If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it fall, does it make a sound?

 Below I summarize a few obscure writings on the Potsdam sandstone.

A 1979 Master’s Thesis by John Cass on the Beekmantown Group in the Ottawa Basin

In 1979 John Cass authored  a Master’s thesis at the University of Ottawa entitled ‘Paleoenvironmental interpretation of the Beekmantown Group within the Ottawa Basin”.   This thesis covered the  Potsdam Group as Cass included the Potsdam within the Beekmantown Group.   

Cass  noted that Fisher (1977) had included the Keeseville formation within the Beekmantown, and commented (page 20) that “Without conclusive evidence of a major disconformity at or near the assumed Cambro-Ordovician boundary or within the Potsdam formation within the Ottawa basin, the entire transitional sequence from sandstone resting noncomformably on the Precambrian basement to carbonate underlying the Chazy Group, has been termed the Beekmantown Group for the purpose of this report.”    More recently, Dr. Bruce Sanford’s (2007) doctoral thesis and Dr. David Lowe’s (2016) doctoral thesis reported on a major systemwide unconformity within the Potsdam Group that is found in Ontario, Quebec and New York.  See also Sanford and Arnott (2010), Lowe et al. (2017, 2018).

Interestingly, Cass rejected Alice E. Wilson’s renaming of the Potsdam as the Nepean Formation, and divided the Potsdam into the Basal Member, Ausable Member and the Keeseville member (following Fischer, 1968).   He considered the Keeseville member in Ontario to be equivalent to Clark’s Cairnside formation in Quebec and to most of Alice E. Wilson’s Nepean formation in Ontario.

Cass also rejected Wilson’s renaming the Theresa formation as the March formation and rejected Wilson’s renaming of the Beauharnois formation as the Oxford formation.    He had a unique view of what we now call the  Theresa , breaking it down into the Theresa and Buck Bridge Formation, with the Buck Bridge formation consisting of a lower Heuvelton member and an upper March member.   While this is a unique interpretation for Canada, he was following Chapman’s (1915, p. 289) breakdown of transition beds in Upper New York into the Theresa, Heuevelton and Bucks Bridge.  

He provides a number of measured sections, including figures 6-8 and 6-9 for the Phillipsville outcrop, which he places in the Heuvelton member of the Theresa.  Some have mapped  it as Nepean; others, as March/Theresa.  (I have one friend who is a geologist to whom I commented “If you had three geologists look at that outcrop, you would get four opinions.”  My friend replied “Chris, if you had three geologists, you would get eight opinions.” He retired a few years later.)  Keith (1948) identified it as Potsdam formation. Wynne-Edwards’s (1967) map 1182A, where the Paleozoic Geology was by Morley Wilson  and G. M. Brownell in 1927 - 1929, shows it as Nepean Formation.  Williams and Wolf (1984, Map P. 2723) mapped at least the top of the outcrop as March.   Dr. Sanford (2007) mapped it as Potsdam.  Dr. Al Donaldson  and Chris Finlay (2008) identified it as Potsdam in a field trip guide. Williams (1991, OGS, OFR 5770, page 226) provides a measured section for the outcrop (His Section S WE-1: roadcut, Philipsville UTM 409500E, 4943350N) reporting 3.55 meters of March Formation at the top, underlain by 3.1 meters of Nepean Formation.   Professor Arnott (2012), in a field trip guide, comments that the escarpment is “Probably all within the Theresa/March” but adds the qualification “Or is it?” About four years ago I recall asking Dave Lowe what he thought and he replied Theresa.   I thought  at least the base was Nepean Formation.

The information in John Cass’s  Master’s thesis was never published and as far as I can determine has never been referred to other than by Williams (1991, page 22) who lists it among various studies on the Potsdam and Beekmantown Group and by Globensky (1986, page 71)  who rejected Cass’s terminology.    Globensky  (1986, page 71)  commented  “[ Google Translation from French:]  It is the same with Cass (1979) who rejects all the terminology used in Ontario, to adopt in part the American terms and to propose new ones; however, it retains the Beauharnois Formation. For him, the Beekmantown Group includes all the units between the Precambrian base and the Chazy Group. We are not inclined to accept these changes. It seems to us that the proposals of Giles (1976) and Cass (1979) only increase the profusion of names in the stratigraphic sequence of the St. Lawrence Lowlands. We prefer to stick to the definition of Wilson (1946); however, we use the equivalent names in Quebec, as defined by Clark (1966) and modified by Globensky (1982a). Thus, the Beekmantown Group includes only two formations: Theresa and Beauharnois.

A 1985 Master’s Thesis by Lee E. McRae on the basal Potsdam Sandstone in New York State, southwestern Quebec, and southeastern Ontario

In  1985 Lee McRae authored  a Master’s thesis at Dartmouth College entitled ‘Sedimentology and paleomagnetics of the basal Potsdam Sandstone in the Adirondack border region, New York State, southwestern Quebec, and southeastern Ontario’ .  

Lee McRae concentrated on the nonmarine facies within the basal Potsdam formation of the Adirondack border areas of northern New York, south eastern Ontario along the St. Lawrence (Brockville, Gananoque, Kingston) , and southwestern Quebec (Covey Hill, St. Cristostome, Ile Perrot, NW Montreal), only briefly mentioning the overlying shallow marine units. She provides  observations  and  analysis of sedimentary structures,  paleocurrent directions, and petrographic studies .   She identified six distinct lithofacies:  

Lithofacies 1 - Massive matrix-supported conglomerate (e.g. at Allens Falls, N.Y. at Mosherville, N.Y.  at Whittaker Falls, N.Y.), interpreted to represent an alluvial fan that developed as clastic debris was rapidly shed off an adjacent Prccambrian high debris flows.

Lithofacies 2 - Stratified framework-supported conglomerate (e.g. , a thick conglomerate sequence on Wellesley Island, N.Y. and the lower part of the sequence at Browns Bay, Ontario) with cut and fill structures common, interpreted to represent proximal gravelly braided-stream deposits.

Lithofacies 3 -Framework supported conglomerate-arkose (e.g., the upper sections at Wellesley Island, N.Y., and sequences at Oak Point, Dekalb Junction, and south of Canton), charactcrized  by finer framework supported conglomerate, shallow scour surfaces, and lenticular pods of conglomerate, with clast imbrication well developed, and trough and planar cross stratified sandstones,  interpreted to represent intermediate to distal gravelly braided-stream deposits (the downstream, distal equivalent of Lithofacies 2).

Lithofacies  4 - Pebble conglomerate-arkose fining-upward sequences (e.g., the upper sequences at Nicholveille, the upper section at Whittaker Falls, numerous exposures in the Champlain Valley) , interpreted to represent  sandy braided-stream deposits.

Lithofacies  5 - large-scale cross-bedded quartz arenite (e.g. at Alexandria Bay and at Hannawa Falls), interpreted as deposited in a subaerial, eolian setting.    For Lithofacies 5 she reported some cross-stratification features not consistent with eolian deposition (trough cross bedding; reversely oriented foresets), and suggested an alternative origin  of deposition in a high energy, tidally influenced, near shore estuarine or deltaic environment.   Others including  Sanford (2007) and Lowe (2016) identify the rocks at Hannawa Falls as an eolian deposit.  Husinec  (2020b) and  Hagadorn,  Collette and Belt (2010) emphasize the eolian dunes at Hannawa Falls, but characterize the Hannawa Falls  outcrop as a suite of interfingering eolian dune and aquatic deposits.  Professor  Husinec’s (2020b) YouTube video “Potsdam Sandstone Eolian Deposits" shows the deposits at Hannawa Falls.

Lithofacies  6 - Basal Conglomerate Thick Bedded Quartz Arenite (e.g., a section at Wellesly Island, and an exposure in the Hudson/Mowhawk Valley), characterized by a thin layer of well rounded conglomerate, overlain by a succession of poorly sorted sandstone, in turn overlain by massive bedded quartz arenite,  interpreted as the initial deposits associated with a shallow marine transgression.
            
Lee McRae mentions the seventh Lithofacies, the overlying shallow marine units, but did not cover this facies in her thesis.

Lee McRae makes a point that I have been thinking about for a few years, namely that the type locality for the Potsdam at Hannawa Falls is not typical for the formation as a whole.   (The underlying deposits of the Potsdam  Group are largely aluvial fans or braided stream deposits, while the overlying beds that are largely shallow marine deposits.)   Lee McRae mentions that the locality at Hannawa Falls “typifies the variability in lithologic types which are included under the name “Potdam”, and it is an interesting, perhaps ironic fact that the type exposure is not only imperfectly exposed, but is rather atypical of the formation as a whole.”  Fisher (1977) had commented that while the sandstone at  Hannawa Falls was the type, it was atypical, and renamed it his Ausable Formation: “Ausable Sandstone (Alling, H. L. 1919, p. 144)  Red and pink-white mottled lower Potsdam; probably the red, highly crossbedded sandstones at Hannawa Falls, the type (but atypical!).”   Lowe (2016, page 185) noted that“the well-known large-scale cross-stratified red bed exposures  along the Raquette River south of the town of Potsdam ... were first described by Emmons (1838) and deemed the type section of the “Potsdam Sandstone”. Here, it is deemed the type section of the Hannawa Falls Formation.”
      
Lee McRae noted that “ The desertlike environment of the Precambrian surface allowed for rapid transport and deposition of relatively unweathered sediments and the subsequent construction of a braided alluvial plain system. Field relations ...  suggest that terrestrial Potsdam deposition in the Early and Middle Cambrian largely preceded the marine transgression that deposited the thick, shallow marine units typifying most of the Potsdam sequence.”
         
The last half of Lee McRae’s thesis is devoted to the paleomagnetics of the basal Potsdam Sandstone.
            
Lee McRae’s  Master’s thesis was not published though the part on the sedimentology of the basal Potsdam Sandstone was summarized in an abstract authored by McRae and  Johnson (1986) delivered at the AAPG Annual Convention.  Her work on the Potsdam facies was briefly  cited by Hagadorn and Belt (2008), is relied on in seven places in Hagadorn, Collette and  Belt (2010) and is relied on in Husinec and Donaldson’s ( 2014, pages 2-3) field trip guide.  

Another part of Lee McRae’s thesis dealing with paleomagnetics  was included in a Geology Society of America abstract authored by  McRae,  Johnson,  and Johnson (1986).  It is briefly mentioned by Bruce Selleck (2008, page 145) who commented  “ McRae, et al (1986) used paleomagnetic techniques to determine a poorly-constrained early Paleozoic depositional age for the Ausable member and other basal Potsdam Sandstone units in the northern New York State outcrop belt. However, the intense post-depositional alteration of the Potsdam Sandstone suggests that the primary depositional paleomagnetic signal was not preserved, and that the remanence measured is likely a diagenetic artifact.” (Interestingly, David Lowe (2016) proposed similar early Cambrian depositional ages for the Ausable member.)   McRae,  Johnson,  and Johnson’s  (1986) abstract has been  cited by others:   Landing (2012, p. 465) cites it as support for the proposition that the lower Potsdam might be as old as the Proterozoic;   Hagadorn and  Belt (2008, page 425) cite this paper as support for the proposition that “a significant fraction of the lower strata of the [Potsdam]  could be Early–Middle Cambrian”.

