can occur within a geographic region due to regional tectonic activity. In addition, it has been suggested that changes in the horizontal stresses placed on the crust might have an infiuence on third- order cycles (Cloetingh, 1988; Cathles and Hallam, 1991). Geoidal changes (ocean surfaces topography) may result in sea-level changes. Geoidal changes can effect the solid earth over a long interval of time but probably do not produce changes in relative sea-level (Christie-Blick et al., 1990). It also has been suggested that variations due to precession and eccentricity in the earth’s axis can produce third-order cycles (Sabadini et al^ 1990). A significant problem in the identification of third- order cycles is that they may be too closely spaced for high resolution stratigraphie work. Cases where biostratigraphic data are lacking can 196 hinder resolution as well. Hence lithostratigraphic data may be all that is available to interpret the local sea-level history. Discussion The sequence identified during this research is considered to be contained within a third-order cycle that comprises a shallowing upward succession. Identification of the sequence inferred to be a type two sequence (Vail et al., 1977) was made possible with data gathered during detailed stratigraphie work which made possible the identification of numerous regional unconformities within the sequence. Bounding surfaces between layers are equivalent to gaps in geologic time and some of the bounding surfaces are contained within small sedimentary units. Identification of the major regional unconformities provides data needed for correlation of these sedimentary rocks. The base of the Dunkirk Shale Member marks the base of the principal sequence in the region (Figure 64). It represents a transgressive surface that is the basal bounding discontinuity for the research region. It is labeled as the maximum flooding surface (MFS) on Figure 64. The Huron Shale was deposited concurrently with the Dunkirk Shale Formation and thus it too represents a regional maximum transgressive surface. These two members mark the base of 197 the sequence and are labeled sequence boundary 1 (SBl) (Figure 64). The base of the Venango Formation marks the top of the sequence. It is labeled sequence boundary 2 (SB2) on the figure. Perturbations in the sequence are considered to be sub-cycles. There are seven subcydes in the parasequence SB1-SB2, labeled I- VII (Figure 64). Each transgression culminates in a highstand system tract (HST), and each regressive subcyde is labeled as a lowstand system tract (LST). The base inflection point of each transgressive surface is labeled TS (Figure 64). The magnitude of the unconformities increases to the west along the southern Lake Erie shoreline, from southwestern New York into northeastern Ohio. The surfaces appear to have been accentuated by regional tectonism and topographic highs in the area of northwestern Pennsylvania. East-to-west fades changes within each of the subcycles in the third-order sequence reflect differential subsidence and uplift in the western Appalachian basin along the southern Lake Erie shoreline (Chapter 4). As interpreted here. Caster's (1934) concepts of magnafades and parvafades fit well within a sequence stratigraphie framework. Regional parvafades (Figure 4) as described by Caster (1934) correspond to subcydes I-VH (Figure 64) within the SB1-SB2 sequence. The 198 parvafacies represent lateral facies constrained by bounding surfaces and represent a coarsening-upward, proximal environment of deposition. Regional magnafades (Figure 5) as desaribed by Caster (1934) correspond to parasequence facies changes in the style of “Walther’s Law.” As described by Caster (1934) (Figure 5) magnafacies that correspond to facies migration within sequence SB1-SB2 occur during the shallowing-upward cycle of the sequence. Magnafades “A” (Figure 5) corresponds to the stratigraphie units represented by the Venango 3rd Zone and magnafades “CT corresponds to the Canadaway Formation. Magnafacies “D” (Figure 5) corresponds to both the Chadakoin Formation and the Chagrin Shale Member. Magnafades “E” corresponds to the black shale fades of the Huron Shale Member and the Cleveland Shale Member of the Ohio Shale. Of particular note, Magnafades “E-D” of Caster (1934) (Figure 5) corresponds to the Girard Shale and represents an area of regional topographic high during Upper Devonian