The Devonian Marcellus Formation (or Marcellus Shale) is the major sedimentary bedrock unit under the Allegheny Plateau Region of North America. It gets it's name from the original outcropping found near Marcellus, New York during a geological seurvey in 1839.

 

 

In recent years it has received an explosion in attention from the energy development community because of it's potential as a source of untapped natural gas. This is particularly important because the Marcellus formation exists in an area of North America where the demand for energy is also high.

 

The result of this combination of factors is a drastic increase in the value of drilling rights for natural gas in the areas on top of the Marcellus shale, namely western and northern Pennsylvania, Southern New York, and most of West Virginia.

 

What does it look like? One can see Marcellus Shale is several areas of Central Pennsylvania where it has been "peeled" to the surface. Dr. Terry Engelder has document these on his wb-site. Here: http://www.geosc.psu.edu/~engelder/marcellus/marcellus.html

 

For more detailed information on the Marcellus Formation please see Wikipedia's entry: Marcellus Formation.

 

Recently  Updated Marcellus Shale Thickness Map - Thanks to EXCO - March 2008

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronholog/SusquehannaPAGasPipe/photo#5220745112872439666

 

 

 

 

 

 

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