Lockatong Formation red bed

Lockatong Formation red bed - Predominantly cyclic lacustrine sequences of silty, dolomitic or analcime-bearing argillite; laminated mudstone; silty to calcareous, argillaceous very fine grained sandstone and pyritic siltstone; and minor silty limestone, mostly light- to dark-gray, greenishgray, and black. Grayish-red, grayish-purple, and dark-brownish-red sequences (Trlr) occur in some places, especially in upper half. Two types of cycles are recognized: freshwater-lake (detrital) and alkaline-lake (chemical) cycles. Freshwater-lake cycles average 5.2 m (17 ft) thick. They consist of basal, transgressive, fluvial to lake-margin deposits that are argillaceous, very fine grained sandstone to coarse siltstone with indistinct lamination, planar or cross lamination, or are disrupted by convolute bedding, desiccation cracks, root casts, soil-ped casts, and tubes. Medial lake-bottom deposits are laminated siltstones, silty mudstones, or silty limestones that are dark gray to black with calcite laminae and grains and lenses, or streaks of pyrite; fossils are common, including fish scales and articulated fish, conchostracans, plants, spores, and pollen. Upper regressive lake margin, playa lake, and mudflat deposits are light- to dark-gray silty mudstone to argillitic siltstone or very fine grained sandstone, mostly thick bedded to massive, with desiccation cracks, intraformational breccias, faint wavy laminations, burrows, euhedral pyrite grains, and dolomite or calcite specks. Alkaline-lake cycles are similar to freshwater-lake cycles, but are thinner, averaging 3 m (10 ft), have fewer fossils (mainly conchostracans), and commonly have red beds, extensive desiccation features, and abundant analcime and dolomite specks in the upper parts of cycles. Thickness near Byram is about 1,070 m (3,510 ft). The formation thins to the southeast and northeast; thickness near Princeton is less than 700 m (2,297 ft).