All of Hagadorn and  Belt (2008) , Hagadorn, Collette and  Belt (2010) and Husinec and Donaldson  (2014) reference Lee McRae’s thesis on the Potsdam as a doctoral thesis. While it reads like a doctoral thesis, it was a Masters.  Her doctoral thesis was completed in 1989 and  dealt with chronostratigraphic variability in fluvial sequences as revealed by paleomagnetic isochrons in Miocene Strata.

Engelder And Sbar’s 1976 paper on strain orientation in the Potsdam Sandstone

        
Engelder and Sbar (1976) made strain measurements at five sites in Potsdam sandstone. That part of their paper has been cited in papers on strain measurements in other formations.   What I find interesting is their breakdown of the formations in the Potsdam and the assignment of the oldest part to the late Proterozoic.  They commented (Page 3015) “The Potsdam sandstone consists of three members in ascending order: (1) the Nicholville, (2) the Ausable, and (3) the Keeseville. ... The Nicholville member is a coarse to medium-grained arkose which is believed to be late Proterozoic (Hadrynian) (D. W. Fisher, personal communication, 1975).  The Keeseville is a Late Cambrian medium grained quartz sandstone representing a high-energy intertidal zone (Fisher, 1968).   ... [the Nicholville member] is believed to have filled a later Proterozoic (Hadrynian) fault graben.  The orientaton of the fault grabens filled by the eicholville member is thought to be parallel to the northeast lineaments, which have been mapped by Isachsen (1976) in the Proterozoic (Helikian) rocks of the Adirondack Mountains ( D. W. Fisher, personal communication, 1975).” ...  [Page 3016:] “In contrast to the Nicholville, the Keeseville member was deposited during a marine transgression upon a stable continental shelf.”

Fisher’s  1956 paper on the  Cambrian system of New York State

While this paper was referred to in the 20 years after publication, it has been largely overlooked in the past few decades.  It is worth noting that Fisher rejected the names Ausable and Keeseville:

[page 329:] “Rejected names, by virtue of synonymy and/or lack of usage
   Ausable (Alling, 1919) - lack of usage, probably not a valid unit
   Keeseville (Emmons, 1841)  – not a valid unit”

[page 333: ] “ KEESEVILLE - Although Emmons (1841, pp 130-131) treated the Keeseville sandstone as a variety of the Potsdam sandstone, the name later was revived for the upper predominantly white portion of the Potsdam and the name Potsdam was restricted to the lower , largely red , portion ( Chadwick , 1920 ) . The type locality is at Keeseville , Clinton County , near famous Ausable Chasm .  As reddish and white sandstone interfinger , the advisibility of using two names is questioned .”
    
The Lexicon of Geologic Names of the United States for 1936-1960, followed  Fisher:
“Keeseville Sandstone
Upper Cambrian(?): Northern New York.
Original reference: E. Emmons, 1841, New York Geol. Survey 5th Rept., p.    130, 131.
D. W. Fisher, 1956, Internat. Geol. Cong., 20th, Mexico, Cambrian Symposium, pt. 2, p. 333. Although Emmons (1841) treated Keeseville sandstone as variety of Potsdam sandstone, name was later revived for upper predominantly white part of the Potsdam, and name Potsdam was restricted to lower, largely red, part (Chadwick, 1920, New York State Mus. Bull. 217–218). Because reddish and white sandstone interfinger, advisability  of using two names is questioned. Not considered valid name.
Ausable Sandstone
Upper Cambrian: Eastern New York.
Original reference: H. I. Alling, 1919, New York State Mus. Bull. 207, 208, p. 113-145.
D. W. Fisher, 1956, Internat. Geol. Cong., 20th, Mexico, Cambrian Symposium, pt. 2, p. 329. Name was briefly mentioned by Alling (1919), and never since used, for basal Potsdam underlying the white Potsdam or "Keeseville" sandstone. Probably not valid unit."
    
Fisher (1968) resurrected the names Ausable and Keeseville, when he subdivided the Potsdam into three units:
[Page 15:] “Three lithologic types ( facies ) of Potsdam  
1 Basal  member Allen Falls of Kryning (1943); Nichoville of Postel, Nelson and Wiesnet (1959) maroon or dusky red    Hematitic, feldspathic , micaceous, quartzose sandstone having high accessory mineral content; some maroon shale interbeds.
2 Ausable Member - highly crosslaminated orange pink to pale red very coarse to medium grained arkose (feldspathic sandstone) with quartzose green shale seams and conglomeratic lenses.
3 Keeseville Member pinkish gray to very pale orange regular bedded, clay deficient , quartz sandstone, only slightly feldspathic”

Dennison ‘s  1982 Summary of Previous Work on the Potsdam

In 1982 John Dennison wrote a report entitled ‘Uranium favorability of nonmarine and marginal-marine strata of late Precambrian and Paleozoic age in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York .’    A  chapter (pages 79-89) in the report summarizes previous work on the Potsdam sandstone from Emmons (1838, 1842)  to Selleck (1975).    I don’t believe that this has ever been cited  as a reference for the Potsdam.  It is worth reading.  

Wilmarth’s (1938) Lexicon of Geologic Names of the United States also provides a good summary of the use of the terms Potsdam Sandstone, Keeseville sandstone and Ausable sandstone.

Regards,
Christopher  Brett
Ottawa, Ontario

References and Suggested Reading

Arnott,  R.W.C., 2012
 Three day field trip to  Potsdam Group outcrops, Unpublished.  4 pages. 30 stops.

Blumberg, E., Chiarenzelli, J.R., Husinec, A., and Rygel, M., 2008,
 Insight from cores in the Potsdam Group, northern New York: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, Northeastern Section, v. 40, p. 82.
https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2008NE/webprogram/Paper134416.html
Northeastern Section - 43rd Annual Meeting (27-29 March 2008)

Cass, John I. , 1979
Paleoenvironmental interpretation of the Beekmantown Group within the Ottawa Basin. Thesis, Master of Science, University of Ottawa.  189 pages plus 90 page Appendix. https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/8394/1/MK43988.PDF
http://hdl.handle.net/10393/8394

Dennison, John M., 1982
Potsdam Sandstone, chapter (pages 79-89) in Uranium favorability of nonmarine and marginal-marine strata of late Precambrian and Paleozoic age in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York .     https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1202671/

Donaldson, Allan & Chris Findlay, 2008
Geotour  of Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve. Sunday, October 5, 2008 Friends of Canadian Geoheritage

Engelder, J. T. And Sbar, Marc L., 1976
Evidence for uniform strain orientation in the potsdam sandstone, Northern New York, from in situ measurements. Journal of Geophysical Research , vol 81, No. 17, 3013-3017

Fisher, D. W., 1956
The Cambrian system of New York State; Cambrian Symposium, 20th International Geological Congress, Mexico City, p. 321-351.  El sistema Cámbrico, su paleogeografía y el problema de su base : symposium
    
Fisher, D. W.,  1968
Geology of the Plattsburg and Rouses Point New York-Vermont Quadrangles: N.Y. St. Mus. Sci. Serv., Map and Chart Ser., Not 10, 51 p
    
Fisher, D.W., 1977
Correlation of the Hadrynian, Cambrian and Ordovician rocks in New York State: New York State Museum, Map and Chart Series no. 25, 75 p

Globensky, Yvon, 1986
Géologie de la région de Saint-Chrysostome et de Lachine (sud). Gouvernement du Québec , Ministère de l'Energie et des Ressources, Direction générale de l'Exploration géologique et minérale  MM 84-02
http://gq.mines.gouv.qc.ca/documents/EXAMINE/MM8402/MM8402.pdf
    
Hagadorn, James W.  and Edward S. Belt, 2008
Stranded in Upstate New York: Cambrian Scyphomedusae from the Potsdam Sandstone PALAIOS Vol. 23, No. 7/8 (Jul. - Aug., 2008), pp. 424-441  

Hagadorn, J.W.,  J.H. Collette, E.S. Belt, 2010
 Eolian-aquatic deposits and faunas of the middle Cambrian Potsdam Group. Palaios 26 (5), 314-334   a suite of interfingering eolian dune and aquatic deposits

Husinec, Antun, 2020a
 "Potsdam Sandstone" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/LhvHYVSsG6I    Time: 13:37    22 Aug 2020
This video was filmed for the Sedimentology Virtual Lab, St. Lawrence University during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Husinec, Antun, 2020b
 “Potsdam Sandstone Eolian Deposits" on YouTube
 https://youtu.be/fN7hOY9l7y4    Time:    7:47.   Sept 4,  2020
This video was filmed as a part of the Sedimentology Virtual Lab series during the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Husinec,  Antun and J Allan Donaldson,  2014
Lower Paleozoic Sedimentary Succession of the St. Lawrence River Valley, New York and Ontario, in: Geology of the Northwestern Adirondacks and St. Lawrence River Valley (pp.1-28)  86th NEGSA Annual Meeting Field Guidebook, Chapter: A-1. Publisher: New York State Geological Association

Keroher, Grace C. and others, 1966
Lexicon of Geologic Names of the United States for 1936-1960
Bulletin 1200. USGS    https://doi.org/10.3133/b1200 

Keith, M. L., 1948
Sandstone as a Source of Silica Sands in Southeastern Ontario, with map No. 1946-9, part V in
Fifty-fifth Annual Report of the Ontario Department of Mines ,  being Vol. LV, 1946, 36 pages plus five detailed maps 

Landing, Ed, 2012
The Great American Carbonate Bank in Eastern Laurentia: Its Births, Deaths, and linkage to Paleooceanic Oxygenation (Early Cambrian-Late Ordovician), pages 451-492 in The Great American Carbonate Bank: The Geology and Economic Resources of the Cambrian– Ordovician Sauk Megasequence of Laurentia.  Edited by   James Derby, Richard Fritz, Susan Longacre, William Morgan, Charles Sternbach.  Memoir 78, American Association of Petroleum Geologists        

Li L. And  Ji S., 2020
A new interpretation for formation of orthogonal joints in quartz sandstone.   Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2020.08.003
“an anatomic investigation on the orthogonal joints in the Potsdam sandstone of Cambrian age at Ausable Chasm (New York State, USA) and Beauharnois (Quebec, Canada.”

Lowe, David G., 2016
 Sedimentology, Stratigraphic Evolution a and Provenance of the Cambrian – Lower Ordovician Potsdam Group in the Ottawa Embayment and Quebec Basin.  Doctoral Thesis submitted to the University of Ottawa, 435 pages
http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35303   http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-261
    
Lowe, David G., Arnott, R.W.C., Chiarenzelli, J.R., and Rainbird, R.H., 2018,
Early Paleozoic rifting and reactivation of a passive-margin rift: Insights from detrital zircon provenance signatures of the Potsdam Group, Ottawa graben: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 130, no. 7/8, p. 1377–1396, https:// doi .org /10.1130 /B31749 .1 .

Lowe, David G.;  Arnott, R.W.C.; Nowlan, G.; McCracken, A.D., 2017
Lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic framework  of the  Cambrian-Ordovician Potsdam Group and correlations  across Early Paleozoic southern Laurentia.  Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences  2017, 54(5): 550-585, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2016-0151
            
McRae, Lee E., 1985
Sedimentology and paleomagnetics of the basal Potsdam Sandstone in the Adirondack border region, New York State, southwestern Quebec, and southeastern Ontario: Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 178 p.
        
