Tectonic Setting of the Northeastern Reading Prong
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R. D. DALLMEYER Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 Tectonic Setting of the Northeastern Reading Prong ABSTRACT been examined in detail until recently. Silurian and Devonian sedimentary rocks Although new geological and geophysical unconformably overlie this section. Most of The Reading Prong is one of the major information is available from these areas, the eastern border of the prong is defined by areas of exposure of Precambrian crystalline it is disseminated throughout the literature a system of irregularly developed faults that rocks in the north-central Appalachians. and, except for Drake's (1969) work in the separate it from sedimentary and intrusive The extent of its participation in early southwestern Reading Prong, has not been rocks of the Triassic Basin (Sanders, 1963). Paleozoic tectonic activity has long been compiled to present a unified evaluation of Locally, Cambrian and Ordovician rocks controversial. Although work by Drake the regional configuration of this Precam- are in fault contact with the eastern border (1969) has shown that the southwestern brian terrain. This report presents a of the prong. East of the Hudson River the portion of the prong is characterized by a synthesis of more recent work that is prong is bordered by late Precambrian(P) to series of allochthonous Precambrian slices pertinent to an understanding of the tectonic Ordovician rocks of the Manhattan Prong that overlie lower Paleozoic rocks, no setting of the northeastern Reading Prong. metamorphic complex. evidence to support significant overthrust- The northeastern segment of the Reading ing of Precambrian rocks is found in the GEOLOGIC SETTING Prong is characterized by several narrow but northeastern segment of the prong. In this The Reading Prong is a nearly continu- continuous blocks of Precambrian rocks area, geophysical and geological data ous belt of crystalline rocks extending from that are separated by a series of northeast- indicate that the tectonic setting of the western Connecticut to eastern Pennsyl- trending, apparently high-angle faults (Fig. Precambrian rocks is a result of several vania (Fig. 2). The Precambrian rocks of the 2). Locally, infaulted lower Paleozoic rocks periods of large-scale basement uplift along prong consist of a sequence of quartzo- separate these highlands. In addition to the northeast-trending, high-angle faults. These feldspathic and amphibolitic gneisses that main structural blocks, isolated exposures data further suggest that the regional were plastically deformed, metamorphosed, of Precambrian rocks extend in a discon- configuration of the northeastern Reading and intruded by syntectonic granites at tinuous belt northeastward to Newburgh, Prong was established prior to the Taconic: ~ 1,150 m.y. Subsequent uplift resulted in a New York. orogeny. long history of brittle deformation and The southwestern portion of the prong minor retrograde alteration (Dallmeyer, is similarly cut by numerous east- INTRODUCTION 1972,1973). northeast—trending faults, but here they are Significant exposures of Precambrian Throughout its entire length, the Reading moderate- to low-angle structures (Drake, crystalline rocks in the northern and central Prong is bordered on the northwest by 1969). In this region, Cambrian and Appalachians are restricted to three regions deformed and variably metamorphosed Ordovician sedimentary rocks crop out in (Fig. 1): (1) the Adirondack Mountains; (2) Cambrian and Ordovician carbonate and abundant intraprong valleys between the a poorly defined coastal sequence in pelitic rocks (Fig. 2). To the northwest, discontinuous Precambrian ridges (Fig. 2). southeastern New England, part of eastern New Brunswick, and eastern Newfound- land; and (3) a belt of highlands that extends discontinuously from western Newfound- land to eastern Pennsylvania. This latter belt consists of a series of distinct massifs that have been regarded as a correlative series of Precambrian cores to large-scale, northeast-trending anticlinoria. However, recent work suggests that these massifs have distinctive tectonic settings. Detailed studies in the Green Mountain and Berkshire Highlands (Fig. 1) have shown that Precambrian rocks were actively involved in Paleozoic tectonic movements and are partially allochthonous, having been transported in a general westward direction during the long period of crustal shortening that characterized early and middle Paleozoic orogenic movements in the Appalachians (Cady, 1945, 1969; Zen, 1968; Norton, 1969; Ratcliffe, 1969). The extent to which the southernmost of these massifs (Housatonic and Reading Prong Highlands) were affected by Paleozoic tectonic events has long been controversial; Figure 1. Major areas of Precambrian exposure (solid and dashed patterns) in the northern Appalachians, however, their regional relations have not excluding Newfoundland. Individual massifs in Precambrian Highlands belt are named. After Zen and others (1968). Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 85, p. 131-134, 2 figs., January 1974 131 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/85/1/131/3428726/i0016-7606-85-1-131.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 V 132 R. D. DALLMEYER HISTORICAL SUMMARY and suggested that the northeastern portion Precambrian rocks at a depth of 2,200 m The tectonic setting of the Precambrian of the Reading Prong represents the upper below sea level, yet 16 km to the southeast rocks in the Reading Prong has long been limb of his Musconetcong nappe. Evidence the westernmost blocks of the Reading debated. Early workers in the southwestern for Isachsen's interpretation is equivocal, Prong expose Precambrian at the surface part of the prong interpreted the Precam- particularly in the northeastern prong, and . without showing £ ny noticeable effect on brian as either autochthonous basement the more recent work discussed below the gravity gradient. To explain this in terms of situated in anticlinorial cores (Rogers, 1858; suggests, rather, that the northeastern uplifted basement blocks would require the same Miller, 1925, 1944; Miller and Fraser, Reading Prong has not undergone large- average density for Paleozoic shales and carbo- 1936) or as an allochthon through which scale lateral transport. nates as for Precambriar gneisses, paragneisses, Paleozoic rocks appear in tectonic windows and amphibolites. While not proving the relationship by any means, the observed geologi- (Stose and Jonas, 1935, 1939). The GEOPHYSICAL DATA cal and gravity data appear to be consistent with argument has recently been resolved by the interpretation that tie gravity map crudely Regional Gravity Data Drake and his co-workers who have shown reflects the configuration of true basement in the that the Precambrian occurs as southeast- One of the most striking features of the region (Isachsen, 1964, p. 825). dipping, allochthonous sheets that typically regional gravity pattern of northeastern overlie inverted Cambrian and Ordovician North America is the Appalachian gravity Work by Diment (1968), Palmer (1971), carbonates. Drake's model (1969) pictures a high (up to +40 mgal) and the immediately Ratcliffe (1971), Ratcliffe and Shuart gigantic nappe (Musconetcong nappe) in adjacent gravity low (up to —70 mgal), both (1970), and Ratcliffe and others (1972) is which Precambrian rocks occur in synfor- of which extend the entire length of western inconsistent: with this interpretation as it mal troughs and lower Paleozoic rocks in New England (Woollard, 1943; Bromery, indicates substantial basement uplift in the antiformal cores. Refolding of the nappe 1964; Kane and others, 1972). To the north, vicinity of the northeastern Reading Prong. resulted in the Precambrian rocks breaching the gravity high nearly coincides with the Assuming average densities and esti- out of the nappe core and overriding axis of the Green Mountain—Berkshire mated stratigraphic thicknesses, Diment Paleozoic rocks along apparent thrust faults. Precambrian belt (Fig. 1), whereas the low is (1968) calculated that a density contrast between Precambrian and lower Paleozoic A similar division of opinion has divided centered on a synclinorium of Paleozoic rocks in the north-central Appalachians geologists working in the northeastern rocks to the west. Southward, the Precam- could not exceed 0.15 g per cm3 and thereby Reading Prong. Berkey (1910) and Balk brian diverges from the gravity high, and provide a maximum gravity anomaly of (1936) suggested that the northern prong from north-central New Jersey to eastern around 30 mgal. As the gravity relief was bordered by high-angle reverse faults Pennsylvania the Reading Prong lies over the between the Appalachian gravity high and along which primarily vertical movements gravity low. Isachsen's model of an associated gravity low is considerably have occurred. On the other hand, Isachsen allochthonous Reading Prong relies heavily greater than 30 mgal, a cause other than (1964) interpreted the entire Reading Prong on the migration of the Precambrian off the density variations of exposed rocks must be to be a klippe composed of all rocks older gravity high, as he suggests it results from present. Diment suggests various explana- than Middle Ordovician. He suggested that northwestward thrusting of the Precam- tions but prefers a model that requires uplift the allochthon was emplaced during the brian over lower-density Paleozoic rocks. of dense cirustal rocks (sub-Conrad) along Taconic orogeny (Late Ordovician). Drake As noted by