^Geology of the 

Dingus Area, Kentucky

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1047

This bulletin was printed

as separate chapters, A and B

|UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1963
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

Thomas B. Nolan, Director
CONTENTS

[The letters in parentheses preceding the titles designate separately published chapters]

Page

(A) Coal geology of the White Oak quadrangle, Magoffin and Morgan

Counties, Kentucky ___________________________ 1

(B) Geology and coal resources of the Salyersville North quadrangle,

Magoffin, Morgan, and Johnson Counties, Kentucky________ 25
Geology and Coal Resources 

of the Salyersville North 

Quadrangle, Magoffin 

Morgan, and Johnson Counties 

Kentucky

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1047-B

Prepared in cooperation with the 

Commonwealth of Kentucky, 

University of Kentucky, and 

Kentucky Geological Survey

^Geology and Coal Resources 

of the Salyersville North 

Quadrangle, Magoffin 

Morgan, and Johnson Counties 

Kentucky

By W. L. ADKISON and J. E. JOHNSTON

GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1047-B

-Prepared in cooperation with the 

Commonwealth of Kentucky, 

University of Kentucky, and 

Kentucky Geological Survey

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1963
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

Thomas B. Nolan, Director

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Washington 25, D.C.
CONTENTS

Page

Abstract_______________________________________________________ 25

Introduction._____________________________________________________ 25

Previous investigations.________________________________________ 26

Present investigation.__.________________________________________ 28

Acknowledgments --__________-______.__._______.___-__--.-_-_- 28

Topography___ _________________.__-__-.___--.__-___-.___--- 28

Drainage.-_-_----__-----__-_-----___-------_-----_----------- 29

Stratigraphy_-__----------_--------_-___----------------_--_---- 29

Pennsylvanian system.__________.____._-__--.-_.-______-__-___- 29

Lee formation-----_------_----------__-_-_-_-------------- 29

Breathitt formation_______._______.________.____.__...... 30

Base of Breathitt formation to base of Tom Cooper coal__ 32

Base of Tom Cooper coal to base of Fire Clay coal ---------- 35

Base of Fire Clay coal to Magoffin beds of Morse.___..___. 37

Magoffin beds of Morse--__-_--.--_-------------------- 38

Top of Magoffin beds of Morse to base of Index coal_--.. 39

Base of Index coal to base of Sebastian coal___---------- 40

Above base of Sebastian coal-__--__---------_-------_-_- 41

Quaternary system___.--_.-___-------_-_--_-----_-__---_--_- 41

Alluvium---_--_---_-----_---_---_._-_--___---_--_---_-__- 41

Terrace deposits_____-._------_--_------__---_--------- 42

Structure..--------_-.-..__.-_......___.-____--...._----___-_-_.-_ 42

Description of coal beds and coal reserves_____----_----.__-_-___--- 45

Lee formation.________________________________________________ 46

Mine Fork coal bed...------------------------------------- 46

Breathitt formation..__-_-__._____.___-_-----____------_-_-_--_ 46

Wheelersburg coal bed---__.-_----------------_--__-------- 46

Howard(?) coal bed_-----------___--_---_----_----_--_---_- 46

Lacey Creek coal bed.-_--__--_--___-------__--_--__------_ 47

Tom Cooper coal bed..__-_-_.._..__.___--__-..-_----------. 47

Cannel City coal bed.___----__---_-_-_-------_-_-_------ 47

Whitesburg coal bed.------_----_--------_---_-_----------- 48

Fire Clay coal bed.____...._......._..___._....._._.._...__ 48

Hamlin(?) coal bed----.---.--.---------------------------- 48

Colvin coal bed__________.___._..._________..___.___._.__ 49

Index coal bed._--___..______________....._.__-----_---__- 49

Nickell coal bed._--_-____..._._.__.____-----_--_._-----_-- 49

Sebastian coal bed..__-_______________-_--_-_--_-__--_----- 50

Hindman(?) coal bed-_--____-_________.-___--_---_-_-_----- 50

Coal quality and rank.____________.__...__.__.._______..________. 50

Oil and gas_-___-_-____._.________._______..__________.._.._____._ 51

Literature cited.____.______._.____.___.___________...___...__.____ 53

Index-.-------.._..__--_-._-----_-_-__---_----------_----------__ 55

ni
IV CONTENTS

PLATE 5. Geologic map of the Salyersville North quadrangle.

6. Stratigraphic sections of the Lee and Breathitt formations.

7. Sections of coal beds exposed in the Salyersville North quadrangle.

8. Maps showing thickness of Fire Clay, Whitesburg, and Tom Cooper 

coal beds.

Page 

FIGURE 7. Index map of Kentucky showing location of the Salyersville

North quadrangle____________________________________ 26

8. Map showing the position of the Salyersville North quadrangle 

and its relation to the western boundary of Pennsylvanian 

strata.____________--_--_-__--___--___-__.__________. 27

9. Exposure of the upper sandstone in the Lee formation at the

mouth of Rocky Branch..--___________________________ 30

10. Exposure of the upper sandstone in the Lee formation on Big

Mine Fork__________________________________________ 31

11. Exposure of the transition beds in the basal part of the

Breathitt formation at Wheelersburg_ _________________ 33

12. Exposure of strata 18 feet below the Fire Clay coal bed on

Wesley Fork.....--_.-.._.-..__._.___..___._.._.__... 37

13. Exposure of Irvine-Paint Creek fault on Rockhouse Creek. _ _ _ 43

14. Exposure of small reverse fault on Raccoon Creek.__-___.__ 44 

15. Map showing the location of the Oil Springs, Win, and Mine

Fork pools_____________-_-- -._--______-_-_------___ 51

TABLE

TABLE 1. Estimated original coal reserves of the Salyersville North 

quadrangle ___________________________________________

Page

46
GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

GEOLOGY AND COAL RESOURCES OF THE SALYERSVILLE

NORTH QUADRANGLE, MAGOFFIN, MORGAN, AND

JOHNSON COUNTIES, KENTUCKY

By W. L. ADKISON and J. E. JOHNSTON

ABSTRACT

The Salyersville North quadrangle lies in the north-central part of the 

Eastern Kentucky coal field and includes an area of about 59 square miles 

in Magoffin, Morgan, and Johnson Counties, Ky. All the bedrock exposed in 

the quadrangle is of Pennsylvania!! age and is equivalent to part of the Lee 

and most of the Breathitt formations. The regional southeast clip of the rocks 

is mostly obliterated in the quadrangle by the west flank of the Paint Creek 

uplift, the Irvine-Paint Creek fault, parts of the Caney anticline and the Mine 

Fork dome, and the Johnson Creek fault; in most of the area the rocks dip 

to the west about 70 feet per mile.

The total thickness of the bedrock exposures is about 1,000 feet. The 

exposed part of the Lee formation consists of, in ascending order, about 90 

feet of shale, the Mine Fork coal bed, and 110 to 140 feet of sandstone. The 

Breathitt formation is composed mainly of sandstone, siltstone, and shale, 

and subordinate amounts of underclay, coal, and limestone. Thirteen coal 

beds in the Breathitt the Wheelersburg, Howard(?), Lacey Creek, Tom 

Cooper, Cannel City, Whitesburg, Fire Clay, Hamlin(?), Colvin, Index, Nickell, 

Sebastian, and Hindman(V) are more than 14 inches thick in parts of the 

quadrangle. Coal has been mined by residents for local use, but extensive 

mining has not been undertaken because most of the coal beds are thin. The 

estimated original coal reserves in beds more than 14 inches thick total at 

least 172.4 million tons, of which 16.6 million tons is in beds more than 

28 inches thick.

The Salyersville North quadrangle includes the western half of the Oil 

Springs oil pool and the westernmost part of the Win gas pool. The oil is 

produced from the Weir sand, of Early Mississippian age, and the gas in the 

Win pool is produced from the Corniferous limestone of former usage, of 

Devonian and Silurian age, and the Big Six sand, of Silurian age. Secondary 

recovery by waterflooding coupled with hydraulic fracturing of producing 

rocks has been very successful in the Oil Springs pool. The latest figure 

for cumulative oil production from this pool is about 10 million barrels (1953), 

and that for cumulative gas production from the Win pool is about 800 million 

cubic feet (1953).

INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Geological Survey has conducted investigations of the 

geology and coal resources of the area in and adjacent to the Salyers25
26 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

ville North quadrangle in the Eastern Kentucky coal field (fig. 7). 

The Salyersville North quadrangle lies between lat. 37°45' and 

37°52'30" N., and long. 83°00' and 83°07'30" E.; it is a 7V2 -minute 

quadrangle in the southeast quarter of the Dingus 15-minute area 

which also includes the Dingus, Lenox, and White Oak 7%-minute 

quadrangles (fig. 8). The present report is the second for the 15- 

minute Dingus area; a report by Adkison (1957) has been published 

for the White Oak quadrangle and a third report is in preparation 

for the Lenox quadrangle. Other published reports for quadrangles 

in the vicinity are those by Englund (1955) for Cannel City to the 

west; Bergin (1962) for Seitz to the southwest; and Hauser (1953) 

for Paintsville to the east.

Eastern Kentucky coal field

FIGURE 7. Index map of Kentucky showing location of the Salyersville North quadrangle and the Dingus area in relation to the Eastern Kentucky coal field.

The Salyersville North quadrangle includes an area of about 59 

square miles. Most of it is in Magoffin County, but small parts are 

in Morgan and Johnson Counties. The town of Salyersville, county 

seat of Magoffin County, is on the Licking River at the south 

boundary of the quadrangle. U.S. Highway 460 crosses the southern 

part of the quadrangle and State Highways 7 and 30 also serve the 

southern part of the area. The remainder of the quadrangle is served 

by a system of gravel and dirt roads. There were no railroads 

operating in the quadrangle' in 1958, and no tracks cross the area. 

