Pennsylvanian System

Type Iocality and use of name: The name Raben Branch was first used for exposures of a thin coalbed along the small stream of Raben Branch in the SE¼ sec. 11, T. 5 S., R. 12 W., Posey County, Ind. (Malott, 1948, p. 132). This coal was assigned member status in the Patoka Formation by Wier (1965) and is here given the slightly modified name Raben Branch Coal Member.

Description: The Raben Branch member, a thin coal or smut streak about an inch (0.03 m) thick lying on a thin underclay, is a persistent marker bed in Vanderburgh and Posey Counties. This unit is overlain by a thin sideritic clay containing numerous shells and imprints of the conchostracan Estheria. The Raben Branch lies 20 feet (6 m) below the Parker Coal Member and 1 to 5 feet (0.3 to 1.5 m) above the Dicksburg Hills Sandstone Member, both of the Patoka Formation.

Correlation: The Womac Coal Member of the Modesto Formation of Illinois has been correlated with the Raben Branch by Hopkins and Simon (1975, p. 196).