Hey MoneyPitMike

[ChrisM]

I was doing some research today (I'm a geosciences major) and I stumbled upon an interesting landform from your area...the "Shelburne Falls Volcanic Arc".

I recognized the town from on here, believe it or not, so I delved in. Apparently during the Early to Middle Ordivician (~450 MYA) a subduction zone existed between Laurentia (basically the infancy of what is now North America) and the Shelburne Falls Arc. Your area used to be shoreline property until the arc slammed into the coast and subducted underneath. On the continental part of that subduction zone, a huge volcanic mountain belt grew. Where you live now ,would have been the center, or close to it anyway,of a belt as high as the Himalayas. Of course, over time weathering has taken those mountains down a few (MANY) thousand feet. A lot of us on here would have been seeing the same kind of landscape, but I found it cool that one of our members lived near the locus of the whole thing.

When the two pieces collided, they created the Taconics just west of you. If you go look at the exposed rocks near the Deerfield you can see volcanic rocks from about that time period. The rocks were granitic, but the force and heat of the collision metamorphosed them into gneiss ("nice"). The pressures must have been unimaginable. I bet it's hard to imagine your quiet little NW Zone being riddled with volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis.

Of course there's plenty of cool geology across New England but the name caught my eye. It can just be wild to think about what the place we live in now used to look like. Pete @ 2k would have been miles beneath us .

[CoastalWx]

Pete lives on the West Chesterfield shelf, where a sliver of land 2 sq miles in size is 15,000ft into the atmosphere.

[dryslot]

Pete lives on the West Chesterfield shelf, where a sliver of land 2 sq miles in size is 15,000ft into the atmosphere.

Thats where his temp sensor is...

[HIPPYVALLEY]

http://www.umass.edu/tei/mwwp/drwa/biology.html

[Cold Miser]

http://www.umass.edu...wa/biology.html

Pretty awesome info right there.

Thanks.

[klw]

http://www.nhgeology.org/jurassic.htm

Nice info here on ring mountains in NH.

A a fun presentation/ slide show on ring mountains I just saw at the Montshire Museum.

http://www.winearth....u/Ring_Dike.swf

And here is one on Lake Hitchcock

http://www.winearth.terc.edu/animations.html

[OKpowdah]

Pete lives on the West Chesterfield shelf, where a sliver of land 2 sq miles in size is 15,000ft into the atmosphere.

Also has its own magnetic pole

[HoarfrostHubb]

http://www.nhgeology.org/jurassic.htm

Nice info here on ring mountains in NH.

A a fun presentation/ slide show on ring mountains I just saw at the Montshire Museum.

http://www.winearth....u/Ring_Dike.swf

And here is one on Lake Hitchcock

http://www.winearth....animations.html

Mount Pawtuckaway Ring Dike complex FTW...

Very intersting location in NH

My old prof, Dr. Eby, did a lot of work up there

http://faculty.uml.e...ield%20trip.pdf

http://faculty.uml.edu/nelson_eby/Field%20Trip%20guides/Pawtuckaway%201984%20NEIGC.pdf

http://faculty.uml.edu/nelson_eby/Field%20Trip%20guides/Ossipee%20NHGS.pdf

[moneypitmike]

I was doing some research today (I'm a geosciences major) and I stumbled upon an interesting landform from your area...the "Shelburne Falls Volcanic Arc".

I recognized the town from on here, believe it or not, so I delved in. Apparently during the Early to Middle Ordivician (~450 MYA) a subduction zone existed between Laurentia (basically the infancy of what is now North America) and the Shelburne Falls Arc. Your area used to be shoreline property until the arc slammed into the coast and subducted underneath. On the continental part of that subduction zone, a huge volcanic mountain belt grew. Where you live now ,would have been the center, or close to it anyway,of a belt as high as the Himalayas. Of course, over time weathering has taken those mountains down a few (MANY) thousand feet. A lot of us on here would have been seeing the same kind of landscape, but I found it cool that one of our members lived near the locus of the whole thing.

