Age:

Pennsylvanian

Type designation:

Type locality: The name "Upper Mariah Hill Coal" was originally used for a coal bed mined by the Mariah Hill Super Block Coal Co. in secs. 19 and 20, T. 4 S., R. 4 W., 0.25 miles (0.4 km) southeast of Mariah Hill, Spencer County, Indiana (Franklin and Wanless, 1944, p. 87, 89; Hutchison and Hasenmueller, 1986).

History of usage:

In a composite columnar section of the Pennsylvanian units in Dubois, Perry, Pike, Spencer, and Warrick Counties, Franklin and Wanless (1944, p. 87, fig. 1) referred to the coal bed as the Lower Huntingburg Coal (Hutchison, 1970; Hutchison and Hasenmueller, 1986).

This coal was later mapped as the Mariah Hill Coal by Hutchison (1959, 1964), who still later (1967) assigned it member rank in the Mansfield Formation (Hutchison and Hasenmueller, 1986).

Description:

The Mariah Hill Coal Member consists of moderately bright coal that is slightly pyritiferous and semiblocky. It ranges from 1.5 to 6.0 ft (0.5 to 1.8 m) in thickness (Hutchison and Hasenmueller, 1986). The roof of the coal is a dark-gray silty carbonaceous shale that in places is calcareous and fossiliferous and that encloses lenticular limestone that is shaly to massive, argillaceous, fossiliferous, and cherty in places (Hutchison, 1970; Hutchison and Hasenmueller, 1986). The floor of the coal is gray carbonaceous underclay or clay shale.

Distribution: The Mariah Hill can be traced along its outcrop throughout Spencer County (Hutchison, 1959) and into Dubois County (Hutchison, 1964). Toward the north edge of Dubois County, the coal becomes spotty in its distribution and is difficult to identify (Hutchison, 1970; Hutchison and Hasenmueller, 1986).

Correlations:

The Mariah Hill has been traced by mapping along its outcrop in Spencer County (Hutchison, 1959), Dubois County (Hutchison, 1964), Martin County (Hutchison, 1967), Daviess County (Hutchison, 1971), and Perry County (Hutchison, 1971) (Hutchison and Hasenmueller, 1986). Although the Mariah Hill has been tentatively correlated with the Upper Block Coal Member to the north (Franklin and Wanless, 1944) and therefore with part of the Brazil Formation, this coal actually lies within the Mansfield Formation, as shown by Hutchison (1959), some 20 to 40 ft (6 to 12 m) below the Ferdinand Bed (Hutchison, 1970; Hutchison and Hasenmueller, 1986). The Mariah Hill has also been correlated with the Dunbar Coal Bed of western Kentucky (Peppers and Popp, 1979) and on the basis of spore assemblages with the lowest coal exposed at Roaring Creek in northern Parke County, Indiana (Peppers, 1982; Hutchison, 1970; Hutchison and Hasenmueller, 1986).

Regional Indiana usage:

Illinois Basin (COSUNA 11)
Supergroup: none
Group: Raccoon Creek Group
Formation: Mansfield Formation
Member: Mariah Hill Coal Member

Misc/Abandoned Names:

Lower Huntingburg Coal, Upper Mariah Hill Coal

Geologic Map Unit Designation:

*mmh

Note: Hansen (1991, p. 52) in Suggestions to authors of the reports of the United States Geological Survey noted that letter symbols for map units are considered to be unique to each geologic map and that adjacent maps do not necessarily need to use the same symbols for the same map unit. Therefore, map unit abbreviations in the Indiana Geologic Names Information System should be regarded simply as recommendations.

COSUNA areas and regional terminology

Names for geologic units vary across Indiana. The Midwestern Basin and Arches Region COSUNA chart (Shaver, 1984) was developed to strategically document such variations in terminology. The geologic map (below left) is derived from this chart and provides an index to the five defined COSUNA regions in Indiana. The regions are generally based on regional bedrock outcrop patterns and major structural features in Indiana. (Click the maps below to view more detailed maps of COSUNA regions and major structural features in Indiana.)

COSUNA areas and numbers that approximate regional bedrock outcrop patterns and major structural features in Indiana.

Major tectonic features that affect bedrock geology in Indiana.

References:

Franklin, D. W., and Wanless, H. R., 1944, Pennsylvanian stratigraphy of part of southern Indiana: Illinois State Academy of Science Transactions, v. 37, p. 85–92.

Hansen, W. R., 1991, Suggestions to authors of the reports of the United States Geological Survey (7^th ed.): Washington, D.C., U.S. Geological Survey, 289 p.

Hutchison, H. C., 1959, Distribution, structure, and mined areas of coals in Spencer County, Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Preliminary Coal Map 8, scale1:126,720.

Hutchison, H. C., 1964, Distribution, structure, and mined areas of coals in Dubois County, Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Preliminary Coal Map 10, scale 1:126,720.

Hutchison, H. C., 1967, Distribution, structure, and mined areas of coals in Martin County, Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Preliminary Coal Map 11, scale 1:126,720.

Hutchison, H. C., 1970, Mariah Hill Coal Bed, in Shaver, R. H., Burger, A. M., Gates, G. R., Gray, H. H., Hutchison, H. C., Keller, S. J., Patton, J. B., Rexroad, C. B., Smith, N. M., Wayne, W. J., and Wier, C. E., Compendium of rock-unit stratigraphy in Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Bulletin 43, p. 106.

Hutchison, H. C., 1971, Distribution, structure, and mined areas of coals in Daviess County, Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Preliminary Coal Map 15, scale 1:126,720.

Hutchison, H. C., 1971, Distribution, structure, and mined areas of coals in Perry County, Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Preliminary Coal Map 14, scale 1:126,720.

Hutchison, H. C., and Hasenmueller, W. A., 1986, Mariah Hill Coal Member, in Shaver, R. H., Ault, C. H., Burger, A. M., Carr, D. D., Droste, J. B., Eggert, D. L., Gray, H. H., Harper, Denver, Hasenmueller, N. R., Hasenmueller, W. A., Horowitz, A. S., Hutchison, H. C., Keith, B. D., Keller, S. J., Patton, J. B., Rexroad, C. B., and Wier, C. E., Compendium of Paleozoic rock-unit stratigraphy in Indiana–a revision: Indiana Geological Survey Bulletin 59, p. 89–90.

Peppers, R. A., 1982, Palynology of coals along Roaring Creek, in Eggert, D. E, and Phillips, T. L., Environments of deposition, coal balls, cuticular shale, and gray-shale floras in Fountain and Parke Counties, Indiana: Indiana Geological Survey Special Report 30, p. 14–19.

Peppers, R. A., and Popp, J. T., 1979, Stratigraphy of the lower part of the Pennsylvanian System in southeastern Illinois and adjacent portions of Indiana and Kentucky, in Palmer, J. E., and Dutcher, R. R., eds., Depositional and structural history of the Pennsylvanian System of the Illinois Basin–Pt. 2, Invited papers, Ninth International Congress Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology, Illinois Geological Survey Guidebook Series 15a, p. 65–72.

Shaver, R. H., coordinator, 1984, Midwestern basin and arches region–correlation of stratigraphic units in North America (COSUNA): American Association of Petroleum Geologists Correlation Chart Series.