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Wills Creek Formation

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The Silurian Wills Creek Formation (Swc) is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. It forms the bedrock of the valley around and to the east of Lewistown, Pennsylvania.[1]

Description

The Wills Creek is defined as a moderately well bedded greenish-gray shale containing local limestone and sandstone zones, or more specifically as an olive to yellowish-gray, thin-bedded sandstone, calcareous shale, dolostone, argillaceous limestone, and sandstone. Red shale and siltstone occur in the lower part of the formation. The formation has a thickness between 450 feet and 600 feet in Maryland and 445 to 620 feet in Pennsylvania.[2]

Fossils

The Wills Creek Limestone contain fossils from the Pridoli to the Ludlow epoch, or 422.9 to 418.1 Ma.[3]

Age

Relative age dating of the Wills Creek places it in the Silurian period. It rests conformably a top the Bloomsburg Formation and below the Tonoloway Formation.[4]

References

  1. ^ McElroy, Thomas A. (2004). Bedrock Geologic Map of the Lewistown Quadrangle, Mifflin and Juniata Counties, Pennsylvania (pfd) (Map). Pennsylvania Geological Survey.
  2. ^ "Table 1. Paleozoic Stratigraphic Section in Central Pennsylvania" (PDF). Geological Report On The Skytop Road Cuts. Pennsylvania State University Department of Geosciences. 2004.
  3. ^ "Wills Creek Limestone Formation". Advisory Board of the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
  4. ^ "Allegheny Plateau and Valley and Ridge". Maryland Geological Survey. 1968. Retrieved 2008-01-26.

See also