Royal Shale

From West Virginia (WV) Cyclopedia

Taking its name from an outcrop in the New River Gorge near the former mines at Royal, in Raleigh County, the Royal Shale is described by the West Virginia Geological as six-feet thick, "dark to black, somewhat argillaceous, and carrying fossil shells, the genus Lingula predominating." The Royal Shale caps the seam of the Pocahontas No. 6 Coal.