Geologic units in Rensselaer county, New York

Nassau Formation (Cambrian?) at surface, covers 32 % of this area

South of 43 degrees; slate, shale, thin quartzite, includes Stuyvesant Conglomerate, Diamond Rock Quartzite, Curtis Mountain Quartzite, and Bomoseen Graywacke Members.

Rensselaer Graywacke (Cambrian?) at surface, covers 18 % of this area

Minor shale.

Canajoharie Shale (Middle Ordovician) at surface, covers 8 % of this area

Canajoharie Shale

Nassau Formation of Potter (1972) - Mettawee member (Neoproterozoic) at surface, covers 5 % of this area

Predominantly greenish-gray to pale-lustrous-green chlorite-muscovite-quartz phyllite; and green and purple, bedded and mottled phyllite. Locally contains boudins and thin beds of limestone and pods of pinkish-gray to cream-white dolostone, and minor quartzite. Unit interfingers with the West Castleton Formation above and laterally grades into the Bomoseen Graywacke Member. Also shown as CZnm (Mettawee Member of the Nassau Formation of Potter, 1972). Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Undifferentiated Middle Ordovician thru Lower Cambrian allochthonous rocks (Cambrian - Ordovician) at surface, covers 4 % of this area

Principally pelite; lesser quartzite, limestone, conglomerate, graywacke.

Nassau Formation of Potter (1972) - Rensselaer Graywacke member (Lower Cambrian and Neoproterozoic) at surface, covers 4 % of this area

Nassau Formation of Potter (1972) - Rensselaer Graywacke member. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Walloomsac Formation (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers 4 % of this area

Same description as Hortonville Formation - Dark-gray siliceous shale and phyllite containing thin beds of bluish-gray argillaceous limestone and minor beds of gray to tan quartzite. Grades into limy shales of the Stony Point Formation. Tectonically shredded, silty varieties near and on Whipstock Hill constitute the Whipstock Breccia Member of Potter (1972) (Oww). Vermont Valley sequence and Middlebury synclinorium (above the Orwell and Champlain thrusts).

Austerlitz Phyllite (Cambrian?) at surface, covers 4 % of this area

Austerlitz Phyllite - minor quartzite

Walloomsac Formation (Middle Ordovician) at surface, covers 3 % of this area

Slate, phyllite, schist, metagraywacke.

Glacial and Alluvial Deposits (Quaternary) at surface, covers 3 % of this area

Underlying bedrock geology unknown.

Germantown Formation (Cambrian) at surface, covers 3 % of this area

South of Troy; shale, conglomerate, limestone.

Taconic Melange (Middle Ordovician) at surface, covers 2 % of this area

Chaotic mixture of Early Cambrian thru Middle Ordovician pebble to block-size angular to rounded clasts in a pelitic matrix of Middle Ordovician (Barneveld) age. Rims and floors earlier submarine gravity slides of Taconian Orogeny.

Stuyvesant Falls Formation (Ordovician) at surface, covers 1 % of this area

South of Troy; shale, siltstone.

Normanskill Shale (Middle Ordovician) at surface, covers 1 % of this area

Minor mudstone, sandstone.

Bull Formation - Bomoseen Graywacke member (Neoproterozoic) at surface, covers 1 % of this area

Pale-reddish-brown to light-gray-weathering, medium- and fine-grained, massive to thickly bedded, olive-green to gray micaceous quartz-feldspar graywacke and siltstone, locally containing coarse detrital muscovite, biotite, and autoclastic slate chips. Resembles finer grained parts of the Rensselaer Graywacke Member of the Nassau Formation (of Potter, 1972), and the Bird Mountain Grit (of Dale, 1900). Unit interfingers with and grades laterally into the Mettawee slate facies. In the Mt. Anthony area is shown as CZnb (Bomoseen Member of the Nassau Formation of Potter, 1972). Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Poultney Formation (Middle and Lower Ordovician) at surface, covers 1 % of this area

Dull-white and whitish-gray-weathering, and pale-green and gray, thinly bedded to laminated slate and phyllite. Has distinctive beds, 1 cm to several centimeters thick, of siliceous argillite and metasiltstone and locally abundant thin beds of micritic black limestone near the base, interbedded with dark slate. Contains graptolites ranging from Ibexian to Whiterockian (Berry, 1961). Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Mount Merino and Indian River Formations (Ordovician) at surface, covers 0.9 % of this area

Shale, slate, cherts.

Chipman Formation - Bascom Formation (Middle and Lower Ordovician) at surface, covers 0.9 % of this area

Interbedded orangey-tan- to buff-weathering dolostone and bluish-gray to gray mottled dolomitic limestone or calcite marble and calcareous sandstone. In southern Vermont east of the Taconic Range, rocks mapped as Bascom Formation may include unmapped members of the Chipman Formation. Vermont Valley sequence and Middlebury synclinorium (above the Orwell and Champlain thrusts).

