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Scientific Investigations Map 2841

# Geologic Map of the Stafford Quadrangle, Stafford County, Virginia

By Robert B. Mixon, Louis Pavlides, J. Wright Horton, Jr., David S. Powars, and J. Stephen Schindler

 Scale  1:24,000 

## Introduction

The Stafford 7.5-minute quadrangle, comprising approximately 55 square miles (142.5square kilometers) of northeastern Virginia, is about 40 miles (mi) south ofWashington, D.C. The region's main north-south transportation corridor, whichconnects Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va., consists of Interstate 95, U.S.Highway 1, and the heavily used CSX and Amtrak railroads. Although the northernand eastern parts of the Stafford quadrangle have undergone extensive suburbandevelopment, the remainder of the area is still dominantly rural in character. The townof Stafford is the county seat.

The Stafford 7.5-minute quadrangle is located in the Fredericksburg 30'x60'quadrangle, where information on the regional stratigraphy and structure is availablefrom Mixon and others' (2000) geologic map and multichapter explanatory text. Inaddition to straddling the "Fall Zone" boundary between the Appalachian Piedmontand the Atlantic Coastal Plain provinces, this quadrangle contains the best preservedand best studied segment of the Stafford fault system, an important example of lateCenozoic faulting in eastern North America (Mixon and Newell, 1977). This1:24,000-scale geologic map provides a detailed framework for interpreting andintegrating topical studies of that fault system.

Our geologic map integrates more than two decades of intermittent geologicmapping and related investigations by the authors in this part of the Virginia CoastalPlain. Earlier mapping in the Piedmont by Pavlides (1995) has been revised byadditional detailed mapping in selected areas, particularly near Abel Lake and SmithLake, and by field evaluation of selected contact relations.

*Thumbnail image of the Stafford Quadrangle map.*

 

## Report Availability

This map, which measures 57x34 inches, is available online in PDF format. (The printed map can be purchased from the USGS address given below.) Two PDF versions of the map exist.  To download the PDF files, right-click (PC) or control-click (Macintosh) the links. 	

		Scientific Investigations Map 2841 [3.5-MB PDF file for screen viewing]Scientific Investigations Map 2841 [7.4-MB PDF file for plotting (rasterized)]

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**Suggested Citation:** Mixon, R.B., Pavlides, Louis , Horton, J.W., Jr., Powars, D.S.,  and Schindler, J.S., 2005, Geologic map of the Stafford Quadrangle, Stafford County, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 2841, 1 sheet, scale 1:24,000. (Also available online at https://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/2005/2841/.)

ISBN: 0-607-96475-8

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U.S. Department of the Interior |	U.S. Geological SurveyURL: https://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/sim/2005/2841/index.htmlPage Contact Information: Publishing ServicesPage Last Modified: Thursday, 01-Dec-2016 17:03:40 EST