The closest rail connection is that of the Chesapeake and Ohio 

Railroad Co. at Sublett, 5% miles to the southeast on the Licking 

River.

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS

In 1861 Lyon (p. 538-541) reported on the coal beds and associated rocks along a base line that passed through the northern part 

of the Salyersville South quadrangle. In a preliminary report OH
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE

83° 15' 83°00'

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FIGURE 8. Map showing the position of the Salyersvllle North TVi-mlnute quadrangle 

(shaded) within the Dingus area (hachured), its relation to the west boundary of 

Pennsylvanian strata (stippled), and its relation to other nearby quadrangles mentioned 

in the text.

Morgan, Johnson, Magoffin, and Floyd Counties, Crandall (1880? 

p. 9, 15, 19) described coal beds on Buck Branch, Mine Fork, and 

in the vicinity of Salyersville. In a later report Crandall (1910) 

described the coal beds at several places in the Salyersville North 

quadrangle.

The first detailed geologic report on Magoffin County was that by 

Browning and Russell (1919). The report included descriptions and 

correlations of the coal beds and associated rocks and a description 

and map of the structure of the county. A structure map of 

Magoffin County by Browning was published in 1921, and a similar 

map of the Paint Creek uplift in Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, Morgan, 

Lawrence, and Elliott Counties was compiled by Hudnall and 

Browning in 1924. A regional study of Pennsylvanian rocks in the 

Appalachian coal field by Wanless (1939) included the rocks in 

Magoffin and Morgan Counties. From field data collected by the
28 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

authors, K. J. Englund prepared several of the coal-bed maps for 

coal-reserve estimates of the Salyersville North quadrangle; these 

are included in a report by Huddle and others (1962) on the coal 

reserves of eastern Kentucky.

PRESENT INVESTIGATION

The geology of the Salyersville North quadrangle was mapped 

by the Geological Survey as part of a general investigation of the 

coal resources of eastern Kentucky. Fieldwork for this report required about 5 man-months and was done by the authors in the 

fall of 1952, the spring of 1953, and the spring of 1958. The work 

consisted of measuring and describing several hundred coal outcrops 

at small mines, road cuts, and natural outcrops. Stratigraphic 

sections were measured and described along roads and trails at many 

places. The geologic data were recorded on aerial photographs and 

on a topographic map of the quadrangle (scale 1:20,000, contour 

interval 20 ft.). The published scale of the geologic map (pi. 5) is 

1:24,000 and the contour interval is 20 feet. Most of the altitudes of 

coal beds and other key beds were determined by aneroid-barometer 

traverses; the rest were determined by hand leveling from points 

of known altitude. No coal samples were taken for analysis because 

the coal was weathered at all exposures.

This report was prepared in cooperation with the University of 

Kentucky and the Kentucky Geological Survey. The writers wish 

to thank the local residents and mine operators for their help and 

cooperation during the fieldwork for this report. J. W. Huddle took 

the photographs and aided in the fieldwork for about 1 week. Others 

who assisted in the field for short periods include Chabot Kilburn, 

S. W. Welch, M. J. Bergin, and W. E. T. Brown.

TOPOGRAPHY

The Salyersville North quadrangle lies near the west edge of the 

highly dissected Cumberland Plateau. Here the plateau has been 

intricately eroded into ridges and spurs having a dendritic pattern 

separated by narrow creek valleys and hollows. Almost all the land 

is in steep hillsides, which commonly consist of alternating benches 

and slopes iormed by differential erosion of sandstone and shale. 

The only relatively level land is in the valley bottoms of the larger 

creeks and the Licking River. The lowest point in the quadrangle, 

about 735 feet above sea level, is in the northeast corner along Big 

Mine Fork. Many points on the ridges are as much as 1,300 feet 

above sea level. Local relief is 300 to 400 feet.
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 29 

DRAINAGE

Most of the area is drained by the Licking River and several of 

its tributaries, including Rockhouse and Lick Creeks and State Road 

Fork; the river flows west and northwest to join the Ohio River. 

The northeastern part of the quadrangle is drained by Big Mine 

Fork which flows northeast to join the Big Sandy River.

STRATIGRAPHY

PENNSYLVANIA!* SYSTEM

The rocks exposed in the Salyersville North quadrangle are of 

Pennsylvania!! age and include the upper part of the Lee formation 

and most of the overlying Breathitt formation. These rocks are 

about 1,000 feet thick. .

LEE FORMATION

The Lee formation was denned from exposures in Lee County, 

Va., by CamJDbell (1893, p. 36, 37), who later extended usage of the 

name into Kentucky .(1898a, p. 3). The upper 200 feet of this 

formation is above drainage in the northeastern part of the quadrangle, but only the uppermost 110 to 140 feet of strata are well 

exposed, (pi. 6, sections IT and 18). The lower part of the Lee 

that is above drainage is largely covered, but at the mouth of Lacey 

Creek, Browning and Russell (1919, p. 262) reported that it consists 

of "* * * 90 feet of bluish-gray shales below the conglomerate sandstone * * *". The shale is overlain by a bed of medium-gray underday about 1 foot thick which is overlain by the Mine Fork coal 

bed. This coal was named by Browning and Russell (1919, p. 27) 

from exposures on Big Mine Fork where it is commonly 14 to 20 

inches thi'ck (pi. 7, sections 1-4). The coal is overlain by a variable 

sequence of gray shale and siltstone, which ranges in thickness from 

0 to 9 feet.

The upper part of the Lee formation consists of massive cliffforming quartzose sandstone about 110 to 140 feet thick (pi. 6, sections 17,18), which is commonly called the First Salt sand or Beaver 

sand by drillers. The sandstone is very light gray, fine to coarse 

grained, conglomeratic in part, and locally ironstained; conspicuous 

crossbedding is very common (figs. 9, 10). White well-rounded 

quartz pebbles as much as three-quarters of an inch in diameter 

occur in lenses or in beds of coarse-grained sandstone a few inches 

thick. The lowermost part of the sandstone contains stringers and 

lenses of coal as much as 3 inches thick. The lower contact of this 

sandstone unit of the Lee is sharp and undulatory, indicating an 

erosional disconformity. The upper contact, which marks the top 

of the Lee formation, is sharp at most localities and it occurs at 

the top of the near-vertical cliffs.

656172 0 63 2
30 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

FIGURE 9. Exposure of the upper sandstone in the Lee formation at the mouth of Rocky 

Branch of Big Mine Fork showing (a) massive crossbedded cliff-forming sandstone and 

fb) position of the Mine Fork coal bed. A tobacco seedbed (c) is in the left side of 

the picture.

BREATHITT FORMATION

The Breathitt formation was named by Campbell (1898b, p. 3) 

from exposures in Breathitt County, Ky., where it includes all 

Pennsylvania!! rocks above the Lee formation. The Breathitt formation is considered by Wanless (1946, p. 10) to be about equivalent 

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

Campbell (1893, p. 28, 31-36) in Virginia and to the Briceville, 

Jellico, Scott, and Anderson formations of Keith (revised by Glenn, 

1925, p. 16-36) in Tennessee.

The maximum composite thickness of the Breathitt formation in 

the Salyersville North quadrangle is about 800 feet. The oldest beds 

are exposed in the northeastern part of the area on the west flank 

of the Paint Creek uplift; the youngest beds are poorly exposed 

on the ridges in the west part of the quadrangle.

The Breathitt formation consists mainly of sandstone, siltstone, 

and shale, and includes small amounts of underclay, coal, and limestone. Some beds of sandstone, siltstone, and shale are calcareous 

and a few beds contain marine fossils. The depositional environment 

for most of this formation was probably nonmarine, but marine 

conditions prevailed for short periods during deposition of the 

fossiliferous beds. 
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 31

FIGURE 10. Exposure of the upper sandstone in the Lee formation along the west 

side of Big Mine Fork between the mouth of Lacey Creek and the mouth of Rocky 

Branch showing prominent foreset bedding.

Th.8 sandstone is composed chiefly of subangular to subrounded 

very fine-size to medium-size quartz grains cemented by clay, silica, 

iron oxide, or calcite. The fresh rock is generally light to medium 

light gray; it weathers to yellowish brown and reddish brown. The 

sandstone beds range from a fraction of an inch to a few feet in 

thickness and simple, planar, and trough cross-stratification are 

fairly common. Many of the sandstone lentils lie in channels that 

were cut in the underlying rocks. The lower contact of a sandstone 

channel deposit is generally sharp and undulating, but the upper 

contact is commonly gradational into finer grained sediments.

The siltstone is generally medium light gray, quartzose, micaceous, 

and very finely sandy. Much of the siltstone contains very finely 

divided carbonaceous material, and some siltstone has plant fossils 

on the bedding planes. Bedding ranges from about one-sixteenth of 

an inch to a few inches, and laminae of gray shale are common. 

Some of the siltstone is nonbedded, stigmarian, and contains scattered 

ironstone nodules; the stigmarian siltstone generally grades upward 

into silty underclay.

The term "shale" is used in this report to include a wide range 

of lithologic types ranging from claystone to clayey siltstone. The 

shale is medium light gray to black, but most of it is medium gray.
32 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

Weathering produces shades of olive gray, medium brown, and 

reddish brown; locally the shale is heavily stained by iron oxide. 

Generally the gray shale is silty and commonly contains siltstone 

laminae. Most of the shale is laminated to very thin bedded (V2~2 

inches) and plant imprints and fragments of carbonaceous material 

are present on many bedding planes. Ironstone nodules, commonly 

less than 2 inches thick, occur in fairly regular courses or as nearly 

continuous bands in many of the shale units. The black shale is very 

carbonaceous and locally contains pyrite and thin stringers or films 

of coal; some of the black shale contains laminae of light-gray siltstone. Bedding is generally laminated to platy (less than half an 

inch) and weathering produces a high degree of fissility in some 

outcrops. In the upper part of the Breathitt formation some of the 

black shale is poorly bedded and somewhat resembles underclay.

