Geologic Structure of Byram on the Delaware

Zachary Lenzi
12/13/2020
Abstract:

Byram on the Delaware is an area in New Jersey along the Delaware River. The field

area follows a river inland where an igneous sill can be examined intruding into a siliciclastic

siltstone. This area was geologically mapped, and a cross section was created to better

understand the sequence of geologic events which caused it to form. The igneous sill is from the

Byram Diabase, which has a minimum width of 50 meters and intruded into the siltstone before

any uplift changed their orientations. The siltstone is a part of the Lockatong Formation which

has a minimum depth of 100 meters and has an anticline in the field area because of a normal

fault pulling one side downward. This fault also caused the Byram Diabase sill to not be linear

from that same downward movement. Overall, the study revealed that there were some complex

geologic events that caused the field area to be displayed how it is today.

Introduction:

Byram on the

Delaware is north of Stockton

Township, New Jersey and is

located along the Delaware

River. In the field area

(Figure 1), two rock units are

extruding at the surface

which can be examined, these

are the Lockatong Formation

and the Byram Diabase. The Figure 1: A simple overview map of New Jersey which shows where the field site was located and the
overall size of the area examined
purpose of this experiment is to determine the sequence of geologic events which caused the
observed formations. The Byram Diabase is an igneous intrusion that cuts though the Lockatong

Formation. This area was then mapped based on the geologic units and a cross section was

created. From this it can be determined that the Byram Diabase is a sill with a minimum width of

60 meters that intrudes into the Lockatong Formation. These two units were then altered to

change the angle of bedding and a normal fault unaligned them causing an anticline in the

Lockatong on the footwall.

Bedrock Map Units:

Lockatong Formation:

The Lockatong Formation is located throughout the entire field area either at the surface

or underneath the Byram Diabase whenever present. The main area where outcrops of this unit

are found is along the Daniel Bray Highway and along the northern side on the river. This

formation consists of a siliciclastic siltstone to shale and contains primarily silt and quartz. The

weathering color of this unit is a dark brown while the un-weathered surface is usually black to

dark grey. Bedding is easily viewed as each layer has a distinctly different character when far

away from contact zones. Some layers had a weathering pattern that makes it seem vesicular,

while other layers are thinly bedded with clear separation. The minimum thickness of this unit is

about 100 meters

Byram Diabase:

The Byram Diabase is an igneous rock that is massive in characteristic. The primary

composition of the rock unit is plagioclase with an assortment of minerals present when far away

from contact zones. The weathering color of this rock unit is an orange to tan in coloration, with

the unweathered surface having an assortment of colors including grey, white, and variations of
brown. Outcrops of this unit are also found along the Daniel Bray Highway and on the southern

wall of the river. The minimum thickness of this unit is about 60 meters. This unit also has a

higher magnetic susceptibility when compared to the Lockatong formation, but this can not be

used as an identifiable feature when determining the formation because both units have a closely

similar reading when close to contact zones. This rock unit intrudes into the Lockatong

Formation, making the Byram Diabase younger than the Lockatong Fomation.

Near Contact Zones

Near the contact zones, the Lockatong Formation turns into a hornfel where

crystallization grains become bigger. Along with this the Byram Diabase crystallization size

shrinks making these two rock units look very similar to each other. The weathering colors of

these rock units do stay the same. The northern side of the river has a contact between the

Lockatong and the diabase, but the southern side has a normal fault where the diabase hanging

wall shifted downward onto the Lockatong footwall.

Structural Geology:

There are two rock units in

this field area: the Lockatong

Formation, the older formation,

and the Byram Diabase, the

younger formation. The river that

cuts through the middle of the

map has a contact between the

Figure 2: Geologic map of the field area where the Lockatong Formation is represented by the blue
two units along the north wall color and the Byram Diabase is red. The darker colored areas are locations where outcrops were seen
and analyzed.
and a normal fault along the southern wall. The diabase was the hanging wall that downthrown

along this contact causing the Lockatong to have an anticline along the bottom of the river. The

dip of this fault is about 60o to the southeast. The average dip of the Lockatong Formation was

about 15o with a strike of around 220o to the Southwest (Figure 2). The anticline peak was able to

be measured at a 147o strike and a 17o dip and then quickly dipped into the opposite direction

under the diabase and the normal fault. The Lockatong is then found again farther up the road

with a strike again of 220o and a dip of 15o. This location can be seen in the cross section as the

right portion of visible

rock (Figure 3).

The Byram

Diabase intrudes into the

Lockatong formation as

either a geologic dike or

sill. This intrusion was

then downshifted from

the normal fault (Figure

3) causing the anticline to Figure 3: A cross section diagram of the field area depicting contacts as normal lines, faults as dashes, and
the contacts eroded away as faded lines. The darker colors represent the formations that are still present
form in the Lockatong while the faded colors are where the unit eroded away and is no longer seen. The legend of this cross section
can be found at the end of the report.

formation. This intrusion

follows the orientation of bedding of the Lockatong formation and has a minimum width of

about 50 meters.
Discussion:

The field area has two rock units that are found at the surface. The first is the Lockatong

Formation that is a siliciclastic siltstone to shale and has a minimum width of 100 meters. The

second unit is the Byram Diabase which is composed of an igneous rock composed of mostly

plagioclase and has a minimum width of 50 meters. This igneous intrusion is either a sill or dike

that intrudes the Lockatong Formation. Upon examination of the area, it is presumed that it is

most likely a sill since it is following the bedding and orientation of the Lockatong. If it were a

dike there would have been a different relationship where the intrusion would have been seen

cutting across bedding instead of following it.

The formation of this area likely started with the deposition and lithification of the

Lockatong Formation. Then the magma rose from the subsurface and created the sill inside the

Lockatong. After this, uplift caused the units to be oriented with a 15o dip. The normal fault on

the right side of the cross section (Figure 3) then formed, causing both the Diabase and the

Lockatong to move downward. This normal fault also caused the anticline of the Lockatong to

form by pulling down the bedding with it. Finally, present day erosion caused it to come to its

current, weathered state.

From the data that was collected in the field, the Lockatong Formation lithified before the

Byram Diabase. The Byram Diabase intruded into this unit in the form of an igneous sill, with

both units then being altered simultaneously by uplifting. The normal fault on the southern side

of the river then caused the hanging wall to drop, and this pulled the foot wall of the Lockatong

down to form an anticline. The dip of the anticline going under this fault is questionable because

in place outcrops were hard to find. It would be recommended that researchers of this area

should focus on finding an in-place outcrop of this area to collect data from.
 Acknowledgments:

The data that was collected for strike and dip was performed individually by my partner

Joseph Del Conte and myself. We examined the field site area together and discussed what we

saw to determine what the rock type was. The charts and images that are present inside this

report were created by me, with some of the map data provided by my professor Jeffery Webber.

Figure 4: A legend that explains all symbols inside the geologic cross
section map.
All Images