deposition. Subcvcle I-IA: CanadawavFormationr Dunkirk Shale Member. Huron Shale Member. South Wales Shale Member. G ow andaShale Member The lowest Devonian interval exposed along the southern Lake Ehie shoreline that marks the base of SBl is the Dunkirk Shale Member, 199 and the Huron Shale Member. The base of the Dunkirk Shale Member and Huron Shale Member represent the beginning of a significant transgressive event. The units represent a maximum transgression surface of a highstand system tract (HST). The South Wales Shale Member displays evidence of upward shallowing that characterizes a regressive succession. The black shale of the Ohio Shale interfingers with the South Wales Shale Member in the subsurface, near the Ohio/Pennsylvania border (Pees, 1997). Regional tectonics during the Late Devonian are inferred to have caused slight rotation of lithospheric blocks in this portion of the Appalachian basin. The block of lithosphere between the Corry OSD and the T^rrone-Mt. Union CSD is inferred to have moved obliquely downward on the western end, and upward on the eastern end between these two faults (Figure 50). Erosion of the South Wales Shale Member during the subsequent transgressive phase beveled the top of the South Wales Shale Member. Subcvcle I-IIA: Huron Shale Member. G ow andaShale Member. Laona Sandstone Member. Westfield Shale Member The Huron Shale Member of the Ohio Shale and the Gowanda Shale Member of the Canadaway Formation represent the base of subcycle I-IIA (Figure 64). The westward incursion of the Laona 200 Sandstone Member of the Canadaway Formation, which reaches across much of southwestern New York and northwestern Pennsylvania, represents the top of the cycle. The start of deposition of the Westfield Shale Member bevels the top surface of the Laona Sandstone Member and represents the start of the transgression culminating I-IIA. Subcvcle I-IIIA: Westfield Shale Member: Chagrin Shale Member: Northeast Shale. Girard Shale Subcycle I-DIA is represented differently in opposite ends of the research area. To the east, in southwestern New York, the Westfield Shale Member of the Canadaway Formation is beveled and overlain unconfbrmably by the Shumla Sandstone Member. In northeastern Ohio, the lower part of the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale thickens considerably from west to east in the vicinity of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. During the Late Devonian, the region occupied by northwestern Pennsylvania was undergoing oblique uplift relative to adjacent parts of the Appalachian basin (Figure 50). The Shumla Sandstone Member is truncated, possibly by faulting, in Pennsylvania somewhere in the vicinily of the city of Erie, Pennsylvania. Due to urbanization of the region the exact location of that truncation cannot be located. Contact with the Shumla Sandstone Member by the Northeast Shale is abrupt, 201 sharp, and forms a regional unconformity. The subsequent transgressive phase is marked by deposition of the Northeast Shale and the Girard Shale, both of which are laterally equivalent to tongues of the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale. Subcvcle I-IVA: Northeast Shale. Girard Shale. Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale. ChaHaknin Formation A major unconformity between the Shumla Sandstone and the base of the Northeast Shale marks the start of subcycle I-IVA. Rip-up clasts of the Northeast Shale occur in the lower beds of the unit (Figure 65). The Northeast Shale and Girard Shale are repetitively faulted. The section in subcycle I-IVA has been evidently compounded several times by faulting. Further research will be required to work out the true thickness of the Northeast Shale and the number of times it occurs as a repeated section. V/est of Presque Isle (Figure 66) the exposed Girard Shale also is faulted and repeatedly stacked. The units represent a proximal depositional cycle in this part of the basin, with distal depositional qrcles occurring to the east and the west. The Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale Formation interfingers with the Girard Shale in the Pennsylvania-Ohio border region. The lower contact of the Lillibridge Member of the Chadakoin Formation is an abrupt but conformable basin-wide flooding surface, occurring within a shallowing-upward succession. 