Stratigraphy and Stmcture

Across the Blue Ridge and Inner

Piedmont in Central Virginia

Culpeper to Charlottesville, Virginia

July 15-16, 1989

Field Trip Guidebook T207

Leader: James F. Conley

American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.

 Published 1989 by American Geophysical Union

2000 Florida Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009

ISBN: 0-81590-579-X

Printed in the United States of America

COVER View from west limb of the Blue Ridge anticlinorium
looking east across the structure from the top of Afton
Mountain, west of Charlottesville. The mountains that can be
observed in the background in the extreme upper left-hand
corner of the photograph are underlain by metabasalts of the
Catoctin Formation, which dip to the southeast off the south-
eastern limb of the anticlinorium. The Rockfish Valley fault
is located in the snow-covered valley just east of the low
hills in the foreground.
 Leader:

James F. Conley
Virginia Division of Mineral Resources
Alderman & McCormick Rds.
Box 3667
Charlottesville, VA 22903
 IGC FIELD TRIP T207:
STRATIGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE AND INNER
PIEDMONT IN CENTRAL VIRGIHIA
James F. Conley
Virginia Division of Mineral Resources, Charlottesville
nrrRODUCTION
This field t r i p is based on
reconnaissance geologic mapping in the
0 0
Charlottesville 1 X 2 quadrangle as part
of a new edition of the Geologic Map of
Virginia (Figure 1). The first day of the
field trip will be spent examining high-rank
Grenville-age basement rocks that make up
the core of the Blue Ridge anticlinorium.
The second day will be spent examining
greenschist facies Precambrian and Early
Paleozoic metasedimentary and metavolcanic
cover rocks that unconformably overlie the
Grenville basement and dip to the southeast,
off the southeastern limb of the
anticlinorium.
illIIIIII] AREA OF STUDY
FIGURE 1 Index map of Virginia showing
location of the study, area.
ROCKS IN THE CORE OF THE BLUE RIDGE
ARI'ICLINORIOM
In the area of this field trip possibly
pre-Grenville, high-rank banded gneisses and
Grenville-age metaigneous rocks form the
core of the Blue Ridge anticlinorium (Figure
2) . These ancient core rocks have been
intruded by Late Precambrian and younger
granitic, basaltic, and gabbroic plutons and
by felsic and mafic dikes of latest
Precambrian to Early Paleozoic age and
diabase dikes of Late Triassic-Early
Jurassic age. The Grenville core is
subdivided into a northwestern (granulite)
terrane and a southeastern (retrograded)
terrane that may also contain relict
granulite facies rocks. These two terranes
seem to have had different geologic
T207:
histories and are separated from each other
by the Rockfish Valley ductile deformation
zone (Bartholomew and others, 1981). The
Rockfish Valley is a major right-lateral
shear zone that developed under greenschist-
grade conditions and is of probable Taconic
·age. Both the Grenville-age core rocks and
younger cover rocks have been subjected to
greenschist grade metamorphism that probably
occurred during this same Taconic orogenic
event.
The Grenville and younger-age rocks in
the core of the anticlinorium are
unconformably overlain by low-rank
metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of
Late Precambrian to Early Cambrian age that
dip to the northwest and to the southeast
off the limbs of the structure. The
southeastern limb of the fold also contains
five elongate belts of low-rank
metasedimentary cover rocks (rocks of the
Lynchburg Group) that have been either
infolded or tectonically emplaced into the
rocks that make up the core of the
structure. Fault zones occur on one or both
sides of these belts, but are not traceable
continuously along the borders of these
belts. The most persistent of these
metasedimentary belts is named the Mechums
River Formation and can be traced for over
sixty miles in a southwesterly direction
from the northeastern part of the study
area, to its termination, just south of the
southern boundary of the Charlottesville lOX
0
2 quadrangle. The Rockfish Valley ductile
deformation zone occurs along the western
boundary of the Mechums River Formation
throughout part of its trace and Nelson
(1962) interprets the Mechums River belt to
be a graben. It is debateable whether these
belts containing low-rank metasedimentary
rocks represent true grabens in which the
metasedimentary rocks were originally
deposited, or these rocks were part of the
overlying metasedimentary cover and were
later downfau1ted into the core of the
structure. Certainly many of the faults
that now border these belts are younger than
the metasedimentary rocks found in the
belts.
r- 7_9°r0;...::0~· ---:...7~8°00'
39°00.

EXPLANATION PZ

JURASSIC {JD Diabase

TRIASSIC {R Sedimentary rocks
EG Ellisville Granodiorite
GG Green Springs granite
GA Green Springs gabbro
CH Chopawamsic Formation
PALEOZOIC Candler Formation
CB Back arc basin deposits
ES Esmont slate
EC Esmont slate, lower clastic unit
PZ Paleo~oic rocks, Valley 8c Ridge
C Catoctin Formation GB Gabbro
S Swift Run Formation
Charlottesville Formation
LU Upper Unit, meta-arkose
L L Lower Unit
LJ Johnson Mill Formation LYNCHBURG
LW Metagraywacke GROUP
Fauquier Formation
LE Metasiltstone
LA Meta-arkose
PRECAMBRIAN LO Outliers, Lynchburg Group
LM Mechums River rocks
R Robertson River Formation
B Biotite metamonzonite
A Biotite augen gneiss
L Leucogranite gneiss
CK Charnockite
CG Coarse ortho (1) granulite
G Granulite gneiss F Flint Hill Gneiss

CONTACT
U ~ FAULT: U, upthrown side;
D D downthrown sIde; T, upper sheet; arrows
i~dicate direction of relative movement
m MYLONITE

SCALE
0
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15

miles
20
,
0 10 15
i ]

kilometers

FIGURE 2 Geologic map of the Blue Ridge and Piedmont parts of the
0
Charlottesville 1 0 X 2 quadrangle. Units below the Robertson River
Formation are Grenville and pre-Grenville.

Northwestern Terrane by charnockite plutons. The chamockites,

in turn, have been intruded by leucogranites
The northwestern terrane, which lies to (leucogranite gneiss) that are
the northwest of the Rockfish Valley ductile indistinguishable from leucogranites
deformation zone, is composed of contained in the Old Rag and Crozet plutons.
compositionally layered orthopyroxene
granulite gneisses that have been intruded Layered granulite gneisses. The oldest

