Geochemical Data of Mafic Rocks in Delaware Piedmont, PA and MD
Geochemical data from Ordovician and Silurian mafic rocks in the Wilmington Complex in Delaware, the James Run Formation in Cecil County, Maryland, and the Wissahickon Formation in Delaware and Pennsylvania were collected in conjunction with preparation of a new geologic map of the Delaware-Pennsylvania Piedmont. Although concentrations of most elements may have been disrupted by metamorphism, the more stable high field strength elements, including the rare earth elements (REE), are consistent within mapped lithodemic units and are compared to modern basaltic magmas from relatively well known tectonomagmatic environments.
Our results are similar to those for other Appalachian mafic rocks and suggest a suprasubduction zone tectonic setting for the Wilmington Complex and the James Run Formation in Cecil County, Maryland. Thus, the rocks of the Wilmington Complex plus the James Run Formation in Cecil County may be stages in a continuum that records the temporal magmatic evolution of an arc complex.
Setters Formation
In Delaware, predominantly an impure quartzite and garnet-sillimanite-biotite-microcline schist. Major minerals include microcline, quartz, and biotite with minor plagioclase, and garnet. Muscovite and sillimanite vary with metamorphic grade. Accessory minerals are iron-titanium oxides, zircon, sphene, and apatite. Microcline is an essential constituent of the quartzites and schists and serves to distinguish the Setters rocks from the plagioclase-rich schists and gneisses of the Wissahickon Formation.
Cockeysville Marble
In Delaware, predominantly a pure, coarsely crystalline, blue-white dolomite marble interlayered with calc-schist. Major minerals in the marble include calcite and dolomite with phlogopite, diopside, olivine, and graphite. Major minerals in the calc-schist are calcite with phlogopite, microcline, diopside, tremolite, quartz, plagioclase, scapolite, and clinozoisite. Pegmatites and pure kaolin deposits and quartz occur locally.
Serpentinite
Massive fine-grained dark to light yellow-green serpentinite. Contacts with the Wissahickon Formation are not exposed.
Metapyroxenite and metagabbro (undifferentiated)
Light-colored coarse-grained rocks composed of interlocking grains of light colored, fibrous amphiboles, most likely magnesium-rich cummingtonite and/or anthophyllite with possible clinochlor. These rocks become finer grained and darker as hornblende replaces some of the Mg-rich amphiboles. Associated with the metapyroxenites are coarse-grained metamorphosed gabbros composed of hornblende and plagioclase. The metapyroxenites and metagabbros are probably cumulates.
Wissahickon Formation
Interlayered psammitic and pelitic gneiss with amphibolite. Psammitic gneiss is a medium- to fine-grained biotite-plagioclase-quartz gneiss with or without small garnets. Contacts with pelitic gneiss are gradational. Pelitic gneiss is medium- to coarse-grained garnet-sillimanite-biotite-plagioclase-quartz gneiss. Unit has a streaked or flasered appearance owing to the segregation of garnet-sillimanite-biotite stringers that surround lenses of quartz and feldspar. Throughout, layers of fine to medium-grained amphibolite composed of plagioclase and hornblende, several inches to <30 feet thick or as large massive bodies, are in sharp contact with the psammitic and pelitic gneisses. An attempt has been made to show some of the amphibolites mappable at the scale of the map. Granitic pegmatite is ubiquitous and occurs at all scales. Pyroxene bearing quartzite with garnet occurs locally near the contact with the Wilmington Complex. An ultramafic lens composed of cumulus layers of serpentinized peridotite, metapyroxenite, and metagabbro occurs near Hoopes Reservoir. The ultramafic lens may be correlative with the Baltimore Mafic Complex.
Windy Hills Gneiss
Thinly interlayered, fine- to medium-grained hornblende-plagioclase amphibolite, biotite gneiss, and felsic gneiss, possibly metavolcanic. Felsic gneisses contain quartz and plagioclase with or without microcline with minor pyroxene and/or hornblende and/or biotite. Metamorphic grade in this unit decreases from granulite facies in the northeast to amphibolite facies toward the southwest. Correlated with the Big Elk Member of the James Run Formation in Cecil County, Maryland.
Faulkland Gneiss
Predominantly fine- to coarse-grained amphibolites and quartz amphibolites with minor felsic rocks, probably metavolcanic. Major minerals are amphibole and plagioclase with or without pyroxene and/or quartz. Amphibole may be hornblende, cummingtonite, gedrite, and/or anthophyllite. Halos of plagioclase and quartz around porphyroblasts of magnetite, orthopyroxene, and garnet are common features.
