Russell Mountain Formation

Russell Mountain Formation - Quartzite, calc-silicate granofels, and calc-silicate marble. Correlated with the fossiliferous Shaw Mountain Formation of eastern Vermont. In original definition of Russell Mountain Formation (Hatch and others (1970), calcareous granofels on Woronoco dome was included in unit. Subsequent mapping by Stanley and others (1982) indicates that rocks mapped on Woronoco dome are different from the rest of Russell Mountain Formation and are more logically included in overlying Lower Devonian sequence (mapped as an unnamed member of Goshen Formation in fig. 3). Other than this modification and mapping a few lenses of Russell Mountain Formation just north of Massachusetts Turnpike, original definition of Russell Mountain stands. Thickness does not exceed 35 m, but its correlative in CT, the basal member of The Straits Schist of Rodgers (1982, 1985), is locally at least twice as thick. Has not been shown to correlate with either Clough Quartzite or Fitch Formation to the east. Russell Mountain Formation is highly discontinuous except near Shelburne Falls dome. Locally overlies members A and D of Cobble Mountain Formation; overlain everywhere by Goshen Formation. Silurian age is based on correlation with discontinuous lenses of similar rocks at same stratigraphic position as Shaw Mountain Formation of VT. Recent field trips with J.B. Thompson, Jr. (Harvard University) and others has raised questions as to whether many of those rocks in southern VT are actually Shaw Mountain. Shaw Mountain Formation has been assigned a firm age of late Llandoverian to Gedinnian north of Albany, VT, based on HOWELLELA (Boucot and Thompson, 1963; Konig, 1961) (Hatch and others, 1988).