Microcline

OFR54 Bedrock Geologic Map of the Delaware Piedmont

The Piedmont rock units in Delaware, and bedrock geologic map of Schenck et al. (2000) are revised in this report based on new rock geochemistry, geochronometric data, petrography, and recent detailed mapping. Major revisions include:

OFR55 Delaware Geological Survey Petrographic Data Viewer

Petrography is a branch of geoscience focused on the description and classification of rocks, primarily by microscopic study of optical properties of minerals. A thin sliver of rock is cut from a sample, mounted on a glass slide, ground to approximately 30 microns (0.03mm), and viewed under a microscope that uses polarized light. By observing the colors produced as plain polarized light and crossed (90 degrees) polarized light shines through the minerals, petrologists can determine the minerals that comprise the sampled rock.

A.I.duPont Students see geology of the Delaware Piedmont

Date

William "Sandy" Schenck lead a field trip through the Delaware Piedmont for the A.I. duPont High School Earth Science Class. The trip made use of the Wilmington-Western Railroad and everyone rode the railroad's "Doodle Bug." Activities included up close examinations of rock and mineral features and even "Panning for Garnets" at Brandywine Springs Park.

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.

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.

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.

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.