202 Subcvcle T-VA: T.illihrid^e Member. Dexterville Member. Chagrin Shale Member The transgressive succession of subqrcle I-VA occurs within the Lillibridge Member of the Chadakoin Formation and the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale. The regional contact between the Lillibridge Member and the Dexterville Member of the Chadakoin Formation is abrupt but conformable basin-wide and marked by shallowing-upward and coarsening- upward facies. Characteristic marine fauna, asymmetrical ripples and oscillation ripples suggest that deposition occurred in shallow marine conditions. Subcvcle I-VIA: Dexterville Member. EUicott Member. Chagrin Shale Member The middle of the Dexterville Member of the Chadakoin Formation displays numerous channels and a biota suggestive of an estuarine environment associated with a prograding shallowing upward facies. Deposition of the base of the EUicott Member of the Chadakoin Formation bevels the top of the DexterviUe Member in an abrupt but conformable regional contact that is marked by an increase in sandstone beds. The EUicott Member of the Chadakoin Formation conta in sbeds of pelmatozoan stems and ossicles, as weU as numerous monospecific brachiopod beds. This marks the top of 203 subcyde I-VIA. To the west, the Chadakoin Formation interfingers with the Chagrin Shale Member of the Ohio Shale. Subcvde I-VIIA: EUicott Member. Venango 3rd Zone The uppermost EUicott Member of the Chadakoin Formation preserves an exceUent tidal flat environment (Babcock et al., 1995; Babcock et al., 1998). The top of the EUicott Member of the Chadakoin Formation becomes increasingly marked by smaU (1-meter to 2-meter scale) cycles of shaUowing- upward interbedded shale, sUtstone, and sandstone beds. The sandstone units pinch out lateraUy. The uppermost EUicott Member consists of a one meter thick dark-gray shale containing abundant Chonetes setigura brachiopods. This unit is overlain disconformably by the Venango 3rd OU Sand (Figures 32 and 38). The contact between the Venango 3rd OU Sand and the underlying EUicott Member is abrupt and unconfbrmable, with the basal sandstone firequently containing rip up clasts of red shale (Figure 38). The base of the Venango 3rd OU Sand marks the top of the sequence and is boundary SB2. Cycle n, which is beyond the scope of this work, comprises the Bedford Formation-Berea Sandstone succession of Ohio. Equivalent units in Pennsylvania and New York include the Bedford Formation and the Knapp Formation. The reader is referred to Pashin and Ettensohn (1995) for discussion of this cycle in the Appalachian basin. 204 Figure 64. Approximate positions of highstand systems tracts (HST) and lowstand system tracts (LST) with, respect to the regional geology contained with in parasequence SB1-SB2. SB symbolizes sequence boundary; MFS symbolizes maximum flooding surface; TST symbolizes transgressive system tract; TS symbolizes transgressive surface. 205 NE OH NWPA SWNY B e re a S S Venango 3rd Zone Bedford Shale 82 " m g VIM hTS 5 = Tcm'riimiiiiuiimiin TS EUicott Mbr VIA •TS- — ( Q jmrm (0 .1 JC SI Dexterville Mbr VA CO CO ' ~ " 1111111111 rrn 1111111'l 111 ] I n 11 rn 11111 III 11111111 I . 2 c Lillibridge Mbr Û •TS-I— j r •— ------iTTTTi ^ ’sunn illimiiiiTiiinnn^nTmiiTninnininiininMnTmnmiim.H “ O O) ^ Girard S h Northeast Sh -TS•IS [iimiiiiii.iLiiiiuiL'miium iiim iiiirniiimiiimiiiiiiiiirTiim IIMIIIA w ■HirilinillluHiiiimT S S M b f TS Mbr IIA TIC TS. XBBB LST Gowanda Sh Mbr lA RWilMMhf HSfillIIÏÏTIllillllllllllllilIlHiiiiiimimii IIIIIIIIIIIIITtIT Huron Shale Mbr Dunkirk Sh S B f F igure 64. 206 Figure 65Map showing location of Presque Isle, Pennsylvania (from White, 1881). 207 g s Lake Erie g Figure 66. Rip-up clasts in the lower Northeast Shale, near the mouth of Sevenmile Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania. 209 Figure 66. 