Geology of the Bedford Shale and Berea Sandstone in the Appalachian Basin GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 259 Geology of the Bedford Shale and Berea Sandstone in the Appalachian Basin By JAMES F. PEPPER, WALLACE DE WITT, JR., and DAVID F. DEMAREST GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 259 A study of the stratigraphy, sedimentation and paleogeography of rocks of Bedford and Berea age in Ohio and adjacent States UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1954 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Douglas McKay, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price $4.25 (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Page Abstract-_ _________________________________________ 1 Correlations and stratigraphy — Continued Introduction _______________________________________ 2 Mississippian rocks — Continued Purpose of the study____________________________ 2 Corry sandstone. ___________________________ 40 Acknowledgments. ______________________________ 3 Shellhammer Hollow formation. ______________ 41 Character and extent of the Berea sandstone.______ 5 Sunbury shale______________________________ 41 Method of investigation. ________________________ 7 South of Sunbury, Ohio, to Irvine, Ky____ 41 Well records ___________________________________ 7 North of Sunbury, Ohio, to the vicinity of A description of some of the more common terms Berea, Ohio______-____---__---__-___- 41 used by the oil- and gas-well drillers in the Appa­ From Berea, Ohio, eastward ___ _________ 41 lachian basin_ ________________________________ Orangeville shale. __________________________ 42 Sand._____________________________________ Aurora siltstone member ___ ____ ______ 42 Settling sand_______________________________ Chardon siltstone member. ______________ 42 Lime_ _ ____________________________________ Bartholomew siltstone member.. __________ 42 Hungry Run sandstone member __________ 43 Shells, shale and shells, slate and shells, sand Sharpsville sandstone— ______________________ 45 shells, or lime shells.______________________ Sedimentation _ ___________________________________ 45 Cave, pencil cave, and mules ear cave_________ Bedford sedimentation __________________________ 45 Red rock __________________________________ Red Bedford Delta ___ _____________________ 45 Coffee shale._______________________________ General features________________________ 45 Historical summary of the stratigraphic nomen­ Fluvial origm__________________________ 46 clature ______________________________________ 11 Evidence. _________________________ 46 The age relation of the Bedford shale and Berea Hypotheses of environments of deposi­ sandstone_ _________________________________ 13 tion. _ _ _________________ 48 Correlations and stratigraphy._______________________ 13 Coastal-plain hypothesis.. _______ 48 Upper Devonian rocks___________________________ 13 River- valley-alluvium hypothesis. 49 Ohio shale _________________________________ 14 Delta hypothesis ___ ___________ 50 Huron member_________________________ 15 History of the Red Bedford Delta. _______ 53 Cleveland member._____________________ 16 Delineation of the outline — early Bed­ Chattanooga shale__________________________ 16 ford time_-__________-__-________ 54 Chagrin shale ______________________________ 17 Delineation of the outline — bar forma­ Riceville shale______________________________ 17 tion. _ ___________________________ 54 Mississippian rocks_____________________________ 17 Subaerial sedimentation _____________ 56 Uplift and erosion in the north, subsid­ Surface correlations.________________________ 17 ence in the south_________________ 57 Subsurface correlations ______________________ 19 The color of the Red Bedford Delta sedi­ Cussewago sandstone______________________ 19 ments _______________________________ 57 General features._______________________ 19 Relation of the Cussewago sandstone to Deposition of the gray Bedford shale. _________ 58 Sedimentation of the Cussewago (Murrysville) sand- Caster's Cobham conglomerate member 59 of the Knapp formation_______________ 21 Sedimentation of Cussewago (Murrysville) equiv­ Subsurface features (Murrysville sand)____ 21 alent in northern West Virginia (area F) _________ 61 Bedford shale_ _____________________________ 21 Sedimentation of the Berea sandstone _____________ 61 Exposures west and south of Berea, Ohio__ 21 Sedimentation in Kentucky during Bedford and Exposures east of Berea, Ohio____________ 23 Berea time___________________---_-__-____ 74 Correlation of the Bedford shale._________ 23 Sedimentation of the West Virginia type Berea Subsurface. ____________________________ 25 sand in area N_ __________________________ 74 Berea sandstone ____________________________ 28 Gay-Fink Channel _ _________ _ _______ __ 75 Exposures west and south of Berea, Ohio_. 