Potsdam Sandstone

The Potsdam Sandstone, more formally known as the Potsdam Group, is a geologic unit of mid-to-late Cambrian age found in Northern New York and northern Vermont and Quebec and Ontario. A well-cemented sandstone of nearly pure quartz, in the 19th century it was widely used in construction and in refractory linings for iron furnaces.[8]

Potsdam Sandstone
Stratigraphic range: Latest Guzhangian–Furongian[1][2]
Old Snell Hall at Clarkson University was built with Potsdam Sandstone.[3]
TypeGeological formation
Sub-units
AreaEastern North America
Lithology
PrimaryOrthoquartzite
OtherConglomerates, local siltsone lenses[7]

Name and type locality
Potsdam Sandstone outcrop along the Raquette River

The Potsdam Sandstone is named for its type locality in Potsdam, New York, where in 1838 Ebenezer Emmons described it in outcrops along the Raquette River.[9][10]

Stratigraphic setting and lithology
Unconformity at the base of the Potsdam Sandstone

The Potsdam Sandstone lies unconformably on a surface of Precambrian metamorphic rock. It is the earliest unit in the marine-transgressive sedimentary rock sequence deposited during the early Paleozoic as sea level rose to gradually inundate the craton of the paleocontinent of Laurentia.[10][11][12] The rock, which is formed from sediments eroded off unvegetated terrestrial landscapes and deposited in near-shore coastal environments,[13] consists almost entirely of sand-size quartz grains held together by quartz cement.[8][11] It ranges in color from gray to tan, yellow, and red, with the colors imparted by small amounts of the red iron oxide mineral hematite, Fe2O3, and the yellow iron oxide mineral goethite, FeO(OH).[8]

As sea level rose in the depositional environment, increasing amounts of carbonate minerals were deposited in the sediment, with the result that the unit grades upward into dolomitic sandstone in the upper Potsdam and then to sandy dolomite at the base of the overlying Theresa Formation.[8][12][14]

Paleontology
Protichnites in the lower Potsdam Sandstone.
Diplocraterion in the upper Potsdam Sandstone.

Fossil remains of whole animals are rare in the Potsdam Sandstone, but there are some significant occurrences of trace fossils. Trace fossils in the unit include both vertical burrows, such as Diplocraterion and Skolithos and horizontal trackways, such as Diplichnites, Protichnites, and Climactichnites.[11][15] In 1903, a 20-ton (18-tonne) slab of Potsdam Sandstone from Clinton County, New York, displaying tracks attributed to trilobites, was placed in the New York State Museum.[16] Fossil impressions of the whole bodies of jellyfish have also been found in the Potsdam.[11]

Geographic occurrence

In New York state, the Potsdam is found primarily north and west of the Adirondack Mountains. Outcrop exposures of the Potsdam Sandstone occur throughout the Saint Lawrence lowlands, western Lake Champlain Valley, and northern Mohawk Valley. Ausable Chasm, near Plattsburgh, has a continuous exposure of a section more than 160 metres (520 ft) thick.[11] The formation reaches its maximum thickness of about 450 metres (1,480 ft) in the northern Champlain lowland.[12]

Uses in construction and industry

In the 19th century, Potsdam Sandstone was highly regarded as a building material. There was extensive quarrying for Potsdam Sandstone in the Potsdam area, beginning in 1809.[3][8][17][18] Properties of the rock that give it value as a building material include high compressive strength, attractive reddish coloring, and resistance to weathering.[8][17][18] The rock also was said to be "soft and easy to carve" when freshly quarried but "extremely hard" and "weather-resistant" after exposure to the air, but modern geologists suggest that this is a misconception.[8][18] Potsdam Sandstone resists spalling when exposed to fire, making it highly suitable for use as a refractory for lining iron furnaces.[8][17]

Local sandstone was used for many buildings in Potsdam, as well as for purposes such as gravestones and sidewalks.[3][18][19] Buildings in other cities constructed with this rock include portions of Canada's Parliament Buildings (original Centre Block and Library of Parliament) in Ottawa, and the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, New York.[18] Potsdam Sandstone and its stratigraphic equivalents also have been quarried for use as building stone at several sites in Quebec.[20]

Stratigraphically equivalent and lithologically similar sandstone extends across the international border into Canada, although stratigraphic boundaries and nomenclature can differ.[11][12] In Ontario, the Nepean Sandstone was formerly called "Potsdam" and is regarded as a stratigraphic equivalent to the Potsdam Sandstone.[21][22][23] In Quebec, the Potsdam Group is recognized, consisting of the Covey Hill Formation and the Cairnside Formation, both of which are sandstones.[12]

