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
The Millers Falls road follows the foot of a terrace which rises to the
old delta level, and at the next fork (11.0), the route keeps right and
continues southward to North Amherst. The delta of the glacial stream
buried many ice cakes which left numerous kettle holes (11.0 to 11.5)
when they melted. The stratification of the deposits is displayed in the
many road cuts. The route crosses the Central Vermont Railroad (11.5)
and follows an old outwash plain southward past the road to Roaring
Brook (13.1) (see p. 54). The tour continues through a narrow stretch in
which crystalline rocks predominate, as far as the Long Plain delta
(15.6). Mount Toby rises steeply on the west side of the railroad. A
third of the way up the mountainside can be seen (13.9) a conspicuous
bench, which consists of an exhumed remnant of the ancient, sloping
granite mountain front on which the Triassic sediments were laid (see
pp. 20-21). The bench level drops northward to the railroad at Roaring
Brook, and southward it crosses the road (14.9). The conglomerate east
of the road (14.9 to 15.3) fills an old mountain valley. A road east
(15.3) goes to Leverett, and the lead vein is located just south of it
at the hilltop.
The route skirts the margin of the crystalline rocks and crosses the
railroad again (15.6). Just beyond the road to Leverett station (16.1)
the motorist may exercise the option of returning to the Sunderland road
(17.3) by going right across the Long Plain delta and thence to
Greenfield (29.6) via South Deerfield (see p. 95). Or he may extend his
trip by taking the left fork of the Mount Toby road, which follows the
boundary between the Long Plain delta and the glaciated eastern
highlands. Boulders and bare ledges feature in the landscape to the
east, whereas the flat delta and the level beach margin (17.9) lie to
the west. Beyond the limits of the delta lies a series of bare ledges of
gneiss. After crossing Factory Hollow Brook (19.1), the route joins the
Sunderland road (19.2) at the center of North Amherst, returning to
Greenfield (34.1) by way of Sunderland and South Deerfield, as before
(see p. 98).
_Greenfield, Turners Falls, Montague, Sunderland_
The Sunderland road (10.8) just beyond Montague turns right and climbs
the terrace along the floodplain of Saw Mill River. The plain is the
delta which this stream built into Lake Hadley. A few rock ridges
project above it; buried ice has melted to form kettle holes (11.4) (see
pp. 7-8); and post-glacial streams have cut valleys in it; yet it
preserves its deltaic form to the old lake margin (11.6). Low shed-like
cliffs occur east of the road (11.9); the overhanging rock is Toby
conglomerate, and the excavated shelter is a gray shale which was laid
in a Triassic lake bed (see pp. 22 and 68). These cliffs recede from the
highway and end (12.3) at the Sunderland Caves (see p. 55). The route
continues downhill and joins the river road on the floodplain of the
Connecticut (14).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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