T207: 2
rocks of the northwestern terrane are
compositionally l~yered gneisses that have
reached pyroxene granulite grade during the
Grenville orogeny. The layered granulite
gneisses (Stop 9, Figure 3) are medium
greenish gray and range from medium to
coarse grained. The layered granulite
gneisses are generally equigranular-
granoblastic, and show a slight to strong
gneissic banding that is produced by
oriented, slightly elongated feldspars and
amphiboles. In addition, the layered
granulite gneisses may show compositional
banding produced by alternating quartz-
feldspar layers and layers rich in amphibole
and pyroxene.
The compositional layers are highly
variable in thickness and range from a
locally non-banded rock on outcrop scale to
a rock that shows alternating bands that are
less than an inch (2.5 cm) in thickness.
Although previous authors (Bartholomew and
others, 1981; Sinha and Bartholomew, 1984)
have given formational names to these rocks,
based on variations in textures, they have
not been subdivided in the present study.
An exception is a coarse-grained , banded,
and banded-augen gneiss, thought to be an
orthogranulite, that has been mapped as a
seperate unit (Figure 2). These high-rank
gneisses border between monzonite and quartz
diorite and are composed of perthite,
plagioclase (An 30), garnet (locally
present), blue and smoky-blue quartz,
ilmenite, apatite, and hypersthene (much of
which may be altered to uralite). The
alteration minerals chlorite, epidote,
sericite, ane uralitic amphibole were formed
in a later, post-Grenville metamorphic event
( Taconic orogeny?). The segregation
banding is produced by a slight increase of
orthopyroxene in the darker bands, and in
many cases has been accentuated by
alteration of pyroxene to uralitic
amphiobole and chlorite during a later
greenschist retrograde event. Compositional
variability produces the banding; however,
overall composition is quite uniform if one
takes into account the composition of the
rock as a whole, and not just the
variability between light and dark bands.
Charnockite. Charnockites (Stop 21,
Figure 3) (orthopyroxene quartz
monzodiorites) have intruded the layered
granulite gneiss along the northwestern limb
of the Blue Ridge anticlinorium. Locally
these rocks occur in a fairly wide belt
along this northwestern limb of the
anticlinorium in the central and
southwestern parts of the study area; but
are almost totally absent in the northern
T207: 3
part of the area. In most areas, the
charnockites are unconformably overlain by
folded, Late Precambrian-Early Cambrian
cover rocks that dip to the northwest, off
the northwestern limb of the anticlinorium.
The charnockites are coarse grained (2-6
cm), xenomorphic-granular, mesocratic to
melanocratic plutonic rocks that contain
xenoliths of layered rock (altered granulite
gneiss?) and a massive, fine-grained biotite
gneiss. A few samples of charnockite do not
show retrograde metamorphism as seen in thin
section. Foliation is absent, except in
areas cut by post-Grenville-age shear zones
that have produced a shear foliation and
deformed large feldspars to produce an augen
gneiss. The rock ranges from dark greenish
gray to greenish black and contains grayish-
green potassic feldspars. These feldspars
contain barium and have a greasy appearance.
On weathering the feldspars lose their green
color, have a bleached appearance, and the
rock loses its dark color. Disintegration
of the rock produces a coarse quartz-
feldspar scree that in the past has been
mistakenly mapped as Crozet Granite
(referred to in this report as leucogranite
gneiss).
The charnockites are composed of about
50% plagioclase, 18% brown pargasite, 12%
orthopyroxene (on which kelephitic rims of
ura1ite and chlorite may be developed), 10%
perthite, 5-7% quartz, and 3% opaque
minerals. Vermicular intergrowths of quartz
embays perthite. Reddish-brown, titanium-
rich biotite is locally present; a pale-
green biotite may also be present. The
pargasite is embayed by plagioclase and
appears to be of primary origin. The
presence of the primary hydrous minerals
occurring with orthopyroxene suggests that
these rocks formed under high water pressure
and high total pressure, suggesting in the
order of 30 km of burial.
The charnockites in this study have not
been dated using radiometeric methods;
however, stratigraphic relationships show
that they contain xenoliths of layered
granulite gneiss and are, in turn, intruded
by cross-cutting dikes of leucogranite
gneiss.
Southeastern Terrane
The southeastern terrane is composed of
the Flint Hill Gneiss (Lukert and others,
1977), a migmatitic banded biotite gneiss
that is intruded by leucogranite gneiss,
biotite augen gneiss, biotite quartz
monzonite, and the Robertson River
Formation. The Flint Hill is thought by
the writer to be a pre-Grenville country
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rock that is equivalent to the layered
granulite gneiss northwest of the ductile
deformation zone.
Judging from cross-cutting relationships
and xenoliths contained in the plutons that
invade the layered granulite gneisses and
the Flint Hill Gneiss, this writer must
conclude, (1) that the layered granulite
gneiss of the northwestern terrane, situated
northwest of the Rockfish Valley ductile
deformation zone, has been intruded by
charnokite plutons that do not intrude the
s ou t he a s t ern t err an e; and (2 ) the
southeastern terrane has been invaded by a
sequence of plutons that do not intrude the
northwestern (granulite gneiss) terrane,
namely the biotite augen gneiss and biotite
quartz monzonite of Grenville age and the
granites of the Robertson River Formation of
Late Precambrian-post- Grenville age. Both
terranes have been intruded by the
leucogranite gneiss; therefore it can be
used as a stratigraphic reference. In the
northwestern terrane, the leucogranite
gneiss intrudes both the layered granulite
gneisses and the charnockites. In the
southeastern terrane, the 1eucocratic gneiss
intrudes the Flint Hill Gneiss, but is
older than the biotite augen gneiss and
biotite quartz monzonite plutons that also
intrude the Flint Hill. This is shown by
the fact that the biotite augen gneiss
contains xenoliths of 1eucocratic gneiss and
the biotite quartz monzonite contains
xenoliths of of biotite augen gneiss. In
contrast, James W. Clarke (personal
communication) has found xenoliths of
biotite augen gneiss in 1eucocratic gneiss
in the Marshall (granite) pluton located
east of the present study area. This
contradictory evidence might suggest a
younger age for the Marshall pluton.
The southeastern terrane has been
intruded by the Robertson River Formation, a
suite of Late Precambrian, post-Grenville
pera1ka1ine granitic plutons that are
correlated with the Crossnore p1utonic-
volcanic group (Rankin, 1975).
Flint Hill Gneiss. The Flint Hill Gneiss
(Stop 4, Figure 3) is a light to medium-
gray, compositionally layered biotite gneiss
of quartz monzonite composition that is the
oldest rock recognized in the southeastern
terrane. It, like the layered granulite
gneiss, is a segregation-banded rock and
could have been produced from the same
parent rock as the layered granulite gneiss.
The writer believes that both the layered
granulite gneiss and the Flint Hill are part
of an older sequence of country rocks that
have been intruded by Grenville and post-
T207: 6
Grenville age plutons. The Flint Hill is
similar in mineralogy and appearance to the
Stage Road Layered Gneiss described by Sinha
and Bartholomew (1984) in central Virginia,
that seems to hold a similar stratigraphic
position to the Flint Hill. Unlike the
layered granulite gneiss, which contains
orthopyroxene in its darker segregation
bands, the darker segregation bands in the
Flint Hill ~re composed of biotite-rich
layers that alternate with quartz-feldspar
layers. The Flint Hill contains
considerably more melt zones than the
layered granulite gneiss and is locally
migmatitic, suggesting that it formed either
under lower pressure or higher temperature
conditions than the layered granulite
gneiss, which allowed more melt rock to
develop during the peak of Grenville
metamorphism. Smoky quartz and blue quartz
veins have also intruded the Flint Hill.
The average composition of the Flint Hill
is 30% quartz, 40% microc1ine, 20%
oligoclase (Clarke, 1984) and 10% accessory
minerals. Light-colored bands of the Flint
Hill are composed of microc1ine, plagioclase
(oligoclase), perthite, and garnet; the dark
bands contain reddish-brown, titanium-rich
biotite. Accessory minerals are rutile,
ilmenite, magnetite, zircon, apatite and
alteration minerals are green biotite,
chlorite, sphene, and epidote. The gneiss
is also cut by a spaced slip cleavage at an
acute angle to compositional layering
that deforms the rock into sigmoidal-shaped
masses. A penetrative cleavage that appears
to be parallel to this slip cleavage is
observed in mafic dikes, altered by
potassium metasomatism (minettes), that
cross-cut the Flint Hill. However, Late
Precambrian metadiabase dikes (thought to be
feeder dikes for the overlying Catoctin
metabasalt lava flows) do not show
development of this secondary cleavage. The
Flint Hill had developed its segregation
banding prior to the peak of Grenville
matamorphism as shown by partial melting of
1eucocratic bands and development of
migmatite bands, and the emplacement of
cross-cutting granite and pegmatite dikes
and blue quartz veins across this banding.
Lukert and others (1977) state that a date
of 1081 m.y. has been obtained from the
Flint Hill, which (to them) suggests that
either the Flint Hill is of Grenville age or
the uranium-thorium clocks were reset during
the Grenville and the Flint Hill is actually
older than Grenville. Sinha and Bartholomew
(1984) have found that the correlative ?
Stage Road layered gneiss contains two
zircon populations; an older detrital
population that gives a pre-Grenville
 207 206
Pb /Pb age of 1420 m.y. and a younger,
euhiB7a1 ~8gu1ation that gives a
Pb /Pb concordant age of 915 m.y.
Lukert and others (1977) cite the
relative homogeniety and granitic
composition of the Flint Hill to indicate
that it was an igneous rock. Sinha and
Bartholomew (1984) find a bimodal Si0
2
content and a calc-alkaline composition for
the layered granulite gneiss and a similar
composition for the Stage Road layered
gneiss. In addition, Herz and Force (1987)
propose that the layered granulite gneiss
was derived from mixed volcanic and
sedimentary protoliths as indicated by the
presence of garnet and graphite and by use
of discrimipation functions developed by
Shaw (1972) involving major elements. The
banding found in these rocks could have been
inherited from a mixed metasedimentary and
metavolcanic proto1ith; however, one might
expect that metamorphic rocks of mixed
sedimentary and volcanic origin would show
more pronounced compositional differences
and contain high-alumina layers. It is
suspec ted, but not proven, that some of the
segregation banding was produced by shearing
and total recrystallization of the rock at
the peak of the Grenville metamorphic event.
