Taylorsville Basin, which is a Triassic-Jurassic basin located in the north eastern section of Virginia which trends north east under the Potomac river into Maryland, is one of the largest basins on the east coast of North America. It is 175 kilometers long, trending northeast to southwest. It is 50 kilometers wide and approximately 4 kilometers thick at its thickest recorded point. The Taylorsville basin is overlain with coastal plain deposits and has very few natural outcrops (LeThourneu, 1999). The majority of the information known about the Taylorsville Basin are provided though well logs cuttings and cores. There are also several seismic reflection profiles, all funded and done by oil companies, mainly Exxon…show more content… These rifts formed a series of half grabens found along the eastern coast of North America. These half grabbens subsequently filled in with Early Mesozoic sediments in the Taylorsville Basin. These sediments have been the interest of many mineral exploration companies because of their presence of coal and liquid hydrocarbons. (LeThourneu, 1999) These coal and liquid hydrocarbon deposits are a good indication of climate of the region during the time of deposition. Coal indicates that the the climate was favorable for plant life: tropical or subtropical climates. It also shows us that there was a period of high sediment deposition that buried the organic matter, which is required to cause the appropriate conditions to cause the transformation from hummus to…show more content… These were deposited by many different fluvial cycles resulting in two major groups: The Doswell Group and the King George Group. The Doswell Group is broken into two formations, listed from lowest to highest: The South Anna Formation, and the Falling Creek Formation. The King George Group, this group is broken into three groups, listed from lowest to highest: the Newfound Formation, the Port Royal Formation, and the Leedstown Formation. The Doswell Group can be separated into two formations: the fluvial South Anne Formation, and the lacustrine Falling Creek Formation. The South Anne Formation consists of course conglomerates and sandstones. The fluvial deposits of the South Anne Formation are organized into a succession of fining upward sandstones, indicating a period of regression. The sandstone of the the South Anne Formation are over lain with sandy, organic rich, siltstone comprised of flood plain deposits (LeThourneu,
