Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Document Type
Thesis
Date of this Version
8-1966
Citation
Thesis (M.S.)—University of Nebraska—Lincoln, 1966. Department of Geology.
Abstract
The Albrights reef is located one mile west-southwest of the village of Albrights on the Coxsackie quadrangle, eastern New York. The reef lies in the well-bedded Edgecliff coral biostrome, lowest member of the Onondaga Limestone, and is readily distinguishable by its massive rock.
The Albrights reef was a topographic, wave-resistant structure during Edgecliff time as evidence by sinking of the reef into the substrate, and by flanking beds with primary dips. Reef growth into more turbulent water is indicated by the decrease in micrite upward through the reef, and by a vertical succession of coral communities. Four distinct coral facies are recognized in the reef core. From the base upward these are: the Acinophyllm facies, Cylindrophyllum facies, Cladopora facies, and Heliophyllum facies. The Acinophyllm facies developed in a less turbid area of the sea floor and formed the basal platform for the reef in the soft Edgecliff sediments. The Cylindrophyllum facies further strengthened the bases and provided a suitable foundation upon which the favositid corals first were able to erect a wave-resistant structure. Toward the top of the facies Cylindrophyllum principally became a sediment-trapping faunal element. In the Cladopora facies, Cladopora was the principal sediment-trapping organism. The Heliophyllum facies lived in moderately agitated waters, but the reef ceased to grow vertically into highly agitated waters due to a lack of support for the solitary corallites.
Advisor: J. A. Fagerstrom
Comments
Copyright 1966, the author. Used by permission.