The stratigraphy of the Kanawha Formation in West Virginia has been confused by regional miscorrelations of many units. To resolve these inconsistencies, this report has: (1) revised and defined three widely distributed marine units as the
Betsie, Dingess, and Winifrede Shale Members of the Kanawha Formation (Middle Pennsylvanian); (2) extended the name "Fire Clay" into West Virginia from Kentucky for a coal bed regionally identified by its flint clay (tonstein) parting and miscorrelated in different areas of West Virginia as the older Hernshaw coal bed or the younger Chilton coal bed; and (3) reestablished the stratigraphie positions of several key coal beds that have been regionally miscorrelated from their type areas. A stratigraphie section parallel to depositional strike, from the Kanawha River Valley in central West Virginia to the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River in southwestern WestVirginia, shows the correlation and continuity of marine members and coal beds of the middle part of the Kanawha Formation.
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