This is a section of a page from “Exploring Franklin County” -- Appendix 6.
Note that these layers were formerly horizontal but have been tilted down to the east by quake movements along the Eastern Border Fault. Conglomerate rock (circles) is concentrated to the east of all the sedimentary layers since this area would have been closer to the steep mountains, where river flow was fast.
TABLE OF CONTENTS with topics and page numbers
3. Preface and Acknowledgements
7. INTRODUCTION: GEOLOGY IN FIVE STEPS
STEP ONE: ROCKS.
STEP TWO: GEOLOGIC TIME – THE PALEOZOIC ERA
STEP THREE: MESOZOIC EVENTS, THE BIG SPLIT
STEP FOUR: ICE AGES
STEP FIVE: RECENT EVENTS
17. FRANKLIN COUNTY SITES (alphabetically listed by town)
17. ASHFIELD
Chapel Ledge and Falls
18. BERNARDSTON AND WEST NORTHFIELD
A Drive Through Glacial Monuments
24. COLRAIN
Catamount Dens and Caves
27. CONWAY
Conway Station
31. DEERFIELD
A Terrace Drive
Mt. Sugarloaf
41. ERVING
French King Bridge
Rte. 2 Cliffs
The Great Wall
49. GILL
Barton Cove
Rte. 2 Overlook
Rock & Roll in the Mesozoic Rift along Rte. 2
60. GREENFIELD
Greenfield Community College: Geology Path and When the River Meandered to College
Poet’s Seat Tower
Highland Park Lava Cliff
Stop and Shop: World’s Best Geology Field Site
The World’s Only Church with an Armored Mud Ball
Stand Where Dinosaur Footprint Study Began
74. LEVERETT
Rattlesnake Gutter
Cave Hill
77. MONTAGUE
Turners Falls Walking Tour
Drive to Delta, Dunes, Kettles, and Spiritualists on the Montague Plain
86. NEW SALEM
Bears Den: A Cave with a Window
88. NORTHFIELD
Brush and Crag – Rock’n View
91. ORANGE
Tully Mountain
Rte. 2 Cliff and Batchelder Road Folds
95. SHELBURNE FALLS
The High Ledges
“Glacial” Potholes
101. SUNDERLAND
The Sunderland Caves
Mt. Toby & Jelly Rolls
Roaring Brook Trail
Cranberry Pond to Long Plain Delta
108. MOHAWK TRAIL ROAD TRIP : Orange to North Adams
Amazing Route 2 Roadside Attractions from Central Uplands Exotic Terranes to the Paleozoic Edge of North America in the middle of the Berkshires. Includes Tannery Falls, Savoy ( p. 113) and Natural Bridge State Park, North Adams (p. 117)
120. POSTSCRIPT Armored mud balls on Mars?
122. APPENDICES Topics to enhance your knowledge
122. APPENDIX 1 – ROCK IDENTIFICATION PAGE
Characteristics of local rocks will help you name them and understand their stories.
123. APPENDIX 2 – GEOLOGIC TIME AND EVENTS A one page compilation .
124. APPENDIX 3 – “CARTOON” OF GEOLOGY EVENTS THROUGH TIME --
It’s a truthful graphic sketch, not meant to be funny, but feel free to laugh.
125. APPENDIX 4 – PALEOZOIC PLATE TECTONICS MAP What was where, way back when.
126. APPENDIX 5 – RIFT VALLEY STRUCTURE AND SEDIMENTS
You must understand this to know and appreciate Connecticut Valley geology.
127. APPENDIX 6- VALLEY STRUCTURE CROSS SECTION
Looking underground in our old rift valley.
128. APPENDIX 7a - JURASSIC LAVA FLOWS 7b – LAND VS. WATER Columns or Pillows?
130. APPENDIX 8 - GLACIAL LANDFORMS What the glacier did to us.
132. APPENDIX 9 – LAKE HITCHCOCK TODAY AND “YESTERDAY”
LANDFORMS & SEDIMENTS Important Landscape legacy revealed.
134. APPENDIX 10 – FRANKLIN COUNTY LANDSCAPES & ROADS (EAST & WEST)
135. APPENDIX 11 - CENTRAL FRANKLIN COUNTY LANDSCAPES Sketch by Diane Crane
136. APPENDIX 12 - 15,500 YEARS AGO, LOOKING SOUTH
This could be an Alaska airplane view, but it’s an Amherst College Beneski Museum model.
