Pg. 3. Murray shale [of Chilhowee group]. Grayish-blue sandy, micaceous, and calcareous shale, 300 feet thick. Overlies Nebo sandstone. Underlies Hesse sandstone. Age is Early Cambrian.

Source: US geologic names lexicon (USGS Bull. 896, p. 1453).

Murray slate (also Murray shale) of Chilhowee group. Age is Early Cambrian.
Named from Murray Branch of Walden Creek, Sevier Co., eastern TN. Extends into western NC.

Source: US geologic names lexicon (USGS Bull. 896, p. 1453).

Ostracode INDIANA TENNESSEENSIS (Resser) found in lower part of Murray Shale on Chilhowee Mountain confirms Early Cambrian age for Murray Shale and overlying Hesse Quartzite. Previous age was Early Cambrian(?) because of uncertainty of location of site and stratigraphic position of collections reported by Walcott (1890) and Keith (1895).

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

Age constraints for the Vendian to Placentian Chilhowee Group are provided by, 1) the occurrence of Vendian acritarchs in the subjacent Sandsuck, Wilhite, and Shields Formations; 2) the first occurrence of PALAEOPHYCUS traces in the basal Cochran and Unicoi Formations; 3) the first occurrences of SKOLOTHOS and PLANOLITES traces in the overlying Nichols and Hampton Formations; 4) the abundance of well-developed arthropod as well as other diagnostic traces in the uppermost Nebo and overlying Murray Formations; 5) the recalculated age of 539+/-30 Ma for the Murray Formation; and 6) reported occurrences of late Placentian or younger body fossils recovered from the Murray Shale, including trilobites, ostracodes, inarticulate brachiopods, hylithoids, and acritarchs. The sequence in the Cochran-Unicoi interval where the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary is interpreted to occur consists of coarse-grained braided-fluvial sediments. It may prove impossible to locate the boundary precisely because of a lack of marine facies, and the shelly microfossils it might have provided.

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