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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
Devonian Formations - Characterized by marked north-south facies variations and by very irregular distribution. Individual formations are not uniform in thickness and have been truncated by pre-Chattanooga erosion; includes Pegram Formation - Thick-bedded, gray limestone and gray sandstone. Thickness 0 to 30 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 13 feet; Ross Formation - Siliceous limestone; gray and variegated shale; and medium-grained glauconitic limestone. Thickness 0 to 75 feet.
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.
Sand, silt, clay, and gravel. In flood plain of Mississippi River more than 100 feet thick; 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.