Unfortunately, metamorphism has erased all
vestages of primary structures that might
have given clues to the genesis of the rock.
Leucogranite gneiss. Plutonic bodies of
leucogranite, now metamorphosed to a
leucogranite gneiss (Stop 10, Figure 3), are
ubiqutous in the Grenville core of the Blue
Ridge anticlinorium and there are a number
of leucogranite gneiss plutons that intrude
layered granulite gneisses and charnockites
northwest of the Rockfish Valley ductile
deformation zone and the Flint Hill layered
biotite gneiss southeast of this zone.
These leucogranite gneiss plutons are the
only intrusive rocks that have been
recognized in both the northwestern and
southeastern terranes and, for this reason,
can be used to estimate the the time of
emplacement of plutons on either side of the
Rockfish Valley ductile deformation zone.
Intrusive bodies composed of 1eucocratic
gneiss have been referred to by various
names including 1eucogneiss, Marshall
Granite (Jonas, 1928), Old Rag Granite
(Furcron, 1934), and Crozet Granite (Nelson,
1962). The leucogranite gneiss occurs as
small dikes and sills that range from less
than a meter to several meters across, as
well as large irregular shaped bodies such
as the Old Rag and Crozet plutons, which are
up to 10 km long and 7 km across. The
T207: 7
larger plutons are limited to the
northwestern terrane, whereas the
southeastern terrane contains only small
intrusive bodies of leucogranite gneiss.
The mineralogic composition of the
migmatite bands found in both the layered
granulite gneiss and the Flint Hill Gneiss
are similar to that of the leucogranite
gneiss, indicating that the leucogranite
gneiss may have been derived from partial
melting of older country rock. Lukert and
others (1977) equate the granite and
pegmatites that intrude the Flint Hill with
the Old Rag Granite of Furcron (1934)
(leucogranite gneiss of this report).
The leucogranite gneiss is an
inequigranu1ar to porphyritic rock that has
a xenomorphic-granu1ar groundmass. Grain
size in these various meta-granite plutons
is variable; but, in general it is coarse to
very coarse grained. The main components of
the rock are white feldspar and blue quartz,
which produce a striking appearance in hand
specimens. Blue quartz masses and veins may
cut the metagranite bodies. In thin
section, quartz grains are strained, show
undulatory extinction and some occur as
aggregates of polygonal grains.
The leucogranite gneiss is composed of
about 38% perthite, 25% quartz, 10%
plagioclase, 10% biotite, 8% muscovite
(including sericite), 5% sphene, 2% opaque
minerals, and 2% epidote. Biotite is very
common around the periphery of the plutons
and may be almost absent near the center of
larger intrusive bodies and in cross-cutting
dikes. This suggests that contamination
occurred around the perimeters of the bodies
from the country rock that they intruded.
Feldspars are partially altered to sericite
and p1agioc1ases are partially altered to
epidote. Sphene occurs as alteration rims
on opaque minerals (ilmenite 7). Fine-
grained, pale-green biotite is also a
product of metamorphism. The rock has a
gneissic foliation, produced by flattening
of feldspar and quartz grains.
Espenshade (1986) reports a
207Pb/
206Pb
age of 1010 m.y. for the Marshall Granite
(pluton) and notes that lead-uranium dates
from this unit were slightly discordant.
Lukert and others (1977) report a zircon age
of 1140 m.y. for the Old Rag Granite
(pluton). Herz and Force (1987) equate the
Lovingston quartz monzonite and pegmatite of
Davis (1974) with the Crozet and Old Rag
granites. Davis has dated the quartz
monzonite and pegmatite at 1080 m.y. This
variation in age dates from various plutons
that seem to have the same composition and
staratigraphic relationships suggests either
contamination of zircon populations by
zircons derived from older country rock, or
that these seemingly identical metagranites
were emplaced over a long period of time.
Biotite augen gneiss. Plutons of
metaigneous rock of monzonite composition
that are now altered to a biotite augen
gneiss (Stop 8. Figure 3) have intruded the
Flint Hill Gneiss. These plutons make up
the major lithologic unit exposed in the
southeastern terrane and have been
previously called the Lovingston Formation
(Jonas. 1928; Bloomer and Werner 1955). In
central Virginia a similar unit. called the
Roses Mill pluton. is described as an
ilmenite-apatite bearing ferrodiorite (Herz
and Force.1987). In northeastern Virginia,
this unit has been called augen-bearing
gneiss (Lukert and Nuckols. 1976).
This mesocratic to me1anocratic rock
contains as major minerals. white feldspar
blasts in a dark quartz-biotite matrix.
Foliation is produced by oriented biotite in
the matrix. Some feldspars are euhedra1
relict phenocrysts but most of the feldspars
are deformed by shearing into augen. These
rocks weather to a very characteristic dark
reddish-brown B soil horizon (subsoil)
produced by the breakdown of biotite. In
addition to the previously noted xenoliths
of 1eucocratic gneiss, the biotite augen
gneiss contains xenoliths of Flint Hill
Gneiss and an unidentified. massive. medium.-
grained biotite gneiss. It locally contains
xenoliths of leucogranite gneiss. which
shows that the biotite augen gneiss intruded
the Flint Hill terrane after the intrusion
of leucogranite gneiss.
In thin secti.on. the biotite augen gneiss
is composed of about 30% microc1ine. 27%
quartz, 20% oligoclase. 19% biotite, ~1%
apatite, 2% opaque minerals, and 1% zircon.
Retrograde alteration minerals, generally in
amounts that are less than 1% are epidote.
muscovite and sphene. Herz and Force (1987)
have found relict orthopyroxene in the rocks
of the Roses Mill pluton to the southwest
and conclude that the Roses Mill is a
metacharnockite. No relict pyroxene was
reported in the augen-bearing gneiss by
Lukert and Nuckols (1976). Lukert and
Halladay (1980), nor has any been found by
this author to the northeast of the Roses
Mill pluton in the present area of study.
Biotite quartz metamonzonite. The
youngest of the Grenville-age intrusive
rocks recognized in the present study area
is a gneissic biotite quartz metamonzonite
that has intruded the rocks of the
southeastern terrane. A pluton composed of
T207: 8
this biotite quartz monzonite has intruded
the biotite augen gneiss in an area just
west of the City of Charlottesville. This
rock is more resistant to erosion than the
biotite augen gneiss and underlies the
Ragged Mountains, which are located west and
southwest of Charlottesville.
The quartz metamonzonite is a
1eucocratic. coarse grained. xenomorphic-
inequigranu1ar. foliated rock that, in hand
specimen, shows large (1-2 cm) microc1ine
and quartz grains in a subordinate. finer-
grained. plagioclase-biotite matrix. A
distinguishing feature of the rock is its
spotted appearance produced by fine grained
aggregates of biotite and actinolite
produced from alteration of a mafic mineral.
possibly orthopyroxene.
The biotite quartz metamonzonite is a
two-mica rock. It is composed of about 30%
quartz. 40% microcline, 11% andesine-
oligoclase. 9% biotite, 6% muscovite. 4%
epidote. and trace amounts of rutile.
actinolite. hornblende. and zircon. Relict
orthopyroxene occurs in the unit along its
western boundary. suggesting that it too is
a metacharnockite. This rock has not been
dated. but its foliated character, presence
of blue quartz. and stratigraphic position
strongly indicate that it is a Grenville-age
pluton.
Robertson River Formation. The Robertson
River Formation (Stop 12, Figure 3) was
named by Allen (1963) for exposures of
granite along the Robinson River northeast
of Madison. Virginia. The Robertson River
Formation is composed of several post-
Grenville age plutons that include biotite
granites, hornblende granites, syenites.
quartz syenites. and sub-volcanic fe1sites.
These plutons have intruded Grenville age
rocks of the southeastern terrane, southeast
of the Rockfish Valley ductile deformation
zone. In the present study. no post-
Grenville-age rocks have been observed that
intrude granulite gneisses and charnokites
of the northwestern terrane. The Robertson
River can be traced as a continuous band in
a southwesterly direction for about 80 miles
(130 km), from near Upperville, Loudoun
County (Lukert and Banks, 1984) to just
north of Charlottesville, where it is
covered by the Late Precambrian
metasedimentary rocks of the Lynchburg Group
on the southeastern limb of the Blue Ridge
anticlinorium.
The Robertson River is intrusive into
rocks of the Grenville basement. namely the
Flint Hill Gneiss and the biotite augen
gneiss and contains xenoliths of these
rocks. Although the Robertson River may be
sheared. especially around its borders. it
is a non-foliated rock and has not developed
the gneissic foliation that is ubiquitous to
Grenville-age rocks. Grain size is
extremely variable and ranges from
porphyritic fe1sites with a fine grained
matrix to medium to coarse xenomorphic
equigranu1ar to porphyritic granites. The
coarsest rocks observed are quartz syenite
dikes that cut the biotite augen gneiss on
the northwestern edge of the Robertson River
outcrop belt. These dikes contain perthite
crystals that are 4-6 em across.
Plutons of riebeckite syenite, quartz
syenite, and hornblende-aegirine granites
make up a pera1ka1ine suite that may contain
f10urite as a late-stage mineral that occurs
on fracture surfaces and locally has
replaced the granitoid matrix. In contrast
to blue quartz-bearing Grenville-age
metaigneous rocks, the Robertson River
contains smoky quartz. Some of the biotite
granites show a strong magnetic intensity on
aeromagnetic maps and contain aggregates of
magnetite. Clarke (1984) notes that some of
these aggregates appear to be pseudomorphus
after pyroxene and proposes that the rock
was originally a pyroxene granite in which
the pyroxene was deuterically altered to
magnetite plus quartz under conditions of
high oxygen fugasity.
In the Massies Corner quadrangle in
north-central Virginia , peralkaline granite
has been intruded by fine-grained
hyperabyssal felsite (Lukert and Halladay,
1980). It is suggested that the granite
intruded and cryatallized under plutonic
conditions before being unroofed by erosion.
The granite was then intruded by the felsite
at a shallow depth where the felsite magma
froze, producing a fine-grained rock. An
attempt was made to age date this felsite
with inconclusive results. It could be much
younger than the coarse-grained Robertson
River plutons and even be associated with
the sequence of felsite dikes that have
intruded the Lynchburg Group. The coarse
grained granites of the Robertson River were
exposed at the surface at the time of
deposition of the rocks of the Lynchburg
Group, because these metasedimentary rocks
contain lithic cobbles derived from the
Robertson River (Lukert and Clarke, 1981).
The hornblende granite is composed of 20-
25% perthite, 25% quartz, 15-30% hornblende,
20% plagioclase, 10-20% microcline, and
trace amounts of aegirine, biotite, apatite,
and zircon. Retrograde alteration minerals
are epidote with allanite cores and sphene
