Stratigraphy & Sedimentation -- Spring, 2000

Meg Thompson, SC 201, x3029

 

Lecture/Assignment/FIELD TRIP                 Reading (in  Boggs, 2001   unless otherwise indicated)

 

Jan.   28           Stratigraphic Shortcomings                             p. 654-656 and 661-664;

of the Boston Bay Group                                Billings, 1976, p. 1-12;

                                                    Abstract, Thompson & Bowring, 2000.

 

         31+L      Field trip to World’s End

 

Feb.  4             Sediment production via weathering                       Chapter  1.1-1.4

                       

7             Kaolinite and illite clays                                  p. 353-368 in Deer, Howie

                                                                                             and Zussman, 1992.         

 

7L           Xray mineralogy of “argillite”.                        B ailey and Bland, 2001

This marks the beginning of a two-week project on the Cambridge Argillite for which written results will be due on February 21.

 

11           More mud (smectite and chlorite)   p. 369-376 and 332-343 in DHZ, 1992

                                                                          

14           Review of siliclastic minerals in hand specimen.         p. 134-140

Present/discuss xray results.          

 

14L         Argillite petrography.

 

         18           No class – President’s Day

19           Sedimentary Textures (size and shape).                        Chapter 3

Be prepared to discuss limitations of various observations

outlined here based on petrography of argillite thin section.

 

21           Classifying sandstone                                               Chapter 5.1 and 5.2

 

         21L         Sandstone Identification.  Report due on February  28.

 

25           Sedimentary structures                                                   Chapter 4

 

         28           Particle transport by Newtonian fluids            Chapter 2 to p. 44

           

         28L         Boston Basin  sandstones,  Written description due on March 11.

 

Mar.    4                      Other transport mechanisms                                     p. 44-56 in Chapter 2

        

7             Carbonate sediments                                                  Chapter 6 to p. 195

        

7L           Carbonate Petrography.  Written interpretation due on March 28.

 

11           The dolomite problem.                                             Chapter 6, p. 195-199;

Be prepared to discuss JSR article.                                      Mazzullo, 2000.

                                                           

14           Diagenesis                                                                  Chapters 5.6 and 6.9

  

14L         Hour Exam

 

         18 & 21 +L        No class – Spring Break

 

         25           JOIN US AT NEGSA?

28+ 28L             Other non-clastic Sediments (meet in room 200)                 Chaper 7

 

Apr.  1             Continental environments                                                     Chapter 9

 

         4 +4L     Field trip to Webster Conservation AREA Chapter 5.3

                       

8             Shoreline environments                                                        Chapter 10

 

11           Offshore environments                                                         Chapter 11

              

11L         Field trip TO WEST ROXBURY

 

         15           No class – Patriots Day

 

18+18L           Return trip  to World’s End.  Written comparison of conglomerates of the “Brookline Member” due on May 2.

 

22           Stratigraphy: Organizing sedimentary rocks                         Chapter 13

in space and time

 

         25           Stratigraphic sequences and sea level change                        Chapter 15

 

         25L         Magnetistratigraphy                                                              Chapter 16

        

29           The sedimentary record and geologic time                             Chapter 18

 

May     2          Types of sedimentary basins                                                  Chapter 19

 

2L        No lab

 

May 4 or 5?     SATURDAY OR SUNDAY Field trip to  Slate Island

 

6             Final discussion: Boston as a Basin.                          Socci and Smith, 1990

Be prepared to draw inferences from your assembled results on the Boston Bay Group and readings on Boston geology.

 

 

May 20            Final paper due at 4:30 PM:  5-7 page proposal to the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership for reseach project to update its ongoing Natural Resource Inventory by clarifying sedimentary history in and around Boston Harbor.

 

Reading List  (with annotations; *’d entries on reserve in Science Library)

Bailey, R.H., and Bland, B.H., 2001, Recent developments in the study of the Boston Bay Group, in West, D.P., and Bailey, R.H., eds., Guidebook for Geological Field trips in New England: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America, p. U1-U23.

 

*Boggs, S., Jr., 2001, Principles of sedimentology and stratigraphy (3rd edition):  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey,  Prentice Hall, 726 pages.  QE571.B66 1995. Textbook for course. 

 

Billings, M.P., 1976, Geology of the Boston Basin:  Geological Society of America Memoir 146, p. 1-30.  Classic interpretation of Boston area stratigraphy; no age control, however.

 

*Deer, W.A., Howie,  R.A., Zussman, J., 1992, An introduction to the rock forming minerals (2nd edition):  New York: Wiley and Sons, Inc.,  696 p.  QE364.D44 1992. Standard reference for mineralogy.

 

Mazzullo, S.J., 2000, Organigenic dolomitization in peritidal to deep-see sediments:  Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 70, p. 10-23.   Recent insights on dolomite problem.

 

Socci, A.D., and Smith, G.W., 1990, Stratigraphic implications of facies within the Boston Basin: in Socci, A.D., Skehan, J.W., and Smith, G.W., eds., Geology of the Composite Avalon terrane of southern New England:  Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Special Paper 245, p. 55-74.

 

Thompson, M.D., and Bowring, S.A., 2000,  Age of the Squantum “tillite”, Boston Basin, Massachusetts:  U-Pb  zircon constraints on terminal Neoproterozoic glaciation:  American Journal of Science, v. 300, p.  630-655.  Finally some radiometric age constraints.

 

Thompson, M.D. and Grunow, A.M., 2001, Paleozoic volcanism in the Boston Basin, eastern MA:  evidence from geochronology and paleomagnetism:  Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 33, no. 6, p. A81. Also see poster in 200-202 corridor.

 

*Weaver, C.E.,1989, Clays, Muds, and Shales: Amsterdam, Elsevier Science Publishers, 819 p.   QE471.3.W43 1989. More than you probably wanted to know about mudrocks.

 

General Information

Grading:  course grade will be weighted average of 5 written assignments (50%), mid-term exam (15%), final paper (25%) and class participation (10%).

 

Collaboration:  you will regularly collect, discuss and interpret lab data in groups, but written results are to be prepared independently.