STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION OF NEW LATE DEVONIAN EXPOSURES NEAR ELKINS, RANDOLPH COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA (APPALACHIAN BASIN)

Recently completed road cuts along bypass US Route 33 northwest of the city of Elkins, Randolph County, West Virginia provide a nearly continuous (about 600m thick) exposure of upper Frasnian and lower Famennian (Upper Devonian) marine and transitional strata. This well exposed section is significant as it occurs in the westernmost outcrop belt in this portion of the Appalachian basin (presumably representing deepest water deposits). The section contains a very rich preserved fossil fauna, and affords a unique opportunity to study a deeper water Late Devonian paleoecology, the subject of ongoing studies by other workers. In order to facilitate correlation of this outcrop with the established regional sequence stratigraphy, an outcrop gamma ray log, recorded with a hand held scintillometer, is presented and correlated to established markers and sequences in gamma ray logs from nearby natural gas wells. Identified in the outcrop are the upper Mallow Member, Briery Gap Sandstone (Alexander informal drillers' sand), Blizzard Member, Pound Sandstone (Benson informal drillers' sand), and lower Red Lick Member of the Foreknobs Formation. Also identified within the Red Lick Member are the Bradford, Balltown and Speechley informal drillers' zones. These correlations should aid future work in establishing paleontologic and paleoecologic changes across the Frasnian/Famennian stage boundary, previously placed near the top of the Pound Sandstone.