Pocono Formation Explained

Pocono Formation
Type:sedimentary
Age:Early Mississippian
Period:Mississippian
Prilithology:Quartzarenite (sandstone)
Otherlithology:Conglomerate
Namedby:Lesley, 1876
Region:Appalachian Mountains
Underlies:Mauch Chunk Formation
Overlies:Catskill Formation, Huntley Mountain Formation, Rockwell Formation, and Spechty Kopf Formation
Extent:Pennsylvania and Virginia[1]

The Mississippian Pocono Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, in the United States. It is also known as the Pocono Group in Maryland and West Virginia,[2] and the upper part of the Pocono Formation is sometimes called the Burgoon Formation or Burgoon Sandstone in Pennsylvania.[3] [4] The Pocono is a major ridge-former In the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians of the eastern United States[5]

The Pocono is also a lateral equivalent of the Purslane Sandstone in Maryland and West Virginia. D. Brezinski of Maryland Geological Survey recommended abandoning use of the term Pocono in Maryland in favor of "Purslane" in 1989.[6]

Description

The Pocono is a dominantly gray color with quartzitic medium to coarse-grained sandstones. The base of the Pocono Formation is marked by conglomerate.[7]

Notable exposures

Age

Relative age dating of the Pocono places it in the lower Mississippian period. The lower boundary is with the Spetchy Kopf Formation and Huntley Mountain Formation. In South-central Pennsylvania, the Pocono often interfingers with the Rockwell Formation.[8]

See also

References

  1. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/19078 Paleozoic Sedimentary Successions of the Virginia Valley & Ridge and Plateau
  2. Web site: Geologic Maps of Maryland. www.mgs.md.gov. January 31, 2024.
  3. Book: Van Diver, Bradford B. . Roadside Geology of Pennsylvania . 1990 . Mountain Press Publishing Company . Missoula, Montana . 0-87842-227-7 . 83.
  4. Web site: Burgoon Sandstone . . May 22, 2009 . June 8, 2009.
  5. Web site: Geomorphology : Chapter 2 Plate T-12 : Folded Appalachians . 2007-01-19 . 2008-03-16 . NASA, Goddard Earth Sciences (GES), Data and Information Services Center (DISC) . Steve . Kempler . The major ridge makers are the Tuscarora (T), Pocono (Po), and Pottsville (Pt) Formations. . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071206035036/http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/geomorphology/GEO_2/GEO_PLATE_T-12.shtml . 2007-12-06 .
  6. Brezinski, D.K., 1989, The Mississippian System in Maryland: Maryland Geological Survey Report of Investigations, no. 52, 75 p.
  7. Web site: Geology : Pocono (Mp) . 2008-03-16 . LEO EnviroSci Inquiry . Lehigh University . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070712122533/http://www.leo.lehigh.edu/envirosci/geology/gorge/m_p.html . 2007-07-12 .
  8. Berg, T.M., Edmunds, W.E., Geyer, A.R. and others, compilers, (1980). Geologic Map of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geologic Survey, Map 1, scale 1:250,000.