ABSTRACT: Sequence Stratigraphy of the Lower Mississippian Clastic Wedge in Kentucky and West Virginia

MATCHEN, DAVID L., West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

The Borden Formation of Kentucky and the Price Formation of West Virginia have long been considered stratigraphically equivalent. The Borden represents the distal equivalent of the Price. However, the relationship between the units is more complex.

Biostratigraphic data indicate that the Borden is age equivalent to only the uppermost Price Formation. Traditional Appalachian subsurface stratigraphy has failed to adequately describe the relationship between these two formations. Two Gulf Coast methods, Sequence Stratigraphy and Genetic Stratigraphic Sequences, were used to describe the relationship between the Price and Borden.

The Lower Mississippian interval can be defined on the basis of its bounding discontinuities, i.e., an allostratigraphic scheme. Progradational units were defined on the basis of the surrounding shales. Both the sandstones and shales were identified in outcrop and correlated into the subsurface. Since no alloformation has been defined for this interval, these allostratigraphic units are informal and can be considered as equivalent to parasequences.

Mapping of the turbidite fields and the delta front sediments shows broad trends oriented north-south through the study area. These trends are separated into three discrete allostratigraphic units within the Price and Borden Formations. Each allostratigraphic unit can be divided into several broad facies: basinal turbidites, delta front or shoreline, and delta plain.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91013©1992 AAPG Eastern Section Meeting, Champaign, Illinois, September 20-22, 1992 (2009)