KITTATINNY VALLfc:Y — HAKDISTON QUAKTZITK 141) 



the eiistern border of the highhuuls, and evidently underlie in part, at 

 least, the Newark formation. 



The general geological relations are shown in fitjjure 1, which repre- 

 sents the northwestern part of the state, includini!: the higlilands, Kitta- 

 tinny valley, and Kittatinny mountain. In the Kittatinny valley there 

 is found the succession noted in the i)ages which follow. 



Hardiston Quartzite 

 rela tions a ivd cha ra cter 



At the base of the limestone, resting upon the pre-Cambrian crystal- 

 lines, there is a sandstone or quartzite of variable composition and thick- 

 ness. It was described and named Hardistonville quartzite by Wolf 

 and Brooks,* from the village of that name, near which there are good 

 exposures. The shorter name used above, which is that of the town- 

 ship, seems preferable, however, and is here proposed. 



The following description of this formation f for the Franklin Fur- 

 nace area was given by Wolf and Brooks : 



** When fresh the quartzite is usually bluish graj'^, weathering near the surface 

 to a yellow or brown, often porous, limonitic rock. Frequently it contains con- 

 siderable pyrite, and varies i n'coarseness from a fine conglomerate to a quartzite. 

 A shaly phase is often present in the upper part of the bed, where it merges into 

 the limestone. It is composed of large and small grains of clastic quartz, which 

 are usually cemented by calcite, mixed with a fine aggregate of quartz. In many 

 localities it is filled with fragments of clastic feldspar (microcline, etc.), and 

 plates of light colored mica which are distinctly clastic, as seen in thin section. 

 Where it occurs near the Avliite limestone it frequently contains graphite . . . 

 in round plates, often bent, and in thin section they show no evidence of having 

 been formed in situ. . . . 



"The quartzite in many places becomes an arkose, and is then composed of 

 quartz, feldspar, and mica, with fragments of granite." 



These workers also found a. few pebbles of white limestone imbedded 

 in the quartzite at three localities. 



Examination of the formation over a wider area has shown that it is 

 even more variable in character than implied in the above extract. 

 Some beds are composed of coarse rounded quartz grains, with some 

 feldspar, the interstices being but slightly filled by any cementing ma- 

 terial. In some sections the only approach to a quartzite is a coarse 

 quartz sandstone or a fine grained sandy limestone, intercalated with 

 beds of shale and dolomitic limestone. Elsewhere, as in the railroad 



* U. S. Geol. Survey, 18th Annual Report of the Director, pt. ii, p, 442 et seq. 

 fLoc. cit., p. 442, 



