Bayfield group | |
---|---|
Type | Group |
Unit of | Keweenawan Supergroup |
Sub-units | Chequamegon Sandstone Devils Island Sandstone Orienta Sandstone |
Overlies | Oronto Group |
Location | |
Region | Wisconsin |
Country | United States |
The Bayfield group is a quartz sandstone found in Wisconsin along the Lake Superior coast. [1] It is named for the village of Bayfield, Wisconsin, [2] but was once known as Western Lake Superior Sandstone. [1]
Prior to the 1900s, Bayfield group sandstone was also variously named Lake Superior Sandstone, brownstone, or redstone, [3] and prefixed by the quarry location. The name was changed to the Bayfield group as its relation to Jacobsville Sandstone (once known as Lake Superior Sandstone) is uncertain. [1]
The Bayfield group is irregularly bedded, in contrast to the even, calcareous sandstones in southern Wisconsin. [4] The geological formation is entirely devoid of fossils. [5] The Bayfield group overlies the much thicker Oronto Group. [6]
The formation, 4300 feet thick, is divided into three: Chequamegon Sandstone, Devils Island Sandstone, and Orienta Sandstone. The Chequamegon Sandstone is a red and white sandstone 1000 feet thick. The Devils Island Sandstone is a 300-foot thick, pink-to-white pure quartz sandstone with significant ripples. The Orienta Sandstone is 3000 feet thick and similar to the Chequamegon Sandstone, but with a higher feldspar concentration. [7]
The Bayfield group is a member of the Keweenawan Supergroup. [8]
The Bayfield group is a predominantly red sandstone, though it varies through lighter colors such as pink, yellow, light brown, gray and white. [7] A minority portion is a dark "brownstone" which is a good building material. The colors occur in bands, though mottling and other irregular markings are common. [9]
As most of the stone's constituents are the end-products of weathering, it is very resistant to atmospheric action. [10]
The grains vary from coarse pebbly grits to shale. The finer the grains, the darker their color. [7] The grains are cemented primarily by quartz, with iron oxide coating the grains. [7]
In order of abundance, the Bayfield group is composed of: quartz, feldspar (both orthoclase and plagioclase), mica, iron oxide (both magnetite and limonite), chert, and ferromangesian minerals. The quartz usually comprises about 75% of the stone. [10]
Based on an average of 52 samples, the Orienta Sandstone is composed of: 33.3% nonundulatory quartz, 29.7% undulatory quartz, 17.3% potassium feldspar and 9.4% silicic volcanic clasts. Smaller constituents are 3.9% polycrystalline quartz, 2.3% opaques, 1.6% mafic volcanic clasts, 0.9% metamorphic, 0.7% sedimentary, and 0.4% plagioclase. The heavy mineral suite of Orienta Sandstone is 78% ilmenite, 13% leucoxene, 3-4% apatite, 3% zircon, 2% garnet, and 1% tourmaline. [11]
The only product that Bayfield group sandstone was used for, the "brownstone" in particular, was building stone. [12]
In the mid-1860s, brownstone was popular in the eastern United States. [13] The discovery of the Bayfield group, similar to Eastern brownstones, brought immediate exploitation, and the first quarry opened in 1868 on Basswood Island, [13] operated by the Basswood Island Brownstone Company. [14] A few years prior to 1893, the business was booming. However, the heavy influence of speculators helped lead to a decline [13] that paralleled the Panic of 1893.
By the time that the quarries could recoup their losses, paler limestones had gained favor, [13] partly due to the "White City" of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. By 1897, very little stone was being extracted. By 1912, only two quarries remained producing high quality Bayfield group sandstone. [13]
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples, or with low magnification microscopy. Physical characteristics include colour, texture, grain size, and composition. Lithology may refer to either a detailed description of these characteristics, or a summary of the gross physical character of a rock. Examples of lithologies in the second sense include sandstone, slate, basalt, or limestone.
Quartz monzonite or adamellite is an intrusive, felsic, igneous rock that has an approximately equal proportion of orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars. It is typically a light colored phaneritic (coarse-grained) to porphyritic granitic rock. The plagioclase is typically intermediate to sodic in composition, andesine to oligoclase. Quartz is present in significant amounts. Biotite and/or hornblende constitute the dark minerals. Because of its coloring, it is often confused with granite, but whereas granite contains more than 20% quartz, quartz monzonite is only 5–20% quartz. Rock with less than five percent quartz is classified as monzonite. A rock with more alkali feldspar is a syenite whereas one with more plagioclase is a quartz diorite. The fine grained volcanic rock equivalent of quartz monzonite is quartz latite.
The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is a U.S. national lakeshore consisting of 21 islands and shoreline encompassing 69,372 acres (28,074 ha) on the northern tip of Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Superior. It is known for its collection of historic lighthouses, sandstone sea caves, a few old-growth remnant forests, and natural animal habitats. It is featured on the America the Beautiful Quarters series.
Granodiorite is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar.
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The Folk classification, in geology, is a technical descriptive classification of sedimentary rocks devised by Robert L. Folk, an influential sedimentary petrologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas.
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Madeline Island is an island in Lake Superior. Now part of Ashland County, Wisconsin, it was long a spiritual center of the Lake Superior Chippewa. Although the largest of the Apostle Islands, it is not included in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It is the only island in the Apostle Island chain open to commercial development and private ownership.
Puddingstone, also known as either pudding stone or plum-pudding stone, is a popular name applied to a conglomerate that consists of distinctly rounded pebbles whose colours contrast sharply with the colour of the finer-grained, often sandy, matrix or cement surrounding them. The rounded pebbles and the sharp contrast in colour gives this type of conglomerate the appearance of a raisin or Christmas pudding. There are different types of puddingstone, with different composition, origin, and geographical distribution. Examples of different types of puddingstones include the Hertfordshire, Schunemunk, Roxbury, and St. Joseph Island puddingstones.
Yorkstone or York stone is a variety of sandstone, specifically from quarries in Yorkshire that have been worked since mediaeval times. Yorkstone is a tight grained, Carboniferous sedimentary rock. The stone consists of quartz, mica, feldspar, clay and iron oxides.
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Cape Town lies at the south-western corner of the continent of Africa. It is bounded to the south and west by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the north and east by various other municipalities in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Jacobsville Sandstone is a red sandstone formation, marked with light-colored streaks and spots, primarily found in northern Upper Michigan, portions of Ontario, and under much of Lake Superior. Desired for its durability and aesthetics, the sandstone was used as an architectural building stone in both Canada and the United States. The stone was extracted by thirty-two quarries throughout the Upper Peninsula of Michigan approximately between 1870 and 1915.
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The Bass Island Brownstone Company Quarry, also known as the Basswood Island Quarry, on Basswood Island in Lake Superior was operational from 1868 to 1893. The brownstone was first used for construction of the second Milwaukee County Courthouse, now demolished. The quarry, now filled with water, is about 200 feet (61 m) long and about 25 feet (7.6 m) deep. Blocks of sandstone remain, together with the rusting remains of quarrying machinery. All company buildings and workers' cabins have disappeared.
T. H. Camp was a wooden tugboat, operated by the Booth Packing Company of Bayfield, Wisconsin. On November 16, 1900, she sank in Lake Superior, between Madeline and Basswood Islands. The site of the wreck was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
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