Studies of the physical stratigraphy and analyses of the Middle Pennsylvanian flora and fauna of some coal beds and marine units of the Breathitt Formation in Kentucky, the Pottsville and Allegheny Formations in Ohio, and the Kanawha Formation and Charleston Sandstone in West Virginia show a need for the revision of stratigraphic nomenclature of the Pottsville Formation and the lower part of the Allegheny Formation and equivalent strata. Attempts to project single stratigraphic elements from one region to another have resulted historically in multiple miscorrelations. A major marine unit (previously misidentifled as the Vanport limestone of the Breathitt and Allegheny Formations) is here named the Obryan Member of the Breathitt Formation in northeastern Kentucky and of the Allegheny Formation in southern Ohio. The Obryan is characterized by the fusulinid Beedeina ashlandensis Douglass and is correlated with the Columbiana Member of the Allegheny Formation in central Ohio, which also contains that fusulinid. This correlation and the correlation of the Boggs Limestone Member of the Pottsville Formation in Ohio with the Stoney Fork Member of the Breathitt Formation in Kentucky are supported by analyses of Middle Pennsylvanian conodonts. A preliminary zonation of conodonts for strata of the Pottsville and Allegheny Formations shows that the major marine units of these formations in Ohio are biostratigraphically distinct. The Obryan Member is locally absent, but its position is marked by overlying clay beds in many parts of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. The Vanport Limestone Member of the Allegheny Formation (as identified in Pennsylvania and central Ohio) is here correlated with the Zaleski Flint Member (Allegheny Formation) in southern Ohio. The Kilgore Flint Member (new name, Breathitt Formation), the informal Limekiln limestone and informal Flint Ridge flint (Breathitt Formation) in Kentucky, and the informal Kanawha black flint (Kanawha Formation) in West Virginia are correlated with the Putnam Hill Limestone Member (Allegheny Formation) in Ohio. These latter chert deposits are shoreward (southward and southeastward) facies of a marine unit deposited mostly in restricted estuaries and bays. The chert deposits appear to result from a widespread episode of silicification of fossiliferous marine siltstones and limestones that locally affected underlying peats and silts. The Kilgore and Obryan Members and their equivalents are used as the two principal stratigraphic marker beds for analyses of Middle Pennsylvanian sections extending across northeastern Kentucky from central Ohio to central West Virginia. Clay units and coal beds that overlie the Obryan Member contain flint clay beds (tonsteins) that are, in part, the product of volcanic ash falls. The range zones of selected palynomorphs from northeastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio corroborate some of the correlations proposed herein.

The middle Pennsylvanian Allegheny Formation, which crops out in the Appalachian Plateau of West Virginia, represents nonmarine equivalents of deltaic marine-brackish-nonmarine strata northwestward in Pennsylvania and Ohio. In West Virginia, the Allegheny is some 300 feet thick and consists mainly of sandstone, shale, coal, and seatrock units, none of which displays any great degree of lateral continuity. Sandstone units, which in cross section are about 60 feet thick and roughly 5 miles wide, are arranged in an en echelon manner within an anastomosing plexus of shale, coal, and seatrock. Sandstones presumably represent fluvial bar sands whereas shale, coal, and seatrock suggest various backswamp environments. The en echelon arrangement of bar sand units probably arises from major lateral shifting of channels into adjoining topographically lower backswamps. Differences in proportional abundance and dimension of channel and backswamp elements from southern to northern West Virginia suggest a transition from an alluviated upper deltaic plain to a partially inundated lower deltaic plain.

Abstract Pennsylvanian strata of western Pennsylvania exhibit evidence of a hierarchy of paleoclimatic changes. Long-term (10 7 years) climate trends reflect plate movement and tectonic events. These long-term trends are overprinted by changes of much shorter duration (100–400 k.y., and 10–20 k.y.). During deposition of the Pottsville and Allegheny formations (Bashkirian-Moscovian), the Appalachian climate exhibited perhumid to humid situations during periods of glacial advance, and humid to dry subhumid conditions during glacial retreats. Marine faunas and coal swamp floras during this interval of time exhibited a remarkably consistent taxonomic and ecological structure. Tetrapod amphibian faunas were highly aquatic. When the Cone-maugh Group was deposited, the ancient Appalachian climate became progressively drier. Glacial stages were dry subhumid and during deglaciation semiarid to arid. This reduction in precipitation produced changes in coal-forming floras, as lycopsid-dominated assemblages gave way to tree fern–dominated associations. Coincident with this climatic drying, tetrapod faunas became highly terrestrial in the basin. During the deposition of the Monongahela Group, the Appalachian climate returned to humid conditions during glacial periods. However, there is evidence of drier subhu-mid conditions during the intervening interglacial episodes as indicated by the pervasive presence of mudcracked nonmarine limestones. Nested lacustrine cycles within the Monongahela Group indicate short-term alternations between wet and dry periods that may have been driven by Earth’s precession. Coal-forming mires continued to be dominated by tree ferns, and vertebrate faunas tended to be found within fluvial lake environments. The latest Pennsylvanian and/or early Permian strata exhibit a return to Conemaugh-like deposition as evidenced by the pervasiveness of redbeds, dry climate floras, and highly terrestrial vertebrate faunas.

