Stratigraphy and structure of the Hopewell fault block, Newark basin, NJ: Climatic and structural controls on sedimentation
- Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States). Dept. of Geological Sciences
The Hopewell fault, which generally strikes northeast and dips to the southeast, is a predominantly normal fault with a dip separation of 2-3 km located in the Newark rift basin of New Jersey. In order to define the geometry of the Hopewell fault and its associated structures as well as the extent to which those structures influenced sedimentation, a 14-km-wide area of the Hopewell fault and it hanging wall block was mapped. The deposits in this area belong mostly to the middle part of the Late Triassic-age Passaic Formation and have been continuously cored in the Titusville and Rutgers drill sites. As seen in core and outcrop, the middle Passaic Formation consists predominantly of red mudstone and minor sandstone (playa lacustrine deposits) cyclically alternating with purple, gray and black shale (deeper-water lacustrine deposits). The cyclical alternations were produced by fluctuating lake levels driven by climatic changes with Milankovitch periodicities. The non-red units are traceable across much of the study area, and their distribution within the hanging wall block of the Hopewell fault reveals three well-defined synclines separated by poorly defined anticlines, all of which plunge gently to the northwest (toward the Hopewell fault). The amplitude of folding decreases away from the fault, suggesting that the folds may have been at least partially controlled by the Hopewell fault. Some of the gray units are not laterally continuous across the entire mapped area, and many display along-strike facies and color changes, suggesting structural control on sedimentation. Minor faults within the Hopewell fault block strike northerly and east-southeasterly; the relative motion along these faults is uncertain. The most prominent extensional joint set in the mapped area strikes 040[degree], while a secondary set strikes 010[degree].
- OSTI ID:
- 5723061
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9303211--
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Vol. 25:2; ISSN GAAPBC; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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