JOSEPH F SCHWIETERING I Department of Geology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio 44115

Distribution of the Cleveland Black Shale in Ohio

ABSTRACT lower black shale member of the Ohio Shale) and the Chagrin Shale (the middle gray mem- The authors present evidence that the varia- ber of the Ohio Shale); as an eastern extension ble thickness of the Cleveland Shale (Late of the Huron Shale; and as a western facies of Devonian) from northern to southern Ohio dis- the Chagrin Shale. The relationship recognized plays a pattern resulting from the entry into a in this paper is that described by Pepper and black mud environment of some clastic sedi- others (1954), in which two black shale units ments introduced by distributing currents flow- (Huron and Cleveland) are separated by the ing westward from the Catskill delta. westward thinning Chagrin gray shale facies. Gushing (1912) applied the name Olmsted INTRODUCTION Shale to a sequence of soft, blackish shales with This study was undertaken to determine the bands of bluish shale in the vicinity of Cleve- distribution of the Cleveland Shale in Ohio and land. He considered the Olmsted to be a sepa- to define the depositional patterns prevailing rate formation wedging out eastward between during Late Devonian time. the Cleveland and the underlying Chagrin Shale and thickening westward with concurrent Method of Study thinning of the Chagrin. Pepper and others Exposures of Devonian and Mississippian (1954) considered the Olmsted to be a mem- rocks in northern and central Ohio were mea- ber of the Cleveland Shale because of the iden- sured at 31 localities (Fig. 1). Field measure- tical nature, noted by Hass (1947), of ments were correlated with data from conodonts from both units. gamma-ray neutron logs from 103 wells drilled GEOLOGIC SETTING through the Devonian rocks of Ohio (Fig. 1). In addition, well cuttings from 7 wells in widely Field Relations scattered areas were examined to check reliabil- The Cleveland black shale units of northern ity of detection of subsurface units on gamma- Ohio are easily traced out in surface exposures, ray neutron logs. Two cross sections drawn except toward their western limits (Huron from representative stratigraphic sections trans- River Valley, Lorain Co., Fig. 1). They can be verse and longitudinal to the basin of deposi- traced eastward to the west side of the Grand tion reveal the lateral facies changes (Fig. 2), River Valley in Ashtabula County. The Cleve- and an isopach map (Fig. 3) displays the thick- land reaches maximum thickness in western ness variations. (For a list of borings used in Cuyahoga County, then thins eastward and cross sections, see Table 1.) westward across northern Ohio. Silt content of the black shale is relatively Previous Work high (average 63 percent), but is masked by the The Cleveland Shale is the uppermost black organic content. Generally, silt content in- shale member of the Ohio Shale. General re- creases eastward. Black shale units become less gional facies descriptions of the Cleveland pyritic and increasingly calcareous westward as Shale have been provided by Newberry reflected in the greater frequency of concre- (1871), Ulrich (1912), Gushing (1912), Kin- tions, lensoid cone-in-cone structures, dis- dle (1912), Prosser (1913), Verwiebe (1917), seminated calcite grains, and thin interbedded Chadwick (1925), Lamborn (1934), Pepper limestone and calcareous siltstones. Nelson and others (1954), Nelson (1955), and summa- (1955) reported similar findings and also re- rized by Hoover (I960). The Cleveland Shale ported mineralogical variations of clays (over-all has, at various times, been considered as a sepa- dominant quartz-illite-chlorite, deficient in kao- rate formation overlying the Huron Shale (the linite) within the various facies.

Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 82, p. 3477-3482, 4 figs., December 1971 3477

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LOCATION OF WELLS

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Figure 1. Map showing the location of measured sections and wells.

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-02± MILES- -2S.S± MILES- -251 MILES- -22.5+MILES- Figure 2. Cross sections showing the correlation of Upper Devonian and Lower Mississippian formation in Ohio.

Lewis and Schwietering, Figure 2 Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 82, no. 12 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/82/12/3477/3417818/i0016-7606-82-12-3477.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 GEOLOGIC SETTING 3479