The term "underclay" has been adopted to include nonbedded 

clay or fire-clay beds associated with coal beds regardless of their 

relative position to any particular coal bed. Underclay beds, with 

few exceptions, are present beneath all the coal beds and also occur 

as partings as much as 3 feet thick in coal beds; locally un'derclay 

forms the roof rock of some coal beds. The fresh rock is typically 

medium light gray but ranges from light to dark gray, and ironoxide staining is common where the underclay is weathered. It is 

nonbedded, well indurated, plastic when wet, locally silty, and 

contains stigmaria imprints. Ironstone nodules are commonly scattered within the underclay in contrast to the more uniform arrangement in courses or beds in the shale.

A small part of the Breathitt formation is composed of limestone 

which occurs either in beds as much as 18 inches thick or as ellipsoidal 

concretions 6 inches to 3 feet thick and as much as 6 feet in diameter. The fresh limestone is medium gray to dark bluish gray and 

the weathered limestone is yellowish brown to dark reddish brown. 

The limestone beds are hard, very fine grained, fossiliferous, and 

silty to finely sandy; at many places the limestone beds grade 

laterally to calcareous shale, siltstone, or sandstone. The limestone

concretions are Kard, very fine grained, silty to finely Sandy, and

commonly septarian. Marine fossils are present in some of the concretions and plant fossils in others. At a few localities the concretions contain both marine and plant fossils.

For a more detailed description of the strata, the Breathitt formation is subdivided into eight informal units. With the exception of 

the Magoffin beds Of Morse (1931), the boundaries between the units 

are at the bases of several extensive coal beds.

BASE OF BREATHITT FORMATION TO BASE OF TOM COOPER COAL

The lower unit of the Breathitt formation (below the Tom Cooper 

coal bed) is about 238 feet thick where it is completely exposed
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 33

in the northeast quarter of the quadrangle (pi. 6, section 19). As 

interpreted from drillers logs, the unit is about 150 feet thick near 

the mouth of Buffalo Creek, 270 feet in the vicinity of Salyersville, 

and about 290 feet in the southwest corner of the quadrangle. The 

lower unit includes, in ascending order, the Wheelersburg, Howard (?), and Lacey Creek coal beds.

In the area of outcrop near Wheelersburg the basal part of the 

lower unit consists of about 42 feet of light-gray very fine grained 

to fine-grained sandstone (fig. 11), which is referred to in this report 

as the transition beds (pi. 6, section 19). This sandstone differs from 

sandstone in the Lee formation in that it is finer grained, contains 

many beds of shale and siltstone ranging from a fraction of an inch 

to a few feet in thickness, and does not exhibit the prominent foreset 

bedding that is so common in the Lee. The transition beds may 

grade laterally into the upper part of the Lee formation, and they 

probably are included in the First Salt sand by drillers.

FIGURE 11. Exposure of the transition beds in the basal part of the Breathitt formation 

at Wheelersburg on Big Mine Fork about 350 feet below the mouth of Litteral Fork 

showing (a) thin to medium beds of sandstone separated by (b) thin beds of gray 

shale and siltstone.

The strata in the lower part of the lower unit seem to be extremely 

variable, for on Big Mine Fork just below the mouth of Flat Fork 

(pi. 6, section 18) the basal sequence consists of gray shale 55 feet 

thick.

The part of the lower unit lying above the transition beds is composed chiefly of gray shale, siltstone, and several lentils as much as
34 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

33 feet thick of light-gray very fine grained to fine-grained sandstone. Parts of the sandstone lentils are calcareous, very hard, and 

weather to yellowish-brown or reddish-brown rounded concretionlike masses.

The lower unit of the Breathitt contains 3 named coal beds and 

1 or 2 unnamed beds. All these beds are thin and some have been 

mined for local use. These coal beds are difficult to correlate because with few exceptions they were seen at widely scattered localities and none have distinguishing characteristics. Therefore the correlation of the coal in the lower unit of the Breathitt formation 

must be considered tentative. The stratigraphically lowest coal bed 

occurs about 67 feet above the base of the formation in the vicinity 

of Wheelersburg (pi. 6, sections 19, 20). This unnamed bed is deeply 

weathered but it seems to be only a few inches thick.

The next coal, in ascending order, is the Wheelersburg coal bed, 

which was described by Browning and Russell (1919, p. 27, 28, 273) 

from a small mine northeast of Wheelersburg. The Wheelersburg 

coal bed lies about 142 feet above the base of the Breathitt formation and 47 to 74 feet above the thin unnamed coal. Near the head 

of Flat Fork a 10-inch bed of very fine grained to fine-grained 

fossiliferous sandstone is present about 37 feet above a 10- to 12- 

inch-thick coal, which is tentatively correlated with the Wheelersburg coal. The fossiliferous sandstone, exposed in a road cut 250 

feet east of the road junction (alt. 957 ft.), is decalcified and heavily iron stained and grades laterally into ironstone.

A coal bed tentatively correlated with the Howard coal of Browning and Russell (1919, p. 28) is present about 40 to 45 feet above 

the Wheelersburg coal bed on Jellicoe Branch and Lacey Creek (pi. 

7, sections 7-9). The Howard(?) coal is 6 to 10 inches thick in 

the head of Raccoon Creek (pi. 6, section 12), but in the head of 

Big Mine Fork (pi. 6, section 20) it seems to have been eroded 

because sandstone occurs at the position of the coal. A zone of 

gray silty unfossiliferous limestone concretions occurs about 15 feet 

above the Howard(?) coal in the head of Raccoon Creek (pi. 6, 

section 12).

The Lacey Creek coal, named by Browning and Russell (1919, p. 

29), is the stratigraphically highest named coal of the lower unit 

of the Breathitt formation and is the first coal below the Tom 

Cooper coal. As defined by Browning and Russell, the Lacey Creek 

coal bed ranges from 22 to 32 inches in thickness and occurs 30 to 

40 feet below the Tom Cooper coal. On Lacey Creek the stratigraphic relation between the Lacey Creek and Tom Cooper coal beds 

is not entirely clear. In the detailed descriptions of the mined coals 

on Lacey Creek, Browning and Russell (1919, p. 205-267) apparently 

described the Lacey Creek coal bed, at least in part, from exposures
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 35

of the Tom Cooper coal. The writers of the present report use the 

name Lacey Creek coal as defined on earlier pages of the Browning 

and Russell report (1919, p. 29). The Lacey Creek coal probably is 

equivalent to the Grassy coal bed in the Cannel City quadrangle to 

the west (Englund, 1955, p. 7).

BASE OF TOM COOPER COAL TO BASE OF FIRE CLAY COAL

This unit of the Breathitt formation ranges in thickness from 125 

feet in the northwestern part of the quadrangle to 170 feet in the 

southeastern part. In general, shale and siltstone compose about 

two-thirds of the unit, but light-gray, very fine-grained to mediumgrained sandstone beds as much as 60 feet thick are common. The 

sandstone beds, which locally are calcareous in part, are discontinuous and pinch out abruptly or grade laterally into siltstone or shale 

(pi. 6). ,In addition to the Tom Cooper coal at the base, the unit 

contains three fairly widespread coal beds and one fossiliferous shale 

sequence; these beds are, in ascending order, the Cannel City coal, 

Kendrick shale of Jillson (1919), Whitesburg coal, and an unnamed 

coal bed.

The Tom Cooper coal was named by Browning and Russell 

(1919, p. 29-31) from exposures on Brushy Fork of Lick Creek. It 

is equivalent to the Little Caney coal bed of Englund (1955, p. 7, 15, 

17), the Upper Elkhorn No. 3 of Welch (1958, p. 589), and the Van 

Lear coal bed of the Paintsville area.

At most localities the roof of the Tom Cooper coal bed is black 

carbonaceous shale as much as 5 feet thick. The black shale is very 

useful in identifying the coal bed, but it has been eroded and 

replaced by channel-fill siltstone and sandstone at several places 

on Lick Creek near the mouth of Buffalo Creek (pi. 7, sections 

35-37; pi. 6, section 8). Sandstone also forms the roof of the Tom 

Cooper coal at several places in the southern part of the quadrangle 

(pi. 7, sections 47-49).

The black shale above the Tom Cooper coal bed is overlain by 36 to 

50 feet of gray shale and silfstone, sandstone, and some underclay 

(pi. 6); beds of coal a few inches thick are present locally. Although 

shale and siltstone compose most of the strata, sandstone lentils as 

much as 31 feet thick are fairly common. Medium-dark-gray silty 

limestone concretions occur in the shale or siltstone at a few localities 

(pi. 6, sections 14, 16, 20).

The Cannel City coal bed, which is 38 to 52 feet above the Tom 

Cooper coal bed, was named from mining operations at Cannel City, 

Ky. (Englund, 1955, p. 8). In the Salyersville North quadrangle 

this bed was called the Gun Creek coal by Browning and Russell 

(1919, p. 32, 33), but that name is not used here because of the uncertainty of correlation with the type section. The Cannel City
36 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

was correlated with the Amburgy coal bed on the North Fork of the 

Kentucky River by Englund (1955, p. 4, 8). In the Salyersville 

North quadrangle the Cannel City coal bed is commonly less than 14 

inches thick and contains partings, but it is a useful bed for correlation in the south half of the quadrangle because it contains a distinctive 1/8- to 1/2-inch parting of hard dense medium-grayish-brown 

to dark-brown flint clay at many localities (pi. 7, sections 50-54).

The Cannel City coal is overlain by a variable sequence of shale, 

siltstone, and sandstone which ranges in thickness from 42 to 73 

feet. Locally, one or more of the shale beds contain gray silty 

limestone concretions. One or more beds of coal or underclay a few 

inches thick also occur at a few places. At several localities (pi. 6, 

sections 5, 8, 14, 19) the lower part of this sequence includes the 

Kendrick shale of Jillson (1919, p. 96-104), which is widespread 

over eastern Kentucky and at many localities contains marine fossils. 

