East Berlin Formation (MAJe;0)

East Berlin Formation - Reddish-brown to pale red arkosic sandstone and siltstone, and gray sandstone, gray mudstone, and black shale; interpreted as lake beds. Assigned to Newark Supergroup (Robinson and Luttrell, 1985). The East Berlin Formation of the Hartford basin contains eight facies: trough cross-bedded sandstones, horizontally stratified sandstones, interbedded sandstones and mudrocks, ripple cross-laminated siltstones, black shales, stratified mudrocks, disrupted shales, and disrupted mudstones. These facies are interpreted as a continental depositional system and are divided into two assemblages. Sandflat/alluvial plain facies assemblage (sandstones and siltstones) is composed of sheet-flood deposits. The lacustrine assemblage (shales and mudrocks) represents a saline lake-playa system (Gierlowski-Kordesch, and Rust, 1994).

State	Massachusetts
Name	East Berlin Formation
Geologic age	Lower Jurassic
Original map label	Je
Comments	Part of Mesozoic Basins (Jurassic and Triassic Rocks); Sedimentary and Volcanic Rocks of Hartford Basin. Secondary unit descriptions per MA003, MA004 as reported in USGS Geologic Names Lexicon (ref. MA024): The East Berlin Formation of the Hartford basin contains eight facies: trough cross-bedded sandstones, horizontally stratified sandstones, interbedded sandstones and mudrocks, ripple cross-laminated siltstones, black shales, stratified mudrocks, disrupted shales, and disrupted mudstones. These facies are interpreted as a continental depositional system and are divided into two assemblages. Sandflat/alluvial plain facies assemblage (sandstones and siltstones) is composed of sheet-flood deposits. The lacustrine assemblage (shales and mudrocks) represents a saline lake-playa system (Gierlowski-Kordesch, and Rust, 1994).
Primary rock type	sandstone
Secondary rock type	siltstone
Other rock types	mudstone; black shale
Lithologic constituents	Major Sedimentary > Clastic > Sandstone (Bed)gray sandstone and arkosic sandstone Sedimentary > Clastic > Siltstone (Bed)arkosic siltstone Minor Sedimentary > Clastic > Mudstone (Bed) Incidental Sedimentary > Clastic > Mudstone > Shale > Black-shale (Bed)
Map references	Unpublished Digital Geologic Map of Massachusetts received from Rudi Hon at Boston College in 1998.
Unit references	Zen, E-An (ed.), Goldsmith, R. (comp.), Ratcliffe, N.M. (comp.), Robinson, P. (comp.), Stanley, R.S. (comp.), Hatch, N.L., Jr., Shride, A.F., Weed, E.G.A., Wones, D.R., 1983, Bedrock Geologic Map of Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, scale 1: 250,000. Robinson, Peter and Luttrell, G.W., 1985, Revision of some stratigraphic names in central Massachusetts, IN Stratigraphic notes, 1984: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 1605-A, p. A71-A78. [http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/b1605A] Gierlowski-Kordesch, Elizabeth and Rust, B.R., 1994, The Jurassic East Berlin Formation, Hartford basin, Newark Supergroup (Connecticut and Massachusetts); a saline lake-playa-alluvial plain system, IN Renaut, R.W., and Last, W.M., eds., Sedimentology and geochemistry of modern and ancient saline lakes: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication, no. 50, Symposium, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, August, 1991, p. 249-265, International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP) Project No. 219/324. USGS Geologic Names Lexicon (GEOLEX) [http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/]
Geographic coverage	Hampden - Hampshire