The Amature Paleontolgist"s Guide to
Fossils in and around Maryland
Maryland's Appalachian Plateau Province
The Appalachian Plateau Province includes that part of Allegany County west of Dans Mountain and all of Garrett County, the westernmost county in Maryland. The bedrock of this region consists principally of gently folded shale, siltstone, and sandstone. Folding has produced elongated arches across the region which expose Devonian rocks at the surface. Most of the natural gas fields in Maryland are associated with these anticlinal folds in the Appalachian Plateau. In the intervening synclinal basins, coal-bearing strata of Pennsylvanian and Permian ages are preserved.
