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Keefer Formation

Geologic Formation in VA, WV

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Lithology

Shale

Sandstone

Arenite

Geologic Age

Silurian (445.3 Ma – 422.4 Ma ago)

Geologic Unit Label

Skrt

Keefer Sandstone (Ulrich, 1911). Sandstone, light-gray, fine-grained, cross-laminated, medium-bedded, very resistant. Thins northward and southwestward from a maximum of over 300 feet in Craig and western Botetourt counties. To the north it appears to interfinger with the Wills Creek and McKenzie Formations. The Keefer is equivalent to the upper portion of the Massanutten Sandstone. (The Keefer Sandstone, as used in this report, includes all of the quartzarenites with minor Skolithus-bearing red sand stone and minor calcite cemented quartzarenite in the interval above the Rose Hill Formation and below the Tonoloway Limestone in Botetourt, Rockbridge, and Augusta counties between Eagle Rock and Augusta Springs (Lampiris, 1976). Rose Hill Formation (Swartz, 1923). Sandstone, dark grayish-red, fine- to coarse-grained, poorly-sorted, argillaceous; hematite cemented, quartz sandstone interbedded with red or yellowish-green clay shale and greenish-gray, fine-grained sandstone. It is largely siltstone and shale with minor sandstone and thin limonitic iron ore beds in Southwest Virginia. Conformable with the underlying Tuscarora Formation, the Rose Hill Formation ranges up to 500 feet in thickness in northern and western Virginia but pinches-out in southwest ern Botetourt and Roanoke counties where the Keefer and Tuscarora For ma tions merge. It is present with other Silurian rocks everywhere except in the Massanutten Mountains or where an unconformity exists in exposures east of Walker Mountain. Tuscarora Formation (Darton and Taff, 1896). Quartzite, quartzarenite, and minor shale. Quartzite, light-gray with few nearly white, porcelaneous beds, fine- to medium-grained, with quartz-pebble conglomerate locally near base, quartz cemented, thick-bedded, and cross-bedded, resistant, cliff- and ledge-former, generally not more than 75 feet thick, comprises entire unit in many areas or is upper member where unconformably overlying a lower quartzarenite and shale member. Quartzarenite, light-yellowish-brown or medium-gray, fine-grained, thin-bedded, ranges in thickness from 0 to 175feet. Shale, light- to medium-brownish-gray, arenaceous, thin interbeds in quartzarenite. Conformably overlies the Juniata Formation in central western Virginia. Where lower member is absent the upper member unconformably overlies the Juniata, Oswego, Martinsburg, or Reedsville Formations or may be conformable with the Juniata Formation in northern Virginia. In southwestern Virginia grayish-red, fine-grained, ferruginous sandstone with lenses of coarse-grained, quartz sandstone and quartz-pebble conglomerate are included in the upper part of the formation. The Tuscarora is equivalent to the Clinch Formation and to the lower part of the Massanutten Sandstone.

— USGS

Taxonomy

Classified As

Geologic Formation