Oriskany Formation

The Oriskany Sandstone is a Middle Devonian age unit of sedimentary rock found in eastern North America. The type locality of the unit is located at Oriskany Falls in New York.^[1] The Oriskany Sandstone extends throughout much of the Appalachian Basin.^[2][3][4]

Oriskany Sandstone
Stratigraphic range: Eifelian
Type	Formation
Underlies	Bois Blanc Formation, Huntersville Chert, Needmore Shale, and Onondaga Formation
Overlies	Helderberg Group and Shriver Chert
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone
Location
Region	Appalachian Basin of eastern North America
Country	United States
Type section
Named for	Oriskany Falls, New York

The unit name usage by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is the Oriskany Sandstone.^[5] Butts (1940) stated that the Oriskany Sandstone "corresponds exactly with the Ridgely Sandstone" and that the rules of stratigraphic nomenclature dictate that the name Oriskany Sandstone should be applied to these strata.^[6]

Geographic extent

Appalachian Basin: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky

Stratigraphic setting

Fossils

• Paleontology portal

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in West Virginia

Interpretation of depositional environment

shallow marine

Economic resources

Oil, gas, glass sand