Very light to light-olive-gray, thin to thick-bedded fine to coarse-grained bioclastic (abundant pelmatozoans) limestone containing abundant nodules, lenses and beds of light to dark-grey chert. Upper part of formation locally consists of light-bluish-gray laminated siltstone containing vugs lined or filled with quartz and scattered throughout the formation are interbeds of medium to greenish-gray shale, shaly limestone and siltstone. Commonly present below the Fort Payne is a light-olive-gray claystone or shale (Maury Formation) which is mapped with the Fort Payne. The apparent thickness of the Fort Payne in this province varies due to differnetial dissolution of carbonate in the formation.
Light-gray limestone, partly oolitic near top; fine to very coarse-grained bioclastic crinoidal limestone common; light-gray chert nodules and concretions are scattered throughout and are abundant locally. The apparent thickness of the formation in this province varies due to differential dissolution of the carbonate in the unit.
Massive beds of cross-bedded sand, gravelly sand, and lenticular beds of locally carbonaceous partly mottled moderate-red and pale-red-purple clay; lower part is predominantly a gravelly sand consisting chiefly of chert and quartz pebbles. Not mapped east of the Tallapooza River.
Light-greenish-gray to yellowish-gray cross-bedded, well-sorted, micaceous, fine to medium quartz sand that is fossiliferous and glauconitic in part and contains beds of greenish-gray micaceous, silty clay and medium-dark-gray carbonaceous clay. Light-gray glauconitic fossiliferous sand, thin beds of sandstone, and massive accumulations of fossil oyster shells occur locally in the upper part of the formation in western AL (Tombigbee Sand Member). In eastern AL thin to thick-bedded accumulations of the fossil oyster Ostrea cretacea Morton occur throughout much of the formation.
Wayne Group - medium-gray, greenish-gray, and moderate-red argillaceous limestone; moderate-red and greenish-gray shale; and grayish-green fossiliferous limestone with scattered pink calcite crystals. Brassfield Limestone - greenish-gray to light-brownish-gray argillaceous, dolomitic, cherty, sandy, glauconitic limestone.
Fort Payne Formation - Bedded chert; calcareous and dolomitic silicastone; minor limestone and shale; scattered lenses of crinoidal limestone. Thin green shale (Maury) at base. Average thickness about 250 feet (475 in Wells Creek area); and Chattanooga Shale - Black carbonaceous shale, fissile. Thickness 0 to 70 feet; average about 20 feet. (Mapped as MDc on East-Central and East sheets)
Poorly sorted, light-gray chert gravel in a matrix of silt and sand; locally interbedded with sand and clay lenses. Thickness 0 to 150 feet.
Grayish-green sand, fine-grained, glauconitic, micaceous; interbedded with gray laminated clays which commonly contain carbonized or silicified wood. (Mapped with Coffee except in Hardin County and southeastern Decatur County.) Thickness 0 to 180 feet; thins northward.
Brownish-black organic shale containing light to dark-gray sandstone and rare limestone interbeds near the base.
Fort Payne Formation - Bedded chert and calcereous and dolomitic silicastone; minor coarse-grained limestone and shale. Thin green shale (Maury) at base. Thickness about 200 feet. Chattanooga Shale - Black carbonaceous shale, fissile. Thickness 0 to 70 feet.
Grayish-green sand, fine-grained, glauconitic, micaceous; interbedded with gray laminated clays which commonly contain carbonized or silicified wood. Maximum preserved thickness 80 feet; absent to the north.
Sand, silt, clay, and gravel. As much as 60 feet thick in flood plains of Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers; in smaller streams generally less than 20 feet thick.
Silurian Formations - Characteristically light olive-gray to greenish-gray, with variable reddish-brown color in some areas. Individual formations are generally uniform in thickness, except where truncated by pre- Chattanooga erosion. Most formations are slightly thicker (than indicated) in Wells Creek Basin. Includes Decatur Limestone- Thick-bedded, medium- to coarse-grained limestone, gray with reddish-brown grains. Thickness 0 to 70 feet; Brownsport Group (which includes Lobelville Formation - Shale with thin beds of limestone. Thickness 0 to 30 feet; Bob Limestone - Thick-bedded, medium-grained limestone, locally oolitic. Thickness 0 to 25 feet; and Beech River Formation - Shale with thin beds of limestone. Thickness 0 to 60 feet); Wayne Group (which includes Dixon Formation - Green and reddish-brown argillaceous limestone, shale, and mudstone. Thickness 0 to 40 feet; Lego Limestone - Even-bedded, olive-gray limestone with scattered reddish-brown grains. Thickness 0 to 30 feet; Waldron Shale - Greenish-gray fossiliferous shale. Thickness 0 to 5 feet; Laurel Limestone - Even-bedded, olive-gray limestone with scattered reddish-brown grains. Thickness 0 to 30 feet; Osgood Formation - Greenish- and reddish-gray shale and argillaceous limestone. Thickness 0 to 15 feet); and Brassfield Limestone - Thin-bedded cherty limestone, locally glauconitic. Thickness 0 to 50 feet; generally about 20 feet.
Poorly sorted, light-gray chert gravel in a matrix of silt and sand; locally interbedded with sand and clay lenses. Thickness 0 to 140 feet.
Devonian Formations - Characterized by marked north-south facies variations. Because of pre-Chattanooga and/or pre-Cretaceous warping and erosion, the distribution and thickness of Devonian formations is very irregular. Includes Pegram Formation - Thick-bedded, gray limestone and gray sandstone. Thickness 0 to 15 feet; Camden Formation - Light-gray novaculitic chert and tripolitic clay; and minor siliceous limestone. Thickness 0 to about 100 feet; Harriman Formation - Light-gray novaculitic chert and tripolitic clay; and minor siliceous limestone. (Harriman and Camden are differentiated paleontologically.) Thickness 0 to 50 feet; Flat Gap Limestone - Thick-bedded, coarse-grained limestone, gray with red and brown grains. Thickness 0 to 55 feet; Ross Formation - Siliceous limestone; gray and variegated shale; and medium-grained glauconitic limestone. Thickness 0 to 75 feet.
Ordovician [units] including Richmond Group (which includes Mannie Shale - Olive-gray shale. Thickness 0 to 20 feet; Fernvale Limestone - Massive, coarsely crystalline, gray limestone with varicolored grains. Thickness 0 to 50 feet; Sequatchie Formation - Olive-gray and greenish-gray shale, mudstone, and argillaceous limestone; dolomitic, laminated, and sandy. Thickness 0 to 100 feet; and Arnheim Formation Nodular, shaly, gray limestone. Thickness 0 to 20 feet; the Maysville Group (which includes Leipers Formation - Nodular, shaly limestone; fine- to coarse-grained limestone; and phosphatic calcarenite locally. Thickness 0 to 150 feet); the Eden Group (which includes the Inman Formation - Thin-bedded to laminated, fine-grained, gray limestone with shale partings. Thickness 0 to 50 feet); and the Nashville Group (which includes Catheys Formation - Nodular, shaly limestone; fine- to coarse-grained limestone; phosphatic calcarenite; and light-gray cryptograined limestone. Thickness 50 to 175 feet.)