Ellicott City Granodiorite | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Ordovician | |
Type | igneous |
Location | |
Region | Piedmont of Maryland |
Extent | Howard and Baltimore Counties |
Type section | |
Named for | Ellicott City, Maryland |
Named by | Knopf and Jonas, 1929 [1] |
The Ellicott City Granodiorite is a Silurian or Ordovician granitic pluton in Howard and Baltimore Counties, Maryland. It is described as a biotite granodiorite along the margin of the intrusion which grades into a quartz monzonite in its core. [2] It intrudes through the Wissahickon Formation and the Baltimore Gabbro Complex.
In 1964, C. A. Hopson grouped the Ellicott City Granodiorite with the Guilford Quartz Monzonite and the Woodstock Quartz Monzonite as "Late-kinematic intrusive masses." [3]
In 1980, Crowley and Reinhardt of the Maryland Geological Survey remapped the Ellicott City Quadrangle and referred to this unit as the Ellicott City Granite, rather than granodiorite. [4]
Hopson [3] reported the chemical composition (by %) of the Elicott City Granodiorite from two locations. H7-A is on River Road, 0.3 miles east of the Patapsco River Bridge, Ellicott City, and H18-1A is on U.S. Route 29, 200 yards south of U.S. Route 40.
Chemical | % (H7-A) | % (H18-1A) |
SiO2 | 63.73 | 65.39 |
TiO2 | 0.52 | 0.47 |
Al2O3 | 17.28 | 17.13 |
Fe2O3 | 1.05 | 0.57 |
FeO | 3.02 | 2.73 |
MnO | 0.07 | 0.04 |
MgO | 2.24 | 1.61 |
CaO | 3.81 | 3.38 |
Na2O | 3.63 | 3.47 |
K2O | 3.53 | 3.90 |
H2O+ | 1.02 | 0.76 |
H2O− | 0.04 | 0.03 |
CO2 | 0.00 | 0.1 |
P2O5 | 0.28 | 0.23 |
The 1898 account of Edward B. Mathews of the Maryland Geological Survey [5] of the quarries at Ellicott City begins with a statement that there were two quarries; one on either side of the Patapsco River. The rock on the eastern, or Baltimore County, side is "a fine grained mass, with a decided foliation or gneissic structure," while the rock on the western, or Howard County side, is "more uniform and granitic." The text also refers to the figure of the polished slab on the left: "Here it also has a porphyritic structure in consequence of the development of large flesh-colored crystals of feldspar which are disseminated somewhat irregularly through the rock, as shown in (the figure)." Mathews continued with a description of their historical importance:
The time of opening these quarries dates back probably into the last of the 18th century, but the details are entirely wanting. The beautiful appearance of some of the more uniformly porphyritic specimens early attracted attention, and in the earliest works which we have on this area, that by Dr. Hayden published in 1811, [6] mention is made of these quarries. It is not certain whether the quarry on the Baltimore county side or the quarries of the Howard county side furnished the first material for Baltimore, but it is clearly evident from the character of the rock furnished for the Catholic Cathedral, that the gneiss was the more important rock at that time. Local tradition assigns the source of the stone sometimes to the Baltimore county side and sometimes to the Howard county side and the published information is equally conflicting and indefinite. When the Cathedral was constructed during the years 1806 to 1812 and subsequently from 1815 to 1821, the material was hauled from Ellicott City to Baltimore along the old Frederick road in huge wagons drawn by nine yoke of oxen. After furnishing the rock for this building, which must have been one of the most important stone structures in the United States at the time of its construction, the quarries evidently were worked only to meet local demands. In fact they have never since been of such relatively great importance. Dr. David Dale Owen, indeed, while studying the various building stones of Maryland at Cockeysville, Woodstock and Port Deposit, with the view of gaining all the information for the Smithsonian building, twice passed by these quarries and yet makes no mention of them. At the time of the Tenth Census the agent remarks that he "knows of no other place in the country where there are so many stone buildings in an area of the same size."
Mathews described recent (c. 1872-1898) operations at the quarries:
Of the quarries in operation at the present day those of Werner Bros, were opened as early as the beginning of the century. In 1872 Charles J. Werner reopened a quarry, which since his death in 1888 has been operated by his sons, who purchased in 1890 a second quarry, which had previously been opened by Robert Wilson. These quarries became of some importance in 1893, when one of them is spoken of as the principal Ellicott City quarry, although it is now producing little or no building stone except during the fall of the year when random rubble is quarried for local use. The output for the year 1896 did not aggregate over 200 perches. The most active quarry at the present is that operated by A. Weber. This quarry is situated on the Howard county side some distance below the station. The material has been furnished in recent years for some important buildings, as those of the Woman's College of Baltimore, but most of the material seems to be used for Belgian blocks, curbing and macadam.
