Geology and Coal 

Resources of the 

Tiptop Quadrangle 

Kentucky

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1042-P

Prepared in cooperation with the 

University of Kentucky and the 

Kentucky Geological Survey

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

GEOLOGY AND COAL RESOURCES OF THE TIPTOP 

QUADRANGLE, KENTUCKY

By STEWART W. WELCH

ABSTRACT

The Tiptop 7}^-minute quadrangle in the eastern Kentucky coalfield, covers 

about 59 square miles in Breathitt, Magoffin, and Knott Counties. The bedrock 

cropping out at the surface and extending to a depth of about 200 feet below 

drainage, as described herein, is assigned to the Breathitt formation of Pennsylvania age. The Breathitt formation consists primarily of sandstone, siltstone,' 

and shale, and of minor amounts of limestone, chert, underclay, and coal. Sandstone, the dominant rock type, occurs in beds ranging from less than 1 foot to more 

than 100 feet in thickness. Chert, the least common rock type, occurs locally as 

thin beds at a few stratigraphic positions. The most extensive beds are the coals 

and some of the marihe shales and limestones.

The Big Caney syncline, which trends westward across the northern part of the 

Tiptop quadrangle, is the dominant structural feature. The strata dip gently 

toward the axis of this syncline, but the general dip is'reversed along several small 

westward-trending anticlines, or steepened as, for example, along the Lambrio 

fault. The Lambric fault extends westward from the north-central part of the 

quadrangle to the western edge, where its vertical displacement is a maximum of 

160 feet. The fault is mapped here for the first time.

Reserves of coal were computed for nine coal beds: the Tom Cooper, Gun Creek, 

Fire Clay Rider, lower Haddix, upper Haddix, Prater, Oakley, Fugate, and Skyline. Of these, only the Skyline bed has been mined extensively. The coal is of 

high volatile A and B bituminous ranks. The estimated coal content of beds more 

than 14 inches thick is 535 million tons, of which about half is recoverable.

INTRODUCTION

The Tiptop quadrangle, in the eastern Kentucky coalfield, includes 

approximately 59 square miles in parts of Breathitt, Magofiin, and 

Knott Counties (fig. 51). The town of Tiptop, in the north-central 

part of the quadrangle, is about 13 miles south of Salyersville and 

30 miles east of Jackson.

The principal road is State Route 542, which traverses the quadrangle in an east-west direction. Gravel or dirt roads along the 

larger streams serve the rest of the area. A spur line of the Chesapeake 

and Ohio Railroad, which serves the local coal industry, enters the

585
586 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

83°00'

V

"X;M o R G 'XXXXXXXX XXX.

'xxxxxxxxxxx,

XX XXXX XXXX Xx

XANNEL CITY

15 Miles

FIOURE 51. Index map showing location of Tiptop quadrangle and other quadrangles about which similar

reports have been made.

quadrangle in the north-central part and extends south and east 

through Tiptop and Evanston to the southeastern corner.

Fieldwork consisted of measuring and describing several hundred 

coal and stratigraphic sections at mines, road cuts, railroad cuts, and 

natural outcrops. Most of the altitudes of coals and other key beds 

were determined by aneroid barometer traverses; a few were determined by hand leveling.

The Tiptop quadrangle lies near the western edge of the highly 

dissected Cumberland Plateau. The dendritic drainage and deep 

dissection have produced steep-sided valleys and generally narrow 

ridges. The larger streams are bordered by narrow flood plains, which 

are generally less than an eighth of a mile wide. Narrow benches have
GEOLOGY ANID COAL REISIOTJROEIS OF KEtNTUCKY 587

been formed on the ridges by erosion of weak beds of shale and coal 

overlying resistant beds of sandstone.

Altitudes in the Tiptop quadrangle range from 825 feet at Spring 

Fork at the western border to more than 1,550 feet at many points on 

southern ridges. Local relief ranges from 400 to 600 feet.

The writer acknowledges the cooperation of the mine operators 

and many residents of Tiptop quadrangle during the field work done 

on this report.

STRATIGRAPHY

BREATHITT FORMATION

The bedrock of the Tiptop quadrangle is of Pennsylvanian age and 

is'a part of the Breathitt formation which was named for its type 

exposures in Breathitt County. The formation was described by 

Campbell (1898, p. 3) as including all Carboniferous rocks above the 

Lee formation, and, although the upper boundary was not designated, 

it presumably includes the youngest Pennsylvanian rocks of the 

county. Wanless (1946, p. 10) considered the Breathitt formation 

approximately equivalent in age and stratigraphic position to the 

Briceville, Jellico, Scott, and Anderson formations in Tennessee, and 

to the upper Norton, Gladeville, Wise, and Harlan formations in 

Virginia.

The outcropping strata in the Tiptop quadrangle constitute approximately the upper 750 feet of the Breathitt formation. The stratigraphic relations and lateral variation of all except the uppermost 

strata are shown on plate 50.

Most of the available information concerns the outcropping strata, 

but the records of cores from several holes drilled in the central and 

southeastern parts of the quadrangle furnished a few data on 200 feet 

of strata below the level of the principal stream beds. These strata 

are also included in the Breathitt formation.

The Breathitt formation includes both continental and marine 

beds, consisting principally of sandstone, siltstone, and shale, and of 

minor amounts of limestone, chert, underclay, and coal. The sandstone consists primarily of subrounded, very fine to medium-grained 

quartz. It is micaceous and generally contains small amounts of 

carbonaceous material and dark minerals. The unweathered sandstone is commonly a light gray, but it generally weathers to various 

shades of reddish brown. The sandstone bodies may be thin lenses 

a few hundred feet across or thick beds covering many square miles. 

The bedding ranges from thin to massive, and crossbedding is common. Many of the sandstone beds have sharp, undulating contacts 

that represent disconformities which represent the removal of less 

than 10 to 30 feet of strata perhaps by ancient stream erosion.
588 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

The siltstone consists mainly of quartz and some clay, mica, and 

carbonaceous material. It is light to dark gray, and generally thin 

to medium bedded. Where directly beneath an underclay, it generally contains fossil root impressions and is poorly bedded. Much 

of the siltstone grades both laterally and vertically into sandstone 

or shale.

The shale is generally silty, and ranges from light gray to grayish 

black depending largely on the amount of carbonaceous material 

present. The shale commonly weathers to shades of olive gray, or it 

may be stained reddish brown by iron oxide. Thin ironstone layers 

and small ironstone concretions are present in some of the shale beds. 

A few shale beds contain marine fossils some fossiliferous over large 

areas but others at scattered localities only.

The limestone is argillaceous to silty, and medium gray to dark 

gray. It occurs as beds less than a foot thick, and as ellipsoidal 

concretions or lenses as much as 15 feet across and 2 feet thick. 

Marine fossils are generally present in the limestone where it is 

associated with fossiliferous shale.

Chert occurs in discontinuous layers at only a few stratigraphic 

positions in the Breathitt formation. It may be associated with beds 

containing fossils of marine invertebrates or of continental plants. 

Its color ranges from shades of brown and brownish gray to shades of 

bluish gray.

The underclay is generally silty, nonbedded, light gray to dark 

gray, and at most places underlies coal, exhibits traces of roots, and 

grades downward to shale or siltstone. Small ironstone concretions 

are common in some beds of underclay.

The coal is of high volatile A and B bituminous ranks, and heat 

values on the as-received basis range from 13,790 to 12,260 Btu. Ash 

and sulfur are present in moderate amounts. (See table 2.) The 

bituminous beds consist primarily of shiny vitrain bands in a groundmass of attrital coal, but minor amounts of bone and fusain are 

commonly present. The bone is an impure coal consisting mainly 

of attrital coal and clay; the fusain is a soft carbonaceous material 

that resembles charcoal and commonly forms discontinuous stringers. 

A few beds contain benches of cannel coal which is distinguished by 

its conchoidal fracture, comparatively light weight, and the lack of 

vitrain bands.

The coal beds described in this report are, in ascending order, the 

Tom Cooper, Gun Creek, Whitesburg, Fire Clay and Fire Clay Rider, 

lower and upper Hamlin, lower and upper Haddix, Prater, Oakley, 

Fugate, Hindman, and lower and upper Skyline. The correlation of 

the bed names used in this report with those used in reports on adjoining areas is given hi table 1.
GEOLOGICAL SVHVKV

*"%'.

