COAL   RESOURCES  OF  THE    KENOVA   QUADRANGLE. « 
By  William  Clifton  Piialen. 
GENERAL    DESCRIPTION. 
Location. — The  Kenova  quadrangle  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  embraces  an 
larea  of  938  square  miles,  lying  in  northeastern  Kentucky  for  the  most  part,  but  including 
Ismail  portions  of  Lawrence  County,  Ohio,  and  Wayne  County,  W.  Va.  (See  sketch  map, 
fig.  10.) 
This  area  lies  in  the  western  portion  of  the  great  Appalachian  coal  field  and  just  a  trifle 
north  of  its  center  as  it  stretches  from  north-central  Alabama  to  the  southwestern  boundary 
I  of  New  York. 
Structure. — The  Kenova  quadrangle  is  located  at  the  southwest  end  of  the  great  trough 
into  which  the  coal-bearing  rocks  of  the  Appalachian  field  are  thrown.  The  axis  of  this 
trough  extends  from  the  vicinity  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  to  the  southwest,  reaching  its  maximum 
depth  near  central  West  Virginia.  From  this  point  it  slowly  rises  to  the  southwest,  crossing 
Ohio  River  a  little  east  of  this  quadrangle  and  reaching  Big  Sandy  River  near  the  mouth  of 
Isom  Creek,  opposite  Burgess  (Kavanaugh),  Ky.,  and  extending  in  a  general  southwesterly 
direction  from  this  point,  gradually  fading  as  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  quadrangle  is 
approached.  Toward  this  axial  line  the  beds  are  gently  inclined,  those  on  the  northwestern 
side  dipping  to  the  southeast  and  those  on  the  opposite  side  dipping  to  the  northwest. 
The  dips  in  this  quadrangle  do  not  average  more  than  50  feet  per  mile  and  in  some  locali- 
ties the  beds  are  practically  flat.  In  others  there  is  a  marked  increase  in  the  dip,  as  in  the 
region  south  and  southeast  of  Louisa  and  from  Torchlight  to  Gallup,  where  the  dips  range 
as  high  as  150  feet,  and  even  more,  per  mile.  This  zone  of  high  dips  continues  southwest  of 
Louisa  up  Lick  Creek  and  to  the  west  by  Adstms  post-office  as  far  as  the  town  of  Blaine.  In 
the  eastern  part  of  this  village  occur  the  maximum  dips  of  the  region,  namely,  11°  in  a  gen- 
eral northwesterly  direction.  There  are  higher  dips  than  this  near  the  village,  developed 
locally,  however,  with  faulting,  the  extent  of  which  will  be  duly  recorded  when  the  field 
notes  have  been  worked  up  in  detail.  Beyond  Blaine  the  abnormal  conditions  seem  to 
die  out,  and  about  a  mile  up  Hoods  Creek  and  also  immediately  north  and  west  of  the  town 
the  dips  again  become  normal.  In  the  region  to  the  north  and  northwest  of  Willard  there 
are  local  dips  reaching  much  above  the  average. 
DESCRIPTIVE    GEOLOGY. 
With  the  exception  of  a  small  area  of  peridotite  b  near  the  southwestern  border  of  the 
quadrangle,  in  Elliott  County,  the  rocks  are  entirely  sedimentary  in  origin  and  belong  to  the 
Pennsylvanian  series  of  the  Carboniferous  system,  with  the  exception  of  a  bare  showing  of 
Mississippian  (Lower  Carboniferous)  rocks,  the  Pleistocene  gravel  of  the  river  terraces,  and 
the  recent  unconsolidated  sediments  of  the  flood  plains.  The  coals  were  numbered  from 
below  upward  by  the  earlier  geologists  in  the  Kentucky  field  and  in  the  following  notes  refer- 
a  These  notes  are  intended  as  a  brief  preliminary  sketch.  A  more  detailed  description  of  the  coal 
resources  of  the  Kenova  quadrangle  will  be  published  later. 
b  For  a  complete  description  of  this  interesting  occurrence  see  Diller  J.  S.,  Peridotite  of  l.lhott 
County,  Ky.:  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey  No.  38,  1887. 
259 