McRae, Lee Ellen, 1989  
Chronostratigraphic variability in fluvial sequences as revealed by paleomagnetic isochrons: examples in Miocene strata from a central Andean intermontane basin (Salla, Bolivia) and the northwest Himalayan foreland (lower Siwalik Group, Chinji Formation, Pakistan. (xvi, 252.  Doctoral Thesis. Dartmouth College

McRae, Lee E.  And G. D. Johnson, 1986
Sedimentology of Basal Potsdam Sandstone in Adirondack Border Region, New York, Southeastern Ontario, and Southwestern Quebec.  AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91043 1986 AAPG Annual Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, June 15-18, 1986.
http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/abstracts/html/1986/annual/abstracts/0619d.htm

McRae, L., Johnson, G., and Johnson, N., 1986,
 Temporal reevaluation of late Hadrynian non-marine facies in the Adirondack border region, New York State, southeastern Ontario and southwestern  Quebec; Abstracts with Programs, Geology Society of America, 18, 1, p. 54

Sanford, B. V., 2007
Stratigraphic and structural framework of the Potsdam Group in eastern Ontario, western Quebec and northern New York. Doctoral Thesis submitted to the University of Ottawa
http://hdl.handle.net/10393/29694
http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-13101

Sanford, B.V. and R.W.C. Arnott, 2010
Stratigraphic and structural framework of the Potsdam Group in eastern Ontario, western Quebec and northern New York State, GSC Bulletin 597

Schmerber, G. And  Morizet, M. 1971
Etude sédimentologique: I - Les grès de Potsdam; II - Les dépôts de Kamouraska; Ministère des
Richesses naturelles, Québec, unpublished manuscript (In French)
https://gq.mines.gouv.qc.ca/documents/EXAMINE/SOQ02125/SOQ02125.pdf

Selleck, Bruce  2008
Stratigraphy, sedimentology and diagenesis of the Potsdam Formation, Southern Lake Champlain Valley, New York .   Field Trip Guidebook for the 80th Annual Meeting of the  New York State Geological Association.  
http://www.nysga-online.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2008_bookmarked.pdf
 
Williams,  D.A.  1991.  
Paleozoic  Geology  of  the  Ottawa-St.  Lawrence  Lowland,  Southern  Ontario;  Ontario  Geological  Survey,  Open  File  Report  5770,  292p.        

Williams, D. A. and Wolf,  R.R., 1984,
Paleozoic geology, Westport area, Southern Ontario. Ontario Geological Survey, Map P. 2723.

Wilmarth, M. Grace, 1938
Lexicon of Geologic Names of the United States. USGS Bulletin 896, Part , A-L. 

Wynne-Edwards, H R., 1967
Geology Westport, Ontario. Geological Survey of Canada, "A" Series Map 1182A.  Paleozoic Geology by M. E. Wilson, 1928, 1929; G. M. Brownell, 1927, 1928.  Precambrian geology by H. R.   Wynne-Edwards,   1957. 1958  doi:10.4095/108032

What's New in Potsdam Sandstone?

 Not much.   Li and Ji (2020) investigated the orthogonal joints in the Potsdam sandstone  at Ausable Chasm (New York State) and Beauharnois (Quebec) and Professor Antun Husinec (2020 a, b) at St. Lawrence University has published two Youtube videos on the Potsdam sandstone.     Below I have provided links to that  recent paper  and to the  two Youtube videos on the Potsdam sandstone published in 2020 by Antun Husinec.  While the outcrops in the videos are referenced and figured in numerous field trip guides (e.g., Husinec and Donaldson,  2014;  Lowe,  2014;  Selleck, Arnott, and Sanford, 2010)  and peer reviewed articles,  the videos  are  impressive.

Both videos were  filmed for the Sedimentology Virtual Lab, St. Lawrence University during the COVID-19 pandemic, by  Antun Husinec, Professor of Geology, St. Lawrence University, New York State.   The first video, entitled ‘"Potsdam Sandstone" shows four outcrops:  the first outcrop is a mile and half from Alexandria Bay with great shots of a nonconformity;  the second outcrop [7:30] is  at Goose Bay a mile and half northeast of previous outcrop; the third outcrop [9:38] is at Schermerhorn  landing   and shows  an unconformity within the Potsdam; the fourth outcrop [11:19] is at Chippewa Bay with U shaped burrows, disconformably overlain by  theTheresa formation.   The second video entitled “Potsdam Sandstone Eolian Deposits" has great shots of eolian dunes in the sandstone.

Interestingly,  Professor George Dix of Carleton University’s  Earth Sciences Department has also prepared a series of Virtual Sedimentary Geology Field Trips [see: https://newsroom.carleton.ca/story/virtual-sedimentary-geology-field-trips/ ]. The only one that I can find on the web is a short [2:56 ; 7 Oct 2020] video on the Theresa Formation.   In that video he mentions that there is one on the Keeseville, but I cannot locate it.
 
Li and Ji (2020) observed  that at both sites the  orthogonal joints in the Potsdam sandstone “are organized essentially in grid-lock pattern, rather than ladder-pattern .  Mutual abutting/cutting relationships (e.g. both sets of joints abut each other) indicate that the orthogonal joints are geologically coeval extension fractures.  Each set of orthogonal joints displays a uniform strike, and is straight and continuous over several meters. ...  Furthermore, these joints are opening-mode fractures and display no detectable shear displacement along them.  No joints contain detectable mineral fill indicating that brittle fracturing occurred at shallow depths where temperature was so low that the solubility of quartz or calcite was too low to form veins along the joints...”  [citations omitted].  They concluded that the “sandstone beds stretched in the direction not only parallel but also perpendicular to the maximum tensile stress (s3) direction in the flat-lying layers, forming closely-spaced fracture set J1 and widely-spaced fracture set J2. ... [and that the  vertical orthogonal joints resulted]   “from the auxetic effects of quartz-rich sandstone in the absence of local or regional stress rotation.”

Below I've listed papers from 2016 to 2019 that I've mentioned in footnotes to earlier blog posts.

Christopher  Brett
Ottawa, Ontario

References and Suggested Reading

Brink R., Mehrtens C., Maguire H., 2019
Sedimentology and petrography of a lower Cambrian transgressive sequence: Altona Formation (Potsdam Group) in northeastern New York.  Bulletin of Geosciences, 94, 369-388
http://www.geology.cz/bulletin/contents/art1728
 
Dashtgard, S. E., Vaucher, R., Yang, B., & Dalrymple, R. W. , 2021
Hutchison Medallist 1. Wave-Dominated to Tide-Dominated Coastal Systems: A Unifying Model for Tidal Shorefaces and Refinement of the Coastal- Environments Classification Scheme. Geoscience Canada, 48(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.12789/geocanj.2021.48.171
 [Free download]

Dix, George, 2020
Theresa Formation  (Marine Shoreface).  A YouTube video [2:56 minutes ; 7 Oct 2020]  
https://youtu.be/EJz12HnOEg0

Engelder, J. T. And Sbar, Marc L., 1976
Evidence for uniform strain orientation in the potsdam sandstone, Northern New York, from in situ measurements.  Journal of Geophysical Research , vol 81, No. 17, 3013-3017

Husinec, Antun, 2020a
 "Potsdam Sandstone" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/LhvHYVSsG6I    Time: 13:37 minutes.    22 Aug 2020
This video was filmed for the Sedimentology Virtual Lab, St. Lawrence University during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Husinec, Antun, 2020b
 “Potsdam Sandstone Eolian Deposits" on YouTube
 https://youtu.be/fN7hOY9l7y4    Time:    7:47 minutes.   Sept 4,  2020
This video was filmed as a part of the Sedimentology Virtual Lab series during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Husinec,  Antun and J. Allan Donaldson,  2014
Lower Paleozoic Sedimentary Succession of the St. Lawrence River Valley, New York and Ontario, in : Geology of the Northwestern Adirondacks and St. Lawrence River Valley (pp.1-28)  86th NEGSA Annual Meeting Field Guidebook, Chapter: A-1. Publisher: New York State Geological Association

Landing, E., Salad Hersi, O.,  Amati, L., Westrop, S.R., Franzi, D.A., 2019
Early Paleozoic rifting and reactivation of a passive-margin rift: Insights from detrital zircon provenance signatures of the Potsdam Group, Ottawa graben: Comment. GSA Bulletin; March/April 2019; v. 131; no. 3/4; p. 695–698; https://doi.org/10.1130/B35104.1; published online 25 January 2019.

Li L. And,  Ji S., 2020
A new interpretation for formation of orthogonal joints in quartz sandstone.   Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2020.08.003
“an anatomic investigation on the orthogonal joints in the Potsdam sandstone of Cambrian age at Ausable Chasm (New York State, USA) and Beauharnois (Quebec, Canada.”

Lowe, David G.,  2014.
Stratigraphy and Terrestrial to Shallow Marine Environments of the Potsdam Group in the Southwestern Ottawa Embayment. In Geology of the Northwestern Adirondacks and St. Lawrence River Valley, New York State Geological Association 86th annual meeting guidebook, pp. 183–203

Lowe, David G., 2016
Lower Ordovician Potsdam Group in the Ottawa Embayment and Provenance of the Cambrian – Lower. Ordovician Potsdam Group in the Ottawa. Embayment and Quebec Basin. David G. Lowe. Doctoral Thesis submitted to the University of Ottawa
http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35303
http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-261

Lowe, David G, and R.W.C. Arnott, 2016
 Composition and Architecture of Braided and Sheetflood-Dominated Ephemeral Fluvial Strata In the Cambrian–Ordovician Potsdam Group: A Case Example of the Morphodynamics of Early Phanerozoic Fluvial Systems and Climate Change.  Journal of Sedimentary Research, v. 86, i. 6, p. 587-612, Published in June 2016, doi:10.2110/jsr.2016.39  

Lowe, D.G., Arnott, R.W.C., Chiarenzelli, J.R., and Rainbird, R.H., 2018,
Early Paleozoic rifting and reactivation of a passive-margin rift: Insights from detrital zircon provenance signatures of the Potsdam Group, Ottawa graben: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 130, no. 7/8, p. 1377–1396, https:// doi .org /10.1130 /B31749 .1 .

Lowe, D.G., Arnott, R.W.C., Chiarenzelli, J.R., and Rainbird, R.H., 2019,
Early Paleozoic rifting and reactivation of a passive-margin rift: Insights from detrital zircon provenance signatures of the Potsdam Group, Ottawa graben: Reply. Geological Society of America Bulletin, March/April 2019, v. 131, no. 3/4, pages 699-703; published online January 25, 2019.  https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article/131/3-4/699/568492/Early-Paleozoic-rifting-and-reactivation-of-a

Lowe, David G.;  Arnott, R.W.C.;  Nowlan, G.; McCracken, A.D., 2017
Lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic framework  of the  Cambrian-Ordovician Potsdam Group and correlations  across Early Paleozoic southern Laurentia.  Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences  2017, 54(5): 550-585, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2016-0151

MacNaughton, Robert B. ,  James W. Hagadorn, Robert H. Dott Jr, 2019
Cambrian wave-dominated tidal-flat deposits, central Wisconsin, USA
Sedimentology, Volume 66, Issue5, August 2019, Pages 1643-1672
https://doi.org/10.1111/sed.12546

McMahon,William J.,  A. G. Liu, B. H. Tindal, and M. G. Kleinhans, 2020
Ediacaran life close to land: coastal and shoreface habitats of the Ediacaran macrobiota, the central Flinders Ranges, South Australia .  Journal of Sedimentary Research, 2020, v. 90, 1463–1499     https://doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2020.029
 

[Attributed to]  Selleck, B., Arnott,  R.W.C. and Sanford, B. V., 2010
 Potsdam Formation Field Excursion, July 22-25, 2010, Thousand Island Region and St. Lawrence Lowlands.  Colgate University.

