Geology of the Devonian Marcellus Shale—Valley 

and Ridge Province, Virginia and West Virginia—

A Field Trip Guidebook for the American Association of 

Petroleum Geologists Eastern Section Meeting, 

September 28–29, 2011 

Open-File Report 2012–1194

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey
Geology of the Devonian Marcellus Shale—Valley

and Ridge Province, Virginia and West Virginia— 

A Field Trip Guidebook for the American Association of 

Petroleum Geologists Eastern Section Meeting, 

September 28–29, 2011

By Catherine B. Enomoto1, James L. Coleman, Jr.1, John T. Haynes2, Steven J. Whitmeyer2, 

Ronald R. McDowell3, J. Eric Lewis3, Tyler P. Spear3, and Christopher S. Swezey1 

1

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192 2 James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807

3 West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, Morgantown, WV 26508

Open-File Report 2012–1194

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Department of the Interior

Ken Salazar, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Marcia K. McNutt, Director 

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2012

For product and ordering information:

World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod

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owners to reproduce any copyrighted material contained within this report.

Suggested citation:

Enomoto, C.B., Coleman, J.L., Jr., Haynes, J.T., Whitmeyer, S.J., McDowell, R.R., Lewis, J.E., Spear, 

T.P., and Swezey, C.S., 2012, Geology of the Devonian Marcellus Shale—Valley and Ridge province, 

Virginia and West Virginia—A field trip guidebook for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists 

Eastern Section Meeting, September 28–29, 2011: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 

2012–1194, 55 p., available only at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1194/. 
ii

American Association of Petroleum Geologists Eastern Section Meeting

September 25–27, 2011 

Field Trip: Geology of the Devonian Marcellus Shale—Valley and Ridge Province, Virginia and 

West Virginia

September 28–29, 2011 

Trip Leaders:

James L. Coleman, Jr., and Catherine B. Enomoto 

U.S. Geological Survey 

Reston, Virginia 

And

John T. Haynes and Steven J. Whitmeyer

James Madison University 

Harrisonburg, Virginia 

And

Ronald R. McDowell and J. Eric Lewis

West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey 

Morgantown, West Virginia 
iii
iv

Itinerary

Wednesday, September 28

Leave Crystal City 8:00 a.m. 

Rest stop: Harrisonburg 10:00 a.m. 

Lunch stop: Mountain Home Picnic Area, 11:30 a.m. 

Near Ramsey’s Draft

 George Washington National Forest 

Lunch provided, picnic tables, restrooms 

Overview of field trip by Jim Coleman

Topics: Regional stratigraphy, regional structure

 History of Bergton field, gross well log correlations

Leave lunch stop 12:30 p.m. 

Arrive Stop 1a and 1b: Cowpasture River (S.R. 614) 1:15 p.m. 

[N. 38.235833°, W. 79.521333°; and N. 38.22573°, W. 79.53337°] 

Steve Whitmeyer and John Haynes 

Topics: Details of past research: structure, stratigraphy, 

 joints, undeformed versus crumpled zone, petrography 

Leave Stop 1b 2:45 p.m. 

Arrive Stop 2: Flood (S.R. 609) 3:15 p.m. 

[N. 38.238017°, W. 79.589133°] 

Jim Coleman 

Topics: Stratigraphy, structural position

Leave Stop 2 3:35 p.m. 

Arrive Stop 3: Clover Creek South (S.R. 678) 

[N. 38.2678°, W. 79.55473°] 

Jim Coleman and John Haynes 

Topics: Details of past research: stratigraphy, 

 geochemistry, concretions

Leave Stop 3 4:10 p.m. 

Arrive Hotel 5:00 p.m. 

Highland Inn and Montvallee Motel, Monterey, Va.

Dinner buffet at Highland Inn 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. 
v 

Thursday, September 29 

Continental breakfast at Highland Inn 7:30 – 8:15 a.m. 

(full-service breakfast is available nearby at additional cost)

Leave Monterey 8:30 a.m. 

Arrive Stop 4: Bullpasture River (S.R. 678) 9:00 a.m. 

[N. 38.301483°, W. 79.5179°] 

Jim Coleman and John Haynes 

Topics: Intraformational structures, stratigraphy, jointing, 

 geochemistry, petrography (limestone versus barite)

Leave Stop 4 9:45 a.m. 

Arrive Stop 5: Bullpasture Mountain (U.S. 250) 10:15 a.m. 

[N. 38.3255°, W. 79.443617°] 

Cathy Enomoto and Jim Coleman

Topics: Details of research: geochemistry, mineralogy, stratigraphy

Leave Stop 5 11:15 a.m. 

Arrive lunch stop: Brandywine, W.Va. 12:00 p.m. 

 

Leave lunch stop 1:00 p.m. 

Arrive Stop 6: Brandywine, W.Va. (U.S. 33) 1:05 p.m. 

[N. 38.6337°, W. 79.2313°] 

Ron McDowell and Eric Lewis

Topics: Upper Millboro Shale, depositional environment 

Leave Stop 6 2:00 p.m. 

Rest stop: Harrisonburg, Va. 2:45 p.m. 

Arrive Crystal City 6:00 p.m. 
1 

Geology of the Devonian Marcellus Shale—Valley and

Ridge Province, Virginia and West Virginia

By Catherine B. Enomoto, James L. Coleman, Jr., John T. Haynes, Steven J. Whitmeyer,

Ronald R. McDowell, J. Eric Lewis, Tyler P. Spear, and Christopher S. Swezey

Abstract

Detailed and reconnaissance field mapping and the results of geochemical and 

mineralogical analyses of outcrop samples indicate that the Devonian shales of the Broadtop 

Synclinorium from central Virginia to southern Pennsylvania have an organic content 

sufficiently high and a thermal maturity sufficiently moderate to be considered for a shale gas 

play. The organically rich Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale is present throughout most of the 

synclinorium, being absent only where it has been eroded from the crests of anticlines. 

Geochemical analyses of outcrop and well samples indicate that hydrocarbons have been 

generated and expelled from the kerogen originally in place in the shale. The mineralogical 

characteristics of the Marcellus Shale samples from the Broadtop Synclinorium are slightly 

different from the averages of samples from New York, Pennsylvania, northeast Ohio, and 

northern West Virginia. The Middle Devonian shale interval is moderately to heavily fractured in 

all areas, but in some areas substantial fault shearing has removed a regular “cleat” system of 

fractures. 

