PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION OF CORAL CAVERNS, BEDFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Coral Caverns contains a well-preserved stromatoporoid reef of the Upper Silurian Jersey Shore Member of the Keyser Formation. The caverns are located within the folded strata of the Ridge and Valley Province and consist of Upper Silurian to Devonian carbonates and siliciclastics. Located in Manns Choice, Pennsylvania, the caverns have been a destination for families traveling across Pennsylvania along Route 30 for over 75 years.

The main fossil wall within the caverns was thought to represent a coral reef hence the basis for the name. However this study has identified the organisms as stromatoporoids thriving in a shallow marine environment. Outside the cave the transition to the Devonian New Creek and Corriganville Formations can be observed. These formations contain Favositid and Cladoporid fauna, the only corals present in the study area, brachiopods Anastrophia sp, Macropleura sp., and Leptaena sp., along with bryozoans, and echinoderms. Stromatoporoid fragments of Clathrodictyon sp. are also found in these Devonian formations. These faunas of the Upper Silurian and Devonian strata indicate a transition from a shallow, protected subtidal environment offshore to open marine on the carbonate shelf.

The strata at Coral Caverns can be correlated to the well-exposed and easily accessible stromatoporoid reef at the Eldorado Section, Altoona, Pennsylvania. Faunas of brachiopods, bryozoans, echinoderms, and tabulate corals are also similar to those at Coral Caverns.