Oriskany Sandstone: regional stratigraphic relationships and production trends

Abstract

The Oriskany or Ridgeley Sandstone usually comprises the Deerpark Stage of the Lower Devonian in the Central Appalachians. The name Oriskany Sandstone (for Oriskany Falls, New York) is the preferred name for a Deerparkian sandstone in Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The name Ridgely Sandstone (for Ridgeley, West Virginia) is preferred in Virginia, New Jersey, and most of Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, and locally in Pennsylvania, the Ridgeley Sandstone comprises the upper portion of the Deerparkian Oriskany Group. For the sake of simplicity, the name Oriskany will be used in this report to refer to any Deerparkian sandstone. Throughout most of its extent, the Oriskany is a fossiliferous, marine quartzarenite. It is usually calcite-cemented, but is locally quartz-cemented, and is sometimes conglomeratic in its eastern facies. It has a distincitive megascopic fauna which, along with the calcite cement, trends to leach away in outcrop to produce a friable, biomoldic sandstone. In the subsurface, however, is is usually tightly cemented. The regional stratigraphic relationships of the Oriskany are illustrated in two correlation diagrams: Figure 1 approximates a line, parallel to strike, through the center of the basin from Tennessee to New York, then heading east and southeastmore » along the outcrop belt to southeastern New York. Figure 2 shows correlations along the outcrop belt from eastern Tennessee to central Virginia. Figures 3 through 9 are maps showing the following: extent of Oriskany; thickness and lithofacies of Deerpark stage; topography of the Oriskany surface; structural provinces; Oriskany fields and pools; pre-Oriskany geology; and post-Oriskany geology. 29 references, 9 figures.« less