Conventional anticlinal gas fields in the study area that are productive from the Lower

Devonian Oriskany Sandstone suggest that a continuous shale gas system may be in place within 

the Marcellus Shale interval at least in a portion of the synclinorium. Third-order 

intraformational deformation is evident within the Marcellus shale exposures. Correlations 

between outcrops and geophysical logs from exploration wells nearby will be examined by field 

trip attendees.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Patrick W. Niemeyer, U.S. Geological Survey, for his contributions to 

this project, which included field mapping, sample collection, and log digitization. We thank 

Diana L. Rotter, U.S. Geological Survey, for her contributions, including sample collection and 

sample descriptions. Also, the authors greatly appreciate the thoughtful comments by the 

technical reviewers: Matthew Heller, Virginia Division of Geology and Mineral Resources, and 

John Repetski, U.S. Geological Survey. 

Introduction

Within the Devonian System of the central Appalachians, a transition from a stable 

shallow marine platform to a foreland basin is evident from stratigraphic changes that occur as 

carbonate rocks of the Lower Devonian Helderberg Group and the quartz arenite of the overlying 
2 

Lower Devonian Oriskany Sandstone pass upward into deeper water slope and basin margin 

shales and turbidites of the Needmore Shale, Marcellus Shale, Mahantango Formation (the 

Millboro Shale where Marcellus Shale and Mahantango Formation cannot be differentiated), and 

Brallier Formation (Lundegard and others, 1985; Dorobek and Read, 1986; Woodrow and others, 

1988). This significant change in depositional regime had eustatic, climatic, and tectonic causes. 

The initial eustatic influence is evident within the Oriskany Sandstone, a subrounded- to 

rounded-, fine- to medium-grained, medium-bedded quartz sandstone that is highly fossiliferous 

in some intervals (Cecil and others, 2004). The Oriskany is believed to have been deposited as a 

deltaic to coastal sand body during sea level fall. Cross-bedding and disarticulated brachiopod 

valves indicate a current-swept, shallow marine depositional environment. Alternatively, the 

rounded quartz grains may have resulted from windblown deposition into a carbonate 

environment (Grabau, 1940; Cecil and others, 1991, 2004). Or, it is possible that during a highly 

arid period, low efficiency but large drainage systems may have occasionally brought highly 

mature sands from the hinterland (somewhere currently in either Europe or Africa) to an arid 

coastline similar to the present-day Namibian coastline. Minor coastal currents and storms may 

have helped spread the sand into sheet-like deposits within a carbonate environment. The shell 

material appears to have dissolved and reprecipitated as carbonate cement into intergranular pore 

space (Cecil and others, 2004), lithifying the sandstone. The capping ironstone crust at (and near) 

the top of the Oriskany may represent a maximum flooding surface, which developed on the sand 

sheets after a sea level rise, prior to the onset of the Needmore Shale prodelta or Onondaga 

Limestone carbonate bank deposition. The Huntersville Chert may represent a lithologic 

transition between the Onondaga and the Needmore, or it may represent the distal vestiges of the 

eolian transport system for the original Oriskany windblown sand (Cecil, 2004a, b). The 

Oriskany is the only Devonian sandstone in the Appalachian basin that extends west of the basin 

axis (Dennison and Head, 1975), and it is generally believed to be equivalent to the Dutch Creek 

Sandstone of the Illinois Basin and the Sylvania Sandstone of the Michigan Basin (Swezey, 

2008, 2009). 

A climatic influence is suggested by the widespread presence of carbonate banks, chert of 

the Helderberg Group, extremely pure quartz sandstone of the Oriskany Sandstone underlying 

silty shale of the Needmore Shale, and organic-rich shale of the Millboro Shale containing 

predominantly Type II kerogen (Cook and Bally, 1975; Hill and Lombardi, 2002; Ryder and 

others, 2011). A model for the influence of paleoclimate on Carboniferous deposition in North 

America (for example, Scotese, 2003; Cecil, 2009) may be applicable to the Devonian strata. The 

tectonic influence is evident with the development and evolution of the Acadian foredeep at the 

end of Oriskany deposition as collision between a microplate or island arc and the southeastern 

margin of Laurentia occurred. Ultimately, the collision led to the Acadian Orogeny and 

deposition of the Catskill clastic wedge throughout the central Appalachians (Woodrow and 

Sevon, 1985). 

Of particular interest to the field trip stops are the changes in depositional environments 

that occurred with the successive formation of the Oriskany Sandstone, the Needmore Shale, the 

Marcellus Shale and Mahantango Formation. The occurrence of limestone concretion beds, 

limestone beds, and barite-rich deposits within the Millboro Shale will be examined and 

discussed, as will results of geochemical analyses and mineralogical studies. Changes in 

deformation styles between the Marcellus Shale and the overlying and underlying formations 

will be examined as well. 
3 

Stratigraphy

Oriskany Sandstone

The Oriskany Sandstone (Vanuxem, 1839, for Oriskany Falls, New York; fig. 1) is the 

oldest of the Devonian stratigraphic units that we will study at the stops. It is typically 10-25 

meters (m) thick in the Cowpasture and Bullpasture River valleys. At one exposure in Hupman 

Valley it is only 3-4 m thick (Haynes and Whitmeyer, 2010). It is characteristically a medium- to 

thick-bedded, fossiliferous, white quartz arenite that weathers to various shades of light 

yellowish-gray, commonly with rusty, probably limonitic, stains. It is medium- to coarse-grained 

(mU to cL) with a few thinner zones of coarser quartz sand, and even some granules and pebbles. 

Moldic pores of large brachiopods including Spirifer arenosus are common in some horizons of 

the Oriskany, and it is these pores along with remnant primary and (or) secondary (from 

dissolution of calcite cement) interparticle porosity that have allowed the Oriskany to be a 

prolific oil and gas producer in many areas of the Appalachian basin (Diecchio, 1985), including 

the Thornwood field along the Highland County, Va. – Pocahontas County, W.Va., border 

(Limerick and others, 2005). The nearest Oriskany field to the field trip area is the Bergton field 

in northwestern Rockingham County, Va. (Young and Harnsberger, 1955; Limerick and others, 

2005). 

The contact of the Oriskany Sandstone with the underlying Licking Creek Limestone, or 

facies-equivalent Shriver Chert (Dorobek and Read, 1986; Haynes and Whitmeyer, 2010), is 

visible along U.S. 250 on the east flank of Bullpasture Mountain and in Hupman Valley where 

an access road crosses a small stream. The contact may also be observed in some caves and 

sinkholes south of the settlement of Flood, at several places in the gorge of the Bullpasture River, 

and on a bluff on the west bank of the Cowpasture River south of the settlement of Patna. 

