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Monson Gneiss

Monson Gneiss (may be equivalent to part of Waterford Group) - Interlayered light to dark, mostly medium to coarse-grained gneiss and amphibolite; gneiss composed of plagioclase, quartz, and biotite, with hornblende in some layers and microcline in others; traces of garnet, epidote, and magnetite.
StateConnecticut
NameMonson Gneiss
Geologic ageMiddle or Lower Ordovician?
Original map labelOmo
CommentsPart of Eastern Uplands; Iapetus (Oceanic) Terrane - Bronson Hill Anticlinorium. Swanzey, Pauchaug, Monson, and Fourmile Gneisses represent metamorphosed intrusive igneous rocks and yield ages from 454 to 442+3/-2 Ma. Therefore, ages range from early Late through latest Ordovician. Authors suggest that they represent the plutonic root of a calc-alkaline magmatic arc at least 250 km long that was produced partly or entirely on a continental margin in the Late Ordovician. The overlying Ammonoosuc Volcanics and Partridge Formation, rather that resting unconformably on these plagioclase-rich plutonic gneiss, are now known to have had a magmatic history overlapping with them and are approximately the same age (Tucker and Robinson, 1990) per CT012.
Primary rock typegneiss
Secondary rock typeamphibolite
Other rock types
Lithologic constituents
Major
Metamorphic > GneissInterlayered light to dark, mostly medium to coarse-grained gneiss and amphibolite; gneiss composed of plagioclase, quartz, and biotite, with hornblende in some layers and microcline in others; traces of garnet, epidote, and magnetite.
Metamorphic > Amphibolite
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.
Unit references
Rodgers, John, compiler, 1985, Bedrock Geological Map of Connecticut: Connecticut Geological and Natural History Survey, Hartford, Connecticut, 2 sheets, scale 125,000.
Tucker, R.D. and Robinson, Peter, 1990, Age and setting of the Bronson Hill magmatic arc; a re-evaluation based on U-Pb zircon ages in southern New England: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 102, no. 10, p. 1404-1419.
Geographic coverageHartford - Middlesex - New Haven - Tolland

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