Synthesis and revision of the lithostratigraphic groups and formations in the Upper Permian?–Lower Jurassic Newark Supergroup of eastern North America
The Upper Permian? - Lower Jurassic Newark Supergroup of eastern North America has a strikingly uniform succession of lithologic units. This uniformity is seen regardless of whether these units are characterized on the basis of their lithostratigraphy, allostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, or chemostratigraphy. After deposition, these units were broken up tectonically and attacked erosionally; parts of them survive today only within localized, down-faulted areas. Many lines of evidence compellingly demonstrate that most or all of these remnant units once were physically continuous between remaining outcrops. It is needlessly confusing to give every remnant of each unit a different name in each area where it persists simply because it is now physically isolated by erosion from other portions of the same unit. Instead, these units should be defined within a regional lithostratigraphic framework that emphasizes their common origins and original stratigraphic continuity. To this end, the formation-level stratigraphy of the Newark Supergroup is reduced from 58 locally applied and locally defined formations to a succession of only 16 uniformly defined and regionally recognizable formations. In all cases the oldest name validly applied to each formation is given priority over more recently erected synonymous names, which are either abandoned or, in a few cases, changed in rank to a member of one of the formations recognized here. The Newark Supergroup is here organized into four regionally recognizable groups, each subdivided into regionally recognizable formations. In ascending order, the Upper Permian?-Middle Triassic Acadia Group (new name) includes the Honeycomb Point Formation, Chedabucto Formation, Economy Formation, and Evangeline Formation. This group is preserved only in the Canadian Fundy and Chedabucto basins. The Upper Triassic (Carnian-Norian) Chatham Group includes the Doswell Formation, Stockton Formation, Lockatong Formation, and Passaic Formation. The Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic (upper Rhaetian-lower Hettangian) Meriden Group includes the Talcott Formation, Shuttle Meadow Formation, Holyoke Formation, East Berlin Formation, and Hampden Formation. The term "Agawam Group," previously proposed to encompass all Newark Supergroup strata above the highest basalt of the Meriden Group, is here abandoned and replaced with the name "Portland Group" for the same suite of strata. The Lower Jurassic (upper Hettangian-lower Sinemurian) Portland Group includes a lower Boonton Formation, an overlying Longmeadow Sandstone (here reinstated), and the Mount Toby Conglomerate, which laterally intertongues with both the Boonton Formation and the Longmeadow Sandstone.