Landscapes of New York Virtual Field Trip By Nick D’Anna Photos courtesy of Gail & Bret Bennington, A. Orgonik, & myself

What are landscapes? 3 Major Classifications: Mountains Plains / Lowlands Plateaus / Uplands

New York has all three! Notice the Catskills are part of a plateau, and are not really mountains

Mountains / Highlands At least 300 meters above the surrounding land. Created by a tectonic collision between two landmasses (Orogeny). Characterized by distorted rock structures (metamorphic bedrock): a result of the pressures applied during collision.

Plains / Lowlands Large areas of flat land at low elevations. Lots of gravel, sand and clay. HOME SWEET HOME!

Plateau / Uplands Large areas of flat land at high elevation. Usually flat, horizontal, sedimentary rock structures.

Check your note sheet now Landscapes MountainsPlateausPlains

Stop Here! The rocks around the room are from all over NY. Describe them as best you can. What are the clues in the rock that we can use to answer: Igneous, Sedimentary, Metamorphic? Environment of formation? Fossils? Mineral Composition?

Landforms are the result of the interaction of tectonic forces and the processes of weathering, erosion, and deposition.

What tectonic events and surface processes were occurring during these times?

Adirondack High Peaks

Correlate page 2 to page 3 of your ESRT

What was happening in NY during the Middle Proterozoic?

Correlate pages 2 & 3 to pages 8 & 9.

No horizontal layering – blocky, chunky, jointed metamorphic rock.

Isolated garnet crystals like this one, tell us the rock has been subjected to a lot of heat and pressure (metamorphism).

Anorthosite; composed of large crystals of labradorite feldspar (another clue of metamorphism).

Distorted bedrock structure – result of compression forces during the collision of landmasses that created the supercontinent that came before Pangea.

Letchworth Gorge

Correlate page 2 to page 3 of your ESRT

What was happening in NY during the Devonian?

Correlate pages 2 & 3 to pages 8 & 9.

During the Devonian the western parts of NY are underwater. The Acadian orogeny occurs mostly to the North (Maine, Newfoundland, Greenland, etc…). The rising of those mountains produced a lot of erosion of the softer surface sedimentary rocks and the Catskill delta was formed.

Is this a true mountainous region?

Elevated sedimentary rocks being worn down by running water

Watkins Glen

These and other marine fossils tell us that the area was once covered by a shallow sea.

Sedimentary rocks, at fairly high elevations, being worn down by running water

Shawangunk Ridge

Notice the layering in the rocks

Conglomerate rock from the Catskills. The Catskills are made of sedimentary rocks, not metamorphic rocks!

Take us home, Mr. D

Correlate page 2 to page 3 of your ESRT

Correlate pages 2 & 3 to pages 8 & 9.

Caumsett State Park, Lloyd’s Neck, LI Cretaceous Clay Pleistocene Sands & Gravels

Glacial till Loess

Thank you for your cooperation, We’re almost done Write one thing about a rock you observed that is a clue to the landform it is found in.