Geophysical Logs and Marine Zones as Useful Coal-Exploration Tools in Southern West Virginia: ABSTRACT

Abstract

The coal resources study currently in progress at the West Virginial Geological and Economic Survey using gamma-ray logs, density logs, core logs, and marine zones aids in regional correlation problems in the stratigraphically complex, coal-bearing End_Page 901------------------------------ Kanawha Formation (Middle Pennsylvanian) of southern West Virginia. Projecting marine-zone control points onto nearby geophysical and core logs has greatly aided understanding of the complex stratigraphy of the Kanawha Formation, which was deposited in a rapidly subsiding basin. Recent work has indicated problems with several type sections, notably those of the Seth Limestone, Hernshaw coal, Peerless coal, Buffalo Creek coal, and the Buffalo Creek Limestone. Also, it appears that previous mapping of the Dingess Limestone in Boone, Raleigh, Logan, and Mingo Counties (from the West Virginia Geological Survey County Reports) actually represents several separate marine units which were mapped as a single unit. Stratigraphic cross sections, constructed from gamma-ray, density, and core logs and incorporating biostratigraphic information from field investigations of marine zones, allow better correlation of units, more reasonable interpretations, and a new evaluation of the coal measures of the Kanawha Formation in southern West Virginia. End_of_Article - Last_Page 902------------