Historical Structural Analysis of the Rileyville Quadrangle, Page County, Virginia
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Chad Pritchard
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
5-8-2024 9:00 AM
End Date
5-8-2024 10:45 AM
Location
PUB NCR
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Geosciences
Abstract
The Northwest corner of Virginia, within the Appalachian Mountains, formed during a collision of continents called the Alleghenian Orogeny roughly 250 million years ago(Ma). This Permian event caused plates to collide, reforming the fractured continental crust back into one supercontinent called Pangaea, and closing the Rheic ocean. These large-scale compressional tectonics formed the Tactonic Mountain range, which has gradually eroded exposing series of plunging folds, imbricated thrust faults, and other structures along the east coast. This poster presents a detailed structural analysis of the Rileyville quadrangle to help decipher regional geologic history and an origin story for folds in Page County, Virginia.
Rocks mapped in the Rileyville quadrangle range in age from Ordovician to late Devonian period. Analysis of rock attitude calculated the orientation and style of the main folds, as well as minor anticlines and synclines. The larger syncline structure is moderately inclined with an axial plane dipping 33 degrees NW and striking at 221. The fold axis was virtually horizontal with a plunge of 0.1, trending 041. The second order anticline and syncline pair were similar orientations, but with steeper dips identified as open, upright, horizontal folds. This type of feature demonstrates the extensional tectonics that led to the development of a series of thrust faults along the edge of the fold paired with an approximate stress from 130 (SE) during the Alleghenian Orogeny. The unconformities found in the stratigraphy were caused by intervals of little to no deposition and instead indicate periods of erosion.
Recommended Citation
Fergen, Sydney, "Historical Structural Analysis of the Rileyville Quadrangle, Page County, Virginia" (2024). 2024 Symposium. 28.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2024/ps_2024/p1_2024/28
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Historical Structural Analysis of the Rileyville Quadrangle, Page County, Virginia
PUB NCR
The Northwest corner of Virginia, within the Appalachian Mountains, formed during a collision of continents called the Alleghenian Orogeny roughly 250 million years ago(Ma). This Permian event caused plates to collide, reforming the fractured continental crust back into one supercontinent called Pangaea, and closing the Rheic ocean. These large-scale compressional tectonics formed the Tactonic Mountain range, which has gradually eroded exposing series of plunging folds, imbricated thrust faults, and other structures along the east coast. This poster presents a detailed structural analysis of the Rileyville quadrangle to help decipher regional geologic history and an origin story for folds in Page County, Virginia.
Rocks mapped in the Rileyville quadrangle range in age from Ordovician to late Devonian period. Analysis of rock attitude calculated the orientation and style of the main folds, as well as minor anticlines and synclines. The larger syncline structure is moderately inclined with an axial plane dipping 33 degrees NW and striking at 221. The fold axis was virtually horizontal with a plunge of 0.1, trending 041. The second order anticline and syncline pair were similar orientations, but with steeper dips identified as open, upright, horizontal folds. This type of feature demonstrates the extensional tectonics that led to the development of a series of thrust faults along the edge of the fold paired with an approximate stress from 130 (SE) during the Alleghenian Orogeny. The unconformities found in the stratigraphy were caused by intervals of little to no deposition and instead indicate periods of erosion.
