New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference
2004

Salem, Massachusetts
October 8, 9, and 10th

The NEIGC is a series of field trips open to anyone interested in local geology.
All you need to do is choses the trips you wish to attend and register

ATTENTION: THERE IS ALSO ONSITE REGISTRATION

Check this site for UPDATES on trip departure times and locations> (last updated 10/07/04)

History of the conference

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Hosted by

Department of Geological Sciences, Salem State College,
with participation from
Peabody Essex Museum
and
contributions from
Geological Society of Maine (GSM)
Geological Society of New Hampshire (GSNH)
Northeastern Section of the Society of Sedimentary Geologist(SEPM)


Conference Program

***Registration form: pdf or Word doc ***

Note: Due to the size and cost of printing, the guidebook price has been increased from $20 to $25.

The increase is reflected on the registration form.
This charge will apply to those who have already registered.

(Guidebook and registration materials can be picked up during any of the registration sessions listed below)


Friday, 8 October 2004
Daytime Field Trips: A-Trips (see trip descriptions for starting times and places)
6:00-9:00 p.m. WELCOMING PARTY and ONSITE Registration: Peabody Essex Museum


 
Saturday, 9 October 2004
Daytime Field Trips: B-Trips (see trip descriptions for starting times and places)

7:00-8:00 a.m. Morning ONSITE Registration: Campus Police near Central Campus parking lot

ATTENTION: All Saturday post-trip events have been move from the Commons to Central Campus.
6:00-7:00 p.m. Reception and ONSITE Resgistration: Salem State College (Central Campus #28)
7:00-9:00 p.m. Banquet: Salem State College (
Central Campus #28)

5:30-6:30 NE Section NAGT Event
Salem State College (
Central Campus #28)   



Sunday, 10 October 2004

7:00-8:00 a.m. Morning ONSITE Registration: Campus Police near Central Campus parking lot
Daytime Field Trips: C-Trips

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About Salem
•••Be warned and be prepared: October is Salem's busiest month•••
Haunted Happenings starts the first weekend in October

Area and Campus Maps / Maps to sites in Salem

Make your reservations now!
--Lodging
--

Use these sites to search for lodging in any of the local cities and towns:
Orbitz /Cheap Tickets.com/ Travelocity/ Expedia. com/ All around the Globe/Switchboard
Local Cities and Towns: Salem, Danvers,
Beverly, Marblehead, Lynn, Saugus, Lynfield, Wakefield , Middleton

If your Friday trip starts in Maine or New Hampshire check for Thursday-night lodging near your departure point

Camping: Winter Island Marine Park

(This convenient coastal campground near the center of Salem fills up quickly.
Make your reservations now!


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NEIGC FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT
List of trips

Friday. October 8, 2004

A1 An Exploration of the Contact Between the Central Maine Terrane and the Merrimack Group Across the Maine - New Hampshire Border
Trip Leaders: P. J. Thompson, W. A. Bothner, A. M. Hussey II, and Jo Laird

A2 The Peri-Gondwanan Nashoba Terrane of Eastern Massachusetts: An Early Paleozoic Arc-related Complex and its Accretionary History
Trip Leader: J. Christopher Hepburn, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College

A3 Glacial Geology in Eastern York County, Maine
Trip Leaders: Thomas K. Weddle, Woodrow B. Thompson, John B. Nelson, Anna K. Tary, and Carl Koteff.

A4 Anthropogenic impacts at Camp Ellis, Saco, Maine
Trip Leaders: Peter A. Slovinsky and Stephen M. Dickson, Maine Geological Survey - Department of Conservation, Augusta, ME 04333

A5 The Ossipee Ring Complex
Trip Leaders: Dr. Nelson Eby of U. MA, Lowell, and Ben Kennedy, McGill University.