It generally consists of dark-gray to black shale 5 to 10 feet thick 

which is fossiliferous in part; where fossils are very sparse or absent 

the Kendrick is difficult to identify. The Kendrick shale contains a 

4- to 7-inch bed of fossiliferous siltstone in the vicinity of Wheelersburg (pi. 6, section 19) and in the creek bed of Phipps Fork about 

0.43 mile west of Phipps school (pi. 5). The most abundant fossils 

at the Wheelersburg locality are brachiopods, gastropods, and pelecypods. The Kendrick shale contains Lingula and other brachiopods, 

and gastropods at a locality opposite the mouth of Improvement 

Branch of Raccoon Creek (pi. 6, section 5). The sandstone lentils 

in the 42 to 73 feet of strata above the Cannel City coal bed are 

light gray, fine grained to medium grained, and crossbedded in part. 

At the head of Brushy Fork of Lick Creek (pi. 6, section 13) one of 

these sandstone lentils is about 61 feet thick; northeast and southeast of that locality the sandstone apparently splits into two parts 

(pi. 6, sections 19-21).

A coal bed 42 to 73 feet above the Cannel City coal and 38 to 

67 feet below the Fire Clay coal in the Salyersville North quadrangle 

(pi. 6) has been called the Whitesburg coal by Browning and Russell 

(1919, p. 33-36). Although the type section of the Whitesburg

COal is in Letcher County many miles to the southeast the correlation 

seems valid. I-KiddU o.nd others (1962) called this bed the Lower 

Whitesburg coal in the Salyersville North quadrangle, but this has 

not been completely demonstrated by detailed mapping. The Whitesburg coal, although thin (less than 14 inches) or parted at many 

places in the quadrangle, is a good marker bed because it crops out 

at a relative^ low position on the hills in much of the area and is 

overlain by a distinctive bed of black shale.

The strata between the Whitesburg and Fire Clay coal beds tare 

chiefly sandstone, siltstone, and shale. One to three beds of coal a
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 37

few inches thick and associated beds of underclay are present in this 

sequence. At many localities the roof rock of the Whitesburg coal 

bed consists of black fissile carbonaceous shale as much as 5 feet 

thick (pi. 7, sections 59-73, 76-78). The black shale is very useful 

in identifying the Whitesburg coal bed, especially where the Fire 

Clay coal was not seen or could not be identified with certainty. 

One coal bed 19 to 36 feet above the Whitesburg coal seems to be 

fairly widespread (pi. 6) and may be equivalent to the Little Fire 

Clay coal bed of the area near the North Fork of the Kentucky 

River. Channel-fill sandstone is present at many places in the 

sequence between the Whitesburg and Fire Clay coal beds. One sandstone lentil in the northwestern part of the area is calcareous in part 

(pi. 6, sections 2, 5, 7), and at one place near the mouth of Wesley 

Fork a lens of coal about 8 inches thick is in the upper part of 

this sandstone (fig. 12).

FIGURE 12. Exposure of strata 18 feet below the Fire Clay coal bed (pi. 6, basal part 

of section 2) about 0.15 mile southwest of the mouth of Wesley Fork showing (a) 

massive sandstone, (b) coal lens 8 inches thick, (c) gray silty shale wedge, and (d) 

hammer and steel tape.

BASE OF FIRE CLAY COAL TO MAGOFFIN BEDS OF MORSE ; t

The rocks of this unit are 47 to 72 feet thick and are composed 

chiefly of sandstone, siltstone, and shale. The Hamlin (?) coal bed 

occurs near the middle of the unit and is present throughout most 

of the quadrangle.

656172 O 63 3 .
38 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

The Fire Clay coal bed, named by Hodge (1908, p. 40, 41), is 

present throughout most of the area but it is difficult to identify 

at many places because the characteristic flint-clay parting is absent; 

in these places the Fire Clay bed was usually identified by its position 

in relation to other coal beds or to the Magoffin beds of Morse. The 

flint-clay parting, which is present in the Fire Clay coal in much of 

eastern Kentucky, is commonly a medium-brownish-gray hard dense 

nonbedded clay stone 2 to 6 inches thick. The flint clay typically 

breaks with a sharp conchoidal fracture and upon weathering disintegrates into angular granule-size or smaller fragments. At many 

places in the western part of the quadrangle the flint clay is rather 

soft and breaks with a poor subconchoidal fracture. It contains 

carbonaceous films and coal stringers a fraction of an inch thick at 

many places; locally it seems to grade into bony impure coal.

The roof of the Fire Clay coal bed generally consists of gray 

shale a few inches to 25 feet thick. At most localities the shale is 

less than 10 feet thick and is commonly overlain by a sandstone bed 

having an average thickness of about 25 feet (pi. 6). Locally sandstone forms the roof of the Fire Clay coal. On Wesley Fork in the 

northwestern part of the area the sandstone seems to be a channelfill (pi. 6, section 2). In the head of Bend Branch (fig. 4, section 4) 

the Fire Clay coal and overlying shale seem to have been completely 

eroded before the sandstone was deposited.

A persistent coal bed less than 14 inches thick at many places 

occurs 21 to 47 feet above the Fire Clay coal bed. This coal was 

called the Haddix coal in the area between Phipps Fork and Hammond Fork by Browning and Russell (1919, p. 253-255), but the 

writers believe it is approximately equivalent to the Hamlin coal 

bed which was named by Hodge (1908) in Perry County.

Shale and siltstone 22 to 35 feet thick comprise most of the strata 

between the Hamlin(?) coal bed and the Magoffin beds of Morse. 

Some sandstone is present, and a coal Bed commonly 1 to 6 inches 

thick and associated underclay are present locally in the southwestern 

part of the area (pi. 6, sections 8, 9).

MAGOFFIN BEDS OF MORSE

The Magoffin beds of Morse (1931, p. 302) are present in all of 

the quadrangle except the southwestern part where this unit and the 

overlying shale have been eroded and their position occupied by 

massive sandstone (pi. 6, section 8). Although the Magoffin beds are 

commonly less than 5 feet thick they are one of the most useful 

stratigraphic markers in the Breathitt formation in much of eastern 

Kentucky. Where these beds are well developed, as at the head of 

Raccoon Creek (pi. 6, section 12), they are composed of a lower 

bed of medium-dark-gray silty fossiliferous limestone a few inches 

thick and an overlying bed of .gray to black shale a few feet thick.
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 39

The shale contains hard medium-dark-gray very fine grained silty 

limestone concretions as much as 2 feet thick. The concretions are 

commonly septarian and break with a subconchoidal fracture. At 

some localities the Magoffin beds include a few inches of gray 

fossiliferous shale at the base. The lower limestone bed which is 

heavily iron stained at most places contains many macerated shell 

fragments, crinoid-stem plates, and brachiopods. The overlying shale 

and concretionary limestone are locally fossiliferous.

At many places in the quadrangle (pi. 6, sections 1-6, 9, 11, 13) 

the Magoffin unit is composed of a bed of heavily ironstrained fossiliferous siltstone or very fine grained sandstone generally less than 1 

foot thick and an overlying bed of gray to black locally fossiliferous 

shale. The shale is a few feet thick and at some localities contains 

medium-dark-gray limestone concretions. At one place about 0.4 

mile north of Falcon (pi. 6, section 21) the Magoffin beds consist 

of a zone of dark-gray fossiliferous (chiefly brachiopods) limestone 

concretions about 9 inches thick and an overlying bed of dark-gray 

fossiliferous (gastropods and pelecypods) shale about 2 feet thick. 

Another facies present in the extreme northwest corner of the quadrangle (near section 113) consists of a lower bed 8 to 10 inches thick 

of dark-gray siltstone containing chiefly brachiopods, a mediumgray shale bed nearly 3 feet thick containing gastropods and pelecypods, and an upper bed 1.5 feet thick of medium-dark to dark-gray 

massive limestone containing crinoid fragments and brachiopods.

TOP OP MAGOFFIN BEDS OF MORSE TO BASE OF INDEX COAL

The rocks of this unit of the Breathitt formation range in thickness from 51 to 86 feet and consist largely of shale and siltstone in 

the lower part and sandstone and siltstone in the middle and upper 

parts. The lower part of the unit includes the Colvin coal bed at 

several localities (pi. 6) and the remainder contains one or two 

unnamed coals and associated beds of underclay.

The lower part of this unit consists of gray shale and siltstone 

12 to 20 feet thick in most of the quadrangle (pi. 6). At one place 

in the head of Bend Branch (pi. 6, section 4) a 10-inch bed of 

dark-gray to black shale 16 feet above the Magoffin beds contains 

very sparse impressions of questionable brachiopods. In the southwestern part of the area (pi. 6, sections 8, 9) the lower part of the 

unit is composed mainly of channel-fill sandstone; in much of the 

southwestern part the channels cut below the Magoffin beds of Morse.

The Colvin coal bed, which lies 12 to 20 feet above the Magoffin 

beds of Morse, was named from exposures on Buck Branch in the 

White Oak quadrangle (Adkison, 1957, p. 11). This bed was first 

described but not named by Crandall (1880(?), p. 19), and it was 

later called the Haddix coal by Browning and Kussell (1919, p.
40 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

333-335). That name is not used in the present report because of 

the uncertainty in correlation with the type section of the Haddix 

coal bed in Breathitt County.

In the northwestern part of the quadrangle (pi. 6, sections 1-5) 

the rocks between the Colvin and Index coal beds are 38 to 51 

feet thick and consist mainly of light-gray fine- to medium-grained 

sandstone, crossbedded in part, and lesser amounts of gray shale, 

siltstone, and underclay. On Wright Branch of Lacey Creek in the 

northern part of the area (pi. 6, section 11), the rocks between the 

Colvin and Index coals are about 45 feet thick and consist mainly 

of sandstone, shale, and underclay. One 7-inch coal occurs about 6 

feet above the Colvin coal and may be an upper split of that bed. 

