Sandstone, graywacke, shale and conglomerate; minor beds of meta-anthracite. Fossil plants. Rhode Island Formation is thickest and most extensive formation in Narragansett basin. Does not extend to Norfolk basin. Consists of gray sandstone and siltstone and lesser amounts of gray to black shale, gray conglomerate, and coal beds 10 m thick. Interfingers with Wamsutta Formation in Narragansett basin. In places overlies Dedham Granite. Age is Middle and Late Pennsylvanian (Goldsmith, 1991).
Light-gray, medium-grained, biotite granite, in part mafic-poor. Gneissic in New Bedford area. Includes Bulgarmarsh Granite (Proterozoic Z). Intrudes Zgs. Fall River pluton of the MA State map (Zen and others, 1983) is here referred to as the Fall River Granite. According to the authors, the change in name is meant to indicate the heterogeneous nature of the granite and the fact that it may consist of more than a single pluton. Included in this unit is the Bulgarmarsh Granite of Fall River and a mass of alaskitic gneiss shown on the State map south of Fall River. No type section is designated. Geologic map shows the Fall River present in the New Bedford area of MA and RI and bounded on the west by the Narragansett Bay Group. The Fall River was dated by Zartman and Naylor (1984) at about 600 Ma (U-Th-Pb zircon) (Murray and others, 1990).
Light-gray, pinkish-gray to tan, mafic-poor granite commonly containing muscovite.
Gray to gray-green, seriate to porphyritic biotite granite containing clots and streaks of biotite, epidote, and sphene. Mafic inclusions common. Gneissic in New Bedford area. Intrudes Zgs.
Coarse conglomerate having sandy matrix; minor sandstone. Dighton Conglomerate occurs in Narragansett basin. Consists of gray conglomerate composed mainly of rounded quartzite cobbles to boulders containing subordinate rounded granite cobbles and slate pebbles; very little sand matrix; lenses of medium-grained sandstone form less than 20 percent of unit. Age is Pennsylvanian (Goldsmith, 1991).
Hornblende and biotite schist and gneiss, amphibolite.
Red to pink, well-sorted conglomerate, graywacke, sandstone, and shale; fossil plants. Wamsutta Formation occurs in Narragansett and Norfolk basins. Consists of conglomerate, lithic graywacke, sandstone, and shale. Also contains rhyolite and basalt horizons near Attleboro. Northwest of Attleboro, Wamsutta overlies Diamond Hill Felsite as used by Skehan and Murray (in Skehan and others, 1979). Volcanic rocks similar to Diamond Hill Felsite crop out west of Lake Pearl, between Franklin and Wrentham, on west flank of Norfolk basin. These are shown within Wamsutta Formation on MA State bedrock map of Zen and others (1983) because of their proximity to Diamond Hill. They also resemble Proterozoic Z Mattapan Volcanic Complex. Chute (1966) described lenses of carbonate rock in red and green shale in Wamsutta in Norwood quad. Limestone also observed in rocks mapped as Wamsutta adjacent to exposed Dedham Granite at Manchester Pond Reservoir (J.P. Schafer, 1982, oral commun.). Red and green shales may actually be Cambrian. Upper member of Pondville Conglomerate grades into and interfingers with Wamsutta; in turn, Wamsutta interfingers with Rhode Island Formation in northwest part of Narragansett basin. Nonconformably overlies Dedham Granite. Partly equivalent to Rhode Island Formation. Age is Early and Middle Pennsylvanian. Contains a few plant fossils (Goldsmith, 1991).
Light grayish-pink to greenish-gray, equigranular to slightly porphyritic, variably altered, granite south and west of Boston. Includes dioritic rock near Scituate and Cohasset and Barefoot Hills Quartz Monzonite of Lyons (1969) and Lyons and Wolfe (1971). Intrudes Zdi, Zgb, Zb, Zv. Extensive calc-alkaline plutons separated by Boston basin have long been mapped as Dedham. Those to the north of Boston and studied in this report, are referred to as Dedham North. Crystallization ages for the Dedham North suite (based on titanites and zircons) have been determined at 607+/-4 Ma, while ages for the Lynn are slightly younger at 596+/-3 Ma. Both are clearly part of the Late Proterozoic magmatic event. Dates on two samples from Sheffield Heights indicate that the diorite and granite are part of the Dedham North suite. The Dedham south and west of Boston has been dated at 630+/15 Ma (Zartman and Naylor, 1984). Dedham North Granite has a compositionally highly variable suite ranging from leucogranites to granodiorites, tonalites, and quartz diorite. The granites originated by partial melting of a sedimentary protolith, while the intermediate members show a mixing of granitic magma and mafic magma (Hepburn and others, 1993).
Medium-grained hornblende diorite metamorphosed in part to amphibolite and hornblende gneiss.
