 "Rock In" Down The Highway Earthcache
A cache by chstress53 Hidden: 3/1/2005
Size:  (Not chosen) Difficulty:  Terrain:  (1 is easiest, 5 is hardest)
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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.
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Valley & Ridge, Highlands, Piedmont, Inner Coastal
Plain, & Outer Coastal Plain
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To log a find you must post: |
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The name of
each physiographic location visited along with its
region. |
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At least 1
photo from each region. (Minimum of 5
required) |
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Describe in
an email what you the physiographic location i.e.tell about the
soils, minerals, rocks, landforms, waterfalls, historic sites or
museums etc. |
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| Although one
of the smallest states, New Jersey has a wealth of geological
features--from billion year old rocks formed during continental
collision to recent sediments deposited along the modern
shorelines. NJ is divided into 5 separate geological provinces or
physiographic regions: Valley & Ridge,
Highlands, Piedmont, Inner Coastal Plain, & Outer Coastal
Plain. |
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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.
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| Outer Coastal Plain
Province |
| The most noted area of this region is the Pine Barrens.
The highest elevation is at Apple Pie Hill & the next highest
is the Forked River Mountain. After the oceans retreated during the
Pleistocene Epoch which began 1 million years ago; there were major
ice advances. During this time the land was sub-artic tundra and
was greatly changed by sands & gravels deposited by streams
leading away from the retreating ice in North Jersey. A major
effect of this was the deposition of yellow sands and gravels.
These soils are sandy, sedimentary deposits. There are 13 major
types: Lakewood, Evesboro, Woodmansie, Downer, Sassafras, Aura,
Lakehurst, Klej, Hammonton, Atsion, Berryland, Pocomoke & Muck.
Look at this map of NJ. Can you guess where you might locate some
of these soil types? Nearly all of these sands contain 90% Quartz.
Other minerals are the feldspars, oxides, aluminum, &
iron. |
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Outer Coastal Plain Province
Locations: |
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Apple Pie Hill |
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N39°48.439
W74°35.377 |
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Forked River Mountain |
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N39°50.865
W74°17.336 |
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Island Beach State Park |
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N39°47.136
W74°05.688 |
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Cape May Point (Sunset
Beach) |
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N38°56.666
W74°58.204 |
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Penn State Forest |
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N39°43.882
W74°29.316 |
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Oswego River |
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N39°42.228
W74°31.630 |
| Cape May Diamonds |
| The Native peoples were the first to find the fascinating
and beautiful stones now known as "Cape May Diamonds." The Native
Americans came to believe that these curious stones possessed
supernatural power bringing success and good fortune. "Cape May
Diamonds" are pure quartz crystals and are found in a variety of
sizes and colors. The actual source of these amazing gems is in the
faraway upper reaches of the Delaware River. Pieces of quartz
crystal are eroded and broken off from veins and pockets by the
swift running waters of streams. Then begins the some 200 mile
journey that takes thousands of years to complete. The strong tidal
flow against the hulk of the sunken concrete ship "Atlantus" is the
cause for them to wash ashore in such great
abundance. |
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| Inner Coastal Plain Province |
| The Inner Coastal Plain is comprised of several
formations that are made up of sands, silts, clays, and marls that
were laid down mostly during the Late Cretaceous. During the 40
million years of its formation, the Inner Coastal Plain experienced
several oscillations of the rising (transgressions) and falling
(regressions) of the sea level. This rising and falling cycle
deposited the formations into three different shelf regions. These
are the inner, middle, and outer shelf. |
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Inner Coastal Plain Province Locations: |
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Arney’s
Mount |
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N40°00.586
W74°41.804 |
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Trenton Hamilton Marsh |
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N40°11.458 W74°43.679 |
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Haddonfield |
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N39°54.577 W75°01.751 |
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Mount Holly Mount |
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N40°00.152 W74°47.301 |
| A dinosaur was discovered |
| It
was found in a marl pit in 1858 and was the first complete dinosaur
skeleton found in N America or for that matter anywhere in the
world. Realizing the significance of his find William
Parker Foulke asked Joseph Leidy and Isaac Lea of the Academy
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia to evaluate it. Leidy's
reconstruction of this skeleton revolutionized the understanding of
dinosaurs. Today this site has become a National Historic landmark
in Haddonfield. |
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| Piedmont Province |
| The Piedmont Province is a result of times of change.
Sedimentary and igneous rocks, of the Triassic & the Jurassic
accumulated in a large sedimentary basin known as the Newark rift
basin. This basin formed during the breakup of the super continent
of Pangea. A narrow sliver of Precambrian rocks is exposed in
southern Mercer county. The Watchung Mountains are underlain by
basalt; the Palisades, and Rocky Hill are underlain by diabase. The
Piedmont generally has low relief--rolling hills and the like. The
formations are mostly sedimentary rocks like sandstone, siltstone,
shale, & conglomerates. Then there are the igneous rocks basalt
& diabase that help form the geologic bedrocks. There is an
outcrop in Prallsville that is more sandstone.. In contrast are
boulders, like several that can be found in the Passic Formation.