John Finch’s (1833) and Captain R. H. Bonnycastle’s (1833, 1836) reports of Basaltiform Lithographic Limestone at Murney's Point, Kingston, Upper Canada

 In my last posting I provided numerous references to columnar sedimentary rocks where the columns resemble the columnar structure of basalt.   When I wrote that posting I believed that William Logan (1850, 1863) was the first to report on columnar structures in sedimentary rocks in Canada.  Since then I have determined that both John Finch (1833) and Captain R. H. Bonnycastle  (1833, 1836) reported on horizontal, basaltiform, lithographic limestone at Murney's Point, Kingston, Upper Canada (now, Ontario).   

The word ‘basaltiform’ is not an adjective that is much used these days.  It means ‘like basalt in form: columnar’, and was not uncommon in geological papers in the nineteenth century (e.g., Dawson, 1855, page 63; Gesner, 1836, page 211) .  ‘Lithographic limestone’ was originally defined as a hard limestone that is sufficiently fine-grained, homogeneous and defect free to be used for lithography (a method of printing where an image was drawn with greasy chalk onto the surface of a smooth limestone plate;  the stone was subsequently moistened but only the parts not covered by the grease absorbed the water; an oil-based ink would be applied, repelled by the water, sticking only to the original drawing; the ink would be transferred to a blank paper sheet, producing a printed page).  Today geologists use the term lithographic to refer to carbonate rocks with a grain size under 1/250 mm.  What is interesting about John Finch’s  and Captain R. H. Bonnycastle’s reports is that the columns in the limestone were horizontal and that the stone was used in lithography.

John Finch was an English geologist who visited North America from 1823 to 1831.  In 1833 he published a  book describing his travels in the United States of America and Canada with comments on geology and minerals.   In the book  he mentions that he visited Kingston, Upper Canada, a town of “about five thousand inhabitants,” where he noted:.

“A very remarkable geological fact ..., one mile west of the  town. Limestone of the upper transition formation is crystallized in the form of basaltic columns. The stratum of limestone is three feet in thickness. The columns are usually octagonal, and vary in length from six inches to three feet. It may be called basaltiform limestone. The mountain at Montreal exhibits a similar arrangement, but on a larger scale, and the columns are there vertical. At Kingston they are horizontal.”

Captain R. H. Bonnycastle was a member of the Royal Engineers stationed in Kingston, Upper Canada who had an interest in geology.   He authored a  paper on the geology around Kingston that was published in the American Journal of Science in four parts published in 1830, 1831, 1833 and 1836.   In the third part of this paper, published in 1833, he mentions (at pages 102-104) that Mr. John Finch had been in Kingston “employed on a course of mineralogical lectures” and had discovered that several of the limestone beds of the Cataraqui Formation “were  regularly divided into prismatic forms, by a species of huge crystallization, resembling that exhibited  by basalt, but always in a horizontal position. ... , regularly formed into almost interminable horizontal columns of an hexangular or octagonal shape, not jointed or connected by a cup and socket, as those of basalt often are, but irregularly, disunited only by occasional rents, evidently the result of the action of time, or of unequal coherency.”  

Bonnycastle comments (1833, page 103)  that this occurred  at a number of localities at Kingston, noting that “the octagons, which are the most usual forms, as at Murney's Point, the upper and lower, as well as the vertical sides are straight and almost or quite equal, whilst the angular faces are slightly concave and much less in size.” 

Bonnycastle also notes (1833, page 104) that the  basaltiform limestone “is an excellent lithographic stone for all the common processes of that admirable art, and is now extensively employed in the surveyor general's office at York, under the management of Mr. S. O. Tazewell,  ... This lithographic limestone is darker than the usual beds of the Cataraqui formation, and I have not seen any fossils in  it ; it is very compact and hard, and, if kept at a good temperature, bears the press better than the German stone.”

Bonnycastle  (1836) included a lithograph showing the basaltiform limestone made from two of Bonnycastle’s drawings and printed by Tazewell on lithographic limestone.   He commented (Vol 30, 1836, page 233) “These drawings represent the basaltiform lithographic limestone of Kingston, as viewed at two points, near the western end of the town.  The upper one, shews the beds, as they appear from the edge of  the water forming the bank; the under one, the beds viewed at their extremities, left open by quarrying, and in this view the octagonal figure is completely displayed.”    The drawing is produced below.

The lithograph bears the title of the article “Transition Rocks of the Cataraqui’ above the drawing, and under the drawing bears the words: - From Drawing by Captn. Bonnycastle R. E.;
- Basaltiform Lithographic Limestone of Kingston U.C. near Nickall’s Hop Ground; - Tazewell, lithr from Canadian Stone; - York U.C. 1833.

I have been unable to locate any other reference to Nickall’s Hop Ground, Kingston, Upper Canada, though I did find an 1833 mention of John Nickall’s brewery in Kingston.

Bonnycastle mentioned that the the octagons are the most usual forms at Murney's Point. The location of Murney’s Point will be familiar to everyone who has lived in Kingston, to everyone who has attended Queen’s University, and to many tourist who have visited Kingston, as a Martello Tower was built on the point in 1846, and since 1925 the Murney Tower Museum has been a tourist attraction in Kingston.   I can recall walking across and sitting on the outcrops at Murney’s Point while at Queen’s University and on numerous visits to Kingston.  Below is an extract from Google Maps, Satellite View, showing the location of the Martello Tower and the outcrops.  The outcrops are along the shore of Lake Ontario between the Murney Tower and the Richardson Bath House.

Carson (1982; Map P2496) of the Ontario Geological Survey mapped the Paleozoic geology of this part of Kingston and assigned three outcrops at Murney’s Point to the Ordovician Gull River Formation (middle member).  In the legend to his map he states that “The middle member is characterized by pale to dark grey and medium to dark brown lithographic to sublithographic lime stone interbedded with pale brown and pale green calcareous or dolomitic siltstone that weathers pale green and buff. Stylolites and calcite-filled vugs are common ....  Shaly limestone and silty limestone also occur in minor amounts.”

Should the COVID lockdown be lifted and I visit Kingston again, I will be sure to visit Murney’s Point and look more closely at the outcrops.

Captain R. H. Bonnycastle, Royal Engineers ( 1791 – 1847)

The best descriptions of Captain R. H. Bonnycastle’s life are found in  Chichester (1900) and Raudzens , (1988).   He was a military engineer, army officer, artist, and author, with an interest in geology.

He studied at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, England, becoming a lieutenant of the royal engineers. He served in the Napoleonic Wars and in the War of 1812 acting as engineer in charge of fortifications erected by the British on the Castine peninsula, Maine.   He attained the rank of captain in 1814.  Raudzens (1988) states that “In 1826 he was sent to Upper Canada, serving at Fort George (Niagara-on-the-Lake) and Kingston until 1832, when he was posted to York (Toronto).  ...  In 1837 he was promoted brevet major and placed in command of the engineers at Kingston, with the specific task of completing construction of the new Fort Henry, begun in 1832. By late 1837 Bonnycastle, directing a force of mostly Irish artisans and labourers, had finished work. Almost immediately afterwards came the rebellions in the Canadas.”  Captain  Bonnycastle is credited with assembling and arming a  force of militia and volunteers which deterred an attack.  In March 1840 was knighted for his efforts.  He was promoted a regimental lieutenant-colonel in 1840, did a tour of duty as commanding engineer in Newfoundland,  and retired  in 1847. He died in 1848 at Kingston.    

Bonnycastle published two articles on geology, the one noted above and 1829 article on the rocks and minerals of Upper Canada,  and also described the geology of Newfoundland in a chapter in a book (1842) he wrote on that province.   He was a prolific author, writing two books on Spanish America and numerous books on Canada.  His works are listed below.

John Finch (1791-1854)

The best descriptions of John Finch’s life are found in Neitzke-Adamo et al. (2018) and Rail (2012).

John Finch was an English geologist, not a Scot as stated in various sources.   John Finch was born at Heath-Forge, Wombourne, Staffordshire, and appears to have spent the majority of his life in the West Midlands area of England.

He visited and traveled in North America from 1823 to 1831 (or 1833).   While in North America John Finch gave several series of lectures on geology and mineralogy, including a series in Boston in 1823 (Rail, 2012), at Philadelphia, Pa. in 1823,  in Baltimore, Maryland in 1824 (Rail, 2012),  at Princeton in 1825 (Young,  2019), at Wilmington, Delaware in 1827, at Hartford, Connecticut in 1829, lectures at Columbia and Yale, and  fifteen geological lectures Rutgers in 1829 (Neitzke-Adamo, 2018).   Kuntz (2010) mentions that in 1830 and 1833 John Finch gave lectures on geology  in Montreal and that the 1830 series of sixteen  lectures  on geology were sponsored by the Natural History Society of Montreal  illustrated  by drawings  and specimens,  which was  "fashionably  and numerously attended"  "by  nearly  50  gentlemen  and about  30  ladies”.  Bonnycastle (1833) reports that Finch visited Kingston to deliver lectures on Mineralogy. Based on Gundy’s (2003) history of Tazewell’s use of the Kingston Lithographic stone in 1831, it appears that Finch must have visited Kingston in 1831 or earlier.
 
While John Finch described himself as Fellow of the Philosophical Society of Birmingham, and Professor of Geology and Mineralogy, Rail (2012) notes that John Finch was a  “member of the Birmingham Philosophical Institution, and sometimes, rather grandly, signed himself 'Fellow of the Philosophical Society of Birmingham', and, 'F.B.S.' He was never admitted to a fellowship of the Geological Society.”  I could not find that John Finch was associated with any university or college, and suspect that John Finch employed the term "professor" to mean "one who teaches a branch of knowledge" or “a person who professes to be an expert in some art or science”.  On the title page  his 1833 book he inserted under this name “Cor. Mem. Nat. Hist. Soc. Montreal; Lit. & Hist. Soc. Quebec.  Hon Mem. West Point Lyceum; Delaware, West Chester, &c. &c.”

In the period from 1823 to 1833 Finch authored numerous articles that were published in Silliman's American Journal of Science and Arts, including seven on geology or mineralogy and at least six others.   Finch’s (1833) book ‘Travels in the United States of America and Canada’ also contained comments on the geology and mineralogy of those countries.

Finch is most often mentioned for his “Geological essay on the tertiary formations in America” published in 1823 and for his collection Tertiary fossils collected in North America.    Before Finch’s 1823 paper geologists in the United States referred to the whole Atlantic Coastal Plain as the “Alluvial Formation”.  Finch was the first to suggest that the ‘Alluvial’ was the equivalent to the Tertiary formations of Europe and elsewhere (see Berry, 1916).

Thomas Say (1824) described Finch's collection, identifying forty new species. Kenworthy and Santucci, (2003) note that “Say and the other scientists ... all mistakenly listed the  collecting  locality  for  Finch’s  fossils  as  coming  from  Saint  Mary’s  River,  Maryland” when in fact the specimens were collected from near Yorktown, Virginia.   Kenworthy and Santucci, (2003) identify the locality as the Pliocene Yorktown Formation (approximately 4.5 - 3 million years old).  Bullen (1902) reports that on returning to England “Mr. Finch offered his collection for purchase to the Trustees of the British Museum .... This offer was accepted, and on the conclusion of the usual preliminaries the collection became the property of the Museum at the close of the year 1834.”  As of 1902 only part of the collection could be found. 

