File:Upper Mercer Limestone over Bedford Coal (Middle Pennsylvanian; Noland Tunnel's north portal outcrop, Tunnel Hill, Coshocton County, Ohio, USA) 3 (30815183376).jpg

Limestone over coal in the Pennsylvanian of Ohio, USA.

This eastern Ohio exposure is in the Pottsville Group, a Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic succession containing nonmarine shales, marine shales, siltstones, sandstones, coals, marine limestones, and chert ("flint"). The lower Pottsville dates to the late Early Pennsylvanian. The upper part dates to the early Middle Pennsylvanian. The Lower-Middle Pennsylvanian boundary is apparently somewhere near the Boggs Member (?).

The Upper Mercer Limestone is a moderately laterally persistent chertified limestone horizon in the Pottsville Group. It is often composed of black-colored chert/flint but can be dark bluish to bluish-black colored as well (the latter colors are referred to as "Nellie Blue Flint"). Upper Mercer Flint has whitish-colored fossils and fossil fragments that include fusulinid foraminifera, crinoid ossicles, and other Late Paleozoic normal marine fossils. Apparent phylloidal algae can also be present as squiggly lines.

Non-chertified limestone is frequently present in the Upper Mercer horizon, although minor in volume. Limestone usually occurs along the outside portions of chert masses, but also in relatively small patches within the chert.

In places, the Upper Mercer Flint/Limestone horizon is missing, usually removed by paleoerosion.

American Indians sometimes used Upper Mercer Flint to make arrowheads and spear points and knife blades. "Flint Ridge Flint" (= Vanport Flint) was the most desirable source rock for these objects, but other chert horizons also attracted attention.

At this outcrop, limestone makes up most of the Upper Mercer, which is unusual. Black, irregularly-shaped flint nodules are present in the limestone.

The upper ledge is the Upper Mercer Limestone. The recessed area (shadowed) is mostly shale. The lower ledge is the Bedford Coal, which at this site is composed of bituminous coal and cannel coal. Below the coal is an "underclay", composed of shale that has been subjected to chemical weathering from minor sulfuric acid percolating downward from the coal. The sulfuric acid was generated by oxidation of pyrite (in the presence of water) in the coal. Pyrite in the Bedford Coal occurs as small nodules, disseminated tiny crystals, and is in partially pyritized fossil charcoal.

Stratigraphy: Upper Mercer Limestone over Bedford Coal, upper Pottsville Group, Atokan Stage, lower Middle Pennsylvanian