The Journal of Geology, May-June 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazone of Geology and Related SciencesVarious
Science
The Journal of Geology, May-June 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazone of Geology and Related Sciences
Various
Geology -- Periodicals
Manifestly this part of the river valley is of much later date than
the upper part. If, during the period of ice-retreat, the lower
Connecticut valley was an estuary, the Scantic was a much shorter river
than at present. Its mouth could not have been far from the point
where now it leave the crystallines, but as the land was elevated and
estuarine conditions gave place to fluviatile, the Scantic lengthened
“mouthward,” consequent upon the minor inequalities of the newly made
beds. The effect would be substantially the same if the terraces
were built by great valley floods, as Dana supposes. In pre-glacial
times this river, in common with several other rivers rising on the
crystallines and flowing into the Connecticut, had courses of various
lengths over the Triassic sandstones, but these old valleys are lost
entirely, the later trenches in the terrace deposits being altogether
independent of them.
_Other examples._ The lower Hockanum, Farmington, Park, and the entire
length of many short streams are similar to the lower Scantic, and
originated under similar conditions. Stony Brook, a little stream
north of Windsor Locks, presents the same features, but with this
variation: It is superimposed through a thin layer of drift upon
the sandstone, into which it has cut a deep, picturesque gorge. The
Hockanum and Farmington are also “locally superimposed” in a few
places. The Connecticut, also, north of Middletown, although following
its pre-glacial valley, has departed in numerous places from its former
bed, and has cut down through the valley-filling onto ledges of rock
beneath. The water-power at Enfield, Conn., and at Turner’s Falls and
Bellows Falls, Mass., is the result of this superimposed position.
_Abandoned gaps._ Many abandoned water-gaps must exist among the hills
of the state. Cook’s Gap, through which the New York and New England
Railroad crosses the trap ridge, three miles west of New Britain, has
already been discussed. It must not be confounded with the majority
of the other gaps in the trap ridge, which are oblique, break the
alignment of the ridge, and are due to faults.
The New York and New England Railroad in ascending to the eastern
plateau passes through Bolton Notch, a few miles east of Manchester.
This notch, also, is an abandoned river bed but, as it seems, abandoned
at a later date and for another reason than that assigned for Cook’s
Gap. The drift is very heavy in this region, and the most probable
explanation is that the post-glacial streams do not altogether follow
pre-glacial valleys. This gap, used by turnpike and railroad, testifies
of another and older drainage system.
That in this brief article all the problems connected with the
Connecticut rivers have been solved, or even noted, is not to be
expected. It is hoped, however, that the work done may prove a help to
further study of the same regions, and that the tentative conclusions
advanced may be substantiated by further investigation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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