Samuel Oliver Tazewell, Lithographer

The best descriptions of  Tazewell’s career as a lithographer are provided by McLeod (2014) and Gundy (2003).   McCleod mentions that “In January 1832, [Tazewell] produced the first map of the Town of Kingston on his lithographic press. .. .The prospect of winning a government contract through Surveyor General S.P. Hurd enticed the lithographer to move to York in late 1832. (York became Toronto in March 1834.) Tazewell received short-term jobs but he met with stiff competition and sharp criticism.  Draftsman James Grant Chewett of the Crown Lands Department drew expensive maps by hand. He considered lithographic maps unworthy, cheap substitutes for his elegant, detailed work. ... No government contracts were offered to the lithographer.”   Gundy notes that “Denied any government contracts .. .by September 1835 [Tazewell] had moved to St Catharines and taken up his old trade of jeweller, watchmaker, and piano tuner. He continued to produce the occasional lithograph”
 
Christopher Brett
Ottawa, Ontario

References and Suggested Reading

Allodi, Mary 1980
 Printmaking in Canada : the earliest views and portraits = Les débuts de l'estampe imprimée au Canada : vues et portraits. Toronto : Royal Ontario Museum.  xxviii, 244 p. : 28 cm
[Catalog of an exhibition held at the Royal Ontario Museum, with biographies of early engravers and printers such as Samuel Tazewell]
https://archive.org/details/printmakingincan0000allo/

Berry, Edward Wilber, 1916
The lower Eocene Floras of Southeastern North America, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 91 , 591 pages  https://doi.org/10.3133/pp91
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/32005#page/609/mode/1up

Bonnycastle, Richard Henry , Captain, Royal Engineers, 1818
Spanish America, Vol. 1 (of 2). London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, Paternoster-row 336 pages
https://archive.org/details/spanishamericao02bonngoog/page/n10/mode/2up

Bonnycastle, Richard Henry, Captain, Royal Engineers, 1818
Spanish America, Vol. 2 (of 2) . London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, Paternoster-row 359 pages
https://archive.org/details/spanishamericao03bonngoog/page/n15/mode/2up

Bonnycastle, Richard Henry , Captain, Royal Engineers, 1819
Spanish America . Philadelphia: Abraham Small, 481 pages
https://archive.org/details/spanishamericaor00bonn 
 
Bonnycastle, R. H., Captain, 1829a
On account of some Meteorological Phenomena observed in Canada, by Captain Bonnycastle, R. E. In the years 1826-27;  Transactions of the Literary & Historical Society of Quebec. Volume 1, pages  47 -52
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/54240#page/103/mode/1up

Bonnycastle, R. H., Captain, R. E. 1829b
Desultory Observations on a few of the Rocks and Minerals of Upper Canada, by Captain Bonnycastle, R. E..  Transactions of the Literary & Historical Society of Quebec. Volume 1,  62 -70    https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/54240#page/118/mode/1up

Bonnycastle, R. H., Capt. R.E., 1830, 1831, 1833, 1836
On the Transition Rocks of the Cataraqui, American Journal of Science, Vol. 18, 1830, pp. 85-104;  Vol.  20, 1831, 74-82; Vol 24, 1833, 97-104;  Vol 30, 1836, 233-248 .

Bonnycastle, Richard Henry, Sir,  1842
The Canadas in 1841. London, Henry Colburn. Volume 1.
https://archive.org/details/canadasin184101bonn
page 57-59 geological character
  
 Bonnycastle, Richard Henry, Sir, 1842
Newfoundland in 1842: A sequel to “the Canadas in 1841.”  In two volumes, Vol. 1., 367 pages
London, Henry Colburn.  Chapter III, Geology and Geological Relations, pages 179-222
https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Newfoundland_in_1842/24wtAQAAMAAJ
https://archive.org/details/newfoundlandin00bonn/page/n13/mode/2up
Vol. 2, 351pages
https://archive.org/details/newfoundlandin1800bonn/page/8/mode/2up

 Bonnycastle, Richard Henry 1846
Canada and the Canadians, Volume I. London: Henry Colburn, 
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20014/20014-h/20014-h.htm   [this is the new edition 1849]

 Bonnycastle , Richard Henry ,1849
 Canada and the Canadians, Volume II. London.

 Bonnycastle, Sir R . 1852
 Canada , As it was , is, and  may be.  London: Colburn & Co. , vol. 1, 315 pages
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.173206
Volume 2 https://books.google.ca/books?id=eK4NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA1

Bumsted, J.M., 2008
Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle. The Canadian Encyclopedia
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sir-richard-henry-bonnycastle

Carson, D. M., 1982
Paleozoic Geology of the Gananoque-Wolfe Island Area, Southern Ontario, Ontario Geological Survey. Map P 2496. Geological Series - Preliminary Map. Scale 1:50000. Geology 1981.

Chichester, Henry Manners, 1900
Bonnycastle, Richard Henry. In Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 05
London: Smith, Elder & Co.   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=3257

Dawson, Sir John William, 1855
Acadian Geology.  Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. 388 pages

Finch, John, 1823 
Geological Essay on the Tertiary Formations in America, by John Finch, Fellow of the Philosophical Society of Birmingham, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. {Read before the Academy of Natural Sciences, at Philadelphia. July 15, 1823.] Am J. Sc. 7, 31-43
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/53598#page/36/mode/1up

Finch, John, 1824a 
On the Celtic antiquities of America; by John Finch FBS, Professor of  Geology and Mineralogy, American journal of science and arts  vii, 149-61

Finch, John, 1824b 
A sketch on the  geology of the country near Easton, Penn.; with a Catalogue of Minerals, and a Map., Am J. Sc.  8: 236-240, map, 1824

Finch, John, 1824c
On the forts around Boston, which were erected during the War of Independence; by J Finch FBS, American journal of science, and arts. Volume viii, 338-48.

Finch, John, 1826a 
 Memoir on the New or Variegated Sandstone of the United States. Am J. Sc.  10, 209-212, 1826

Finch, John, 1826b 
 On the Tertiary formations on the borders of the Hudson River, Am J. Sc. 10, 227-229 1826

Finch, John, 1828a 
 On the geology and mineralogy of the country near West Chester, Penn.,  Am J. Sc. 14 , 15-18 

Finch, John, 1828b 
On the effect of the physical geography of the world, on the boundaries  of empires Pt I; by John Finch, MCS, &c, American journal of science  and arts  , xiv, 18-23.

Finch, John, 1828c
 On the atomic theory of chemistry; by John Finch, M.C.S., &c, American journal of science and arts  , xiv, 24-28.

Finch, John, 1828d
 On the effect of the physical geography of the world on the boundaries of empires Pt II; by John Finch, F.B.S., M.S.D., &c, &c, American journal of science and arts  , xvi, 99-111.

Finch, John, 1830a
Circular scale of equivalents; by J Finch, American journal of science and arts , xviii, 196-7.

Finch, John, 1830b
 Notice of a locality of Arragonite, near New Brunswick, (NJ);  American journal of science and arts, xviii, 197-8.  https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/97096#page/217/mode/1up

Finch, John, 1831
 On the mineralogy and geology of St. Lawrence County, State of New York, Am J. Sc. 19; 220-228  https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/54146#page/240/mode/1up

Finch, J., 1833
Travels in the United States of America and Canada, containing some account of their scientific institutions, and a few notices of the geology and mineralogy of those countries.  455 pp,  London:  Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman
https://archive.org/details/travelsinunited01igoog/page/n10/mode/2up


Gesner, Abraham  1836
Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy of Nova Scotia. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Gossip and Coade,  273 pages @- Page 211

H. P. Gundy, 2003
“Tazewell, Samuel Oliver,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed May 1, 2021 http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/tazewell_samuel_oliver_7E.html

Kenworthy, Jason and  Vincent L. Santucci, 2003
Paleontological Resource Inventory and Monitoring Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network
http://npshistory.com/publications/paleontology/tic-d-340.pdf

Kuntz, Harry, 2010
Science Culture  in English-speaking  Montreal,   1815-1842 .  A Doctoral Thesis  in  The  Humanities ,  Concordia University

Logan William E., 1850
Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for 1849-50.  Toronto: Lovell and
 Gibson.

Logan, William E.,  1863, 
Geology of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress from its Commencement to 1863. Montreal: Dawson Brothers.  983 pages..

McLeod, Susanna 2014
 Tazewell put Kingston 'on the map'. The Whig Standard, March 5, 2014
 https://www.thewhig.com/2014/03/05/tazewell-put-kingston-on-the-map

Neitzke-Adamo, L., Blandford, A.J., Criscione, J., Olsson, R.K., and Gorder, E., 2018,
 The Rutgers Geology Museum: America’s first geology museum and the past 200 years of geoscience education, in  Rosenberg, G.D., and Clary, R.M., eds., Museums at the Forefront of the History and Philosophy of Geology: History Made, History in the Making: Geological Society of America Special Paper 535, p. 217–236, https://doi.org/10.1130/2018.2535(14)
The Geological Society of America.  Special Paper 535
https://geology.rutgers.edu/images/Neitzke-Adamo-et-al_2018.pdf

Newton, R. Bullen, 1902
List of Thomas Say's Types of Maryland (U.S.) Tertiary Mollusca in the British Museum.
Geological Magazine, New Series, Decade 4,  volume 9, 302-305
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/96113#page/347/mode/1up

Rail, Tony  2012
 Biographical notes for William Steill Brown (1800-1836) and his wife Eliza Finch (1795-1835), a granddaughter of Dr Joseph Priestley, with some genealogical notes of their descendants, and some biographical notes for John Finch (1791-1854).  Copy of MSS in Harris Manchester College Oxford, citation: Harris Manchester College Library and Archives, MSS, Biographical notes for William Steill Brown, 2012
https://archive.org/stream/BiographicalNotesForWilliamSteillBrown/WilliamSteillBrown_djvu.txt

Raudzens, G. K. , 1988
"Bonnycastle, Sir Richard Henry". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. VII (1836–1850) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=3257

Say, Thomas, 1824
An account of some of the Fossil Shells of Maryland. By Thomas Say. Read July 20, 1824.
Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, volume 4, 124-155
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/79352#page/134/mode/1up

Torrens, H.S., 1990,
The transmission of ideas on the use of fossils in stratigraphic analysis  from  England  to  America  1800–1840:  Earth  Sciences  History,  v. 9, p. 108–117, [I did not read]
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24137066

Young, Davis A., 2019
Joseph Henry and Geology at Princeton.  Earth Sciences History (2019) 38 (2): 232–275.  https://doi.org/10.17704/1944-6178-38.2.232     

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++1

A Rock that Cracked Like Mud Cracks, and Polygonal and Columnar Structures in Sedimentary Rocks

 I suspect that everyone reading this blog posting will be familiar with polygonal mud crack patterns on the surface of sedimentary rocks and with columnar jointing in basalts and other volcanic rocks.  For mud cracks that result from desiccation a similar theory for their formation applies to the formation of columnar jointing in basalts.  When cracks and joints form in contracting layer or substance, whether due to desiccation or thermal contraction, they tend to form rectilinear, T-junction-dominated patterns or hexagonal patterns, with Y-junctions.   The  shape in which cracks intersect reflects the order in which the cracks appeared, as later cracks curve to intersect earlier ones at right angles, with cracks obeying a simple elastic energy balance as they grow, with rectilinear patterns evolving to hexagonal patterns (See Goehring 2013; and Goehring and Morris, 2014; Brooker et al., 2018; Loope et al., 2020).  Interestingly, because of NASA’s Mars probes the study of mud cracking, and the study of rectangular to polygonal rock crack patterns, is back in fashion as scientists try to explain the polygonal patterns on the surface of Mars by comparing the cracks on Mars with examples on earth (for example, Webster et al., 2017; Brooker et al., 2018; Chan et al., 2007, Chan et al., 2008) in part because the  polygonal patterns on Mars may indicate the presence of surface water or terrestrial polygonal  patterns might lead to insights on weathering  processes on Mars.

