Deformation associated with the intrusion of the Muleros Andesite

Yesterday, I showed off a few views of the contact between the Cretaceous aged Mesilla Valley Formation shale and the hypabyssal Muleros Andesite which intruded into it during the Eocene at Mt. Cristo Rey (on the US/Mexico border where Texas meets New Mexico). Today, I’d like to look at some of the structure associated with … Read more

Structural geology of Mount Evan-Thomas

Longtime reader and frequent contributor Howard Allen has three images to share with us today. Let’s see what he’s got… Oh my. What is that? West ridge of Mount Evan-Thomas, Opal Range, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Alberta. View looking south across Grizzly Creek at structural features (yellow boxes outline detail images to highlight key features, … Read more

Friday fold: limestones of the Silurian, Corridor H

For the Friday fold, let’s journey back to the Silurian, as exposed in the limestones of that age that were deformed during Alleghanian mountain-building (Pennsylvanian and Permian), and exposed along Corridor H in eastern West Virginia. Some buckling (cuspate-lobate form) seen in that one… A little pop-up with hinge collapse: And, finally, as a digestif, … Read more

Carbonate mudcracks in cross-section (Tonoloway Formation)

While on Corridor H 2 weeks ago with Alan Pitts, we stopped astride the Patterson Creek Mountain Anticline, with extensive road cuts displaying Tonoloway Formation overlying Wills Creek Formation. We love this spot for its lovely folds and halite casts. See what I mean? [gigapan id=”103090″] link [gigapan id=”142740″] link This time, however, my eye … Read more

Stylolite from the Helderberg Group, exposed on Corridor H

While out on the Corridor H field trip last week before the heavy snow, I found this squeal-inducingly-lovely example of a stylolite in Helderberg Group limestones (Devonian passive margin carbonates): The stylolite is a pressure-solution surface, made especially apparent in this example because of the starkly different grain sizes and colors on either side of … Read more

Friday fold: Okanagan gneiss

Todd Redding is our genorous sponsor for this week’s Friday fold. Todd reports that this boulder is derived from the Okanagan Metamorphic Complex near Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. He gives its lat/long as 49°28’14.10″N, 119°30’23.14″W. Did you spot the small fault in there, too? Thanks for sharing, Todd!

Antietam Formation breccia with Fe/Mn oxide cement: 2 GigaPans

One of the intriguing rocks you find in Virginia, at the interface between the Valley and Ridge province and the Blue Ridge province, is distinctive brecciated Antietam Formation. The Antietam (sometimes known as the “Erwin,” especially in Shenandoah National Park), is a quartz arenite (quartz sandstone) that has been variably fused to quartzite in some … Read more

Friday fold: anticline in Belgium

Reader Eric Fulmer contributed this week’s Friday fold. It’s a beauty! Eric writes that this outcrop is from “the Belgian Ardennes near Durbuy. There’s a well-exposed anticline along the Ourthe River. The stone is late-Devonian limestone typical of the immediate area that was later deformed regionally due to the Variscan orogeny. The Ardennes are classic … Read more