Wiscoy Formation (NYDj;4)

State	New York
Name	Wiscoy Formation
Geologic age	Upper Devonian
Original map label	Dj
Comments	part of Java Group 100-200 ft. (30-60 m). Secondary unit description from USGS Geologic Names lexicon (ref. NY046): Hanover Shale Member of Java Formation is uppermost unit in area containing fossils of the Frasnian Stage. Unit is 28 m thick and composed primarily of green-gray mudstone with accessory discrete thin black shale beds and zones of small calcareous, phosphatic and pyritic nodules. Usually very bioturbated, but contains few shelly fossils. The Hanover changes eastward into siltier, upslope deposits of the Wiscoy Member southeast of the type section at Java Village. Fossils include a mixture of benthic and pelagic fossils, goniatites and carbonized driftwood fragments. Small rugose corals and crinoid ossicles also occur. The Frasnian-Famennian stage boundary position has been tentatively placed several meters below the top of this unit by Kirchgasser (pers. comm. 1989). In outcrop in western NY, the Java consists of a basal black shale, the Pipe Creek Shale Member, and an overlying gray shale and mudrock with scattered beds of black shale and siltstone, and abundant limestone nodules, the Hanover Shale Member. The Pipe Creek thins to the east and feathers out in northern Stuben Co. The Hanover, however, thickens to the east and grades laterally into the Wiscoy Sandstone Member. The Pipe Creek rarely exceeds 25 ft in thickness, but makes up much of the radioactive black shale in the Java. In the subsurface, it extends south from western NY about 450 mi to Scott Co., VA. It thins to a featheredge in OH, KY, and TN. The Hanover is recognizable in the subsurface southward from western NY to eastern KY and adjacent southwestern VA and northeastern TN. Where the Pipe Creek pinches out, the Hanover cannot be separated from the Angola Shale Member of the West Falls Formation. The two grade westward into the upper part of the Olentangy Shale in central OH, and in central TN, the combined shales are equivalent to the upper unit of the Dowelltown Member of the Chattanooga Shale.
Primary rock type	sandstone
Secondary rock type	black shale
Other rock types	shale
Lithologic constituents	Major Sedimentary > Clastic > SandstoneWiscoy Formation Minor Sedimentary > Clastic > Mudstone > Shale > Black-shale Sedimentary > Clastic > Mudstone > Shale
Map references	NYS Museum, NYS Geological Survey, NYS Museum Technology Center, 1999, 1:250,000 Bedrock geology of NYS, data is distributed in ARC/INFOr EXPORT format (with ".e00" extension) in 5 seperate files based on printed map sheets, http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/gis.html. [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/gis.html.]
Unit references	D. W. Fisher; Y. W. Isachsen, L. V. Rickard, 1970, Geologic Map of New York State, consisting of 5 sheets: Niagara, Finger Lakes, Hudson-Mohawk, Adirondack, and Lower Hudson, New York State Museum and Science Service, Map and Chart Series No. 15, scale 1:250000. USGS Geologic Names Lexicon (GEOLEX) [http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/]
Geographic coverage	Allegany - Cattaraugus - Chautauqua - Chemung - Erie - Livingston - Ontario - Steuben - Wyoming