Exploration rationales were developed for extending Devonian shale exploration eastward in West Virginia and adjacent states, away from present production, toward and into the central and eastern Plateau province where the shales are deeper, mostly involved in detached tectonics, and little tested or untested. One rationale predicts more fracture rock over the eastern and western border faults of the Rome trough, particularly in and near Kanawha County, West Virginia. The second is a two-step rationale. First broad areas or stratigraphic intervals that are thermally mature, and have adundant organic carbon derived from nonmarine sources. Second, use a newly developed estimator of joint surface area per unit volume or rock (intensity), and of intensity's uncertainty, to select specific drilling sites by examining exposed analogues of subsurface structures that are being considered for further exploration. Specifically, cross-strike structural discontinuities (CSDs) are alignments of disruptions in structural or geomorphic patterns, and contain on the order of 1000 cubic km of intensely jointed rock. Within areas outlined by this approach, drill on intersections of short air-photo lineaments in CSDs, east of the western limit of detachment in or below the Devonian shales.