1042 PLATE 52

22'0"

Development of the Magoffin beds of Morse, and adjacent strata in a typical occurrence in (A) an abandoned quarry about 0.2 mile south of Evanston, and in an atypical situation (jB) in a railroad cut on 

Spring Fork about 0.3 mile south of the mouth of Hawes Fork where a channel sandstone lies disconformably on the Magoffin or on lower strata in places where the Magoffin was removed by ancient stream 

erosion.
GEOLOGICAL srHVKV

Exposure in a railroad cut at the mouth of Betts Mann Branch showing the channel sandstone that 

overlies the Magoffin beds of Morse containing (A) angular blocks of shale and ironstone nodules in a 

discontinuous zone and (B) a large angular block of silty shale.
GEOLOGY AMD OOiAL RIHSOUROEIS OF KENTUCKY 589

The Tom Cooper coal, Gun Creek coal, Whitesburg coal, and the 

strata that separate them lie below the level of the principal stream 

beds. Data for their descriptipn were obtained from records of 15 

core holes drilled to the Tom .Cooper coal bed. The rocks exposed 

above the level of the principal stream beds extend from about 30 

feet below the Fire Clay coal bed to about 100 feet .above the Flint 

Kidge flint of Morse. The lowest beds are exposed on Spring Fork 

near Hughes Creek in the central part of the quadrangle and on Quicksand Creek at the mouth of Barnett Branch in the southwestern part 

of the quadrangle (pi. 51). The youngest strata crop out on the knobs 

at the head of Big Caney Creek in the northwest, in the southwestern 

corner, and at the head of Hawes Fork in the east-central part of the 

quadrangle. Plate 50 shows a composite stratigraphic section of 

outcropping rocks that extend upward from below the Fire Clay coal 

through the Flint Ridge flint of Morse, as measured in the Betts 

Mann Branch area in the north-central part of the quadrangle.

Tom Cooper coal bed. The Tom Cooper coal, which was named by 

Browning and Russell (1919, p. 29), lies 200-300 feet below the level 

of the larger streams in Tiptop quadrangle. This bed, known to coal 

companies of the area as the Upper Elkhorn No. 3, is equivalent to 

the Little Caney coal bed of Englund (1955, p. 7). The Tom Cooper 

bed has an average thickness of about 36 inches in the southeastern 

part of the quadrangle and thins northwestward to 16 inches near 

the center of the quadrangle (pi. 54).

Strata between the Tom Cooper and Gun Creek coal beds. The 

thickness of the rock sequence between the Tom Cooper and Gun 

Creek coal beds ranges from 95 feet in the southeast to less than 70 

feet in the northwest. About 20 feet of dark shale overlies the Tom 

Cooper coal at most places. A coal bed only a few inches thick 

occurs 4 to 10 feet above the Tom Cooper at several places in the 

southeast. Overlying the shale in the southeastern part of the area 

is a bed of sandstone about 60 feet thick that grades laterally to dark 

silts tone and shale to the northwest. At some places the sandstone 

lies directly on the Tom Cooper coal, but between the sandstone and 

the Gun Creek coal are a few feet of siltstone, shale, and underclay.

Gun Creek coal bed. The Gun Creek coal was named from exposures 

and small mines on Gun Creek, a few miles north of Tiptop quadrangle 

(Browning and Russell, 1919, p. 32). This bed is equivalent to the 

Cannel City coal of Englund (1955, p. 8), and to the Amburgy coal of 

Hodge (1915, p. 282). In the Tiptop quadrangle the coal lies 120-200 

feet below the level of the larger streams. Core hole records show 

that in the southeast the Gun Creek coal is divided into three thin 

coal beds. These thin coal beds, and the shale and underclay that 

separate them, have a total thickness of about 20 feet. In the

461640 58 2
590 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

TABLE 1. Correlation of names of coal-beds used in the present report with those used 

in reports on adjoining areas

Williamson and Adkison, 

Browning and Russell, 1919 Welch, present report 19">3

(Magoffin County; (Tiptop quadrangle) (Troublesome quadrangle)

___________________ Flint Ridge flint of Morsei __ Flint Ridge flint of

Morse. 

____-___________ _-__-_ Upper Skyline____?________ Knobs.

._. , [Lower Skyline___?________ Knob 2 . Hmdman____.?_____ < J , T, .

[_________,_____?______ Knobi.

Fugate_______?______._ Hindman_________?________ Hindman.

Flag_____-__._____ Fugate__.___________ Flag Hazard No. 7. 1

Hazard_ _ _________^__ Oakley __ _________?________

Whittaker 2 _?_____ Prater..______?_____ Hazard.

Upper Haddixl 0 ... 

 , _, . T TT jj- ( -1-------- Haddix. Trace Fork ____________ Lower HaddixJ

Fossil limestone____ Magoffin beds of Morse..... Magoffin beds of

Morse.

Haddix______________ Upper Hamlm] 0 .. TT ,. T TT i- (----?_-__ Hamhn. Hamhn______________ Lower HamhnJ

Fire Clay Rider._____ Fire Clay Rider._________ Fire Clay Rider.

Fire Clay_________ Fire Clay____________ Fire Clay.

Whitesburg. ___________ Whitesburg_ _ _ _____________ Whitesburg.

Gun Greek___________ Gun Creek________________

Tom Cooper___________ Tom Cooper_______________

 The Flag coal of northern Troublesome quadrangle is equivalent to the Fugate coal of Tiptop quadrangle. The Hazard No. 7 coal was tentatively correlated with the Flag coal by Williamson and Adkison 

in the Troublesome quadrangle, but data obtained during this mvestigation indicate that the Hazard No. 

7 is probably equivalent to the Oakley coal of the Tiptop quadrangle, a bed lying 15-40 feet below the Fugate 

coal.

' At several spots in the Tiptop quadrangle Browning and Russell assigned the name Young to a coal 

called Prater in this report; but data now indicate that this bed is equivalent to the Whittaker coal, which 

was named by Browning and Russell, in the area east of the Tiptop quadrangle.

central part of the quadrangle the Gun Creek is represented by a 

single coal bed about 3 feet thick that commonly has a thin shale 

parting near the middle. Information on this bed in the northern 

and western parts of the quadrangle was not available.

Strata between the Gun Creek and Whitesburg coal beds. The strata 

between the Gun Creek and Whitesburg coals range in thickness from 

about 70 feet hi the southeastern part of the area to about 100 feet in 

the central part. This sequence consists principally of a basal bed of 

sandstone, a shale bed, and an upper bed of sandstone. The basal 

sandstone is as much as 35 feet thick in the central part of the area 

and thin or absent hi the southeastern part. This sandstone generally lies directly on the Gun Creek coal, but at several places a few 

feet of shale separates the sandstone and the coal. The shale above 

the basal sandstone ranges in thickness from 3 feet at one place in 

the central part of the area to about 40 feet in the southeastern part. 

This shale probably is equivalent to the Kendrick shale of Jillson 

(1919, p. 96-104). The upper bed of sandstone, which ranges in
GEOLOGY ARID COAL RESOURCES' OF KENTUCKY 591

thickness from 10 to 60 feet, grades upward to'siltstone, shale, or 

underclay. At a few places as much as 20 feet of siltstone and shale 

is present between the sandstone and the Whitesburg coal.

Whitesburg coal bed. The Whitesburg coal bed is equivalent to the 

lowest coal of the Fire Clay coal zone of Englund (1955, p. 9) in the 

Cannel City quadrangle and to the lower Whitesburg coal of Johnston 

(Johnston, Stafford, and Welch, 1955) in the Cornettsville quadrangle. 

This thin bed, which lies 20 to 100 feet below the level of the larger 

streams in Tiptop quadrangle, exhibits a consistent thickness of 5 to 

13 inches in the central and southeastern parts of the quadrangle. 

Thin shale partings are present at a few places. Information was not 

available on this bed in the northern and western parts of the area.

Strata between the Whitesburg and Fire Clay coal beds. The strata 

between the Whitesburg and Fire Clay coal beds are 42 to 64 feet 

thick, and consist of carbonaceous shale and siltstone, lens-shaped 

sandstone bodies, thin coal beds, and underclay. The thin coal beds 

are included in the Fire Clay coal zone of England (1955) in the 

Cannel City quadrangle, and are probably equivalent to the Little 

Fire Clay and upper Whitesburg coals of Johnston (Johnston, Stafford, and Welch, 1955) in the Cornettsville quadrangle. The strata 

between the Whitesburg and Fire Clay coal beds are below stream 

level in most of the area, but the upper beds crop out along Spring 

Fork near the mouth of Hughes Creek, at the mouth of Hawes Fork, 

and on Quicksand Creek at the mouth of Barnett Branch. From 

5 to 10 feet of black shale, which may have a 3- to 5-inch coal near 

the top, directly overlies the Whitesburg coal bed at most places. 

