Excursions in Geology and History: Field Trips in the Middle Atlantic States
The 2006 GSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia provided a unique venue for the geologic and historic exploration of the Middle Atlantic States. Excursions into Geology and History is a collection of 13 papers and accompanying field guides that explores topics ranging from fossil plants of the Pennsylvania Anthracite basins, to the use of slate as a building stone, to the structural geology of Appalachian orogen transects, to coal basin mine fires, to the geological influences on the outcome of the Civil War battle at Gettysburg, America’s most hallowed ground. The book will prove to be a valuable educational resource for geologists and historians alike.
Geology of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, New Jersey–Pennsylvania
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Published:January 01, 2006
Abstract
Many of the parks within the National Park System owe their uniqueness to their geologic framework. Their scenery is the result of diverse natural processes acting upon a variety of rocks that were deposited in varied environments in the geologic past. The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DEWA) contains a rich geologic and cultural history within its 68,714 acre boundary. Following the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the Delaware River has cut a magnificent gorge through Kit-tantinny Mountain, the Delaware Water Gap, to which all other gaps in the Appalachian Mountains have been compared. Proximity to many institutions of learning in this densely populated area of the northeastern United States (Fig. 1) makes DEWA an ideal locality to study the geology of this part of the Appalachian Mountains. This one-day field trip comprises two stops within the gap itself and will include discussion on stratigraphy, structure, geomorphology, and glacial geology. The first stop will be at the bottom of the gap in Pennsylvania to look at the magnificent exposures in the cleft on the New Jersey side. This will be followed by a traverse to the top of Mount Tammany along a popular trail, where we will compare the geology across the river in Pennsylvania. Much of the information presented in this guidebook is summarized from Epstein (2001a, 2001b, 2001c) and Epstein and Lyttle (2001).
- Appalachians
- cleavage
- Devonian
- folds
- foliation
- geomorphology
- glacial geology
- guidebook
- Martinsburg Formation
- Monroe County Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- North America
- Ordovician
- Paleozoic
- Pennsylvania
- road log
- Shawangunk Formation
- Silurian
- structural analysis
- United States
- Valley and Ridge Province
- Warren County New Jersey
- Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
- Kittatinny Mountains