Description
Stratigraphy
The West Falls Group is a
geologic group
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...
in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. It preserves
fossils
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...
dating back to 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 ...
period
Period may refer to:
Common uses
* Era, a length or span of time
* Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Period (music), a concept in musical composition
* Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...
.
The West Falls formation is bounded above by the
Java Formation
The Java Formation is a geologic formation in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia. It preserves fossils dating back to the Devonian period. The formation comprises the Pipe Creek Shale, Wiscoy Sandstone Mem ...
and below by the
Sonyea Formation. It comprises the Angola Shale and Rhinestreet Shale Members. It was deposited during the
Acadian Orogeny and is part of the Salina thrust sheet.
Geographic distribution
The Rhinestreet Shale and Angola Shale Members of the West Falls Formation are both recognized in the subsurface from western
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
to eastern
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
.
Lithology
The predominant lithology of the West Falls Group is
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
. The Rhinestreet Member can be further subdivided into two shale types: a thick, fissile black shale underlies a gray to greenish-gray shale that likely indicates a transitional environment. The Angola member is a gray to greenish-gray shale, easily distinguished by its consistent low
gamma ray signature, which is typical of this shale type.
Paleontology
The West Falls Formation was deposited during the
Frasnian
The Frasnian is one of two faunal stages in the Late Devonian Period. It lasted from million years ago to million years ago. It was preceded by the Givetian Stage and followed by the Famennian Stage.
Major reef-building was under way during th ...
stage of the
Upper 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, wher ...
. Two distinct community types are observed in the group: "a shallower water
spirifer
''Spirifer'' is a genus of marine brachiopods belonging to the order Spiriferida and family Spiriferidae. Species belonging to the genus lived from the Middle Ordovician (Sandbian) through to the Middle Triassic (Carnian) with a global distribu ...
acean-
rhynchonellide-
bivalve
Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
ensemble, and a deeper water assemblage of unattached
epibenthic
Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.[sessile
Sessility, or sessile, may refer to:
* Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about
* Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant
* Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...](_bl ...<br></span></div> and <div class=)
semi-
infaunal
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zool ...
brachiopods
Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, whi ...
" (Sutton, McGee).
Economic significance
Both members of the West Falls Formation have been assessed for oil and gas exploration. The
USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
has determined that the average
total organic carbon (TOC) in the Rhinestreet Shale is 0.89%; the TOC in the Angola Shale is 1.47%.
The Rathbone shale field in
Rathbone,
Steuben County, New York was discovered in 1931. 31 wells were drilled in this field, targeting the Angola and Rhinestreet members. Of these, 24 produced natural gas, 4 were dry holes, 2 were plugged and abandoned, and one produced oil. The wells were typically in depth, reservoir pressure was and flow rates ranged from per day.
[http://treichlerlawoffice.com/radiation/HillNY.pdf ]
See also
*
List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New York
This article contains a list of fossil-bearing stratigraphic units in the state of New York, U.S.
Sites
See also
* Paleontology in New York
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New York
New York
Stratigraph ...
References
*
*
* http://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2791/FIG3.pdf
* https://mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/sgmc-unit.php?unit=NYDwf%3B4
* http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Portals/10/pdf/OpenFileReports/OFR_88-3.pdf
* http://treichlerlawoffice.com/radiation/HillNY.pdf
Geologic groups of New York (state)
{{NewYork-geologic-formation-stub