Mount Battie Conglomerate Quartzite EarthCache
Mount Battie Conglomerate Quartzite
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Welcome to Camden Hills State Park located in the Megunticook Mountain Range on the shore of Penobscot Bay. Recognizing the special features of this area, the National Park Service acquired nearly 5,000 acres of this range in the 1930's. In cooperation with the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Park Service built the "Camden Hills Recreation Development Area" during the late 1930's and early 1940's. Since 1947, the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands has administered the area now known as Camden Hills State Park, which is one of Maine's most popular parks. The 5,500 acre park provides 30 miles of hiking trails with outstanding features such as Megunticook Mountain range, whose peaks rise from near sea level to a height of 1,380 feet, Maiden Cliff, a rock outcropping that rises 800 feet from the shore of Megunticook Lake and Mt. Battie where sweeping views of Camden, Penobscot Bay, and surrounding islands await.
Indirect evidence from surrounding areas suggests the age of formation to be Cambrian, over 500 million years old. This is the time at which the conglomerate and sand were deposited. Current estimates of the positions of continents at that time suggest that the ocean we are talking about is the Iapetus Ocean (predecessor of the Atlantic), and that the sediments of this part of Maine accumulated near the south margin of that ocean, not far from the South Pole. The metamorphism, which turned the rock into quartzite probably, occurred in the Silurian Period, about 430 million years ago.
Originally described by Edson Bastin in his 1908 U.S. Geological Survey report, the rocks of Mount Battie are a kind of rock called quartzite. Quartzite is a metamorphic rock composed mostly of the mineral quartz. Metamorphic rocks have been subjected to heat and pressure at depth in the earth, which over time actually changes their crystalline structure. For most rocks, like quartzite, metamorphism causes the rock to become much harder, similar to the way that clay changes to ceramic by baking making it more resistant to erosion. Conglomerates found here are sedimentary rocks that accumulated at places like pebble beaches or in offshore basins or channels where small stones might accumulate. The sequence of rocks that comprise the Battie Quartzite, from conglomerate to bedded conglomerate and quartzite to bedded quartzite, suggests they were deposited in an ocean.
At the posted coordinates you are at an outcrop of rock located along the Mount Battie Auto Road very near a parking pullout. You are looking at the layered Battie Quartzite, with layers of conglomerate alternating with layers of quartzite. In this exposure the layers are not horizontal, but are tipped about 20 degrees toward the north. Remember this is an earthcache so there is no container just an earth science lesson at an amazing natural feature. In order to fulfill the requirements of this earthcache you need to: email through my profile the estimated the thickness of the conglomerate layer and size of the conglomerate pebbles. Please be sure to include the name of the earthcache in your email. After answering the question to log this cache, it would be nice to post a photo of yourself with your GPS with the conglomerate in the background. It is always nice to describe what you found special about this place so others have something to look forward to when visiting.
Please remember that Camden Hills Sate Park is maintained primarily for recreational purposes. Remember that forethought and a little preparation are the key elements to a successful and enjoyable outdoor experience. Please remember the taking or collecting of mineral samples is not permitted in Camden Hills State Park. Make sure to practice "Carry-in-carry out" to keep the park a special for the future visitors.
"The Bedrock Geology of Mount Battie, Camden" webpage by the Maine Geological Survey at (visit link) was used as the primary source of information.
If you enjoy this earthcache you may want to check the Maine Geological Survey located at (visit link)
They have developed a number of information sheets or field localities giving a great deal of information about geologic features. They also have a number of books and maps about Maine’s natural history/ geology that you might find interesting.
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