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Moccasin or Bays Formation through Blackford Formation (VAOls;0)

Geologic Formation in VA, WV

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Lithology

Chert

Sandstone

Other (1,223 mi²)

Geologic Age

Ordovician (487.3 Ma – 445.3 Ma ago)

Geologic Unit Label

Ols

Moccasin Formation, Bays Formation, Unit C, Unit B, and Unit A. Moccasin Formation (Campbell, 1894). Mudstone, shale, imestone, and sandstone. Mudstone and shale, dusky-red to dark-reddish-brown, calcareous, ripple-marks, and mud cracks common. Limestone, light-olive-gray, weathers very-light gray, aphanic with “birds-eyes”, locally fossiliferous. The limestone generally is the middle member of the Moccasin southwest of Giles County. In eastern Giles County and northeastward a thin medium-grained, gray sandstone occurs near the base of the Moccasin. The thickness ranges from 0 in northern Alleghany County to about 600 feet in Scott County. Bays Formation (Keith, 1895). Siltstone, sandstone, mudstone, and limestone. Siltstone, grayish-red, olive- to light-olive-gray, locally calcareous, sandy in part. Sandstone, light-gray to yellowish-gray, fine- to very-coarse-grained, locally conglomeratic, calcareous. Mudstone, grayish-red, olive- to light-olive-gray, mudcracks common. Limestone, grayish-red to light-olive-gray, aphanic. Five distinct K-bentonites reported by Hergenroder (1966). Contacts are conformable except perhaps in Botetourt, Roanoke, and Montgomery counties. Thickness ranges from 105 feet north of Wytheville to 890 feet near Daleville in Botetourt County. From Scott and Washington counties to Highland County and northwest of the Pulaski and North Mountain faults, a multitude of stratigraphic names have been applied to the rocks between the Bays or Moccasin (above) and the Beekmantown or Knox (below). The lack of detailed geologic mapping, except in Scott and Giles counties, the restricted area of the two major stratigraphic studies (Cooper and Prouty, 1943; Kay, 1956), and the general disagreement as to mappability and correlation of units makes it impossible to apply specific stratigraphic nomenclature at this time. Therefore, the rocks are described as three packages of lithologies (from youngest to oldest): Unit C, Unit B, and Unit A. Unit C. Limestone, medium- to dark-gray, aphanic to fine-grained with thin, medium- to coarse-grained beds, argillaceous, nodular to planar-bedded, locally very fossiliferous. The following names have been applied to Unit C: Witten, Bowen, Wardell, Gratton, Benbolt, Chatham Hill, Wassum, Rich Valley, Athens, Ottesee, Liberty Hall, Fetzer, and Giesler. Unit B. Limestone, light- to dark-gray, aphanic to coarsegrained, black and gray chert nodules, carbonate mound buildups. This unit is characterized by grainstone with interbedded micrite and chert. The overlying Unit C is very argillaceous and lacks chert. The following names have been applied to Unit B: Wardell, Gratton, Benbolt, Lincolnshire, Big Valley, McGlone, McGraw, Five Oaks, Peery, Ward Cove, Rockdell, Rye Cove, Effna, Whitesburg, Holston, Pearisburg, and Tumbez. Unit A. Dolostone, light- to medium-gray, fine-grained, locally conglomeratic, cherty. Limestone, medium- to dark gray, fine-grained, locally cherty. Shale, light-gray to dusky red. A basal chert-dolomite conglomerate with clasts as much as cobble size is locally present on the unconformity surface. The following names have been applied to Unit A: Blackford, Elway, Tumbez, Lurich (lower part), and “basal clastics”.

— USGS

Taxonomy

Classified As

Geologic Formation