Geology of the Trenton Prong, west-central New Jersey

Conference · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1993 · Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:5505473

Volkert, R A ^[1]; Drake, Jr, A A ^[2]

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1. New Jersey Geological Survey, Trenton, NJ (United States)
2. Geological Survey, Reston, VA (United States)

The Trenton Prong in New Jersey is underlain by a heterogeneous sequence of rocks that is divisible into northern and southern belts separated by the steeply southeast-dipping Huntingdon Valley fault (HVF). The northern belt contains metagabbro, charnockite, and dacite/tonalite, upon which biotite-bearing quartzofeldspathic gneiss, calc-silicate gneiss, and minor marble may rest unconformably. The mineralogy and geochemistry of these rocks are remarkably similar to those of Middle Proterozoic rocks in the New Jersey Highlands, and the authors interpret them to be correlative. Northern belt rocks are unconformably overlain by the Cambrian Chickies Quartzite, which is cut off to the northeast by the HVF. The southern belt contains felsic to intermediate quartzofeldspathic gneiss and schist and minor amounts of metavolcanic rocks, all of which may be at slightly lower metamorphic grade than those in the northern belt. High TiO[sub 2] metabasalt is chemically identical to diabase dikes that intrude Middle Proterozoic rocks in the New Jersey Highlands; it is interpreted to be Late Proterozoic in age. Rocks in the southern belt have been thrust northwestward over the Chickies and Middle Proterozoic rocks along the HVF. South of the southern belt, biotite schist and gneiss of the Wissahickon Formation are thrust onto both belts of basement rocks on the HVF and a splay from the HVF, the Morrisville thrust fault. Both faults are marked by augen gneiss that shows evidence of dextral shear.

• OSTI ID: 5505473
• Report Number(s): CONF-9303211--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 25:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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