Kittatinny Formation

Kittatinny Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early Cambrian to Middle Ordovician
Type sedimentary
Underlies Jacksonburg Limestone
Overlies Hardyston Quartzite
Lithology
Primary limestone
Location
Region Appalachian Basin
Extent Pennsylvania, New Jersey
Type section
Named by H. D. Rogers, 1840[1]

The Ordovician Kittatinny Formation or Kittatinny Limestone is a dolomitic limestone formation in New Jersey.[2] The Kittatinny Limestones are located primarily in the Kittatinny Valley where it lies above the Ordovician Martinsburg Formation within the long valley running from Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway Township, southwest toward Chester Township.[2] It overlies the Cambrian Hardyston Quartzite.[3]

The Kittatinny is now usually considered a Supergroup, rather than a Formation, as it includes several other Groups and Formations. Drake and Lyttle made this revision in 1980.[4] The Supergroup includes the Leithsville Formation, Allentown Dolomite, and Beekmantown Group (which in turn includes the Stonehenge Limestone, Rickenbach Dolomite, Epler Formation, and Ontelaunee Formation). Richard Dalton[5] wrote a more recent review of the stratigraphy of the Kittatinny.

The Kittatinny Limestone in New Jersey locally contains hydrocarbons and numerous accessory minerals including fluorite, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, galena, quartz, albite, and others.[3] The Kittatiny is an exception to the general rule that Paleozoic rocks in this area are generally poor aquifers, since wells drilled into it produce relatively large flows of water.[2]

The Kittatinny Formation is named for the Kittatinny Valley in which it is located. The formation is not connected to or associated with the geology of Kittatinny Mountain, the easternmost ridge of the Appalachians in New Jersey, which is composed of Shawangunk Formation, a silica-cemented combination of quartz arenite and quartz-pebble conglomerate; and the Bloomsburg Formation (known as the "Bloomsburg Red Beds"), consisting of red shale, siltstone, and sandstone.[6][7][8][9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rogers, H. D., 1840, Description of the geology of the State of New Jersey: New Jersey Geological Survey Final Report, no. 2, 301 p.
  2. 1 2 3 "Buried Valley Aquifer System : Support Document : Western Essex and Southeastern Morris Counties New Jersey". United States Environmental Protection Agency. April 1980.
  3. 1 2 Dunn, Pete J. (1995). "MAJOR FORMATIONS Chapter 8. Regional and local geology of the Franklin-Sterling Hill area". Franklin and Sterling Hill, New Jersey: the world’s most magnificent mineral deposits. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  4. ↑ Drake, A.A., Jr., and Lyttle, P.T., 1980, Alleghanian thrust faults in the Kittatinny Valley, New Jersey, IN Manspeizer, Warren, ed., Field studies of New Jersey geology and guide to field trips: New York State Geological Association Guidebook, 52nd Annual Meeting, Newark, NJ, no. 52, p. 92-114.
  5. ↑ Dalton, Richard, 1989, Stratigraphy of the "Kittatinny Limestone", IN Grossman, I.G., ed., Paleozoic geology of the Kittatinny Valley and southwest Highlands area, New Jersey; field guide and proceedings: Geological Association of New Jersey Annual Field Conference, 6th Annual Meeting, October 20–21, 1989, v. 6, p. 59-94. (Table of Contents)
  6. ↑ Ron W. Witte and Don H. Monteverde, New Jersey Geological and Water Survey Information Circular: Geologic History of New Jersey's Valley and Ridge Physiographic Province (2012). Retrieved June 30, 2015.
  7. ↑ United States Geological Survey, Mineral Resources On-Line Spatial Data: Shawangunk Formation (New Jersey). Retrieved July 5, 2015.
  8. ↑ United States Geological Survey, Mineral Resources On-Line Spatial Data: Bloomsburg Red Bed (New Jersey). Retrieved July 5, 2015.
  9. ↑ Anita G. Epstein, Jack B. Epstein, Walter J. Spink, and David S. Jennings, USGS Bulletin 1243: Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian stratigraphy of northeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and southeasternmost New York, (USGS Numbered Series. (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967. 74 pages.
Paleozoic Era
Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Carboniferous Permian
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