Coastal Geology of Eastern Connecticut

Geological Society of Connecticut Fieldtrip Guidebook No. 6

Sixth Annual Fieldtrip - Saturday, April 25, 2015

A field trip illustrating bedrock-controlled features on a glacially-modified coastal landscape, which is being drowned by the rising sea. Mountain building and accretion of terranes that are associated with the assembly of Pangaea, and subsequent extension during Pangaea's breakup, created an approximate north-south bedrock fabric in south-central New England. During the intervening 200 million years, weathering, stream erosion, and at least four glaciations have differentially removed less resistant bedrock units and exploited fault and fracture zones. The shape of the bedrock surface determined the type of glacial deposits that were emplaced along the Connecticut coast as the last (Wisconsinan) glacier receded northward out of Glacial Lake Connecticut.

ISBN: 9780942081268

Publisher: Geological Society of Connecticut

Publication date: April 25, 2015

Pages: 45