Elsewhere in the quadrangle the strata between the Colvin and 

Index coals are poorly exposed for the most part.

BASE OF INDEX COAL TO BASE OF SEBASTIAN COAL

Strata between the Index and Sebastian coal beds are best exposed 

in the northwestern part of the quadrangle where they are 61 to 

about 90 feet thick (pi. 6, sections l^t); elsewhere these rocks are 

poorly exposed. The rocks are mainly shale and siltstone, but sandstone lentils as much as 33 feet thick are present. The Nickell coal 

bed occurs near the middle of the unit.

The Index coal was named from mine exposures in the eastern 

part of the West Liberty quadrangle (Adkison, 1957, p. 12) where 

it contains a parting of flint clay similar to that in the Fire Clay 

coal bed. The Index coal is generally overlain by 29 to 39 feet 

of gray shale and siltstone and lesser amounts of sandstone and 

underclay. The roof rock of this coal is shale at many places, but} 

it is medium-gray to medium-dark-gray underclay at the mouth of 

Trace Branch of Rockhouse Creek (pi. 7, section 115) and near 

the mouth of Raccoon Creek (pi. 7, sections 121, 122). At section 122 

the upper part of the underclay contains very thin lenses of dense 

medium-brown claystone similar to flint clay.

The Nfckell coal bed, which was named from exposures in the 

southern part of the Cannel City quadrangle (Englund, 1955, p. 

11), occurs about halfway between the Index and Sebastian coals. 

Rocks between the Nickell and Sebastian coal beds are mainly gray 

shale and siltstone about 40 feet thick, but some dark-gray to black 

shale is present. A fossiliferous shale zone commonly less than 2 

feet thick is present 16 to 25 feet above the Nickell coal bed in the 

northwestern part of the area (pi. 6, sections 1, 4). This zone is 

also present in the ridge about 0.45 mile west of Head of Pricy 

school and in a road cut in the head of Improvement Branch of Raccoon Creek. The shale is medium gray to black and the fossils are 

chiefly brachiopods and some pelecypods. The fossiliferous shale is
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 41

equivalent to a similar bed 13 to 17 feet above the Nickell coal bed 

in the northwestern part of the White Oak quadrangle (Adkison, 

1957, p. 13, and pi. 2, section 3).

ABOVE BASE OF SEBASTIAN COAL

The uppermost unit of the Breathitt formation is a poorly exposed sequence composed mainly of sandstone, siltstone, and shale; 

the maximum thickness is 210 feet. In addition to the Sebastian 

coal this unit includes the Hindman (?) coal bed in the southwestern 

part of the quadrangle.

The Sebastian coal bed was named from exposures in the western 

part of the White Oak quadrangle (Adkison, 1957, p. 13). It was 

seen at several localities in the western part of the Salyersville North 

quadrangle (pi. 6, sections 1, 3, 4; pi. 7, sections 125, 126) where it 

occurs high on the ridges. The roof rock of the Sebastian coal bed 

is composed of massive light-gray fine-grained sandstone as much 

as 54 feet thick (pi. 6, section 1).

Coal has been mined for local use from a bed about 0.4 mile 

northwest of the mouth of May Branch (pi. 5) in the southwestern 

part of the area. The coal, which occurs as small outliers on the 

ridge, is about 70 feet above the Sebastian coal bed and about 290 

feet above the Fire Clay coal bed. It was called the Flag coal in this 

vicinity by Browning and Russell (1919, p. 344), but the present 

writers prefer a tentative correlation with the Hindman (?) coal bed 

in the Seitz quadrangle to the southwest (Bergin, 1962). The roof 

rook of the Hindman(?) coal in the Salyersville North quadrangle 

consists of silty shale more than 5 feet thick.

QUATERNARY SYSTEM 

AJLLUVIUM

Deposits of unconsolidated silt and sand and larger fragments of 

sandstone, siltstone, and shale are present in most creek valleys and 

in the valley of the Licking River (pi. 5). The deposits, which 

commonly merge into the slope wash on the hillsides, seem to be 

derived entirely from the Pennsylvanian bedrock. During Recent 

time the creeks have cut through the alluvial deposits at many places 

and have exposed Pennsylvanian rocks in the streambeds, but'such 

outcrops of bedrock are too narrow to be shown on the geologic map 

and are included in the alluvium.

The distribution of the alluvium in the creek valleys in the northeastern part of the quadrangle is strikingly controlled by the upper 

sandstone of the Lee formation (pi. 5). This thick sandstone is much 

more resistant to erosion that the overlying rocks in the Breathitt 

formation; as a result in areas upstream from outcrops of the Lee 

formation the creeks have relatively low gradients and wider valleys. 

Alluvium is not present in mappable quantities along the parts of
42 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

the creeks that flow across the sandstone in the Lee, but a narrow band 

of alluvium is present along Big Mine Fork below Lacey Creek 

where the valley is developed in the thick shale sequence beneath 

the cliff-forming upper sandstone of the Lee.

TERRACE DEPOSITS

Several small areas in the valleys of Licking River, Lick Creek, 

and Raccoon Creek have the topographic form of terraces that are 

controlled by the bedrock. The terraces, shown on plate 5, are 20 

to 40 feet above the alluvium and are covered by a mantle of deeply 

weathered silt, sand, and soil, which is generally yellowish brown to 

reddish brown. The terraces probably are of Recent age but some 

might be as old as late Pleistocene.

STRUCTURE

The Salyersville North quadrangle lies on the west flank of the 

eastern Kentucky structural basin, but the regional dip to the southeast is altered by several structural features to a general west dip 

averaging TO feet per mile. Features within the quadrangle include 

the Irvine-Paint Creek fault, the east end of the Caney anticline, the 

western part of the Mine Fork dome, and the Johnson Creek fault. 

The structural features are shown on plate 5 by structure contours on 

the Fire Clay coal bed. The structure-contour interval is 20 feet and 

the total structural relief is about 760 feet.

The Caney uplift, which lies almost entirely to the west of the 

area, was first reported by Crandall (1910, p. 13, 16) and later 

mapped by Browning and Russell (1919), Browning (1921). Hudnail and Browning (1924), and Robinson (1925). The most recent 

mapping of this structural feature was by Englund (1955) and 

Adkison (1957).

Browning and Russell (1919, p. 19-21) described the IrvinePaint Creek fault (Caney fault), the Johnson Creek fault, and the 

Mine Fork dome.

The Irvine-Paint Creek fault, which crosses the northern part of 

the quadrangle, is a normal fault having a vertical displacement of 

about 145 to 260 feet; the greatest displacement is in the northwest 

corner of the quadrangle. The fault plane is poorly exposed in a 

road cut along the Rockhouse Creek about a quarter of a mile south 

of Logville (fig. 13). Elsewhere the approximate trace of the fault 

was determined by the displacement of key beds and by abrupt 

changes in the dip of the rocks as the fault was crossed. The rocks 

on the north (upthrown) side dip to the north and northwest at 120 

to 160 feet per mile; rocks on the south side dip more sharply" to the 

north and northwest. The dip on the south side commonly increases 

as the fault is approached, especially near the west edge of the 

quadrangle where dips of 9° to 21° were measured. The general
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 43

FIGURE 13. Exposure of Irvine-Paint Creek fault 0.25 mile south of Logville on Rockhouse 

Creek showing (a) poorly exposed fault plane dipping about 50° S., (b) sandstone above 

the Index coal bed, and (c) weathered shale and siltstone about 30 feet below the Fire 

Clay coal bed. Displacement at this locality is about 190 feet.

trace of the Irvine-Paint Creek fault is readily located on Big Mine 

Fork because of the displacement of the massive cliff-forming sandstone in the Lee formation.

The east end of the Caney anticline dies out a third of a mile 

inside the west border of the quadrangle. The axis of this anticline 

lies 11/2 miles south of the Irvine-Paint Creek fault and is subparallel 

to it. A structural saddle separates the Caney anticline from the 

westward- and northwestward-dipping strata to the east. Rocks in 

the central and west-central parts of the quadrangle dip to the 

west at 50 to 80 feet per mile off the Mine Fork dome. The westward dip is interrupted by several small flexures.

The Mine Fork dome extends beyond the east border of the quadrangle into the Paintsville 15-minute quadrangle where it was mapped 

by Hauser (1953, pi. 4B) who considered it to be part of the Paint 

Creek uplift. This dome is somewhat elongate and subparallel to 

the Irvine-Paint Creek fault. The southwestern part of the Mine 

Fork dome passes into a southward-plunging nose, which splits near 

the mouth of Twin Lick Fork (pi. 5).

The Johnson Creek fault, which is present in the southern part of 

the quadrangle, is a normal fault having a maximum vertical displacement of about 190 feet (pi. 5). It is subparallel to the IrvinePaint Creek fault and is also upthrown on the north side. The fault 

is poorly exposed for the most part and dies out in the ridge east
44 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

of Twenty Two Mile Branch in a small narrow synclinal fold; the 

synclinal fold extends nearly 2 miles eastward from the end of the 

fault. The rocks on the north side of the Johnson Creek fault in 

the vicinity of Long Branch and May Branch dip to the northwest 

and north at about 200 feet per mile. To the east a narrow anticlinal 

fold of very low structural relief is present about 0.15 mile north 

of the fault and parallel to it (pi. 5). On the south side of the fault 

the northward dip of the rocks commonly increases as the fault is 

approached; dips as great as 11° were measured.

