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Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Flattop Mountain sandstone*
  • Modifications:
    • First used
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Appalachian basin
Publication:

White, I.C., 1908, Supplementary coal report: West Virginia Geological Survey Volumes, v. 2-A, 720 p.


Summary:

Pocahontas group divided into (descending) Flattop Mountain sandstone; Pocahontas coals Nos. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 with intervening sandstones and shales; and Pocahontas sandstone.

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


Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Flattop Mountain sandstone
  • Modifications:
    • Named
  • Dominant lithology:
    • Sandstone
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Appalachian basin
Publication:

Hennen, R.V., and Gawthrop, R.M., 1915, Wyoming and McDowell Counties [West Virginia]: West Virginia Geological Survey [County Reports and Maps], [CGR-30], 783 p., (incl. geologic map, scale 1:62,500)


Summary:

Named as top member of Pocahontas group in Lower Pottsville series. Named for Flattop Mountain, 2 mi northwest of Pocahontas, southwestern VA. Consists of bluish-gray to brown, medium- to coarse-grained, micaceous, massive to current-bedded sandstone. Thickness is 22 to 50 ft. Overlies Rift shale. [Age is Pennsylvanian.]

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


Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Flattop Mountain Sandstone Member
  • Modifications:
    • Overview
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Appalachian basin
Publication:

Allen, J.L., 1993, Petrographic character of the Lower Pennsylvanian Flattop Mountain Sandstone Member and associated terrigenous channel-form sandstones, southern West Virginia: The Compass, Sigma Gamma Epsilon Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 70, no. 2, p. 56-68.


Summary:

Unit is subtly distinct from other sandstones of the upper Pocahontas Formation. Flattop Mountain is a medium-grained, moderately sorted, texturally submature lithic arenite to sublitharenite, quartz grains composing 65 percent of the sandstone, while the lower sandstones are finer-grained and enriched in twinned plagioclase feldspar. Unit attains a maximum thickness of 13.7 m in the Crumpler quad, Mercer, McDowell, and Wyoming Cos. Consists entirely of channel-form sandstones with thin mudstone and siltstone partings. Locally massive in appearance but characteristically trough cross-bedded and contains internal erosional scours with claystone rip-up clasts, bark and tree molds, plant fragments, and carbonaceous debris. Forms a prominent bench or cliff where exposed.

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


Map showing publication footprint
  • Usage in publication:
    • Flattop Mountain Sandstone Member*
  • Modifications:
    • Overview
  • AAPG geologic province:
    • Appalachian basin
Publication:

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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 ([ ]).