English: Black shales in the Devonian of Kentucky, USA.

This is an outcrop of the New Albany Shale, a Devonian-aged formation in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and eastern Missouri. The unit is dominated by dark-colored marine mudshales of Late Devonian age. These black shales were generally deposited in a moderately deep, anoxic seafloor environment. This was a widespread lithofacies during the Late Devonian's Global Anoxia Event. The New Albany Shale is equivalent to the Ohio Shale, the Antrim Shale, and the Chattanooga Shale in surrounding states. The New Albany Shale's member terminology varies from region to region.

The upper part of this cut consists of the Huron Shale Member (also known as the Clegg Creek Member). The middle part is the Camp Run Member. The lower part of the cut has Trousdale / Blocher Member dolomitic shales. Unconformably underlying the Trousdale (not seen in this shot) is a Middle Devonian carbonate unit called the Duffin Limestone.

Stratigraphy: Huron Shale / Clegg Creek Member over the Camp Run Member over the Trousdale / Blocher Member, New Albany Shale / Ohio Shale / Chattanooga Shale, upper Middle Devonian to Upper Devonian

Locality: roadcut on the eastern side of Route 127, just south of Bowens Road intersection & just north of bridge over Harris Creek, ~3 miles south of Junction City, northwestern Lincoln County, central Kentucky, USA (37˚ 32.619’ North latitude, 84˚ 48.135’ West longitude) (= Stop 3A of Schieber & Lazar, 2004, pp. 24-29)

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Info. at:

Schieber, J. & R. Lazar (eds.). 2004. Devonian black shales of the eastern U.S. New insights into sedimentology and stratigraphy from the subsurface and outcrops in the Illinois and Appalachian Basins. Field Guide for the 2004 Annual Field Conference of the Great Lakes Section of SEPM. Indiana Geological Survey Open-File Study 04-05. 90 pp.