When the two pieces collided, they created the Taconics just west of you. If you go look at the exposed rocks near the Deerfield you can see volcanic rocks from about that time period. The rocks were granitic, but the force and heat of the collision metamorphosed them into gneiss ("nice"). The pressures must have been unimaginable. I bet it's hard to imagine your quiet little NW Zone being riddled with volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis.

Of course there's plenty of cool geology across New England but the name caught my eye. It can just be wild to think about what the place we live in now used to look like. Pete @ 2k would have been miles beneath us .

Neat. Another neat geological thing you'll find here are the glacial pot holes (not to be confused with the ones on the southeast expressway). I guess the ones right at the base of the falls are the largest examples of them in the world.

http://atlasobscura.com/place/glacial-potholes

Pete lives on the West Chesterfield shelf, where a sliver of land 2 sq miles in size is 15,000ft into the atmosphere.

Lol.

[Allenson]

http://www.nhgeology.org/jurassic.htm

Nice info here on ring mountains in NH.

A a fun presentation/ slide show on ring mountains I just saw at the Montshire Museum.

http://www.winearth....u/Ring_Dike.swf

And here is one on Lake Hitchcock

http://www.winearth....animations.html

Cool--couple things: I used to work at the Montshire. Matter of fact, my wife and I met working there.

And, love the subject of Lake Hitchcock. I taught a lesson on this at the Montshire way back in the day (10 years ago, or so). There's still evidence of the old shoreline, now up on the hills, if one knows where to look.

[HoarfrostHubb]

Cool--couple things: I used to work at the Montshire. Matter of fact, my wife and I met working there.

And, love the subject of Lake Hitchcock. I taught a lesson on this at the Montshire way back in the day (10 years ago, or so). There's still evidence of the old shoreline, now up on the hills, if one knows where to look.

I like the Champlain Sea and the Vermont Whale better.... btw, the Montshire is awesome. Very well done, hidden jewel

[Allenson]

I like the Champlain Sea and the Vermont Whale better.... btw, the Montshire is awesome. Very well done, hidden jewel

Aye, the Champlain/inland sea thing is pretty cool too and yes again, the Montshire is great, particularly for where it is. It's an off-shot of the old Dartmouth Natural History Museum. So much in this area is an off-shot of the Big D in one way or another....

[HoarfrostHubb]

Aye, the Champlain/inland sea thing is pretty cool too and yes again, the Montshire is great, particularly for where it is. It's an off-shot of the old Dartmouth Natural History Museum. So much in this area is an off-shot of the Big D in one way or another....

Did not know that part. We have frends in Hanover (moving soon to Washington state) and visit them sometimes. Not so much soon...

[Professional Lurker]

There's still evidence of the old shoreline, now up on the hills, if one knows where to look.

This interests me...

[Allenson]

This interests me...

Mostly sandy terrace-type deposits and old deltas of rivers/brooks that drained into the glacial lake.

In Mass, but the same concept:

http://web.gcc.mass.edu/pvi/2011/01/13/the-terraces-of-lake-hitchcock-land/

Pretty cool map of the southern 2/3 of VT showing the extent of the ancient glacial lake. Pretty neat to see the old shoreline--my place would've still been above the lake level but where my family's place is and my work were 200' or so below the lake's surface.

Interesting to see the big island that's now the hills above East Thetford, VT as well as the northern end of the Taconics, west of Rutland, being large islands in 'Lake Vermont'.

[HoarfrostHubb]

I would have loved to withness one of the old glacial lakes let go

GLOF's sounded neat (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods)

[Wx4cast]

I read this book about 3 years ago...very fascinating

The Rise and Fall of the Taconic Mountains A Geological History of Eastern New York

[moneypitmike]

I read this book about 3 years ago...very fascinating

The Rise and Fall of the Taconic Mountains A Geological History of Eastern New York

Thanks for the rec, Andy.

[Wx4cast]

Thanks for the rec, Andy.

anytime my friend...