A6 Rock around the Block, Salem
Trip Leader, Ed Myskowski, Peabody Essex Museum
Two hour trip starting at 2:00 Friday Afternoon

C5
(Geological Complexity and Its Effects on Engineering Design in Boston) 9/13 UPDATE! TRIP C5 HAS BEEN MOVED TO FRIDAY
Trip Leader: David Woodhouse, The Cadmus Group


Saturday Trips, October 9, 2004

B1 The Massabesic Gneiss Complex: The Rocks Speak and the Proterozoic Shrinks
Trip Leaders: C. M. Kerwin, J. E. Schulz, Jo Laird and W. A. Bothner

B2 Mylonites and Brittle Shear Zones Along the Western Edge of the Avalon Terrane West of Boston.
Trip Leaders: Edward J. Kohut, Dept. of Geosciences, Oregon State University, and
J. Christopher Hepburn, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College

B3 WHERE THE GLACIER MET THE SEA: Late Quaternary geology of the northeast coast of Massachusetts from Cape Ann to Salisbury
Trip Leaders: Byron D. Stone, Janet R. Stone, Lucinda J. McWeeney

B4 The Geology and Geomorphology of the North Shore - Day 1: Salem Area
Trip Leaders: Rudolph Hon, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College and Lindley Hanson, Department of Geological Sciences, Salem State College

B5 The Cape Ann Plutonic Suite: A Field Trip for Petrology Classes
Trip Leaders: John T. Cheney, Department of Geology, Amherst College and John B. Brady, Department of Geology, Smith College

B6 Processes and Evolution of Boston Harbor Islands: Peddocks and Lovells Islands.
Trip Leaders: Peter S. Rosen, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University, and Duncan M. FitzGerald, Department of Earth Science, Boston University

10/7 UPDATE: Starting Time and Place: 9:00: Thompson Island Outwardbound Dock. DirectionstoDock.doc, DirectionstoDock.pdf For those who do not want to drive to Boston, there will also be a VAN leaving from Salem State College Central Campus Parking lot at 7:00 AM.

B7 Ediacaran and Cambrian Fossils and Strata of the Hewitts Cove Locality, Weymouth Back River, and East Point, Nahant Region, Boston Basin
Trip leader: Mark A. S. McMenamin, Department of Earth and Environment, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA 01075

Sunday Trips, October 10, 2004

C1 The Cape Ann Mafic Dike Swarms
Trip Leader: Martin Ross

C2
Roxbury Review: Conglomerates of the Boston Basin.
Field Trip Leaders: Margaret D. Thompson, Department of Geosciences, Wellesley College, Anne M. Grunow, Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University


C3 Geoarchaeological Traverse: Soapstone, Bog Iron and Clay in Andover, Middleton, Danvers and Saugus  Massachusetts
Trip Leaders:   Suzanne Wall  of Andover Geological Consulting, Inc.(Aboriginal and Historic use of Soapstone); Dr. Nelson Eby of U. MA, Lowell; & Gene Winter, MAS Museum Coordinator
Contributors: Dr. Thomas Weddle, Maine Geological Survey; Glenn Mairo (Rebecca Nurse Homestead), Curtis White, Head Interpretive Park Ranger (Saugus Iron Works)

C4 (Repeat of A-7) Rock around the Block, Salem
Trip Leader: Ed Myskowski, Peabody Essex Museum
Two hour trip beginning at 9:00 Sunday morning

UPDATE! C5 HAS BEEN MOVED TO FRIDAY

C6 Building Stone in Downtown Boston – A Walking Field Trip
Trip Leaders: Dorothy Richter and Gene Simmons, Hager-Richter Geoscience, Inc.,8 Industrial Way - D10, Salem, New Hampshire; Greta Eckhardt, AIA HMFA Architects, Inc, Cambridge, MA

C7 A Walking Tour of Lynn Woods with some visits beyond
Trip Leaders: Lindley Hanson, Department of Geological Sciences, Salem State College, and Rudolpf Hon, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College.

