THE STRATIGRAPHIC CORRELATION OF THE FORKSTON SEMI-ANTHRACITE TO THE NORTHERN ANTHRACITE FIELD IN PENNSYLVANIA

In western Pennsylvania there are vast deposits of bituminous rank coal and in Eastern Pennsylvania there are four principal fields of anthracite rank coal. Coal bed correlations between the two regions are hampered by non-preservation of intervening coal-bearing strata, discrepancies in nomenclature, and differences in the occurrences and rank. The Forkston semi-anthracite coal is located atop Dutch Mountain, PA serves as a geologic point of interest in correlating the two coal regions because it resides in an intermediate location between them. In 1883, geologist Israel C. White of the Second Pennsylvania Geologic Survey hypothesized that the Forkston Semi-Anthracite was of the same stratigraphic horizon as the Campbell’s Ledge black slate of the Northern Anthracite field (currently known as the Campbell’s Ledge Shale Member of the Pottsville Formation). However, this hypothesis remained untested due to a lack of further study. To test this hypothesis, rock specimens and stratigraphic data were collected at outcrops of the Forkston coal and the Campbell’s Ledge Shale Member. Macroscopic and microscopic petrographic analyses of the specimens were performed. These data were used to test the hypotheses that the Forkston semi-anthracite is of the same stratigraphic horizon as the Campbell’s Ledge Shale Member of the Pottsville Formation in the Northern Anthracite field.