The Geology of Gallia County, Ohio Dissertation
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THE GEOLOGY OF GALLIA COUNTY, OHIO DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By OLIVER DUNCAN BLAKE, A. B The Ohio State University 195>2 /' Adviser / 6- TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Location and Area....... Scope of this Report.... Acknowledgements........ Previous Work in the Area Structure............... Stratigraphy Introduction..................................... y Allegheny Series.............................. 10 Clarion cyclothem.......................... 12 Lower Kittanning cyclothem. ...... 13 Strasburg cyclothem......................... 15 Middle Kittanning cyclothem................. 16 Lower Freeport cyclothem................... 16 Bolivar cyclothem ................ 17 Upper Freeport cyclothem.................... 17 Conemaugh Series....................... 19 Piedmont cyclothem........ 22 Mahoning cyclothem.......................... 23 Mason cyclothem......... 23 Brush Creek cyclothem...................... 2i+ Wilgus cyclothem............................ 25 Bloomfield cyclothem........................ 27 Anderson cyclothem....... 29 Barton cyclothem...... 29 Harlem cyclothem............................ 31 Gaysport cyclothem.......................... 32 Elk Lick cyclothem................ 33 Clarksburg cyclothem........................ 3l+ Connellsville cyclothem............. 35 Lower Little Pittsburgh cyclothem........... 36 Upper Little Pittsburgh cyclothem........... 37 Pittsburgh cyclothem ............... 37 Monongahela Series Upper Pittsburgh cyclothem............ ...... h 1 Redstone cyclothem......................... 1+3 Fishpot cyclothem............ 1+1+ Sewickley cyclothem.................. 1+5 Arnolds burg cyclothem..................... 1+6 Uniontown cyclothem. .................... 1+7 Little Waynesburg cyclothem................. 1+8 Waynes burg cyclothem .................. 1+8 209375 Dunkard Series............. Correlation with Other Areas S edimentation Size and Shape of Sedimentary Bodies....... 53 Color............... 5U Cyclothems............... 5° General Sequence. ...... 56 Cyclical Break........................ 57 Limestones............................ 59 Coal.................................. 62 Under cl ay. ............... 61t Blocky Clay........................... 67 Fissile Shale......................... 67 Other Clastics........ 68 Tectonic History Tectonic Environment....................... 71 Source Direction of Sediments......... 72 Epirogenic Equilibrium..................... 75 Mineral Resources Coal........................................ 82 Sand and Gravel............................ 83 Limestone.................................. 8U Gas and Oil.................... 85 Appendix Bibliography............................... 87 Selected Measured Sections from Gallia County ........................... 89 Addison township.................... 89 Cheshire township............... 92 Clay township............. 9b Gallipolis township................... 97 Green township ..... 98 Greenfield township................... 101 Guyan township..................... 103 Harrison township ............... 107 Huntington township........ 109 Morgan township....................... Ill Ohio township......................... 113 Perry township................ llU Raccoon township...................... 115 Page Springfieldtownship ....................... 118 Walnut township.......... 119 Autobiography................. 126 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Index Map Showing Location of Gallia County........................ 1 Figure 2, Structural Map of Gallia County........ 6 Figure 3. Contact of Red Shale and Sandstone in Gallipolis Township................... 58 Figure I*. Transported Coal in a Strip Mine Exposure in Cheshire Township.......... 63 ■ r Figure 5. Indicator Plants for Underclays in Gallia County........ 65 Figure 6. Sandstone Cross-Lamination Directions... 7h Figure 7. Typical Cyclothem in Gallia County...... 77 Plate 1 ........................................... 123 Plate 2........................................... 125 iii. INTRODUCTION Location and Area Gallia County is located along the southern margin of the state of Ohio. It is bounded by the Ohio River on the east, Lawrence county on the south, Lawrence and Jackson counties on the west, and Vinton and Meigs counties on the north. The greatest north-south distance is 30 miles, the greatest east-west distance is 2h miles. Approximately U30 square miles are contained in the county (Sherman, 1933)f which is divided into 1^ townships of unequal size. Galli- polis, the county seat is located on the Ohio River at 38° U8' N, 82° 12' W. --p "1< h- I J... * '— , 1 > ..J) — j Figure 1, Index map showing location of Gallia county 1. The county area is shown on seven topographic map sheets of the United States Geological Survey. These quadrangles ares Athalia, Bidwell, Glenwood, Oak Hill, Point Pleasant, Pomeroy, and Wilkesville, and the parts of these quadrangles covering Gallia county have been used as a monochromatic base for the geologic map accompanying this report. Scope of this report The primary aims of this report are fourfolds 1. The construction of a geologic map of Gallia county, drawn on a topographic base map of the United States Geological Survey, having a scale of 1/6 2 ,5 0 0 . 