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 00:00:00 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-; CODEN: GAAPBC
• Journal Information: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:2; Conference: 28. annual Geological Society of America (GSA) Northeastern Section meeting, Burlington, VT (United States), 22-24 Mar 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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