The Catskill Delta consists of many lobes shed from the rising Acadia Mountains during the Devonian Period. The delta is composed of a combination of marine and non-marine sediments that accumulated along the western mountain front as the sediments developed along the shoreline of the Kaskaskia Sea. The book attempts to draw together the sedimentary processes which shaped the delta along the western Acadian Mountains.
Chapter 1 summarizes the Acadian Orogeny, its paleogeography including the Avalonian terranes, It provides a review of the orogenic events, collisions, tectophases, the Acadian foreland basin, delta complex, and a brief discussion of the Kaskaskia Sea. Chapter 2 begins the discussion of the Catskill Delta Complex, addressing the paleocontinental setting, reconstruction, and summarizes the paleomagnetic tectonic models. Chapter 3 presents the Catskill Deltaic clastic deposition including the Catskill Formation, paleogeography, paleoclimate, and sedimentary processes. Chapter 4 presents the Catskill delta basin facies development controls including its paleogeography, paleoclimate, tectonic regime, origin of black basinal facies, and three phases belonging to a proposed climate model. Chapter 5 addresses the shallow marine and nonmarine strata. Chapter 6 discusses unusual marginal marine lithofacies. Chapter 7 summarizes the quantitative interpretation of ancient river systems in the Oneonta Formation of the Catskill megafacies. The book ends with Chapter 8 discussing the Upper Devonian turbidite sequence of central and southern Appalachian basin and contrasts it with submarine fan deposits.