from opaque minerals (ilmenite?). Syenites
and quartz syenites are medium to coarse
hypidiomorphic granular rocks. A typical
syenite is composed of up to 80% perthite
T207: 9
and the remaining 20% of the rock is
composed of quartz, carbonate, magnetite,
biotite, and epidote. The felsite is
composed of quartz, perthite, and
plagioclase with accessory amounts of
magnetite and zircon (Lukert and Halladay,
1980). Alteration minerals are epidote and
sericite.
Rankin (1975, 1976) recognized that an
aegirine-riebeckite-biotite granite
containing flourite (Robertson River
Formation) crops out west of Warrenton,
Virginia. He noted that it is similar to
the Late Precambrian bimodal granites of the
Crossnore plutonic-volcanic group, which are
of peralkaline affinity. Because bimodal
peralkaline felsic rocks are characteristic
of tensional environments, Rankin equates
their generation with the opening of the
Iapetus Ocean. Tollo and Arav (1987) show
that the Robertson River is composed of at
least two plutonic sequences that were
emplaced as multiple injections.
A radiometeric age of 570 ~ 15 m.y. has
been obtained from the Robertson River by
use of the Rb-Sr whole rock method (Mose and
Nagel, 1984). A discordant U-Pb age of 730
m.y. also has been obtained from this unit
~bufert ~B% Banks, 1984). In addition, a
Pb/ Pb age of 650 m.y. has been
obtained from the formation (Rankin, 1975).
Other Crossnore plutons in North Carolina
have been dated by the Rb-Sr method and
yield ages of about 680 m.y. (Odom and
Ful1agar (1971). These data, combined with
the findings of Tollo and Arav (1987) that
the Robertson River is composed of more than
one mutip1e-injection pluton, indicate that
igneous activity occurred over a period of
as much as 150 million years in Late
Precambrian to Early Cambrian time.
COVER ROCKS ON THE SOUTHEASTERN LIMB OF THE
BLUE RIDGE ANTICLINORIUM
Lynchburg Group
The rocks of the Lynchburg Group were
deposited in a Late Precambrian ocean basin
that can be traced from northern Virginia
southwestward across North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Georgia. In the present study
area, rocks of the Lynchburg Group dip to
the southeast off the southeastern limb of
the Blue Ridge anticlinorium. Contacts
between stratigraphic units in the Lynchburg
have a trend that is more easterly than the
trend of the outcrop belt. As a result,
stratigraphic units are truncated against
the northwestern margin of the outcrop belt.
The rocks that make up the Lynchburg
represent non-marine, shallow marine, and
submarine fan deposits that accumulated
along the passive margin of a major ocean
basin near the close of the Precambrian
(Brown, 1973; Conley, 1978; and Wehr, 1983).
This basin evolved from shallow to deep
water early in its existence and from deep
to shallow water toward the end of its
existence, which occurred before the vast
outpouring of the Catoctin continental
basalts at the beginning of the opening
Iapetus Ocean in Late Precambrian-Early
Cambrian time. The Lynchburg can be
subdivided into two major sequences of
rocks: (1) a lower sequence composed of non-
marine deposits that grade into shallow-
marine and into deep-marine deposits: and
(2) an upper sequence composed of laminated
metasandstones and siltstones that grade
upward into shallow-water, cross-bedded
meta-arkoses (offshore bar deposits?).
Fauquier Formation. In the study area,
the lowest stratigraphic unit in the
Lynchburg Group is the Fauquier Formation,
which rests unconformably on the Grenville
basement and Robertson River Formation along
the northwestern boundary of the Lynchburg
outcrop belt. The Fauquier Formation occurs
only in the extreme northeastern part of the
Charlottesville quadrangle and is absent to
the southwest along strike, where it is
replaced as the basal unit by a sequence of
metagraywacke turbidite deposits. Along
strike to the northeast the Fauquier
apparently expands upward and becomes the
sole representative of the Lynchburg Group.
The lower part of the Fauquier Formation is
composed of cross-bedded meta-arkoses and
meta-arkose conglomerates (Stop 2, Figure 3)
that contain blue quartz grains derived from
the Grenville basement and smoky quartz
grains derived from the Robertson River
Formation. These meta-arkoses and meta-
arkose conglomerates are overlain by
laminated metasiltstones (Stop 1, Figure 3),
which are replaced near the top of the
formation by meta-rhythmites, dolomitic
marbles, meta-arkoses, and dolomitic meta-
arkoses (Espenshade, 1986).
These non-marine deposits of the Fauquier
were probably deposited in the initial
stages of rifting and built outward into a
narrow graben-like basin. These deposits
were replaced to the southwest by deep
marine deposits as the basin deepened and
widened in that direction (Conley, 1978).
Metagraywacke The unit that, in this
report is called metagraywacke (Stop 3 and
Stop 13, Figure 3) combines the two units
that Nelson (1962) called the Rockfish
T207: 10
conglomerate formation and the Lynchburg
gneiss formation (restricted). Nelson notes
that no distinct boundary can be drawn
between the Lynchburg gneiss and the
Rockfish conglomerate. This writer
considers both of these units to be lateral
equivalents of each other and to be deposits
layed down simultaneously by turbidity
currents as they built up a sequence of
coalescing submarine fans. Much of the
metagraywacke deposits show graded bedding.
Also present are cut and fill structures at
the base of graded sequences and incomplete
Bouma cycles produced by turbidity current
erosion of previously deposited sediments.
Present at different horizons within the
turbidite deposits are lenses of coarse
conglomerate (Rockfish conglomerate) that
are thought to have been deposited in
submarine distributary channels developed on
a submarine fan. In addition, fine-grained
sediments were also being deposited as over-
bank deposits. Bouma cycles are separated
by fine-grained carbon-rich schists that are
thought to be organic-rich sediments
deposited during times of quiescence between
periods of turbid flow.
Johnson Mill Formation. The
metagraywacke rocks are overlain by carbon-
rich phyllites, and fine-grained quartzites
of the Johnson Mill Formation. The Johnson
Mill can be traced as a narrow band to the
southwest to Charlottesville where it
abruptly ends. Whether this termina tion is
caused by a change in environment of
deposition or by tectonism has not been
determined. Mapping by the author in the
0 0
Roanoke 1 x 2 quadrangle, directly south
of the Charlottesville quadrangle, indicates
that this unit is present to the southwest
and continues in a southwesterly direction
to the southwesterly limit of mapping in the
Roanoke quadrangle. The Johnson Mill
probably represents a slow accumulation of
organic-rich sediments in a restricted
anaerobic basin. This basin probably existed
in deep water in front of the submarine
fans.
Charlottesville Formation. Above the
graphitic rocks of the Johnson Mill
Formation is a section composed of fine-
grained micaceous metasiltstones and
quartzites named the Charlottesville
Formation by Nelson (1962). The lower part
of the Charlottesville Formation is composed
of thin-layered beds of fine grained meta-
arkose. This lower part of the
Charlottesville Formation is more finely
laminated and lighter colored than the
metagraywacke deposits that are located
below the Johnson Mill Formation. These
rocks also contain more quartz and mica and
less feldspar than the underlying
metagraywackes. Wehr (1983) has proposed
that the Charlottesville Formation is medial
to distal turbidites and there is a zone of
detachment located in the Johnson Mill
Formation that would have transported these
more distal deposits westward and into
juxtaposition with the proximal turbidites
to the northwest.
The upper part of the Charlottesville
Formation is composed of massive muscovite-
sericite schist with interbedded thin meta-
arkose layers. The top of the
Charlottesville is composed of coarse-
grained, cross-bedded meta-arkose and
arkosi·c quartzite that suggest that the unit
might represent offshore barrier bars, or
sediments of non-marine origin similar to
the Fauquier Formation. No faults have been
discovered that could have repeated the
Fauquier at this horizon.
Outliers of the Lynchburg Group northwest
of the Lynchburg basin. Outliers of the
Lynchburg Group are found in four fau1t-
bounded basins that are contained in the
southeastern terrane. These outliers are
all located just west of the main body of
rocks that comprise the Lynchburg Group and
east of the Rockfis~ Valley ductile
deformation zone. The largest of these
basins, the Mechums River basin, has been
mapped by Gooch (1958). The other
three outliers were discovered by the author
during the present investigation in the
0 0
Charlottesville 1 x 2 quadrangle. The
metasedimentary rocks in these outliers are
very similar to those found in the adjacent
Lynchburg Group, which leaves little doubt
that they are more-westerly facies of
Lynchburg rocks. However, these small
westerly basins also contain lithologies
that are not found in rocks of the Lynchburg
Group.
The smaller outliers may be composed of a
single lithology, massive-to coarse-bedded
conglomeratic meta-arkose that is identical
to meta-arkose found in the basal part of
the Fauquier Formation. A fairly large
outlier that is about 2.3 miles (3.8 km)
long and about 0.4 mile (0.6 km) wide, is
located along State Road 615, 1.5 miles (1.9
km) due south of Castleton. This outlier is
bounded on the northwest by a mylonite zone
that can be traced for at least 3 miles (5.1
km) to the southwest and over 5 miles (8.5
km) to the northeast to beyond the eastern
0 0
boundary of the Charlottesville 1 x 2
quadrangle. The rocks along this
northwestern fault boundary are composed of
T207: 11
coarse arkosic metaconglomerate (Stop 5,
Figure 3) that contains fine-grained
quartzite pebbles. These pebbles contain
compositional layers that are interpreted to
be bedding planes. Granules of blue quartz-
derived from the Grenville basement, and
smoky quartz, derived from the Robertson
River Formation. are also present in this
meta-arkosic conglomerate. indicating a
local source of these metasediments. In
this basin the metasedimentary rocks become
finer grained to the southeast and the meta-
arkosic conglomerate is replaced by meta-
arkose in that direction. Further to the
southeast in the basin. the meta-arkose is
replaced by finely laminated gray phyllites
that show graded bedding.
The Mechums River outlier is both the
largest and the most westerly of the
outliers. The Mechums River rocks occur in
a northeastern-trending belt that can be
traced for a distance of about 60 miles (96)
km). This belt ranges from 0.6 mile (0.97)
to 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide. The rocks in
this belt are cross-bedded arkosic
metaconglomerate. feldspathic quartzite, and
finely laminated phyllite.
The rocks of the Mechums River have
been correlated previously with rocks of the
Lynchburg (Gooch, 1958; Nelson, 1962; Brown,
1973) and Espenshade and Clarke (1976) have
