WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 123 



THE LOWER SEWICKLEY SANDSTONE. 



The Lower Sewickley Sandstone of Hennen 7 occurs fre- 

 quently as a separate ledge in Lewis and Gilmer, but it is often 

 apparently consolidated with the Upper Sewickley above to 

 form the great massive stratum previously described. When 

 occurring as a separate ledge it is usually flaggy or shaly and 

 preserves no distinct type. Its thickness and character have 

 been noted in numerous sections in Chapter IV. 



THE SEWICKLEY LIMESTONE. 



The Sewickley Limestone of J. J. Stevenson, coming just 

 below the Lower Sewickley Sandstone, appears in the mea- 

 sures in portions of Lewis and Gilmer, but is usually poorly 

 represented or absent entirely. It is generally ferriferous and 

 shaly, and red in color, having little resemblance to its ap- 

 pearance in the northern counties of the State. In Lewis the 

 Sewickley Limestone was noted at several points along the 

 Roanoke Syncline in the neighborhood of Rohrbough and Roa- 

 noke, in Courthouse and Collins Settlement Districts. Here 

 it is shaly, red and impure, being usually less than one foot 

 thick. 



In Gilmer it is found at various points in Glenville and 

 Center Districts. At Stouts Mills it appears in the Little Ka- 

 nawha River bank under the highway bridge, being 2 feet 

 thick, red and shaly, as noted in the section for Stouts Mills 

 in Chapter IV, and only 2 feet above drainage. 



The shaly and impure character of the Sewickley Lime- 

 stone in Lewis and Gilmer makes it unfit for any economic 

 use, either for road material or agricultural lime, but it en- 

 riches the soil appreciably in the region where it outcrops, 

 thereby having a distinct value. As a stratigraphic horizon, 

 it proved to be a very convenient horizon with which to trace 

 geologic structure in those regions where the Pittsburgh Coal 

 was underground or absent from the measures. In parts of 

 Gilmer, however, it closely resembles the Redstone Limestone 

 which belongs about 100 feet below it, sometimes causing con- 

 fusion. 



'Ray V. Hennen, Doddridge-Harrison Kept., W. Va. G. S., p. 201; 

 3912. 



