"Rock In" Down The Highway Earthcache EarthCache

This virtual cache is an exploration / driving tour highlighting features of NJ’s Geologic History. There is no specific order that must be followed to complete this cache. The posted coordinates are a suggested place to start. To log a find for this Earthcache you must visit at least 2 of the posted locations within all 5 of NJ’s physiographic regions.

Valley & Ridge, Highlands, Piedmont, Inner Coastal Plain, & Outer Coastal Plain

All 3 Periods of the Mesozoica Era, Triassic, Jurrassic, & Cretaceaous periods are well represented in NJ within these geological provinces. So how are these regions/provinces broken up? The Ridge & Valley lies in the far northwest corner and is considered part of the Appalacion Mountains. These Mountains slope southwest into the rolling hills of the Piedmont, an area of dozens of small lakes and rolling valleys. All that part of NJ which lies southeast of this area lies in the 2 coastal plains. These regions include portions of Middlesex & Mercer Counties and all of the Counties further south and east. In general the surfaces of the coastal plains are low flat plains that rise gradually from sea level along the coast to the Piedmont plain. Over ½ of this area lies below 100 ‘, except for the Rancocas Creek Drainage which consists of cuestos or ridges of low hills. The slope to the Atlantic Ocean east of the cuestos & ridges make up the Outer Coastal Plain. The slope west of the hills is called the Inner Coastal Plain. About 140 – 100 Million years ago these coastal regions were covered by oceans. As a result; during the Cretaceous & Tertiary Periods of the Mesozic Era the coastal plains became deposits of silts, sands, clays, greensands, & marls. Nearly all of these deposits contain fossils of marine animals.