210 CONCLUSIONS Réévaluation of the Upper Devonian stratigraphy within the southern Lake Erie shore region indicates the presence of a type two sequence within which occur smaller cycles that are recognized over long distances. The larger cycle seems to have had an eustatic origin; and other recognized qrcles largely have an eustatic origin, with deposition influenced &om regional tectonic adjustments. When synthesized with published data &om northeastern and mid-continental North America that describe regional structural trends, the data from this research suggests reactivated Precambrian basement fruiting may have exerted alloqrdic control on deposition within this portion of the Appalachian basin. Such controls can mimic sequence stratigraphie deposition styles (Figure 67). A regional sea-level curve is derived from interpretation of Upper Devonian units in the southern Lake Erie region (Figures 68 and 69). The ability to identify subcodes permits recognition and revision of detailed regional stratigraphie patterns (Figure 70) of Upper Devonian units from this portion of the Appalachian basin in the southern Lake 211 Erie shoreline region. Along the shoreline Upper Devonian rocks display an east-to-west coarsening upward pattern, which is a result of basin response to tectonic adjustments coupled with eustatic sea-level fall at the end of the Kaskaskian Sequence. Technological improvements in recent years that integrate remote sensing techniques (GPS, photography, satellite imagery) with traditional fieldwork have provided new data that help to better understand the system stratigraphy of the region (Wegweiser and Babcock, 1998). The new data suggest that a moderately complex tectonic history exists for the southern Lake Erie region. Integration of geophysical evidence, Landsat satellite photos, and subsurface mapping (Harper 1989, 1998,1999; Pees, 1997) reveals the presence of wrench faults and wrench fault assemblages. These fault assemblages extend firom the surface to the Precambrian basement, through much of Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and western New York (Ganich and Gold, 1977; Lavin and others, 1982; Beinkafiier, 1984; Palmquist and Pees, 1984; Rodgers and Anderson, 1981, 1984; Harper, 1989; Coogan, 1991; Hopkins, 1992; Pees, 1997, Babcock and Wegweiser, 1998; Wegweiser and Babcock, 1995, 1996,1998; Wegweiser, 1998). Reactivation of the fault systems is inferred to have occurred through the Phanerozoic, and continues today. Components of motion on the cross strike structural 212 discontîniiîties and their associated faults were at various times horizontal, oblique, and vertical. Regional stratigraphie patterns reflect deposition in an episodically active basin. The Canadaway Formation, Northeast Shale, Girard Shale, and Chadakoin Formation grade laterally in to the Ohio Shale. Environments of deposition were affected by fluctuation in sea level that was eustatic in origin, and were influenced by regional episodic tectonism (Figures 68 and 69). Upper Devonian regional relationships are redefined using the new data (Figure 70). 213 Figure 67. Depiction of coseismic controls that result in strata that mimic sequence stratigraphie depositional styles (modified fi-om McCalpin, 1997). 214 Fold Crost Growth Strata Pro-Growth Strata Oatachmfiftt Fold Overlap OFFLAP B Upiilt 9 A Upiift Figure 67. 215 Figure 68. Regional sea level curve as derived from sequence stratigraphie interprétation of Upper Devonian units in the southern Lake Erie region. 216 SEA LEVEL SW MY Figure 68. 217 Figure 69, Regional sea level curve for the Upper Devonian of the southern Lake Erie shoreline region (see Figure 68) compared to the third-order Kaskaskian Sequence curve. 218 S e a L ev el LOW HIGH ■ riR( Venango Zone lliUic fiais sSK'.c! ciaal flit iatitiistrikiMfrv ba* iislribatirr naalh ba DELTA SLOPE SHELF MiSSISSIPPMN KASKASKIA OEVONMN F igure 69. 219 Figure 70. Revised regional stratigraphie correlation of Upper Devonian units in the southern Lake Erie shoreline region. 220 Venango 3rd Zon EUicott M Dexterville Mbr UHibrtdMMte Norttieaet Shale Ss/Bodtord Sh Chagrin Shale Mbr r I )fi S h fi If ' M t v CMCMNAn ARCN EXPLANATION m Black Shale - MSF 001 Black Shale f 1 Silic’clastic Sediments Figure 70. 221 APPENDIXA PALEONTOLOGY Biofacies Each stratigraphie unit discussed in this dissertation has a distinct assodated biofades component. Fossil assemblages firom each formation are listed in this chapter. Biotic assemblages combined with the lithofades can assist in identification. Below are partial lists of fauna in Pennsylvania and New York. Biota firom Ohio are summarized in Feldmann (1997). Canadawav Formation Dun kirk Shale Member Carbonized plant remains Linguloid brachiopods South Wales Shale Member 222 Ichnofossils Planolities Tesmer (1975, p. 36) reported the foUowing^ taxa ârom the South Wales Shale Member: MoUusca Gastropoda Palaeotrochus praecursor “Phragmostoma ” chautauqua Gowanda Shale Member Ichnofossils Planolites Zoophycos Tesmer (1975, p. 39) reported