A.I.duPont Students see geology of the Delaware Piedmont
- amphibolites
- Appalachian Piedmont
- Baltimore Gneiss
- Barley Mill Gneiss
- bedrock
- Brandywine Blue Gneiss
- Brandywine Springs
- Clinopyroxene
- Cockeysville Marble
- crystalline rocks
- deformation
- Delaware
- Enstatite (Bronzite)
- fall zone
- Fall Zone
- Faulkland Gneiss
- Garnet
- geology
- Glenarm Series
- Greenbank
- Hornblende
- Hypersthene
- igneous
- magma
- Magnetite
- mapping
- Metapyroxenite and metagabbro (undifferentiated)
- Mica
- Microcline
- Mount Cuba
- Orthoclase
- Orthopyroxene
- pegmatite
- Plagioclase
- Pyroxene
- Quartz
- Red Clay Creek
- Rockford Park Gneiss
- rocks
- Serpentinite
- Setters Formation
- Sillimanite
- Taconic Orogeny
- tectonics
- topography
- Wilmington Complex
- Wissahickon Formation
- Wooddale
- Yorklyn
- Zircon
Baltimore Gneiss
Granitic gneiss with swirling leucosomes and irregular biotite-rich restite layers is the dominant lithology and constitutes approximately 75 to 80 percent of the exposed rocks. The remaining 20 to 25 percent comprises hornblende-biotite gneiss, amphibolite with or without pyroxene, and pegmatite. Granitic gneiss is composed of quartz, plagioclase, biotite, and microcline. Minor and accessory minerals are garnet, muscovite, magnetite, ilmenite, sphene, apatite, and zircon. The hornblende gneiss contains plagioclase, quartz, hornblende, and biotite with/without orthopyroxene. Accessory minerals are garnet, muscovite, clinozoisite, perthitic orthoclase, iron-titanium oxides, sphene, and apatite. Amphibolites are composed of subequal amounts of hornblende and plagioclase with minor quartz, biotite, clinopyroxene, and orthopyroxene.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Perkins Run Gabbronorite Suite
Fine- to coarse-grained gabbronorite and minor diorite with subophitic to ophitic textures, variably foliated or lineated. Plagioclase, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, and hornblende are major minerals; biotite and olivine locally present. Olivine typically surrounded by corona structures as described for the Bringhurst Gabbro. Contemporaneous with the Ardentown Granitic Suite.
Bringhurst Gabbro
Coarse- to very coarse-grained gabbronoite with subophitic textures. Primary minerals are plagioclase, olivine, clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene. Olivine, where present, is surrounded by an inner corona of orthopyroxene and an outer corona of pargasitic hornblende, both with spinel symplectites. The gabbronorites locally contain abundant xenoliths of mafic Brandywine Blue Gneiss.
B7 Engineering Materials of Northern New Castle County
This investigation was undertaken to locate deposits of rock, sand, gravel, fill and borrow in northern New Castle County which may be potential sources of material for highway construction, and to prepare maps and descriptions of the surficial earth materials relative to their geologic and engineering properties.
Schenck rocks out on railroad geological tours
- Appalachian Piedmont
- Baltimore Gneiss
- Barley Mill Gneiss
- Biotite
- Brandywine Blue Gneiss
- Brandywine Springs
- Bronzite
- Cockeysville Marble
- Cordierite
- education
- Epidote
- Garnet
- geoadventure
- geology
- Greenbank
- Hoopes Reservoir
- Hornblende
- Hypersthene
- Magnetite
- Metapyroxenite and metagabbro (undifferentiated)
- Microcline
- Mill Creek Metagabbro
- Mount Cuba
- Orthoclase
- outreach
- Perkins Run Gabbronorite Suite
- Plagioclase
- Prices Corner
- Quartz
- Red Clay Creek
- Rockford Park Gneiss
- Serpentine
- Serpentinite
- Setters Formation
- Sillimanite
- Wilmington Complex
- Windy Hills Gneiss
- Wissahickon Formation
- Wooddale
- Yorklyn



First State Geology has been the newsletter of DGS for over 25 years.


