USGS Science⌕ Search

Geology topics

Research about West Virginia

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including West Virginia.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
USGS1972

Availability of low-sulphur coal in Mingo County, West Virginia

Coal-bearing rocks of the Kanawha Formation of Middle Pennsylvanian age and the Allegheny Formation of Middle and Late Pennsylvanian age crop out in Mingo County in the southwestern part of the West Virginia coal field. The Kanawha Formation contains approximately 36 coal beds, 18 of which are locally 28 inches or more thick and contain recoverable reserves of medium-volatile and high-volatile A bituminous coal; 10 of these beds are bw-sulfur coal, and 5 beds are medium-sulfur coal. Analyses are not available for 2 beds. The Allegheny contains 6 coal beds, only one of which has been mined. This coal bed is low-sulfur high-volatile C bituminous coal. Latest estimates of recoverable reserves in Mingo County (1954) show that 19 beds contain 1,365 million tons. Production from 1954 to January 1, 1967, was about 90 million tons. Remaining recoverable reserves as of January 1, 1967, therefore, totaled about 1,275 million tc:.3 of which 1,103 million tons are believed to be low-sulfur coal and 172 million tons are medium-sulfur coal.

West Virginia↗
USGS1972

Water resources data for West Virginia, water year 1971; Part 1. Surface water records; Part 2. Water quality records

Water resources data for the 1971 water year for West Virginia including records of streamflow or reservoir storage at gaging stations, partial-record stations, and miscellaneous sites, and records of water-quality data on the chemical and physical characteristics of surface water, are given in this report. In Part 1, records are included for 111 gaging stations of which 105 are streamflow discharge stations, 1 is stage only streamflow station, and 5 are reservoir or lake stations; also included are records for 5 low-flow partial-record stations, 44 crest-stage partial-record stations, and 6 miscellaneous sites. Locations of gaging stations are shown in Figure 1. In Part 2, data on the quality of surface water (chemical, temperature, and sediment) were collected from designated sampling sites at predetermined intervals such as once daily, weekly, monthly, or less frequently, and at some sites data were recorder on punched paper tape at 15-, 30-, or 60-minute intervals. Records are given for 23 sampling stations of which 10 are continuous record stations, 11 are partial-record stations, and 2 are miscellaneous sites. Locations of water-quality stations are shown in Figure 1. A few pertinent stations (not included above) in bordering States are also included in this report. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey under the direction of Edwin E. Harris, district chief. These data represent that portion of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in West Virginia.

West Virginia↗
USGS1967

A seventeenth century mandibular tumor in a North American Indian

The oldest tumor so far recorded is believed to have been a hemangioma. It occurred in a bone of a dinosaur’s tail 1 and thus considerably antedates the historical period. The oldest known human tumor is much younger, dating back only to the middle of the third century after Christ. 1 It was found in the catacombs of Kom el Shougafa in Alexandria, Egypt. This bony tumor (believed to be an osteosarcoma) occurred in the ischium and lower part of the ilium of a pelvic bone. Mention also should be made of a sixteenth century Danish skeleton from Noestried, which had 134 osteomas, and the Bovidal skull, in which there was a sinus osteoma weighing over 12 pounds. 2 Tumorlike lesions were obviously a problem in Egypt and Assyria, as dissecting instruments and instructions for tumor removal have been found. 3 Paleopathologic studies have not yet disclosed bony tumors which occurred in these periods when vigorous embalming techniques were in vogue, and it is possible that only soft-tissue tumors were of concern. Such soft-tissue tumors, of course, would not survive to the present day, and relative accounts of prehistoric neoplasms must be largely based on intraosseus or calcified tumors. Roentgenographic bone patterns, correlated with size, site, age, etc., have led archaeologists and paleopathologists to believe that most surviving ossified tumors are osteomas and osteosarcomas. 4

West Virginia↗
USGS1963

Geologic history of the teays valley in West Virginia

The segment of the abandoned pre-Pleistocene Teays Valley between Scary and Huntington, W. Va. stands 130-240 feet above the Ohio and Kanawha rivers, and its bedrock floor slopes westward at about 0.6 foot per mile. The bedrock floor is overlain by highly weathered gravel in which a soil profile developed; only resistant siliceous materials remain. As much as 100 feet of locally derived sediments overlies the basal gravel. Sand was deposited at each end of the valley but in the east-central part it grades laterally into a laminated silty clay that was deposited during a period of ponding, probably in Kansan time. These deposits are deeply eroded. Probably during Illinoian time, ponding at a lower level resulted in deposition of a younger silty clay in the western part of the valley. This silty clay is weathered to a depth of about 14 feet. During a brief ponding in Wisconsin time, a widely scattered veneer of ice-rafted unweathered pebbles of igneous and metamorphic rocks was deposited. This veneer represents the youngest Pleistocene deposits in the valley and it occurs as much as 110 feet above the present Ohio River. Depositional, weathering, erosional, and topographic evidence argues that the Teays Valley in West Virginia was abandoned in late Tertiary or early Pleistocene time by normal stream-capture processes and that prolonged weathering followed. © 1963, The Geological Society of America, Inc.

