The apparent anticline at Thayer is caused by constructing this profile along the river rather than a straight line. The age of the rocks is determined by the various types of fossils found in them. Similar rock types with similar fossils are grouped together as formations in correct chronological position. Generalized stratigraphic table for the New River Gorge, West Virginia. An eighth unit, unconsolidated alluvium, only occurs along the river bed and banks.
Alluvium consists of unconsolidated boulders, gravel, sand and silt that make up the floodplain.
Contains Gilbert and Eagle coal seams. Contains Fire Creek, Beckley, and Sewell coal seams and Nuttall sandstone at top. Maximum thickness is 900 feet in Gorge. Maximum thickness of 400 feet. Contains famous Pocahontas coal seams.