Skip Links

USGS - science for a changing world

Open-File Report 2014–1026

A Field Trip Guidebook to the Type Localities of Marland Billings’ 1935 Paleozoic Bedrock Stratigraphy Near Littleton, New Hampshire

By Douglas W. Rankin and Mary B. Rankin

Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (691 KB)Abstract

Marland Billings' classic paper published in 1937 in the Geological Society of America Bulletin established a succession of six stratigraphic units in rocks of low metamorphic grade near Littleton, New Hampshire. The two youngest units are fossiliferous in the area, with ages established at the time as “middle” Silurian and Early Devonian. Billings and students mapped the same stratigraphic section in adjacent areas of progressively higher regional metamorphic grade. This work laid the foundation upon which a major part of subsequent work in New England has been directly or indirectly built. This guidebook was written for a field trip held in March 2013 to visit roadcuts that are as close as possible in March to the type localities or areas of Billings’ six-fold stratigraphic succession. Ten stops are in rocks of chlorite grade of Acadian(?) metamorphism; the final stop visits amphibolite of the Ammonoosuc Volcanics. Fieldwork by the authors over the past 20 years confirms Billings’ broad conclusions.

First posted April 7, 2014

For additional information, contact:
Eastern Geology and Paleoclimate Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
926A National Center
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20192

Or

Douglas W. Rankin
U.S. Geological Survey
926A National Center
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 20192
Email: dwrankin@usgs.gov

Part or all of this report is presented in Portable Document Format (PDF). For best results viewing and printing PDF documents, it is recommended that you download the documents to your computer and open them with Adobe Reader. PDF documents opened from your browser may not display or print as intended. Download the latest version of Adobe Reader, free of charge.


Suggested citation:

Rankin, D.W., and Rankin, M.B., 2014, A field trip guidebook to the type localities of Marland Billings’ 1935 Paleozoic bedrock stratigraphy near Littleton, New Hampshire: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2014–1026, 21 p., https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20141026.

ISSN 2331–1258 (online)



Contents

Introduction

Geologic Setting

Road Log

References Cited


Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

Take Pride in America logo USA.gov logo U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/of/2014/1026/index.html
Page Contact Information: GS Pubs Web Contact
Page Last Modified: Wednesday, 07-Dec-2016 19:35:19 EST