The Devonian Brallier Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia in the United States.
Description The Brallier Formation was described by Charles Butts in 1918 as a fine-grained, siliceous shale with few fine-grained sandstone layers, from outcrops in central Pennsylvania. Others expanded usage of the term to rocks in other states.
Stratigraphy The Brallier is roughly equivalent to the Scherr Formation.
The contact with the underlying Harrell Formation is generally gradational.
Fossils Hasson and Dennison reported the following fossils from outcrops of the lower Brallier at Keyser, West Virginia, Ridgeville, West Virginia, and McCoole, Maryland:Hasson, Kenneth O., and Dennison, John M., 1978, STRATIGRAPHY OF THE DEVONIAN HARRELL AND MILLBORO SHALES IN PARTS OF PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND, WEST VIRGINIA, AND VIRGINIA, Project Final Report for Energy Research and Development Administration Contract #EY-77-C-21-8153, May 1978 Bivalvia: Buchiola retrostriata, Paracardium doris, Pterochaenia fragilis Cephalopoda: Bactrites, Orthoceras filosum Cricoconarida (class of Mollusca): Styliolina fissurella Annelida: Pteridichnites biseriatus
Notable Exposures Type locality is at a railway station 6 miles northeast of Everett, Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
A large exposure is located in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, along the ramp from U.S. Route 22 west to Route 26 north.Charles Butts, 1945. Hollidaysburg-Huntingdon folio, Pennsylvania, Folios of the Geologic Atlas 227. United States Geological Survey.
Another good exposure is on the Pennsylvania Railroad bed just west of Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Age Relative age dating places the Brallier in the late Devonian.
References