29 Undergraduate Research III (Posters)

Friday, 13 April 2018
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room 301 DE/Henley Concourse

THIN SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE LOWER CAMBRIAN ROME FORMATION IN ALABAMA AND GEORGIA: INVESTIGATING SEDIMENT SOURCE TERRANES DURING RODINIA RIFT-TO-DRIFT EVOLUTION

Paper number: 29-1
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Authors

Abstract

In the southern Appalachian foreland thrust belt of Alabama and Georgia, the Lower Cambrian Rome Formation consists of moderate-red to grayish-green shale, yellow to moderate-brown siltstone and sandstone, and locally beds of limestone and dolomite. Anhydrite beds are present in subsurface cores. Exposures are maroon, purple, and light-green silty mudstone and argillaceous sandstone, which are generally thin (5-20 cm), but thicker beds (1-2 m) are present. In outcrop, sandstone beds range in composition from ~ 65-10-25 QFL to ~ 85-10-5 QFL, contain silt- to medium-grained, well-sorted clasts, are rounded to subrounded, and commonly contain symmetric ripples at bedding planes.

Clastic facies in the Rome Formation are hypothesized to exhibit a continental-wide Laurentian provenance. However, a paucity of data limits the ability to distinguish between central craton and syn-rift sediment source terranes. We present thin section petrology analyses from the Rome Formation to better characterize sediment source terranes. Results from this study advance our understanding of upper-crustal characteristics and surface processes along the southern margin of Laurentia during Rodinia rift-to-drift evolution.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 50, No. 3

doi: 10.1130/abs/2018SE-313014

© Copyright 2018 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.