1. Landscapes of New York

2. 3 Major Classifications:
What are landscapes?
3 Major Classifications:
Mountains
Plains / Lowlands
Plateaus / Uplands

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

4. 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.

5. View of high peaks region from top of Whiteface Mt.

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

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

8. Check your note sheet now
Landscapes
Mountains
Plateaus
Plains

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

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

12. Adirondack High Peaks

13. Correlate page 2 to page 3 of your ESRT

14. What was happening in NY during the Middle Proterozoic?

15. Correlate pages 2 & 3 to pages 8 & 9.

16. View of high peaks region from top of Whiteface Mt.

17. View of high peaks region from top of Whiteface Mt.

18. Observation tower and weather station at the top of Whiteface Mountain.

19. No horizontal layering – blocky, chunky, jointed metamorphic rock.
Sharp arrete ridges and glacial cirque on Whiteface Mt.

20. Isolated garnet crystals like this one, tell us the rock has been subjected to a lot of heat and pressure (metamorphism).
Whiteface anorthosite (a rock composed mostly of plagioclase feldspar) with a large crystal of red garnet (left of lens cap).

21. Anorthosite; composed of large crystals of labradorite feldspar (another clue of metamorphism).
Anorthosite composed of large crystals of labradorite feldspar, near Tupper Lake, NY.

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

23. Letchworth Gorge

24. Correlate page 2 to page 3 of your ESRT

25. What was happening in NY during the Devonian?

26. Correlate pages 2 & 3 to pages 8 & 9.

27. During the Devonian the western parts of NY are underwater
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.

28. Is this a true mountainous region?

29. Elevated sedimentary rocks being worn down by running water
View of Middle Falls, Letchworth State Park.

30. Watkins Glen

31. These and other marine fossils tell us that the area was once covered by a shallow sea.
Trace fossils in Upper Devonian marine siltstone, Watkins Glen.

32. Watkins Glen

33. Sedimentary rocks, at fairly high elevations, being worn down by running water
Watkins Glen

34. Take Us Home!
What NYS Landscape do we live in?

35. Hudson-Mohawk Lowlands

36. Shawangunk ridge viewed from Minnewaska State Park.

37. Cross section from Hudson River to Catskill Mts.

38. Notice the layering in the rocks
Shawangunk conglomerate in cliffs near Lake Mohonk.

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

40. Long Island

41. Correlate page 2 to page 3 of your ESRT

42. Correlate pages 2 & 3 to pages 8 & 9.

43. Caumsett State Park, Lloyd’s Neck, LI
Pleistocene Sands & Gravels
Cretaceous clays exposed at Caumsett State Park
Cretaceous Clay

44. Loess
Glacial till
Glacial deposits exposed in beach cliff at Caumsett State Park