The contact of the Oriskany with the overlying Needmore Shale is visible on the south 

side of an old meander scar of the Cowpasture River southeast of the community of Patna (see 

figs. 6-7, near stop 1a), and along S.R. 609 southwest of the church at Flood (figs. 6-7, near stop 

2). Although the Oriskany Sandstone usually weathers to friable sandstone, the disconformity at 

the top of the Oriskany is sometimes characterized by a hard, mineralized interval stained with 

iron, as seen on U.S. 250 near stop 5 (see figs. 34-35). 

Needmore Shale and Huntersville Chert

The Needmore Shale (Willard, 1939) is typically 20-35 m thick and is a greenish-gray 

mudrock that weathers to various shades of light gray to olive gray or greenish gray. In nearly all 

exposures it contains a diverse and moderately abundant marine fauna of whole and fragmental 

corals, brachiopods, trilobites (notably Phacops sp.), bryozoans, crinoids, and ostracodes. In 

exposures in this region there is dark-gray shale at the base of the Needmore that is normally 

only 1-2 m thick; this is the Beaver Dam Shale Member, named and first described by Willard 

(1939). The Needmore spans the Early to Middle Devonian boundary. At some locations in this 

region, there is cherty sandstone between the Needmore Shale and the Oriskany Sandstone. This 

cherty sandstone may represent the northeasternmost extent of the facies-equivalent Huntersville 

Chert (Bick, 1962), an important gas producer in southern West Virginia (Patchen, 1968; 

Cardwell, 1982). 

The contact of the Needmore with the overlying Millboro Shale can be observed in the 

dry riverbed of the Cowpasture River north of Laurel Gap and along the bluff on the south side 

of the aforementioned meander scar of the Cowpasture River. 
4 

Millboro Shale

The Millboro Shale (first used by Cooper, 1939, with formal introduction by Butts, 1940) 

is a 300- to 400-m-thick sequence of primarily mudrock including black fissile shales, thinly 

laminated and thin-bedded black shales, and very fine grained siltstones that weather yellowgray to white to silvery and are sparsely fossiliferous, with a few small brachiopods and 

occasional ammonoids being the most commonly recovered fossils. The Millboro also contains 

prominent zones of calcareous concretions that range in diameter from 2 centimeters (cm) to 

more than 1 m. Some of these are septarian in character (Lesure, 1957), and authigenic barite and 

quartz are common in many concretions as well as in some discrete beds (Nuelle and Shelton, 

1986; Clark and Mosier, 1989). 

In the parallel valleys of the Cowpasture and Bullpasture Rivers, separated by 

Bullpasture Mountain, the Millboro Shale occurs along the axes of synclines. It is also exposed 

in a tight syncline present in the Hupman Valley, which divides Bullpasture Mountain into two 

parallel ridge crests. Mahantango Formation, or Upper Millboro, is recognized on the east side of 

the Cowpasture River near U.S. 250. The contact with the Brallier Formation is not exposed but 

likely is located on the west flank of Shaw’s Ridge. 

North of the field trip area, the Marcellus Shale is distinguished from the Mahantango 

Formation, and “Millboro Shale” is not used. 

Marcellus Shale

The Marcellus Shale (Hall, 1839) consists of dark-gray to black, fissile, pyritic shale 

interbedded with dark-gray argillaceous limestone or calcareous shale. It contains a fossiliferous 

layer of limestone, the Purcell Member of the Marcellus Shale (Cate, 1963), and prominent 

zones of calcareous concretions ranging in diameter from several centimeters to more than 1 m. 

In the study area, it often exhibits chaotic bedding. The Marcellus Shale is about 165 m thick in 

western Shenandoah County (Rader and Gathright, 2001), where it is differentiated from the 

Mahantango Formation. 

The Marcellus Shale has been identified in the subsurface using geophysical well logs in

Highland and Rockingham Counties, Va., and in Pocahontas and Pendleton Counties, W.Va., 

and from conodonts collected from surface samples in Shenandoah County, Va. (Harris and 

others, 1994). However, this geologic unit is not differentiated on all published geologic maps in 

westernmost Virginia southwest of Shenandoah County and northeast of Buchanan County 

(Rader and Wilkes, 2001; Dicken and others, 2005) nor in easternmost West Virginia from 

western Pendleton County south to Monroe County (Hasson and Dennison, 1968; Nicholson and 

others, 2005). In these areas, the term Millboro Shale is often used for the dark-gray to black 

fissile shale found in outcrop where no distinction can be made with the overlying Mahantango 

Formation. 

Dennison (2005) and subsequent studies by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) suggest 

that the Purcell Member of the Marcellus Shale is present in the exposure on U.S. 250 east of 

McDowell and on S.R. 678 along the Bullpasture River. Recent mapping in the Williamsville 

7.5-minute quadrangle (Haynes and Whitmeyer, 2010) suggests that the Purcell Member is 

present as disaggregated and separated beds in the deformed regions of the Cowpasture riverbed. 

Conodont biostratigraphy indicates the Purcell in the Winchester 30 x 60 minute quadrangle is of 

Middle Devonian (Eifelian) age (Harris and others, 1994). In the exposure on U.S. 250, the unit 

consists of about 12 m of cross-laminated tan, silty, calcareous shale and gray, fossiliferous, silty

limestone. Nuelle and Shelton (1986) recognized the Purcell Member as a favorable target for 

barite exploration. 
5 

Mahantango Formation

The Mahantango Formation (Willard, 1935) consists of thin-bedded to laminated gray 

shales, greenish-gray siltstones, and fine-grained, greenish-gray sandstones. Where examined in 

the study area, the Mahantango has low total organic content and regular (that is, non-chaotic) 

bedding. As noted above, locally the Mahantango is difficult to distinguish from the underlying 

Marcellus Shale, and therefore these formations are often combined and mapped as one unit 

called the Millboro Shale in westernmost Virginia and easternmost West Virginia (de Witt and 

others, 1993). 

Brallier Formation

The Brallier Formation (Butts, 1918) is 300 to 550 m of interbedded dark-gray to 

greenish-gray shales, siltstones, and sandstones within the area of the Staunton 30 x 60 minute 

quadrangle (Rader and Wilkes, 2001), including Highland County, Va. The grain size increases 

upward in section, and sandstones become more abundant in the upper portion of the formation. 

The base of the Brallier is placed at the top of the gray to black shales of the Millboro Shale or at 

the top of a thick sandstone unit of the underlying Mahantango Formation in Highland County 

(Rader and Wilkes, 2001), and it has a sharp contact with the underlying Millboro Shale in 

Pendleton County, W.Va. (McDowell and others, 2007). 