Austin Glen Graywacke (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers 0.7 % of this area

Unit is indistinguishable from beds in the Austin Glen Graywacke (after Potter, 1972) (Oag) interpreted as synorogenic autochthonous rocks. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Austin Glen Formation (Middle Ordovician) at surface, covers 0.6 % of this area

Graywacke, shale

Bull Formation - Mettawee slate facies (Neoproterozoic) at surface, covers 0.5 % of this area

Predominantly greenish-gray to pale-lustrous-green chlorite-muscovite-quartz phyllite; and green and purple, bedded and mottled phyllite. Locally contains boudins and thin beds of limestone and pods of pinkish-gray to cream-white dolostone, and minor quartzite. Unit interfingers with the West Castleton Formation above and laterally grades into the Bomoseen Graywacke Member. Also shown as CZnm (Mettawee Member of the Nassau Formation of Potter, 1972). Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

West Castleton Formation (Middle and Lower Cambrian) at surface, covers 0.4 % of this area

Dark-gray to black, fine-grained slate and phyllite, interbedded with thinly laminated bluish-black fine-grained limestone, limestone conglomerate. Unit is interbedded near the base with green phyllite and sooty-punky-weathering calcitic quartz wacke and limestone of the Browns Pond Formation, which is shown separately where mapped. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Whipstock Breccia in the Walloomsac Formation (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers 0.3 % of this area

Largely a tectonic breccia formed in situ; contains abundant pseudo-pebbles. Part of the Taconic Allochthon. Wildflysch-like conglomerates within the Hortonville, Ira, and Walloomsac Formations occur as local areas of black slate rich in inclusions of quartzite, greenish-gray slate, wacke, and punky-weathering bluish-gray limestone, interpreted as sedimentary breccias, deposited in front of the advancing Taconic allochthon (Upper Ordovician) (Zen, 1961; Potter, 1972; Fisher, 1985). Exposed near the western and northern margin of the allochthon and in the Bennington area at the type Whipstock. Here and at many localities the Forbes Hill and Whipstock breccias are tectonic breccias formed in situ by disruption of thin to thick beds, laminae, and carbonate-quartz-sulfide veins rather than clastic sedimentary rocks. The cleavage and related folding commonly is a late strain-slip cleavage characterized by a strong down-plunge lineation parallel to reclined hingelines of minor folds of foliation and compositional layering. Units are retained although interpretation as sedimentary wildflysch deposits is in part questionable.

Poultney Formation (""B"" and ""C"" Members) (Ordovician) at surface, covers 0.2 % of this area

North of Troy; shale, slate, siltstone.

Hatch Hill Formation (Upper Cambrian) at surface, covers 0.2 % of this area

Dark-gray to black, sooty- to rusty-weathering, splintery-fractured pyritic slate and phyllite and interbedded bluish-gray dolomitic quartzite. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Stockbridge Formation (Cambrian - Lower Ordovician) at surface, covers 0.2 % of this area

Calcitic and dolomitic marble.

Trenton and Black River Groups, undivided (Middle Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Mohawk Valley: Dolgeville, Denley, Sugar River, Kings Falls, Glens Falls, Rockland, Amsterdam, and Lowville Limestones. Washington County: Glens Falls and Orwell Limestones.

Indian River Slate (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Deep-maroon and bluish-green-weathering, well-bedded and variegated slate; contains minor centimeter-thick, white-weathering, red and bluish-black cherty layers characteristic of the Mount Merino Formation. Contains graptolites of the C. bicornis Biozone (Berry, 1961). Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Walloomsac Formation - limestone (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Basal limestone member. Tectonically shredded, silty varieties near and on Whipstock Hill constitute the Whipstock Breccia Member of Potter (1972) (Oww). Vermont Valley sequence and Middlebury synclinorium (above the Orwell and Champlain thrusts).

Cambrian thru Middle Ordovician carbonate rock (Cambrian - Middle Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Occuring as slivers caught along thrusts of later allochthones, or carbonate blocks in Taconic Melange. Also mapped as horses along normal faults.

Mount Merino Formation (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Light-gray, powdery-weathering, and red, green, and dark-gray, thinly bedded siliceous argillite and mudstone distinguished from the Indian River Slate by abundance of cherty siliceous layers. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Greenstones and tuffs and/or basalt (Cambrian?) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Greenstones and tuffs and/or basalt

