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Maps showing coal resources of the Big A Mountain Quadrangle, Russell and Buchanan counties, Virginia

January 1, 1982

The coal-bearing Norton Formation of Early and Middle Pennsylvanian age is at the surface over most of the northwestern two-thirds of the Big A Mountain quadrangle. The southeastern part of the quadrangle, bounded on the northwest and northeast by Buffalo Mountain and Russell Fork faults, consists of highly faulted rocks ranging in age from Early Cambrian to Middle Pennsylvanian (Miller and Meissner, 1977). The coal-bearing rocks in the northwestern two-thirds of the quadrangle are bisected by the Russell Fork fault. The rocks southwest of the fault, which are part of the Cumberland overthrust block (Wentworth, 1921), have been displaced approximately four miles to the northwest (Englund, 1971) along the concealed Pine Mountain overthrust. Because the rocks of the Norton Formation are displaced laterally by the Russell Fork fault, the coal bed sequences across the fault do not match. For this reason the resources are shown separately for the coal beds north and south of the fault (table 1). The stratigraphic section from the Gladeville Sandstone to the Tiller coal bed is thicker to the south of the fault than it is to the north, as illustrated in figures 16 and 17. The Puncheon Camp, a locally important coal bed, is present only south of the fault. 

Publication Year 1982
Title Maps showing coal resources of the Big A Mountain Quadrangle, Russell and Buchanan counties, Virginia
DOI 10.3133/mf1439
Authors Charles R. Meissner, Stephen E. Heermann
Publication Type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Series Title Miscellaneous Field Studies Map
Series Number 1439
Index ID mf1439
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse