The
Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian may refer to:
* A person or thing from Pennsylvania
* Pennsylvanian (geology)
The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timesca ...
Allegheny Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in western and central
Pennsylvania, western
Maryland and
West Virginia, and southeastern
Ohio. It is a major
coal-bearing unit in the
Appalachian Plateau
The Appalachian Plateau is a series of rugged dissected plateaus located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains are a mountain range that run down the Eastern United States.
The Appalachian Plateau is the nort ...
of the eastern
United States and
fossils of
fishes such as ''
Bandringa
''Bandringa'' is an extinct genus of Elasmobranch known from the Pennsylvanian subperiod of the Carboniferous period that was part of the monotypic family Bandringidae. There is currently a single known species, ''B. rayi'', described in 1969.R. ...
'' are known from the
Kittaning Formation,
[R. Zangerl. (1969). ''Bandringa rayi'': A New Ctenacanthoid Shark form the Pennsylvanian Essex Fauna of Illinois. ''Fieldiana Geology'' 12:157-169] which is part of the Allegheny Group.
Description
In Pennsylvania, the Allegheny Formation includes rocks from the base of the Brooksville Coal to the top of the Upper Freeport Coal, and was defined to include all economically significant coals in the upper Pennsylvanian sequence. The formation consists of
cyclothemic sequences of coal, shale, limestone, sandstone, and clay. It contains six major coal zones, which, in
stratigraphic order, are:
* Upper Freeport Coal
* Lower Freeport Coal
* Upper Kittanning Coal
* Middle Kittanning Coal
* Lower Kittanning Coal
* Brookville Coal
Members
Glen Richey (PA), Laurel Run (PA), Mineral Springs (PA), Millstone Run (PA), Clearfield Creek (PA); Clarion (OH, MD, PA, WV), Kittanning (PA), Freeport (PA, MD, OH, WV); Putnam Hill (OH, PA); Vanport (PA, MD, OH, WV); Butler (MD, PA), Worthington (MD, PA); Washingtonville (OH, PA, WV), Columbiana (OH)
GEOLEX database, Geologic Unit: Allegheny
retrieved 28 December 2010
Age
Relative age dating of the Allegheny places it in the middle Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian may refer to:
* A person or thing from Pennsylvania
* Pennsylvanian (geology)
The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timesca ...
period.
See also
* Geology of Pennsylvania
* Geology of West Virginia
West Virginia's geologic history stretches back into the Precambrian, and includes several periods of mountain building and erosion. At times, much of what is now West Virginia was covered by swamps, marshlands, and shallow seas, accounting for th ...
References
{{Stratigraphic column of West Virginia
Pennsylvanian Series
Carboniferous geology of Pennsylvania
Carboniferous geology of Rhode Island
Carboniferous Maryland
Carboniferous West Virginia
Sandstone formations of the United States
Shale formations of the United States
Coal formations
Coal in the United States
Geologic formations of Indiana
Geologic formations of Maryland
Geologic formations of Ohio
Geologic formations of Pennsylvania
Geologic formations of Rhode Island
Geologic formations of Virginia
Geologic formations of West Virginia
Carboniferous geology of Virginia
Carboniferous southern paleotropical deposits