the following taxa firom the Gowanda Shale Member: Pelecypoda Elasmatium gowandense Euthydesma subtextile Loxopteria dispar L, laevis 223 Palaeoneil brevicula Posidonia mesacostalis P. uenusta nitidula Preacardium vetustum Rostroconcfaia Conocardium gowandense Shumla Sandstone Ichnofossils Planolites Zoophycos Northeast Shale Tesmer (1975, p. 45) reported the following taxa ôrom the Northeast Shale: Brachiopoda Athyris angelica “Camerotoechia’^ contracta Cariniferella tioga Chonetes cL scitulus Cyrtospirifer c£. homellensis 224 Productella sp. Schucertella chemungensis Thiemella tenuilineata Tylothyrius mesacostalis Northeast Shale Plant remains Psuedobomia inomata Ichnofossils Various ichnofossils Girard Shale Ichnofossils Skolithos sp. Psiloichnus Arthraria antiqata Bifungites Brachiopoda Lingula spatulata Orbiculina minuta Discina minuta 225 Schizobolus cL.truncatus Discina tnincata Chadakoin Formation Babcock et al. (1998) reported the following taxa from the Chadakoin Formation at the spillway at Union City Dam, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Much of these taxa are present elsewhere in the Chadakoin Formation, Erie County, Pennsylvania. Kingdom Plantae Lycophyta Bisporangiostrobus harrisonii (cone) Lycopodites mckenziei Psuedobomia inomata Spores Auroraspora solisorta Convolutisporacî. opressa Cytospora cristifera Dictylotriletes nefandus (?) EmphanisporitescL annulatus E, rotatus E. cf. pantagiatus Hymemonotriletes explanatus H. granulatus Enoxisporites dedaleus Lophozonotriletes exdsis 226 L. tuberosus Neoraistrickia sp. Retusotriletes philUpsii Rugospora flexuosa Scarisporites sp. Spelaeotrilete resolutus (?) Vallartisporites pusillites Verrucososporites nitidus V.scurms Kingdom Animalia Phylum Porifera Armstrongia casterii Armstronia oryx Prismodictya (?) sp. Undetermined hexactinellid Phylum Cnidaria Class Anthozoa Pleurodictyum c£americanum Plumulina sp. Class Hydrozoa Plectodiscus sp. Phylum (?) Conulariida Paraconularia wellsvUlia 227 Phylum Bryozoa Sulcoretepora (?) sp. Undetermined branching taxa Phylum Brachiopoda Class Inarticulata Lingula arcta (?) Trigonoglossa sp. Petrocrania (?) sp. Class Articulata Amboecoelia umbonata Athryrus angelica Centrorhyncus sp. Chonetes lepidus Chonetes scitulus Chonetes setigerus Curtospirifer disjunctus C. lebeoufensi Dalmanella tenuilineata Productella lacrhymosa Productella hursuta Productella spedos Ptychomaletoechia sp. ‘Pugnoides’* duplicatas Retichonetes sp. Spinulicosta sp. Spirifer mesistrialis Syringothyrus sp. 228 Phylum MoUusca Subphylum Diasoma Class Rostroconchia Order Conocardioda Pseudoconocardia sp. Gastropoda Bellerophon sp. Palaeozygopleura sp. Platyceras sp. Bivalvia Arctinodesma (?) sp. Goniophora chemungensis Grammysiodea communis Leptodesma patens Limopteria (?) sp. Modiomorphia quadrula (?) Pholadella sp. Ptychodesma sp. Cephalopoda "Gomophoceras” sp. '‘Orthoceras” sp. 229 Phylum Annelida Undetermined scolecodonts Phylum Arthropoda Class Chelicerata Kasibellinurus randelli Phylum Echinodermata Undetermined pelmatozoan ossicles Class Crinoidea Aorocrinus sp. Class Stelleroidea Undetermined asteroid Undetermined ophiuroid Phylum Chordata Bothriolepus canadaensis Dunkleosteus terrelli Holoptychius americanus Gyracanthus sp. Undetermined Arthrodira 230 Ichnofossils Arthraria antiquata Bifungites sp. Clionolithes sp. Conostichus sp. Cruziana (?) sp. G ordiasp. “ophiuroid burrows” Palaeophycus sp. Palaeosemaeostoma sp. Paramphibius sp. Planolities sp. Protolimulus eriensis Rhizocorallium sp. Rusophycussp. Skolithos sp. Spirophyton. sp. 231 APPENDDCB STEATIGRAPHIC COLUMNS Crooked Greek 1070 180 1020 t40 970 East Springfield 7.5' Quadrangle 1-.62500 Crooked Creek 120 920 too 870 I s I" 820 CO C 770 &-0 720 4 0 670 ModHfed after Berg and Dodge. 1981 20 620- Dchg = Chagrin Shale Mbr 570-* 232 Venango Unnamed Tributary 3rd Sand 4g Ed(nboro North 7.5' Quadrangle Bk Creek and tributaries Modified after Berg and Dodge, 1981 770 233 «Ikw MSL 140 Venango Porter Run 3rd S an d 1170- 120 1120- Edinboro North 7.5' Quadrangle Elk Creek and Tributaries 100 1070- 1020 lE 80 c o I 970 60 920- 40 870 r- Map % 20 19b _ 820 modified after Berg and Dodge, 1981 Gtracd Sh 770-* 234 Sixmile Creek Harborcreek 7.5’ Quadrangle Sixmile Creek 1:62500 . Modiffed after Berg and Dodge, 1981 570-* 235 Sevenmile Creek 1070 160 1020 140 87 0 -§ 120 Harborcreek 7.5' Quadrangle 8 2 0 I 1:62500 100 87 0 620 80 7 7 0 - 60 7 2 0 - I 40 CO 6 7 0 I Modified after Berg and Dodge, 1981 20 8 2 0 S70-* 236 Twelvemile Creek 1070 160 1 0 2 0 - 1 40 970 Harborcreek 7.5' Quadrangle Twelvemile Creek ô 120 1:62500 I 9 2 0 100 870 8 2 0 8 0 770 6 0 7 20 I CO 4 0 I 8 7 0 2 0 620 ModifiMt alter Berg and Dodge. 