IF YOU'RE ON A QUEST FOR SOME ICON'S COME AND HAVE SOME FUN AND ADVENTURE
I've tubed down this river every summer I my Quest for fun and adventure and always said to myself I wonder how this happened what kind of rocks are those ? This is Called The Kittatinny Mountain Ridge but we just call it the Blue Mountain. The Appalachain Trail desends down here and goes back up on the Other side of the River . Viewed from the distance, it has the appearance of the edge of an elevated plateau it also has a Blue apperance to it. The mountain is a narrow ridge with the top scarcely wider than one-fourth mile any place ,and generally much narrower, the mountain looks like a barrier ridge. The hard Tuscarora conglomerates and sandstones forming the mountain dip to the northwest at angles varying from 30 to 60 Degrees. The Martinsburg shales beneath dip in the same direction, likewise at various angles. The contact between the two formations, Due to the the hillside talus it's hard to see some of the underlying rocks. The crowding of the Lines shown on a Topo mapgive you a better idea of the steepness of the slopes. They can be climbed by the anybody without to muh trouble..
With all the Saddles and Humps (dips and Rises) in the Mountain I wondered what is the difference beteween a water Gap and a Wind Gap. Well A water gap is a short, narrow, steep-sided pass or gorge by which a stream cuts through a hard, resistant rock ridge. A wind gap is an abandoned water gap or notch in a ridge cut by a stream that was later diverted or captured. Examples of wind and water gaps are numerous throughout the folded Appalachians of Pennsylvania. In Lehigh County the most prominent are the Lehigh water gap (this one)through which Lehigh River flows, and the Lehigh Furnace gap to the West and Wind Gap to the North East in Northampton County, all cut in the resistant sandstones and conglomerates of the Blue Mountain.
To account for the origin of water gaps it is not necessary to assume that Lake Ontario or some other lake once extended to Blue Mountain and suddenly burst the barrier, since some dams collapse under abnormal water pressure neither was it the breaking of a mountain ridge by a great earthquake or the formation of the gap at the time of Pangia, Thru the use of geologic time measured by hundreds of millions of years we realize the great effects produced by slowly acting but long continued natural forces. The water gaps are solely formed by the work of the rivers themselves. Whether there was an original depression or an area of weakened rocks that determined the place where the Lehigh River cut thru Kittatinny Mountain we really can't tell .
The Lehigh River is believed to have taken its present course across the mountain when the whole region was base level . Imagine this whole area was Flat at one time !
A gradual uplift of the area gave the stream renewed cutting power and regardless of the hardness of the rocks the rolling of cobbles and sand by the running water cut the bedrocks like a saw, The cutting amounts to more than 1,OOO feet in that the river now has an elevation of 393 feet above sea level and the top of the mountain ridge a short distance to the west is over 1400 feet.
The lower south slope of the mountain at Lehigh Gap is composed of Martinsburg shales dipping to the north. Because of the Heavy talus the Rocks are not exposed on the Lehigh County side, but on the Northampton County side because of the railroad and highway cutsone can see excellent exposures. The higher slopes and the crest are formed by the Tuscarora gray sandstones and conglomerates dipping to the north throughout Lehigh County . The north slope is formed by the prevailingly red sandstones and shales of the Bloomsburg and Clinton formations.
The Devil’s Pulpit is one of the rather striking features to be observed in passing through or looking across Lehigh Gap, it is a solitary pinnacle of the Tuscarora sandstone about half way up the western slope.There was a Cache there at one time but has since been removed .
It is a remnant left by erosion when other outcropping portions of the same bed of sandstone were worn away. It presents some resemblance to a pulpit and was named more than 100 years ago. Some of the Questions Can be answered from this reading and others will need to be answered by observation at the Various waypoints
1. N 40° 47.188 W 075° 36.420 What is the color and texture of this out cropping , what type of Rocks do you Think this is from the reading above ?
2. N 40° 47.218 W 075° 36.452 what do these rocks look like ,color ,feel type ?
3.N 40° 47.325 W 075° 36.484 what do these rocks look like ,color ,feel type ?
4. N 40° 47.338 W 075° 36.484 Large boulder , do you see any Quartz and if so small, Medium or Large ? Would consider this conglomerate ?
5.N 40° 47.489 W 075° 36.581 Stand here and look across the river to the Outcropping above the upper trail, What is the name of this outcropping and what is it made of ?
6. Standing at the same spot look to the North there is a Huge Mountain with a House on it What color is the Rocks and what do you believe it to be ?
7. Is this a water Gap or a Wind Gap, Explain why ?
8.How many feet above sea Level is the river at this point ? and How High above sea level is the Mountain here , use your best Judgement from what you've read ?
9. A new change to the guidelines allows me to require a photo. Take a picture of you or a personal item at the site.
Thank you,
http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/lvgeology/pdf/LC_4.pdf
