Huntley Mountain Formation

Huntley Mountain Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Devonian to Early Mississippian
The Haystacks of Loyalsock Creek in Laporte Township, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania are a quartzite bed of the Huntley Mountain Formation
Typesedimentary
UnderliesBurgoon Sandstone
Lithology
Primarysandstone, shale
Location
RegionAppalachian Mountains
ExtentPennsylvania
Type section
Named forHuntley Mountain, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
Named byBerg and Edmunds, 1978

The Huntley Mountain Formation is a late Devonian and early Mississippian mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, in the United States.

Description

Outcrop of Huntley Mountain Formation along old railroad bed parallel to Loyalsock Creek north of Laporte, Pennsylvania

The formation is composed of relatively soft grayish-red shale and olive-gray sandstone. It is located in north central Pennsylvania.[1][2][3]

Haystacks

The Haystacks are enigmatic mounds of sandstone that outcrop in Loyalsock Creek south of Dushore in Sullivan County. They are a single bed of quartz sandstone with an undulating upper surface with up to one meter relief. The origin of the mounds is debatable.[4]

Notable Exposures

Stratigraphy

Geologist William E. Edmunds argues that the Huntley Mountain Formation is laterally equivalent to the Rockwell Formation (originally described in West Virginia) and the Spechty Kopf Formation. He proposes that the Pocono Formation be reinstated as "the dominantly non-red, non-marine clastic sequence between the Catskill and Mauch Chunk Formations", with the Huntley Mountain, Beckville, Burgoon, Rockwell, Mt. Carbon, and Spechty Kopf Formations demoted to the status of members of the Pocono Formation.[5] Other workers support this interpretation.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Berg, T.M. (1981). "Atlas of Preliminary Geologic Quadrangle Maps of Pennsylvania: Eagles Mere" (PDF). Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 24, 2003. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  2. ^ "Map 67: Tabloid Edition Explanation" (PDF). Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 25, 2009.
  3. ^ Royer, Denise W. "Pennsylvania Trail of Geology, Worlds End State Park, Sullivan County, Geologic Features of Interest (Park Guide 12)" (PDF). Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 30, 2004. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
  4. ^ The Haystacks, "Ricketts Folly," and The End of the World: Geology of the Glaciated Allegheny High Plateau, Sullivan, Luzerne, and Columbia Counties, Pennsylvania, 71st Annual Field Conference of Pennsylvania Geologists [1] (field trip guide book), J. D. Inners, G. M. Fleeger, eds., 2006
  5. ^ Edmunds, William E (1996). "Correlation Chart showing Suggested Revisions of Uppermost Devonian through Permian Stratigraphy, Pennsylvania" (PDF). Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Fourth Series. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 24, 2005. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  6. ^ Lessing, Peter, Dean, S.L., and Kulander, B.R., 1992, Stratigraphy and structure of Meadow Branch synclinorium, West Virginia: Southeastern Geology, v. 32, no. 3, p. 166-174.