Latitude:                         40° 34' 56"N

Longitude:                      79° 46' 50"W

Quadrangle:                    New Kensington 7 1/2'

Age:                                Pennsylvanian

Formation(s):                 Conemaugh Group, Glenshaw Formations, A portion of the Saltsburg sandstone interval.

Purpose:                        This site offers a wide variety of interesting sedimentary structures such as cross-beds and dewatering features. 

Outcrop is at road level. Parking available for motor coach. Park next to sidewalk at outcrop. Recommended for all age groups.

From Oakland, take any bus to downtown Pittsburgh. Then 3L to first stop off of Rt. 28 (Allegheny Valley Expressway). Walk to outcrop across from exit ramp off of Rt. 28. Return.

From the Cathedral of Learning, Drive 0.7 mi. west on Fifth Avenue. Make a Left on Craft Av. Go 0.1 mi., then make a right onto Blvd. of Allies, go 1.6 mi. then bear right onto I-579. Stay on I-579 across the Allegheny River then get onto Rt. 28 East. Stay on Rt. 28 approximately 18.4 miles to the New Kensington Exit. Bear right onto the exit ramp. At end of exit ramp, make a left. Outcrop is immediately on the right.

See map and figures.

This site contains a sequence of alternating siltstones, fine-grained sandstones and shales in the interval of the Saltsburg sandstone. The siltstones and sandstones contain spectacular examples of cross-bedding and soft-sediment deformation.

Geologic History: Environment of Deposition:

These rocks may represent a crevasse splay coming off the a large Saltsburg channel.

Click on the thumbnails below for pictures of the outcrops:

A view of a portion of the outcrop.

A  close-up of some of the spectacular cross-beds in this sandstone interval.

Distorted cross beds may indicate dewatering or soft- sediment deformation.

No fossils found here.

Cross, A. T., 1971, The Geology of the Pittsburgh Coal, West Virginia Geological Survey Report of Investigations, No. 10., 99 p.

Edmunds, W. E., Skema, V. W., Flint, N. K., 1999, Pennsylvanian, in Shultz, C. H., ed, The Geology of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Geological Survey Special Publication 1, p. 149-169.

Gillespie, W. H., Clendening, J. A., and Pfefferkorn, H. W., 1978, Plant Fossils of West Virginia, West Virginia Geological Survey Educational Series ED-3A, 172p.

Johnson, M. E., 1928, Geology and Mineral Resources of the Pittsburgh Quadrangle, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Geological Survey Bulletin A 27, 236 p.

Leighton, H. 1945, The Geology of Pittsburgh and its Environs: A Popular Account of the General Geological Features of the Region: Carnegie Institute Press, 2nd edition, Pittsburgh, PA , 80p.

Shaw, E. W., and Munn, M. J., 1911, Geologic Atlas of the United States: Burgettstown-Carnegie Folio, United States Geological Survey Folio 177 Field Edition, 123p.

Wagner, W. R., and others, 1970, Geology of the Pittsburgh Area: Pennsylvania Geological Survey General Geology Report G 59, 145p.

Click here for  an image of the County Geologic Map (1880)