The Chattanooga Shale of the Newman Ridge syncline lies stratigraphically above the Silurian Hancock Dolomite and below the siltstone and shale of the Mississippian Grainger Formation. Core examination indicates that the Chattanooga is predominately a black shale composed of clay, finely divided carbonaceous material, and quartz. Seventy-five % of the sequence cored is black, brownish-black, or grayish-black shale; the remaining 25 percent is made up of lighter shades of gray to greenish-gray clay shale and siltstone. Siltsize quartz is disseminated throughout the unit and also as very thin laminae. Minor to trace amounts of pyrite are common throughout the core.