West Virginia↗
USGS1951

Flood of August 4-5, 1943, in central West Virginia, with a summary of flood stages and discharges in West Virginia

During the night of August 4-5, 1943, a violent, thunderstorm of unusual intensity occurred in parts of Braxton, Calhoun, Gilmer, Ritchie, and Wirt Counties in the Little Kanawha River Basin in central West Virginia. Precipitation amounted to as much as 15 inches in 2 hours in some sections. As a result, many small streams and a reach of the Little Kanawha River in the vicinity of Burnsville and Gilmer reached the highest stages known. Computations based on special surveys made at suitable sites on representative small streams in the areas of intense flooding indicate that peak discharges closely approach 50 percent of the Jarvis scale. Twenty-three lives were lost on the small tributaries as numerous homes were swept away by the flood, which developed with incredible rapidity during the early morning hours. Damage estimated at $ 1,300,000 resulted to farm buildings, crops, land, livestock, railroads, highways, and gas- and oil-producing facilities. Considerable permanent land damage resulted from erosion and deposition of sand and gravel.

West Virginia↗
USGS1950

Various sulfonamide treatments of furunculosis in brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis

Sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, sulfathiazole, and sulfamerazine alternated at 4‐day intervals with sulfathiazole, were compared in the treatment of furunculosis among yearling and fingerling brook trout at the Leetown Station of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kearneysville, West Virginia, in 1947. The daily dosage rates were: for sulfamerazine and sulfamethazine, 6 grams per 100 pounds of fish (13.2 grams per 100 kilograms); for sulfathiazole, 12 grams per 100 pounds. The drugs were mixed thoroughly with the food. The courses of the epizootics were very different in the two age groups. With yearlings, mortalities were as follows: controls, 100 percent; sulfathiazole, 75 percent; sulfamethazine, 62 percent; sulfamerazine‐sulfathiazole, 43 percent; sulfamerazine, 29 percent. With fingerlings, treatment was initiated sooner after the onset of the disease. Although mortality was finally heavy in the fingerling control, sulfonamide therapy was very much more effective and losses correspondingly less severe. Mortalities were as follows: controls, 90 percent; sulfathiazole, 11 percent; sulfamerazine, 8 percent; sulfamerazine‐sulfathiazole, 6 percent; sulfamethazine, 5 percent. Sulfathiazole was markedly inferior to sulfamerazine. Sulfamethazine showed sufficient promise to warrant further trial. Sulfamerazine still seems the best for an acute infection and the drug most suitable for the treatment of furunculosis in brook trout. Important was the revelation of the extreme difference in the courses of the epizootics and the apparent correlation of effectiveness of treatment with the type of epizootic. However, prompt initiation of treatment may largely explain the great effectiveness of the various drugs with the fingerlings.

West Virginia↗
USGS1950

Geologic investigation at the site of the post office building, Welch, West Virginia

Statement of Problem: Cracking in the interior and exterior walls of the post office building at Welch, West Virginia, developed in the summer of 1947. This cracking appeared about two months after the patching of similar cracks that had developed in 1946. The Public Buildings Administration was requested to investigate the damage. They, in turn, requested the Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines to furnish representatives to work with their engineer in determining the cause of the cracking. The press gave widespread publicity to the cracking of walls in the post office and other buildings in Welch. This report explains how the investigation was conducted, describes topographic, geologic, and mining conditions found during the field examination, and draws conclusions based on the facts observed.

West Virginia↗
USGS1946

Relative toxicity of suspension and oil formulations of DDT to native fishes in Back Creek, West Virginia

On July 23, 1947, a 1‐mile section of Back Creek, treated the previous year with a DDT suspension with little damage to fish, was re‐treated with an oil spray at the same rate (1 pound per acre). The oil spray killed about six times as many fish as the suspension formula. Fish began dying within 3 to 4 hours after treatment, whereas several days elapsed before mortality began with the suspension formula in 1946. In addition to larger numbers of the minnow species, some adult game fish were killed. Losses of fish were not as great below the sprayed section as when a suspension formula was used, probably because a good part of the DDT was drifted ashore by breezes or by water currents. Some species of fish such as bluntnose minnows (Hyborhynchus notatus), chub suckers (Erimyzon oblongus), and pickerel (Esox niger), although numerous, were relatively unaffected. Considerable mortality of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) occurred in liveboxes placed in the sprayed section, particularly at the lower stations. Largemouth bass nearly 4 inches long survived at a station where 54.0 percent of the 2‐inch bass were killed. This fact supplied some positive evidence that fish of larger size are better able to withstand DDT.

West Virginia↗
USGS1940

A new fungus disease of trout

A new species of fungus, for which time name Saprolegnia invaderis is proposed, was found in fingerling trout at the Leetown (West Virginia) hatchery. Infection occurs through the alimentary tract from which the fungus grows out through the body cavity and the abdominal wall to the exterior, where zoospores and chlamydospores are formed. Growth of the hyphae through the abdominal wall occurs only after the death of the host. A short technical description of the parasite is included.

West Virginia↗