Greene Formation

Greene Formation is a geologic formation located in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania that has been dated to the Seymouran Land-Vertebrate Faunachron of the Early Permian. It is the youngest formation within the Dunkard Group, putting it right above the Washington Formation stereographically.

Description

The geology of the Greene Formation mostly contains a mix of shaly sandstone and shale with facies containing limestone and coal. Though the currently preserved thickness of the formation is around 200 meters, the top of the formation has been eroded away, making it impossible to tell the full depth of the formation.

Paleobiota

Chondrichthyes

Dipnoi

Lepospondyli

Synapsida

Temnospondyli

Tetrapodamorpha

Plants

Paleoenvironment

The paleoenvironment of the Greene Formation was a lake in a seasonal dry area shown by the large amounts of vertisols, especially when compared to earlier formations in the group. Around the lake there would have been both seed ferns and lycophytes though much fewer in numbers than earlier in the Dunkard Group; being shown by the steady decrease in the amount and depth of coal layers within the group. The overall trends in the paleosols of the Greene Formation are seen in the general transition to more arid climates from the Pennsylvanian to Middle Permian.