Porosity logs run in uncased sections of oil and gas wells in Boone and Logan Counties, West Virginia, indicate that several potentially minable coal beds are present in the lower coal measures. Geophysical-log correlations indicate that the New River Formation may contain continuous, minable coals, at developable

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depths, over an area of about 50 sq mi (130 sq km).

Coals "of the New River type" were reported in 1915 as far north as the town of Danville and as far west as the hamlet of Mud, Boone County, West Virginia. Examination of drillers' logs of wells drilled in the study area since that time shows that New River coals were reported in a significant number of the logs examined.

New River Formation coals in the study area are thought to correlate with the Sewell and Beckley coals, farther south and east in West Virginia. Log signatures indicate that the Sewell is a single bench coal about 3 ft (1 m) thick. The coal is overlain by a shale unit about 5 ft (1.5 m) thick which is in turn overlain by a sandstone unit interbedded with thin shales; the unit ranges in thickness from 40 to 100 ft (12 to 30 m). The Sewell is underlain by a shale unit about 50 ft (15 m) thick.

The Beckley coal is about 70 ft (21 m) below the Sewell and is also overlain by a thin shale unit which is in turn overlain by a 25-ft (7.5 m) thick sandstone unit. The sandstone is also interbedded with thin shales. The Beckley coal lies directly on the Pocahontas Formation in the southern part of the study area; the coal is about 70 ft (21 m) above the top of the Pocahontas in the northern part of the area.

These New River Formation coals lie at depths as shallow as 300 ft (90 m) along the Warfield anticline, near Madison, West Virginia. The combination of shallow depth and indicated minable thickness may make the coals amenable to future shaft mining. Their location along the anticlinal axis makes them prospective targets for shallow, low-yield gas wells.

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