The Lower and Middle Cambrian Leithsville Formation within the Wallkill River Valley, Sussex County, New Jersey: Its stratigraphy and archaeological relevance

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

OSTI ID:5768156

Brewer, M C ^[1]

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1. Hunter College, New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Geology and Geography

The Leithsville Formation occurs as series of northeast-southwest trending outcrops within the Hamburg and Unionville Quadrangles of northwestern New Jersey. The lower Califon Member, approximately 30 feet thick, is best developed in structural sags and topographic lows on the Precambrian surface and where the Hardyston Formation (Lower Cambrian) is thin or absent. It occurs as dark gray, coarsely crystalline, stylolitic dolomite. Vugs bearing quartz, orange calcite, and clots of sphalerite are common. Archaeocyathus is present near the base of the section, which is greater than 30 feet thick in the Vernon Valley. Approximately 120 feet of the Hamburg Member occurs in the study area. The lower unit is a series of finely laminated, thinly bedded alternating phyllitic shales and dolomites that grade upward to thicker cycles of dense, dark gray dolomite with intermittent olive green sandstone units. At several locales, this unit is followed by a series of greenish-gray to reddish-brown alternating shales and dolomites, which bear mud cracks and ripple marks. A distinct rubble zone and unconformity-bounded chert sequence occurs near the top of this member. Measured sections of the poorly exposed upper Wallkill Member have revealed 70 feet of coarse grained, medium gray, stylolitic dolomite with abundant algal stromatolites. Several chert-bounded unconformities occur midway in the section, which is internally brecciated and sulfide-rich. Chert occurring as pods within this member has been the focus of prehistoric mining activity within the axis of the valley.

• OSTI ID: 5768156
• 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

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
ARCHAEOLOGY
CAMBRIAN PERIOD
CARBONATE MINERALS
CARBONATE ROCKS
CHERT
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
DOLOMITE
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGY
MINERALS
NEW JERSEY
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
PETROLOGY
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SHALES
STRATIGRAPHY
USA