Above the black shale is about 20 feet of gray shale and siltstone, and, 

in a few places, a few feet of sandstone. A thin coal overlies these 

beds and at several places is separated from another thin coal by 

about 5 feet of carbonaceous shale. The coal is commonly overlain 

by a bed of sandstone which has a maximum thickness of 30 feet in 

the southeast. At places where the sandstone is thin or absent, 

siltstone and shale (which commonly include one or two thin coal 

beds) are present instead. About 2 feet of underclay is present at 

the top of this sequence.

Fire Clay coal bed. In most of eastern Kentucky the Fire Clay 

coal is a useful marker bed because it commonly has a distinctive 

flint clay parting. This parting is a hard brownish-gray clay with 

conchoidal fracture; it generally ranges from 2 to 5 inches in thickness 

but is locally absent. In the mapped area the coal bed averages 

about 12 inches in thickness; at a few localities it is absent. The 

Fire Clay coal, below drainage in most of the quadrangle, crops out 

along Spring Fork and Quicksand Creek. Particularly good exposures of the Fire Clay bed and its distinctive flint clay parting are on
592 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

Spring Fork at the mouth of Hawes Fork (loc. 1, pi. 51), at the mouth 

of Big Lovely Branch (loc. 3, pi. 51), and on Quicksand Creek at the 

mouth of Mill Branch (loc. 5, pi. 51).

Strata between the Fire Clay and lower Hamlin coal beds. The 

strata between the Fire Clay and lower Hamlin coal beds are about 

25 feet thick. A few feet of thin-bedded shale commonly lies directly 

over the Fire Clay coal. Large pelecypods were found in this shale 

at two localities on Spring Fork (Iocs. 3 and 4, pi. 51). The shale is 

commonly overlain by siltstone or very fine grained sandstone that 

grades upward to the underclay of the Fire Clay Rider coal.

The Fire Clay Rider coal bed, which lies 10 to 20 feet above the 

Fire Clay coal, is 10 to 40 inches in thickness; where it is more than 

24 inches thick it commonly includes at least one shale parting. This 

bed is below stream level except where it crops out along Spring Fork 

between Big Lovely Branch and Evanston (Iocs. 6, 7, and 8, pi. 51), 

on Hawes Fork, on Quicksand Creek (loc. 9, pi. 51), and at the Decoy 

post office (loc. 10, pi. 51).

At most places the Fire Clay Rider coal is overlain by sandstone 

that grades upward to siltstone and shale. Where the sandstone is 

missing, shale or siltstone overlie the coal; at the mouth of Hawes 

Fork, the coal is overlain by shale that contains marine fossils in the 

lower 4 inches.

Lower and upper Hamlin coal beds. Two coal beds in the Tiptop 

quadrangle which are at the approximate stratigraphic position of the 

Hamlin coal of Perry County, Ky. (Hodge, 1915, p. 8), are referred 

to in this report as the lower and upper Hamlin coal beds. Either of 

these coals may correlate with the Hamlin bed of Hodge, or both 

may be splits of that bed. The lower Hamlin coal bed, which lies 

about 25 feet above the Fire Clay coal bed, maintains a thickness of 

7 to 14 inches throughout the quadrangle. The upper Hamlin lies 

from 12 to 25 feet above the lower Hamlin and consists of 8 to 24 inches 

of coal and thin shale partings. The strata between these two coals 

generally consist of a few feet of grayish-black, fissile shale that grades 

upward to siltstone or sandstone, and is overlain by 1 to 2 feet of 

underclay at the base of the upper Hamlin coal bed. The Hamlin 

coal beds are well exposed at many places in the road and railroad cuts 

along Spring Fork.

Strata between the upper Hamlin coal bed and Magoffin beds of Morse. 

The strata between the upper Hamlin coal bed and the Magoffin beds 

of Morse have a thickness of 30 to 45 feet and generally consist of 

a few feet of carbonaceous shale at the base, a massive, ledge-forming 

sandstone, and a foot or less of underclay and coal stringers at the 

top. In the western part of the quadrangle the ledge-forming sandstone is absent in some places, and siltstone and silty shale that con-
GEOLOGY AMD OOlAL RIKSOHJBOEIS OF KENTUCKY 593

tain one or two thin coal beds occupy its position (pi. 50). At several 

localities the sandstone directly underlies the Magoffin beds of Morse.

Magoffin beds of Morse. The Magoffin beds were named by Morse 

(1931, p. 302) for exposures less than half a mile north of Tiptop 

quadrangle, on Sycamore Branch of Oakley Creek. The Magoffin 

beds lie from 70 to 100 feet above the Fire Clay coal and consist of 

3 to 10 inches of dark-gray, fossiliferous limestone at the base; 1 to 5 

feet of fossiliferous shale; 1 to 2 feet of dark-gray fossiliferous, concretionary limestone; and 12 to 30 feet of sparsely fossiliferous darkgray shale (pi. 52). In the southeastern corner of the quadrangle the 

upper shale is very silty and commonly contains beds of calcareous 

silts tone and limestone concretions. At many places in the northern 

and western parts of the area all or part of the Magomn beds is 

missing, apparently due to their removal by erosion before deposition 

of the overlying strata (pi. 50 and 52). The fossils of the Magoffin 

beds are mainly of fragments of crinoids and productid brachiopods, 

but other forms commonly present are Composita, Chonetes, Spirifer, 

and several genera of small gastropods and pelecypods. Crinoids are 

the most common fossil in the lower beds, and chonetids are the most 

abundant fossils in the upper shale.

The Magoffin beds of Morse are well exposed at several places in 

the Tiptop quadrangle. The best exposures are in the railroad cuts 

at the border in the southeastern corner; in an abandoned quarry 

about 0.2 mile south of Evanston (pi. 52); in a railroad cut on Spring 

Fork about 0.3 mile south of the mouth of Hawes Fork (pi. 52); in 

the bed of Millstone Branch north of the Decoy post office; and in a 

road cut on the quadrangle border about 0.8 mile north of Tiptop. 

The Magoffin beds are the best key beds for mapping purposes 

because of their distinctive lithologic character and the many exposures 

in the area.

Strata between the Magoffin beds of Morse and lower Haddix coal bed. 

The strata between the Magoffin beds of Morse and the lower Haddix 

coal are 12 to 60 feet thick and consist of sandstone, siltstone, shale, and 

underclay. In most of the quadrangle the basal unit is a thin bed of 

sandstone or siltstone 1 to 4 feet thick, but in some areas a maximum, 

of 45 feet of massive, fine-grained sandstone overlies the Magoffin beds. 

The massive sandstone fills an ancient stream channel that trends 

northeastward across the quadrangle The stream that formed the 

channel completely removed the Magoffin beds at a few localities. 

(See pi. 52.) The massive sandstone crops out on Alum Cave and 

Barnett Branches of Quicksand Creek, Wolfpen Branch and Laurel 

Fork of Spring Fork, Coles Fork and Betts Mann Branch of Hawes 

Fork, and Big Half Mountain Creek. At many places along these 

streams this sandstone forms small cliffs along the streams and is
594 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

exposed in railroad cuts along Hawes Fork where it contains numerous 

angular blocks of silty shale and ironstone nodules in discontinuous 

zones (pi. 53). Probably these blocks of shale were eroded from a 

nearby stream bank and were buried in sand nearby because such large, 

angular blocks could not have been transported far without breaking 

into rounder and smaller fragments.

Above this basal sandstone bed lies 10 to 20 feet of carbonaceous 

shale that grades to underclay at the top and includes a thin bed of 

sandstone 5 feet or less in thickness. At many localities the upper 

beds of this unit commonly contain small ironstone nodules.