Figure 1. Schematic chart showing Upper Silurian to Upper Devonian strata in the central Appalachian 

basin (modified from Kulander and Dean, 1986; Flaherty, 1996; Milici and Swezey, 2006). 
6 

Structure

Publications from mapping in the Williamsville 7.5-minute quadrangle (Haynes and 

Whitmeyer, 2010) and in the Staunton 30 x 60 minute quadrangle (Rader and Wilkes, 2001) 

show second-order anticlinal and synclinal structures encompassing the area of the field trip. 

These studies build on previous work that has documented prevalent third-order folds and faults 

(for example, Kulander and Dean, 1986; figs. 2, 3) in the Marcellus Shale. Third-order features 

are evident in outcrop but are not mappable at the 7.5-minute quadrangle scale, except as zones 

of deformation. 

The Warm Springs anticline (Kulander and Dean, 1986; fig. 3), also named the Bolar 

anticline (Rader and Wilkes, 2001, p. 6), is cored with Silurian and Ordovician sandstones and 

carbonates that form the resistant Jack Mountain west of McDowell, Va. The McClung syncline

(Butts, 1940) is underlain by Mississippian sandstones and Upper Devonian siltstones and 

sandstones that are resistant to weathering and form Shenandoah Mountain on the east side of the 

field trip area. Between these two prominent northeast-trending folds are several third-order

folds that range from sub-meter to several meters in scale (fig. 3). These small-scale folds 

typically occur in the tightly compressed axes of second-order synclines that are cored by the 

structurally weak Millboro/Marcellus Shale. Excellent exposures of these third-order 

deformation features will be examined during this field trip. 

Figure 2. Regional structure map showing major tectonic regions, field trip area, and location of cross 

section in figure 3 (modified from Kulander and Dean, 1986); reprinted by permission of the AAPG, whose 

permission is required for further use). 
7 

Figure 3. Cross section illustrating third-order structural elements within the middle and upper Paleozoic 

formations. lw = Lower Cambrian Waynesboro Formation; m = Middle Cambrian; u = Upper 

Cambrian; Ol = Lower Ordovician; Om = Middle Ordovician; Ou = Upper Ordovician; S = Silurian; Dl = 

Lower Devonian; Dm = Middle Devonian; Du = Upper Devonian (modified from Kulander and Dean, 

1986); reprinted by permission of the AAPG, whose permission is required for further use).

Description of Individual Stops

Cowpasture River Valley

Figures 4 and 5 show the geologic map of the Bullpasture Mountain area (Haynes and 

Whitmeyer, 2010) overlain on an oblique view of the area (looking northeast) from Google

Earth. The locations of selected exposures in the valleys of the Cowpasture and Bullpasture 

Rivers that will be visited are shown. Results of the total organic carbon and vitrinite reflectance 

analyses for Marcellus Shale samples taken in the area are shown in figures 6 and 7. 

Along the Cowpasture River south of Patna, a small unincorporated community in 

Highland County, Va., the riverbed is dry for much of the late spring, summer, fall, and even 

early winter months each year, as the entire flow of the river is lost to underground karst 

drainage pathways in the limestones of the Helderberg Group via several sink points. Once the 

river sinks in its bed, about 10 kilometers (km) of riverbed are dry or nearly so, and several 

exposures of the Oriskany Sandstone, Needmore Shale, and Marcellus Shale become accessible.

These allow for more detailed study of the stratigraphic and structural aspects of these units.
8 

Figure 4. Geologic map of part of the Williamsville 7.5-minute quadrangle (Haynes and Whitmeyer, 2010) draped over Google Earth imagery (dated 

January 31, 2007) and digital elevation model (DEM). Vertical cross sections of subsurface geology are superimposed on the ground surface. The oblique 

view looks northeast along the crest of Bullpasture Mountain, a structurally complex anticlinorium capped on the east by exposures of Tonoloway 

Limestone (brown) and on the west by Oriskany Sandstone (yellow) and Helderberg Group limestones (light blue). Field trip stops in this area (red text) 

are in the valleys of the Cowpasture River (stops 1a-1b, right) and the Bullpasture River (stops 2-4, left). The scale bar is accurate for the middle region of 

the image but inaccurate if extrapolated to the upper or lower regions of the image due to the oblique view.
9 

Figure 5. Closer view of the Cowpasture River and the area around stops 1a and 1b in figure 4. Note the infolded Needmore Shale (arrow) immediately 

north of the meander at Laurel Gap in a very tight syncline in the Oriskany Sandstone. Base imagery and digital elevation model (DEM) from Google Earth 

(dated January 31, 2007). The scale bar is accurate for the middle region of the image but inaccurate if extrapolated to the upper or lower regions of the 

image due to the oblique view. Stw = Silurian Tonoloway Limestone (light brown); Dk = Silurian-Devonian Keyser Limestone (dark blue); Dhl = Devonian 

Helderberg Group (light blue); Dor = Devonian Oriskany Sandstone (yellow); Dnm = Devonian Needmore Shale (green); Dmb = Devonian Millboro Shale

(gray); Db = Brallier Formation (brown).
10

Figure 6. Index map of stops 1 through 4 on topographic base showing total organic carbon values. Outcrop belt of Devonian formations, including the 

Mahantango, Marcellus, Millboro, Needmore, and Huntersville Chert, is shown in blue, from 1:500,000-scale digital geologic map. Total organic carbon 

values (weight percent) posted next to sample locations (geologic map modified from Dicken and others, 2005). 
11

Figure 7. Index map of stops 1 through 4 on topographic base showing vitrinite reflectance values. Outcrop belt of Devonian formations, including the 

Mahantango, Marcellus, Millboro, Needmore, and Huntersville Chert, is shown in blue, from 1:500,000-scale digital geologic map (modified from Dicken 

and others, 2005). Vitrinite reflectance values (%Ro) posted next to sample locations. 
12

Stop 1a: Seasonally dry riverbed 2 km north of Laurel Gap (exposures extend from N. 

38.238317°, W. 79.518517° at the north end to N. 38.235833°, W. 79.521333° at the south 

end)

At this location, which is where the Forest Service road in Nelson Draft tees into S.R. 

614 about 2 km north of the church in Laurel Gap, the contact of the Needmore and Marcellus is 

exposed in a dry riverbed along an open meander of the Cowpasture River (figs. 8-15). The 

geometry of this meander allows for study of two exposures of the same stratigraphic interval, 

along strike with each other (fig. 9). Here the upper beds of the Needmore are calcareous 

mudrocks with some whole and fragmental fossils, dipping gently to the northwest (figs. 10, 11). 