These boulders are known as erratics a harder resistant rock which
transplanted from distant terrains. In some places, such as
Milford, along the DSR, the rocks are less red and are called
conglomerates. The typical basalt is dark red. This type is called
igneous and is actually solidified lava. A similar rock is diabase
formed from underground magma. Along the portion of the road north
of Milford along the DSR lie walled outcrops of conglomerates,
sandstones, siltstones, & shales. Dinosaur fossils of the
Piedmont are 150 million yrs older than Hadrosaurus foulkii. Most
of these are footprints of Anchisaurripus, Atricipus, Eubrontes,
Gallator, & Rhynchosau. There is a footprint of Eubrontes on
display at the NJ State Museum. |
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Piedmont Province
Locations: |
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Eagle Rock Reservation |
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N40°48.214
W74°14.372 |
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Prallsville (RT 29) |
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N40°24.644
W74°59.199 |
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Watchung Resercvation (Trailside Nature
Center) |
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N40°40.271
W74°37.218 |
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N40°41.001
W74°22.415 |
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Sourland Mountain |
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(This mountain
Range actually extends to the Delaware River) |
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A typical
Piedmont ridge formed by a very hard igneous rock called diabase or
"Trap Rock."
The Sourland Mountain ends at the Delaware River below Goat Hill,
looking south from the Lambertville toll bridge. To the south and
north, diabase, shale, and argillite occurs, and these rocks form
the lower lands we know of as Pleasant Valley. |
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N40°22.810
W74°56.968 |
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Sergentsville Covered Bridge |
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Wickecheoke
Creek is fourteen miles long and drains a 26.57-square-mile
watershed into the Delaware River at approximately N40° 24.376
and W74° 59 15.97 The watershed is underlain by poorly drained
Lockatong argillite, a lake bottom deposit formed during the
Triassic period, while the lower half is underlain by Stockton
sandstone. |
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N40°26.640
W74°57.964 |
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Buttermilk Falls |
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N40°57.069 W74
11.510 |
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NJ State Museum |
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N40°13.261
W74°46.323 |
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Rutgers Geology Museum |
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N40°29.909
W74°26.797 |
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| Ridge & Valley Province |
| The Valley and Ridge like its name implies, consists of
alternating linear or curvilinear valleys and ridges of moderate
relief. This is the eroded remnants of the Appalachian mountain
system, which, when it formed over 300 million years ago, probably
looked very much like the present-day Himalayas This province is
characterized by widely varied topography ranging from the towering
Kittatinny ridge to the sinkhole ponds and swamps of the limestone
region. Within this area, the ridge is primarily composed of a hard
quartzite conglomerate and sandstone caprock overlying shale. This
shale was laid down during the Ordovician (470 million years ago),
and the conglomerate was laid down in the Silurian (about 420
million years ago); both sedimentary rock layers were subsequently
folded and uplifted during the Permian (about 270 million years
ago) to their present position and angle with a pronounced dip to
the northwest, resulting in prominent cliffs on the east side of
the ridge and more gentle slopes on the west side. On the
Kittatinny Ridge at the southern end, the conglomerate caprock is
narrower and confined to the eastern part of the ridge. with
increasing amounts of limestone on the western slopes along the
Delaware River. |
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Ridge & Valley
Locations: |
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Worthington State Park |
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N40°59.354
W75°05.488 |
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High Point |
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N41°19.256
W74°39
690 |
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Buttermilk Falls |
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N41°08.237
W74°53.306 |
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| Delaware Water Gap National Recreation
Area |
| Delaware Water Gap is one of the best places to see water
at Work. Millions of years ago this was a level plain; erosion and
gradual uplift of the land formed the ridges and valleys we see
today. What is distinctive about this gap is the beauty of the
landscape. Here the river twists in a tight "S" curve through the
Kittatinny Ridge. |
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High on top of the
Kittatinny Ridge is a blue lake, Sunfish Pond which is a
National Landmark, a relic of the Wisconsin Glacier (which gouged
out a hollow that later filled with water) around 18,000 years ago.
N41°00.482
W75°04.372 |
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Sunrise Mtn. -
N41°13.081
W74°43.223 |
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Bushkill Mtn. -
N41°06.373
W74°59.095 |
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| Highland Province |
| This province is similar to the Valley & Ridge in
terms of topography and geology. In fact, the only difference is
that Precambrian metamorphic rocks are present in the Highlands
These rocks are approximately 1 billion years old, they include
gneiss and marble, and were deformed in the Grenville orogeny which
involved the collision of plates in Precambrian time. These
metamorphic rocks were then re-deformed during the same
mountain-building phases that affected the Valley & Ridge
province. The highlands are higher then the Piedmont and are marked
by a fairly abrupt change; an escarpment. It is here that the
Ramapo Fault lies. This fault is a zone that is 3 -6 miles wide and
began forming around the Precambriam time. |
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Highland
Province Locations: |
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Ramapo |
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N41°04.903
W74°11.886 |
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Ken Lockwood Gorge |
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N40°41.822
W74°52
361 |
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Great Falls |
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N40°54.950
W74°10.870 |
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Palisades |
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N40°59.864
W73°54.249 |
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Highlands - A |
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N40°23.153
W73°59.100 |
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Highlands - B |
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N40°23.115
W73°59.067 |
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