The Straits Schist (CTDSt;0)

The Straits Schist ( = Goshen Formation of Massachusetts) - Silvery to gray, non-rusty, coarse- to very coarse grained, generally poorly layered schist, composed of quartz, muscovite, biotite, oligoclase, garnet, and commonly with staurolite and kyanite or sillimanite; graphitic almost throughout. Distinctive sequence of metamorphic strata overlying the Collinsville Formation in the Bristol quad., is here correlated with the Straits Schist of Fritts (1963) in the Southington quad. Consists mainly of rusty-weathering, medium- to coarse-grained, commonly crenulated, garnet-bearing, graphitic, muscovite-rich, plagioclase-quartz schist with graded bedding. Unit is called The Straits Schist following the original usage of Rodgers and others (1959). In the southern part of the Bristol quad., unit includes the Southington Mountain Member (here reduced in rank) in its upper part. Age of The Straits is inferred to be Silurian or Devonian. Unit is tentatively correlated with the Goshen Formation based on lithologic similarities and a possible unconformity at the base (Simpson, 1990).

State	Connecticut
Name	The Straits Schist
Geologic age	Devonian or Silurian or both
Original map label	DSt
Comments	Part of Central Lowlands; Iapetus (Oceanic) Terrane - Connecticut Valley Synclinorium; Hartland Belt Secondary unit description per CT008.
Primary rock type	schist
Secondary rock type
Other rock types
Lithologic constituents	Major Metamorphic > SchistSilvery to gray, non-rusty, coarse- to very coarse grained, generally poorly layered schist, composed of quartz, muscovite, biotite, oligoclase, garnet, and commonly with staurolite and kyanite or sillimanite; graphitic almost throughout
Map references	Connecticut Geological and Natural History Survey, DEP, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, 2000, Bedrock Geology of Connecticut, data format: shapefile, file name: bedrock, downloaded from: http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/cgi-bin/MAGIC_DBsearch2.pl?Geography=37800&Loc=0000 on 9/18/2003, scale 1:50,000. [http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/connecticut_data.html#environmental] [http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/cgi-bin/MAGIC_DBsearch2.pl?Geography=37800&Loc=0000]
Unit references	Rodgers, John, compiler, 1985, Bedrock Geological Map of Connecticut: Connecticut Geological and Natural History Survey, Hartford, Connecticut, 2 sheets, scale 125,000. Simpson, H.E., 1990, Bedrock geology of the Bristol quadrangle, Hartford, Litchfield, and New Haven Counties, Connecticut: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 1573, 13 p. [http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/b1573]
Geographic coverage	Fairfield - Hartford - Litchfield - New Haven