Bluefield Formation (VAMbf;0)

State	Virginia
Name	Bluefield Formation
Geologic age	Mississippian
Original map label	Mbf
Comments	Appalachian Plateaus and Valley and Ridge. From expanded explanation (ref. VA002): Bluefield Formation (Campbell, 1896). Shale, siltstone, and limestone, with minor sandstone, coal, and underclay. Shale and siltstone, calcareous in part, medium- to medium dark-gray, light-greenish- to greenish-gray, grayish-red; interbedded with limestone,thin sandstone and a few thin beds of black carbonaceous shale. Limestone, argillaceous, lower part dolomitic, light-olive-gray to medium-gray, light-bluish gray and brownish-gray, micrograined to medium-grained, thin-bedded, very fossiliferous; black chert nodules in lower part; interbedded with fossiliferous light-greenish-gray shale. Sandstone, quartzose to feldspathic, light-gray to greenish gray, very-fine- to medium-grained, thin- to thick-bedded, ripple-bedded, contains root casts in up per part, pyrite nodules, and shale and siltstone interbeds. Coal, locally impure in upper half of formation (Englund, 1968; Windolph, 1987). Underclay, medium-gray, clayey to silty, contains root casts. The Bluefield probably is equivalent to upper part of the Newman Limestone (Englund, 1979) and is a transition zone between carbonates of the underlying Greenbrier Limestone and clastics of the overlying Pennington Group. It is conformable and gradational with underlying formation. Formation thins westward; it ranges in thickness from 150 feet near Kentucky- Virginia boundary (Miller, 1974, p. 25) to 1250 feet in Tazewell County (Cooper, 1944, p. 169).
Primary rock type	shale
Secondary rock type	limestone
Other rock types	siltstone; sandstone; coal; black shale
Lithologic constituents	Minor Sedimentary > Clastic > Siltstone Sedimentary > Carbonate > Limestone Sedimentary > Clastic > Mudstone > Shale Incidental Sedimentary > Clastic > Mudstone > Shale > Black-shale Sedimentary > Coal Sedimentary > Clastic > Sandstone
Map references	Digital Representation of the 1993 Geologic Map of Virginia", 2003, CD ROM (ISO-9660) contains image file, expanded explanation in pdf, and ESRI shapefiles, viewing software not included. This is a digital version of "Geologic Map of Virginia" published in 1993. Available from: https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/commerce/ [https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/commerce/]
Unit references	Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, 1993, Geologic Map of Virginia: Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, scale 1:500,000 Digital Representation of the 1993 Geologic Map of Virginia", 2003, CD ROM (ISO-9660) contains image file, expanded explanation in pdf, and ESRI shapefiles, viewing software not included. This is a digital version of "Geologic Map of Virginia" published in 1993. Available from: https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/commerce/ [https://www.dmme.virginia.gov/commerce/]
Geographic coverage	Giles - Tazewell