Lower and upper Haddix coal beds. Two beds of coal occur in Tiptop 

quadrangle at the approximate stratigraphic position of the Haddix 

coal bed, named by Hodge (1908, p. 41-42) from exposures near the 

town of Haddix, to the southwest. These coals, called the lower Haddix and the upper Haddix in this report, may be splits of the Haddix 

bed of Hodge. One of these beds probably is equivalent to the Colvin 

coal bed of the White Oak quadrangle (Adkison, 1957, p. 11). The 

lower and upper Haddix beds generally are separated by 10 to 15 

feet of shale, siltstone, sandstone, and underclay but at a few localities 

are separated by less than 3 feet of underclay, as at the mouth of Betts 

Mann Branch and on Kates Branch of Quicksand Creek (Iocs. 11 and 

13, pi. 51). The lower Haddix coal ranges in thickness from 27 inches 

on Prater Branch of Spring Fork (loc. 21, pi. 51) to 4 inches just north 

of the Decoy post office. The upper Haddix coal ranges in thickness 

from 28 inches on Wolfpen Branch of Spring Fork (loc. 27, pi. 51) to 

6 inches on Spring Fork near the mouth of Prater Branch (loc. 14, 

pi. 51). Both Haddix beds are missing in most of the northern half 

of the quadrangle and are discontinuous in the southern half. Their 

absence is attributed to erosion rather than nondeposition.

Strata between the upper Haddix and Prater coal beds. The sequence 

of rocks between the upper Haddix and Prater coal beds includes sandstone, siltstone, underclay, coal, and shale from about 30 feet thick in 

the west-central part of the area to a maximum thickness of 70 feet in 

the southeast. A massive bed of fine- to medium-grained sandstone, at 

or near the base of the sequence, lies disconformably on the underlying 

strata and forms conspicuous cliffs in most of the area. At a few 

places this sandstone is separated from the upper Haddix coal by 

carbonaceous shale not more than 4 feet thick. In the northern part 

of the quadrangle, where the Haddix coal and associated strata are 

missing, the sandstone lies directly on a lower sandstone that extends 

down to the Magoffin beds of Morse; the two sandstones form a 

single unit about 70 feet thick between the Magoffin beds and the 

Prater coal. At a few localities a bed of coal is present just above the 

sandstone and from 8 to 30 feet below the Prater coal bed; it is com-
GEOLOGY AND COlAL BEBSQUROEIS OF KEINTUCKY 595

monly less than 14 inches thick, but on Betts Mann Branch of Hawes 

Fork just below the mouth of Boardinghouse Branch it is 28 inches 

thick, including a 4-inch shale parting. The carbonaceous shale and 

siltstone between this coal and the Prater bed grade to underclay in 

the upper 2 feet.

Prater coal bed.-^-A. coal bed in the southeast that lies about 100 feet 

above the base of the Magoffin beds of Morse is known locally as the 

Prater bed. That name is adopted in this report. The Prater coal 

bed is exposed in a small abandoned mine on the south side of Prater 

Branch about 1.2 miles from its mouth (loc. 54, pi. 51). It is probably 

equivalent to the Hazard coal of Perry County (Hodge, 1908, p. 42, 

43). In the Tiptop quadrangle it is from less than 12 inches to 56 

inches thick and averages about 20 inches. This bed generally consists of solid coal with few or no partings of bone or shale, but in the 

northeast two splits of a bed at the approximate stratigraphic position 

of the Prater are separated by a few inches to 3 feet of shale and underclay (Iocs. 33, 34, and 42, pi. 51). Available information indicates 

that the Prater bed of the southeast is equivalent to the lower split, 

and that the coal known as the Prater bed in the northwest is equivalent to the upper split. If these correlations are correct, the bed 

called Prater in the northwest is slightly younger than the Prater coal 

of the southeast; but because these beds are at approximately the 

same stratigraphic position they are both considered part of the Prater 

coal bed in this report.

Strata between the Prater and Oakley coal beds. The strata between 

the Prater and Oakley coal beds are 42 to 90 feet in thickness and 

include two thin coal beds and associated underclays in the lower 

part. Between the Prater bed and the first thin coal there is 10 to 

20 feet of sandstone, siltstone, and shale. The sandstone is in lensshaped bodies and grades laterally to siltstone and shale. The first 

thin coal has an average thickness of about 1 foot and commonly contains a shale parting near the middle. At a few localities in the 

northern and western parts of the quadrangle a flint clay parting, 2 

to 4 inches thick, is associated with the coal. It resembles the flint 

clay parting of the Fire Clay coal bed, but lacks continuity of that 

parting and has a more mottled appearance. The coal containing 

the flint clay is well exposed in a railroad cut on Laurel Fork just 

north of Joe Push Branch in the north-central part of the area. It 

probably is equivalent to the Index coal bed near West Liberty, Ky. 

(Adkison, 1957, p. 12), which also contains a discontinuous flint-clay 

parting. In the Tiptop quadrangle this thin coal and the one next 

above are separated by 10 to 20 feet of strata that include shale and 

siltstone, a few feet of sandstone in some localities, and 1 to 2 feet of 

underclay at the top. The upper thin coal is less than 6 inches thick
596 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

near Evanston but is 15 inches thick on the Right Fork of Buck 

Branch. It is overlain at most places by about 10 feet of silty shale 

and siltstone which commonly contain large disc-shaped concretions 

of silty limestone. Marine fossils were found in the basal few inches 

of this shale at a locality on Elvania Branch of Big Lovely Branch. 

In the northern and eastern parts of the quadrangle about 10 feet of 

siltstone or sandstone overlies the shale, but elsewhere a massive 

sandstone 35 to 55 feet thick lies disconformably on the shale or on 

the coal. This sandstone, which crops out locally in conspicuous 

cliffs (as in the west-central part of the quadrangle) is generally overlain by 1 to 2 feet of underclay. In .some places however, as much as 

10 feet of shale, underclay, and thin coal beds is present between it 

and the overlying Oakley bed.

Oakley coal bed. The Oakley coal bed lies 130 feet above the base 

of the Magoffin beds of Morse in the north-central part of the area 

and 200 feet above the base near the southern border. Crandall 

(1910, p. 21) named the bed, which he described from several small 

mines on Oakley Creek just north of Tiptop quadrangle. This bed 

probably is equivalent to the Hazard No. 7 coal of Perry County, Ky. 

(Williamson and Adkison, 1953). It is well exposed at Tiptop a few 

feet above the railroad tracks (loc. 60, pi. 51). The coal has been 

mined for local use in the northern part of the quadrangle where the 

average thickness is about 3 feet. The Oakley coal bed splits into 

two separate coals along a line that approximates the BreathittMagoffin County line (pi. 54). The lower split extends only a short 

distance southwest of this line, but the upper split seems to be present 

throughout the rest of the quadrangle and has an average thickness 

of about 20 inches. It generally occurs a few feet above a massive, 

cliff-forming sandstone that is present only where the lower split of 

the Oakley coal is absent. This relation is shown in the stratigraphic 

diagram (pi. 50).

Strata between the Oakley, and Fugate coal beds. The strata between 

the Oakley and Fugate coal beds are 15 to 40 feet thick and consist 

predominantly of siltstone and shale. Thin beds of sandstone and 

underclay, and a bony coal bed also are generally present. At most 

places the thin coal lies 4 to 10 feet above the Oakley coal bed, but 

near the head of Laurel Fork of Spring.Fork -it is separated from the 

Oakley by only 8 niches of shale (loc. 76, pi. 51). At a few localities 

a massive sandstone bed occupies most of the interval between the 

Oakley and Fugate coals. About 2 feet of underclay is present at the 

top of this sequence.

Fugate coal bed. The Fugate coal bed lies as much as 235 feet above 

the base of the Magoffin beds near the Decoy post office in the southern 

part of the quadrangle, and about 160 feet above the base of the
GEOLOGICAL SUBVEY JirLLKTIN 1042 PLATE

, .-*»

40'00'

Exposure of the Skyline coal bed in (/I) a strip pit of the Skyline mine on the ridge at the head of 

Robbins Branch of Hawes Fork where it is 13 feet thick and contains a few thin partings of bone coal 

and carbonaceous shale, and (B) in a strip pit of the Skyline mine on the ridge at the head of Burnt 

House Branch showing shale partings in the bed, The lower parting thickens to more than 20 feet 

0.2 mile to the northwest.
GEOLOGY AOSPD OOlAL RIEISO'URlOEIS 0>F KENTUCKY 597

Magoffin beds on Big Half Mountain Creek in the northern part. 