Layered feldspathic gneiss.
Quartz conglomerate having abundant sandy matrix; boulder conglomerate, arkose; fossil plants. Pondville Conglomerate is present in Narragansett and Norfolk basins. Although Chute (1964, 1966, 1969) recognized a lower boulder conglomerate member and an upper sandstone to pebble conglomerate member in the Pondville in the northeast part of the basin, such a division is not readily made to the southwest because of facies changes. Upper member grades into and interfingers with Wamsutta Formation. Basal beds nonconformably overlie Dedham Granite in northern part of Narragansett basin. Age of deposits in Narragansett and Norfolk basins ranges from Early to Late Pennsylvanian; however, Skehan and Murray (1980) assigned lower part of Pondville to Mississippian. Further study may reveal even older Paleozoic sediments in Narragansett basin (Goldsmith, 1991).
Conglomerate, sandstone, and graywacke. Rhode Island Formation is thickest and most extensive formation in Narragansett basin. Does not extend to Norfolk basin. Consists of gray sandstone and siltstone and lesser amounts of gray to black shale, gray conglomerate, and coal beds 10 m thick. Interfingers with Wamsutta Formation in Narragansett basin. In places overlies Dedham Granite. Age is Middle and Late Pennsylvanian (Goldsmith, 1991).
Includes some diorite and gabbro north and northwest of Boston.
Quartzite, argillite, and minor limestone; contains Middle Cambrian fauna.
Pink to gray, coarse-grained, equigranular rock composed of microcline, perthite, plagioclase, quartz, and accessory biotite, sphene, zircon, and opaque minerals; secondary chlorite and muscovite. Generally massive, but locally foliated and lineated. Includes some rock mapped formerly as Bulgarmarsh Granite and Metacom Granite Gneiss.
In northern Rhode Island, consists of gray to black, fine- to coarse-grained quartz arenite, litharenite, shale, and conglomerate, with minor beds of anthracite and meta-anthracite. In southern Rhode Island, consists of meta-sandstone, meta-conglomerate, schist, carbonaceous schist, and graphite. Plant fossils are common.
Rhyolite and mafic volcanic rocks in the Wamsutta Formation. Wamsutta Formation occurs in Narragansett and Norfolk basins. Consists of conglomerate, lithic graywacke, sandstone, and shale. Also contains rhyolite and basalt horizons near Attleboro. Northwest of Attleboro, Wamsutta overlies Diamond Hill Felsite as used by Skehan and Murray (in Skehan and others, 1979). Volcanic rocks similar to Diamond Hill Felsite crop out west of Lake Pearl, between Franklin and Wrentham, on west flank of Norfolk basin. These are shown within Wamsutta Formation on MA State bedrock map of Zen and others (1983) because of their proximity to Diamond Hill. They also resemble Proterozoic Z Mattapan Volcanic Complex. Chute (1966) described lenses of carbonate rock in red and green shale in Wamsutta in Norwood quad. Limestone also observed in rocks mapped as Wamsutta adjacent to exposed Dedham Granite at Manchester Pond Reservoir (J.P. Schafer, 1982, oral commun.). Red and green shales may actually be Cambrian. Upper member of Pondville Conglomerate grades into and interfingers with Wamsutta; in turn, Wamsutta interfingers with Rhode Island Formation in northwest part of Narragansett basin. Nonconformably overlies Dedham Granite. Partly equivalent to Rhode Island Formation. Age is Early and Middle Pennsylvanian. Contains a few plant fossils (Goldsmith, 1991).
Medium- to coarse-grained porphyritic granodiorite. Gradational with Zegr.
unknown
Gray, pink, or greenish, generally massive, coarse-grained, porphyritic (microcline phenocrysts) granite. Contains microcline, perthite, plagioclase, quartz, and accessory biotite, hornblende, apatite, sphene, and opaque minerals; secondary chlorite, epidote, and sericite. Includes some rock mapped formerly as Bulgarmarsh Granite and Newport Granite Porphyry.
Red sandstone, shale, and conglomerate, locally containing abundant volcanic detritus as clasts and matrix. Plant fossil localities occur in adjacent Massachusetts. Minor, but significant amounts of interstratified bimodal-composition volcanic lava flows consisting of alkalic basalt (locally pillowed) and rhyolite are present in adjacent Massachusetts.
Gray, smoky-quartz granule-conglomerate, sandstone, and pebble to cobble conglomerate, interbedded with black carbonaceous phyllite. Includes some rock mapped formerly as Pondville Conglomerate.
Gray conglomerate consisting predominantly of quartz clasts set in a sand-sized matrix. Minor lenses of litharenite and arkosic sandstone.
Coarse-grained biotite-granite and fine-grained riebeckite granite. Intrudes Zdgr.