In addition to the major faults described above, several small faults 

were seen in the Salyersville North quadrangle. A normal fault is 

present in the right fork of Round Hole Branch of State Road Fork 

(pi. 5). The fault, which strikes east and is downthrown on the 

south side, seems to be less than half a mile long; maximum vertical displacement is about 40 feet. Another normal fault, having less 

than 20 feet of displacement and unknown linear' extent, was seen 

in the bed of Burton Fork in the southeast corner of the area. 

This fault, not shown on plate 5, is located about 400 feet upstream 

from the mouth of the second hollow on the north side of the 

stream; the strike seems to be east. A very small reverse fault was 

seen in the bank of Raccoon Creek about 1,400 feet downstream 

from the mouth of Scaffold Fork (fig. 14). At this locality, not

FIGURE 14. Exposure of small reverse fault In the bank of Raccoon Creek about 1,400 

feet downstream from the mouth of Scaffold Fork showing (a) fault plane, (b) 

Howard(?) coal bed 10 inches thick, (c) gray shale, (d) massive sandstone, (e) underclay, (f) hammer resting on top of Howard(?) coal bed, and (g) steel tape.
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 45

shown on plate 5, the Howard(?) coal bed is displaced 1.6 feet 

vertically and 3 feet horizontally. Many additional faults of small 

displacement probably are present in the quadrangle, but they are 

effectively concealed by the slopewash and vegetation.

DESCRIPTION OF COAL BEDS AND COAL RESERVES

The upper part of the Lee formation contains 1 coal bed and the 

Breathitt formation contains at least 13 coal beds that are more 

than 14 inches thick locally. Several of the coal beds are more than 

28 inches thick locally, but areas containing coal of this thickness 

are small. Because the coal is generally thin there have been no 

large coal-mining operations within the quadrangle. Goal-outcrop 

lines and locations where coal beds were seen are shown on plate 5, 

but thickness data were not obtained at many of the locations. Most of 

the small mines that formerly produced coal for domestic use were 

completely caved when visited. Many of the coal locations shown on 

plate 5 consist of coal blooms in old roads, trails, and natural outcrops; these blooms can be very misleading in regard to thickness, 

composition, and partings in the beds.

Coal .reserves of 11 coal beds, including the 1 bed in .the Lee 

formation, were divided into the following categories: (a) indicated 

reserves that include coal lying within three-fourths of a mile of an 

outcrop along which the extent and thickness of the coal are reasonably well defined; and (b) inferred reserves that include the remaining coal lying beyond the area of indicated reserves. The outer 

boundary of the area of inferred coal is variable since it is based 

upon thickness trends of the coal. The reserves were further subdivided according to the coal thickness, excluding partings. Thickness maps were prepared for each of the coal beds at a scale of 

1:20,000 (1 in. equals 1,667 ft.), based on these categories of reserves. 

The areas containing coal were then measured with a polar planimeter, and the planimeter areas were converted to acres. The weight 

of coal (tons) in a given area is the. product of the area (acres), 

the thickness (feet), and the weight of coal per acre-foot (assumed 

t'o be 1,800 tons).

The estimated original coal reserves in beds more than 14 inches 

thick total 172,446,000 tons, of which 16,613,000 tons is in beds 28 

to 42 inches thick (table 1). The figures in table 1 differ from those 

of Huddle and others (1962) because in this report the coal-bed maps 

were modified to include more recent data, the number of decimal 

places rounded off is less, and more coal beds are considered here. 

The Lee formation (Mine Fork coal bed) contains 3,730,000 tons 

in the 14- to 28-inch thickness category. The Breathitt formation 

(10 coal beds) contains 165,716,000 tons in all categories. All the 

calculated reserves are under less than 1,000 feet of cover.
46 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

TABLE 1. Estimated original coal reserves of the Salyersville North quadrangle

[In thousands of short tons; covered by less than 1,000 ft of overburden. In part after a report by 

Huddle and others (1962)]

Bed

Nickell.. ................

Hamlin(?.). ..............

Fire Clay............- 

Mine Fork ___ ---------

Total, all beds.-...

Indicated reserves 

in beds 

Thickness

14-28 

in.

447 

1,872

6,090

4,153 

16, 783 

15,418 

2,280 

45, 130 

14, 421 

2,892

3,040

112, 526

28-42 

in.

175

891 

7,625 

' 5, 133

1,648 

1,141

16, 613

Total

622 

1,872 

6,090 

5,044 

24,408 

20, 551 

2, 280 

46, 778 

15, 562 

2,892 

3,040

129, 139

Inferred reserves 

in beds 

Thickness

14-28 

in.

2,503 

2,151 

713 

8,026 

4,953 

2,097

13, 360 

3,848 

1,966 

3,690

43, 307

28-42 

in.

Total

2,503 

2,151 

713 

8,026 

4,953 

2,097

13,360 

3,848 

1..966 

3,690

43, 307

Total reserves 

in beds 

Thickness

14-28 

in.

2,950 

4,023 

6,803 

12, 179 

21,736 

17,515 

2,280

58, 490 

18, 269 

4,858 

6,730

155, 833

28-42 

in.

175

891 

7,625 

5,133

1,648 

1,141

16,613

Grand 

total

3,125 

4,023 

6,803 

13,070 

29, 361 

22, 648 

2, 280 

60,138 

19,410 

4,858 

6,730

172, 446

1 Includes about 91,000 tons in beds more than 42 inches thick.

LEE FOBMATION 

MINE FORK COAL BED

The Mine Fork coal has been mined by local residents along Big 

Mine Fork and its tributaries in the northeastern part of the quadrangle. It occurs as a single bed 14 to 18.5 inches thick (pi. 7, 

sections 1-4), but it may be absent locally because of erosion prior 

to the deposition of the overlying upper sandstone of the Lee formation. The coal is fairly bright, consisting of bands of vitrain in a 

moderately bright attrital matrix; some dull attrital matrix is present in the lower part. The estimated original reserves in the Mine 

Fork coal bed, all in the 14- to 28-inch thickness category, total 

6,730,000 tons. The amount of coal already mined is small.

BREATHITT FORMATION 

\ WHEELERSBURG COAL BED

The Wheelersburg coal bed has been mined for local use at a few 

places in the northeastern part of the area, but very little data 

concerning the coal were obtained during the fieldwork. At Wheelersburg the coal is 19 inches thick (pi. 7, section 6), and at a small 

strip mine on Jellicoe Branch it is more than 18 inches thick (pi. 7, 

section' 5). The estimated original reserves in the Wheelersburg 

coal bed total 4,858,000 tons, all of which are in the 14- to 28-inch 

thickness category. Mined areas are probably very small.

HOWARD(?) COAL BED

The Howard (?) coal bed,is commonly 6 to 14 inches thick, but 

on Browns Fork of Lacey Creek (pi. 7, section 7) a coal tentatively 

correlated with this bed is more than 20 inches thick. Coal reserves
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 47

were not calculated because of the sparse data and the apparent 

general thinness of the coal.

LACEY CREEK COAjL BED

The Lacey Creek coal bed has been mined for local use at several 

places in the northeastern part of the area where it attains a thickness of 16 to more than 29 inches. A parting of shale or sandstone is 

present in the upper part of the bed at several places on Lacey Creek 

and its tributaries (pi. 7, sections 10-13). Southward the coal apparently splits into three benches separated by shale or underclay in 

the heads of Raccoon Creek and Twin Lick Fork (pi. 7, sections 

15-18); the lower bench is the thickest, ranging from 8 to 16 inches. 

The Lacey Creek coal consists of bands of vitrain in a bright attrital 

matrix; some dull attrital matrix is present in the lower part of the 

bed. This coal is below drainage over most of the remainder of the 

quadrangle, but where observed it is less than 14 inches thick. The 

Lacey Creek coal bed contains estimated original reserves of 18,269,- 

000 tons in the 14- to 28-inch thickness category and 1,141,000 tons 

in the 28- to 42-inch thickness category. Mined areas probably are 

small.

TOM COOPER COAJL BED

The Tom Cooper coal has been mined for local use at many places 

in the quadrangle, primarily because of its low position in the hills. 

It is more than 14 inches thick nearly everywhere except in the 

southwestern part of the area (pi. 8). The Tom Cooper coal bed is 

below drainage in the northwestern part of the quadrangle, but 

it may be more than 14 inches thick in that area. The thickness of 

this bed averages 20 inches and is more uniform than that of the 

other coals for it exceeds 28 inches in only a few small .areas in the 

northeastern part of the quadrangle (pi. 8). The maximum observed 

thickness of the coal was 32 inches on Lacey Creek (pi. 7, sections 

20, 21).

Most of the Tom Cooper coal bed is composed of bands of vitrain 

in a bright attrital matrix but the uppermost part, about 1 to 4 

inches thick, includes much dull attrital matrix at many places. The 

lower part of the bed also includes much dull attrital matrix locally. 

The coa1! contains no partings throughout most of the area, but 

stringers a fraction of an inch thick of fusain, pyrite, or underclay are 

present at a few places. The estimated original reserves in the Tom 

Cooper coal bed* total 60,138,000 tons, of which 1,648,000 tons is in 

the 28- to 42-inch thickness category. The amount of coal mined 

is unknown.

CANNED CITY COAX BED

The Cannel City coal bed is less than 14 inches thick except for a 

few small areas in the southern part of the quadrangle. In these 

small areas the coal generally contains one or more partings of shale
48 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

or underclay as much as 3 inches thick (pi. 7, sections 50-55). The 

estimated original reserves in this bed total 2,280,000 tons in the 14- 

to 28-inch thickness category. Mined areas are believed to be 

negligible.

WHITESBURG COAL BED

The Whitesburg coal bed has been mined for local use at many 

places in the eastern part of the quadrangle where it is more than 

28 inches thick over a fairly large area (pi. 8). Although the maximum observed thickness was 641/£ inches near locality 70 on Round 

Hole Branch, the area containing coal more than 35 inches thick 

is very small.