This bed was named by Hodge (1915, p. 5, 79) for exposures on Ball 

Fork of Troublesome Creek near the town of Hindman. It is equivalent to the Flag coal bed of the northern part of the Troublesome 

quadrangle (Williamson and Adkison, 1953). Throughout the 

northern part of the Troublesome quadrangle and the southern part 

of the Tiptop quadrangle local residents refer to this bed as the Slate 

seam. The Fugate bed consists of three layers of coal separated by 

shale partings of almost uniform thickness. At many places, especially in the southwest, thin shale partings also occur in the upper 

layer of coal. Along Quicksand Creek and near the Decoy post 

office the Fugate coal is about 6 feet thick, including partings, and is 

mined for local use. The bed thins to the north to about 3 feet in the 

northern part of the quadrangle. At a few localities part or all of the 

Fugate bed is missing and massive sandstone occupies its position as 

a result of erosion of the coal and subsequent deposition of the sandstone.

Strata between the Fugate ard Hindman coal beds. The strata between the Fugate and Hindman beds are about 90 feet thick. At 

most places a few feet of shale directly overlies the Fugate coal. The 

shale grades upward to siltstone or sandstone, which at many places 

in the northern and central parts of the quadrangle is overlain by 

underclay and a thin coal bed. This coal generally lies 15 to 25 feet 

above the Fugate coal, but at one locality on Laurel Fork of Spring 

Fork it is separated from the Fugate coal by only 2 feet of shale (loc. 

93, pi. 51). Its thickness of 45 inches including thin partings, is much 

greater here than elsewhere in the quadrangle. This coal is generally 

overlain by massive sandstone, but as much as 13 feet of shale overlies 

the coal at a few places. Limestone concretions occur in the upper 

part of the shale in the railroad cuts at the head of Betts Mann 

Branch, and a few marine fossils are present in the basal part on 

Sandlick Branch of Laurel Fork. A massive sandstone disconformably 

overlies this shale or the coal below, and in a few places cuts out the 

Fugate coal also. The sandstone is about 50 feet thick at the railroad tunnel at the head of Betts Mann Branch, and probably is 

thicker in the central and southern parts of the quadrangle, where it 

is disconformably overlain by a lithologically similar sandstone. .As 

exposed at the railroad tunnel, and probably at other places in the 

northern part of the quadrangle, the sandstone is overlain by a few 

feet of underclay and the Hindman coal.

Hindman coal bed. A coal bed tentatively correlated with the 

Hindman coal bed of Hodge (1908, p. 43) was seen at only two localities 

in the Tiptop quadrangle just above the railroad tunnel at the head 

of Betts Mann Branch and at a deeply weathered outcrop in the old
598 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

road at the head of Hard Fork. The correlation is based on the 

stratigraphic position of the bed, which is about the same as that of 

the Hindman coal near Hindman, Ky. In the central and southern 

parts of the quadrangle the stratigraphic position of this coal is occupied by massive sandstone, with a few stringers of coal. At the 

railroad tunnel the Hindman bed consists of three layers of coal separated by 2 feet of shale and 3 feet of shale and underclay (pi. 51). 

Scattered through the underclay are ironstone concretions, many of 

which have cavities containing crystals of quartz, pyrite, and sphalerite. 

Strata between the Hindman and Skyline coal beds. In most of the 

quadrangle this sandstone lies disconl'ormably on the thick sandstone 

that occurs just below the horizon of the Hindman coal. These two 

sandstones form a 150- to 180-foot unit that crops out high on the 

hills at many places in the area. Above the railroad tunnel at the 

head of Betts Mann Branch the Hindman coal bed is directly overlain 

by 5 feet of carbonaceous shale and siltstone that contain Lingula. 

At this locality the shale and siltstone are disconformably overlain

 by 90-feet of massive sandstone. The sequence between the top of 

the sandstone and the Skyline coal bed is 32 feet thick near Tiptop 

and as much as 85 feet thick in the southeast, and includes shale, 

siltstone, sandstone, underclay, and coal. There are from 2 to 6 coal 

beds, each generally less than 2 feet thick. In the area just beyond 

the southeastern corner of the Tiptop quadrangle the two lowest of 

the coals form a single bed about 6 feet thick. In the area just beyond the southwestern corner of the quadrangle a coal bed about 5 

feet thick lies at about the same stratigraphic position. This coal

 correlates with the Knobi coal in the northern part of the Troublesome

 quadrangle (Williamson and Adkison, 1953).

Skyline coal bed. The Skyline coal crops out high on the ridges hi 

Tiptop quadrangle, underlying only the main ridges in the northern 

part of the area and only the high knobs of the ridges in most of the

 southern part. It lies from 280 feet above the Fugate coal bed in 

the southeast to 220 feet above at Tiptop. The Skyline coal bed is 

here named for the Skyline mine of the United Electric Coal Company, 

located on the ridge just north of Spring Fork in the central part of 

the quadrangle. Here the coal is 13 to 18 feet thick, including thin 

partings of shale and bone coal (pi. 55), but thins toward the southeast 

to about 5 feet south of Prater Branch (pi. 54). North and west of 

the Skyline mine this bed is split into two main coal beds separated 

by 10 to 80 feet of shale, siltstone, and sandstone. The splits of coal 

are referred to as the lower Skyline and upper Skyline coal beds in 

this report. They are probably equivalent to the Knob2 and Knob3

 coals of the northern part of the Troublesome quadrangle ("Williamson 

and Adkison, 1953).
GEOLOGY AND OOAL RESOUBOEIS OF KENTUCKY 599

The lower Skyline bed has been mined for many years near Tiptop 

by the Buchanan Coal Companj^. In the highwalls of some of the 

strip pits near Tiptop, two coal beds are exposed above the lower 

Skyline bed the upper Skyline bed near the top of the highwalls, 

and a thinner coal bed approximately midway between the lower and 

upper Skyline beds. Well-preserved plant fossils are abundant in the 

shale overlying the lower Skyline bed in the strip pits near Tiptop.

A coal bed about 15 feet thick including thin partings is exposed at 

a small abandoned mine at the head of Jim Ritchie Branch near the 

southwestern corner of the quadrangle (loc. 106, pi. 51). Although 

isolated from other exposures of the Skyline bed, it. is assumed to be 

equivalent to that bed because of its great thickness and its stratigraphic position.

Strata between the Skyline coal bed and Flint Ridge jlint of Morse. 

The thickness of the strata between the Skyline coal bed and the Flint 

Ridge flint of Morse is about 85 feet in the southwestern corner of the 

quadrangle and about 80 feet on Hogtown Knob just west of Tiptop. 

The lower beds are exposed at several places in the highwalls of the 

strip pits of the Skyline mine and the Tiptop mine. At most places 

massive sandstone lies disconformably on the Skyline coal or upper 

Skyline coal, but at a few exposures in the Skyline mine a few feet of 

carbonaceous shale and a thin coal lie between the sandstone and 

Skyline bed. The upper strata are poorly exposed throughout the 

quadrangle but badly weathered sandstone, carbonaceous shale, and 

bony coal are present in some poor exposures near Hogtown Knob.

Flint Ridge flint of Morse. The Flint Ridge flint, named by Morse 

(1931, p. 296, 305) for exposures on Flint Ridge in the northern part 

of the Troublesome quadrangle, crops out high on the ridges in the 

southwestern and northwestern ridges of the Tiptop quadrangle. 

It is 345 feet above the Fugate coal bed, and consists of a maximum 

of 4 feet of light to dark bluish-gray medium-bedded chert. On Flint 

Ridge southwest of the Tiptop quadrangle the chert is associated with 

fossiliferous limestone, but in the Tiptop quadrangle the chert is not 

associated with limestone. At several places in the north-central and 

northwestern parts of the area a bed of shale with abundant ironstone 

nodules occurs at the approximate stratigraphic position of the Flint 

Ridge flint. The exact relations of these beds were not determined.

Strata above Flint Ridge flint of Morse. The strata above the Flint 

Ridge flint remain on only a few of the higher hills in the area. In 

exposures on Hogtown Knob and on a high knob at the head of Hawes 

Fork, about 100 feet of strata are present above the horizon of the 

Flint Ridge flint. These beds are composed mainly of massive, 

medium- to coarse-grained sandstone, but include some carbonaceous
600 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

shale in the lower part. Scattered quartz pebbles were found in the 

sandstone that caps Hogtown Knob (pi. 51).

STRUCTURE

The dominant structural feature of the Tiptop quadrangle is a large 

syncline named the Big Caney syncline in this report because its axis 

nearly parallels Big Caney Creek in the northwestern part of the area. 

The syncline trends westward and plunges gently in that direction. 

The strata dip gently toward the axis of the Big Caney syncline 

except for local modifications such as abrupt changes in dip along the 

Lambric fault and in the vicinity of several small anticlinal folds. 

