Taylorsville Basin

The sequence is broken down into two tectonostratigraphic intervals, thought to reflect two distinct rift phases. The lower unit is the Doswell Group, which has a more restricted extent, and comprises two formations, the South Anna Formation and the Falling Creek Formation. The upper unit, which is separated from the underlying Doswell Group by an unconformity, is the King George Group, which comprises three formations, the Newfound Formation, the Port Royal Formation and the Leedstown Formation.^[1]

The Taylorsville Basin is a half-graben, with the main controlling fault forming the northwestern boundary of the basin. Subsurface data from boreholes and seismic reflection profiles, indicate that the basin was originally a series of smaller half-graben at the time of the deposition of the Doswell Group. The unconformity at the base of the overlying King George Group marks a reorganization of the rift geometry with further extension being accommodated on a single basin-bounding fault zone, giving a simple NW-thickening wedge in this upper interval.^[1] The basin was inverted during the Early Jurassic, soon after the rifting stopped, forming NE-trending folds over intrabasinal normal faults.^[2]