Overlying them are a few meters of black fissile shale that abruptly change from uniformly 

bedded mudrocks into a highly folded and faulted interval that includes variably oriented 

calcareous concretions and broken and fractured calcareous layers of various sizes (figs. 12, 13). 

This interval can be traced in outcrop for several tens of meters to where fluvial gravels bury the 

outcrop. Beginning at the outside of the meander (by the barn along S.R. 614), the exposures one 

sees while looking upriver can be walked out from the uppermost Needmore and lowest 

Marcellus into the contorted zone (fig. 12), which then extends farther upriver well past the point 

where the stream in Nelson Draft joins the Cowpasture River. Northwest-dipping beds of 

Oriskany Sandstone are visible on the east side of S.R. 614 at the junction with Nelson Draft 

road. Downriver, the exposures in the meander can be walked out to the limit of riverbed 

outcrops, which are several tens of meters downriver beyond the cement weir (a private 

driveway), where the contorted zone again is completely buried by river gravels. 

Prominent deformation features in this interval include meter-scale fault and shear zones, 

centimeter- to decimeter-scale plunging anticlines and synclines, and prevalent fractures (figs. 

13-15). Several small-scale folds and faults are oblique to the northeast structural grain and may 

have resulted from semi-chaotic, localized adjustments to diminished space along the larger scale 

synclinal axis of the riverbed. Principal joint sets, which possibly predate compaction and 

lithification, as shown by their relation to some of the calcareous nodules (fig. 15), 

predominantly show a northwest strike in both folded (fig. 16) and unfolded (fig. 17) zones, with

some joint sets overprinted and obscured within the most highly deformed regions. The strike of 

the principal joint sets is roughly parallel to the direction of regional compression during the 

Alleghanian Orogeny, which suggests that most of the joint sets, and presumably the small-scale 

folding and faulting, are related to this event. 
13

Figure 8. Stop 1a, along and in the Cowpasture River. Base imagery from Google Earth (image date May 19, 2008, USDA Farm Service Agency, ©2011 

Google). 
14

Figure 9. Geologic map of the Cowpasture riverbed, Stop 1a, near Patna, Va. (Caro and others, 2010). 
15

Figure 10. Ledges of northwest-dipping and fractured Needmore Shale at stop 1a. There are several 

calcareous layers, some of which are moderately fossiliferous and include whole and fragmental 

Phacops. Photo: John Haynes.

Figure 11. Ledges of Needmore Shale (foreground) and Millboro Shale (by conifer trees) at stop 1a 

upriver from the concrete weir (upper left-center). The contact between the two units is at top-center, but 

its precise location is problematic due to a structural transition from gently dipping but otherwise 

structurally uncomplicated beds to beds with extensive small-scale folds and faults. Photo: John Haynes.
16

Figure 12. Steven Whitmeyer and James Madison University student Seldon Walker at stop 1a, on 

either side of the contact between relatively undeformed Needmore Shale (left) and highly deformed 

Needmore and Marcellus Shale (right). Photo: John Haynes.

Figure 13. Shale with extensive small-scale folding throughout, which contrasts with a calcareous 

nodule that exhibits planar lamination within it that has not been affected by folding. Photo is a closeup of 

the zone of highly deformed Marcellus Shale shown in figure 12. Photo: John Haynes.
17

Figure 14. A small shear zone with duplex-like geometry but with apparent strike-slip rather than dip-slip 

movement from the zone of highly deformed Marcellus Shale north of the meander at stop 1a. Note 

hammer for scale. Photo: John Haynes. 

Figure 15. Fractures in the Needmore Shale in the riverbed of the Cowpasture River at stop 1a that, 

because of the fanning of those fractures around the curvature of the nodule or concretion, likely predate 

the growth of the nodule, and (or) the compaction of the mud (now shale) around the nodule. Note 

mechanical pencil for scale. Photo: Steven Whitmeyer.
18

Figure 16. Rose diagram of joint sets in the deformed zone of the lower Millboro Shale in the bed of the 

Cowpasture River in the vicinity of stop 1a. Note dominant joint set striking S.55o E. Great circle in red 

shows strike and dip of bedding in the riverbed at N. 33o E., 60o NW.

Figure 17. Rose diagram of joint sets in the upper several meters of the Needmore Shale in the bed of 

the Cowpasture River at stop 1a, where that interval is essentially undeformed. Note the presence of the 

S. 50 o E. – S. 55 o E.-striking joint sets that dominate the rose diagram in figure 16 but are subordinate to 

the S. 75 o E.-striking joint set in this diagram. Great circle in red shows strike and dip of bedding in the 

riverbed at N. 42 o E., 38 o NW., similar to the orientation of bedding in figure 16 except for a shallower dip 

angle.
19

Stop 1b: Laurel Gap (N. 38.22573°, W. 79.53337°; N. 38.227117°, W. 79.532533°) 

About 500 m northeast of the church in Laurel Gap is a tight synclinal kink fold in the 

Oriskany Sandstone (fig. 18) that is visible from S.R. 614 as one looks south-southwest into the 

river gap. These folds have recently (winter 2010-11) been made more visible by logging and 

land clearing on the ridges immediately east and northeast of the church. In the new roadcut east 

of S.R. 614, one can observe the Oriskany Sandstone and its contact with the overlying 

Needmore Shale (fig. 19). Within the Needmore Shale, there are at least three ash beds, 

including two that are gray and one that is orange (fig. 20). Above the third ash bed, there is 

dark-gray to black shale with chaotic bedding that may be the Marcellus Shale. In the dry bed of 

the Cowpasture River parallel to S.R. 614, the synclinal kink fold contains a deformed mass of 

Needmore Shale along its axis, and on the northwest limb there is also an exposure of the cherty 

sandstone at the very top of the near-vertical ledge of Oriskany Sandstone; it is possibly 

Huntersville Chert facies that was deposited on the Oriskany. 

Figure 18. View to the southwest of kink-folded Oriskany Sandstone at stop 1b. The ledges at left in the 

foreground dip to the northwest, whereas the ledges in the background at right dip to the southeast. 

Photo: John Haynes; annotation: James Coleman.
20

Figure 19. Laurel Gap roadcut at stop 1b, lower section.
21

Figure 20. Laurel Gap Logging Road (upper section), stop 1b, looking downhill and to the northeast. 
22

Bullpasture River Valley

Stop 2: Settlement of Flood, Va., on S.R. 609 (N. 38.238017°, W. 79.589133°) 

Strike N. 41 o E., Dip 32 o SE. 