These structural features are shown on plate 2 by structure contour 

lines drawn on the base of the Magoffin beds of Morse.

The Lambric fault extends westward from Betts Mann Branch of 

Hawes Fork, where the displacement of strata is 20 feet or less, across, 

Coles Fork, Laurel Fork, and Hade Fork to the western border of the 

quadrangle where the displacement is about 160 feet. Although the 

plane of the fault is not well exposed, outcrops of bedrock near the 

fault indicate that it dips steeply to the south, and that the displacement is normal to the strike of the fault with the upthrown block on 

the north side of the fault line upthrown relative to the block on the 

south side. The strata of the south block have a noticeable dip to 

the north which increases as the fault is approached. Dips of 5° to 

10° are common near the fault, but strata on the north or upthrown 

side of the faultline dip northward at less than 1°.

Minor structural features in the Tiptop quadrangle are small anticlines, synclines, domes, and structural noses. Two of the more 

prominent anticlines have axes that lie about half a mile and 2 miles 

south of and parallel to the Lambric fault. The fold nearer the fault 

is a narrow westward-plunging anticline that terminates in a small 

structural nose in the east-central part of the quadrangle; the one 

farther from the fault is a broader anticline, also with a westward 

plunge,-which extends westward from a small dome near the mouth 

of Hughes Creek of Spring Fork. Other structural features are a 

southward-plunging nose between Oakley and Big Half Mountain 

Creeks at the northern border of the area; a westward-plunging nose 

at the head of Little Fork of Spring Fork; a westward-plunging anticline on Spring Fork just south of Prater Branch; and a structural 

"high" on Lynn Log Branch in the southeastern corner of the area.

COAL RESERVES

Original reserves of coal were computed for the Tom Cooper, Gun 

Creek, Fire Clay Rider, lower Haddix, upper Haddix, Prater, Oakley, 

Fugate, and Skyline coal beds; reserves were not computed for the 

other coal beds of the area either because the thickness of the beds.
GEiOILOGY AflSTD GOAL RESOURCES OF KENTUCKY 601

was generally less than 14 inches or because data on the beds were 

inadequate for the computation of reserves.

Coal reserves are reported in three main categories and three subgroups. "Measured reserves" includes coal within a quarter of a mile 

of observation points that are not more than half a mile apart. 

"Indicated reserves" includes coal within half a mile of the area of 

measured reserves, or within three-fourths of a mile of observation 

points spaced more than half a mile apart. "Inferred reserves" includes coal within 1% miles of the area of indicated reserves. The 

reserves were further divided on the basis of thickness of the coal bed, 

excluding partings; 14-28 inches, 28-42 inches, and more than 42 

inches. The coal was assumed to weigh 1,800 tons per acre-foot. 

All coal beds have less than 1,000 feet of cover.

In the calculation of reserves all figures have been carried to the 

nearest 1,000 tons in order to provide a place to record the calculated 

total of reserves in small areas. In general, however, the local variations in thickness of a coal bed, and other related factors, do not permit the determination of reserves to this order of arithmetic accuracy. 

For this reason, the larger figures and totals, and particularly the 

figures for indicated and inferred reserves should be considered as 

expressing only to the nearest million tons the relative quantities of 

coal available in the respective categories.

Tom Cooper coal bed. The Tom Cooper coal bed is composed of very 

bright coal with abundant vitrain bands, a few fusain stringers, and 

thin bone coal or shale partings at a few localities. The Tom Cooper 

bed has an average thickness of about 36 inches in the southeast but 

thins to the north and west to 16 inches or less (pi 54).

This bed is mined on Spring Fork just beyond the southeastern 

corner of the quadrangle by Pond Creek Pocahontas Coal Company, 

but at the time this report was written mining had not been extended 

into the Tiptop quadrangle. An analysis of a channel sample from the 

Pond Creek Pocahontas mine indicates that the coal is low in ash and 

high in Btu (table 2). The estimated original reserves of the Tom 

Cooper coal bed in the Tiptop quadrangle is 62,304,000 tons, of which 

19,954,000 tons is in the 28- to 42-inch category, and 5,104,000 tons in 

the more-than-42-inch category (table 3).

Gun Creek coal bed. Limited data were available on the Gun Creek 

coal bed hi the southeastern and central parts of the quadrangle. In 

the southeast this bed is represented by two or three thin coals, but hi 

the central part it is a single bed and has an average thickness of about 

32 inches. A thin shale parting is present near the middle of the bed 

at several localities.

The estimated original reserves of the Gun Creek coal bed is 

93,992,000 tons, of which 50,617,000 tons is in the 28- to 42-inch
TABLE 2. Analyses of coals of Tiptop q

[Analyses by U. S. Bur. Mines]

Coal bed

Skyline .

Upper Skyline... _ . ...

Lower Skyline. . ....

Lower Skyline.. ........

Fugate..... _ .. _ . ...

Oakley .................

Oakley .................

Tom Cooper _ . .

Location on 

plate 

61

104 

105 

105 

109 

101 

56 

66

Bur. 

Mines 

laboratory 

No.

D-93338 

D-93336 

D-93337 

D-93339 

D-93340 

D-93344 

D-93342 

D-93335

Rank'

HVBB.. 

HVBB.. 

HVBB.. 

HVBB.. 

HVBB.. 

HVAB.. 

HVBB.. 

HVAB..

Form of 

analysis 2

/ A 

l B 

A 

B 

A 

B 

A 

B 

A 

B 

iA 

B 

A 

B 

( A 

1 B

Proximate analysis

Moisture

5.2

4.1

5.3

5.7

5.4

4.9

4.8

4.2

Volatile 

matter

36.4 

41.0 

35.8 

41.5 

37.1 

40.6 

36.8 

40.8 

40.1 

44.9 

36.2 

41.5 

35.0 

41.6 

36.9 

39.5

Fixed 

carbon

52.2 

59.0 

50.5 

58.5 

54.3 

59.4 

53.5 

57.2 

49.2 

55.1 

51.0 

58.5 

49.3 

58.4 

56.5 

60.5

Ash

6.2

9.6

3.3

4.0

5.3

7.9

10.9

2.4

Sulfu

0.

.

.

.

.

.9 

.

.9 

1.

1.

.7 

.

.7 

.

.9 

.9

1 HVAB, high volatile A bituminous. HVBB, high volatile B bituminous. 

* A, as received. B, moisture and ash free. 

«Initial deformation temperature.
TABLE 3. Estimated original coal reserves of the T

[In thousands of short tons]

Bed .

Skyline'.. _.-- -.- ..

Upper Haddix __ ____ __ . __ ....

Fire Clay Rider--.-.---... _ ^. _ ...

Total ........ ................

Measured reserves in beds 

14-28 

in. 

thick

68 

1,696 

2,156 

6,703 

407 

1,437

12,467

28-42 

in. 

thick

1,500 

6,811 

11, 392 

5,072 

201

2,722

27, 698

>42in. 

thick

21. 493 

1,872 

1,030 

622

608

25,625

Total

23,061 

10, 379 

14. 578 

12, 397 

608 

1,437

3,330

65,790

Indicated reserves in beds 

14-28 

in. 

thick

236 

22, 322 

26, 055 

42, 471 

15, 535 

11, 301 

23, 475 

12, 417 

18, 946

172, 758

28-42 

to. 

thick

2,440 

33,219 

24, 294 

6,763

5,468 

9,829 

12,494

94,507

>42in. 

thick

5,689 

20,825 

707 

370

4,496

32, 087

"Total

. 8, 365 

76, 366 

51, 056 

49,604 

15,535.

11, 301

28, 943 

22, 246 

35, 936

299,352.1

i Mined and lost in mining as of Jan. 1,1951:182,000 tons from measured coal 28-42 in. thick and 6,935,000 to

of the Skyline bed as of Jan. 1,1951 are 27,365,000 tons for all thickness groups; thus, the total remaining reserv
604 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

category (table 3). Because data ori this bed were sparse, all of the 

reserves fall into the indicated and inferred categories.

Fire Clay and Fire Clay Rider coal beds. Reserves of the Fire Clay 

coal bed were not computed because the bed is thin in the Tiptop 

quadrangle; only at one locality was it found to: con tain more than 14 

inches of coal (sec. 3, fig. 52). A large amount of Fire Clay coal may 

underlie the northern part of the quadrangle, but the bed is below 

stream level and the thickness is unknown. The area just north of 

the Tiptop quadrangle contains a moderately thick bed of Fire Clay 

coal, which may extend southward into the quadrangle. Sections of 

the Fire Clay bed are shown in figure 52.