137. APPENDIX 13 – TOPOGRAPHIC MAP, MT. TOBY QUADRANGLE MAP
Go to the “Resources” section and discover how easy it is to get these hard-to-find maps (free).
138. APPENDIX 14 - TOPOGRAPHIC MAP, MONTAGUE PLAIN Yes, that’s what it is.
139. APPENDIX 15 – IDEALIZED LANDFORMS OF CENTRAL FRANKLIN COUNTY
140. APPENDIX 16 – MAKING TERRACES They are all around us, but why and how?
142. APPENDIX 17 - A FAULTY OPTICAL ILLUSION In geology, you need to think in 5-D!
144. APPENDIX 18 – 3 RIVER MYSTERIES: Solved!
(1) THE ABYSS & OTHER DEEP HOLES. Look what the waterfalls did!
(2) WHY SOME LOCAL RIVERS FLOW NORTH A cold, but uplifting, story.
(3) UNIQUE JURASSIC FISH FILLET There’s a fault in this fishy fossil.
157. APPENDIX 19 – THE GEOLOGY PATH AT GREENFIELD COMMUNITY COLLEGE
See armored mud balls, lava, marble, and the giant egg-shaped hardest rock in the world.
159. APPENDIX 20 – CRANBERRY POND TO LONG PLAIN DELTA DIAGRAMS Graphic content.
161. APPENDIX 21 -- GEOLOGY MAP OF DOMES IN EASTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY Yes.
163. APPENDIX 22 -- TURNERS FALLS ARMORED MUD BALLS
& A RARE DINOSAUR BONE DISCOVERY Who would have believed it?
166. APPENDIX 23 -- TURNERS FALLS GEOLOGY WALK Lots to see. Running is ok.
181. APPENDIX 24 – CAVE HILL, LEVERETT, GUIDE Interesting view of a tectonic plate collision.
183. APPENDIX 25 – SINKS, KETTLES, POTS The whole hole story.
184. APPENDIX 26 -- FRANKLIN COUNTY ROCK DESCRIPTIONS
All the bedrock of Franklin County revealed, alphabetically.
187. RESOURCES This section has useful information such as how to get free, hard-to-find maps from the US Geological Survey. Put contour lines on Google Earth views. And more.
190. REFERENCES You might want to know more.
192. “THE BEST OF” Only have a few days here? Selected Franklin County places not to miss.
193. INDEX
GET FREE MAPS
This is a page from “Exploring Franklin County”. “Resources” chapter.
5. The Massachusetts Geological Survey [https://mgs.geo.umass.edu/ ]
A good resource to explore. Get Free Geologic Quadrangle Maps!!! See below
For geologic details about any spot in Franklin County or Massachusetts, you need the Geologic Quadrangle maps of your area of interest. There are two basic types: Surficial (glacial and recent deposits) and Bedrock. It is often difficult or inconvenient to find these maps, but they are online! See below.
Dr. Steve Mabee is our Massachusetts State Geologist. I asked him for the best way to access Geologic Quadrangle maps and his answer is below. The “GQ” maps are the way geologists and others investigate an area. They are the result of detailed field work and analysis. Note that older maps will have had formations renamed and perhaps reinterpreted, so do one more step for current geological data: go to the site described in “1” page 187. This database will have updated names and geological time dates, however, the GQ maps have greater detail. They also have a written narrative of the geologic formations and history. Geologic cross sections are included. In other words, whether you are a professional or just wish a deeper look at your “spot”, the GQ map series is where you need to go.
Steve Mabee, State Geologist, suggests this two step process.
1. First, find out what quadrangle map you are looking for. Steve created an index map showing all the watersheds, towns and quadrangle names for MA. Go here: http://mgs.geo.umass.edu/resources/quad-index
Or http://mgs.geo.umass.edu/biblio/what-75-quadrangle-am-i-pdf-paper-map
You will see a map of this index or you can load the index into Google Earth as a kmz file and see more detail for locating your area of interest within each quad.
2. Once you know what quad you want, go to the Geologic Map Database found here: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ngmdb/ngmdb_home.html
Select “Map Catalog”.
Enter the name of the quad under “Title”, select the type of map (surficial or bedrock) under “Geology Themes” and then select “Massachusetts” under State or Territories.
This will give you the link to the map! Just click on the map and you can preview it as well as download various options.
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