Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
The Piedmont Province of central Virginia is one of the 5 major geologic provinces of Virginia, and forms the metamorphic core of the ancient Appalachian mountain range. The Piedmont is underlain by a complex basement of metamorphic and igneous rocks, with ages mostly ranging from Proterozoic to Paleozoic age. Within this province lies the Buffards Formation, a highly deformed conglomeratic chloritemuscovite schist. In order to quantify and constrain the amount of strain in the Buffards Formation, De Paor's Rf/фf method was applied to cut samples of the Buffards Formation to obtain measurements of the principal strain axes. Ratios of the X/Y and Y /Z were plotted on a Flinn diagram, with all but one sample plotting within the field of apparent flattening. Y /Z ratios for several samples ranged from 1. 79 to 13.5. Inclusions composed of quartz were found to be significantly less deformed than those composed of altered mudstone. 3-dimensional models of the Buffards Formation were created using data collected from the Rf/фf method.
Date Awarded
2011
Department
Geology
Advisor 1
Christopher M. Bailey
Recommended Citation
Scott, Matthew, "Structural Analysis of the Buffards Formation, Piedmont Province, Central Virginia" (2011). Geology Senior Theses. William & Mary. Paper 262.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/geologyseniors/262