Historically the name "Potsdam sandstone" was also applied to various other North American sandstone bodies that directly overlie Precambrian crystalline rocks, including sandstones in Canada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Indiana, and attempts were made to identify or correlate various rocks with the Potsdam formation.[23][24][25] The basal Cambrian sandstone formation in much of the upper Mississippi Valley and southern Great Lakes region is now designated the Mount Simon Sandstone and is, in turn, assigned to the Potsdam Supergroup, which takes its name from the Potsdam Sandstone.[24] Similar quartz arenite sandstone found in Wyoming was also identified historically as the "Potsdam sandstone."[25][26]

See also

References
  1. Salad Hersi, O. & Lavoie, D. (2000). "Lithostratigraphic revision of the Upper Cambrian Cairnside Formation, upper Potsdam Group, southwestern Quebec. Geol. Surv. Canada, Curr. Res. D4, 1–8" (PDF). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Derby, James; Fritz, Richard; Longacre, Susan; Morgan, William; Sternbach, Charles (2013-01-20). The Great American Carbonate Bank: The Geology and Economic Resources of the Cambrian-Ordovician Sauk Megasequence of Laurentia, AAPG Memoir 98. ISBN 9780891813804.
  3. A Short History of Potsdam Sandstone, Potsdam Public Museum website, accessed July 29, 2011
  4. Lavoie, D; Hamblin, A P; Thúriault, R; Beaulieu, J; Kirkwood, D. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5900.
  5. http://weblex.nrcan.gc.ca/html/003000/GSCC00053003438.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. http://igs.indiana.edu/compendium/comp0i04.cfm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. Kirwan, J. L. (1963). "The age of the Nepean (Potsdam) sandstone in eastern Ontario". American Journal of Science. 261 (2): 108–110. Bibcode:1963AmJS..261..108K. doi:10.2475/ajs.261.2.108.
  8. James Carl, Potsdam Sandstone: Composition and Qualities, Potsdam Public Museum website, accessed July 29, 2011
  9. Geologic Unit: Potsdam, U.S. Geological Survey Geolex Database, accessed August 1, 2011
  10. James Carl, Potsdam Sandstone: Bedrock Geology, Potsdam Public Museum website, accessed July 29, 2011
  11. James W. Hagadorn and Edward S. Belt (2008), Stranded in Upstate New York: Cambrian Scyphomedusae from the Potsdam Sandstone, Palaios, v. 23, p. 424–441, doi:10.2110/palo.2006.p06-104r
  12. John H. Williams, Richard J. Reynolds, David A. Franzi, Edwin A. Romanowicz, and Frederick L. Paillet (2010), Hydrogeology of the Potsdam Sandstone in Northern New York, Canadian Water Resources Journal Vol. 35(4): 399–416 (2010)
  13. Collette, J. H.; Hagadorn, J. W.; Lacelle, M. A. (2010). "Dead in Their Tracks--Cambrian Arthropods and Their Traces from Intertidal Sandstones of Quebec and Wisconsin". PALAIOS. 25 (8): 475. Bibcode:2010Palai..25..475C. doi:10.2110/palo.2009.p09-134r.
  14. Mineral Resources On-Line Spatial Data: Theresa Formation, U.S. Geological Survey Geolex, accessed August 6, 2011
  15. James Carl, Rock Structures and Fossils, Potsdam Public Museum website, accessed July 29, 2011
  16. The Trail of the Serpent, The New York Times, November 12, 1903
  17. The Potsdam Red Sandstone quarries, Scientific American, January 7, 1893, page 8-10.
  18. Potsdam Sandstone office (photo and description), New York Heritage website, accessed July 29, 2011
  19. Lori Shull, Consultant tracking Potsdam sandstone, NNY stonemasons, Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times, September 20, 2010
  20. Architectural sandstone quarrying in Québec, Québec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife website, accessed August 1, 2011
  21. J. L. Kirwan (1963), The age of the Nepean (Potsdam) sandstone in eastern Ontario, American Journal of Science, Vol. 261, February 1963, P.108-110; doi:10.2475/ajs.261.2.108
  22. Potsdam sandstone Archived 2011-07-04 at the Wayback Machine, University of Waterloo Earth and Environmental Sciences website, accessed July 29, 2011
  23. Thomas W. Bjerstedt and J. Mark Erickson (1989), Trace Fossils and Bioturbation in Peritidal Facies of the Potsdam-Theresa Formations (Cambrian-Ordovician), Northwest Adirondacks, Palaios, Vol. 4, No. 3, June 1989, pp. 203-224
  24. Indiana Geological Survey, Potsdam Supergroup, St. Croixan Series, Cambrian System and Mount Simon Sandstone, Potsdam Supergroup, Cambrian System, accessed July 29, 2011
  25. Charles Doolittle Walcott (1891), Correlation Papers: Cambrian, Bulletin of the U.S. Geological Survey, volume 15.
  26. Francis John Pettijohn, Paul Edwin Potter, and Raymond Siever (1987), Sand and Sandstone, Springer, ISBN 0-387-96350-2. Page 181.
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