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Trip Descriptions

BEDROCK & PALEONTOLOGY TRIPS

A1 An Exploration of the Contact Between the Central Maine Terrane and the Merrimack Group Across the Maine - New Hampshire Border.
Trip Leaders: P. J. Thompson, W. A. Bothner, A. M. Hussey II, and Jo Laird

New mapping and compilation as part of STATEMAP (in southwestern Maine) and EDMAP efforts (in southeastern NH) shed new light on long-standing questions about the nature of the contact between rocks of the Central Maine (CM) and Merrimack troughs; specifically, what are the stratigraphic, structural, and metamorphic relationships between them? The trip will visit recently remapped Siluro-Devonian units of the Central Maine Terrane in the Milton NH-ME quadrangle and then crisscross the contact southwestward into New Hampshire, ending in Siluro-Ordovician rocks of the Merrimack Group. We will see evidence for at least two folding episodes and related shear fabrics as well as late brittle fault zones, and discuss the relative timing of metamorphism and plutonism. We will also consider the hypothesis that the pelitic schist of the Gonic Formation may represent in part an early fault zone separating CM rocks from the Berwick Formation (perhaps the Massalonskee thrust of central Maine?); the Gove may represent a similar zone within the Berwick.

Starting Time and Place: 8:00AM Assemble at NH park & Ride Rt. 9 across from Calef's Country Store, west of traffic light at the intersection with Rt. 125, East Barrington, NH.

 

A2 The Peri-Gondwanan Nashoba Terrane of Eastern Massachusetts: An Early Paleozoic Arc-related Complex and its Accretionary History
Trip Leader: J. Christopher Hepburn, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College

The Nashoba terrane is a complex, fault-bounded block that lies directly west of the Avalon terrane in eastern Massachusetts. Deposition in this terrane began in an early Paleozoic arc-related setting near the Gondwanan margin of Iapetus. Deformation, high-grade metamorphism and plutonism were occurring by the mid-Paleozoic as this terrane interacted with terranes to the west during the closure of Iapetus. Excursion stops will give the participant an overview of the Nashoba terrane and highlight its depositional, metamorphic and plutonic features.

Starting Time and Place: 8:30 AM. Meet in the parking lot of the R.K. Centre, a shopping center, on the north side of Rt. 20, 0.8 miles west of exit #24, Interstate I-495, Marlborough, MA. We will meet in the large parking area in front of the Victory Super Market, behind Starbuck's and McDonald's. Breakfast, coffee and luncheon materilas are available in the shopping center. Please bring lunch; we will picnic at the outcrop. The trip will head north from this point and end the day north of Salem.

A5 The Ossipee Ring Complex
Trip Leader: Dr. Nelson Eby of U. MA, Lowell
, and Ben Kennedy, McGill University.

The Ossipee ring-complex is a classic igneous locality, and is arguably the type-section for ring-complexes. It is also of interest because it is the only White Mountain igneous province complex that has significant amounts of both mafic and felsic volcanics. On this trip we will examine the various lithologic units and their interrelationships. Chemical and isotopic data that bear on the origin and evolution of the White Mountain magma series will be presented and discussed.

Starting Time and Place: The first stop is on the south side of Rt. 25 at the entrance (opposite Rt. 113) to the Chocorua Valley Lumber
Company. Depending on your route to the Ossipee area this stop is either 19.8 miles northeast of the juncture, in Meredith, of Rts. 3 and 25 or 3.8 miles west of the juncture of Rts. 16 and 25. Please arrive at least 5 minutes before our 9:00 AM start. Note that this location is a 2+ hour drive from Salem, Massachusetts. Hence, we recommend that you plan to spend the night before the field trip in the Ossipee area. (Hotels)



B1 The Massabesic Gneiss Complex: The Rocks Speak and the Proterozoic Shrinks

Trip Leaders: C. M. Kerwin, J. E. Schulz, Jo Laird and W. A. Bothner

Over the last 7 years, ~250 miles2 (~600 km2) of the Massabesic Gneiss Complex (MGC) and surrounding areas have been mapped at a scale of 1:24000. The mapping efforts have revealed cross cutting relationships and lithologic variations within the MGC that provide further insights into its evolution. Stops are planned to emphasize the transition(s) between the migmatites of MGC and metasedimentary rocks of the Merrimack Group (MG) and of the Central Maine Terrane (CMT). Critical focus will be placed on distinguishing CMT from MG rocks; both groups of metasedimentary rocks appear to be intimately involved in ultra-high grade metamorphic/melting episodes that created the migmatitic MGC. Transects through the MGC beginning in the metasedimentary cover and progressing through basement migmatites provides an exceptional view of mid-crustal processes involving melting and granite production, presumably several times since the late-Proterozoic.

