STRATIGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE OF

This thesis describes the stratigraphy and structure of the Roach River syncline, in northwest Maine. The syncline lies southeast of and parallel to the Moose River synclinorium. Physiographically the region is part of the New England Upland; geologically it belongs to the northern Appalachians. The thesis area includes parts of the Ragged Lake, North East Carry, Moose-head Lake, and First Roach Pond quadrangles. Strongly folded Lower Paleozoic rocks are exposed in the area, and fossils of Silurian and Early Devonian age have been found in them. These stratified rocks have a composite thickness of 26,000 feet. The oldest units of Cambrian (?) or Ordovician (?) age includes slates, dark-colored quartzites, phyllites, and carbonate rocks, as well as diorite and diabase in intrusive bodies. During the Taconic orogeny, the area was deformed and eroded. Silurian and younger strata were then laid down in a subsiding area, the earlies