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New Albany shale group of Illinois

Journal Article · · Ill. State Geol. Surv., Circ.; (United States)
OSTI ID:5669757
The Illinois basin's New Albany shale group consists of nine formations, with the brownish-black laminated shales being the predominant lithology in southeastern Illinois and nearby parts of Kentucky where the group reaches its maximum thickness of 460 ft. A second depositional center lies in west-central Illinois and southeastern Iowa, where the group is about 300 ft thick and the predominant lithology is bioturbated olive-gray to greenish-gray shale. A northeast-trending area of thin strata (mostly interfingering gray and black shales) separates these two depocenters. The distribution and types of lithofacies in the New Albany suggest that the shale was deposited across a shelf-slope-basin transition in a marine, stratified anoxic basin. The record of depositional events in the shale group could serve as a baseline for interpreting the history of tectonically more complex sequences such as the Appalachian basin's Devonian shales.
Research Organization:
Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign
OSTI ID:
5669757
Journal Information:
Ill. State Geol. Surv., Circ.; (United States), Journal Name: Ill. State Geol. Surv., Circ.; (United States) Vol. 518; ISSN ILGCA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English