Starting Time and Place: 8:30 AM. Route 4 intersection of Route 107 North. Turn off at the large red barn, north side of route 4. Northwood 7.5 Quad 19T; 0317903; 4787694.



B2 Mylonites and Brittle Shear Zones Along the Western Edge of the Avalon Terrane West of Boston.
Trip Leaders: Edward J. Kohut, Dept. of Geosciences, Oregon State University, and
J. Christopher Hepburn, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College

At least three major shear zones of different ductility, sense of motion and age mark the western edge of the Avalon Terrane in the area west of Boston. The Burlington Mylonite Zone (Castle et al., 1976) is the oldest and most regionally extensive of these structures and likely originated at the time of terrane accretion with the Nashoba terrane to the west. The Bloody Bluff Fault Zone is a younger, brittle structure that overprints the western edge of the Burlington Mylonite Zone and forms the current terrane boundary. The Kendal Green Mylonite Zone is intermediate in age and ductility between these two shear zones and displays features such as pseudotachylite. Excursion stops will demonstrate these shear zones and the adjacent rocks with discussions revolving around their age constraints and movement directions.

Starting Time and Place: Participants may carpool at the Main Campus parking lot at Salem State College, from which the trip will depart at 8:00AM. However the field trip and road log will officially begin at the Burlington Mall just off exit 32B of I-95/Rt. 128 in Burlington, MA. Those who wish to go there directly shoud travel independently to the mall, where we will consolidate cars (9AM). To reach the starting point, take exit 32B off of I-95 and proceed north on the Middlesex Turnpike 0.2 miles.Turn right and enter the Burlington Mall access rd. After entering the Mall, turn right as soon as possible into the parking area by the Macy'sAuto Care Center and park near the #9 sign.


B5 The Cape Ann Plutonic Suite: A Field Trip for Petrology Classes
Leaders: John T. Cheney, Department of Geology, Amherst College and John B. Brady, Department of Geology, Smith College

This trip will visit localities from Rockport to Marblehead selected mostly from previous NEIGC trips led by Toulmin (1964), Dennin (1976), and Hon et al. (1993). The goal of the trip is to view and discuss the rocks in the context of using them to teach concepts in igneous petrology. Come on this trip if you would like to see typical Cape Ann rocks, if you would like to discuss their origin, and/or if you would like to discuss teaching petrology.


Starting Time and Place:
The trip will assemble in the Central Campus Parking Lot of Salem State College. Arrive in time to consolidate vehicles and depart at 8:30 am on Saturday.

B7 Ediacaran and Cambrian Fossils and Strata of the Hewitts Cove Locality, Weymouth Back River, and East Point, Nahant Region, Boston Basin
Trip leader: Mark A. S. McMenamin, Department of Earth and Environment, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA 01075

Fossiliferous strata span the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary in the Boston Basin, and this field excursion will examine these exposures both above and below the boundary. The dual focus of the field trip will be: first, examination of the basal Cambrian strata at the splendid sea cliff exposures at Nahant; and second, a visit to the Ediacaran-bearing Proterozoic strata at the Hewitts Cove locality in Weymouth Back River. Ediacaran fossils, shelly fossils and trace fossils occur in these successions, and they provide critical information for understanding the depostional environments of the Boston Basin strata and the tectonic setting and paleobiogeography of ancient Avalonia.

Starting Time and Place:
8:30 from the Salem State College Central Campus

C1 The Cape Ann Mafic Dike Swarms
Trip Leader: Martin Ross, Northeastern University

The trip will visit several coastal localities where some of the more unusual and interesting dikes are beautifully exposed. Excellent examples of magma mixing within a dike, mafic dike injection into a felsic magma, and flow differentiation will be examined. The emphasis will be on field characteristics but petrographic and geochemical data will also be presented.Duration: about 5 hours on the outcrop.

Starting Time and Place: Leave from Salem State Central campus parking lot at 8:30.


