DIAGENESIS OF THE DEVONIAN ORISKANY SANDSTONE IN THE LITTLE MOUNTAIN ANTICLINE, SMOKE HOLE CANYON, WEST VIRGINIA

The Oriskany sandstone is a quartz-arenite composed of rounded and well-sorted sand size quartz grains containing calcitic fossils and commonly cemented by calcite. Deposition was in an offshore environment. The Oriskany sandstone outcropping in the Little Mountain anticline, located in Smoke Hole Canyon, shows extensive diagenesis throughout the 500 ft. exposure. The corrosion of contacts along quartz grains and the replacement of calcitic cement by siliceous cement is indicative to the extent of diagenesis that has occurred within the anticline. Hand sample and thin-section analysis of samples taken from the anticline show that the abundance of calcite-to-quartz cements within the sandstone varies between the limbs and axis of the anticline. This difference suggests a preferred migration of silica-rich fluids within the anticline, resulting in uneven precipitation of quartz within the Oriskany of the Little Mountain anticline. Further analysis of the diagenetic change within the Oriskany sandstone will help determine the ideal conditions for silica migration and precipitation within a sandstone antiform.