Geology of New Jersey
Geology of New Jersey
• Highlands - Richard Volkert, Ron
Witte
• Valley & Ridge - Don Monteverde,
and Ron Witte
• Piedmont - Don Monteverde, Roy
Schlische
• Coastal Plain - Peter Sugarman
• Surficial Geology - Scott Stanford
and Ron Witte
Physiographic
Provinces in
New Jersey
1)
2)
3)
4)
Highlands
Valley and Ridge
Piedmont
Coastal Plain
Highlands
Highlands
Valley
Valley and
and Ridge
Ridge
Highlands
Highlands
Piedmont
Piedmont
Valley
Valley and
and Ridge
Ridge
Highlands
Highlands
Coastal
Coastal Plain
Plain
Piedmont
Piedmont
Valley
Valley and
and Ridge
Ridge
Highlands
Highlands
Highlands Physiographic Province
modified from Rich Volkert and Ron Witte
•
•
•
scenic and rugged terrain
~1,000 square miles
mountainous uplands
–
–
–
northeast-trending ridges
rocks resistant to erosion
Highest Point - 1,496 ft on
Wawayanda Mountain
• deep narrow valleys
–
–
e.g. Musconetcong
underlain by more resistant
shale and limestone
New Jersey Highlands
• Most ancient part of State
– rocks >1 billion years old
– ancient mountain belts
formed from colliding plates
– roots of Appalachian Mtns
• Metamorphic Rocks
– High temperature/pressure
• Granite, gneiss, quartzite,
and marble (small amounts)
• Deformed by faulting and
folding
Rocks of the New Jersey Highlands:
Granite
• Widespread, common igneous rock crystallized from magma
– underlies 50% of Highlands
– medium grained texture with quartz and feldspar
Byram, 1.1 Ga
Lake Hopatcong, 1.1 Ga
Mount Eve Granite, 1 Ga
Rocks of the New Jersey Highlands:
Gneiss
• Widespread, common, banded-metamorphic rock
– underlies 45% of Highlands
– alternating light- and dark-colored layers
Losee Suite, 1.2 Ga
“volcanic gneiss”
Sedimentary gneiss, ~1.2 Ga
Rocks
of theasNew Jersey Highlands:
Marble - quarried
ornamental stone
and white and Marble
Quartzite
cement due to chemical purity
•
•
•
Quartzite: altered quartz-rich sandstone
Marble: altered limestone and dolomite
Both Uncommon
quartzite, 1.2 Ga
marble, ~1.2 Ga
New Jersey Highlands
Paleozoic outliers
• Valleys underlain by
younger Paleozoic rocks
–
–
–
unconformity
unconformity
550-365 million years old
found in elongate valleys
separated by an unconformity
• Sedimentary rocks
dolomite
dolomite
– deposited
deposited in
in land
land and
and shallow
seas
• conglomerate, sandstone,
limestone, dolomite and
shale
conglomerate
conglomerate
Rocks of the New Jersey Highlands:
Fractures
•
•
•
Fractures are cracks or breaks in the rock
They are important conduits for water movement
Joint - crack or break in rock with no displacement
quartzite, 1.2 Ga
marble, ~1.2 Ga
Rocks of the New Jersey Highlands:
Faults
•
•
•
Fractures are cracks or breaks in the rock
They are important conduits for water movement
Fault - fractures or along which rocks on adjacent sides
have broken and moved up, down, or horizontal
Rocks of the New Jersey Highlands:
Ramapo Fault
• Large faults form the major boundary between the
Highlands and the Piedmont
• Location of small earthquakes
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Rocks of the New Jersey Highlands:
Ramapo Fault
Rocks of the New Jersey Highlands:
Folds
•
•
•
Bends in rock formed from squeezing
Large range in size (inches to thousands of feet)
arched upward = anticline; arched downward = syncline
S
A
Rocks of the New Jersey Highlands:
Economic Mineral Deposits
zinc ore
Magnetite -iron ore
graphite
Rocks of the New Jersey Highlands:
Radioactive ore
Uranium, thorium, and rare-earth element-bearing minerals
Precipitation
The New Jersey
Highlands
experiences the
greatest
precipitation in the
State due to
physiography and
other factors.
New Jersey Highlands Outcrop
Route 15, Jefferson Township
Sheeting joints
Interlocking texture of minerals in crystalline rock
inhibits fluid movement
Ground water flow in a fractured rock aquifer
Ground-water occurrence and movement in a
bedrock aquifer is controlled by the density and
interconnection of the fractures.
Water-bearing
fractures in
granite near the
Mendham Fault,
along
India Brook
transmit water
that contains
asbestiform
minerals.
Weathered
joints and
bedding-plane
fractures in
Paleozoic
limestone
transmit large
amounts of
water at rapid
rates.
Sinkholes
rapidly
recharge
limestone
aquifers
NJGS statewide
aquifer ranking
system based on
median yield of
high-capacity
wells.
Bedrock aquifers of the New Jersey Highlands
Bedrock aquifer ranking - New Jersey Highlands