Paxton Formation (MASpbc;0)

Paxton Formation - Diopside calc-silicate granofels. The Paxton, here of group rank, includes strata formerly mapped in CT as the Hebron Formation and in MA as the Paxton Formation. It conformably overlies the Oakdale Formation and structurally and conformably underlies the Brimfield Group. It is undivided in central MA; in northeast CT and adjacent MA it is divided into the Dudley and Southbridge Formations. Age is Late Proterozoic(?) based on the intrusion of 440 m.y. Hedgehog Hill gneiss into the overlying Brimfield Group and an age of 1188 m.y. for detrital zircons from the Paxton (Pease, 1989).

State	Massachusetts
Name	Paxton Formation
Geologic age	Silurian
Original map label	Spbc
Comments	Part of Merrimack Belt (Silurian, Devonian and Pennsylvanian Rocks) Secondary unit description per MA009.
Primary rock type	granofels
Secondary rock type
Other rock types
Lithologic constituents	Major Metamorphic > Granoblastic > GranofelsDiopside calc-silicate granofels.
Map references	Unpublished Digital Geologic Map of Massachusetts received from Rudi Hon at Boston College in 1998.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. Pease, M.H., Jr., 1989, Correlation of the Oakdale Formation and Paxton Group of central Massachusetts with strata in northeastern Connecticut: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 1796, 26 p. [http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/b1796]
Geographic coverage	Worcester