C2 Roxbury Review: Conglomerates of the Boston Basin.
Field Trip Leaders: Margaret D. Thompson, Department of Geosciences, Wellesley College, Anne M. Grunow, Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University

A wide variety of conglomerates throughout the Boston Basin in eastern Massachusetts are named for the Roxbury district of Boston and traditionally subdivided, in ascending order, into the Brookline, Dorchester and Squantum Members. NEIGC field trips, beginning with one led by W.O. Crosby in 1905, have provided regular opportunities for generations of geologists to debate the depositional settings of all of these rocks (particularly the possible glacial origin of the Squantum "Tillite"). It appears, however, that no NEIGC outing has ever included a stop in Roxbury itself. A main purpose of this trip will be to remedy this situation by visiting fresh exposures on the site of the historic Tremont Street quarries where recent development includes the aptly named Puddingstone Park to be opened in the summer of 2004. Other stops will be selected to compare the nominal "type" Roxbury with other distinctive conglomerates in the area and to highlight available U-Pb zircon geochronology constraining the ages of these units.

Starting Time and Place: Meet at Central Campus Parking Lot, Salem State College at 8:30AM. Best route to Boston depends on evolving "Big Dig" situation, so driving directions to Stop 1 will be distributed at this time. Bring lunch.

10/7 UPDATE: NEW Road log from Salem: SalemtoBostondirections.doc, SalemtoBostondirections.pdf


GEOMORPHOLOGY, QUATERNARY, AND

COASTAL GEOLOGY TRIPS

A3 Glacial Geology in Eastern York County, Maine
Trip Leaders: Thomas K. Weddle, Woodrow B. Thompson, John B. Nelson, Anna K. Tary
, and Carl Koteff

Glacial features in eastern York County, Maine, will be highlighted during this trip, including a bedrock pavement with multiple-striation directions, the youngest a southwest-oriented trend. Ground-penetrating radar studies of the Sanford-Kennebunk sand plain (a marine-limit delta plain); Merriland Ridge, a landform variously interpreted over time as a segment of larger moraine,& an ice-contact stratified-drift deposit reworked by littoral processes during a subsequent marine transgression, a shallow-water ice-contact stratified-end moraine, and a glaciomarine delta modified by minor ice readvance and modified by a rapid rise of sea level; and geophysical investigations examining reorientation analysis of streamlined landforms in the Berwicks and York region will be discussed at several locations in the afternoon.

Starting Time and Place: 8:30AM at the Park and Ride lot off of the Saco / Old Orchard Beach exit on I-95 (Maine Turnpike), Saco, Maine. The Maine Turnpike Authority has renumbered its exits; the new number for this exit is Exit 36 (formerly Exit 5). Pass through toll booth onto I-195 to Saco and Old Orchard Beach, keeping to the right; take Exit 1 on right, drive to end of ramp and turn right at lights. Park and Ride lot is on immediate left. The Maine Department of Transportation has a website map showing the location of Park and Ride lots. Click on the section of the map that is labeled Southern Maine Coast; select the Park and Ride sign that is the farthest north on I-95. For people who may travel to the area on Thursday, there are numerous hotels and motels in the Saco / Biddeford / Portland area (Portland is 20 minutes from the Saco Park and Ride). Use the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce website for lodging and for camping.

 

A4 Anthropogenic impacts at Camp Ellis, Saco, Maine
Trip Leaders: Peter A. Slovinsky and Stephen M. Dickson, Maine Geological Survey - Department of Conservation, Augusta, ME 04333

This field trip will focus on the anthropogenic and natural factors that impact beach morphologies at the southern end of Saco Bay, specifically Camp Ellis, a small beach community directly adjacent to the Saco River. Camp Ellis experiences the worst erosion (and some of the most spectacular storm waves) of any sandy beach in Maine. Since the early 1900s, Camp Ellis has eroded at an average rate of 1-3 feet/year, and continues to do so today. Over the last 100 years, over 30 homes have been lost to the sea. Most of the erosion problems at Camp Ellis stem from the construction of federal jetties, built in the 1860s, to stabilize the inlet of the Saco River for navigation. The trip will provide a general look at coastal processes within Saco Bay, the largest sandy beach system in Maine. It will focus more closely on the impacts of the jetties and other anthropogenic and geologic factors on these processes, and the resulting changes in sandy beach morphology within the southern end of Saco Bay.