Figure 21 shows the stop 2 area. Stratigraphically higher in section than stops 1a and 1b 

and lower than stops 3 and 4, figure 22 shows the lowermost Marcellus is black, pyritic, fissile 

shale with limestone concretions. Third-order deformation is preserved differently in the shale 

than the limestone beds. The shales exhibit small-scale folds or intervals with shearing bounded 

by intervals with no shearing or folding. The limestones contain folded and faulted beds that 

indicate the limestone beds were consolidated when subjected to the stress that caused the 

deformation. This observation suggests that tectonic stress rather than synsedimentary 

deformation caused the disrupted bedding in this outcrop. 

Figure 21. Sketch geologic map of stop 2 area showing Devonian Helderberg Group to Millboro Shale

near Flood, Va. Base map is VA_Williamsville_20110510_TM_geo.pdf, available from the USGS Map 

Store (http://store.usgs.gov); geologic annotation from unpublished field maps of G.P. Wilkes, Virginia

Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), and J.L. Coleman and C.S. Swezey.
23 

Figure 22. Photomontage at stop 2, looking north. This view of the north side of the roadcut illustrates the chaotic bedding of the 

Marcellus/lower Millboro Shale. Calcareous-rich intervals have greater continuity than the less calcareous intervals. Overall structural dip is to the 

northeast, to the right end of the photomontage.
24

Stop 3: 1 km west-southwest of Clover Creek (N. 38.2678°, W. 79.55473°) 

On the west side of S.R. 678 about 1 km west-southwest of the old church at Clover 

Creek (fig. 23) is an exposure of nearly flat-lying Marcellus (Millboro) Shale that measures 

about 9 m high. This exposure is probably close to the axis center of the Bullpasture valley 

syncline, and, perhaps because of this there is little apparent folding of the strata. Multiple joint 

sets are exposed at this location (fig. 24), some of which parallel joint sets in the Cowpasture 

riverbed described earlier. In February 2011, Haynes and others generated a synthetic gamma ray 

log of this exposure using a hand-held scintillometer on loan to James Madison University from 

the Virginia Division of Geology and Mineral Resources (fig. 25). This revealed that the most 

radioactive zone, and presumably the most organic-rich zone as well, is located about two-thirds 

of the way up the exposure (fig. 26). 

Numerous calcareous concretions weather out of the face of this exposure, and some of 

these have an internal septarian structure. Many of them also contain appreciable barite and 

authigenic euhedral quartz. 

Figure 23. Sketch geologic map of stop 3 area showing Devonian Oriskany Sandstone to Brallier 

Formation near Clover Creek, Va., along the Bullpasture River; base map is 

VA_Monterey_SE_20110510_TM_geo.pdf, available from the USGS Map Store (http://store.usgs.gov); 

geologic annotation from unpublished field maps of G.P. Wilkes, DMME, and J.L. Coleman and C.S.

Swezey.
25

Figure 24. Rose diagram of joint sets in the shale along the Bullpasture River at stops 3 and 4. The S. 

50° E.- striking joint set is also apparent in the Cowpasture River bed (figs. 16, 17) and thus may predate 

the complex deformation seen in the lower Millboro Shale in the Cowpasture River bed.

Figure 25. Obtaining a synthetic gamma ray log of the Millboro Shale on S.R. 678 south of Clover 

Creek. This exposure, at stop 3, is nearly horizontally bedded, and very little structural deformation is 

evident. Photo: Richard Lambert, Virginia Speleological Survey (VSS). 
26

Figure 26. The synthetic gamma ray log of the Millboro Shale that was obtained from the outcrop at 

stop 3 in February 2011 is overlain on the exposure itself. The arrow is at the horizon of the major 

observed kick in counts per second and probably marks the location of the zone of highest organic 

content in this exposure. John Haynes and James Madison University student Sharon Porter are shown 

in photo. Photo: Richard Lambert, VSS. 
27

Stop 4: 4 km northeast of Clover Creek (N. 38.301483°, W. 79.5179°) 

On the west side of S.R. 678 about 5.5 km northeast of stop 3 is another exposure of 

Marcellus (Millboro) Shale (fig. 27), but unlike the one farther south along S.R. 678, structural 

complications are visible at this exposure, as well as more stratigraphic variability. Near the 

north end of this exposure, almost at eye level along the road, is a fault zone that extends across 

much of the exposure and which thins and thickens measurably along its length (fig. 28). Faultinduced foliation within this zone is tangential to the overlying and underlying undeformed 

shale, indicating overall west-directed thrust movement. Above this zone are intervals with many 

concretions (figs. 29, 30). 

At the south end of this exposure is a road-level-accessible bed that is about 30-40 cm 

thick and which is notably more resistant, thicker bedded, and lighter in color than the adjacent 

mudrocks (fig. 31). This is a calcareous bed with abundant barite and quartz, making it 

somewhat similar in terms of its mineral content to the concretions that occur in the Marcellus 

Shale of this region. This bed has been slightly folded at places along its length, giving it a 

broadly undulatory character, and it has also been broken by small faults in two places (fig. 32). 

Some faults appear to truncate and offset prominent joints, suggesting that at least some of the 

joint sets predate the main phase of Alleghanian thrust faulting (for example, Engelder and 

Whitaker, 2006). This may be the Purcell Member of the Marcellus Shale, which is noted for its 

barite content (Nuelle and Shelton, 1986; Hasson and Dennison, 1988). 

Figure 27. Sketch geologic map of stop 4 area showing Devonian Oriskany Sandstone to Brallier 

Formation; base map is VA_Monterey_SE_20110510_TM_geo.pdf, available from the USGS Map Store 

(http://store.usgs.gov); geologic annotation from unpublished field maps of G.P. Wilkes, DMME, and J.L.

Coleman and C.S. Swezey.
28

Figure 28. Fault zone (across center of photo) at stop 4 containing shear-banded shale bounded by 

zones of relatively undeformed shale above and below. Configuration of material indicates dextral

movement of the shale blocks relative to one another. Rock hammer is 33 cm long. Photo: Diana Rotter.

Figure 29. In this exposure of the Marcellus Shale at stop 4, concretions are arranged in distinct layers, 

as indicated by the red lines. In some cases, joints have cut and displaced portions of some concretions; 

in other instances, joints have stopped or “bent” around concretions. Rock hammer is 33 cm long. Photo:

Diana Rotter. 
29

Figure 30. Some concretions contain parallel layering internally, suggesting primary sedimentation 

layers. In this calcium carbonate-rich concretion, the formational layers are made obvious by the weatherresistant nature of the pyrite crystals. Photo: Diana Rotter.