The Whitesburg coal bed is composed largely of thin to medium 

bands of vitrain in a moderate to bright attrital matrix; some dull 

attrital matrix is present in the lower part at several places. Partings of underclay, shale or fusain are present locally (pi. 7, sections 

58, 61, 62, 67, 70, 80).

The estimated original reserves in the Whitesburg coal bed total 

22,648,000 tons. The reserves in the 28- to 42-inch thickness category 

total 5,133,000 tons; this includes about 91,000 tons in the more than 

42-inch thickness category. The amount of coal already mined is 

unknown, but the areas containing coal more than 35 inches thick 

are thought to be largely mined out.

FIRE CUAY COAL, BED

Local mining operations in the Fire Clay coal bed have been 

mainly in the southern and western parts of the quadrangle where 

the coal is more thari 28 inches thick in several areas (pi. 8). The 

coal generally is composed of bands of vitrain in a moderately dull 

to bright attrital matrix; locally the bed contains much bony impure 

coal. Part of the bed in the northwestern part of the area is composed of cannel coal (pi. 7, sections 81, 83).

The flint-clay parting, for which the Fire Clay coal bed was 

named, is rather sporadically distributed especially where the coal 

is only a few inches thick. This parting is present in most of the 

areas where the coal is more than 18 inches thick; other partings of 

shale and underclay are fairly common in the Fire Clay coal bed.

The estimated original reserves in the Fire Clay coal bed total 

29,361,000 tons, of which 7,625,000 tons is in the 28- to 42-inch 

thickness category. Mined areas are unknown, but most of the thickest coal in the vicinity of Salyersville probably has been mined out.

HAML,IN(?) COAL. BED

The Hamlin(?) coal bed has been mined for local use on Phipps 

Fork of Rockhouse Creek and in the ridge east of Improvement 

Branch of Raccoon Creek (pi. 5) where the observed thickness of
 COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 49

the coal is as much as 35 inches (pi. 7, sections 106, 107), excluding 

the partings. Browning and Kussell (1919, p. 247, 253) called this 

bed on Phipps Fork the Haddix coal and reported a maximum 

thickness of 62 inches, but the type Haddix coal in Breathitt County 

occurs above the Magoffin beds of Morse. Therefore the coal mined 

on Phipps Fork is most logically correlated with the Hamlin coal 

of Perry County which occurs below the Magoffin beds. Elsewhere 

in the quadrangle the coal generally is only 12 to 15 inches thick. 

The Hamlin (?) coal bed is a bright coal composed of bands of 

vitrain in a moderate to bright attrital matrix. It contains one or 

more partings 0 to 6 inches thick of bony impure coal, carbonaceous 

shale, or underclay at most places (pi. 7, sections 105-111). The 

estimated original reserves in the Hamlin (?) coal bed total 13,070,000 

tons, of which 891,000 tons are in the 28- to 42-inch thickness category. Much of the thickest coal on Phipps Fork probably is mined 

out; mined areas in other parts of the quadrangle are very small.

COLVIN COAL, BED

The Colvin coal bed is probably less than 14 inches thick in most of 

the quadrangle for local mining of this bed was not seen by the 

writers. Browning and Russell (1919, p. 338) reported 28.5 inches 

of coal, which they correlated with the Haddix coal bed, in a small 

mine near the mouth of Long Branch in the southwestern part of 

the quadrangle; this coal probably is the Colvin. The maximum 

thickness of coal noted by the writers was 16 inches on Wesley Fork 

of Phipps Fork (pi. 7, section 114). Reserves for the Colvin bed 

were not calculated because of the apparent thinness of the coal and 

the lack of information.

The Index coal has been mined by residents chiefly in the northwestern part of the quadrangle where it is generally 20 to 24 inches 

thick. One or more partings of underclay or bony impure coal less 

than 3 inches thick are present in the lower part of the bed at most 

localities (pi. 7, sections 115, 118-122). The coal is composed mainly 

of bands of vitrain in a moderately dull to bright attrital matrix;, 

some dull attrital matrix is present in the uppermost part. The 

estimated original reserves in the Index coal bed total 6,803,000 

tons in the 14- to 28-inch thickness category. Mined areas are probably small.

NICKELL, COAL, BED

The Nickell coal bed has been mined for local use at only a few 

places in the northwestern part of the quadrangle, although the 

measured sections in this area (pi. 6, sections 1-4) indicate that the 

coal is present. The coal was measured at one place on Brushy Fork
50 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

of Raccoon Creek (pi. 7, section 124) where it consists of bands of 

vitrain in a moderately dull to bright attrital matrix. Possibly this 

coal section should be correlated with the Index coal bed. The estimated original reserves in the Nickell coal bed total 4,023,000 tons in 

the 14- to 28-inch thickness category. Mined areas are very small.

SEBASTIAN COAL BED

The Sebastian coal bed seems to be present throughout the western half of the quadrangle where it is high in the hills. A few scattered prospects indicate that it is about 20 to 33 inches thick and 

contains one or more partings of black carbonaceous poorly bedded 

shale less than 3 inches thick (pi. 7, sections 125, 126). The coal 

consists chiefly of bands of vitrain in a moderately bright attrital 

matrix; the upper part of the bed contains considerable dull attrital 

matrix. The estimated original reserves in the Sebastian coal bed, 

largely inferred, total 3,125,000 tons, of which 175,000 tons is in the 

28- to 42-inch thickness category. Mined areas are believed to be 

insignificant.

HINDMANX?) COAL BKD

The Hindman (?) coal has been mined by local residents at a few 

places in the southwestern part of the quadrangle. At locality 127 

the bed is about 23 inches thick, excluding several partings, and is 

composed of bands of vitrain in a bright attrital matrix. Reserves 

for this bed were not calculated because of the lack of information.

COAL QUALITY AND RANK

Although the coals of this quadrangle were not sampled and analyzed, there are reported coal analyses of most of these beds from 

the surrounding areas (Adkison, 1957, p. 18; Englimd, 1955, p. 16; 

and Welch, 1958, p. 602). The analyses, which include coal samples 

from the Tom Cooper to the Sebastian coal beds, show a wide range 

of values for each component of both the proximate and ultimate 

analyses as reported in percentages, and this range of values is true 

of coal samples analyzed both on an "as received" or on a "moisture 

and ash free" basis. The volatile matter of the proximate analyses 

ranges from 35.0 to 49.0 percent, fixed carbon from 43.1 to 60.5 

percent, and ash from 2.0 to 21.2 percent. The sulfur of the ultimate 

analyses ranges from 0.7 to 4.0 percent, hydrogen from 5.1 to 7.1 

percent, carbon from 63.1 percent to 83.1 percent, nitrogen from 1.2 

to 1.9 percent, and oxygen from 6.8 to 16.4 percent. Heat values 

on an "as received" basis range from 11,360 to 13,690 Btu, and on a 

"moisture and ash free" basis from 14,390 to 15,580 Btu. The cokingquality of these coals was not determined but the free-swelling 

indexes range from 1 to 5.
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 51

The rank of all the coal sampled in the vicinity is classed as highvolatile "A" or "B" bituminous and all the cannel coal analyzed 

is high volatile "A."

OIL AND GAS

The Salyersville North quadrangle includes the western half of 

the Oil Springs oil pool and the westernmost part of the Win gas 

pool (fig. 15). The wells shown on plate 5 are the same as those

82°52'30"

\

1

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Salyersv He North

quadrangle

Oil pool

^^^

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Gas pool

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lillli V\\'-;.'v.'v.'v;.;'.; .: : .' . V.'-.'-.v.X.' ;':'.'

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Salyersville South quadrangle

^/ -^

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///.Mine Fork \S \''::';. ' ' '.' ' ' :' '' " ' '' '.' ' 

\ Vi-;i-:s.^;?v/

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7///%ty//th> (SW/4 Paintsville 15 minute '"adrm8"'

1

v n

si f

f.

gsg

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.; :: >:

^x -' :;'; ;i

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FIC.URE 15. Map showing location of the Oil Springs, Win, and Mine Fork pools 

in the Salyersville North quadrangle and adjacent areas (after Hauser, 1953).

on the topographic base map; all the wells in the area are not shown. 

The Mine Fork oil pool lies about half a mile east of the quadrangle 

and is considered to be an extension of the Oil Springs pool.

Drilled wells in the vicinity of the Salyersville North quadrangle 

have penetrated rocks that range in age from Pennsylvania!! to 

Cambrian (Freeman, 1953, p. 188-194, 222-223). The writers did not 

examine cuttings from any of the Avells as description of the subsurface geology of the area was not intended for the purpose of this 

report. A generalized description of the subsurface rocks in the 

Paintsville 15-minute quadrangle to the east is included in a report 

by Hauser (1953, p. 10, 11, 28-32) and for the most part his description is believed to be applicable to the subsurface rocks in the Salyersville North quadrangle. Detailed sample descriptions for two 

wells in the western part of the Paintsville 15-minute quadrangle 

were given by Freeman (1953, p. 188-194, 222-223). One of the 

wells, the Ashland Oil and Refining Co. Wallace Williams 8, sec.
52 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

19-R-79 (Carter coordinates), Johnson County, is located about 5.5 

miles northeast of the Salyersville North quadrangle; it penetrated 

rocks of Pennsylvania!!, Mississippian, Devonian, Silurian, Ordovician, and Cambrian ages. The other well, the Cumberland Petroleum 

Co. L. C. Bailey 44, NW*4 sec. 6-R-79 (Carter coordinates), Magoffin 

County, is in the Oil Springs pool about half a mile east of the 

Salyersville North quadrangle (about 1.4 miles northeast of Falcon). 

This was an old well which was deepened into rocks of Ordovician 

age; samples were missing for the upper 2,300 feet.