noted the similarity between the Mechums
River and the Fauquier Formation of the
Lynchburg Group. This would seem a logical
conclusion because the basal parts of both
the Fauquier and the Mechums River are
composed of cross-bedded arkoses,
subarkoses. and quartz pebble conglomerates
that are derived from either Grenville-age
basement rocks (shown by the presence of
blue quartz grains) or from the Robertsom
River Formation (shown by the presence of
smoky quartz grains). This indicates the
sediments that compose these rocks were
locally derived. The basal units in both
the Fauquier and the Mechums River are
overlain by a sequence of metamorphosed
subarkoses and metagraywackes that may show
graded bedding. These metasedimentary rocks
are overlain by fine-grained metapelites.
Gooch (1954) concludes that the Mechums
River is a euogeosync1ina1 deposit because
of the presence of metagr~wackes and rocks
that show graded bedding. On the 0 the r
hand, Schwab (1974) proposes that the
formation is of fluvial origin because of
the presence of cross bedding, preserved
channel deposits, and the fining-upward of
the sequence. The writer would like to
suggest that, rather than the Mechums River
being either all non-marine or all deep
marine in origin, that it might represent a
sequence that began as deposits of fluvial
sediments that were superseded in time by
deeper marine sediments as the Lynchburg
depositional basin widened and deepened.
Intrusive rocks into the Lynchburg Group.
Intrusive rocks into the Lynchburg Group
include ultramafic and coarse metagabbro
sills and fine-grained metabasalt lava flows
and dikes, sub-volcanic rhyodacite to
trondiemite dikes and minette (altered
1amprophyre) dikes. The Charlottesville
Formation in particular contains
inter1ayered sill-like bodies of altered
ultramafic rocks, metagabbros, and thin
metabasalt (subaqueous?) flows. The
metagabbro and ultramafic bodies are
elongate and have a northeast trend.
Gabbros cut not only the Lynchburg but also
the underlying rocks of the Grenville
basement. The apparent conformity of the
contacts between the Lynchburg and these
gabbro and ultrabmafic bodies is probably
enhanced by transposition and flattening
during later folding. The ultramafic layers
generally are capped by a thin layer of
metagabbro and probably were produced by
crystal settling and later squeezing off of
mafic magma to supply basaltic lava flows of
the overlying Catoctin Formation.
The gabbros are dark-green, coarse-
grained rocks that are composed of
actinolite, chlorite, albite, epidote and
opaque minerals. Large (1-2 cm) augite
crystals are common and are partially to
almost totally altered to ura1ite. The
ultramafic rocks are dark-greenish-black and
are altered to talc and chlorite. Relict
augite crystals are found sporadically
through the rock.
In the northern and northwestern parts of
the Blue Ridge anticlinorium in the study
area, the rocks of the Lynchburg Group are
intruded by a large number of metadiabase
dikes. In contrast, metadiabase dikes are
relatively rare (almost non-exist ant) in the
southeastern part of the study area,
especially southeast of the Rockfish Valley
ductile deformation zone. The dikes are
probably feeder dikes for the Catoctin
metabasa1ts. Espenshade (1986) has found
that a dike similar to these metadiabase
dikes cuts a Catoctin metabasalt lava flow.
The metadiabases are dark-green, fine-
grained rocks composed of albite, epidote,
and clots of chlorite and amphibole that
might have formed from alteration of
pyroxene.
Although few metadiabase dikes occur in
the southeastern part of the Blue Ridge
anticlinorium, altered mafic or lamprophyre
dikes (minettes) are common in the area to
T207: 12
the southeast of the Rockfish Valley ductile
deformation zone, are almost totally absent
to the northwest of this zone. These
altered dikes are dark brown and now are
composed almost entirely of biotite and
chlorite, although they may also contain
skeletal remnants of pyroxene phenocrysts
and rare feldspar phenocrysts. The altered
dikes have developed a pronounced
schistosity in which all of the biotite
grains are aligned.
Northeast-trending, 1eucocratic,
porphyritic, aphanitic rhyodacite and/or
trondjemite dikes have intruded the
Grenville basement rocks, the Robertson
River Formation, and the rocks of the
Lynchburg Group. There seems to be two ages
of these dikes, one which shows a spaced
cleavage and another that is massive and has
developed no cleavage. The massive dike
rocks that show no development of cleavage
are by far the most common. The massive
dike rocks contain pseudomorphous
phenocrysts of alpha quartz after beta
quartz. The rock has generally weathered to
kaolin and is rarely found in the
unweathered state.
Swift Run Formation
The Swift Run Formation is considered to
be of Late Precambrian age and rests
unconformably on rocks of the Grenville-age
basement on the northwestern limb of the
Blue Ridge anticlinorium (Gathright, 1976).
The Swift Run is generally absent on the
southeastern limb of the anticlinorium. An
exception might be a small area near Stony
Point, where interlayered subarkosic
conglomerates and felsic pyroclastic rocks
overlie rocks of the Charlottesville
Formation. The Swift Run apparently is
overlain conformably by rocks of the
Catoctin Formation and the upper contact of
the Swift Run is placed at the bottom of the
lowest massive greenstone (King, 1950).
The Swift Run is not of uniform thickness
and is not evetywhere present, even on the
northwestern limb of the Blue Ridge
anticlinorium. Gathright (1976) estimates
that the average thickness of the Swift Run
in the Shenandoah National Park is in the
order of 200 feet. The Swift Run is
considered to represent stream sediments and
valley fills that were deposited on an
erosional surface developed on rocks that
directly underlie the formation (Bloomer and
Bloomer, 1947; Reed, 1955; Gathright, 1976).
The deposition of the Swift Run on this
erosional surface occurred just prior to the
outpouring of the Catoctin metabasalts.
Some of the Swift Run might be preserved as
sediments deposited during early development
of rift valleys; Bowring and Spencer (1987)
have proposed that the overlying Catoctin on
the northwestern limb of the Blue Ridge
anticlinorium was deposited in a developing
rift valley.
The major lithology found in the Swift
Run is a quartz pebble metaconglomerate; the
matrix of which is composed of quartz and
mica. Coarse meta-arkose layers are also
present. Purple phyllite layers (probably
tuffaceous metasedimentary rocks), felsic
tuffs and thin metabasalt layers make up the
remainder of the formation.
Catoctin Formation
The Catoctin Formation (Stops 14 and 20,
Figure 3) is a sequence of subaerial (Reed
and Morgan, 1971) and subaqueous (Kline and
others, 1987) basaltic lava flows with
interbedded arkosic and graywacke quartzite
and tuffaceous purple phyllite. The
formation has been interpreted to be a
sequence of continental plateau basalts
(Reed, 1955) deposited in a developing rift
valley (Bowring and Spencer, 1987) early in
the development of the Iapetus Ocean in Late
Precambrian-Early Cambrian time (Rankin,
1975). Zircons from the Catoctin rhyolites
in southern Pennsylvania yield an isotopic
age of 820 m. y. (Rankin and others, 1969).
This date is surprisingly old for the
stratigraphic relationships and a more
recent Rb/Sr date of 570 + 36 m.y. has been
obtained (Badger and Sinha-:-1988) that would
be in harmony with the Early Cambrian
sedimentary rocks which directly overlie the
unit. The Catoctin occurs on both limbs of
the Blue Ridge anticlinorium and can be
traced around the nose of the structure in
northern Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.
The Catoctin is estimated to be from 2,000
feet (610 m) to 2,200 feet (671 m) thick in
central Virginia (Gathright, 1976; Lukert
and Nuckols, 1976) and thins both to the
northest and to the southwest along strike.
Along the Potomac River in northern
Virginia, it ranges from 0 to 50 feet (15 m)
(Nickelson, 1956) and to the southwest it
disappears completely in the area just
northeast of Lynchburg. Individual
metabasalt flows range in thickness from 150
feet (45 m) to 400 feet (125 m) (Reed and
Morgan, 1971).
Rocks of the Catoctin Formation are at
greenschist facies and the mineral
assemblage of a1bite-ch10rite-epidote-
actinolite-magnetite is typical of the unit.
Relict clinopyroxene is locally present
(Badger and Sinha, 1988). The metabasa1ts
are dark green, fine-grained and range from
T207: 13
massive to schistose. The tops of many
flows were vessicu1ar and now may contain
either collapsed vessic1es or amygdu1es
filled with epidote ~ calcite and quartz.
Epidosite lenses occur throughout the
formation and Reed and Morgan (1971) suggest
that they are the product of hydrothermal
(fumero1ic activity) soon after the lava
flows poured out on the surface.
The writer has found pillows in the
metabasa1ts on the northwest limb of the
Blue Ridge anticlinorium, on a hill
northwest of the offices of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture Research Center on
U. S. Highway 522, 2 miles (3.22 km)
southeast of Front Royal, Virginia. Bowring
and Spencer (1987) also report the
occurrence of pillows in the metabasa1ts in
the most southernmost part of the outcrop
belt of Catoctin on the northwest limb of
the anticlinorium. The upper part of the
Catoctin Formation on the southeastern limb
of the Blue Ridge anticlinorium is marked by
a zone of pillow metabasa1ts with
interstices filled with hya10c1astite. This
zone can be traced from the southern part of
the Charlottesville quadrangle to northeast
of Gordonsville, Virginia, (Stops 15 and 20,
Figure 3) and probably continues to the
northeast as far north as Fauquier County,
Virginia (Kline and others, 1987). Directly
above this zone, the Catoctin is overlain by
marine metasedimentary rocks of the Candler
Formation, indicating that the upper part of
the Catoctin on the southeastern limb of the
Blue Ridge anticlinorium was deposited in a
submarine environment in an advancing marine
sea before vulcanism had ceased.
Candler Formation
Rocks that are generally assigned to the
Candler Formation are considered to lie
between the Catoctin and the Chopawamsic
formations (Brown, 1958; Conley, 1978).
During the present research the writer
recognized that the Mountain Run fault
(Pavlides and others, 1983) extended through
this area and separated slates to the
northwest from po1ydeformed metagraywackes
and phyllites to the southeast. This fault
separates clastic and carbonate rocks
deposited on the continental shelf from
volcanic and volcanic derived clastic rocks
deposited in a back arc basin behind a
volcanic island are, now represented by the
Chopawamsic Formation. Brown and Sunderman
(1954) considered both the continental shelf
deposits and the back arc basin deposits to
be parts of the Candler Formation. The
shelf deposits (here referred to as the
Esmont slate and defined as being between
the top of the Catoctin and the Mountain Run
fault zone) are traceable into the Candler
Formation at its type locality on Candlers
