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Bedrock Geologic Map of the Woodstock Quadrangle, Grafton County, New Hampshire

Scientific Investigations Map 3522
Prepared in cooperation with the State of New Hampshire, Department of Environmental Services, New Hampshire Geological Survey; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service
By: , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3522

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Abstract

The bedrock geology of the Woodstock 7.5-minute quadrangle consists of highly deformed metasedimentary rocks of the Central Maine trough, including the Silurian Rangeley and Perry Mountain Formations and the Devonian Littleton Formation. The central, northern, and eastern parts of the quadrangle are underlain by the oldest rocks in the area, the Rangeley Formation. In the southwest and south-central part of the quadrangle, metaturbidites of the Perry Mountain Formation and subsequent Littleton Formation overly the Rangeley Formation in a deformed F1 synform, herein informally called the Bagley Brook basin. The metasedimentary rocks were intruded by widespread syn- to post-tectonic granitoids of the Devonian New Hampshire Plutonic Suite and minor post-metamorphic Jurassic-Cretaceous mafic dikes of the White Mountain Plutonic-Volcanic Suite. The metasedimentary rocks were affected by at least two episodes of deformation in the Devonian Acadian orogeny. The dominant regional foliation is second-generation (S2/D2) and formed during the development of sillimanite-muscovite mineral assemblages. Large bodies of the Early Devonian Kinsman Granodiorite intruded the metasedimentary rocks semi-concordantly during D2 deformation. Dikes of the Late Devonian Concord Granite cut the Kinsman Granodiorite and the metasedimentary rocks and were emplaced either syn- or post-D2. The map pattern in the Rangeley Formation is dominated by northeast to northwest trending, moderately to steeply north-dipping F2 and F3 folds. Map-scale F1 folds are defined by the Bagley Brook basin. Previous division of Rangeley Formation stratigraphy in this region into “upper” and “lower” parts was not corroborated by 1:24,000-scale mapping of lithodemic units, and rocks previously mapped as part of the Smalls Falls and Madrid Formations are here reassigned to the Rangeley Formation. Some rocks previously mapped as the lower part of the Littleton Formation are now assigned to the Perry Mountain Formation. The Littleton Formation on this map is approximately equivalent to rocks previously mapped as the upper part of the same formation.

Steeply dipping fractures in the quadrangle show a preferred northeast orientation, consistent with subsurface fracture orientations in the well fields near Mirror Lake. Jurassic-Cretaceous mafic dikes and normal faults show preferred northeast orientations, similar to the fractures, suggesting that the extensional stress field that controlled dike orientation during the Mesozoic also produced the dominant brittle fabrics in the area.

Suggested Citation

Walsh, G.J., Burton, W.C., Armstrong, T.R., and Crider, E.A., Jr., 2024, Bedrock geologic map of the Woodstock quadrangle, Grafton County, New Hampshire: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3522, 1 sheet, scale 1:24,000, includes 20-p. pamphlet, https://doi.org/10.3133/sim3522.

ISSN: 2329-132X (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Bedrock Lithology
  • Ductile Deformation and Metamorphism
  • Brittle Deformation and Fractures
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Bedrock geologic map of the Woodstock quadrangle, Grafton County, New Hampshire
Series title Scientific Investigations Map
Series number 3522
DOI 10.3133/sim3522
Year Published 2024
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Florence Bascom Geoscience Center
Description Report: viii, 20 p.; 1 Sheet: 38.22 x 36.27 inches; Data Release
Country United States
State New Hampshire
County Grafton County
Other Geospatial Woodstock quadrangle
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details