Netop Formation - wacke member (Cambrian and Neoproterozoic) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Bluish-gray, fine-grained metawacke and metasiltstone, perhaps equivalent to the Bomoseen Graywacke Member of the Bull Formation. Rocks of the Dorset Mountain slice (includes Dorset Mountain proper and Mount Equinox, southward to West Mountain near Bennington). Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Pawlet Formation (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Light-gray, tan-weathering, mica-speckled, massive to thin-bedded quartz-plagioclase wacke interbedded with dark-gray carbonaceous slate. Contains distinctive autoclastic chips of gray slate, fragments of dacitic to andesitic volcanics, and subangular clasts of dark-gray quartz and oligoclase. Interbedded black slates contain graptolites of the C. bicornis Biozone (see Webby and others, 2004, fig. 2.1) (lower to middle Mohawkian). Interpreted as uncomformable on rocks as old as the Hatch Hill Formation and possibly the West Castleton Formation of the allochthon. Unit is indistinguishable from beds in the Austin Glen Graywacke (after Potter, 1972) (Oag) interpreted as synorogenic autochthonous rocks. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Graptoliferous slate (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Black slate of Climacograptus bicornis Biozone on and west of Whipstock Hill, otherwise typical of slates of the Walloomsac Formation shown as Ow. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Netop Formation - chlorite phyllite member (Cambrian and Neoproterozoic) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Light-green to gray, lustrous, chlorite±chloritoid-muscovite-quartz phyllite and greenish-gray metasiltstone. Rocks of the Dorset Mountain slice (includes Dorset Mountain proper and Mount Equinox, southward to West Mountain near Bennington). Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Nassau Formation of Potter (1972) - basaltic volcanics (Lower Cambrian and Neoproterozoic) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Includes basaltic volcanics. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Elizaville Formation (Cambrian - Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Shale, argillite, quartzite.

Carbonate - limestone (Cambrian and Neoproterozoic?) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Pods, lenses, or zones of thinly bedded limestone (ls), dolostone (d), and limestone conglomerate in the Mettawee slate facies in the Bull Formation, West Castleton Formation, and Hatch Hill Formation. These rocks locally contain Lower Cambrian fossils, but may range in age from Neoproterozoic to Late Cambrian. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Sandy phyllite, granofels, and cherty phyllite (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Gray and grayish-green rocks associated with Whipstock breccia on Whipstock Hill but of uncertain correlation. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Nassau Formation of Potter (1972) - Bomoseen Member (Neoproterozoic) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Pale-reddish-brown to light-gray-weathering, medium- and fine-grained, massive to thickly bedded, olive-green to gray micaceous quartz-feldspar graywacke and siltstone, locally containing coarse detrital muscovite, biotite, and autoclastic slate chips. Resembles finer grained parts of the Rensselaer Graywacke Member of the Nassau Formation (of Potter, 1972), and the Bird Mountain Grit (of Dale, 1900). Unit interfingers with and grades laterally into the Mettawee slate facies. In the Mt. Anthony area is shown as CZnb (Bomoseen Member of the Nassau Formation of Potter, 1972). Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

West Castleton Formation - quartzite (Middle and Lower Cambrian) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Boudins of whitish-gray-weathering, bluish-gray quartzite. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Moosalamoo Formation - gray phyllite and metawacke member (Lower Cambrian and Neoproterozoic) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Dark-gray, sooty-weathering, splintery sulfidic to non-sulfidic quartz phyllite and pebbly and gritty biotite metawacke. Cover rocks of the Lincoln Mountain massif and northwestern flank of the Green Mountain massif.

Eagle Bridge Quartzite (Lower Cambrian) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Dull-gray, pitted, and bluish-gray dolomitic quartz wacke and quartzite distinguished by small pebbles and grains of dark-blue to black quartz, dacitic rock fragments, and abundant plagioclase. Beds resembling the Eagle Bridge Quartzite may occur at several stratigraphic positions within the black slate and gray phyllite of the West Castleton and Hatch Hill(?) Formations, undifferentiated (Cwcu), and near the base of the Poultney Formation, and probably are not all correlative. Rocks of the Giddings Brook, Sunset Lake, and Bird Mountain slices. Part of the Taconic Allochthon.

Vesicular basalt breccia at East Hoosick (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

In the Walloomsac Formation; perhaps intrusive. Part of the Taconic Allochthon. Wildflysch-like conglomerates within the Hortonville, Ira, and Walloomsac Formations occur as local areas of black slate rich in inclusions of quartzite, greenish-gray slate, wacke, and punky-weathering bluish-gray limestone, interpreted as sedimentary breccias, deposited in front of the advancing Taconic allochthon (Upper Ordovician) (Zen, 1961; Potter, 1972; Fisher, 1985). Exposed near the western and northern margin of the allochthon and in the Bennington area at the type Whipstock. Here and at many localities the Forbes Hill and Whipstock breccias are tectonic breccias formed in situ by disruption of thin to thick beds, laminae, and carbonate-quartz-sulfide veins rather than clastic sedimentary rocks. The cleavage and related folding commonly is a late strain-slip cleavage characterized by a strong down-plunge lineation parallel to reclined hingelines of minor folds of foliation and compositional layering. Units are retained although interpretation as sedimentary wildflysch deposits is in part questionable.

Walloomsac Formation - phyllite (Upper Ordovician) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

A black carbonaceous highly graptoliferous phyllite. Tectonically shredded, silty varieties near and on Whipstock Hill constitute the Whipstock Breccia Member of Potter (1972) (Oww). Vermont Valley sequence and Middlebury synclinorium (above the Orwell and Champlain thrusts).