The

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

Brallier Formation is a mapped

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

unit in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Description

The Brallier Formation was described by Charles Butts in 1918 as a fine-grained, siliceous shale with few fine-grained sandstone layers, from outcrops in central Pennsylvania. Others expanded usage of the term to rocks in other states.

Stratigraphy

The Brallier is roughly equivalent to the Scherr Formation. The contact with the underlying

Harrell Formation The Devonian Harrell Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. Description The Harrell Formation was first described by Charles Butts in 1918. Hasson and Dennison (1978) state "The Harrell Shale ...

is generally gradational.

Fossils

Hasson and Dennison reported the following fossils from outcrops of the lower Brallier at

Keyser, West Virginia Keyser () is a city in and the county seat of Mineral County, West Virginia. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,853 at the 2020 census. History Keyser, the county seat of Mineral County, is ...

, Ridgeville, West Virginia, and

McCoole, Maryland McCoole is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 511. McCoole is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 220 and the east end o ...

:Hasson, Kenneth O., and Dennison, John M., 1978, STRATIGRAPHY OF THE DEVONIAN HARRELL AND MILLBORO SHALES IN PARTS OF PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND, WEST VIRGINIA, AND VIRGINIA, Project Final Report for Energy Research and Development Administration Contract #EY-77-C-21-8153, May 197

/ref> *

Bivalvia Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of w ...

: ''Buchiola retrostriata'', ''Paracardium doris'', ''Pterochaenia fragilis'' *

Cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head ...

a: ''Bactrites'', ''Orthoceras filosum'' *Cricoconarida (class of

Mollusca Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

): ''Styliolina fissurella'' *

Annelid The annelids (Annelida , from Latin ', "little ring"), also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecol ...

a: ''Pteridichnites biseriatus''

Notable Exposures

Type locality is at a railway station 6 miles northeast of Everett,

Bedford County, Pennsylvania Bedford County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,577. The county seat is Bedford. History In 1750 Robert MacRay, a Scots-Irish immigrant, opened the first trading post in Raystown (w ...

. A large exposure is located in

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

, Pennsylvania, along the ramp from

U.S. Route 22 U.S. Route 22 (US 22) is a west–east route and is one of the original United States highways of 1926, running from Cincinnati, Ohio, at US 27, US 42, US 127, and US 52 to Newark, New Jersey, at U.S. Route 1/9 in the Newark Airport Interchange ...

west to Route 26 north.Charles Butts, 1945
Hollidaysburg-Huntingdon folio
Pennsylvania, Folios of the Geologic Atlas 227. United States Geological Survey. Brallier Formation Route 26 Huntingdon Pennsylvania.jpg, Part of the exposure at Huntingdon (2017) Brallier shale, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania (Butc1163).jpg, Another view at Huntingdon (1924) Another good exposure is on the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

bed just west of Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Age

Relative age dating places the Brallier in the late

References

Geologic formations of Maryland Geologic formations of Pennsylvania Geologic formations of Virginia Geologic formations of West Virginia Devonian System of North America Devonian Maryland Devonian geology of Pennsylvania Devonian geology of Virginia Devonian West Virginia Frasnian Stage Famennian Stage Shale formations of the United States {{US-geologic-formation-stub