Starting Time and Place:10:00 AM. at Camp Ellis Pier, Saco, Maine/Finish: 3:00 p.m. Pine Point, Scarborough, Maine



B3 WHERE THE GLACIER MET THE SEA: Late Quaternary geology of the northeast coast of Massachusetts from Cape Ann to Salisbury
Trip Leaders: Byron D. Stone, Janet R. Stone, Lucinda J. McWeeney

This trip begins at the coast in Halibut State Park, northern Cape Ann to view polished, striated, and crescent-fractured granite outcrops shaped at the base of the last ice sheet. It continues to the ethereal expanse of the Dogtown boulder moraine, strikingly similar to the Goldsmith moraines of southeastern Connecticut, in the central part of the Cape. Here, R.W. Babson’s scribed boulders are not to be missed. New analysis of this moraine will evoke discussion of ice-marginal processes and post-glacial modification, and extent of ice-margin positions in marine embayments to north and south. Northwest from Cape Ann, the trip will examine a line of ice-marginal fan and deltaic deposits that parallels the trend of the Dogtown moraine. We will visit a deep exposure in one of the many high-standing drumlins in this area to review the nature of the deep weathering profile developed in the upper part of the Illinoian till in the drumlin cores. The strong easterly trend of drumlin axes and striations in the region developed on the eastern flank of the Charles-Merrimack sublobe. A deep exposure of glaciomarine deltaic sediments prompts a review of the sea-level history of the region and models that consider various independent factors such as, total crustal depression, initiation of rebound, eustatic sea level rise, and age of glaciomarine deposits. Time permitting, the trip also will include views of post-ice-marginal marine spits, tombolos, wave-cut slopes, regressive terrace and spit features at 40-50 ft level, and a proxy site for the Bull Brook Paleolithic archeological locality, where we will review evidence for late Pleistocene climate trends that affected New England’s earliest residents.

Starting Time and Place: 9/13 UPDATE! 8:00 leave from Salem State College Central Campus(121 LORING AVE) arrive at Halibut State Park, northern Cape Ann around 8:30.



B4 The Geology and Geomorphology of the North Shore - Day 1: Salem Area

Trip Leaders: Rudolph Hon, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College, and Lindley Hanson, Department of Geological Sciences, Salem State College Rudi Hon, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College


New advances in the understanding of bedrock geology and geomorphology of the North Shore are gained in part from the analysis of a set of detailed DEM (digital elevation model) and DTM (digital terrain model) data recently made available by the MassGIS office. Many physiographic features of the area are a result of differential erosion and glaciation of a variably fractured, complex igneous terrain dominated by mid-Paleozoic lithologies. This trip will integrate local tectonic settings, local plutons and their intrusive relationships, structure, glacial geology, coastal geology with physiographic features as seen on the GIS maps. Plans are to visit exposures along the Salem-Marblehead coast, as well as exposures in Peabody and Danvers. Recommended NAGT field trip Trip C-7 is a continuation of this trip into Lynn and Saugus.

Starting Time and Place: Leave 8:30 AM from Salem State College Central Campus Parking lot.

B6 Processes and Evolution of Boston Harbor Islands: Peddocks and Lovells Islands.
Trip Leaders: Peter S. Rosen, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University, and
Duncan M. FitzGerald, Department of Earth Science, Boston University

10/7 UPDATE: Starting Time and Place: 9:00: Thompson Island Outwardbound Dock. DirectionstoDock.doc, DirectionstoDock.pdf For those who do not want to drive to Boston, there will also be a VAN leaving from Salem State College Central Campus Parking lot at 7:00 AM.

