Geology of Abkhazia

Last updated

The geology of Abkhazia includes Neogene molasse deposits which are common along the coast. Paleogene greywacke and siltstone rocks run in a belt inshore into Georgia, while much of the northern and central areas of the country are underlain by Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks. The entire country is underlain by the suture left by the closing the Paleotethys Ocean. The region has asymmetric, isoclinal folding. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Georgia (U.S. state)</span> Overview of the geology of the U.S. state of Georgia

The state of Georgia is commonly divided into four geologic regions that influence the location of the state's four traditional physiographic regions. The four geologic regions include the Appalachian foreland, Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain. These four geologic regions commonly share names with and typically overlap the four physiographic regions of the state: the Appalachian Plateau and adjacent Valley and Ridge; the Blue Ridge; the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain. The geologic regions of the state, established by geologists based on relationships between stratigraphic units, significantly influence the physiographic regional names used by physical geographers. Geologic regions of the state, however, do not perfectly coincide with physiographic regions of the state. Most geologic regions (terranes) in the state are separated from one another by major thrust faults that formed during the growth of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian foreland, for example, is separated from the geologic Blue Ridge by the Talladega-Cartersville-Great Smoky fault. The geologic Blue Ridge is separated from the geologic Piedmont by the Brevard fault zone. The Fall Line, the surface expression of the Coastal Plain unconformity, is the geologic boundary between the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain.

The geology of Cheshire in England consists mainly of Triassic sandstones and mudstones. To the north west of Cheshire, these rocks are heavily faulted and the underlying Carboniferous Coal Measures are thrown up. Around the areas of Poynton and Macclesfield, the coal is close to the surface and was easily mined. Below the Coal Measures is the Millstone Grit, which appears towards the Derbyshire border on the flanks of the Peak District dome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Kansas</span>

The geology of Kansas encompasses the geologic history and the presently exposed rock and soil. Rock that crops out in the US state of Kansas was formed during the Phanerozoic eon, which consists of three geologic eras: the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Paleozoic rocks at the surface in Kansas are primarily from the Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian periods.

The Lias Group or Lias is a lithostratigraphic unit found in a large area of western Europe, including the British Isles, the North Sea, the Low Countries and the north of Germany. It consists of marine limestones, shales, marls and clays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canelo Hills</span> Range in Santa Cruz County, Arizona

The Canelo Hills are a range of low mountains or hills in eastern Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The range consists of a series of northwest–southeast trending ridges extending from the Sonoita Creek valley southwest of Sonoita to the Parker Canyon Lake area in southwest Cochise County, Arizona. The Canelo Hills merge with the Huachuca Mountains to the southeast. The San Rafael Valley lies to the southwest of the range and the Patagonia Mountains lie to the west across the Harshaw Creek valley. The Canelo Hills Cienega Reserve and the ghost town of Canelo, Arizona, are located on the eastern side of the hills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherwood Sandstone Group</span>

The Sherwood Sandstone Group is a Triassic lithostratigraphic group which is widespread in Britain, especially in the English Midlands. The name is derived from Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire which is underlain by rocks of this age. It has economic importance as the reservoir of the Morecambe Bay gas field, the second largest gas field in the UK.

The Arbuthnott-Garvock Group is a Devonian lithostratigraphic group in central Scotland. The name is derived from the village of Arbuthnott in Aberdeenshire and the Hill of Garvock near Laurencekirk. The group comprises the previously separate overlying Garvock Group and the underlying Arbuthnott Group.

This article describes the geology of the Broads, an area of East Anglia in eastern England characterised by rivers, marshes and shallow lakes (‘broads’). The Broads is designated as a protected landscape with ‘status equivalent to a national park’.

The geology of the Gambia is defined by thick and comparatively recent sequences of sediments and sedimentary rocks, deposited in the last 66 million years. The country is underlain almost entirely by geologically recent Cenozoic sedimentary rocks. Much deeper basement rocks are likely present, although they are not well understood. Most research has focused on oil and groundwater exploration.

