Date of Award

Winter 1987

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Ocean & Earth Sciences

Program/Concentration

Geology

Committee Director

Dennis A. Darby

Committee Member

Stephen Culver

Committee Member

Ramesh Venkatakrishnan

Committee Member

Eugene Rader

Abstract

An examination of the Middle Ordovician carbonates in northwest Virginia has revealed a particularly sensitive record of deposition and subsidence. Two-hundred acetate peels from six measured stratigraphic sections in Shenandoah County, Virginia were examined to interpret the depositional and diagenetic history. Two major lithofacies have been recognized within the New Market Limestone and three have been recognized in the Lincolnshire Formation. These five lithofacies represent an overall transgressive sequence. This transgression was not uniform but paused several times to allow carbonate deposition to reach sea-level. These shoaling events suggest a slowly subsiding basin in this region. The carbonate rocks within the study area have been compared to the sediments of the modern Andros Island, Bahamas to establish a depositional and diagenetic model. The models proposed for the study area are in agreement with models proposed for adjacent areas along strike.

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DOI

10.25777/h0mn-0m49

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