Boston Harbor Island shorelines have resulted from the erosion of submerging drumlins which provided sediment to form connecting spits or tombolos. The spit alignments are controlled by pre-existing glacial topography in lower energy settings and by dominant wave approach in higher energy settings. When the eroding drumlins are the primary sediment source for beaches, there are generally sediment-starved impermeable beaches with boulder lag deposits in the nearshore along drumlin shorelines and gravel spits connecting the drumlins that are frequently overtopped. When there is sufficient sediment input, such as from offshore sources, regressive barrier spits may form.
Holocene modification of the drumlins within the harbor also typically includes formation of accretionary salients which have a structure similar to cuspate spits, and often form traveling headlands where unequal drift from opposing longshore directions results in a landform which is migrating in a direction controlled either by dominant wave approach or larger longshore sediment supply.
On Peddocks Island, the boat will land at Fort Strong, a WWII army base that served as an Italian prisoner-of-war camp. We will observe an 30 m high eroding drumlin bluff where the controversial two tills can be observed, including the fossiliferous lower unit. Slumping, earth flows, and active slopewash forming dramatic gulleys are generally common landward of the impermeable boulder beach, and the boulder retreat platform extends seaward of the beach toward Hull Gut, part of a drowned postglacial drainage channel. The north tombolo consists of gravel beaches forming an eroding shore on the south side (with overwash channels an deposits) and a retrograding sequence of gravel ridges on the north side. The middle drumlin contains cottages that once were part of a Portugese fishing community, with an additional tombolo to the west. This tombolo has an enclosed central lagoon with ephemeral gravel tidal inlets. It intersects a gravel bar that links Prince Head, a nearly planed-off drumlin, with the island.
Lovells Island is also a drumlin and tombolo system. However, a local sand source has resulted in the formation of retrograding vegetated sand dunes comprised of well-sorted, but very immature, sand. The west, or lee side of the island contains two salients, including one actively migrating to the south. The central drumlin contains extensive relicts of WWII shore defense structures. Two retrograding spits form the northern tombolo with extensive overwash deposits overlying a relict lagoon. Ground penetrating radar surveys document the accretionary flank of the migrating salient, and the barrier ridge and overwash bedding on the tombolo.

DRESS WARMLY!

 

C7 The Geology and Geomorphology of the North Shore - Day 2: Lynn Woods Area

Trip Leaders: Lindley Hanson, Department of Geological Sciences, Salem State College, and Rudolph Hon, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Boston College.


This trip is a continuation of B-4 trip. DEMs, DTMs, and GIS maps, based on a very dense coverage of accurate point elevation data sets, are applied to bedrock geology, hydrology, and geomorphology of the Lynn Woods area. The trip will traverse both sides of the Walden Pond fault and continue along a 1.8 mi long loop through the Lynn Woods Reservation. Other stops will examine the remaining (some dated) lithological types within the Precambrian zone bounded by the North Boundary Fault on the south and the Walden Pond fault on the North. . Recommended NAGT field trip. Be prepared to walk about 2 miles. Bring bag lunch, and flashlight for Dungeon rock.

Starting Time and Place: Salem State Central Campus parking lot at 8:30 or 8:45 Lynn Woods, Great Woods Road entrance on east side on Lynn Woods(PDF map).


ENGINEERING GEOLOGY AND GEOARCHEOLOGY


C5 Geological Complexity and Its Effects on Engineering Design in Boston 9/13 UPDATE! TRIP C5 HAS BEEN MOVED TO FRIDAY

Trip Leader: David Woodhouse

A series of complex events involving the soils and bedrock underlying the City of Boston has greatly influenced the engineering design of various structures. Soils range from the softest compressible organics to very dense glacial till; the bedrock likewise can be very soft where kaolinized  but also characteristically hard as one would expect. Foundation design has been a challenge to geologists and engineers to the point where the sinking of buildings at MIT that were founded on clay led to the birth of soil mechanics in this country. Building design in Boston varies from corner to corner. The field trip will cover an area from the waterfront to Copley Square and will discuss the types of foundation design, the effects of dewatering, historical foundations, and the enigmatic Beacon Hill.

Starting Time and Place: 10:00 AM in front of the MIT Dome on Killian Court located at the corner of Massachusetts Ave and Memorial Dr in Cambridge. (MIT campus map)

C3 Geoarchaeological Traverse: Soapstone, Bog Iron and Clay in Andover, Middleton, Danvers and Saugus  Massachusetts
Trip Leaders:   Suzanne Wall  of Andover Geological Consulting, Inc.(Aboriginal and Historic use of Soapstone); Dr. Nelson Eby of Univ. MA, Lowell; Gene Winter, MAS Museum Coordinator.