28 Cabin Creek Channel____________-_____--_-_ 78 Exposures east of Berea, Ohio.___________ 32 Minor sedimentary features in the Berea sand­ Subsurface_____________________________ 34 stone _ __________________________________ 79 Relationship of Berea sand and Cusse­ Ripple marks____--_____-_-----_-------- 79 wago (Murrysville) sand in eastern Flow rolls __ __ _ _____________________ 88 Ohio and western Pennsylvania.___ 34 Sun cracks__________ ___________________ 89 Correlation of the Berea sand of south­ Carbonaceous material in the Berea sand- ern Ohio, West Virginia, and Ken­ 90 tucky ___________________________ 36 Sedimentation of the Sunbury shale. __ 91 Correlation of Berea and Corry sandstones_____ 39 Petrographic studies of the Berea sand 91 in IV CONTENTS Page Page Paleogeography__ _ _ _______________________________ 95 Paleogeography—Continued Paleogeography of Bedford and Berea time_ _______ 95 The paleogeographic map of Bedford and Berea The Appalachian basin ______________________ 95 time—Continued Cincinnati arch_____________________________ 97 Paleogeography at the beginning of late Bedford Climate of Bedford and Berea time._________ _ 99 time-________-_____________-_- ——— _____ 103 Source of the sediments of the Bedford and Berea Paleogeography at the end of late Bedford time, _ 103 deposited in Michigan and Ohio. _______________ 99 Paleogeography of early Berea time___________ 104 Paleogeography of middle Berea time _________ 105 The paleogeographic map of Bedford and Berea Paleogeography of late Berea time,___________ 105 ime ________________________________________ Paleogeography of latest Berea time_________ 106 Paleogeography at the beginning of early Bedford Paleogeography of Sunbury time _ _ ___ _ ___ 107 time___________________________________._ 101 Literature cited___-_____________________-_____-_____ 107 Paleogeography of early Bedford time_________ 102 Index.____________________________________________ 111 ILLUSTRATIONS [Pis. 1-12,14 in pocket; pi. 13,4.-/follows p. 106] PLATE 1. Map showing extent and thickness of the Berea, Cussewago (Murrysville), and Corry sands in the Appalachian basin. 2. Map of the Second Berea sand in Gallia, Meigs, Athens, Morgan, and Muskingum Counties, Ohio. 3. Schematic cross section showing the generalized relation of the Berea sandstone to the adjacent formations. 4. Outcrop map of the Berea sandstone and the Bartholomew siltstone member in the base of the Orangeville shale. 5. Stratigraphic sections from Squaw Rock, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to Spartansburg, Crawford County, Pa. 6. Map of part of area in northern Ohio showing the major trends of some channel sandstones of the Berea. 7. Map of the Red Bedford Delta showing extent and thickness of the red beds. 8. Map and cross section of part of the channeled area in Knox, Holmes, and Coshocton Counties, Ohio, which contains sand of Bedford and Berea age. 9. Diagram showing the position of the channel sands of Bedford age in parts of Medina, Ashland, Wayne, Holmes, Knox, and Coshocton Counties, Ohio. 10. Map and cross sections showing relationship of Berea sand to associated formations as interpreted from drill holes. 11. Map showing the distribution of the several types of Berea sand in West Virginia, eastern Ohio, and western Pennsylvania. 12. A paleogeographic map of northeastern North America in middle Berea time. 13. Paleogeographic maps. A, Beginning of early Bedford time. B, Early Bedford time. C, Beginning of late Bedford time. D, End of late Bedford time. E, Early Berea time. F, Middle Berea time. G, Late Berea time. H, Latest Berea time. /, Sunbury time. 14. Subsurface cross section showing the relative stratigraphic position of the 2d Gas, Berea, and Cussewago (Murrysville) sands. Page FIGURE 1. Sketch map showing the northern part of the Appalachian basin of the oil and gas geologist__-__------__-__-_ 2 2. Representative sections of the lower Mississippian and Upper Devonian rocks in the area mapped_____________ 4 3. Sketch map showing the parts of the outcrop of the Bedford shale and Berea sandstone mapped by different geologists ________________________________________________________________________________________ 6 4. Chart showing the stratigraphic names which have been applied to some of the Upper Devonian and lower Mis­ sissippian rocks in Ohio____________________________________________________________________________ 10 5. Sketch map showing lithologic character of the Upper Devonian rocks upon which the Bedford and Berea sedi­ ments were deposited_____________________________________________________________________________ 11 6. Schematic cross section between Buena Vista