2. A study of the stratigraphic relationship between the various cyclothems from place to place throughout the county. 3. To add, if possible, some information to the overall under standing of the broader aspects of Pennsylvanian sedimentation of the Appalachian basin. U. An investigation of the distribution and thicknesses of the coal resources of Gallia county. Acknowledgements The writer wishes to thank Mr. John H. Melvin, State Geo logist of Ohio, for making this report possible and Dr. J. Osborn Fuller under whose direction this investigation has been conducted. Thanks are also due to Mr. Robert Wilson for assistance in the field 2. in 19h9 and to Mr. Charles W. Achauer for assistance in the field in 195>0 and for the identification of some problematical coal out crops by means of plant spores in the coal. To Mr. William Smith of the Ohio Geological Survey, Dr. Aureal Cross of the West Virginia Geological Survey, and Dr. Myron T. Sturgeon of Ohio University, the ■writer is grateful for ideas and information that they have demonstrated to him in the field. Previous Work in the Area When the Second Geological Survey of Ohio was established in 1871, the state was divided into four geological districts. The Second Geological District of Southeastern Ohio was assigned to E. B. Andrews of Marietta. The Second Annual Report of this survey which was published in 1 8 7 2 included four geological sections from the western part of Gallia county measured by Andrews. He recog nized four geological horizons which were the Sheridan coal* (Mid dle Kittanning), the Ferriferous Iron Ore, the Ferriferous limestone (Vanport), and the coal under the Ferriferous limestone (Clarion). In the following year Volume 1 of the Geology of Ohio appeared. In this a chapter by Andrews is devoted to the geology of Gallia county. Thirty geological sections are presented from all parts of the county. Five coals were recognized: (Upper Kittanning), Sheridan (Middle Kittanning), (Upper Freeport, Jeffers (Pittsburgh), Pomeroy (Redstone). In addition two limestones were recorded as defi— * Present names, not in use at the time of the above mentioned reports, are in parentheses 3. nite horizons in the county: (Cambridge), and Ames* The recog nition by Andrews of his Jeffers and Pomeroy coals as two distinct though closely spaced productive coal horizons opened a geologic controversy that is still in progress. In the summers of 1908, 1909* and 1910, D. D. Condit investigated the relationship of these two coals in southeastern Ohio. Although his work was not published, it firmly established the existence of these two coals on the Ohio side of the river. The lower of these he correlated with the Pittsburgh coal of Pennsyl vania. This interpretation has been accepted by the Ohio Geological Survey and is used in this report. The West Virginia Geological Sur vey, on the other hand, correlates the upper coal with the Pittsburgh coal of Pennsylvania. (Krebs, 1911) The Conemaugh Formation in Ohio by D. D. Condit was pub lished in 1912 as volume 17 of the Uth series of the Geological Sur vey of Ohio. This was the first modern geological report dealing with a part of the geology of Gallia county. For the first time, widespread correlations were established between Gallia county and other parts of the Appalachian basin. Many of the local formational names of the Conemaugh were replaced by those from the Pennsylvania and West Virginia areas which had definite priority. The Geology of Southern Ohio by Wilbur Stout was published in 1916 as Bulletin 20 of the Ohio Geological Survey. This described, in part, the geology of the five western townships of Gallia county from the base of the Allegheny to the Ames limestone. In the pre paration of this report outcrop maps of the Allegheny coals were pre- U. pared and some of these were reproduced on a small scale in the report. In the late 1890's W. G. Tight studied the drainage' changes in southeastern Ohio. This physiographic study included the area of Gallia county. The culmination of this work appeared in the United States Geological Survey Professional Paper No. 13, Drainage Modifi cations in Southeastern Ohio and Adjacent Parts of “West Virginia and