Below is a photograph of a specimen of  limestone  that I collected in 2019 from Tackaberry’s quarry in Westport and left outside over the winter to weigh down a barbeque covering.  The rock cracked in a pattern reminiscent of mud cracks, and, on a larger scale, of cracks on outcrops.

Polygonal jointing and cracks are common in weathered granite and sandstone.  Leonard (1929) reports polygonal cracking in granite as a weathering phenomena.   García-Rodríguez et al. (2015) discuss polygonal cracking in granite.   Williams and  Robinson (1989) discuss polygonal cracking in granite and sandstone.  Netoff (1971) reported polygonal jointing in sandstone near Boulder, Colorado. Kocurek and Hunter (1986) reported polygonal fractures in the Navajo and  Page sandstones in Arizona.  Loope et al., 2020, for  the Navajo sandstone of south-western USA, reported  polygonal  fracturing, noting that  “On steep outcrops, polygonal patterns are rectilinear and orthogonal, with T-vertices. Lower-angle slopes host hexagonal patterns (defined by the dominance of Y-vertices). Intermediate patterns with rectangles and hexagons of similar scale are common. ... [H]exagons on sandstone surfaces (like prismatic columns of basalt) have evolved from ancestral orthogonal polygons of similar scale.

In the references below I’ve mentioned a few of the more interesting reports of polygonal and columnar rock structures.  Some of the hexagonal patterns in sedimentary rocks are said to have been derived from desiccation and mud cracking , and some from thermal expansion and contraction.   I will first mention the reports of the large desiccation cracks.  While I expect that everyone reading this is familiar with columnar jointing in basalts, one interesting fact that some will have overlooked is that columnar jointing is found in clay,  in sedimentary rocks, and in contact metamorphosed sedimentary rock.    The same theories for formation of columnar jointing in basalts have been applied to columnar jointing in clay, columnar jointing in sedimentary rocks, and columnar jointing in contact metamorphosed sedimentary rock.   Different theories apply to the formation of orthogonal joint sets (e.g., tessellated pavement) formed by stress  (see Li, 2020).

I have not provided references to columnar structures in basalts as I assume the reader has visited the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, or Brier Island, Digby, Nova Scotia, or any of the hundreds of other sites worldwide exhibiting columnar basalts.   Worth noting is that Murchison (1839, page 187) mentions columnar syenite.  

Giant Desiccation Cracks in Sediment and in Sedimentary Rock

Gilbert (1877) reported mudcracks in the Shinarump shale in the Henry Mountains of Utah that penetrate 10 feet downward into the shale.   Grabau (1913) commented that  “where fossil mud-cracks penetrate a formation to the depth of ten feet, as is the case in the upper Shinarump (Jura-Triassic ) shales of Utah (Gilbert), it is difficult to believe that they could be formed under other conditions than those permitting prolonged exposure such as is found only in the playas of the desert, where ten years or more may elapse between rainfalls.”

 Hunt et al. ( 1953) mapped the geology of the Henry Mountains, Utah and reported that “On the west side of Mount Ellsworth mud cracks in the top layers of the Chinle [formation] are filled by sandstone belonging to the Wingate. The wedges of sandstone in the mud cracks project downward as much as 7 in., and the cracks in the Chinle can be traced downward as much as 3 ft.”

Tomkins, (1965) reported large sandstone polygons in the Carmel Formation of Jurassic age and suggested that these were formed by eolian infilling of mud cracks with sand, followed by lithification and partial removal of easily eroded siltstone “mold” material.

O'Sullivan (1965) reported polygonal-shaped features parallel to the bedding and as much as 7  feet  across which he  considered to be casts of large mudcracks, which were formed at the top of a shale bed and later filled with sand.

Neal (1965a) reported giant contraction polygons, up to 3 feet wide and 3 feet or more in depth at Rogers Playa in California. 

Neal (1965b) reported and figured large contraction polygons from the San Augustin Plains, New Mexico, many of which are 200 feet or more across, and from Rogers Playa, California and  Bicycle Playa, California.  He also reported and figured pressure-ridge polygons as much as 100 feet across from the Winnemucca Playa, Nevada.

Neal, Langer and Kerr (1968) reported giant desiccation polygons of Great Basin clay playas, with the polygons of a width of 300 meters. 

Tucker (1981) describes giant polygons (up to 14 m wide) on the bedding surfaces of Triassic salt deposits of Cheshire, England, and suggests thermal contraction as the most likely method of their formation.

Loope and Haverland (1988) reported giant desiccation fissures filled with calcareous eolian sand with the downward-tapering fissures as much as 18 cm wide and 5.7 m deep defining orthogonal polygons 10 m or more in diameter.

Columnar  Structures in Clay

Salisbury (1885) reported on hexagonal columnar structures in a five foot thick clay layer at a railway cut in Wisconsin, noting that “The columns varied in diameter from ten to fifteen or sixteen inches. They were uniformly, but not regularly, six-sided, and could be divided easily across their longer axes, parallel to the bedding planes, so that each column was separable into regular sections.”   Harvey et al. (1977) suggest that Salisbury’s columnar clay structures are synergesis polygons.

Columnar and Polygonal Structures in  Limestone

Lesley (1892),  Van Ingen and  Clark (1903),  Kindle (1914),  Norman (1935), White (1882) and O'Neill (1941), Chadwick (1940) and Wilson (2018)  reported columnar structures in limestone . 

Lesley (1892, page 933) described the Upper Silurian Bossardville Limestone of  Pennsylvania,    noting “It also possesses a genuine columnar structure,...the rock possessing a prismatic structure like the basaltic columns in lava... but confined to certain beds.”

Van Ingen and  Clark (1903)  described similar structures in the Silurian Rondout limestone of   New Jersey.   They reported two beds which break into polygonal blocks: “the “prismatic” or “five point [bed],” 32 inches thick breaks up into mostly pentagonal blocks 4 to 6 inches in diameter;  the "paving block" or "mud crack [bed]," 15 inches thick, breaks into larger polygonal blocks of 6 to 10 inches diameter;”.     They suggested that the structures “formed apparently by shrinkage cracks similar to those seen in drying mud”.   Their  plate 6 shows the  prismatic beds.

 The view is taken from below looking up at the overhanging beds.

Kindle (1914) provides the best description and photographs of columnar structures in a Canadian sedimentary rocks.  He report on columnar structures in the  lower two-thirds of a bed of limestone at the base of Mount Wissick on the shore of Temiseouata lake opposite Cabano, Quebec.    Here is Kindle’s photograph of the columnar bed..  

Kindle reported that the detached columns scattered along the ledge  have a length of 10 to 24 inches.    Kindle notes that “The columnar structure of this bed was first noted by Logan in 1863 (Geol. of Can. p. 421). It was again mentioned by Bailey and Mcinnes in the detailed section of Mount Wissick, published in l889.”   Logan (1850, page 55; 1863, page 421)   noted that “The limestone presents a vertical columnar structure, due to two sets of joints, which divide the beds into irregular rhombic prisms”.  Bailey and Mcinnes state “Grey nodular limestones , conspicuously divided by vertical joints , which often resent curved surfaces and produce an appearance resembling that of fluted columns . ..  The columnar limestones , which contain but few fossils , have a thickness of about 10 feet , and are followed by about the same thickness of finely banded massive limestones , ..  This is capped by more columnar limestone.”

Norman (1935) reported columnar Jointing in a vertically dipping dolomitic limestone found on the North shore of Hood Island, Lake Ainslie Map-area, Nova Scotia.  He  noted that  “In this limestone a very conspicuous columnar structure (See Plate III B) is developed in a 2-foot bed at the base of the limestone and consists of vertical prisms bounded by a variable number of sides, and averaging 5 inches in diameter. ... It is probable, therefore, that the columnar structure was produced by the desiccation of calcareous muds  deposited in shallow water.”

White (1882) and O'Neill (1941) report on columnar Silurian Limestone in Pennsylvania where the rock exhibits a prismatic structure like basaltic columns.

Chadwick (1940) reported columnar limestone produced by sun cracking in the Olney  limestone of New York State. 

Wilson (2018) reports on, and includes a photograph of,  hexagonal columnar joints in a four foot thick carbonate bed in the Jurassic rocks of Utah, noting that the “effect of the repeated hexagonal cracks is that the unit itself develops columnar joints, analogous to those often seen in basalt flows.” .

 Columnar Structures in Metamorphosed Clay, Limestone and Sandstone

Columnar structures are common in contact metamorphosed sedimentary rocks.

Brown (1870) and Arnold-Bemrose (1899) report on a columnar, jointed, baked, indurated red clay in contact with basalt, dolerite and a vesicular and amygdaloidal toadstone, where the columns in the clay “sometimes attained a length of 8 or 9 feet, and a breadth of 6 inches.”

Geikie (1882) mentions that “A columnar structure has often been superinduced upon stratified  rocks (sandstone, shale, coal) by contact with intrusive igneous masses.”  He lists a number of example of prismatic sandstone caused by intrusion of dykes, including sandstone  rendered prismatic by Dolerite at  Bishopbriggs, Glasgow; sandstone altered by basalt, melaphyre, or allied rock, Wildenstein, near Budingen, Upper Hesse; Schoberle, near Kriebitz, Bohemia; Johnsdorf, near Zittau, Saxony.    He notes that “Independently of the lines of stratification polygonal prisms, six inches or more in diameter, and several feet in length, starting from the face of the dyke, have been developed in the sandstone” Geikie also notes that “examples of the production of this structure have been described in dolomite altered by quartz-porphyry (Campiglia, Tuscany); fresh water limestone altered by basalt (Gergovia, Auvergne) ; basalt-tuff and  granite altered by basalt 2 (Mt. Saint-Michel, Le Puy).”

Geikie (1882) also notes that “ Some of the most perfect examples of superinduced prisms may occasionally be noticed in seams of coal which have been invaded by  intrusive igneous material. In the Scottish coal-fields sheets of basalt have been forced along the surfaces of coal-seams, and even along their centre so as to form a bed or sheet in the middle of the coal. The coal in  these cases is sometimes beautifully columnar, its slender hexagonal and pentagonal prisms, like rows of stout pencils, diverging from the surface of the intrusive sheet.”   Geikie says that this structure can be seen in “coal and lignite, with their accompanying clays, altered by basalt, diabase, melaphyre, &c, [at] Ayrshire, Scotland; St. Saturnin, Auvergne; Meissner, Hesse Cassel;  Kttingshausen, Vogelsgebirge ; Sulzbach, Upper Palatinate of Bavaria : Funfkirchen, Hungary: by trachyte, Commentry, Central France; by phonolite, Northern Bavaria.” 

