Research about western New England

USGS1993

Reconciling deep seismic refraction and reflection data from the Grenvillian-Appalachian boundary in western New England

The Grenvillian-Appalachian boundary is characterized by pervasive mylonitic deformation and retrograde alteration of a suite of imbricated allochthonous and parautochthonous gneisses that were thrust upon the Grenvillian continental margin during the lower Paleozoic. Seismic reflection profiling across this structural boundary zone reveals prominent dipping reflectors interpreted as overthrust basement slices (parautochthons) of the Green Mountain Anticlinorium. In contrast, a seismic refraction study of the Grenvillian-Appalachian boundary reveals a sub-horizontally layered seismic velocity model that is difficult to reconcile with the pronounced sub-vertical structures observed in the Green mountains. A suite of rock samples was collected from the Green Mountain Anticlinorium and measured at high pressures in the laboratory to determine the seismic properties of these allochthonous and parautochthonous gneisses. The laboratory-measured seismic velocities agree favorably with the modelled velocity structure across the Grenvillian-Appalachian boundary suggesting that the rock samples are reliable indicators of the rock mass as whole. Samples of the parautochthonous Grenvillian basement exposed in the Green Mountains have lower velocities, by about 0.5 km/s, than lithologically equivalent units exposed in the eastern Adirondack Highlands. Velocity reduction in the Green Mountain parautochthons can be accounted for by retrograde metamorphic alteration (hydration) of the paragneisses. Seismic anisotropies, ranging from 2 to 12%, in the mylonitized Green Mountain paragneisses may also contribute to the observation of lower seismic velocities, where the direction of ray propagation is normal to the foliation. The velocity properties of the Green Mountain paragneisses are thus insufficiently different from the mantling Appalachian allochthons to permit their resolution by the Ontario-New York-New England seismic refraction profile.

New York, Vermont↗

USGS1984

Evidence for tectonic emplacement of ultramafic and associated rocks in the pre-Silurian eugeoclinal belt of western New England: Vestiges of an ancient accretionary wedge

In northern Vermont, detailed 1:10,000 mapping of the Hazens Notch, Ottauquechee, Stowe, and Moretown formations in the 60 km 2 Jay area has shown that metasedimentary rocks and serpentinites are highly faulted to produce a tectonic stratigraphy in which serpentinites and talc-carbonate rocks occur as slivers along faults that separate contrasting lithic assemblages. Remnants of the ophiolite sequences of Quebec. In western Massachusetts, the ultramafic-bearing section of the Rowe Schist and the western part of the Moretown Formation are largely equivalent to the rocks in northern Vermont. Mapping at 1:24,000 scale and compilation work for the new bedrock map of Massachusetts have shown that the Rowe Schist consists of numerous lenses of greenschist, carbonaceous schist, gray schist, amphibolite, and serpentinite. Although the geometric arrangement of the lenses and serpentinites is strikingly similar to that seen in the Jay area, higher grade Taconian and Acadian metamorphism has partially obscured the fault fabrics seen in Vermont.

Massachusetts, Vermont↗