Onondaga Limestone
Onondaga Limestone | |
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Ma | |
Type | Geological formation |
Sub-units |
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Underlies | Onondaga, NY |
Location of the Onondaga limestone outcrop in New York State, USA and Ontario, Canada |
The Onondaga Limestone is a group of hard limestones and dolomites of Devonian age that forms geographic features in some areas in which it outcrops; in others, especially its Southern Ontario portion, the formation can be less prominent as a local surface feature.[citation needed][1]
In upstate New York and the Niagara peninsula of southern Ontario the sedimentary rocks tend to dip downward in a generally a South direction. The Onondaga outcrops in a line that usually forms an escarpment (the steep face of a cuesta), because of its resistance to erosion. The outcrop can be traced from the Hudson River valley westward along the southern rim of the Mohawk River valley, passing just south of Syracuse, and along the northern heads of the major Finger Lakes to Buffalo, New York. From Fort Erie, Ontario westward it runs along the north shore of Lake Erie for about 85 km and continues in a west-northwest direction inland for another ~90 km to about Ingersol and Woodstock, Ontario (as shown in the map on the right). To the west and north these rocks are known as the Amherstburg Formation of the Detroit River Group.[2] Northwest of Ingersol and Woodstock, across the crest of the Algonquin Arch, the band of outcrop turns more northerly, and strikes north-northwest for about 140 km to the east shore of Lake Huron in the Kincardine area (as shown in the map on the right). These rocks continue northwestwards under Lake Huron, and reappear in the northern part of the southern peninsula of Michigan, north of Alpina[3] (as shown in the map on the right). To the west, its equivalent, the Detroit River Group,[4] outcrops near Detroit and Windsor just north of the Lake Erie shoreline (as shown in the map on the right). The Detroit River Group is not topographically distinct west of Windsor in Michigan, but is noticeable as a steep hill just northwest of Leamington.
In several spots it is breached by geologically young streams and spectacular waterfalls are formed, such as at Chittenango Falls just east of Syracuse, Buttermilk Falls at Le Roy, New York and Indian Falls west of Batavia.
A few other breaches occur in older valleys, which likely once had waterfalls, but
The formation is broken by the only major fault line in western New York, the
The Onondaga Limestone also can be found in other areas where rocks of the same age outcrop, such as in western Pennsylvania and Michigan but they do not form prominent geographic features.
A similar and more prominent outcrop known as the
Another smaller outcrop known as the Portage Escarpment lies about 35 miles (56 km) to the south, running along the southern ends of the Finger Lakes and forming Cascadilla, Ithaca and Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca.
The Onondaga Escarpment contains significant outcrops of
Description
The Onondaga Limestone is composed of four main subunits. In descending order:[8]
- Seneca Member
- Moorehouse Member
- Nedrow Member
- Edgecliff Member
The Seneca and Moorehouse members are sharply divided by the Tioga-B Bentonite layer, which was formed in a very short time period as the result of a large volcanic eruption in what is now the state of Virginia.
Relative age dating of the Onondaga places its formation in the Eifelian to Givetian
Onondaga limestone dimension stone
Onondaga limestone[8][12] was quarried as dimension stone for construction of limestone buildings.
The following buildings contain structural Onondaga limestone:
- Brooklyn, New York[13]
- Genesee County Courthouse in Batavia, New York
- Gridley Building of Syracuse, New York
- Hall of Languages, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
- White Memorial Building, Syracuse, New York
References
- ^ "Onodaga Limestone". United States Geological Survey.
- ^ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304540434_Upper_Silurian--Middle_Devonian_Core_Logging_and_Bedrock_Groundwater_Mapping_along_the_Onondaga_Escarpment_Southwestern_Ontario [bare URL]
- ^ https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1951/0133/report.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1951/0133/report.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ 43°01′19″N 078°08′00″W / 43.02194°N 78.13333°W
- ^ Hill, Mark A. (2006). "The Duck Lake Site and Implications for Late Archaic Copper Procurement and Production in the Southern Lake Superior Basin". Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, Fall 2006 p.17. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
- ISBN 978-0-88854-341-7.
- ^ a b "Onondaga Limestone". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
- ^ "Onondaga Formation". The Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 26 May 2008.
- ISBN 0-231-08248-7.
- ^ Giroud López, 2014, p.168
- ^ Brett, Carlton E.; Ver Straeten, Charles A. (1994). "Stratigraphy and Facies Relationships of the Eifelian Onondaga Limestone (Middle Devonian) in Western and West Central New York State". Field Trip Guidebook. New York State Geological Association: 221–227. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ New York Bridge Company (1870–1877). Report of the chief engineer of the New York & Brooklyn Bridge : nos. 1-[7]-- 1870-1877. Brooklyn, NY: Eagle Book and Job Dept. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
Bibliography
- Giroud López, Marie Joëlle (2014). El Mar en la Localidad Tipo del Devónico Medio, del Municipio de Floresta - Boyacá, Colombia. Universidad de La Habana. pp. 1–174. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
Further reading
- Engelbrecht, William; Jamieson, Bruce (2016). "St. Lawrence Iroquoian Projectile Points: A Regional Perspective". Archaeology of Eastern North America. 44. Eastern States Archaeological Federation: 81–98. JSTOR 44808365. Discusses use of Onondaga chert for toolmaking by indigenous peoples.
- "Onondaga and Bois Blanc Limestones". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
External links