Burket Shale Explained

Burket shale
Type:Member
Age:Upper Devonian
Frasnian
~
Prilithology:Black shale
Otherlithology:Shale
Namedfor:Named after a small town in Blair County Pennsylvania
Namedby:Charles Butts (1918)
Region:


Country:United States
Unitof:Harrell Shale, Genesee Group
Overlies:Tully Limestone

The Burket Shale or Geneseo Shale is the lowest member of the Harrell Shale/Genessee Group.

The Burket is an organic-rich black shale that rests just above the Tully Limestone member of the Mahantango Formation. The geographical extent of the formation includes southern New York, Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia. The Burket is also known as the Geneseo in New York and parts of Northern Pennsylvania. In 1918 the Burket and Harrell were described by Charles Butts, from outcrops located in Blair County, located in southwestern Pennsylvania.[1] In 1920, C. H. Chadwick described the Genesee and Geneseo formations in New York. The usage of the different names is just a matter of personal preference.[2]

Description

This organic shale is blackish gray, it may also have an olive, brown or grayish. Subsurface the bedding is massive. Where fracturing occurs Pyrite and Calcite may fill the fractures.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Butts, Charles, 1918, Geologic section of Blair and Huntingdon Counties, central Pennsylvania: American Journal of Science, 4th series, v. 46, p. 523-537.
  2. Randolph . Amy . 2014 . ABSTRACT: A Brief Overview of Upper Devonian Black Shale Natural Gas Well Development in Pennsylvania Year Ending 2013 . Professional Paper . en-US.
  3. De Witt . Wallace . Colton . George Willis . 1978 . Physical stratigraphy of the Genesee Formation (Devonian) in western and central New York . Professional Paper . 10.3133/pp1032a . 2330-7102. free .