Abstract for 2008 Honors Colloquium
Ari Hartmann
Geology
"Newly Discovered Mesozoic Basin Remnants in the Eastern Blue Ridge, North-Central Virginia"
"Strange" red conglomerate and sandstone deposits were discovered among older (~700 Ma+) meta-sedimentary rocks of the Lynchburg Group in the Eastern Blue Ridge. These deposits occur several kilometers west of and are likely related to the Culpeper and Barboursville Mesozoic rift basins, which record the breakup of Pangaea and birth of the Atlantic Ocean roughly 200 million years ago. The newly discovered basins have strong implications for the nature of Atlantic rifting in Eastern North America.