Abstract Pennsylvanian strata of western Pennsylvania exhibit evidence of a hierarchy of paleoclimatic changes. Long-term (10 7 years) climate trends reflect plate movement and tectonic events. These long-term trends are overprinted by changes of much shorter duration (100–400 k.y., and 10–20 k.y.). During deposition of the Pottsville and Allegheny formations (Bashkirian-Moscovian), the Appalachian climate exhibited perhumid to humid situations during periods of glacial advance, and humid to dry subhumid conditions during glacial retreats. Marine faunas and coal swamp floras during this interval of time exhibited a remarkably consistent taxonomic and ecological structure. Tetrapod amphibian faunas were highly aquatic. When the Cone-maugh Group was deposited, the ancient Appalachian climate became progressively drier. Glacial stages were dry subhumid and during deglaciation semiarid to arid. This reduction in precipitation produced changes in coal-forming floras, as lycopsid-dominated assemblages gave way to tree fern–dominated associations. Coincident with this climatic drying, tetrapod faunas became highly terrestrial in the basin. During the deposition of the Monongahela Group, the Appalachian climate returned to humid conditions during glacial periods. However, there is evidence of drier subhu-mid conditions during the intervening interglacial episodes as indicated by the pervasive presence of mudcracked nonmarine limestones. Nested lacustrine cycles within the Monongahela Group indicate short-term alternations between wet and dry periods that may have been driven by Earth’s precession. Coal-forming mires continued to be dominated by tree ferns, and vertebrate faunas tended to be found within fluvial lake environments. The latest Pennsylvanian and/or early Permian strata exhibit a return to Conemaugh-like deposition as evidenced by the pervasiveness of redbeds, dry climate floras, and highly terrestrial vertebrate faunas.

Abstract Form and his associates have been engaged in an extensive program of recognizing and mapping environments of coal deposition in the Appalachian coal field from Pennsylvania to Alabama. By comparing ancient coal-bearing rocks to modern deposition analogues, a set of criteria has been developed for recognizing environments, ranging from fresh water alluvial plains to tidally influenced marshes and swamps behind beach barriers (“back barrier sediments”). Caruccio has shown that the acidity of mine drainage from strip mines in the bituminous coal field of Pennsylvania is determined to a large extent by three interrelated factors. These include the reactivity of the pyrite found in the coal and the associated strata, the presence of a catalyst (iron bacteria), and the neutralizing capacity of the existing ground water. All these are indigenous to particular sedimentary paleoenvironments that were delineated.within the Carboniferous Allegheny Formation. A comparison of Caruccio’s and Ferm’s data reveals that the coals rich in reactive pyrite are found in back barrier and lower delta plain deposits, and coals poor in reactive pyrite can be associated with upper delta and alluvial plain settings. Because most Appalachian coal beds are known to represent at least two depositional environments throughout their areal extent and mineable coals are found in all four ma'jor environments., a criterion appears to be available for predicting the areal .distribution of acid mine drainage problems without costly and time-consuming analytical procedures.

Abstract Form and his associates have been engaged in an extensive program of recognizing and mapping environments of coal deposition in the Appalachian coal field from Pennsylvania to Alabama. By comparing ancient coal-bearing rocks to modern deposition analogues, a set of criteria has been developed for recognizing environments, ranging from fresh water alluvial plains to tidally influenced marshes and swamps behind beach barriers (“back barrier sediments”). Caruccio has shown that the acidity of mine drainage from strip mines in the bituminous coal field of Pennsylvania is determined to a large extent by three interrelated factors. These include the reactivity of the pyrite found in the coal and the associated strata, the presence of a catalyst (iron bacteria), and the neutralizing capacity of the existing ground water. All these are indigenous to particular sedimentary paleoenvironments that were delineated.within the Carboniferous Allegheny Formation. A comparison of Caruccio’s and Ferm’s data reveals that the coals rich in reactive pyrite are found in back barrier and lower delta plain deposits, and coals poor in reactive pyrite can be associated with upper delta and alluvial plain settings. Because most Appalachian coal beds are known to represent at least two depositional environments throughout their areal extent and mineable coals are found in all four ma'jor environments., a criterion appears to be available for predicting the areal .distribution of acid mine drainage problems without costly and time-consuming analytical procedures.