The Altona Formation represents the oldest Cambrian sedimentary unit in northern New York, recording cyclic deposition in shallow marine and fluvial environments under both fair-weather and storm conditions. Five outcrops and one well log were measured and described at the centimeter scale and the top and bottom contacts of the Altona were identified. Based on the recognition of sedimentary structures such as hummocky cross stratification, oscillatory ripples, graded bedding, trough and tabular cross stratification, and bioturbation, as well as subtle lithologic changes, six lithofacies representing non-marine, middle to upper shoreface, offshore, and carbonate ramp environments were identified. The top contact with the overlying Ausable Formation is characterized by inter-tonguing marine to non-marine siltstones and cross stratified medium sandstones. The lowermost Altona is found to lie only one meter above Precambrian basement and is interpreted to be the only non-marine facies in this unit. Throughout the 84-meter thick section, stratigraphy records a transition from upper/middle shoreface to carbonate ramp deposition and offshore muds before cycling between upper shoreface, carbonate ramp and non-marine deposits. Based on parasequence architecture, this section of rock is interpreted to represent the transition from the transgressive systems tract to the highstand systems tract. Thin sections analysis from each lithofacies quantified grain size and composition and identified a provenance. Modal analysis data from clastic lithofacies reveals subarkose to arkose sandstones with an accessory mineral suite including ilmenite, apatite, rutile, and zircon. Integrating the compositional data, particularly the accessory mineral suite, with detrital zircon dates of 1000 - 1300 Ma (Chiarenzelli et al., 2010) suggests that the Grenville Adirondacks in particular the AMCG suit and Lyon Mountain Granite are a likely source rock. Comparison with the Monkton Formations of Vermont suggest that these two units were deposited under similar sea level conditions and are therefore correlative. Provenance study suggests that they were both sourced form the Adirondack Mountains. The major difference is in their depositional environments as the Monkton represents deposition of predominantly tidally influenced deltaic environment. The environmental processes acting on the two units suggests that the paleogeography of the Iapetus margin in this area was an embayed coastline.

The Monkton Formation of the western shelf stratigraphic sequence in Vermont (VT) is identified as a Lower Cambrian regressive sandstone unit containing parasequences recording tidal flat progradation. Previous workers identified cycles believed to represent parasequences in a portion of a 1034' deep geothermal well drilled at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. For this study, both outcrop and well geophysical surveys were completed to better identify gamma emission curves and relative values for parasequences and select lithologies that are indicators of bathymetry and sea level. After using physical stratigraphic techniques to assemble a composite stratigraphic section for the Monkton Formation, analysis of the gamma emission curve and relative gamma values resulted in the identification and characterization of parasequences and select lithologies within the Monkton. Interpretation of bathymetry-sensitive lithologies along with parasequence architecture and thickness trends reveals three distinctive intervals over the thickness of the Monkton. It is recognized that the succession of these intervals represents an overall decreasing rate in accommodation space generation through Monkton deposition. Previous workers have suggested that biostratigraphic relationships of the Monkton Formation to the Potsdam Group in New York (NY) suggest that that they would be at least partially correlative. To further refine age relationships and constrain and compare the provenance of the Vermont stratigraphy locally and regionally, zircon samples were collected from the Monkton and the overlying Danby Formations and radiometric age determinations were completed by laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) at University of Arizona Laserchron Center. Zircon age probability distribution curves show two dominate age peaks between 1.05-1.09 Ga and 1.15-1.18 Ga for the Monkton and Danby suggesting either a continuity of provenance through the Cambrian or the cycling of the Monkton's sand. The 1.05-1.09 Ga age range corresponds to rocks generated during the Ottawan Orogeny while the 1.15-1.18 Ga range is associated with the Shawinigan Orogeny and anorthosite-mangerite-charnockite-granite (AMCG) plutonism. Dominant age peaks in the Vermont samples between 1.15-1.18 Ga are similar to the 1.16 Ga age peak reported by other workers from the Altona and Ausable Formations of the Potsdam Group of New York. The shared dominant age peak and close proximity of the Vermont and New York stratigraphy may suggest a primarily shared provenance.