Figure 31. Light-colored, calcareous barite-rich bed (located in upper third of roadcut) within Marcellus 

(Millboro) Shale at stop 4. Photo: Catherine Enomoto. 
30

Marcellus Shale

Bullpasture River

Highland Co., Va.

Figure 32. Folded and faulted calcareous, barite-rich layer of the Marcellus Shale at Bullpasture River. 

It is underlain by a 25-cm-thick shale interval that is sheared, which is subsequently underlain by a shale 

interval with no lateral shearing characteristics. Photo and graphics: James Coleman.

Bullpasture Mountain

Stop 5: Northwest limb of McClung syncline, U.S. 250, Bullpasture Mountain (N. 38.3255°, 

W. 79.443617°) Strike N. 44o E., Dip 47 o SE. 

A stratigraphic section from the Lower Devonian Oriskany Sandstone to the Middle 

Devonian Millboro Shale is exposed on the east flank of Bullpasture Mountain where U.S. 250 

traverses generally east to west across Highland County (fig. 33). When the highway was 

originally constructed, it incised Bullpasture Mountain east of McDowell, Va. In the mid-1990s, 

part of the highway was straightened, including the portion that exposes the Marcellus Shale.

The original roadbed, as well as the current highway roadcut, allows access to the Middle 

Devonian section from the lower part of the Needmore Shale to the upper part of the Millboro 

Shale (figs. 33-37). Exposures along the highway continue east of the Cowpasture River valley 

and contain uppermost Millboro (Mahantango Formation siltstone and shale) and lower Brallier 

sandstone, siltstone, and shale. The presence of erosion control material covering a significant 

portion of the current roadcut west of the Cowpasture River (fig. 37), however, inhibits 

examination of the Tioga Ash Bed and the lowermost portion of the Millboro Shale that is 

correlative with the lower Marcellus Shale. A relict exposure in the parking area (shown as “Stop 
31

5” on figs. 34, 35) contains a small interval of material that is covered by the limestone boulders 

in the main cut. Heavy rain run-off in the spring of 2011 revealed more extensive exposures of 

this correlative interval in the drainage ditch along the toe of the limestone-armored slope on the 

north side of the highway, confirming the stratigraphic correlation with the exposures in the field

trip stop 5 parking area. Hasson and Dennison (1988) described four limestone horizons within 

the Millboro Shale at this location. Today we are able to discern three calcareous horizons in the 

Millboro Shale and a limestone concretion horizon in the Needmore Shale. We will visit the 

thickest calcareous interval (fig. 36), which is being studied by the USGS to discern its age and 

depositional environment. 

Representative samples were collected and submitted for geochemical analysis and for 

determination of low-temperature ash and semi-quantitative mineralogy by the USGS laboratory 

in Reston, Va. Results of the total organic carbon and vitrinite reflectance analyses are shown in 

figures 34 and 35. Thickness measurements taken in 2009 were compared with the description of 

the formations exposed in the original roadcut in Hasson and Dennison (1988) and with a sketch 

map made from earlier plane-table mapping of the original roadcut area published by Dennison 

(2005) (fig. 38). 

Figure 33. Sketch geologic map of stop 5 area showing Silurian Tonoloway Limestone to Devonian 

Brallier Formation, U.S. 250 at Bullpasture Mountain; base map is VA_McDowell_20110510_TM_geo.pdf, 

available from the USGS Map Store (http://store.usgs.gov); geologic annotation from unpublished field 

maps of G.P. Wilkes, DMME, and J.L. Coleman, C.S. Swezey, C.B. Enomoto, and P.W. Niemeyer. 
32

Figure 34. Aerial photograph of stop 5 depicting sample locations and total organic carbon values (weight percent) measured in all samples. 
33

Figure 35. Aerial photograph of stop 5 depicting sample locations and vitrinite reflectance values (%Ro) measured in all samples.
34

Figure 36. At stop 5, a 10.5-m-thick interval of interbedded silty limestones, calcareous shales, and silty 

shales may represent the Purcell Member of Millboro Shale. Samples were collected to attempt to 

determine the conodont zonation for this interval. Photo: Diana Rotter.
35

Figure 37. Photomontage of western portion of U.S. 250 roadcut at stop 5. This view extends from the Lower Devonian Oriskany Sandstone (exposed in 

the woods at the left of the image) through the Middle Devonian Needmore Shale to a covered interval beneath which lies the upper Needmore Shale, 

Tioga(?) Ash Bed, and lower Millboro (lower Marcellus) Shale (Middle Devonian). Downhill, to the right of the montage (up section, stratigraphically), the 

upper Marcellus Shale and lower Mahantango Formation (upper Millboro Shale) are well exposed. A significant amount of erosion control material covers 

this exposure of the Marcellus Shale at stop 5 along the highway on Bullpasture Mountain. This riprap is placed over highly deformed Tioga(?) Ash Bed 

and lower Millboro Shale to prevent landslides from blocking U.S. 250. Photos: James Coleman.
Total Depth: 3980 feet

API units

elahS sullecraM

)elahS oroblliM(

Sandstone

Shale

Siltstone / Silty Shale

Limestone

Bentonite

Shale w/ LS Concretion

elahS oroblliM

0

50

100

TEEF

Brallier Fm.

Tully Ls.

Pokejoy Ls.

Landes Ls.

Purcell Mbr.

Tioga Ash Bed

Needmore Shale

Elevation (ft)

Strat. Thickness (ft)

Cum. Strat. Thickness (ft)

Major Shear Zones

Needmore Shale

Oriskany Sandstone

Brallier Formation

?

1994 1135

50

50

365

405

Competent Bedded Limestone 40

315

685 5

Inferred IntervalCovered by Alluvium

450

280

2149

2108

2070

2129

Lithology Description

Orange to tan, well sorted, rounded, fossiliferous quartz sandstone

Dk to lt gray, siltstone/shale, well-developed jointing, LS

concretions (5 ft thick). Total thickness was estimated based 

on Hasson and Dennison (1988) and structural measurements.

Lt to dk gray, fossiliferous silty limestone with dk gray to black shale

Dark gray to black (fresh) to tan-gray (weathered) 

fossiliferous, fissile shale

Bedding where present corresponds with regional strike 

and dip. Locally sheared and contorted bedding may be 

found in this interval. Shale weathers into platy chips and 

covers the slope adjacent to U.S. 250.

Limestone concretion interval (20 ft thick).

Limestone concretion interval (10 ft thick).

