Date of Award
1992
Degree Name
Geology
College
College of Science
Type of Degree
M.S.
Document Type
Thesis
First Advisor
Ronald L. Martino
Second Advisor
Leonard J. Deutsch
Abstract
The Kanawha Black Flint member of the Kanawha Formation was deposited in a shallow marine coastal setting with low sand supply and low wave energy. The Kanawha Black Flint member and adjacent coal zones are divisible into five sedimentary facies based on lithology, body and trace fossils and sedimentary structures. Coastal swamps and lakes are represented by thinly laminated carbonaceous shales and coals containing rooted seat rocks and crevasse sandstones with root traces and vertical Calamites trunks.
The offshore facies consists of a gray laminated sideritic shale. Phosphatic and calcareous brachiopods and shallow burrowing bivalves predominate in the offshore assemblage. Associated genera are Anthracospirifer, Chonetes, Orbiculoidea, and Lingula. The lower nearshore facies consists of massive, burrow mottled siltstone characterized by a mixed bivalve - trace fossil assemblage. The assemblage is dominated by epifaunal and shallow burrowing bivalves and horizontal burrows. Common bivalves include Wilkingia, Exochorhynchus, Phestia, and Posidonia. Characteristic trace fossils are Planolites, Palaeophycus, Teichichnus, and Zoophycos. The upper nearshore facies consists of hummocky cross-stratified and oscillation ripple bedded fine grained sandstone interbedded with siltstone and shale. The upper nearshore is characterized by an Olivellites-dominated trace fossil assemblage represented by infaunal deposit feeding burrows A Skolithos-dominated trace fossil assemblage is found associated with the uppermost nearshore deposits consisting of the single genus Skolithos.
The relatively high sulfur content of the Stockton Rider coal seam is related to the close vertical proximity of marine facies of the overlying Kanawha Black Flint member. The percent sulfur generally declines in coals of the underlying Stockton coal zone as the thickness of the nonmarine strata separating them from the Kanawha Black Flint member increases.
Subject(s)
Paleontology – West Virginia – Pennsylvania.
Paleontology – Pennsylvania.
Recommended Citation
Watson, Matthew B., "The paleontology and paleoenvironments of the Kanawha Black Flint member and related facies, Kanawha Formation (Middle Pennsylvanian), northwest Boone County and vicinity, West Virginia" (1992). Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. 1707.
https://mds.marshall.edu/etd/1707
