Project Overview

Timing of the Cheney Mountain Shear Zone, Adirondack Highlands, New York

Faculty Sponsor

William Peck (wpeck@colgate.edu)

Department(s)

Earth and Environmental Geosciences

Abstract

This project examines the eastern margin of the Marcy anorthosite massif, which dominates the High Peaks region of the Adirondack Highlands. In the newly-mapped Port Henry 7.5’ quadrangle, a major tectonic feature has been recognized: the Cheney Mountain shear zone. This is a left-lateral extensional structure where granitic gneisses, metagabbro, and gabbroic anorthosite are variably deformed. Mafic lithologies especially exhibit igneous textures in the interior of mapped bodies, while they are recrystallized mylonites at their boundaries. The working model is that this structure and ones like it are caused by extensional collapse of the Adirondacks after the Ottawan orogeny, which was caused by collision between Laurentia and the Amazon craton during the late Mesoproterozoic. This project will attempt to date deformed and undeformed rocks in the Cheney Mountain shear zone to constrain extensional deformation in order to help test this hypothesis.

Student Qualifications

Completion of Geol 301: Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology and experience with scanning electron microscope.

Number of Student Researchers

1 student

Project Length

8 weeks


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If you have questions, please contact Karyn Belanger (kgbelanger@colgate.edu).