Abstract

The 17 authors of papers in the AAPG special volume on the Pennsylvania system wrote of their several areas with view points colored by the special conditions of each region. A national point-of-view of the Pennsylvanian history of these regions, coordinating the information in the several articles, seems desirable. The talk consists of discussions of inter-regional relationships, of reefs and limestone banks, of cyclical sedimentary sequence, of basinal deposits, and of other general geologic problems.

The Pennsylvanian System is a complex and intriguing sequence of rocks. Economic products from Pennsylvanian rocks include oil and gas, ceramics, iron, stone. An understanding of these rocks is an economic and scientific necessity. The problems of the various areas differ greatly as the rocks differ. In New England the Pennsylvanian rocks are metamorphic, in the Appalachians they are non-marine, in part of the Cordilleran area they are limestone , in Arkansas and southern Oklahoma they are sandstone and shale, in most midcontinent states they are cyclical. In each area a particular system of classification is employed and methods of study are used unlike those of the other regions.

Regional patterns in Pennsylvanian rocks will be discussed, and these compared with patterns of other regions.