/i

Ft In

EXPLANATION

	In 

9 3

2 10

,0 4

-0 4

~0 1

-3 0

Ft hi 

3 10

4 

1 

9

0 5 

0 2 

 0 10

Coal Cannel Underclay 

coal

Flint 

clay

Shale Siltstone Sandstone

FIGURE 52. Sections of Fire Clay coal bed.

The Fire Clay Rider coal bed is composed of bright coal and contains shale and underclay partings at many localities. The partings 

are generally present where the bed is more than 24 inches thick (sees. 

6 and 7, fig. 53), and absent where it is less (sees. 8 and 9, fig. 53). 

This bed has a maximum thickness of 32 inches, excluding a 7-inch 

underclay parting, west of Evanston near the mouth of Oliver Branch 

(sec. 6, fig. 53), and core-holes reveal about the same thickness on 

Robbins Branch of Hawes Fork and on Prater Branch of Spring Fork. 

The bed thins to less than 14 inches away from these points.

The estimated original reserves of the Fire Clay Rider coal total 

49,267,000 tons, of which 42,216,000 tons is hi the 14- to 28-inch

Coal Underclay Shale Sandstone 

FIGURE 63. Sections of Fire Clay Eider coal bed.
GEOLOGY A!NID COAL RIEISOiURCElS OF KENTUCKY 605

category (table 3). As the data on this bed were sparse, all of the 

reserves are in the indicated and inferred categories.

Lower and upper Haddix coal beds. The lower Haddix bed is composed of bright, blocky coal, and at many localities contains shale 

partings (sees. 12, 15, 16, 17, and 22, fig. 54). The coal is more than 

14 inches thick south of Evanston along Spring Fork, Prater Branch, 

and Lynn Log Branch, and on Hawes Fork near Poplar Branch. The

15

EXPLANATION

Coal Bone " Underclay 

coal

Black 

shale

Shale Siltstone Sandstone

FIOOBE 54. Sections of Haddix coal beds.

t' ' ' ' .' .

bed: has a maximum thickness of 27 inches on Prater Branch (sec. 21 

fig. 54).

The upper Haddix bed is also composed mainly of bright coal, 

and at many localities contains shale partings that are generally in the 

lower part of the bed (sees. 11, 14, 23, 24, and 25, fig. 54). It also contains bone coal at a few localities (sees. 23 and 29, fig. 54). This bed 

is more than 14 inches thick in an area that extends southward from 

Laurel Fork and Wolfpen Branch of Spring Fork along the western 

border of the quadrangle to the southern border, and eastward along
606

Middle Fork to Big Branch. It has a maximum thickness of 28 inches 

near the mouth of Wolfpen Branch (sec. 27, fig. 54).

The estimated original reserves of the lower Haddix coal total 

12,738,000 tons, all of which is in the 14- to 28-inch category (table 3). 

The estimated original reserves of the upper Haddix coal total 

16,143,000 tons, of which 15,942,000 tons is in the 14- to 28-inch 

category and the rest in the 28- to 42-inch category (table 3).

Prater coal bed. The Prater bed consists primarily of bright coal 

and contains bone coal partings at a few localities. Shale partings are 

present in some areas, particularly in the northeastern and central 

parts of the quadrangle, including sections measured on Bullmire 

Branch (sec. 34, fig. 55), on Equal Branch of Big Half Mountain 

Creek (sec. 33, fig. 55), and on Poplar and Betts Mann Branches of 

Hawes Fork (sees. 42 and 43, fig 55). The larger areas in which the 

Prater bed is more than 28 inches thick are in the ridges on both sides 

of Prater Branch of Spring Fork, and along the eastern border of the

31

EXPLANATION

Coal Bone Underclay Shale Silty Sandstone

coal shale

FIGURE 55. Sections of the Prater coal bed.
GEOLOGY AN1D COAL RlElSOUBOEiS OF KENTUCKY 607

quadrangle from Right Fork of Trace, Fork to Buck Branch (pi. 54). 

Smaller areas are near the head of Hughes Creek of Spring Fork, near 

Bullmire Branch, on Betts Mann Branch of Hawes Fork, and in the 

extreme northwestern corner of the quadrangle. Cores from holes 

near Prater Branch show a maximum thicknesses of about 56 inches 

of coal in this bed.

The Prater coal has been mined for local use, but the amount mined 

is believed to be small and is disregarded in this report. The estimated 

original reserves for the bed total 81,520,000 tons of which 68,693,000 

tons is in the 14- to 28-inch category, 11,835,000 tons in the 28- to 

42-inch category, and the rest in the more-than-42-inch category 

(tables).

Oakley coal bed. The Oakley coal bed consists of moderately bright, 

blocky coal, and at many places includes partings of shale or bone coal, 

and a few inches of cannel coal. Shale partings are generally restricted to a narrow belt just northwest of a line along which the 

Oakley coal splits into two beds (pi. 54). Bone coal partings are 

generally thin, but in the northeastern corner of the quadrangle (sees. 

68 and 69, fig. 56) and near Laurel Fork of Spring Fork (sees. 75 and 

76, fig. 56) bone coal makes up a large part of the bed. In most of the 

northern part of the quadrangle, 2 to 6 inches of impure cannel coal 

is present at the top of the bed, and at a locality on Poplar Branch of 

Hawes Fork the lower 16 inches of the bed is cannel coal (sec. 73, 

fig. 56). The Oakley coal is more than 28 inches thick in a large.area 

in the northern part of the quadrangle, including the head of Big Half 

Mountain Creek southward to Hawes Fork, and westward from Big 

Half Mountain Creek to the northwestern corner, including Laurel 

Fork of Oakley Creek and part of Big Caney Creek (pi. 54). It is also 

more than 28 inches thick on the eastern border of the quadrangle near 

the heads of Little Fork and Prater Branch of Spring Fork, and at a 

locality in the southwest on Sugar Camp Branch of Quicksand Creek 

(sec. 77, fig. 56). The Oakley coal exceeds 42 inches in thickness at 

a few places; it has a maximum thickness of 66 inches, excluding partings, at a locality on Equal Branch of Big Half Mountain Creek (sec. 

64, fig. 56).

The Oakley coal has been mined for local use at many places in the 

northern part of the quadrangle, but the amount mined has been small 

and is disregarded in this part. Analyses of samples taken from small 

mines on Hard Fork (sec. 56, fig. 56) and on Came Branch of Big Half 

Mountain Creek (sec. 66, fig. 56) showed 7.9 and 10.9 percent ash, 

respectively (table 2). The estimated original reserves in the Oakley 

bed total 86,620,000 tons of which 47,503,000 tons is in the 14- to 

28-inch category, 37,380,000 tons in the 28- to 42-inch category, and the 

remaining 1,737,000 tons in the 42+-inch category (table 3). These
608 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

EXPLANATION

.Coal . Bone Cannel Underclay Shale Sandstone 

coal coal

FIGURE 56. Sections of the Oakley coal bed.

figures do not include the lower split of the Oakley bed southwest 

of a line along which the bed divides, because the areas where it is 

more than 14 inches thick are small and the data are meager.

Fugate coal bed. The Fugate coal bed is composed mainly of bright 

coal in which vitrain bands are moderately abundant. Two shale 

partings of almost uniform thickness which divide it into three main 

layers (fig. 57). In the southwest there generally are thin shale partings and fusain stringers within the upper layer of coal (sees. 95-102, 

fig. 57), and thin bone partings are present in the bed at a few localities, 

(sees. 92 and 101, fig. 57). Cannel coal is present in the lower layer 

of coal at the head of Big Lovely Branch of Spring Fork (sec. 100, 

fig. 57). The Fugate bed contains more than 42 inches of coal, excluding partings, along Quicksand Creek and in the vicinity of the 

Decoy post office in the southwestern part of the area, and near 

Prater Branch in the southeastern part. It thins northward to
GEOLOGY A3SPD OOlAiL R|EISO(URCES> OF KEtNTUCKY 609

16 inches on Wireman Fork of Big Caney Creek (sec. 79, fig. 57), and 

is locally absent at some places in the northern and central parts of 

the area where its position is occupied by sandstone. A thin coal 

laed, which at most places lies about 20 feet above the Fugate bed, is 

separated from the Fugate bed by only 2 feet of shale at a locality on 

Laurel Fork of Spring Fork (sec. 93, fig. 57). This overlying coal bed 

is believed to be at this stratigraphic position only locally, and its 

reserves, therefore, were not included with those of the fugate coal

 or computed separately where it is thin and widely separated from 

the Fugate.

