2016 CT.gov | Connecticut's Official State Website, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. As a result, the land west of this fault was downset, creating a rift valley and causing the land to tilt an average of 15 to 25 degrees. Great columns of stone mark times when the earth's crust cracked and split until floods of lava poured out over thousands of square miles. One of the biggest glacial lakes of the time was Glacial Lake Hitchcock. Their layers kept a record the past that reveals details of the climate, plants and animals of two hundred million years ago. Columns of rock known as basalt are the remains of times when lava flowed in the central Connecticut lowlands. Connecticut is made up of several different bands of bedrock, each with their own unique geologic histories. Some of the features on CT.gov will not function properly with out javascript enabled. Photo by Greg McHone. Sandy beaches and boulder fields along the southeast coast are leftovers of a time in the more recent past when Connecticut was frozen beneath immense sheets of ice. Geologists look at rocks as if each one has its own story to tell. Erosion of the Appalachian Mountains now exposes metamorphic rocks once very deep in the Earth's mantle and uplifted during this time period. Most of these lakes and streams can be clearly seen on the Connecticut Satellite Image. Excerpted from Great Day Trips to Discover the Geology of Connecticut, by Greg McHone, Ph.D. This caused great uplift and the creation of the Appalachian Mountains, which, at the time, were bigger than modern-day Himalayas. In barely 5,000 square miles, you can find rocks that are as much as a billion years old, others that are half a billion years old, and still others that are 200 million years old. Connecticut Rivers Map: This map shows the major streams and rivers of Connecticut and some of the larger lakes. The fault is currently inactive. You might drive for days in other states and not see as great a variety of geologic features as can be discovered in Connecticut in an afternoon. In their forms, shapes and colors is evidence of colossal forces, locked for billions of years in a global tug-of-war, which has made and remade the face of the Earth over the vast expanses of deep time. It seems that JavaScript is not working in your browser. COVID-19 Information: Connecticut residents are urged to continue taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Connecticut Geology: How the Past Shapes the Presentis a unit covering Earth science concepts as they relate to the geology of Connecticut. During the early Triassic period, the super-continent Pangea was formed as the Iapetus Ocean closed up and the proto-North American continent collided with Avalonia, part of modern-day Africa. The eastern section holds the shallow Proto-North American Terrane while the western section contains the Iapetos and Avalonian Terranes, which still holds remnants of glacial till and lack the soft fluvial sediments so prominent in the Connecticut River Valley region. From Salisbury to Stonington, it's easy to travel over billion years and to explore some of the most significant events in Earth history. Among them is the Stockbridge marble, rocks formed from the seafloor at the bottom of an ancient former ocean. It takes just a short drive in any direction to see that the geologic history of Connecticut is long and full of twists. In barely 5,000 square miles, you can find rocks that are as much as a billion years old, others that are half a billion years old, and still others that are 200 million years old. The state is within the Atlantic Ocean Watershed and streams of the state flow in a southwards direction into Long Island Sound. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geology_of_Connecticut&oldid=910118648, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 9 August 2019, at 19:52. Igneous rocks, formed from molten volcanic rock that later cooled and hardened, are also common. Connecticut's diverse geology, combined with the state's small size, makes it an extraordinary natural laboratory. EASTERN CONNECTICUT GEOLOGY PHOTOS Eastern Connecticut has many spectacular outcrops of the metamorphic, polydeformed core of the New England Appalachians. Learn More About UsUnderstanding Earth as a Coherent SystemWe examine Earth DEEP COVID-19 Response, © DEEP is continuing to carry out its mission and provide services while keeping both the public and our workforce safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along nearly every highway are outcrops or road cuts that reveal distinct and different rocks of all kinds. The Face of Connecticut: People, Geology, and the Land. Connecticut's Geological Story Geology of CT State Parks Get Outside & Explore! Igneous rocks form the great ridges that form the backbone of the state and today offer some of the most spectacular local hikes. Of course, some stories are more interesting than others—and few can rival Connecticut rocks for the stories they have to tell. They hope that put together their stories will complete a history of the earth and help us understand how it was that the world came to be as we see it today. Great Day Trips to Discover the Geology of Connecticut, by geologist Greg McHone, gives a complete geologic history of Connecticut, and describes field trips to some of the state's most fascinating geology sites—all within a short drive or right down the road. It could be because it is not supported, or that JavaScript is intentionally disabled. As part of New England, Connecticut has undergone much geologic change shaped by plate tectonics, volcanism, and glacial activity. Get the facts at ct.gov/coronavirus. Still others formed deep beneath the earth's surface and are seen today as the massive granites along the southeast coast. The impetus for creating this unit came about as part of the re-design of the Hall of Minerals, Earth & Space at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Photo by Greg McHone. The glacial lake left behind a soft, varved landscape, gathering silt and sand in the summertime due to the influx of glacial meltwater and clay in the wintertime as the lake froze until it was later drained. extensional shear zone, Willimantic, CT As part of New England, Connecticut has undergone much geologic change shaped by plate tectonics, volcanism, and glacial activity. Sedimentary rocks, cemented together from sand and mud, define the Connecticut Valley. Connecticut is made up of several different bands of bedrock, each with their own unique geologic histories. Connecticut's Eastern border fault was created, a fault which begins in New Haven and stretches 130 miles up to Keene, New Hampshire. It formed when the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated and glacial meltwater began to accumulate at the glacier's terminal moraine in Rocky Hill, Connecticut and back up into the Connecticut River. Below are some field photos taken during my first few years exploring the eastern half of the state. It has been shaped by … A GIS database of geologic units and structural features in Connecticut, with lithology, age, data structure, and format written and arranged just like the other states. At its greatest extent, one of these glaciers left behind a moraine which became today's Long Island. Others testify to the slow, yet relentless effects of weather and the elements that later all but carried these peaks away. The oldest reveal continental collisions so collossal they raised mountains thousands of feet high. About 200 million years after this collision and the formation of Pangea, during the middle of the Mesozoic Era, the Atlantic Ocean floor started spreading and great extensional forces were experienced, resulting in faulting. Geoscience We study how the Earth works as a planet, what its history has been, and how this knowledge can be put to good use. As part of the New England region, Connecticut has undergone much geologic change. The formation of this basin eventually refilled with soft fluvial and alluvial sediments. Great Day Trips to Discover the Geology of Connecticut. Unique varieties are found in practically every part of the state—and each makes its own contribution to the knowledge of the state's geology. The landscapecomponents of Connecticut include the N-S basalt ridges, Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, and the eastern and western terrane uplands flanking the … It is in the north-eastern side of the country. There are many fine examples of metamorphic rock in the northwest hills, formed under immense pressures during continental collisions. Look at Connecticut rocks together and you have a geological story with the ingredients of a true epic. During Ice Ages, glacial activity shaped much of New England’s landscape, eroding mountains, leaving glacial till scattered everywhere, and forming glacial lakes. The "Great Unconformity" (above) is a place where relatively younger layers of sedimentary rocks lay atop older metamorphic bedrock. Connecticut is a US state. Click here for the latest updates on DEEP's response to COVID-19. This material may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher Perry Heights Press. This soft surface has since been downcut, resedimented and oft flooded by the Connecticut River, making it a very soft, nutrient-replenished area and host to the majority of Connecticut's farmland soils. The land on either side of the Connecticut River Valley is less suitable for farmlands.

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