Gettysburg Formation

Gettysburg Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Triassic
Outcrop of Gettysburg Formation along Conewago Road in York County, Pennsylvania, facing east from the bridge over Conewago Creek
Typesedimentary
Unit ofNewark Supergroup
Sub-unitsHeidlersburg member,[1][2] Arendtsville fanglomerate lentil,[1] Elizabeth Furnace conglomerate member,[3] Conewago conglomerate member[4]
OverliesNew Oxford Formation
Thickness5000 m (16,000 feet)[1]
Lithology
Primarysandstone, conglomerate
Othershale
Location
ExtentPennsylvania, Maryland
Type section
Named forGettysburg, Pennsylvania
Named byStose and Bascom, 1929[1]

The Gettysburg Formation is a mapped bedrock unit consisting primarily of sandstones, conglomerates, and shales.

The Gettysburg Formation was first described in the Gettysburg area of Adams County, Pennsylvania in 1929,[1] and over the following decade was mapped in adjacent York County, Pennsylvania[4] and Frederick County, Maryland.[5] It was then typically called the "Gettysburg shale," and was described as "thick red shales and soft red sandstones." The majority of this early mapping was done by G. W. Stose, A. I. Jonas, and Florence Bascom. Later workers described it as "Red, medium- to fine-grained sandstone and shale."[2]

The rock unit was formalized into a Formation in 1963 by J. D. Glaeser.[6] Glaeser re-mapped some areas previously mapped as the Gettysburg Formation to the Hammer Creek Formation.

A major groundwater resources study of the Gettysburg Formation and other formations of the Newark Supergroup in Pennsylvania was published by Charles R. Wood in 1980.[2]

  1. ^ a b c d e Stose, G.W., and Bascom, Florence, 1929, Description of the Fairfield and Gettysburg quadrangles [Pennsylvania]: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Atlas of the United States, Fairfield-Gettysburg folio, no. 225, 22 p.
  2. ^ a b c Wood, C. R., 1980, Groundwater resources of the Gettysburg and Hammer Creek Formations, southeastern Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey, 4th ser., Water Resource Report 49, 87 p. (web release).
  3. ^ Jonas, A.I., and Stose, G.W., 1930, Geology and mineral resources of the Lancaster quadrangle, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey Topographic and Geologic Atlas, 4th series, 168, 106 p., scale 1:62,500
  4. ^ a b Stose, G.W., and Jonas, A.I., 1939, Geology and mineral resources of York County, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey County Report, 4th series, no. 67, 199 p.
  5. ^ Jonas, A.I., and Stose, G.W., 1938, Geologic map of Frederick County and adjacent parts of Washington and Carroll Counties (Maryland): Maryland Geological Survey County Geologic Map, 1 sheet, scale 1:62,500
  6. ^ Glaeser, J.D., 1963, Lithostratigraphic nomenclature of the Triassic Newark-Gettysburg basin: Pennsylvania Academy of Science Proceedings, v. 37, p. 179-188.