Contact with Needmore is covered by rip-rap. It is assumed 

that the rip-rap is covering interbedded shale and bentonite 

interval measured by Hasson and Dennison (1988).

Dark gray to black fissile shale, weathers tan to brown-orange 

papery chips. 

Competent bedding with well developed joint sets observed 

in this interval. Slickensides and mineralized fault gouge were 

found near the bentonite bed at the top of this interval.

Med to dk gray bentonite, 3-5 ft, weathers tan to orange

Olive green to tan siltstone

Black, fissile shale

Heavily sheared zone near the base of this interval. 

Competent bedding with well-developed jointing and 

pencil cleavage marks the top of the shear zone.

The Marcellus is covered by alluvium in the Cowpasture 

River valley. The thickness of the covered interval was 

estimated based on regional structural measurements 

and the position of the Marcellus-Brallier contact.

Limestone concretion interval (10 ft thick) near the 

base of sheared zone.

2216 0

0

50

100

TEEF

Section constructed by Patrick Niemeyer

from information recorded by USGS 

in July, 2009.

Section constructed by Patrick Niemeyer

from information contained in Hasson and

Dennison (1988).

Interbedded Shale 

and Siltstone

Shale

Calcareous Shale

Limestone

Bentonite

 Vertical Section at U.S. 250 and

Cowpasture River, Highland Co., Va. (Hasson and Dennison, 1988)

 Vertical Section at U.S. 250 and

Cowpasture River, Highland Co., Va.

 Bertha Smith # 1

Highland County, Va.

Middle Devonian Stratigraphy

Highland County, Virginia

Figure 38. Graphical representation of measured sections of old (Hasson and Dennison, 1988) and new road beds correlated to geophysical log

of nearby exploration well. Graphics by Patrick Niemeyer and Catherine Enomoto. Fm. = Formation; Ls. = Limestone; GR = gamma ray;

RHOB = bulk density.

36
37

South Branch of the Potomac River

Stop 6: Northwest limb of syncline, U.S. 33 north of Brandywine, W.Va. 

(N. 38.6337°, W. 79.2313°) Strike N. 35o E., Dip 25 o SE. 

The geologic maps (figs. 39-41) indicate that the location of this stop is in the upper part 

of the Millboro Shale, near the contact with the Brallier Formation. Predominantly dark-gray to 

black, thinly bedded carbonaceous shale, interbedded with several thin limestones, is present at 

this location (figs. 42-43). Continuous limestone beds, approximately 15-30 cm thick, are located 

midway up the exposure on the east side of the highway. Underlying this interval is a dolomitic 

bed that has an erosional basal contact and sharp top contact and contains features that exhibit an 

overall “bell shape”; these features may represent some type of soft sediment deformation (fig. 

44). Examination of thin sections made from samples taken in dark laminae associated with these 

sedimentary features shows that the laminae are composed of iron-rich clay and framboidal 

pyrite, suggesting that some of these laminae originated as thin layers of organic matter, perhaps 

of algal origin. A layer of calcareous concretions, some with well-developed septaria (fig. 43), is 

located midway up the exposure on the west side of the highway; this interval is lower 

stratigraphically than the interval on the east side of the highway. Also on the west side of the 

highway are thin quartz silt laminae, cemented with calcite, interbedded with black carbonaceous 

shale (fig. 45). Low-relief cross-bedding is evident in silt laminae within the shale. Faint feeding 

traces are present as well as a dwarfed fauna of articulate brachiopods (Leiorhynchus sp.); 

conical, phosphatic fossils (Styliolina fissurella); and unidentified goniatite cephalopods. The 

dominant joint set is oriented at 50 degrees northwest (fig. 46), with a secondary joint set 

oriented 55 degrees northeast. 

As the field trip vehicles proceed east out of the field trip area to the top of Shenandoah 

Mountain, we will drive through the Brallier, Scherr, Foreknobs, and Hampshire Formations 

(Dennison, 1988; fig. 47). 
38

Mp = Mississippian Price Formation Db = Devonian Brallier Formation

Dhs = Devonian Hampshire Formation Dmn = Devonian Millboro & Needmore Shales

Dggf = Devonian Greenland Gap/Foreknobs Do = Devonian Oriskany Sandstone

 Formation Dhl = Devonian Helderberg Group

Figure 39. Southern half of the geologic map and cross section of the Fort Seybert 7.5-minute quadrangle, W.Va. (modified from McDowell and others, 

2007)
39

Figure 40. Index map of stop 6 on topographic base with total organic carbon values. Outcrop belt of Devonian formations, including the Mahantango, 

Marcellus, Millboro, Needmore, and Huntersville Chert, is shown in blue, from 1:500,000-scale digital geologic map (modified from Nicholson and others, 

2005). Total organic carbon values (weight percent) posted next to sample locations. 
40

Figure 41. Index map of stop 6 on topographic base with vitrinite reflectance values. Outcrop belt of Devonian formations, including the Mahantango, 

Marcellus, Millboro, Needmore, and Huntersville Chert, is shown in blue, from 1:500,000 scale digital geologic map (modified from Nicholson and others, 

2005). Vitrinite reflectance values (%Ro) posted next to sample locations. 
41

Figure 42. Brandywine outcrop (west side of U.S. 33). Photo: Eric Lewis. 

Figure 43. Carbonate concretion with septaria located on west side of U.S. 33. Note field notebook for 

scale. Photo: Ronald McDowell.
42

Figure 44. Small, soft-sediment structures or possible algal laminae in 25-cm-thick dolomitic layer on 

east side of U.S. 33. Interbedded carbonate and ripple cross-laminated quartz siltstone overlie this bed; 

horizontally laminated quartz siltstone underlies it. This feature exhibits many characteristics of an ancient 

seismite, namely, sudden formation, size, tectonic setting, and depositional setting (Wheeler, 2002). This 

feature’s extent has not been mapped to determine if synchroneity and zoned distribution also satisfy the 

characteristics of an ancient seismite. Photo: Ronald McDowell. 

Figure 45. Quartz silt turbidite(?) laminae cemented with calcite on west side of U.S. 33. Photo: Eric 

Lewis. 
43

Figure 46. Well-developed joint in Millboro Shale with “splintery” fracture on west side of U.S. 33. Note 

field book for scale. Photo: Eric Lewis. 
44

Figure 47. Plane-table map along U.S. 33 near Brandywine, W.Va. (Dennison, 1988). In this figure, 

Dennison differentiates the Marcellus Shale, Mahantango Formation, and Harrell Shale within the Millboro 

Shale. The red circle indicates the location of stop 6.
45

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