The initial carbonate sedimentation of the Shady began on the southern shelf of Laurentia and formed on top of the siliciclastic sequence that now make up the rocks of the Chilhowee Group.[12] These carbonate sediments formed a carbonate ramp that over time developed into a rimmed carbonate shelf.[10][11]
Lead and zinc ore bodies of the Austinville-Ivanhoe District occur in the Shady Dolomite in the vicinity of Austinville, Virginia. They are classified as Mississippi Valley Type deposits. The main ore minerals include sphalerite, galena, and hemimorphite. Formation of the ore deposits likely occurred when warm and saline groundwater moved through the Shady in the Late Paleozoic during the Alleghanian orogeny.[13][14]
Mining of the deposit began in 1756 both on the surface and underground.[15] Over 21,000 tons of lead were mined from the district through the 1860s.[15] During the American Civil War, lead from these mines was used to make ammunition for the Confederate States of America.[16] Following the war, the Bertha Mineral Company took over the mining operations mined zinc from oxidized ores of hemimorphite.[8] The New Jersey Zinc Company acquired the site in 1902 and mined both lead and zinc through 1981.[8][15] Since the 1980s, dolostone been quarried and taken from existing tailings piles on the site for agricultural use.[8][15]
^Kobluk, David R. (1985). "Biota Preserved within Cavities in Cambrian Epiphyton Mounds, Upper Shady Dolomite, Southwestern Virginia". Journal of Paleontology. 59 (5): 1158–1172. ISSN0022-3360. JSTOR1305009.
^Willoughby, Ralph (1977). Paleontology and stratigraphy of the Shady Formation near Austinville. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacks- burg, Virginia. p. 189. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^Keith, Arthur, (1903) Description of the Cranberry quadrangle [North Carolina-Tennessee]: U. S. Geological Survey Geology Atlas, Folio 90.
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