North Carolina/geology

Navigation
Earth: United States: North Carolina: geology

Durham Triassic Basin
"Between (MP270) and  (MP 286) I-40 crosses low-lying topography of the Triassic age "redbeds." Deposited during the time of the dinosaurs in rift valleys formed as the Atlantic Ocean opened, the Triassic mudstones and claystones are the mainstay of North Carolina’s brick industry. Research Triangle Park and RDU Airport lie within the Durham Triassic Basin. The ancient Jonesboro Fault near MP286 forms the eastern basin boundary." 

"The Durham area also contains 300 million year old rocks of the Durham Triassic Basin. The Durham Basin was formed by the rifting (pulling apart) of Piedmont Rocks during the Mesozoic Era when Pangaea began to break apart and the Atlantic Ocean began to open. .. The Durham Basin never was invaded by the sea. Instead it filled with sedimentary deposits that formed in lakes, rivers, swamps and alluvial fans as the climate alternated from dry to humid. None of the sediments are very far from their parent Piedmont rock sources and so have 'arkosic' composition. Arkosic rocks tend to be reddish in color, a characteristic pervasive in the sedimentary rocks of the Durham Basin. Coal can be found in the Basin as well as Mesozoic aged petrified wood. Recently, three new species of dinosaur were found in a quarry in the Basin just south of Durham." 


 * 1948-12-23 Structural Analysis of the West Border of the Durham Triassic Basin