Geology of missing strata: The post-Devonian of New York State.
Item
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Title
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Geology of missing strata: The post-Devonian of New York State.
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Identifier
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AAI9224853
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identifier
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9224853
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Creator
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Sarwar, Golam.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Gerald M. Friedman
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Date
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1992
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Geology | Geophysics | Geochemistry
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Abstract
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Paleotemperatures of samples from ten Paleozoic rock units of New York State, assessed from fluid-homogenization temperatures, oxygen isotope ratios, organic maturation and clay mineralogy, are much higher than expected from their present position with respect to the surface. Geological evidence suggests that the high temperatures were attained from normal geothermal heat during deep burial. Estimated maximum burial depths of the studied rock units indicate the former presence of thick sections of post-Devonian strata in New York. Isopach maps of inferred post-Devonian strata show that two NE-SW elongate belts of greater post-Devonian sediment accumulation, one in southeastern New York and the other in central New York, each ranging from 3 km to more than 6 km in thickness were present. From the thickness of Carboniferous rocks in Pennsylvania and other geologic considerations, it is inferred that much of the post-Devonian strata in New York were post-Carboniferous in age. Based on known preservation rates of molassic sediments elsewhere, it is estimated that sedimentation continued in New York up to Late Permian.;Upthrusted Alleghanian mountains in eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania, and possibly in southeastern New York, were probably the main source of sediments in the south and southeast, and newly uplifted landmass along the Findlay - Algonquin arch and the Bronson Hills anticlinorium in western New England were sources to the northwest and east respectively. Sedimentation took place in alluvial fans, braid plains, flood plains and isolated lakes or remnants of the older epicontinental seaway.;Results of this study indicate that while the areas south of New York State were upthrusted and folded by Alleghanian compression in the Late Carboniferous - Early Permian interval, New York State remained or was transformed into an inland basin receiving sediments from Alleghanian uplifts. Rapid crustal uplift in New York probably began in the Late Permian and continued to the Middle Triassic in response to the passage of eastern North America over hot spots/mantle plumes. The data does not support a Cretaceous episode of "rapid uplift" in New York. Holocene uplift is probably confined only to the Adirondack massif.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