A dark viscous oil seep is present in the lower part of the upper 

sandstone unit of the Lee formation at one locality on Big Mine 

Fork about a quarter of a mile north of the mouth of Lacey Creek 

(pi. 7, section 1). The first discovery of commercial quantities of 

oil or gas in the vicinity of the Salyersville North quadrangle occurred in 1917 when a well was drilled in a gas seep on the Mine 

Fork dome (Hauser, 1953, p. 50). The Ofl Springs pool (fig. 15) 

was discovered in June 1919 by a well drilled by the Bedrock 

Petroleum Co. on the Milt Wheeler farm on Litteral Fork of Big 

Mine Fork (Hauser, 1953, p. 52). In this pool of about 5,500 acres 

oil is produced from the Weir sand of Early Mississippian age at 

depths of 900 to 1,200 feet depending on the surface altitude and 

the position on the geologic structure (Simmons, 1956, p. 25 and 27). 

Initial oil production in the Oil Springs pool ranged from 10 to 

150 barrels per well per day and averaged 30 barrels per well per 

day; cumulative production is about 10 million barrels (Hauser, 

1953, p. 52, 53).

The Win gas field was discovered in November 1917, .'by a well 

drilled by the Bedrock Petroleum Co. on the W. H. Conley farm; 

gas production, estimated at 1 million cubic feet, was from the Weir 

sand at a depth 'of 850 feet (Hauser, 1953, p. 54). Gas was later 

discovered in the underlying Berea sand, Corniferous limestone of 

former usage, and Big Six sand (Hauser, 1953, p. 52, 54). Drillers' 

logs in the Salyersville North quadrangle indicate that the interval 

between the top of the Weir sand and the Berea is about 100 to 

160 feet. The Corniferous limestone is about 650 to 700 feet below 

the top of the Weir, and the Big Six is about 300 to 390 feet below 

the top of the Corniferous. Cumulative production in the Win field 

is about 800 million cubic feet from about 40 wells in about 2,000 

acres (Hauser, 1953, p. 54). According to Hauser (1953, p. 54-55), 

the accumulation of oil in the Oil Springs pool and gas in the Win 

pool is controlled in part by the structure and in part by permeability barriers in the reservoir rock.

The first secondary-recovery operations in the Oil Springs pool began in the early thirties and consisted of air-gas repressuring; waterflooding of the Weir sand reservoir in this pool began in 1948
COAL RESOURCES, SALYERSVILLE NORTH QUADRANGLE 53

(Simmons, 1956, p. 29). The waterflooding project has been very 

successful, for the average daily oil production in the Oil Springs 

pool increased from about 500 barrels per day in 1950 to slightly' 

more than 6,000 barrels per clay in the early part of 1956 (Simmons, 

1956, p. 29).

LITERATURE CITED

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

Morgan Counties, Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1047-A, p. 1-23. 

Bergin, M. J., 1962, Coal geology of the Seitz quadrangle, Breathitt, Magoffin,

Morgan, and Wolfe Counties, Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 112-C2,

in press. 

Browning, I. B., 1921, Structural geologic map of Magoffin County, Kentucky:

Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 6. 

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

County, Kentucky: Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 4, v. 5, pt. 2, 552. p. 

Campbell, M. R., 1893, Geology of the Big Stone Gap coal field of Virginia and

Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. Ill, 106 p.

 1898a, Description of the Richmond quadrangle [Kentucky] : U.S. Geol. 

Survey Geol. Atlas, Folio 46, 3 p.

 1898b, Description of the London quadrangle [Kentucky] : U.S. Geol.

Survey Geol. Atlas, Folio 47, 3 p. 

Crandall, A. R., 1880(7), Preliminary i-eport on the geology of Morgan,

Johnson, Magoffin, and Floyd Counties, Kentucky: Kentucky Geol. Survey,

ser. 2, v. 6, pt. 5, p. 315-338. 

 1910. Coals of the Licking Valley region and of some contiguous

territory, including also an account of Elliott County and its dikes:

Kentucky Geol. Survey Bull. 10, p. 1-34. 

Englund, K. J., 1955, Geology and coal resources of the Cannel City quadrangle,

Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1020-A, p. 1-21. 

Freeman, L. B., 1953, Regional subsurface stratigraphy of the Cambrian, and

Ordovician in Kentucky and vicinity: Kentucky Geol. Survey Bull. 12,

ser. 9, 352 p. 

Glenn, L. C., 1925, The northern Tennessee coal field: Tennessee Div. Geology

Bull. 33-B, 478 p.

Hauser, R. E., 1953, Geology and mineral resources of the Paintsville quadrangle; Kentucky: Kentucky Geol. Survey Bull. 13, ser. 9, 80 p. 

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

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

and 1907, p. 36-45. 

Huddle, J. W., Lyons, E. J., Smith, H. L., and Ferm, J. C., 1962, Coal reserves

of eastern Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1120 (in press). 

Hudnall, J. S., and Browning, I. B., 1924, Structural geologic map of the

Paint Creek uplift in Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, Morgan, Lawrence, and

Elliott Counties, Kentucky: Kentucky Geol. Survey, ser. 6. 

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

the coal measures of eastern Kentucky: Kentucky Dept. Geology and

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

Lyon, S. S., 1861, Topographical geological report of the progress of the

Survey of Kentucky for the years 1858 and 1859: Kentucky Geol. Survey,

ser. 1, v. 4, p. 495-599. 

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

ser. 6, v. 36, p. 293-348.
54 GEOLOGY OF THE DINGUS AREA, KENTUCKY

Robinson, L. C., 1925, Map of the areal and structural geology of Morgan

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

Simmons, A. C., 1956, Waterflood development of the Weir sand of eastern

Kentucky, in Proceedings of the technical session, Kentucky Oil and Gas

Association annual midyear meeting, May 25, 1956: Kentucky Geol. Survey

Spec. Pub. 9, ser. 9, p. 24-39. 

Wanless, H. R., 1939, Pennsylvania!! correlations in the Eastern Interior and

Appalachian coal fields: Geol. Soc. America Spec. Paper 17, 130 p. 

 1946, Pennsylvania:! geology of a part of the Southern Appalachian

coal field: Geol. Soc. America Mem. 13, 162 p. 

Welch, S. W., 1958, Geology and coal resources of the Tiptop quadrangle,

Kentucky: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1042-P, p. 585-612.
INDEX

Page

Acknowledgments..__ ... . ... 28 

Amburgy coal bed__- _- . _ 36 

Anderson formation.... . - ....... 30

Beavers sand____.. ______.____ 29 

Bend Branch.....--. ._.......... 38,39

Berea sand.._____... _ - 52 

Big Six sand .......... .-. ... .. 52

Brachiopods....__.___._____._ 36,39,40

Breathltt formation, coal reserves. .. 45 

general description.._...___....... 30-32

subdivisions___.________. ....... 32-41

thickness__.__....._.. -. .....-.. 30

Brlceville formation.____.__............. 30

Browning, I. B., quoted__._..-....-...-. 29

Browns Fork___..._.__._.__ .. 46 

Burton Fork..___.__...___.___... 44

Caney anticline.-....... -..--..------- .

Cannel City coal bed...________ 35,36, 

Coal, quality.._____.____.._....

reserves----..--...-- ...... .......

Colvin coal bed_...._..-.-..--._...-39,

Concretions, limestone... ....- ... 32,34-

Corniferous limestone... .... ...........

Creeks:

Big Mine Fork .....__... 29-31,33,34,

Brushy Fork...-. ...-----.-.. 35,

Buck Branch .__....._.... ......

Buffalo. .-. 

Flat Fork.... .......................

Lacey.........__ - 29,34,35,

Lick... 35,

Mine Fork..___..-...- .-.--.-.....-.

Phipps Fork...-.. ............ 36,38,

Raccoon.... . 34,36,38,40,42,

Rockhouse...--------------------- 29,40,

Crinoids_______... ......................

Cumberland Plateau..................... _.

Drainage.

42,43 

47,48 

50-51 

45,46 

40,49 

 36, 30 

52

42,46

36,49

27,39

35

33,34

42,47

36,42

27

48,49

44,47

42,43

39

28

29

Fault, Irvine Paint Creek................ 42,43

Johnson Creek.____._...___ . 42,43,44 

small_....______.__.......___. 44-45

Fieldwork.. ... - _. ... . 28 

Fire Clay coal bed....-.-.-.....-.. 36,37,38,41,48

First Saltsand.. ..- 29,33

Flag coal bed_._........................ 41

Page

Flint clay.. .... .. . 36,38,40,48 

Fossils... ..- .... .-..... 30,31, 32, 34,36, 39,40

Gas..... -...-.-.. 52

Gastropods . .___ .._.. 36,39 

Gladeville formation_. ............. 30

Grassy coal bed .- . . . 35

Hamlin coal bed .--.- .--- ....... . 48-49

Hammond Fork..----.-------------..- .. 38

Hindman coal bed..._ __ - .__. . 50 

Howard coal bed......... .... .......... 46-47

Improvement Branch..... . -.-.. 36,40,48 

Index coal bed -- ....... ... 49

Jellicoc Branch. . . . 34,36

Lacey Creek coal bed-.-- . ... 47 

Limestone.._ . _..._..... 32,38,39 

Long Branch. .-. .. - 44,49

May Branch.. . 

Mine Fork coal bed.

Nickcll coal bed 49-50

Oil, secondary recovery..... ...-... ...... 52,53

Pelecypods. ___. ___ ...... 36,39,40

Round Hole Branch . . . . .. 44,48

Sandstone__ 29,31

Shale . 31,32

Siltstone .._... 

State Road Fork.

Tom Cooper coal bed.......

Twenty Two Mile BranchTwin Lick Fork -..__. 

Trace Branch .........

Undcrclay . ..... 

Upper Elkhorn No. 3 coal bed.

31

29

47

44

47

40

32

35

Wesley Fork.. -... - 37,38,49 

Whcelcrsburg coal bed__ _. 46

Whitesburg coal bed.....___________ 48

Wright Branch 40

55