Christianstead Gneiss
Coarse-grained, foliated granodioritic gneiss. Major minerals are biotite, microcline, plagioclase, and quartz. Includes thin layers of fine-grained foliated amphibolite plus large pegmatites.
Barley Mill Gneiss
Coarse-grained, foliated tonalite gneiss. Major minerals are biotite, hornblende, plagioclase, and quartz. Includes mafic enclaves or layers composed of subequal amounts of hornblende and plagioclase. Also includes a coarse-grained granitic lithology composed of biotite, microcline, plagioclase, and quartz.
Montchanin Metagabbro
Coarse-grained gabbroic and metagabbroic rocks, variably metamorphosed and deformed. Primary igneous minerals include olivine, clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, and plagioclase.
Mill Creek Metagabbro
Coarse-grained gabbroic and metagabbroic rocks, variably metamorphosed and deformed. Primary minerals are hornblende and plagioclase.
Rockford Park Gneiss
Fine-grained mafic and fine- to medium-grained felsic gneisses interlayered on the decimeter scale. Layers are laterally continuous, but mafic layers commonly show boudinage. Felsic layers are composed of quartz and plagioclase with < 10 modal percent pyroxene. Mafic layers contain subequal amounts of plagioclase, pyroxene, and hornblende. Penetrative deformation and granulite facies metamorphism have obscured igneous fabrics and contact relationships.
RI60 Geochemistry of the Mafic Rocks, Delaware Piedmont and Adjacent Pennsylvania and Maryland: Confirmation of Arc Affinity
Geochemical data from Ordovician and Silurian mafic rocks in the Wilmington Complex in Delaware, the James Run Formation in Cecil County, Maryland, and the Wissahickon Formation in Delaware and Pennsylvania were collected in conjunction with preparation of a new geologic map of the Delaware-Pennsylvania Piedmont. Although concentrations of most elements may have been disrupted by metamorphism, the more stable high field strength elements, including the rare earth elements (REE), are consistent within mapped lithodemic units and are compared to modern basaltic magmas from relatively well known tectonomagmatic environments.
Brandywine Blue Gneiss
Medium to coarse grained granulites and gneisses composed of plagioclase, quartz, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, brown-green hornblende, magnetite, and ilmenite. Mafic minerals vary from < 5-30 modal percent. A lineation due to a preferred orientation of quartz and mafic minerals is obvious on weathered surfaces. Unit contains thin, discontinuous fine-grained mafic layers.
A Summary of the Geologic History of Delaware
- Appalachian Piedmont
- Atlantic Coastal Plain
- Baltimore Gneiss
- Calcite
- Cockeysville Marble
- Cretaceous Period
- Dolomite
- Fall Zone
- fossils
- geomorphology
- Miocene
- Neogene
- Oligocene
- Pennsylvanian Period
- Permian Period
- Pliocene
- rocks
- sea level rise
- sediments
- Setters Formation
- stratigraphy
- subsurface
- Upper Cretaceous
- upper Eocene
- upper Pleistocene
- upper Pliocene
- Wilmington Complex
- Wissahickon Formation
- Carboniferous Period
- Eocene
- Jurassic Period
- Lower Cretaceous
- lower Pliocene
- middle Eocene
- middle Pleistocene
- Miocene
- Mississippian Period
- Paleogene
- Pleistocene
- Tertiary Period
- upper Miocene
- Devonian Period
- lower Eocene
- lower Pleistocene
- middle Miocene
- Paleocene
- Triassic Period
- lower Miocene
- Silurian Period
- Ordovician Period
- Cambrian Period
- Mesozoic Era
- Paleozoic Era
- Precambrian
GM13 Geologic Map of New Castle County, Delaware
This map shows the surficial geology of New Castle County, Delaware at a scale of 1:100,000. Maps at this scale are useful for viewing the general geologic framework on a county-wide basis, determining the geology of watersheds, and recognizing the relationship of geology to regional or county-wide environmental or land-use issues. This map, when combined with the subsurface geologic information, provides a basis for locating water supplies, mapping ground-water recharge areas, and protecting ground and surface water. Geologic maps are also used to identify geologic hazards, such as sinkholes and flood-prone areas, to identify sand and gravel resources, and for supporting state, county, and local land-use and planning decisions.
