Mississippian - About 330 million years ago
Ancient seas leave limestone beneath the future county
Long before Preston County existed, a shallow tropical sea spread across the region. Sediment accumulating in this marine setting became the limestone-rich Greenbrier Formation. These ancient layers remain part of the county’s deeper bedrock, exposed only in places where folding lifted the rocks and rivers later cut deep valleys. They connect the landscape of today with a time when this area lay beneath the sea.
Research status
This entry has been checked against its named source.
The timeline wording accurately reflects the source listed below. This status does not necessarily mean the event has been independently corroborated against additional records.
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Where this entry comes from
WVGES: Physiographic Provinces and Bedrock Geology — regional Greenbrier deposition at about 330 million years ago
Geological descriptions reviewed by Dr. Joe Lebold, West Virginia University.
Research notes
What the evidence establishes
The date is an approximate regional age for Greenbrier deposition, not an exact date for every limestone bed. Greenbrier limestone is not widespread at the surface; folding and deep erosion explain its local exposures.
The museum identifies specimen 73 as Mississippian and from Preston County, but does not establish its exact collecting location or formation.
Modern place names locate the evidence; they do not imply that present-day communities or county boundaries existed at the time.
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