Easton, Fairfield Co., Connecticut, USA

Age: Paleozoic (358.9 - 443.8 Ma)

Stratigraphic Name: Goshen Formation; The Straits Schist

Description: Silvery to gray, non-rusty, coarse- to very coarse grained, generally poorly layered schist, composed of quartz, muscovite, biotite, oligoclase, garnet, and commonly with staurolite and kyanite or sillimanite; graphitic almost throughout. Distinctive sequence of metamorphic strata overlying the Collinsville Formation in the Bristol quad., is here correlated with the Straits Schist of Fritts (1963) in the Southington quad. Consists mainly of rusty-weathering, medium- to coarse-grained, commonly crenulated, garnet-bearing, graphitic, muscovite-rich, plagioclase-quartz schist with graded bedding. Unit is called The Straits Schist following the original usage of Rodgers and others (1959). In the southern part of the Bristol quad., unit includes the Southington Mountain Member (here reduced in rank) in its upper part. Age of The Straits is inferred to be Silurian or Devonian. Unit is tentatively correlated with the Goshen Formation based on lithologic similarities and a possible unconformity at the base (Simpson, 1990).

Comments: Part of Central Lowlands; Iapetus (Oceanic) Terrane - Connecticut Valley Synclinorium; Hartland Belt Secondary unit description per CT008.

Lithology: Major:{schist}

Reference: Horton, J.D., C.A. San Juan, and D.B. Stoeser. The State Geologic Map Compilation (SGMC) geodatabase of the conterminous United States. doi: 10.3133/ds1052. U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 1052. [133]

Age: Neoproterozoic to Ordovician (443.8 - 1000 Ma)

Lithology: Mudstone-carbonate-sandstone-conglomerate

Reference: Chorlton, L.B. Generalized geology of the world: bedrock domains and major faults in GIS format: a small-scale world geology map with an extended geological attribute database. doi: 10.4095/223767. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5529. [154]