Hume (1908), Beadnell (1926) and T’an (1927a, p. 38, fig. 20) describe columnar Nubian  sandstone in  contact with basic intrusive rocks.  Cílek et al. ( 2015) describe a large outcrop of columnar-jointed Upper Cretaceous “Nubian” sandstone which they attribute to “dynamic fragmentation by expanding liquid and gas phases related to magma emplacement and a subsequent relaxation.”  Splettstoesser and Jirsa (1985) report on columnar jointing in sandstone where it is intruded by dolerite.  Velázquez et al. ( 2008) report and include photographs of dramatic columnar joints (with orthogonal columns  from  3 to 10 cm in diameter, reaching 15 m in length)  in  reddish eolian sandstones adjacent to nepheline dikes.     Blackstone (1963)
reports columnar jointing in sandstone adjacent to sills and dikes where the columnar jointing is  similar in most aspects to columnar jointing described in igneous rocks, with the columns varying  from 3 in. to 5 in. in diameter and are up to 3 ft long.   Mullineux et al. (2020) report on columnar-jointed bentonite below a Doleritic Sill.

Buist  (1980) and  Young (2008) report on columnar jointing in Devonian and Early Carboniferous sandstones at two localities  on the Island of Bute, Scotland.   Buist suggests that the “columnar structure probably developed as a result of the emplacement of a basic dyke via a fissure.”  Young noted “The host rocks are cut by Early Carboniferous volcanic necks or plugs, which acted as heat sources, but development of columnar jointing was strongly controlled by small sills and dikes of a recessive, purple, fine-grained rock.”

Suggestions for the Cause of Other Polygonal Crack Patterns in Rocks

In an earlier blog posting I mentioned that in addition to desiccation  there are a large number of suggestions for the origin of polygonal crack patterns on the bedding surface of  rocks   These include a sub-aqueous origin at the water sediment interface  (synaeresis), a microbial mat origin, organic burrowing, frost wedging, gravitational loading, gravitationally unstable density inversion, sand injectites, seismic shock, interstratal cracking, water- release (interstratal dewatering), and layer parallel contraction resulting from compaction due to burial.   A few of the more interesting additional theories that I’ve noted since I wrote that earlier blog posting are:
- the control of mud crack patterns by small gastropod trails – Baldwin (1974) ;
- the control of mudcrack patterns by the infaunal bivalve Pseudocyrena – Kues  and Siemers (1977).

I will also have to add contact metamorphism which forms columnar-jointed sedimentary rocks adjacent to igneous dikes and sills  (e.g., Mullineux et al. ( 2020), Arnold-Bemrose (1899), Beadnell (1926), Velázquez et al. ( 2008).

Interestingly, for a  particular suite of rocks in Scotland six different theories have  been proposed  in peer reviewed publications to explain the origin of the polygonal cracks  (see Astin and Rogers,  1991;  Barclay,  Glover,  Mendum, 1993; Astin and Rogers,  1993).

Christopher Brett
Ottawa, Ontario

References and Suggested Reading

Arnold-Bemrose, H. H., 1899
On a sill and Faulted Inlier in Tideswell Dale, Derbyshire. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, Vol. 55, page 239-250   https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109883#page/347/mode/1up

Astin, T.R.  And  D. A. Rogers,  1991
Subaqueous shrinkage cracks in the Devonian of Scotland reinterpreted. Journal of Sedimentary Research(1991),61(5): 850-859   http://dx.doi.org/10.2110/jsr.61.850

Astin, T. R. and , D. A. Rogers, 1993
"Subaqueous Shrinkage Cracks" in the Devonian of Scotland Reinterpreted: Reply
Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, Vol. 63 (1993)No. 3. (May), Pages 566-567
http://archives.datapages.com/data/sepm/journals/v63-66/data/063/063003/0566.htm

Bailey, L.W. and McInnes,William, 1989
Report on explorations and surveys in portions of northern New Brunswick, and adjacent areas in Quebec and in Maine, U.S.   Geological  Survey of Canada, Report for 1987-88,  new ser., vol. III, pt. II, Part M., pages  1M-52M  at  p. 31M.” https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100315506

Baldwin, C.T., 1974.
The control of mud crack patterns by small gastropod trails.  Journal of Sedimentary Research. 44, 695–7
https://doi.org/10.1306/74D72ADB-2B21-11D7-8648000102C1865D

 Barclay, W. J. ; B. W. Glover ; J. R. Mendum,  1993
"Subaqueous shrinkage cracks" in the Devonian of Scotland, reinterpreted; discussion and reply;
Journal of Sedimentary Research (1993) 63 (3): 564–567.
https://doi.org/10.1306/D4267B72-2B26-11D7-8648000102C1865D
http://archives.datapages.com/data/sepm/journals/v63-66/data/063/063003/0564.htm

Beadnell, H.J.L., 1926
Columnar Structure in the Nubian Sandstone. Geological  Magazine, vol. 63, p 271-272

Blackstone, D. L., 1963
Columnar jointing in sandstone.  Rocky Mountain Geology (1963) 2 (1): 7–11

Branagan, D.F., 1983
Tesselated pavements. In: Aspects of Australian sandstone landscapes. R.W. Young; G.C. Nanson (eds.). Australian and New Zealand Geomorphology Group Special Publication nº 1,
Wollongong, pp. 11-20.  https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3290100516

Robinson, D.A., Williams, R.B.G.,  1992
 Sandstone weathering in the High Atlas, Morocco. Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie, 36, 413-429.

Brown, E., 1870
On a Columnar Clay-bed in Tideswell Dale, and on so-called Pholas-borings in Millers Dale. Geological Magazine 7, 585–6.

Brooker,L.M., M.R.Balme. S.J.Conway, A.Hagermann, A.M.Barrett, G.S.Collins, R.J.Soare 2018   Clastic polygonal networks around Lyot crater, Mars: Possible formation mechanisms from morphometric analysis.  Icarus Volume 302, 1 March 2018, Pages 386-406
 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2017.11.022
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103517301975

Buist, DS , 1980
Columnar sandstone, Island of Bute, Scotland. Geological Magazine 117, 381–4.

Campbell, Marius R., 1923
The Twentymile Park District of the Yampa Coal Field, Routt County, Colorado, Bulletin 748, U.S. Geological Survey, p. 8 [plate IV, Polygonal structures on a bedding plane of the Twentymile sandstone and at the edge of the Trout Creek sandstone bed.]

Chadwick, G. H., 1940
Columnar Limestone Produced by Sun Cracking. G. S. A. Bulletin, volume 51, No. 12, p. 1923 [in the Olney limestone of New York State.]

Chan, Marjorie A., W. M. Seiler, R. L. Ford, and W. Adolph Yonkee, 2007
Polygonal cracking and “Wopmay” weathering patterns on earth and mars:  implications for host-rock properties.    Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII (2007)
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/1398.pdf

Chan MA, Yonkee WA, Netoff DI, Seiler WM, Ford RL, 2008
 Polygonal cracks in bedrock on Earth and Mars: implications for weathering. Icarus 194:65–71
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.474.6164&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Cílek,V.,  J Adamovic and Lenka Varadzinová Suková, 2015
Sandstone columns of the 3rd Nile Cataract (Nubia, Northern Sudan). Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie Supplementary Issues 59(1)

Crosby, W. O., 1882,
On the classification and origin of joint structures, Proc. Boston Society Natural History, 1882-1883, v. 22, pp. 72-85 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/132041#page/7/mode/1up

Crosby, W. O., 1892 
Dynamical   Geology and Petrography . Boston: Boston Society of  Natural  History. [Joints and Joint structure, p. 263 -; the contraction joints or shrinkage cracks 266 -- p. 269: ...]

Degraff, James M.;  Aydin, Atilla 1987
Surface morphology of columnar joints and its significance to mechanics and direction of joint growth.   Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol. 99, issue 5, p. 605
10.1130/0016-7606(1987)99<605:SMOCJA>2.0.CO;2
[Columnar joints in basaltic lava flow]
 
Fletcher, Hugh, 1877
Report of Explorations and Surveys in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.  Report of Progress for 1876-77, Geological Survey of Canada.  402-456; at  440, 442, 445 “columnar”  limestone

García-Rodríguez, M. , M. Gomez-Heras , M. Alvarez de Buergo, R. Fort J. Aroztegu 2015
Polygonal cracking associated to vertical and subvertical fracture surfaces in granite (La Pedriza del Manzanares, Spain): considerations for a morphological classification.  Journal of Iberian Geology  41 (3) 2015:  365-383
http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/rev_JIGE.2015.v41.n3.48860
https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/130154/1/JIG_2015_GomezHeras.pdf

Geikie, Archibald, 1882
Textbook of Geology.  London,Macmillan and Co., 971 pages
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/126497#page/9/mode/1up

Geikie, Archibald, 1894
 Geology , Chapter in The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and ..., Volume 10, 1894, Ninth Edition, (American Imprint). Philadelphia

Gilbert, G.K., 1877
Geology of the Henry Mountains. U.S. Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, 160 pages     https://doi.org/10.3133/70038096
https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70038096/report.pdf

Goehring, Lucas 2013
Evolving fracture patterns: columnar joints, mud cracks and polygonal terrain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Volume 371, Issue 2004,   Theme Issue ‘Pattern formation in the geosciences’ organised and edited by Lucas Goehring.  https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2012.0353
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2012.0353#d3e1862

Goehring, Lucas  and  Stephen W. Morris, 2014
Cracking mud, freezing dirt, and breaking rocks .  Physics Today 67, 11, 39 (2014); https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.2584
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/PT.3.2584

Grab, Stefan,  Andrew S. Goudie, Heather A. Viles, Nicola Webb, 12015
Sandstone Landforms of the Karoo Basin: Naturally Sculpted Rock. In book: Landscapes and Landforms of South Africa (pp.11-21)  DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-03560-4_2

Grabau, A. W., 1913
Principles of Stratigraphy. New York: A. G. Seiler & company
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015023976205&view=1up&seq=9
 
Harrington, B. J., 1878
Notes on Miscellaneous Rocks and Minerals, Report of Progress for 1876-77, Geological Survey of Canada, 465-488 [at page 487-488 “a curious columnar limestone, with columns at right angles to the bedding” in half and inch to an inch thick bands in black shales near the village of Sandy Bay, Quebec along the St. Lawrence ]
http://archive.org/stream/reportprogressg00canagoog#page/n16/mode/2up

Harvey, R. D., White, W.A.,  Cluff, R.M.,  Frost J.K, & Dumontelle, P. B., 1977
Petrology of the New Albion Shale Group (Upper Devonian and Kinderhookiand in the Illinois Basin, A Preliminary Report  , Proceedings First Eastern Gas Shales Symposium, October 17-19, 1977, [EGS-18] p.328-354   
 
Hume, W. F., 1908
Notes on the Petrography of Egypt.  Geological Magazine, New Series, Decade 5, Vol. 5,  pages 500-509,   https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/96686#page/596/mode/1up

Hunt , Charles B.,  Paul Averiti and Ralph L. Miller, 1953
Geology and Geography of the Henry Mountains Region Utah. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 228    http://www.riversimulator.org/Resources/Geology/Hunt/GeologyGeographyHenryMountainsRegion1953Hunt.pdf

Jagla, E. A. , 2004
Maturation of crack patterns.     Physical Review E, vol. 69, Issue 5, id. 056212
DOI:      10.1103/PhysRevE.69.056212

Jukes, J. Beete, 1872 
The Student’s Manual of Geology, 3rd edition, Edited by Archibald Geikie. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black,778 pages. Chapter 7, Joints, Formation of Rock-Blocks, p. 174-185 @ 180
https://books.google.ca

Jüngst, H., 1934
Geological Significance of synaeresis;  Geologische Rundschau, V. 25, 312-325

Kindle, E. M., 1914
 Columnar structure in limestone; Geological Survey of Canada, Museum Bulletin no. 2, pt. 2,  p. 35-44,   https://doi.org/10.4095/104954

Kindle, E. M.,  1917
Some factors affecting the development of mud cracks. Journ. Geology, vol 25, 135-144
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/96111#page/157/mode/1up

Kindle, E. M.,  1918
Separation of salt from saline water and mud.  G. Soc Am, B 29: 80 (abst). 471-487
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/110877#page/555/mode/1up

Kindle, E. M.,  1923
A note on mud crack and associated joint structure : American  Journal of Science, 5th ser . , vol. 5, pp . 329 - 330 , 1 fig . , April , 1923  DOI: https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.s5-5.28.329

Kindle, E. M.,  1923
Notes on Mud Crack and Ripple Mark in Recent Calcareous Sediments.  The Journal of Geology, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Feb. - Mar., 1923), pp. 138-145
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30079396
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/96115#page/174/mode/1up

Kindle, E. M., 1926
Contrasted types of mud-cracks. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, section IV,  p 71-76,

Kindle, E. M , And Cole, L. H., 1938,
Some mud crack experiments : Geologie der Meere und Binnengewässer , Band 2 , Heft 2 , pp . 278 - 283 , 6 figs. , July 15 , 1938

Kocurek, G., Hunter, R.E., 1986.
Origin of polygonal fractures in sand, upper-most  Navajo and  Page  Sandstones,  Page,  Arizona.  J.  Sediment.  Res.  56, 895–904.

