Mauch Chunk Formation

The Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation (Mmc) is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is named for the borough of Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.

Description

The Mauch Chunk is defined as a grayish-red shale, siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate. The Loyalhanna Member is a local limestone and sandy limestone at its base, as well as the Greenbrier and Wymps Gap Members. Along the Allegheny Front, the Loyalhanna is a greenish-gray, calcareous, cross bedded sandstone.^[1]

Depositional environment

The early Mauch Chunk beds were deposited on a large basin receiving most of its sediments from distant highlands. Sea levels fluctuated and allowed some limestone deposition to occur early as well. Since the dominate color of the Mauch Chunk is red, much of the sediment was deposited above sea level in oxidizing conditions. The green colored members indicate a reducing environment characterized by frequent inundation by water either in a swamp, delta, or shallow sea. Later beds have frequent conglomerate beds signaling the first wave of the Alleghenian orogeny.^[2]

Fossils

Plants from the division Pteridospermatophyta notably Adiantites have been identified. Some fish and worm burrows have also been observed.^[3]

Age

Relative age dating of the Mauch Chunk places it in the late Mississippian epoch, with some of the top layers in the early Pennsylvanian epoch, being deposited between 345 to 320(±3) million years ago. It rests conformably atop many formations. Its upper contact is complex. In certain areas, the contact is conformable in others, there is an unconformity. However, the Pottsville Formation is always above the Mauch Chunk.^[4]

Economic uses

In 1953, a small amount of uranium was mined from the Mauch Chunk Formation near Jim Thorpe. (see Uranium mining in the United States)

References

1. ^ Berg, T.M., Edmunds, W.E., Geyer, A.R. and others, compilers, (1980). Geologic Map of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geologic Survey, Map 1, scale 1:250,000.
2. ^ Wood, G.H., Trexler, J.P., Kehn, T.M., (1964). Geology of the West-Central Part of the Southern Anthracite Field and Adjoining Areas, Pennsylvania. United States Geological Survey, C-46.
3. ^ Jennings, J.R., (1985). Fossil plants from the Mauch Chunk Formation of Pennsylvania: Morphology of Adiantites Antiquus. Journal of Paleontology, v 59 n 5, p 1146-1157.
4. ^ Berg, T.M., et al., (1983). Stratagraphic Correlation Chart of Pennsylvania: G75, Pennsylvania Geologic Survey, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

See also

• Geology of Pennsylvania
• Canaan Valley