The geology of Uganda extends back to the Archean and Proterozoic eons of the Precambrian, and much of the country is underlain by gneiss, argillite and other metamorphic rocks that are sometimes over 2.5 billion years old. Sedimentary rocks and new igneous and metamorphic units formed throughout the Proterozoic and the region was partially affected by the Pan-African orogeny and Snowball Earth events. Through the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, ancient basement rock has weathered into water-bearing saprolite and the region has experienced periods of volcanism and rift valley formation. The East Africa Rift gives rise to thick, more geologically recent sediment sequences and the country's numerous lakes. Uganda has extensive natural resources, particularly gold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of South Sudan</span> Geology of South Sudan

The geology of South Sudan is founded on Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks, that cover 40 percent of the country's surface and underlie other rock units. The region was affected by the Pan-African orogeny in the Neoproterozoic and extensional tectonics in the Mesozoic that deposited very thick oil-bearing sedimentary sequences in rift basins. Younger basalts, sandstones and sediments formed in the last 66 million years of the Cenozoic. The discovery of oil in 1975 was a major factor in the Second Sudanese Civil War, leading up to independence in 2011. The country also has gold, copper, cobalt, zinc, iron, marble, limestone and dolomite.

The geology of Eswatini formed beginning 3.6 billion years ago, in the Archean Eon of the Precambrian. Eswatini is the only country entirely underlain by the Kaapvaal Craton, one of the oldest pieces of stable continental crust and the only craton regarded as "pristine" by geologists, other than the Yilgarn Craton in Australia. As such, the country has very ancient granite, gneiss and in some cases sedimentary rocks from the Archean into the Proterozoic, overlain by sedimentary rocks and igneous rocks formed during the last 539 million years of the Phanerozoic as part of the Karoo Supergroup. Intensive weathering has created thick zones of saprolite and heavily weathered soils.

The geology of Libya formed on top of deep and poorly understood Precambrian igneous and metamorphic crystalline basement rock. Most of the country is intra-craton basins, filled with thick layers of sediment. The region experienced long-running subsidence and terrestrial sedimentation during the Paleozoic, followed by phases of volcanism and intense folding in some areas, and widespread flooding in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic due to a long marine transgression. Libya has the largest hydrocarbon reserves in Africa, as well as deposits of evaporites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Bosnia and Herzegovina</span>

The geology of Bosnia & Herzegovina is the study of rocks, minerals, water, landforms and geologic history in the country. The oldest rocks exposed at or near the surface date to the Paleozoic and the Precambrian geologic history of the region remains poorly understood. Complex assemblages of flysch, ophiolite, mélange and igneous plutons together with thick sedimentary units are a defining characteristic of the Dinaric Alps, also known as the Dinaride Mountains, which dominate much of the country's landscape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Moldova</span>

The geology of Moldova encompasses basement rocks from the Precambrian dating back more than 2.5 billion years, overlain by thick sequences of Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geology of Luxembourg</span>

The geology of Luxembourg is divided into two geologic regions: Rheinisches Schiefergeblige in the north, extending into the Ardennes region in Belgium, and the Oesling Zone to the north of Ettelbruck. The country is underlain by the Hercynian orogeny related Givonne Anticlinorium, which mainly contains Early Devonian sandstone and shale. Rocks closer to the surface are primarily from the Cretaceous and are cut by the Sauer River and its tributaries.

The geology of Montenegro includes sedimentary and volcanic rocks from the Paleozoic through the Cenozoic, deposited atop poorly understood crystalline basement rock.

The geology of Transnistria includes some of the region's rare exposures of rock from before the Neogene along the Dniester River. The area is underlain by East European Platform rocks from the Precambrian, including granite, gneiss and gabbro from the Archean and Paleozoic. Paleozoic rocks are overlain by Triassic and Jurassic conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and limestone that lack fossils. Quaternary deposits from the last 2.5 million years cover almost the entire country.

The geology of South Ossetia is underlain by the suture left by the closing of the Paleotethys Ocean. Jurassic age slate and limestone are predominant in the southwest, while much of the north has Cretaceous clastic limestone, greywacke and siltstone flysch rocks. Overthrust nappes and faults are common in the center of the region.

The geology of El Salvador is underlain by rocks dating to the Paleozoic. Prior to the Pennsylvanian, sediments deposited and were intensely deformed, intruded by granite rocks and metamorphosed. Northern Central America took shape during uplift in the Triassic, large than its current area and extending east to the Nicaragua Rise. The Cayman Ridge and Bartlet Trough formed from longitudinal faults at the crest of the uplift. Deformation in the Cretaceous brought granite intrusions, particularly in what is now Nicaragua. Much of the terrain and coastline of the country is defined by volcanoes and volcanic deposits produced from the subduction of the Cocos Plate.

References

  1. Moores, E.M.; Fairbridge, Rhodes W. (1997). Encyclopedia of European & Asian Regional Geology. Springer. p. 258.