In 1973, M. W. Higgins reported a radiometric (Rb-Sr age) of 425 Ma, which placed the Ellicott City Granodiorite in the Silurian. [7] In 1998, A. A. Drake revised the age to Ordovician based on the granodiorite's relationship with the Woodstock Quartz Monzonite. [8]
Ellicott City is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in, and the county seat of, Howard County, Maryland, United States. Part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, its population was 65,834 at the 2010 census, making it the most populous unincorporated county seat in the country.
Guilford is an unincorporated community located in Howard County in the state of Maryland. The location is named after the Guilford Mill. Guilford is near Kings Contrivance, one of the nine "villages" of Columbia.
Quartz monzonite 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.
Charnockite is any orthopyroxene-bearing quartz-feldspar rock formed at high temperature and pressure, commonly found in granulite facies’ metamorphic regions, sensu stricto as an endmember of the charnockite series.
Granodiorite is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar.
The Thomas Viaduct spans the Patapsco River and Patapsco Valley between Relay, Maryland and Elkridge, Maryland, USA. It was commissioned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O); built between July 4, 1833, and July 4, 1835; and named for Philip E. Thomas, the company's first president. Some claim it to be the world's oldest multiple arched stone railroad bridge. However, the Sankey Viaduct on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened in 1830, and finally completed in 1833.
Maryland Route 99 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Old Frederick Road, the state highway runs 7.57 miles (12.18 km) from MD 32 near West Friendship east to U.S. Route 29 in Ellicott City. MD 99 parallels the north side of Interstate 70 (I-70) through a rural and suburban area in northeastern Howard County. MD 99, which follows the original 18th-century road west from Baltimore, was constructed as part of three state highways: MD 99, the original MD 100, and MD 105. All three highways were constructed between the early 1920s and early 1930s. MD 99 originally turned south along St. Johns Lane to US 40 and MD 144; in 1956, the state highway was rerouted along part of MD 100 and all of MD 105 to downtown Ellicott City. MD 99's eastern terminus was rolled back to US 29 in two steps in the late 1970s and late 1980s.
Woodstock is an unincorporated community which is a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The original village of Woodstock is located in Howard County, and also includes portions of Baltimore County and Carroll County.
Granite is an unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Originally known as Waltersville, it was renamed Granite in recognition of its principal product. The village was the center of this industry, which during its peak in the late 19th century provided building materials for major projects throughout the eastern seaboard.
The Guilford Quartz Monzonite is a Silurian or Ordovician quartz monzonite pluton in Howard County, Maryland. It is described as a biotite-muscovite-quartz monzonite which occurs as discontinuous lenticular bodies which intrude mainly through the Wissahickon Formation (gneiss).
The Woodstock Quartz Monzonite is a Silurian or Ordovician quartz monzonite pluton in Baltimore County, Maryland. It is described as a massive biotite-quartz monzonite which intrudes through the Baltimore Gneiss at a single locality surrounding the town of Granite, Maryland.
The Norbeck Intrusive Suite is an Ordovician granitic pluton in Montgomery County, Maryland. The intrusive suite was originally mapped as the Norbeck Quartz Diorite by Hopson, and is shown as such on the Geologic Map of Maryland of 1968. A. A. Drake later revised the name after more detailed mapping. It intrudes through the Wissahickon Formation.
Baltimore Gabbro Complex is a hypersthene gabbro with subordinate amounts of olivine gabbro, norite, anorthositic gabbro, and pyroxenite. Igneous minerals and textures are well preserved in some rocks, and other rocks exhibit varying degrees of alteration and recrystallization with a new metamorphic mineral assemblage.
The Patapsco Hotel is historic granite building located in Ellicott City, Maryland, on the western bank of the Patapsco River.
The Port Deposit Gneiss is a Paleozoic gneiss formation in Cecil County, Maryland. It is described as a "Moderately to strongly deformed intrusive complex, chiefly composed of quartz diorite gneiss. Rock types include gneissic biotite-quartz diorite, hornblende-biotite-quartz diorite, and biotite granodiorite, with minor amounts of quartz monzonite and hornblende-quartz diorite. Moderate protoclastic foliation grades into strong cataclastic shearing." It intrudes into the Volcanic Complex of Cecil County.
Dedham Granite is a light grayish-pink to greenish-gray, equigranular to slightly porphyritic, variably altered, granite south and west of Boston, named for the town of Dedham, Massachusetts.
The Oella Formation is a Late Proterozoic or early Cambrian schist in Howard and Baltimore Counties, Maryland. It is described as "Medium-grained biotite-plagioclase-muscovite-quartz schist, locally garnetiferous, interlayered on a centimeter to decimeter scale with fine-grained biotite-plagioclase-quartz gneiss, commonly bearing muscovite but less commonly garnet."
Mokelumne Peak is a peak in the Mokelumne Wilderness, Sierra Nevada, Amador County, California, consisting of metamorphic and granitic rock.
The Baltimore Gneiss is a Precambrian geological formation in the Piedmont region of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
The Lilesville Granite, also referred to as the Lilesville pluton, is a ring-shaped body of granitic rock that spans about 94 square miles (240 km2) in Anson, Richmond, and Montgomery Counties in southern North Carolina.