19B1 570-* 237 APPENDIX c SEQUENCE STEATIGRAPHIC TERMINOLOGY Terms used in this dissertation taken firom Walker and James (1992). AUostratigraphy: subdivision of the stratigraphie record into mappable rock bodies defined and identified on the basis of their bounding discontinuities. Architectural element: a morphological subdivision of a particular depositional system characterized by a distinctive assemblage of facies, facies geometries, and depositional processes. Bounding discontinuity: a laterally traceable discontinuity; can be an unconformity, ravinement surface, onlap or downlap surface, condensed horizon, or hardground. Depositional environment: geographic and/or geomorphic area. Depositional system: three dimensional assemblage of hthofades, genetically linked by active or inferred processes and environments. It embraces depositional environments and the processes acting therein. Downlap: the situation where an initially inclined layer terminates downdip against an initially horizontal or inclined surfiice. 238 Eustasy; a world-wide change of sea level relative to a fixed point such as the center of the earth. Eustatic changes result firom variation in the volume of water in the ocean basins (glacial control), or a change in the volume of the basins themselves (related to rates of ocean ridge building and rates of seafioor spreading). The eustatic sea level curve describes cyclic changes in sea level. Facdes: a body of rocrk characterized by a particular combination of lithology, physical and biological structures that bestow an aspect (f’fades”) different firom the bodies of rock above, below, and laterally adjacent. Facies assodation: groups of fades genetically related to one another and which have some environmental significance. Fades succession: a vertical succession of fades characterized by a progressive change in one or more parameters, e. g., abundance of sand, grain size, or sedimentary structures. Fades model: a general summary of a particular depositional system, involving many individual examples fi*om recent sediments. Genetic stratigraphie sequence: the sedimentary product of a depositional episode, where a depositional episode is bounded by stratal surfaces that reflect major reorganizations in basin paleogeographic framework. These stratal surfaces are maximum flooding surfaces, not the unconformities used to define stratigraphie sequences. Lithostratigraphy: a defined body of sedimentary strata which is distinguished and delimited on the basis of lithic characteristics and stratigraphie position. It is internally lithologically homogenous. 239 Marine flooding surface; a surface separating younger firom older strata across which there is evidence of an abrupt increase in water depth. Maximum flooding surface (MFS): a surface separating a transgressive systems tract (below) firom a highstand systems tract (above). It is commonly characterized by a condensed horizon reflecting very slow deposition; markers in the overlying systems tract downlap onto the MFS. Onlap: the situation where an initially horizontal stratum laps out against an initially inclined surface. Parasequence: a relatively conformable succession of genetically related beds or hedsets bounded by marine flooding surfaces and their correlative surfaces. Ravinement surface: an erosion surface produced during marine transgression of a formerly subaerial environment. Seismic stratigraphy: a geological approach to the stratigraphie interpretation of seismic data. Sequence: a relatively conformable succession of genetically related strata bounded at its top and base by unconformities and their correlative conformities. It is composed of a succession of systems tracts and is interpreted to he deposited between eustatic-fall inflection points. Sequence stratigraphy: the study of rock relationships within a chronostratigraphic firamework wherein the succession of rocks is cyclic and is composed of genetically related stratal units (sequences and systems tracts). 240 Systems tract; a linkage of contemporaneous depositional systems. 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