Mineral resource, geological, and geophysical maps of the New River Gorge area, Fayette, Raleigh, and Summers Counties, West Virginia

Factors controlling landslide initiation as a result of July 2001 high-precipitation events in a section of the Lower New River Gorge, West Virginia

“…Four major stratigraphic units occur within the study area and have a regional dip of less than 2 o to the northwest (Englund et al, 1977) (Figure 4 and 5). The upper three lie within the Pennsylvanian Pottsville Group: the Kanawha, New River, and Pocahontas formations.…”

“…The upper three lie within the Pennsylvanian Pottsville Group: the Kanawha, New River, and Pocahontas formations. The oldest formation in the study area is the Bluestone Formation within the uppermost Mississippian Mauch Chunk Group (Englund et al, 1977).…”

“…The Kanawha Formation is approximately 90 m thick and is the uppermost bedrock unit within the study area (Figure 4 and 5). It is comprised mainly (65 %) of easily weathered siltstone and shale (Englund et al, 1977). This formation contains the Gilbert and Eagle coal seams which were not mined within the study area.…”

“…This extremely resistant unit is dominated by sandstone (50 to 60 %), with lesser amounts siltstone, shale, coal, and fireclay. The New River Formation ranges between 215 and 305 m in thickness and contains the upper and lower Nuttall sandstones, which act as the resistant capstone within the study area (Englund et al, 1977). Coal from the New River Formation has been extensively mined within the study area, most notably the Sewell coal bed ( Figure 5).…”

“…The 130 m thick Pocahontas Formation is largely comprised of sandstone (70 %) and shale (28 %) with minor amounts of coal and fireclay (Englund et al, 1977) (Figure 4 and 5). The Pocahontas coal seams are located within this formation, but are not within the study area.…”