Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Mississippian-Devonian Black Shales Of Kentucky: East-West Transect In Five Cores From The Appalachian Basin To The Illinois Basin, Patrick J. Gooding, Frank R. Ettensohn

Map and Chart--KGS

Devonian-Mississippian black shales are widespread across North America and underlie nearly 70 percent of Kentucky (Kepferle and Roen, 1981; Ettensohn and others, 1988). These black-shale units are among the most thoroughly investigated format ions in the commonwealth, because t hey have sourced most of t he conventional hydrocarbons (Gooding and Ettensohn, 2008; Gooding, 2013), have been major producers of gas in both the Illinois and Appalachian Basins, and have major potential as unconventional producers in both basins. In fact, maturation indicators such as vitrinite reflectance and total organic carbon, from both basins, show that the shales are most ly mature …

Kentucky Landscapes Through Geologic Time, Daniel I. Carey

Map and Chart--KGS

We now understand that the earth’s crust is broken up into a number of plates, some of continental size, and that these plates have been moving— centimeters a year—throughout geologic history, driven by the internal heat of the earth. This movement creates our mountain chains, earthquakes, geologic faults, and volcanoes. The theory of plate tectonics (from the Greek, tektonikos: pertaining to building) attempts to describe the process and helps explain the geology of Kentucky.

The geologic story of the rocks that form Kentucky’s landscape began a half billion years ago when the area was covered by water. Deposits of sand, …