Contributors: Dr. Thomas Weddle,  Maine Geologic Survey; Glenn Mairo (Rebecca Nurse Homestead); Curtis White, Head Interpretive Park Ranger (Saugus Iron Works)

Dr . Weddle will provide introductory comments at the Saugus Iron Works.
The geoarchaeological field trip will explore how both Native Americans, 17th Century English Colonists and 19th Century stone cutters utilized three of the mineral and lithic resources of the county. These resources include the soapstones of Essex County's Nashoba Terrane, glacial marine clays from Danvers, and the bog irons of Lynn and Saugus. Stops will include: Harold Parker State Park in Andover/Middleton, MA.; the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers, MA, and The Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site in Saugus, MA.

Soapstone (aka steatite & serpentenite) was quarried historically in Andover, MA at the Jenkins Soapstone Quarry (1836) located in Harold Parker State Park. Native Americans also utilized the lithic resources at other outcrops leaving pecked and grooved blocks and boulders of green soapstone.

The Danvers stop at the ca.1678 Rebecca Nurse Homestead and property will include a discussions of the local marine clays, and the Colonial Danvers redware pottery industry; and, the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. Rebecca Nurse was hanged during the Salem Witch Hysteria, and the Homestead staff present a film of the Hysteria to interested parties.

At the Saugus Iron Works (1646) we will visit the iron production complex including furnace, forge, rolling mill, and museum. In addition there will be a brief geological discussion of the Saugus area; and of the formation and Colonial use of bog iron and the Nahant Gabbro.

Starting Time and Place:
7:30 AM at Salem State or 8:20 AM at the Danvers Home Depot parking lot, located at the northeast corner of the interchange of Rte. 114 (Andover Street) and Rte. 1 (Newburyport Tpk.). Please bring your cameras but do not bring, use, or think of using, rock hammer.At State and National Park sites damaging and/or removing artifacts is illegal.

A6 / C4 Rock Around the Block
Trip Leader:
Ed Myskowski, Peabody Essex Museum

Downtown Salem, in the vicinity of the Peabody Essex Museum, has a rich variety of buildings, and other cultural uses of stone. This program was developed for the general public, but has enough depth and detail to be of interest to geologists as well. In a short (less than two hour) walk around two blocks, we can see granite, marble, and brownstone dimension stone construction, modern veneers, colonial slate grave memorials, stone and brick architectural details, cobblestone and paving block street surfaces, and more. This spans several hundred years of historical development, and over 10,000 years of continuous habitation; native materials dating back that far are held by the museum and on exhibit from time to time. Two-hour trip offered Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. Nice introductory trip to Salem. Good spouse trip.

Starting Time and Place: Friday 2:00 PM/Sunday Morning 9:00AM from Peabody Essex Museum entrance, downtown Salem. (pdf map)


C6 Building Stone in Downtown Boston – A Walking Field Trip
Trip Leader: Dorothy Richter and Gene Simmons, Hager-Richter Geoscience, Inc., 8 Industrial Way - D10, Salem, New Hampshire

Come for a long walk through the streets of downtown Boston to examine some of the types of stone used in buildings and monuments from a geologic perspective. The trip will pass by stone structures ranging in age from 1790 to the modern era, and will exhibit the evolution of building stone resources from local to worldwide sources, changes in fabrication and engineering technology, the effects of weathering, and some examples of restoration and repairs. Boston is a relatively granite-rich city due to the variety of granitic resources in New England that were available for older stone buildings. We will see examples of Roxbury Conglomerate from the Boston Basin, brownstones from the Connecticut Valley and Newark Basin, and marble from Vermont. Newer buildings use stone from all over the world. Be prepared for a long walk.

Starting Time and Place: The trip will start in Copley Square around 9:00 and end in the Quincy Market area. (MBTA)

 

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NEIGC Site
/ 2004NEIGC Organizer Lindley Hanson
last Updated 9/18/2004