The Fugate coal has been mined for local use at several places along

 Quicksand Creek and in the vicinity of the Decoy post office, but the 

.amount mined has been small and is disregarded in this report. An 

analysis of a coal sample from a small mine near the mouth of Cabin 

Log Branch of Middle Fork (sec. 101, fig. 57) indicated 5.3 percent 

ash (table 2). The estimated original reserves of the Fugate coal bed

102

EXPLANATION

Bone 

coal

Cannel 

coal

Black 

shale

Underclay 

FIOUKE 57. Sections of the Fugate coal bed.

Shale Slltstone Sandstone
610 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

total 105,444,000 tons of which 35,270,000 tons is in the 14- to 28- 

inch category, 42,990,000 tons in the 28- to 42-inch category, and 

27,184,000 tons in the 42+-inch category (table 3).

Skyline coal bed. The Skyline coal bed underlies only the main 

ridges in the northern part of the area and only the high knobs of the 

ridges in most of the southern part. Although this bed underlies 

relatively small areas, it contributes appreciably to the reserves of the 

quadrangle because of its great thickness. The Skyline bed is composed mainly of bright coal, with a moderate abundance of vitrain 

bands, and several partings of bone coal and shale (sees. 103-106, 

fig. 58). At the Skyline mine on the ridge between Spring Fork and 

Hawes Fork it has a thickness of 120 to 167 inches, excluding partings, 

and thins to the southeast beyond Prater Branch to about 54 inches, 

(pi. 54). To the north and west the Skyline coal splits into two beda 

here called the lower and upper Skyline beds. In the southwestern 

corner of the area the splits apparently again join to form a singlebed; this is suggested by the great thickness, about 15 feet, of a coal 

bed measured at a small abandoned mine at the head of Jim RitchieBranch of Quicksand Creek (sec. 106, fig. 58).

The lower Skyline bed is composed mainly of bright coal that 

generally contains from 1 to 3 bone partings near the middle of the 

bed (fig. .58). Near Tiptop a few inches of bone coal also is generally present at the top of the bed (sees. 109, 111, and 112, fig. 58)* 

Shale partings are less common. Core holes reveal that the thickness of the lower Skyline bed, excluding partings, to range from 991 

inches near Road Fork, of Big,Half Mountain Creek to 20 inches, 

near:the head of Poplar Branch of Hawes Fork. Its thickness exceeds 

42 inches in most of the ridges east of Coles Fork of Hawes Fork 

and north of Hawes Fork to the northern border, and in the knobs, 

along the ridge east of Big Lovely Branch of Spring Fork (pi. 54).

The upper Skyline bed is composed of moderately bright to moderately dull coal, and generally contains partings of bone coal and 

shale. Core hole records indicate that this bed has its greatest, 

thickness of 77 inches in the high knobs near the mouth of Big Lovely 

Branch and is generally less than 28 inches in the ridge north of 

Hawes Fork. Near Tiptop the bed has an average thickness of about 

4 feet and can be seen in the highwalls of the strip pits.

The Skyline coal bed is now being stripped at the Skyline mineby the United Electric Coal Company; and the lower Skyline bed 

is being stripped near Tiptop by the Buchanan Coal Company. 

Mined areas as of January 1, 1951 are shown on plate 54. Analyses, 

of samples taken from these mines are given in table 2. Samples, 

of the Skyline coal (sec. 104, fig. 58) and of the upper and lower 

Skyline coals (sec. 105, fig. 58) from the Skyline mine indicated 6.2,. 

9.6, and 3.3 percent ash, respectively. A sample of the lower Sky-
GEOLOGY ANiD OOiA;L EElSIOiURiCEI& OF KENTUCKY 611

1O3 1O4

rzqFt f-I-3 2

1O5 1O6

i Ft In t»

3-0 4

)Ft In

0+ 

-0 2 

"0 2

-2 4 E--

2

8

2

3

\0 10

0 3

-3 10

-0 2+

In

V 2 0 

3 0

7 0+ Badly weathered

1 8'

-0 3

-0 2

-0 2

-2 2

0 2+

111

113

EXPLANATION

Coal Bone Underclay Black 

coal shale

Shale Sandstone Concealed

FIGURE 58. Sections of Skyline coal bed.

line coal from the Tiptop mine (sec. 109, fig. 58) indicated 4.0 per-- 

cent ash. Estimated original reserves of the Skyline coal bed and 

the lower Skyline coal total 34,482,000 tons of which 27,913,000 tons, 

is in the 42+-inch category (table 3). Of this total, an estimated 

6,935,000 tons of coal in the 42+-inch category has been mined orlost in mining (table 3). Reserves of the upper Skyline bed were, 

not computed because data were sparse and the bed underlies only^ 

the highest knobs in much of the area. The only part of the quad-, 

rangle in which it underlies extensive areas and is of adequate thickness, 

is near Tiptop, but there the bed contains much dull coal and bone..
612 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

The nine beds in the Tiptop quadrangle for which reserves were 

calculated contain original reserves totaling about 542 million tons. 

(See table 3.) Most mining in the quadrangle has been concentrated in the Skyline bed, though some coal for local use has been 

taken from the other beds. As of January 1, 1951, the coal mined 

and lost hi mining from the Skyline bed totaled about 7 million tons. 

The remaining reserves in the quadrangle as of January 1, 1951, 

thus total about 535 million tons, and the recoverable reserves, 

assuming 50 percent recoverability in mining, total about 268

million tons.

LITERATURE CITED

Adkison, W. L., 1957, Coal geology of the White Oak quadrangle, Magoffin and 

Morgan Counties, Ky.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1047-A.

Browning, I. B., 1921, Structural geologic map of Magoffin County. Ky.: Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 6.

 1927, Structural-geologic, oil and .gas map. of Breathitt County, Ky.:

Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 6. 

Browning, I. B., and Russell, P. G., 1919, Coals and structure of Magoffin County,

Ky.: Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 4, v. 5, pt. 2. 

Browning, I. B., and Withers, S., 1930, Structural geologic map of Knott County,

Ky.: Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 6. 

Campbell, M:-R., 1898, Description of the London quadrangle: U. S. Geol.

Survey Geol. Atlas, folio 47. 

Crandall, A. R., 1910, Coals of the Licking Valley region: Kentucky Geol. Survey

Bull. 10, p. 1-34. . Englund, K. .;J., 1954, Geology and coal resources of the Cannel City quadrangle: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1020-A. 

Folis, F. J., 1912, Coals of the region drained by the Quicksand Creeks in Breathitt,

Floyd, and Knott Counties, Ky.: Kentucky Geol. Survey Bull. 18. 

Hodge, J. M., -1908, Summary of report on the region drained by the three forks

of the Kentucky River: Kentucky Geol. Survey Rept. Progress 1906-1907,

p. 36-45.0 : 

' 1913, Report on the coals of the headwaters of Licking River, Magoffin

County, Ky.: Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 4, v. 1, p. 889-921.

- 1915, Coals of the North.Fork of Kentucky River in Breathitt and Perry 

Counties, Ky.: Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 4, v. 3, pt. 3.

Jillson, W. R., 1919, The Kendrick shale; a new calcareous fossil horizon in the 

coal measures of eastern Kentucky: Kentucky Dept. Geol. and Forestry, 

ser. 5, v. 1, no. 2, p. 96-104.

Johnston, J. E., Stafford, P. T., and Welch, S. W., 1955, Preliminary coal map 

of the Cornettsville quadrangle, Perry, Knott, Letcher, Harlan and Leslie 

Counties, Ky.: U. S. Geol. Survey Coal Inv. Map C-22.

Morse, W. C., 1931, Pennsylvanian invertebrate fauna: Kentucky Geol. Survey, 

ser. 6, v. 36, p. 293-348.

iStith, S. H., Jr., 1939, Coals of the Quicksand area, Breathitt County, Ky.: 

Kentucky Geol. Div. Bull., ser. 8, no. 5.

Wanless, H. R., 1946, Pennsylvanian geology of a part of the Southern Appalachian Coal Field: Geol. Soc. America Mem. 13.

Williamson, A. D., and Adkison, W. L., 1953, Principal coal beds in the Troublesome quadrangle, Breathitt, Knott, and Perry Counties, Ky.: U. S. Geol. 

Survey Coal Inv. Map C-18.

o