The lower units of the Cleveland are com- TABLE 1. LIST OF BORINGS USED IN CROSS SECTIONS monly made up of regularly bedded very thin to thin-bedded siltstones, intercalated with Cross Operator Section and medium to dark gray and very dark gray to Number Well Name Location black shales. Locally, this is referred to as the Olmsted facies (Gushing and others, 1931). Be- 1 Hudson Ohio Oil Co. cause of admixture of gray and black shale Willet no. 1 Lot no. 33, Ripley units, the Olmsted boundary with the underly- Twp., Huron Co. ing Chagrin Shale is arbitrary. However, the 2 Dalton and Hanna Olmsted generally differs from the Chagrin Eshtruth no. 1 Lot no. 14, Ruggles Shale in that it is characterized by a higher per- Twp., centage of siltstones, excellent bedding plane (4/qtr.) Ashland Co. and internal structures, absence of bioturbation 3 Ohio Fuel Gas Co. Reynolds no. 1 Lot no. 57, Westfield features, numerous horizontally interbedded Twp., black shale laminae, and flaser bedding. In- Medina dividual siltstones commonly display partial Co. 4 Parker and Chapman representation of graded beds, parallel lamina- Shafer no. 3 Sec. 19, Milton Twp., tions, and current ripple lamination. The Wayne Co. Olmsted facies has not been recognized in cen- 5 Young and tral and southern Ohio, nor has it been sepa- Henneberger Will no. 1 Sec. 17, Harrison rated from the Cleveland in the subsurface Twp., Scioto records. Co. In northern Ohio, the Olmsted facies pinches 6 Clark Oil and out southeastward in a belt parallel with the Refinery northeast-southwest-trending 20-ft isopach of Corp., Heiss no. 1 Sec. 15, Clear Creek Twp., Fair- the Cleveland Shale (Fig. 3). The upper part of field Co. the Cleveland extends farther southeastward. 7 Howard Atha In surface exposures, the Olmsted pinches out Roberts no. 1 Lot no. 2, Hartford eastward and southward in southeastern Twp., (3/qtr.) Liking Co. Cuyahoga County and thickens westward in Hudson Ohio Oil Co. those areas where Cleveland black shale sec- Augustine no. 1 Sec. 34, Troy Twp., tions thicken. Individual major siltstones Richland Co. (traced for 2 mi along lake exposures west of East Ohio Gas Co. Born no. 1 Lot no. 8, Henrietta Cleveland) also thicken westward toward areas Twp., of thick Cleveland Shale, then thin progres- Lorain Co. sively westward. The frequency of intercalated silty gray shales and individual major siltstones decreases to the west, and there is a correspond- pinchout, intertonguing is suggested in places ing increase of black shale laminae and com- where thin beds of shale with relatively high plete black shale units directly above and below gamma-ray readings occur in the upper part of major siltstones. A similar isolation of siltstones the Chagrin Shale and lower units of the Bed- by black shale units occurs where the Olmsted ford Shale. thins and pinches out on top of the Chagrin The Cleveland Shale lies in a narrow band Shale. nearly parallel to the outcrop belt of Devonian Shales (Fig. 3). The approximate position of the Subsurface Relations eastern edge of the Cleveland Shale where it The subsurface units under discussion are pinches out between the Bedford and Chagrin generally easily recognized on the gamma-ray Shales is shown by the zero isopach line (Fig. neutron logs. The black carbonaceous Cleve- 3). At present, the western limit of the Cleve- land and Huron Shales have higher gamma-ray land Shale is the north-south Devonian shale readings than the gray shales and siltstones of outcrop belt passing through central Ohio. the Chagrin and the red and gray shales of the During Devonian time, the Cleveland Shale Bedford (Fig. 2). may have extended farther to the west, as is An eastward pinchout of the Cleveland Shale indicated by its thickness near the outcrop belt. is well defined (Fig. 2, A-A'). In addition to the It is not known whether the Cleveland Shale

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CONTOUR INTERVAL 10'

KENTUCKY OUTCROP BELT OF DEVONIAN SHALES

Figure 3. Isopach map of the Cleveland Shale.

pinched out to the west against the Cincinnati of southern Ohio and northeastern Kentucky a Arch or crossed the arch and merged with the sandstone body immediately underlies the New Albany Shale in Indiana. A rather highly Cleveland Shale. The Sunbury Shale which caps radioactive zone at the top of the Antrim Shale the Berea Sandstone throughout much of Ohio in northwestern Ohio suggests that the black is, along with the Berea, younger than the shale of the Cleveland crossed the Findlay Arch Cleveland and Bedford Shale units discussed into the Michigan Basin. above. The apparent local absence of the Sun- The Cleveland Shale extends south into bury, along with the introduction of major northeastern Kentucky (Fig. 3). Preliminary sandstones below known Cleveland suggests subsurface studies in Gallia and Lawrence that the Cleveland Shale may have been misla- Counties in south-central Ohio indicate that in beled Sunbury by previous workers in these the eastern parts of these counties, the Sunbury areas. Shale (black) is absent, and that in some areas The isopach map clearly delineates a rela-

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DISTRIBUTION OF CLEVELAND SHALE

Figure 4A and B. Facies relationship of the Cleveland Shale with enclosing rock masse.

