The flow of time in the Connecticut valley : $b geological imprintsBain, George W. (George William)
Science
The flow of time in the Connecticut valley : $b geological imprints
Bain, George W. (George William)
Geology -- Connecticut River Valley
1. Davis pyrite mine
2. Plainfield manganese mine
3. Lithia spodumene pegmatite
4. Chesterfield tourmaline locality
5. Westfield marble quarry
6. Williamsburg galena vein
7. Hatfield lead mine
8. West Farms lead mine
9. Loudville lead mine
10. Westfield trap quarry
11. Bernardston magnetite mine
12. Gill dinosaur track quarry
13. Mount Toby
14. Sunderland Caves
15. Roaring brook
16. Whittemore’s Ferry fish quarry
17. Mt. Sugarloaf
18. Leverett lead vein
19. Notch quarry
20. Northampton granite quarry
21. Titan’s Piazza
22. Titan’s Pier
23. Ox-bow lake
24. Smith’s ferry dinosaur tracks
25. Varved clay pits
26. Mt. Grace
27. French King bridge
28. Mt. Lincoln
29. Pelham asbestos mine
The side road to Roaring Brook leaves the highway east of Mount Toby
just north of the old cemetery, and the camp site is on the west side of
the Central Vermont Railway tracks. The gray rocks east of the tracks
are part of the ancient mountains of Triassic time. Their lofty summits
have been worn away by the unceasing activity of weather and running
water, and they are now lower than the fans of waste which was
discharged from the ancient valleys. Roaring Brook is continuing the
work of erosion as it tumbles down from Mount Toby, and frost has
loosened the great boulders that lie on the mountainside.
The rock along Roaring Brook is very different from that east of the
railroad. It looks a great deal like concrete, with a large assortment
of aggregate materials mixed in with the cement. The rock is
conglomerate, a mass of coarse stones washed out of the ancient Triassic
mountains, deposited at their base and in contemporary stream valleys,
and then cemented during the ensuing ages. Many of the pebbles in the
conglomerate cannot be found in the old rocks east of the railroad
tracks. Actually these rocks change in character at different levels in
the uplands of today, and still higher changes which were present in
this mountain group during Triassic time have been destroyed, though the
record of their presence has been retained in the fragments which
compose the conglomerate.
The woodland trail starts up the mountain about 100 yards north of the
picnic grounds. The rock beside it is red granite, and the streams of
Triassic time flowed over it as they carried the gravel which now makes
the Mount Toby conglomerate. The latter first appears about 100 feet
uphill, and it is virtually the only rock exposed from this point to the
summit. Interspersed sandstone beds disintegrate easily and form quiet
pools and basins in the adjacent brook; the pools end a few feet
upstream where the water cascades over the edge of the next higher
conglomerate stratum.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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