field trip to overview the geology of the proposed butt mountain deep underground science and...
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Field trip to overview the Geology of the Field trip to overview the Geology of the proposed Butt Mountain Deep Underground proposed Butt Mountain Deep Underground
Science and Engineering LaboratoryScience and Engineering Laboratory
Virginia Tech Campus to Kimballton Limestone Mine November 14, 2004
W.S. Henika Virginia Tech Geosciences
The Kimballton Mine is located in the Allegheny Mountains of southwestern Virginia, near the western edge of the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Physiographic Province.
Valley and Ridge Topography Reveals Some 300 Million Years of Geological History.
BUTTMOUNTAIN
BUTTMOUNTAIN IS LOCATED ON
THE NARROWS
OVETHRUST SHEET
RegionalRegional Tectonic MapTectonic Map
The Valley and Ridge overthrust structure reflects intense compression along the proto- Atlantic Continental margin during the Alleghenian collision event between North America and Africa. The collision created the Pangean super continent some 300 million years ago. Our present mountains are much younger, having formed by erosion in the post Cretaceous era.
The break up of Pangea began in the Triassic Period about 245 million years ago and by the Jurassic Period continental rifts forming the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Ocean basins were well established.
The modern Appalachian Mountains are forming by gentle uplift, rejuvenation and entrenchment of rivers along the eastern flanks of the Atlantic Basin.
Differences in the scale between the ancestral Appalachian structures and the current structure of the eastern North American Plate is strikingly portrayed in this view of the Atlantic Ocean Floor.
BUTTMOUNTAIN
Butt Mountain is on a passive Continental margin.
Regional Cross SectionAllegheny Plateau Valley and Ridge
BUTTMTN
Butt Mountain is a large synclinal mountain near the western edge of the Valley and Ridge. This region is characterized by linear ridges held up by tilted strata of resistant sandstone with limestone and shale in fault line valleys. Access to outcropping sedimentary strata allows excellent surface structural control based on contrasting stratigraphy.This will also prove to be an asset in designing and exploring laboratory sites in the subsurface.
Regional Stratigraphic Column From Cooper, 1961
Stop 8
Stop 7
Stops4&9a
Stop 5
Stops 2&9
Stop 1
Geology for the ButtMountain Area,
Giles County, Virginiashowing section lines
DIGITAL GEOLOGIC MAP OFTHE RADFORD 30X60 MINUTEQUADRANGLE, VIRGINIA AND
WEST VIRGINIA Geology by Mervin J. Bartholomew, Arthur
P. Schultz, Sharon E. Lewis, Robert C.McDowell, and William S. Henika
2000
Stereographic Projections of Poles to Bedding
Statistical studies of field data by Professor Rick Law. Stereographically derived fold axes (B) help to provide geometrical constraints on the geological model of both the Bane and the Butt Mountain fold structures.
Geology for the ButtMountain Area,
Giles County, Virginiashowing section lines
DIGITAL GEOLOGIC MAP OFTHE RADFORD 30X60 MINUTEQUADRANGLE, VIRGINIA AND
WEST VIRGINIA Geology by Mervin J. Bartholomew, Arthur
P. Schultz, Sharon E. Lewis, Robert C.McDowell, and William S. Henika
2000
This detailed geologic cross section was based on regional seismic subsurface and detailed geologic field data. The cross section follows a model commissioned by the Appalachian Basin Industrial Associates and published by Nicholas Woodward and David Gray in 1985. The model has been used to locate exploratory seismic profiles and exploration wells for the VT DUSEL Project.
3-d surface model by Jason Shelton, VT College of Engineering
3-d model by Jason Shelton, VT College of Engineering Based on cross sections by W.S. Henika
BUTT MOUNTAIN
DUSEL SITE
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Stop 1- Cloyd Conglomerate on Brush Mtn
Burr stones quarried from Cloyd Conglomerate in open pits along on Brush Mountain were shipped all over the world. Millstone production began in the 1750s and continued until the 1950s!
Stop 1- Cloyd Conglomerate on Brush Mtn
The conglomerate exposed on Brush Mountain in the road base along U.S. Route 460 is an extremely tough silica cemented quartzite. The Cloydy crops out nearly1000 feet below anthracite coal beds mined in the Valley Anthracite Field
Stop 1- Cloyd Conglomerate on Brush Mtn
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Stop 2- Silurian Quartzite on Gap Mtn
Tuscarora Fm
Stop 2-Base of Silurian on Gap Mtn
The Ordovician-Silurian sandstone and shale section is a major seismic reflector on Appalachian seismic profiles.
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Stop 3 - Lower Martinsburg Fm
Interbeds of Reedsville sh and Trenton Ls in the Lower Martinsburg have been recognized as a major decollement.
Stop 3b – Lower Martinsburg Fm
Weathered sh and ls saprolite overturned along the Saltville fault zone.
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Stop 4 - Middle Ordovician Limestone
Stop 4 – Middle Ordovician Limestone
Massive carbonate clastics are part of a transgressivesequence that flooded the exposed Knox carbonate shelf
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Covered Bridge over Sinking Creek along Mtn Lake Road between stops 4 and 5.
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Stop 6-Mountain Lake
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Stop 7- shale and limestone beds in upper Martinsburg
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Stop 8-Millboro Shale on Butt Mountain
A major petroleum source bed and detachment zone
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Stop9- Butt Mountain Lookout
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Chemical Limestone Corporation is mining the Middle Ordovician Five Oaks Limestone at the Kimballton mine
Butt Mountain Seismic Line 1 was shot along this Forest Service logging road
Line 1
Line 2
Butt Mountain Seismic Lines
3-d model by Jason SheltonVT College of Engineering
BUTT MOUNTAIN
DUSEL SITE
Butt Mtn Seismic Line 1Interpreted by Adam Schumaker-VT Geosciences
H
DUSEL Fieldtrip Stop Location Map
Anticlinal Rollover on Thrust Exposed Along SR 630 About One Mile South of Kimballton
Calcite Vein Along Thrust at Same Locality As Above
Bentonitic Shale Parting in Massive Limestone at Same Locality As Above
Virginia Seismic Activity
http://www.geol.vt.edu/outreach/vtso/
Moderate Seismic Activity has been localized in the basement rocks several kilometers below the site.
Differences in the scale between the ancestral Appalachian structures and the current structure of the eastern North American Plate is strikingly portrayed in this view of the Atlantic Ocean Floor.
BUTTMOUNTAIN
Butt Mountain is on a passive Continental margin.