Munising Group

Munising Group
Stratigraphic range: Cambrian-Early Ordovician
Light-colored Musining Formation overlying the red Jacobsville Formation in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
TypeFormation
Sub-units
Michigan
  • Miner's Castle Member
  • Chapel Rock Member
  • Basal Conglomerate
UnderliesAu Train Formation
OverliesJacobsville Sandstone
Thickness1,700 ft (520 m)
Lithology
PrimaryConglomerate
OtherAnhydrite
Location
Region Michigan
 Ohio
 Ontario
Country United States
 Canada

The Munising Group or Formation is a 1,700 feet (520 m) thick, white to light grey[1] Cambrian sedimentary unit that crops out in Michigan and (to a lesser extent) Ontario. At one end of its extent, it comprises a basal conglomerate overlain by the Chapel Rock Member and the Miners Castle Member; elsewhere, it comprises the Eau Claire, Galesville (=Dresbach), and Franconia Members. Anhydritic evaporite deposits are present in places.[2] The conglomerate was deposited by rivers in flood, with the Chapel Rock member, which contains deltaic deposits, representing transgression as the conglomerate cones became submerged; the Miners Castle member was deposited further from the shoreline, representing shelf deposits.[3] Its uppermost strata may be Early Ordovician in age, and contain conodonts, trilobites and phosphatic moulds of brachiopods, ostrocoderm fish and gastropods.[4]

The Munising lies unconformably above the Jacobsville Formation.[1]

  1. ^ a b "Pictured Rocks: Geologic Formations". US National Park Service. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  2. ^ Paul A. Catacosinos (1973). "Cambrian Lithostratigraphy of Michigan Basin". The American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin. 57 (12): 2404–2418. doi:10.1306/83d9132b-16c7-11d7-8645000102c1865d.
  3. ^ Charles a. Haddox, R. H. D. (1990). "Cambrian Shoreline Deposits in Northern Michigan". SEPM Journal of Sedimentary Research. doi:10.1306/212F9250-2B24-11D7-8648000102C1865D.
  4. ^ Miller, J. F.; Ethington, R. L.; Rose, R. (2006). "Stratigraphic Implications of Lower Ordovician Conodonts from the Munising and Au Train Formations at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Upper Peninsula of Michigan". PALAIOS. 21 (3): 227–237. Bibcode:2006Palai..21..227M. doi:10.2110/palo.2004.p04-50.