Mountain east of Lynchburg, Virginia,
southwest of the present study area. In
this presentation, the name Candler
Formation is retained for both the shelf
deposits and the back arc basin deposits,
but recognizing that they are the products
of two different environments of deposition.
Esmont Slate. The name Esmont slate
(Stops 15 and 20, Figure 3) was proposed by
Brown and Sunderman (1954) for the band of
slate that is located above the Catoctin
Formation. The Esmont slate is composed of
a lower sequence of metamorphosed tan
sandstones and an upper sequence of gray and
reddish-gray slates, containing near the
base of the unit a zone of lenticular white
and pink dolomitic marbles. The upper slate
unit has been quarried for roofing slate,
although no production has occurred in
recent years. The contact between the lower
part of the Esmont and the underlying
Catoctin Formation appears to be gradational
over a few tens of feet as the dark-green,
mafic volcanic-derived rocks at the top of
the Catoctin become more quartzose. Quartz
granules in these quartzose rocks are blue,
indicating that rocks of the Grenville
basement were their source. Near the
contact with the Catoctin, the lower unit
contains metabasalt pebbles. This would
strongly suggest that part of the Catoctin
was being eroded at the time of deposition
of the basal part of the Esmont slate. The
lower part of the Esmont is variable in
thickness and ranges from several tens of
feet to about 200 feet (60 m). Locally it
may contain lenticular interlayers of tan to
white quartzite that underlie pronounced
ridges.
Above the basal unit, the Esmont is
composed of a sequence of slates that
exhibit a pronounced slaty cleavage that is
crossed by a fine crenulation cleavage.
These greenschist-facies slates are composed
of sericite, chlorite, quartz, and opaque
minerals.
Everona Limestone. The Everona Limestone
(Stop 19, Figure 3) occurs along the trace
of the Mountain Run fault zone that
separates the Esmont slate to the northwest
of the fault zone from the back-arc basin
deposits to the southeast of the fault zone.
The writer has not been able to determine
whether Everona belongs to the northwestern
or the southeastern sequence, but has
observed it as lensoidal masses that are
contained within the shear zone of the
T207: 14
fault. These lenses may be enclosed by
highly sheared phyllonites.
The Everona is a medium-light-gray, fine-
grained, generally finely laminated (1-5 em
bands) limestone. Locally, it may be highly
contorted. Recrystallization has not
occurred to any great extent and sedimentary
structures, such as cut and fill, are
preserved. This is in contrast to the
dolomitic marbles found near the base of the
Esmont slate (Stop 20, Figure 3), which are
totally recrystallized and contain no
recognizable primary structures.
The Everona is composed predominantly of
calcite, but also contains quartz grains
that constitute up to 25 percent of the rock
(Mack, 1965). Thin slaty layers that
represent original thin sha1ey partings
occur locally in the unit. Graphite may be
present in these slaty layers. Graphite has
not been observed by the writer in either
the underlying Esmont slates or in the
overlying back-arc basin deposits; however,
graphite is fairly common within the rocks
that make up the shear zone of the Mountain
Run fault.
The age of the Everona has not been
determined. Since it is located
stratigraphically within a sequence that is
bracketed by the Late Precambrian-Early
Cambrian Catoctin Formation (Badger and
Sinha, 1988) and the Chopawamsic Formation,
which is intruded by early Cambrian granite
(Fu11agar, 1971; Burland and Glover, 1979),
it must be assumed that the Everona is most
likely Early Cambrian in age. Jonas (1927)
reports the occurrence of trilobite
fragments from sandy beds near a contact
with the Everona limestone. The fragments
were so poorly preserved that E. o. Ulrich
could not identify them, even to genus.
Back-arc basin deposits. Rocks to the
southeast of the Mountain Run fault (Stop
17, Figure 3) are, in general coarser
grained and a more diverse sequence of
interlayered units than the Esmont slates
northwest of the fault. The lower contact
of the back-arc basin deposits is the
Mountain Run fault zone and the upper
contact, with the Chopawamsic Formation, is
gradational and is placed where metavolcanic
rocks and volcanic-derived rocks predominate
over metasedimentary rocks. From a study of
the of the Interstate Highway 1-64 seismic
line, Harris and others (1982) interprete
the upper contact of the unit with the
Chopawamsic to be a thrust fault, although
Conley and Johnson (1975) had previously
considered it to be a gradational contact.
These rocks are interpreted to have been
laid down in a back-arc basin to the west of
the island arc sequence represented by the
Chopawamsic Formation (Pav1ides, 1981;
Milici and Conley, 1985). In addition,
Pav1ides (1981) proposes that during the
destruction of this back-arc basin, older
sediments and volcanic rocks were elevated
along westward advancing thrust faults and
were shed as debris into the western part of
the basin, thus forming olistostromal
melange deposits. Rocks of the back-arc
basin are po1ydeformed and may contain as
many as five foliations, whereas the Esmont
slates northwest of the Mountain Run fault
contain one slaty cleavage and a poorly
developed crenu1ation cleavage. These back-
arc basin deposits have been intruded by a
diapir-1ike body of metagabbro called the
Green Springs pluton. This pluton also
contains small bodies of leucogranite.
The back-arc basin facies of the Candler
is composed of highly contorted, pink-
weathering, medium-gray and greenish-black
phyllite, schist, micaceous quartzite, and
metagraywacke sandstone. The metapelite is
composed of sericite, chlorite, and quartz;
paragonite may also be present in the unit
(Smith and others, 1964). At higher
metamorphic grade the unit has developed
porphyrob1asts of ch10ritoid, biotite,
magnetite, and garnet. Micaceous quartzite
occurs as thin beds (1-2 inches; 2.5-5 cm)
between pe1ite layers. Metagraywacke
sandstone and siltstone are also present and
are more frequently observed near the top of
the unit. A few isolated metabasalt layers,
ultramafic pods, and clasts of
metasedimenta~ rock are also found in the
back-arc basin deposits. The presence of
these exotic rocks supports the hypothesis
that this unit is in part an olistostromal
melange deposit.
Chopawamsic Formation
The Chopawamsic Formation (Stop 18,
Figure, 3) is interpreted to represent an
Early Cambrian (1) volcanic island-arc
sequence (Pav1ides, 1981) composed of
inter1ayered felsic and mafic metavolcanic
rocks and metasedimentary rocks that have
been metamorphosed at greenschist facies.
It is overlain unconformably by Ordovician-
age rocks contained in the Arvonia and
Quantico sync1inies. Rocks on the
southeastern side of these synclines are at
higher metamorphic rank, locally reaching
sillimanite grade. They have been named the
Hatcher Complex by Brown (1969). These
higher rank rocks are considered an eastern
facies of the Chopawamsic (Conley and
Johnson, 1975, Marr, 1980). Pav1ides (1980)
agrees with this correlation, but, has
T207: 15
proposed the name Ta River Metamorphic Suite
for these higher rank rocks exposed between
the Quantico syncline and the Spotsylvania
fault, a fault that terminates the
Chopawamsic rocks to the southeast.
The Chopawamsic Formation contains
metasedimentary rocks, primarily
metagraywacke sandstone, but metapelite that
resembles rocks of the back-arc basin part
of the Candler are also present. Pav1ides
(1981) has recognized that the unit contains
more mafic metavolcanic rocks to the
southeast and more felsic metavolcanic rocks
to the northwest. Felsic crystal tuff,
bedded felsic tuff, and amygda10ida1
metabasalt are the most commonly observed
metavolcanic rocks. In this central area,
massive sulfide deposits and ferruginous
quartzites, deposits indicative of
subaqueous volcanic vents, are also present.
These metavolcanic-metasedimentary rocks are
intruded by coarse-grained gabbros and
Cambro-Ordovician-age granitoid rocks that
range in composition from granite to
granodiorite. The two major granitoid
bodies in the area are the Ellisville and
Columbia plutons.
STRUCTURE
Blue Ridge Anticlinorium
The Blue Ridge anticlinorium is an
asymmetrical allochthonous fold with a
southeastward-dipping axial surface. This
major fold has been thrust to the northwest
in A11eganian time over unmetamorphosed
Pa1eozic rocks of the Valley and Ridge
Province (Harris and others, 1982). The
structure can be traced across Virginia in a
northeasterly direction and in central
Virginia is about 35 miles (56 km) across.
The two limbs of the structure verge to the
northeast to an area in northern Maryland
and southern Pennsylvania, where they join
to form the nose of the fold that plunges
out in southern Pennsylvania. The
northwestern limb of the structure dips
moderately to steeply to the northwest and
locally may be overturned and dip to the
southeast at a steep angle. In contrast,
the southeastern limb of the structure has a
monotonous dip to the southeast at angles
ranging from 45-60 degrees.
Unconformity on the C~sta1line Basement
The crystalline core of the Blue Ridge
anticlinorium is unconformably overlain by
slightly metamorphosed (greenschist facies)
sedimentary and volcanic cover rocks. It is
possible that the unconformity on the top of
the crystalline rocks on the western limb of
the structure is not as old as the
unconformity on the eastern limb of the
anticlinorium. This is indicated by the
fact that the rocks of the Lynchburg Group
do not occur on the northwestern limb of the
anticlinorium, west of the Rockfish Valley
ductile deformation zone. On the other
hand, the Swift Run and Catoctin Formations
occur on both limbs of the structure.
Therefore the Lynchburg was deposited before
the Swift Run and Catoctin were laid down on
the rocks of this crystalline core.
Faults
Rockfish Valley ductile deformation zone.
The Rockfish Valley ductile deformation zone
is the most conspicious zone of movement in
the core of the Blue Ridge anticlinorium.
To the southwest of the study area
Bartholomew and others (1981) report that
this zone is delineated as a wide valley
along much of its length and has been traced
in a southwesterely direction from the
present study area to the Grandfather
Mountain window in North Carolina. In the
present study area to the northeast, it is
not a single shear zone, but a series of
anastomosing shear zones that divide the
basement rocks into lens-shaped masses of
unsheared rocks surrounded by mylonite zones
(Figure 2). Within these anastomosing shear
zones is a contact between orthopyroxene
granulite grade rocks of the northwestern
terrane and retrograded rocks of the
southeastern terrane. In addition, both the
basement rocks and the cover rocks have been
exposed to greenschist grade metamorphism
during the Taconic orogeny.
To the northeast, the more westerly
anastomosing shear zones are cut off by a
more northeasterly-ternding thrust fault of
