Late Proterozoic rift control on the shape of the Appalachians: The Pennsylvania reentrant
- Rutgers - the State Univ., Newark, NJ (United States) New York Geological Survey, Albany, NY (United States)
- Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg (United States) New York Geological Survey, Albany, NY (United States)
The Pennsylvania reentrant, the most prominent deviation in the trend of the Appalachians, is the product of Late Proterozoic rifting. The Peters Creek Formation, Pennsylvania-Maryland Piedmont, contains rift-generated, deep-water turbidite deposits of Late Proterozoic-Cambrian( ) age. These rocks are an extension of the Westminster terrane and lie well to the northeast of the southern Appalachian Late Proterozoic-Cambrian rift basin (Lynchburg-Chilhowee Group basin). The basin into which the Peters Creek Formation was deposited may have connected the southern rift basin with one to the north. The preservation of the Peters Creek Formation and other age equivalent units within the Pennsylvania reentrant indicates that the New York promontory acted as a buttress to Paleozoic orogenic activity.
- OSTI ID:
- 5738419
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Geology; (United States), Vol. 99:6; ISSN 0022-1376
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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