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Greenbrier Limestone

Geologic Formation in VA, WV

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Lithology

Shale

Dolostone

Chert

Other (343 mi²)

Geologic Age

Mississippian (359.3 Ma – 323.6 Ma ago)

Geologic Unit Label

Greenbrier Limestone (Rogers, in Macfarlane, 1879). Limestone, dolomite, and minor shale. Limestone, very-light olive-to olive-gray and brownish-gray, and medium- to dark gray, micrograined to coarse-grained, thin- to thick- bedded, thinner bedded in upper part, even- to cross-bedded; few shaly beds in upper part; oolitic in upper part and in cross-laminated beds near base; black chert near middle of formation, gray to pale-red near base; very fossiliferous. Pale-brown dolomite near upper chert zone, minor dolomite locally in lower part. Few interbeds of greenish-gray and grayish-red, calcareous, silty shale. Limestone is petroliferous locally in upper part (Henika, 1988). Base locally unconformable with underlying Maccrady Shale. Formation thickens to east, ranging from 200 feet in western Wise County to 3500 feet in Washington nd Scott counties. The Greenbrier is equivalent to (descending): Gasper Limestone, Ste. Genevieve Limestone, St. Louis Limestone (Hillsdale Limestone), and Little Valley Limestone (Warsaw equivalent), and to lower part of the Newman Limestone (Butts, 1940; LeVan and Rader, 1983). Newman Limestone (Campbell, 1893). Limestone and shale. Limestone, light-olive-gray in lower half, medium-gray to olive-gray in upper half, aphanic to fine-grained, partly oolitic, partly argillaceous, with basal beds of dark-gray chert nodules and local dolomite. Shale, medium-gray to medium dark-gray, partly calcareous, interbedded with limestone in upper half of unit. The Newman Limestone ranges from 550 to 600 feet in thickness and is equivalent to the Bluefield Formation and Greenbrier Limestone. Fort Payne Chert. (Smith, in Squire, 1890). Greenish gray chert in thin beds (2 - 6 inches thick); with shale partings. The Fort Payne Chert ranges from 0 to 20 feet in thickness and pinches out to the northeast. Grainger Formation (Campbell, 1893). Shale, pale-olive or greenish-gray to dark-greenish-gray, locally gray ish-red in lower half and at top; with some interbedded pale-olive-gray siltstone and very-fine-grained sandstone, locally abundant siderite nodules near base. The Grainger Formation ranges from 250 to 325 feet in thickness and is the lateral equivalent of the Maccrady Shale and Price Formation.

— USGS

Taxonomy

Classified As

Geologic Formation