Oriskany Formation
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The Oriskany Sandstone is a
Middle Devonian In the geological timescale, the Middle Devonian epoch (from 393.3 ± 1.2 million years ago to 382.7 ± 1.6 million years ago) occurred during the Devonian period, after the end of the Emsian age. The Middle Devonian epoch is subdivided into two ...
age
unit Unit may refer to: General measurement * Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law **International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system **English units, histo ...
of
sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...
found in eastern
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
. The type locality of the unit is located at Oriskany Falls in New York. The Oriskany Sandstone extends throughout much of the
Appalachian Basin The geology of the Appalachians dates back more than 1.2 billion years to the Mesoproterozoic era when two continental cratons collided to form the supercontinent Rodinia, 500 million years prior to the development of the range during the form ...
. The unit name usage by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the ''Oriskany Sandstone''. Butts (1940) stated that the Oriskany Sandstone "corresponds exactly with the Ridgely Sandstone" and that the rules of stratigraphic nomenclature dictate that the name Oriskany Sandstone should be applied to these strata.Butts, C., 1940, Geology of the Appalachian Valley in Virginia: Virginia Geological Survey Bulletin 52, pt. 1, 568p.


Geographic extent

Appalachian Basin: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky


Stratigraphic setting


Fossils

* List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in West Virginia


Interpretation of depositional environment

shallow marine


Economic resources

Oil, gas, glass sand


References


Further reading

* * * Devonian West Virginia Devonian geology of New York (state) Devonian Pennsylvania Devonian geology of Virginia Eifelian Stage Devonian southern paleotemperate deposits Sandstone formations of the United States {{Devonian-stub