St. Louis Limestone - Fine-grained, brownish-gray limestone, dolomitic and cherty. Thickness 80 to 160 feet.; and Warsaw Limestone - Mainly medium- to coarse-grained, gray limestone, crossbedded. Includes much calcareous sandstone and shale to the north. Thickness 100 to 130 feet.
Mainly fragmental and oolitic, light-gray limestone; blocky bryozoan chert weathers from base. Thickness 180 to 300 feet.
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)
Reddish and greenish shale and siltstone; fine-grained dolomite; and minor fragmental and oolitic limestone. Thickness 240 to 360 feet.
Gizzard Group - Sandstone, conglomeratic sandstone, siltstone, shale, and minor coal. Thickness 100 to 200 feet. Includes Warren Point Sandstone - Gray to brown sandstone and minor conglomeratic sandstone. Thickness 60 to 160 feet; Raccoon Mountain Formation - Siltstone, sandstone, shale, and minor coal. Thickness 0 to 65 feet.
Bangor Limestone - Dark brownish-gray limestone, thick-bedded. Thickness 70 to 400 feet., and Hartselle Formation - Thin-bedded, fine-grained sandstone interbedded with gray shale; with oolitic and coarse-grained limestone beds locally. Thickness 0 to 80 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.)
Gizzard Group - Shale, siltstone, sandstone, and conglomerate; from base of Sewannee Conglomerate to top of Mississippian. Thickness 0 to 520 feet, including Signal Point Shale - Mostly dark-gray to light-brown shale, with minor siltstone. Wilder coal near top. Thickness 0 to 180 feet, average about 60 feet; Warren Point Sandstone - Sandstone and conglomeratic sandstone, gray to brown, fine- to medium-grained, locally interbedded with shale containing coal. Thickness 0 to 300 feet, thins from southeast to northwest, average thickness about 100 feet; Raccoon Mountain Formation - Shale, siltstone, and sandstone. Bon Air coal near top; White Oak and Sale Creek coals near base. Thickness 0 to 260 feet.
St. Louis Limestone - Fine-grained, brownish-gray limestone, dolomitic and cherty. Thickness 100 to 280 feet; and Warsaw Limestone - Coarse-grained, gray, crossbedded limestone; somewhat shaly in the northeast. Thickness 40 to 150 feet.
Reddish and greenish shale and siltstone; fine-grained dolomite; dark-gray limestone; and thin-bedded sandstone. Persistent dolomite bed at base. Thickness 150 to 400 feet.
Bangor Limestone - Dark brownish-gray limestone, thick-bedded. Thickness 100 to 250 feet; and Hartselle Formation - Thin-bedded, fine-grained sandstone and greenish-gray shale interbedded with coarse limestone. Thickness 0 to 60 feet.
Crab Orchard Mountains Group - Conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, shale, and coal; from top of Rockcastle Conglomerate to base of Sewanee Conglomerate. Thickness 200 to 950 feet; including Rockcastle Conglomerate - Conglomeratic sandstone and sandstone, gray to brown, fine- to coarse-grained. Thin coal-bearing shale locally present near middle. Thickness 150 to 220 feet; Vandever Formation - Mostly shale and siltstone, dark-gray to light-brown; conglomerate or sandstone in middle to south. Lantana and Morgan Springs coals near base and top. Thickness as much as 450 feet, average about 300 feet; Newton Sandstone - Sandstone, gray to brown or pink, fine- to medium-grained, locally conglomeratic. Thickness as much as 200 feet; average about 90 feet; Whitwell Shale - Mostly dark-gray to light-brown shale, with minor siltstone; locally middle part is sandstone. Richland coal near base; Sewanee coal in upper part. Thickness as much as 220 feet, average about 75 feet; Sewanee Conglomerate - Conglomeratic sandstone and sandstone, gray to brown, fine- to coarse-grained. Thickness as much as 200 feet, average about 100 feet.
Fragmental and oolitic limestone, light-gray; and fine-grained, brownish-gray limestone. Thickness 180 to 350 feet.
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.
Only the lowest formation of the group, the Sewanee Conglomerate, is preserved in the area of this sheet. Sewanee is gray to brown, medium- to coarse-grained conglomeratic sandstone, with a thin zone of ferruginous quartz- and shale-pebble conglomerate at base. Maximum preserved thickness 35 feet.
Highly variegated clay shale, distinctive; contains siltstone and locally gray, fine-grained sandstone. Thickness 400 to 700 feet.