Oronto Group

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Oronto Group
Stratigraphic range: Keweenawan
Type Group
Unit of Keweenawan Supergroup
Sub-units Copper Harbor Conglomerate
Freda Sandstone
Nonesuch Shale
Underlies Bayfield Group
Location
RegionFlag of Michigan.svg  Michigan
Flag of Wisconsin.svg  Wisconsin
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States

The Oronto Group is a thick group of arkose sandstone and shale located beneath the Bayfield Group in northern Wisconsin, [1] along the northwestern side of the Keweenaw Peninsula and southern Isle Royale, [2] and believed to extend into Minnesota. [3] Because it is almost entirely red in color and highly tilted, it is considered separate from the Bayfield Group. [1] The Oronto Group is divided into the Copper Harbor Conglomerate, Freda Sandstone, and Nonesuch Shale. [4] As the group is devoid of fossils, its age is difficult to ascertain, [5] though it may be of Keweenawan Age (about 1100 Mya). [6]

Arkose A type of sandstone containing at least 25% feldspar

Arkose is a detrital sedimentary rock, specifically a type of sandstone containing at least 25% feldspar. Arkosic sand is sand that is similarly rich in feldspar, and thus the potential precursor of arkose.

Shale A fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering or bedding less than one centimeter in thickness, called fissility. It is the most common sedimentary rock.

Wisconsin A north-central state of the United States of America

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States, in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 23rd largest state by total area and the 20th most populous. The state capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee, which is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan. The state is divided into 72 counties.

The group is composed of conglomerate, sandstone and shale. It is typically red, with bands, streaks, and spots of greenish-white no more than a few inches thick. [3] The total thickness of the group is unknown, but may be as much as 21,000 ft (6,400 m) deep. [7] The group is a member of the Keweenawan Supergroup. [8]

Conglomerate (geology) A coarse-grained clastic sedimentary rock with mainly rounded to subangular clasts

Conglomerate is a coarse-grained clastic sedimentary rock that is composed of a substantial fraction of rounded to subangular gravel-size clasts, e.g., granules, pebbles, cobbles, and boulders, larger than 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter. Conglomerates form by the consolidation and lithification of gravel. Conglomerates typically contain finer grained sediment, e.g., either sand, silt, clay or combination of them, called matrix by geologists, filling their interstices and are often cemented by calcium carbonate, iron oxide, silica, or hardened clay.

The Keweenawan Supergroup is a supergroup of volcanic and sedimentary rocks that fill the Midcontinent Rift System in the U.S. states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It is about 30 kilometers (19 mi) thick and it formed about 1.1 billion years ago.

The Oronto Group has a higher proportion of undecomposed minerals, feldspars, micas, ferromagnesian compounds, magnetite and calcium carbonate than the Bayfield Group. [3]

Feldspar A group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals

Feldspars (KAlSi3O8 – NaAlSi3O8 – CaAl2Si2O8) are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals that make up about 41% of the Earth's continental crust by weight.

Mica phyllosilicate minerals

The mica group of sheet silicate (phyllosilicate) minerals includes several closely related materials having nearly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition. The nearly perfect cleavage, which is the most prominent characteristic of mica, is explained by the hexagonal sheet-like arrangement of its atoms.

Magnetite iron ore mineral

Magnetite is a rock mineral and one of the main iron ores, with the chemical formula Fe3O4. It is one of the oxides of iron, and is ferrimagnetic; it is attracted to a magnet and can be magnetized to become a permanent magnet itself. It is the most magnetic of all the naturally-occurring minerals on Earth. Naturally-magnetized pieces of magnetite, called lodestone, will attract small pieces of iron, which is how ancient peoples first discovered the property of magnetism. Today it is mined as iron ore.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Bulletin, p. 48.
  2. Geologic Map of the Lake Superior Region: Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Northern Michigan (Map). 1 : 1,000,000. S-13. Minnesota Geological Survey. 1982. Retrieved June 20, 2012 via WikiMedia Commons.
  3. 1 2 3 Bulletin, p. 49.
  4. Scott W. Imbus and others, "Organic geochemistry and sedimentology of middle Proterozoic Nonesuch Formation - hydrocarbon source rock assessment of a lacustrine rift deposit," in Lacustrine Basin Exploration, Tulsa, Okla.: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, p.197-208
  5. Bulletin, p. 100.
  6. Bulletin, p. 105.
  7. Bulletin, p. 50.
  8. "Geologic Unit: Keweenawan". GEOLEX Database. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved June 20, 2012.

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