probable Alleghanian age that contains rocks
of the northwestern terrane in its footwall
and retrograded rocks of the southeastern
terrane in its hanging wall. In the extreme
northeastern corner of the quadrangle, the
shear zones have been displaced to the east
by an east-west trending right lateral fault
(Lukert and Nuckols, 1976) (Figure 2).
The centers of these shear zones are
generally composed of gray to tan phy1lonite
or banded mylonite. These grade into
protomylonites and into unsheared rock away
from the center of the deformation zones.
Bartholomew and others (1981) indicate that
the Rockfish Valley is a thrust fault.
Examination of c and s structures and a
pronounced rodding, which consistently is
oriented down-dip of the foliation of the
T201: 16
shear zone, has lead the writer to conclude
that movement on these shear zones was in a
dextral sense. Later brittle shear planes
cut the rocks that have been deformed in a
ductile manner. These later shear planes
show a high angle reverse sense of movement.
Bartholomew and others (1981) conclude
that the Rockfish Valley zone developed
under greenschist conditions during a middle
Paleozoic metamorphic event. This
conclusion is based on the presence of the
mineral assemblage quartz, biotite,
muscovite, clinozoisite, and sphene +
chlorite and epidote, which occur in th~
rocks of the shear zone. Development of
these greenschist grade minerals is thought
to be coevil with the development of
greenschist metamorphism during a middle
Paleozoic regional metamorphic event
(Taconic orogeny). They further state that
fault movement along the Rockfish Valley
zone has thrust rocks that were
metamorphosed at a lower grade to the
northwest over rocks that were metamorphosed
at orthopyroxene granulite grade. They
propose that the lower grade rocks to the
southeast formed at a higher crustal level
than the granulite grade rocks to the
northwest and that the two groups of rocks
were brought into juxtaposition by thrust
movement to the northwest along the Rockfish
Valley ductile deformation zone. On the
other hand Evans (1987) points out that the
rocks of the southeastern terrane are
composed of partially to totally retrograded
granulite facies rocks. Thus both terranes
were once at granulite grade, but the
southeastern terrane has been retrograded,
whereas the northwestern terrane retains
granulite facies minerals. Therefore, there
existed a terrane (now the northwestern
terrane after movement on the Rockfish
Valley ductile deformation zone) composed of
granulite intruded by charnockite and a
terrane (now the southeastern terrane)
composed of Flint Hill Gneiss intruded by
biotite augen gneiss in turn intruded by
biotite quartz metamonzonite (charnockite)
and post-Grenville Late Precambrian plutons
of the Robertson River Formation. These
southeastern rocks were subjected to a later
retrograde metamorphic event that did not
affect the rocks to the northwest. This
metamorphism was a hydration reaction (as
suggested by Evans, 1987) that ~ccurred by
introduction of water prior to the Taconic
faulting. The writer would like to suggest
the possibility that retrograde metamorphism
occurred during the intrusion of the
Crossnore plutons. The present northwestern
terrane was not affected by this hydration
reaction because it was not intruded by
Robertson River plutons, which in the area
of study are absent from this northwestern
terrane. These two terranes were
subsequently brought togother by right-
lateral movement along the Rockfish Valley
shear zones during a later greenschist
event, the Taconic orogeny, which affected
the core and cover rocks in both terranes.
Mountain Run fault. Pavlides and others
(1983) describe a fault near Everona in
north-central Virginia that has thrust
metamorphic rocks over alluvial and
colluvial gravels. During geologic macfpin
in the Charlottesville and Roanoke 1 X 2
e fact that the fault apparently extends under
quadrangles the writer has been able to
trace this fault southwestward to the
northeastern end of the Scottsville
Triassic basin. To the southeast of the
Scottsville basin, a fault that is on strike
with the Mountain Run fault can be traced in
a southwesterly direction into the Bowens
Creek fault, which is a fault of the Brevard
system of faults.
The Mountain Run fault is a
southeastward-dipping shear zone that is up
to 700 feet (200 m) across. It is marked by
a pronounced lineament along the floodplain
of Mountain Run and adjacent streams to the
southwest along strike. The rocks observed
in the fault zone are gray and green
phyllonites, button schists, and relatively
undeformed lenses of Everona limestone. The
Esmont slate in the footwall of the fault is
much less deformed than the back-arc basin
deposits that comprise the hanging wall of
the fault. The Esmontsla te adjacent to
the fault retains its primary bedding
structures that dip to the southeast at
0
about 45 • The bedding is cut by a slaty
cleavage that dips to the southeast at about
0
55 and locally this slaty cleavage is cut
by a younger sub-horizontal crenulation
cleavage. In contrast, the phyllites on the
hanging wall rarely contain preserved
primary bedding, except for infrequent
compositional layers. These rocks have a
well-developed schistosity that has been
deformed by as many as four crenulation
cleavages. Both the metamorphic grade and
structural complexity increase across the
fault zone, which indicates that the fault
has telescoped both metamorphic and
structural gradients. Thus, higher-grade,
more deformed rocks to the southeast have
been brought into juxtaposition with lower
grade, less deformed rocks to the northwest
of the fault zone.
Rocks contained in the Mountain Run fault
zone record a long history of movement and
Pavlides and others (1983) have suggested
that it has been active since Early
T207: 17
Paleozoic time. These rocks, like those
found in the Rockfish Valley ductile
deformation zone, show a change from early
ductile deformation at chlorite grade to
late brittle deformation. In addition,
silicified mylonites, typical of mylonites
found along Triassic border faults are found
in two areas along the trace of the fault to
the northeast. The fault shows an early
lateral component, followed by development
of shear planes that have a northwestward
thrust component, a history typical of major
faults in the Southern Blue Ridge and
Piedmont (Edelman and others, 1987). The
the Scottsville Triassic rift basin suggests
a later stage development of gravity
faulting possibly due to a post-
compressional relaxation and a change to a
tensional stress field during the initial
phase of opening of the Atlantic Ocean.
This has been followed by a later period of
compression, during which, back-are-basin
deposits were thrust northwestward over the
Esmont slate.
TRIP LOG
Participants should assemble at the
Washington Convention Center. The trip
route follows U. S. Highway 29 South for a
distance of about 40 miles to Culpeper,
Virginia, where the field trip begins.
Junction with U. S. Highway 29 Business.
Turn right on 29 Business and proceed
northward through Culpeper; junction with
State Highway 229 at the northern city limit
of Culpeper. Stay straight on State Highway
229 and proceed north on 229 for 6 miles
(9.6 km). Turn left on State Road 640 and
proceed for 2.8 miles (4.5 km); T-
intersection with State Road 628. Cross
intersection and park.
Stop 1. Metasiltstone facies of the
Fauquier Formation. Exposures along Hazel
River on west side of State Road 640 are of
the upper facies of the Fauquier Formation
which, in this area, is the lowest formation
of the Lynchburg Group. Rocks in this
exposure show climbing ripples in two
opposing directions indicating an
oscillating current direction, such as found
in a tidal channel. The unit also contains
inter1ayered thin lamenites. The rock has
been metamorphosed at greenschist facies.
Proceed northwestward on State Road 628 for
1.0 mile (1.7 km). Turn left on State Road
629 and continue for 0.6 mile (0.97 km).
Stop. 2 Basal meta-arkose of the Fauquier
Formation. Lynchburg Group. Exposed in
p ower line right-of-way is the lower meta-
arkose member of the Fauquier Formation. In
this area. the meta-arkose unconformably
overlies Grenville-age core rocks of the
Blue Ridge anticlinorium. The meta-arkose
shows cross bedding and is thought to have
been deposited in a fluvial-deltaic
environment at the beginning of development
of the Lynchburg basin. The arkose contains
blue and smoky quartz. indicating that the
source material was the rocks of the
Grenville basement and the Robertson River
Formation. Continue on State Road 629 for
3.1 miles (4.99 km) to Y-intersection with
729. Turn left on State Road 629-729 for
0.1 mile (0.16 km). State Road 629 turns
right and State Road 729 continues straight
ahead; turn right and continue on State Road
629 for 3 miles (4.83 km).
Stop 3. Metagraywacke facies of the
Lynchburg Group. Park on right shoulder of
the road and cross road to examine exposure.
Rocks in this exposure contain primary
sedimentary features such as graded bedding.
fine laminae. cross beds. and cut and fill
structures that are typical of Bouma cycles
in graywacke turbidite deposits. Continue
on State Road 629 for 0.2 mile (0.32 km);
turn right on U. S. Highway 522 at T-
intersection. and continue northward for 2.5
miles (4.0 km).
Stop 4. Flint Hill Gneiss intruded by
minette dikes Park on left side of road and
cross road to examine exposures. The Flint
Hill gneiss in this exposure shows gneissic
banding and development of melt zones
parallel to gneissosity. It is cut by a
spaced cleavage that is parallel to a
penetrative cleavage found in the minette
dikes. Continue on U. S. Highway 522 for
1.8 miles (2.9 km) to Boston. Turn right on
State Road 650. and continue for 1 mile (1.6
km) to Y-intersection with State Road 615;
bear right on 615 and continue on for 3
miles (4.83 kIn).
Stop 5. Meta-fanglomerate. This stop is
located in an outlier of Lynchburg Group
rocks west of the main outcrop belt of
Lyncburg rocks and east of the Mechums River
outlier. Park on left side of road and walk
down into stream valley on the right. The
fanglomerate is composed of angular to
slightly rounded pebbles and cobbles of
quartzite and Robertson River granite. some
of which contains flourite in its matrix.
Continue on State Road 615 for 0.7 mile
(1.13 kIn).
T207: 18
Stop 6. Fine-grained siliceous
aetasediment. Park on the left side of the
road. Exposed in the yard on the left side
of the road is a very-fine-grained rock
composed of quartz. lesser amounts of
feldspar and lithic fragments. This outcrop
is located along the fault-bounded western
margin of the outlier seen in Stop 5.
Continue on State Road 615 for 0.4 mile
(0.64 km) to'T-intersection with State Road
617. Turn left on 617 and continue on for
0.6 mile (0.97 km). T-intersection with
State Road 616 at Castleton. Turn left on
616 and continue on for 1.5 miles (2.4 km).
Stop. 7 Cross bedded meta-arkose in the
Mechuas River outlier. Park on the right
side of road and examine exposure in road
cut on left side of road. The rock exposed
