Drainage Modifications and Glaciation in the Danbury Region Connecticut: State of Connecticut State Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin No. 30Harvey, Ruth Sawyer
Science
Drainage Modifications and Glaciation in the Danbury Region Connecticut: State of Connecticut State Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin No. 30
Harvey, Ruth Sawyer
Geology -- Connecticut; Glacial epoch
At the termination of the swampy area on the eastern branch of Rocky
River no indication is found of a dam such as would be required for so
extensive a ponding of the waters. Here the valley is very narrow, and
though the river bed is encumbered with heavy boulders, rock outcrops
are so numerous as to preclude the idea of a drift cover raising the
water level. This is just the condition to be expected if Rocky River
reached its present outlet by overtopping a low col at the head of its
former eastern branch.
The southern end of the Neversink Pond valley is the only other place
whose level is so low that drift deposits could have interfered with
the Rocky River drainage. The moraine at the head of this valley,
crossing the country some two miles north of the city of Danbury and
binding together two prominent north-and-south ridges, was evidently
the barrier which choked the Rocky River valley near its mouth and
turned back the preglacial river.
When Rocky River was thus ponded its lowest outlet was found to be at
the head of its eastern fork. Here the waters spilled over the old
divide and took possession of the channel of a small stream draining
into the Housatonic. Accordingly Rocky River should be found cutting
its bed where it crosses the former divide. It seems reasonable to
regard the gorge half-way between Jerusalem bridge and Housatonic
River as approximately the position of the preglacial divide and to
consider the small flat area to the north of Jerusalem bridge as a
flood plain on softer rock, worn down as low as the outcrops of more
resistant rock occurring farther down the valley will permit. The
reversal of the river may account for the sudden transition from a
flat-bottomed valley to a rocky gorge; and for the abrupt change in
the profile, bringing the steepest part of the river near its mouth.
The increased volume of water flowing through the channel since
glacial time has plainly cut down the bed of the ravine between
Jerusalem and the river's mouth, but the channel is still far from
being graded.
[Footnote 8: Report of soundings made in 1907 by T. T. Giffen.]
THE NEVERSINK-DANBURY VALLEY.
Between Neversink Pond and Danbury extends a deep rock valley, in
places filled with drift. As has been shown, this valley was probably
occupied in preglacial time by Rocky River, which then flowed
southward. At its southern end is Still River, which flows through
Danbury from west to east.
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