Kues, B.S. and Siemers, C. T., 1977  
Control of mudcrack patterns by the infaunal bivalve Pseudocyrena.  Journal of Sedimentary Research (1977) 47 (2): 844–848.
https://doi.org/10.1306/212F726B-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D

Li L.,  Ji S., 2020
A new interpretation for formation of orthogonal joints in quartz sandstone.   Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2020.08.003

Leonard, R.J., 1929
Polygonal cracking in granite.  American Journal of Science 18, 487-492.
https://www.ajsonline.org/content/s5-18/108/487

Lesley,  J. Peter,  1892
A Summary Description of the Geology of Pennsylvania, Volume 2 describing the Upper Silurian and Devonian Formations, at page 933
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015065394523

Logan William E., 1850
Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress for 1849-50.  Toronto: Lovell and
 Gibson.

Logan, William E.,  1863,  
Geology of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress from its Commencement to 1863. Montreal: Dawson Brothers.  983 pages.

Mullineux, S.; Sparks, RSJ;  Murphy, MD; MacNiocaill, C.; Barfod, D.; Njorka, J.; Schumacher, JC, 2020
Columnar-jointed bentonite below a Doleritic Sill, Tideswell Dale, Derbyshire, UK: formation during prograde contact metamorphism.  Geological Magazine, vol. 157, issue 7, pp. 1181-1198
doi:10.1017/S0016756819001535

Murchison, Roderick Impey, Sir, 1839
The Silurian system,    Volume: v.1 (1839).  Columnar/prismatic basalt at 71, 126, 137, 138,  270, 274,275, 276, 289 ; 187 [columnar syenite]
 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/165541#page/7/mode/1up

Netoff,  D.I.,  1971. 
Polygonal  jointing  in  sandstone  near  Boulder,  Colorado.  Mountain Geologist 8, 17–24.
http://archives.datapages.com/data/rmag/mg/1971/netoff.htm

Loope , D. B. , And Haverland , Z. T. , 1988 ,
Giant desiccation fissures filled with calcareous eolian sand, Hermosa Formation (Pennsylvanian), southeastern Utah.  Sedimentary Geology, Volume 56, Issue 1, p. 403-413.  [At two stratigraphic intervals within the upper member of the Upper Pennsylvanian Hermosa Formation, calcareous eolian sand fills downward-tapering fissures that are as much as 18 cm wide and 5.7 m deep. Fissure fillings define orthogonal polygons 10 m or more in diameter.]

Loope, David B., Garrison R. Loope, Caroline M. Burberry, Clinton M. Rowe,  & Gerald C. Bryant, 2020
Surficial fractures in the Navajo sandstone, south-western USA: the roles of thermal  cycles, rainstorms, granular disintegration,  and iterative cracking.    Earth Surface Processes and Landforms  45 (2020), pp 2063–2077
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1631&context=geosciencefacpub

Neal, James T., 1965a
Environmental setting and general surface characteristics of playas.  Chapter 1 in Geology, Mineralogy and hydrology of U.S. playas.  U.S. Air Force Cambridge Research Labs, Environmental Research paper 96, AFCRL - 65-266, P. 1-29 
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102197649

Neal, James T., 1965b
Airphoto Characteristics of Playas.  Chapter VI  in Geology, Mineralogy and hydrology of U.S. playas.  U.S. Air Force Cambridge Research Labs, Environmental Research paper 96, AFCRL - 65-266, P. 149-176 

Neal, James T.; Langer, Arthur M.; Kerr, Paul F., 1968
 Giant desiccation polygons  of Great Basin playas: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 79, no. 1, p. 69-90, illus., tables, 1968.
 
Norman , George W. H., 1935
Lake Ainslie Map-area, N.S.,Geological Survey of Canada  Memoir 177,  103 pages  . [ Plate III, B. Columnar Jointing in vertically dipping dolomitic limestone, North shore of Hood Island. [38:

O'Neill, Wayne F.  1941
Columnar Silurian Limestone in Pennsylvania.   Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science Vol. 15 (1941), pp. 75-81 (7 pages)  https://www.jstor.org/stable/44109130 
the rock exhibits a prismatic structure like basaltic columns.

O'Sullivan , Robert B.  1965
Geology of the Cedar Mesa-Boundary Butte Area San Juan County, Utah. USGS Bulletin 1186
 https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1186/report.pdf     
 
Perry, Nelson W. 1889.
The Cincinnati Rocks. What was their Geological History? American Geologist, Vol. IV, pp. 326-336, 2 pls.  Figure 3 - Mud cracks on limestone
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/240889#page/346/mode/1up

Plummer, P.S. and Gostin, V.A., 1981
Shrinkage Cracks: Desiccation or Synaeresis. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, Vol. 51, No. 4, 1147-1145
ttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Victor-Gostin/publication/283827642_Shrinkage_Cracks_Desiccation_or_Synaeresis/links/57ff109408aeaf819a5c36a8/Shrinkage-Cracks-Desiccation-or-Synaeresis.pdf

Roy, Sharat K. 1929
Columnar structure in limestone Science 1929 Aug 9;70(1806):140-1
 DOI: 10.1126/science.70.1806.140
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1654531

Salisbury, R . D., 1885
Columnar structure in subaqueous clay, Science, new ser., vol. 5, 1885, p. 287
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/133112#page/323/mode/1up

Splettstoesser, JF and Jirsa, MA (1985)
 Columnar jointed sandstone in Beacon Supergroup, Britannia Range, Antarctica (Note). New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 28, 761–4 [ A columnar jointed structure occurs in Hatherton Sandstone (Devonian) where it is intruded by Ferrar Dolerite (Early Jurassic) in the Britannia Range, Antarctica. ]

T’an, Hsi C.,  1927a
A Comprehensive Study of Mud Cracks and other similar Features.   A thesis submitted to the University of Wisconsin for the degree of Master of Science

T’an, Hsi C.,  1927b
A Comprehensive Study of Mud Cracks and other similar Features.  Bulletin of the Geological Society of China, Volumes 6-7, 273- ?  [290 “columnar structure in Nubian sandstone are known at several localities in the Sudan.”]

Tanner, P. W. G., 1998
Interstratal dewatering origin for polygonal patterns of sand-filled cracks: a case study from
late Proterozoic metasediments of Islay, Scotland. Sedimentology (1998) 45, 71-89
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b6da/d5dc8f2261f4e954b4f4402480e43c91cc9e.pdf?_ga=2.197764205.39016484.1615151755-1236236589.1614646204

Tanner, P. W. Geoff, 2003
Desiccation structures (mud cracks, etc.), chapter in Encyclopedia of Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-3609-5_65

Tomkins, I. Q. , 1965
Polygonal Sandstone Features in Boundary Butte Anticline Area, San Juan County, Utah
 Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol. 76, issue 9, p. 1075.

Tucker, Roger M., 1981
Giant polygons in the Triassic salt of Cheshire, England; a thermal contraction model for their origin.  Journal of Sedimentary Research (1981) 51 (3): 779–786.
https://doi.org/10.1306/212F7DA6-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.919.7706&rep=rep1&type=pdf
 
Twenhofel ,William H., 1932, 1961
Treatise on Sedimentation , Second Edition, Volume 2, 1932 . Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins Company , 926 pages, Mud Cracks at 685-691- reprinted,  1961, Dover Publications, New York
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4151697&view=1up&seq=9 

Van Ingen, Gilbert  and Clark, P. Edwin, 1903
Disturbed fossiliferous beds in the vicinity of Rondout, N.Y.  New York State Museum Bulletin 69, pp 1176-1227, pls. 1-13, 1903 See plate 6 - prismatic bed; p 1185:
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/108338#page/376/mode/1up
plate 6: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/108338#page/397/mode/1up

Velázquez, V. F., Paulo César Fonseca Giannini, Riccomini, C.,  A.  Ernandes Martins Sallun, J. Hachiro and C. de Barros Gomes, 2008
Columnar joints in the Patiño Formation sandstones, Eastern Paraguay: a dynamic interaction between dyke intrusion, quartz dissolution and cooling-induced fractures . Episodes, Vol.
31, No. 3 , 302- 308
https://www.geologiadelparaguay.com/Areniscas-Columnares.pdf

Udden, J. A., 1892
Fossil Frost Cracks. Scientific American, vol. 72, p. 102 [February 16, 1895]

Webster, G  , Cantillo, L., and D. Brown, 2017
Mars Rover Curiosity Examines Possible Mud Cracks.  NASA.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/mars-rover-curiosity-examines-possible-mud-cracks

White, I. C.,1882
The Geology of Pink and Monroe Counties; Pennsylvania Second Geological Survey, Vol. G 6, 407 pages   https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/pageol/id/17838/rec/6
 
Williams, R. And D. Robinson, 1989
Origin and distribution of polygonal cracking of rock surfaces. Geografiska. Annaler, Series A, Physical Geography, issues 3-4,  pp. 145-159  https://doi.org/10.1080/04353676.1989.11880283
 
Wilson, Mark, Published online on  May 21, 2018
Team Jurassic Utah finishes essential data collection. Columnar jointed limestone 052118 | Wooster Geologists.
https://woostergeologists.scotblogs.wooster.edu/2018/05/21/team-jurassic-utah-finishes-essential-data-collection/3-columnar-jointed-limestone-052118/
 
Weinberger, Ram, 1999
Initiation and growth of cracks during desiccation of stratified muddy sediments.  Journal of Structural Geology, Volume 21, Issue 4, p. 379-386. DOI:     10.1016/S0191-8141(99)00029-2

Young, Grant, 2008
Origin of Enigmatic Structures: Field and Geochemical Investigation of Columnar Joints in Sandstones, Island of Bute, Scotland.      The Journal of Geology 116(5)
DOI: 10.1086/590137

Yuse, A. And M. Sano, 1993
Transition between crack patterns in quenched glass plates. Nature 362, 329 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/362329a0