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Layered Pyroxene Granulite (VAYpg;0)

Geologic Formation in VA

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Lithology

Granulite

Geologic Age

Mesoproterozoic (1600 Ma – 1000 Ma ago)

Geologic Unit Label

Ypg

Medium- to dark greenish-gray, fine- to medium-grained, segregation-layered quartzofeldspathic granulite. Major minerals are quartz, plagioclase, potassium feldspar (includes assemblages with one alkali feldspar), orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene, and magnetite-ilmenite; garnet, hornblende, and reddish-brown biotite are widespread minor constituents. Apatite and zircon are accessory minerals. Color index ranges from 15 to 35. Quartz and feldspars are granoblastic; ferromagnesian minerals define dark layers on the order of 1 to 3 mm thick, giving the rock a characteristic pinstriped appearance. Migmatitic leucosomes locally cut segregation layering. Geophysical signature: positive magnetic anomalies relative to adjacent biotite granulite and layered gneiss (Ygb). This unit pre-dates charnockite, alkali feldspar leucogranite, and other plutonic rocks on basis of cross-cutting relations, and is generally considered pre-Grenville-age country rock that was metamorphosed under granulite-facies metamorphic conditions and intruded by plutonic rocks during the Grenville orogeny. The unit includes Lady Slipper granulite gneiss (1130 Ma, U-Pb zircon, Sinha and Bartholomew, 1984), and Nellysford and Hills Mountain granulite gneisses of Bartholomew and others (1981).

— USGS

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Geologic Formation