U.S. Geological Survey Home AASG Logo USGS HOME CONTACT USGS SEARCH USGS
National Geologic Map Database
Geologic Unit: Chatham
Search archives
Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Chatham series
  • Modifications:
    • Named
  • Dominant lithology:
    • Conglomerate
    • Sandstone
    • Slate
    • Shale
    • Marl
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Piedmont-Blue Ridge province
Publication:

Emmons, Ebenezer, 1857, American geology, Part VI: Albany, NY, Sprague and Co., 152 p., Reprinted in Natural Sciences in America Series, 1974


Summary:

The Chatham series is defined as the series of rocks in NC starting with the conglomerate above the Taconic slates and continuing with red and brown sandstone; gray sandstone alternating with bituminous slate; bituminous slate and calcareous shale with coal seams, carbonaceous iron ore, and beds of magnesian carbonate of lime; gray sandstone; conglomerate; blue shale; gray sandstone; and mottled red sandstones, slates, and marls, 1,000 ft thick. The series is described at Pekin in the Deep River area, in the Dan River coal field, and at Germanton.

Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Reston GNULEX).


Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Chatham Group
  • Modifications:
    • Age modified
    • Biostratigraphic dating
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Piedmont-Blue Ridge province
Publication:

Cornet, Bruce, 1977, Palynostratigraphy and age of the Newark Supergroup: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. dissertation, 505 p., Unpublished


Summary:

The age of the Chatham Group is late middle and late Carnian, based on palynoflora in the Pekin and Cumnock Formations.

Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Reston GNULEX).


Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Chatham Group
  • Modifications:
    • Revised
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Piedmont-Blue Ridge province
Publication:

Olsen, P.E., McCune, A.R., and Thomson, K.S., 1982, Correlation of the early Mesozoic Newark Supergroup by vertebrates, principally fishes: American Journal of Science, v. 282, no. 1, p. 1-44.


Summary:

The Chatham series of Emmons (1857) is here renamed Chatham Group of the Newark Supergroup. It includes the Late Triassic rocks assigned to the Pekin, Cumnock, and Sanford Formations in the Wadesboro, Sanford, and Durham basins, NC.

Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Reston GNULEX).


Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Chatham Group
  • Modifications:
    • Revised
    • Areal extent
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Piedmont-Blue Ridge province
Publication:

Brown, P.M. (chief geologist), 1985, Geologic map of North Carolina: North Carolina Geological Survey, scale 1:500,000


Summary:

The Chatham Group of the Newark Supergroup here includes the Pekin, Cumnock, and Sanford Formations in the Sanford and Durham basins. The Chatham Group, undivided, is used for the Upper Triassic rocks in the Wadesboro and Ellerbe basins, [and by implication, in the Crowburg basin in South Carolina].

Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Reston GNULEX).


Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Chatham Group
  • Modifications:
    • Biostratigraphic dating
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Piedmont-Blue Ridge province
Publication:

Huber, Phillip, Lucas, S.G., and Hunt, A.P., 1993, Revised age and correlation of the Upper Triassic Chatham Group (Deep River basin, Newark Supergroup): Southeastern Geology, v. 33, no. 4, p. 171-193.


Summary:

Recent studies combining palynomorphs, megafossil plants, fossil fishes, tetrapods and vertebrate ichnotaxa support an early Carnian through early Norian(?) age for the Chatham Group of east-central NC. The oldest tetrapod is late Carnian and is found in the middle Pekin Formation. Other fauna permit correlation with the lower Chinle Group of the western United States.

Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Reston GNULEX).


Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Chatham Group*
  • Modifications:
    • Age modified
    • Biostratigraphic dating
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Piedmont-Blue Ridge province
Publication:

Litwin, R.J., and Ash, S.R., 1993, Revision of the biostratigraphy of the Chatham Group (Upper Triassic), Deep River basin, North Carolina, U.S.A.: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, v. 77, nos. 1-2, p. 77-95.


Summary:

This report revises the ages of the Chatham Group rocks. Late Carnian palynomorphs in Wadesboro subbasin attributed to the type Pekin Formation (lowest of the Chatham Group) extend the age of the Pekin into the late Carnian. Late Carnian palynomorphs were also identified in the Cumnock Formation in the Sanford subbasin, thus confirming the age of the Cumnock. Plant megafossil and fossil vertebrate data from rocks in the Sanford subbasin also support these ages. Although the Sanford Formation has not been dated paleontologically, it must extend into the lower Norian on the basis of lithologic correlation with the Stoneville Formation of the Danville-Dan River basin 100 km to the northeast. The upper part of the Stoneville contains early Norian palynomorphs. This evidence indicates that Chatham Group sediments were deposited from the early(?) Carnian through the early Norian, a much longer interval than previously thought.

Source: GNU records (USGS DDS-6; Reston GNULEX).


Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Chatham Group
  • Modifications:
    • Mapped
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Piedmont-Blue Ridge province
Publication:

Southworth, C.S., Brezinski, D.K., Drake, A.A., Jr., Burton, W.C., Orndorff, R.C., Froelich, A.J., Redden, J.A., Denesen, S.L., and Daniels, D.L., 2008, Geologic map of the Frederick 30: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map, 2889, 42 p., scale 1:100,000, Prepared in cooperation with the Maryland Geological Survey


Summary:

Pg. 10-12, geol. map. Chatham Group of Newark Supergroup. In Culpeper and Gettysburg basins of Virginia and Maryland, Chatham Group of Weems and Olsen, 1997 (GSA Bull., v. ) consists of Late Triassic to Early Jurassic intercalated sedimentary rocks and some basalt. Includes (in ascending order) Manassas Sandstone of Lee (1977, 1979), Bull Run Formation of Weems and Olsen (1997), Catharpin Creek Formation, and Mount Zion Church Basalt. These rocks were included in lower part of Culpeper Group (see Lee 1979, 1980).
[Notable exposures in central part of quadrangle, east of Bull Run Mountain fault, in Fairfax and Loudoun Cos., VA, and Frederick and Montgomery Cos., MD.]

Source: Publication.


Search archives

For more information, please contact Nancy Stamm, Geologic Names Committee Secretary.

Asterisk (*) indicates published by U.S. Geological Survey authors.

"No current usage" (†) implies that a name has been abandoned or has fallen into disuse. Former usage and, if known, replacement name given in parentheses ( ).

Slash (/) indicates name conflicts with nomenclatural guidelines (CSN, 1933; ACSN, 1961, 1970; NACSN, 1983, 2005, 2021). May be explained within brackets ([ ]).