Earth:Chattanooga Shale

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Short description: Devonian era geologic formation in Appalachian and Southern United States
Chattanooga Shale
Stratigraphic range: Devonian
Chattanooga Shale (Upper Devonian; Burkesville West Rt. 90 roadcut, Kentucky, USA) 27 (40541680550).jpg
Chattanooga Shale in Kentucky
TypeFormation
UnderliesMaury Shale, Boone Formation
OverliesUnconformity on Ordovician Cumberland Formation[citation needed] Leipers Limestone and other units [1]
Lithology
PrimaryShale
OtherSandstone
Location
RegionArkansas,[2] Kentucky, Tennessee , Alabama, Georgia,[1] Missouri,[3] Mississippi
CountryUnited States
Type section
Named byCharles Willard Hayes[4]

The Chattanooga Shale is a geologic formation in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee . It preserves conodont fossils dating to the Devonian Period.[1] It occurs mostly as a subsurface geologic formation composed of layers of shale. It is located in Eastern Tennessee and also extends into southeastern Kentucky, northwestern Georgia, and northern Alabama. This part of Alabama is part of the Black Warrior Basin.[1]

The Chattanooga Shale of east Tennessee is reported to be an extension of or correlates with the Marcellus Shale of the Appalachian region to the east.[5] Exploratory drilling of the Chattanooga Shale in east Tennessee indicates that it contains significant amounts of natural gas. This has resulted in interest in and attempts to use hydraulic fracturing to exploit the resource.[6]


See also

  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Alabama
  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Georgia (U.S. state)
  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Indiana
  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Kentucky
  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Missouri
  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Ohio
  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Tennessee


References