in this outcrop is similar to meta-arkose
seen in the rocks of the Fauquier Formation
at Stop 2. Resume route by turning to the
left on State Road 626 and continue on for
1.7 miles (2.7 kIn) to T-intersection with U.
S. Highway 522 at Scrabble. Turn right on
522 and continue on for 1.9 miles (3.06 km).
Stop 8. At Woodville. Biotite augen gneiss
containing xenoliths of Flint Hill Gneiss.
Park on right side of road and examine
exposures on the right side of road in
private driveway adjacent to Church. Note:
Do not break rocks or deface the exposure in
theF~ ~wayl. there are rocks that
can be broken and collected around the
corner. Continue on U. S. Highway 522 for
4.6 miles to Sperryville. T-intersection
with U. S. Highway 211 at Sperryville. Turn
left on 211 and continue up the eastern face
of the Blue Ridge escarpment for 7.3 miles
(11.8 km) and turn left into Panorama.
Scenic Stop at the crest of the Blue Ridge
mountain range. Turn around and head back
down Blue Ridge escarpment; continue for 1.8
miles (2.9 km).
Stop 9. Granulite Gneiss. Note: This stop
is located in the Shenandoah National Park.
Leave hammer;-in bus. do not break rocks or
COllect any speci~s•-Persons doing so are
subject to arrest and finel Continue down
the mountain for 5.5 miles (8.9 km) to
Sperryville. T-intersection with U. S.
Highway 522 at Sperryville; turn right on
522 and continue for 0.8 mile (1.29 km) to
junction with State Highway 231 and turn
right on 231. Continue for 9.3 miles (14.96
km) to junction with State Road 646. Turn
right on 646 and continue for 1.4 miles
(2.25 km).
Stop 10. Leucogranite gneiss in the Old Rag
pluton. Go through gate on the right and
pull into field. Rocks in the exposures in
the field to the right are much richer in
biotite than the typical leucogranite gneiss
found in the Old Rag pluton. This exposure
is on the southeastern edge of the pluton
and it is believed that this rock has been
contaminated by country rock. thus making it
richer in biotite. Turn around and proceed
east on State Road 646. back to the
intersection with State Highway 231. Turn
right on 231 and continue for 0.7 mile (1.13
km) to Etlan. Turn right at Etlan onto
State Road 643 and continue for 3.3 miles
(5.31 km).
Stop 11. Rockfish Valley ductile
deformation zone. Park on right side of road
at crest of hill and walk southward (down
the hill) along the road to exposures on the
right. The exposures are composed of
protomy10nite derived from the biotite augen
gneiss unit and shows a well developed down-
dip lineation that plunges to the southeast.
This outcrop is located on the eastern edge
of the fault zone and the the major
deformation zone is located in the valley to
the west. Continue southward on State Road
643 for 1.1 miles (1.77 km) to T-
intersection with State Road 670 at Syria.
Turn left on 670 and continue for 3.7 miles
(5.96 km) to T-intersection with State
Highway 231. Turn right on 231 and continue
for 0.6 mile (0.97 km). Turn left on State
Road 609 and continue for 2.4 miles (3.86
km). Turn left on State Road 606 and
continue for 0.8 mile (1.29 km).
Stop 12. Robertson River Granite. The rock
at this exposure is a biotite granite. It
contains mesoscopic aggregates of magnetite
that could be derived from the break down of
pyroxene (see discussion in text).
Weathering of this granite produces large
rounded exposures (e1epahant backs) covered
by thin soil horizons. Proceed on State
Road 606 for 1.6 miles (2.6 km). Turn right
on State Road 604 for 1.4 miles (2.2 km);
junction with U. S. Highway 29: turn right
and proceed to Charlottesville.
END OF FIRST DAY OF FIELD TRIP.
SECOND DAY OF FIELD TRIP
The second day of the field trip will
begin at 8:00 A. M. and will proceed by city
streets to the off ramp of the U. S. Highway
29 Bypass at the intersection of Bypass 29
and U. S. Highway 29 Business at the western
T207: 19
city limits of Charlottesville.
Stop 13. Coarse turbidite deposits at the
base of the Lynchburg Group containing
predominantly a-horizion Bouma cycles in
proximal turbidites. Many of the Bouma
cycles begin with an unsorted basal zone.
above which may be seen graded bedding.
Laminar beds. cross beds. and cut-and-fi1l
structures are also present. Return to U.
S. Highway 29 South and continue for 0.7
mile (1.13 km) to intersection with U. S.
Interstate Highway 64 and turn east on 64.
Continue for 3.7 miles (5.96 km) to off ramp
of State Highway 20.
Stop 14. Amygdaloidal metabasalt of the
Catoctin Formation. Park on the right
shoulder of off ramp and examine exposures
on both sides of road. The rock is at
greenschist facies and is now a greenstone.
The rock appears to be right side up and the
tops of flows contains numerous quartz-
filled amygdu1es. Continue south on State
Highway 20 for 0.6 mile (0.97 km) to
intersection with State Highway 53: turn
left on 53 and continue for 3.3 miles (5.31
km) to intersection with State Road 795.
Turn right on 795 and continue for 1.2 miles
(1.93 km).
Stop 15. Pillow structures in the Catoctin
Formation. Park on the right-hand side of
the road and examine exposures in stream bed
to the right. Continue on State Road 795
for 1.4 miles (2.25 km) and turn left on
State Road 620; continue on State Road 620
for 0.8 mile (1.29 km) to intersection with
State Road 795. Turn right on 795 and
continue for 0.6 mile (0.97 km).
Stop 16. Esmont slate. Park on the right
and examine exposures of slate in small
abandoned quarry and along the road.
Primary bedding, slaty c1aeavage. and a
spaced crenu1ation cleavage can all be
readily observed. Cleavage-bedding
relationship indicates that the beds are
right side up. Continue on State Road 795
for 3.2 miles (5.15 km) to intersection with
State Road 727: continue to the left on
State Road 795. Continue on 795 for 0.1 mile
(0.16 km) to Blenheim. At Blenheim turn
left on State Road 708 and proceed for 3.2
miles (5.15 km) to Woodridge. At Woodridge.
turn left on State Road 618 and continue on
618 for 5.2 miles (8.37 km) to intersection
with State Highway 53. Turn right on 53 and
continue for 0.4 mile (0.64 km) and turn
left and continue on State Road 618 for 4
miles (6.44 km) to intersection with State
Road 600. Turn left on 600 and continue for
0.4 mile (0.64 km).
Stop 17. Back-arc basin deposits of the
Candler Formation. Park on the right side
of road and examine rocks exposed in the
road cut on the left side of the road. The
rocks are metagraywacke sandstones and
siltstones thought to be derived from a
volcanic island arc that lay to the east and
now represented by the Chopawamsic
Formation. Continue on State Road 600 for
1.4 miles (2.25 km) to the intersection with
State Road 616; turn right on 616 and
continue for 2.4 miles (3.86 km) to the
intersection with U. S. Highway 15. Turn
left on 15 and continue for 4.3 miles (6.92
km) to the intersection with U. S.
Interstate Highway 64; turn right on 64 and
continue for approximately 12 miles (19.3
km) to Shannon Hill exit. Exit and turn
left onto State Road 605 and continue on for
4.3 miles (6.92 km) to the intersection with
State Road 646. Turn left on 646 and
continue on for 1.1 miles (1.77 km).
Stop 18. Felsic metavolcanic rocks of the
Chopawamsic Formation. Garnetiferous
layered felsic rocks are exposed on the
right side of the road. Rocks appear to be
fragmental but these apparent fragments
might be in part a product of transposition
of bedding by cleavage. Continue on State
Road 646 for 3.8 miles (6.12 km) to
intersection with State Road 604; bear to
the right and continue on 646 for 1.7 miles
(2.74 km) to the intersection with State
Road 659. Turn right on 659 and continue
for 1.1 miles (1.77 km) to intersection with
U. S. Highway 33 at Louisa. Turn left on 33
and continue for 12.9 miles (20.76 km) to
intersection with U. S. Highway 15 south of
Gordonsville. Turn right on 15 and continue
for 4.0 miles (6.44 km) through
Gordonsville. Turn right on State Road 643
and continue on for 0.75 mile (1.21 km).
Stop 19. Everona Limestone and sheared
phyllites in the Mountain Run fault zone.
Cross railroad tracks and park on right-hand
side of road and observe exposures of finely
laminated, medium-gray limestone exposed in
bottom of stream on the left. Walk along
the road to top of hill and observe sheared
phyllites and button schists of the fault
zone of the Mountain Run fault exposed in
road cuts at the top of the hill. Turn
around and return to U. S. Highway 15, turn
right and proceed for 4.0 miles (6.44 km);
turn right on State Road 639 and proceed for
0.3 mile (0.48 km) to intersection with
State Road 647. Turn right on 647 and park
on right side of road.
T207: 20
Stop 20. Contact between Catoctin Formation
and the Esmont slate. Contact between the
Catoctin Formation and the Esmont slate is
exposed in quarry on left side of the road.
The contact zone appears to be gradational
and consists of metabasalts that are
overlain by mafic metatuffs that grade into
tuffaceous slates. The upper part of
Catoctin contains pillow lavas in a matrix
of hyaloclastite. These pillow metabasalts
are underlain by alternating metabasaltic
and metasedimentary layers that are exposed
in the quarry to the west. The quarry to
the east, on the right side of the road
contains dark gray slates with an interlayer
of pink and white dolomitic marble.
Continue on State Road 647 for 3.65 miles
(5.88 km) to intersection with U. S. Highway
15, just south of Orange. Turn right on 15
and proceed for 4.2 miles (6.76 km) through
the town of Orange to intersection with
State Highway 230. Turn left on 230 and
proceed 9.0 miles (14.48 km) to intersection
with U. S. Highway 29. Turn left on 29 and
proceed for 0.5 mile (0.80 km) to where 230
turns right off 29. Turn right and follow
230 for 10.7 miles (17.22 km) to its
intersection with U. S. Highway 33 at
Stanardsville. Turn right on 33 and proceed
for 4.4 miles (7.08 km) to its intersection
with State Road 634. Turn left on 634 and
proceed for 0.8 mile (1.29 km).
Stop 21. Grenville-age charnockite
intrusive into layered granulite gneiss.
Park on right side of road and examine
exposure in road cut on left side of road.
This exposure is in the northwestern terrane
and consists of coarse equigranular dark
greenish-gray non-foliated charnockite.
This rock contains primary bronze-colored
orthopyroxene, brown pargasite (hornblende),
and dark reddish-brown biotite. The rock is
massive and does not show a metamorphic
foliation and only minor alteration by
greenschist-grade metamorphism. This rock
has not been dated and is so undeformed that
one might speculate that it could be younger
than Grenville. Feldspars contains barium,
which is characteristic of the Grenville-age
charnokites that are intrusive into the
layered granulite gneiss of the northwestern
terrane; most of which show some development
of foliation. Turn around and proceed back
to U. S. Highway 33; turn right on 33 and
return to Stanardsville. At Stanardsville
turn left on State Highway 230 and retrace
the route back to U. S. Highway 29. Turn
left on 29 and return to Washington, D. C.
END OF FIELD TRIP
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