- alluvial deposits
- Appalachian Piedmont
- Ardentown Granitic Suite
- Atlantic Coastal Plain
- Baltimore Gneiss
- Barley Mill Gneiss
- Brandywine Blue Gneiss
- Bridgeton Formation
- Bringhurst Gabbro
- Bryn Mawr Formation
- Calvert Formation
- Chesapeake and Delaware Canal
- Christianstead Gneiss
- Cockeysville Marble
- Columbia Formation
- Cretaceous Period
- cross-sections
- Delaware Bay Group
- dredge disposal deposits
- Englishtown Formation
- Faulkland Gneiss
- fill
- Holocene
- Hornerstown Formation
- Iron Hill Gabbro
- Lynch Heights Formation
- Magothy Formation
- Manasquan Formation
- mapping
- Marcus Hook
- marsh deposits
- Marshalltown Formation
- Merchantville Formation
- Metapyroxenite and metagabbro (undifferentiated)
- Middletown
- Mill Creek Metagabbro
- Miocene
- Mount Laurel Formation
- Navesink Formation
- Neogene
- New Castle County
- Newark
- Odessa
- Old College Formation
- Oligocene
- Pegmatite
- Pennsylvanian Period
- Perkins Run Gabbronorite Suite
- Permian Period
- Pliocene
- Potomac Formation
- Quaternary Period
- Rockford Park Gneiss
- rocks
- Scotts Corners Formation
- Serpentinite
- Setters Formation
- Shark River Formation
- STATEMAP
- surficial geology
- swamp deposits
- undrained depression deposits
- Upper Cretaceous
- upper Eocene
- upper Holocene
- upper Pleistocene
- upper Pliocene
- Vincentown Formation
- Wilmington
- Wilmington Complex
- Wissahickon Formation
- Carboniferous Period
- Eocene
- Jurassic Period
- Lower Cretaceous
- lower Holocene
- lower Pliocene
- middle Eocene
- middle Pleistocene
- Miocene
- Mississippian Period
- Paleogene
- Pleistocene
- Tertiary Period
- upper Miocene
- Devonian Period
- lower Eocene
- lower Pleistocene
- middle Miocene
- Paleocene
- Triassic Period
- lower Miocene
- Silurian Period
- Ordovician Period
- Cambrian Period
- Mesozoic Era
- Paleozoic Era
- Precambrian
GM10 Bedrock Geologic Map of the Piedmont of Delaware and Adjacent Pennsylvania
This is a map of the crystalline bedrock units in the Piedmont of Delaware and adjacent Pennsylvania. The southern boundary of the mapped area is the updip limit of the Potomac Formation (Woodruff and Thompson, 1972, 1975). Soil, regolith, and surficial deposits of Quaternary age are not shown.
- Appalachian Piedmont
- arc affinity
- Arden Granite
- Ardentown Granitic Suite
- Baltimore Gneiss
- Barley Mill Gneiss
- bedrock
- Brandywine Blue Gneiss
- Bringhurst Gabbro
- Christianstead Gneiss
- Cockeysville Marble
- Cretaceous Period
- cross-sections
- Faulkland Gneiss
- Iron Hill Gabbro
- mapping
- Metapyroxenite and metagabbro (undifferentiated)
- Mill Creek Metagabbro
- New Castle County
- Newark
- Pegmatite
- Pennsylvanian Period
- Permian Period
- Rockford Park Gneiss
- rocks
- Serpentinite
- Setters Formation
- Upper Cretaceous
- wetlands
- Wilmington
- Wilmington Complex
- Windy Hills Gneiss
- Wissahickon Formation
- Carboniferous Period
- Jurassic Period
- Lower Cretaceous
- Mississippian Period
- Devonian Period
- Triassic Period
- Silurian Period
- Ordovician Period
- Cambrian Period
- Mesozoic Era
- Paleozoic Era
- Precambrian
GM4 Geology of the Wilmington Area, Delaware
- Appalachian Piedmont
- Arden Granite
- Bringhurst Gabbro
- Cretaceous Period
- cross-sections
- mapping
- New Castle County
- Pennsylvanian Period
- Permian Period
- rocks
- subsurface
- surficial geology
- Upper Cretaceous
- Wilmington
- Wilmington Complex
- Wissahickon Formation
- Carboniferous Period
- Jurassic Period
- Lower Cretaceous
- Mississippian Period
- Devonian Period
- Triassic Period
- Silurian Period
- Ordovician Period
- Cambrian Period
- Mesozoic Era
- Paleozoic Era
- Precambrian



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