200 J THICKNESS OF CLEVELAND SHALE

DIRECTION OF CURRENTS DOWN SLOPE OF DELTA

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lively narrow northeast-southwest-trending REFERENCES CITED rock mass in the Cleveland region with an axis parallel to the present Lake Erie shoreline (Fig. 3). West of Cleveland, the shale belt bends Caster, K. E., 1934, The stratigraphy and paleon- abruptly southward and is aligned parallel to tology of northwestern Pennsylvania, pt. I: Am. the Cincinnati-Findlay Arch. At least four areas Paleontology Bull., v. 21, no. 71, 185 p. Chad wick, G. H., 1925, Chagrin formation of Ohio: of thick black shale units can be recognized. Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 36, p. 455-464. These thick masses are arranged en echelon and Gushing, H. P., 1912, The age of the Cleveland their long axes trend between N. 50° E. in the shale of Ohio: Am. Jour. Sci., ser. 4, v. 33, p. Cleveland area and N. 25° E. in southern Ohio. 581-584. These thicker accumulations are connected by Gushing, H. P., and others, 1931, Geology and min- transverse areas of thin Cleveland Shale that eral resources of the Cleveland district, Ohio: have a general east-west alignment. U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 818, 138 p. Hass, Wilbert H., 1947, Conodont zones in Upper CONCLUSIONS Devonian and Lower Mississippian formations of Ohio: Jour. Paleontology, v. 21, no. 2, p. The Cleveland black shale accumulated in 131-141. restricted areas of an inland sea (Fig. 4). The Hoover, K. V., I960, Devonian-Mississippian shale black shale represents a western facies of the sequence in Ohio: Ohio Div. Geol. Survey, Inf. westward prograding Catskill delta (Caster, Circ. no. 27, p. 1-154. 1934). Kindle, E. M., 1912, Devonian shales of northern Upper Devonian black and gray shales thin Ohio: Am.Jour. Sci., 4th ser., v. 34, p. 187-213. westward from eastern Ohio toward the Cincin- Lamborn, R. E., 1934, Data on the thickness and nati-Findlay Arch, suggesting the arch to be a character of certain sedimentary series in Ohio: positive element during Late Devonian time Ohio Jour. Sci., v. 34, no. 6, p. 345-364. (Hoover, I960). Black shale units present Nelson, B. W., 1955, Pre-Berea mineralogy and stratigraphy [Ph.D. dissert.]: Urbana, Univ. Il- along the crest of the arch demonstrate innun- linois, 104 p. dation of the arch during part of this time. Fo- Newberry, J. S., 1871, Report of progress of the erstia, a planktonic alga related to modern Geological Survey of Ohio in 1869: Columbus, Sargassum, was found in the lower part of the Ohio, Nevins and Meyers, State Printers, 176 p. Huron Shale in Ohio and the Chatanooga Shale Pepper, J. F., de Witt, W.Jr., and Demarest, D. F., in Kentucky and Tennessee east of the arch but 1954, Geology of the Bedford shale and the not in equivalent sediments west of it (Schopf Berea sandstone in the Appalachian basin: U.S. and Schwietering, 1970). The arch presumably Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 259, p. 1-111. restricted eastward circulation of waters. The Prosser, C. S., 1913, The Huron and Cleveland shales of northern Ohio: Jour. Geology, v. 21, positive arch on the west and the prograding p. 323-362. delta on the east bordered an area of deeper Schopf, J. M., and Schwietering, J. F., 1970, The waters in which black muds representing the Foerstia zone of the Ohio and Chattanooga Cleveland Shale accumulated. shales: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1294-H, p. Hl- Local variations of thickness of the Cleveland H15. Shale are facies controlled (Fig. 4B). Influxes of Ulrich, E. O., 1912, The Chattanooga series with clastic material off the delta, lacking high con- special reference to the Ohio shale problem: centrations of organic matter, diluted the or- Am. Jour. Sci., v. 34, 4th ser., p. 157-183. ganically rich muds in deeper quiet water. The Verwiebe, W. A., 1917, Correlation of the Devonian shales of Ohio and Pennsylvania: eastward pinchout of black shale and its north- Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., v. 44, p. 33-47. south irregularities in thickness suggest varia- tions of sediment influx with position and time. The areas of thinner black shale represent MANUSCRIPT RECEIVED BY THE SOCIETY OCTOBER 8, places of greater silt influx and less organic ac- 1970 cumulation. REVISED MANUSCRIPT RECEIVED JUNE 3, 1971

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