THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OP NATURAL HISTORY
THE GEOLOGY· . OF NEW YORK CITY AND VICINITY
MANHATTAN SCHIST
By CHESTER A. REEDS
OUIDE LEAFLET SERIES No. 56
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PHYSIOGAAPHl 1 OIV ISI ONS o( th• NORTH CENTRAL ATLANTIC STATES by C A RECOS i. '" part .lt,,, N M f [ NNENAN)
I Tht oppro-.,,inote!y
1!;0;,:~;~1109',:~::td I that opp,ors O'I th, insert moo 1s a rep• rtsrntot,cn "" m,n toturt of the areo COlifrld 111 lht lorgt I0lffl9f 11'10ptd t,91,m~ THE ESSENTIAL RELIEF FEATURES OF NEW YORK CIT..Y ANO NORTHERN NEW JERSEY Modif ied from A. K. Lobeck by Chester A . Reeds WM E BELAN SKE . •
D I AGRAl\Il\IATIC RELIEF l\IAP OF NEW YORK CITY AND ADJOI N I NG AREAS GEOLOGY OF NEW YORK CITY AND ITS VICINITY
By CHESTER A. REEDS Associate Curator of Invertebrate Palreontology
The American Museum of Natural History Guide Leaflet No. 56 New York, March, 1925
Geology of New York City and Its Vicinity
BY CHE TER ~ . REED Associate Curator of Invertebrate Palreontology HE relief feature of the ew Three well cl fin lement of thi. York i ty di tri t consist of plain appear: T everal di +inctly differ nt typ , (a) It innerlowlancl partly drowned "\\hich have been elev lop l by natural in Long I land ound, Lower ew force on rock of unequal hardne . York and andy Hook bay , ex ome of the rock are uncon olidated tend outhwe tward along the main and and mud and ar of compara railway line through New Brun wick, tively r cent date; other are tratified Tr nton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and with alt rnating hard and oft bed , ,va hington; which have be n tilted r lightly (b) It fall line feature appear on folded and are older; till others of th the Delaware at Trenton, on the am orio·in but far older have been o chuylkill at Philadelphia, on the much altered and deformed during Potomac at the Great Fall above certain g ologic period that they have ,va hington, D . C., and on th Jame~ become Cl'.) talline and entir ly changed River at Richmond : in appearance, that i , metamorpho ed. ( c) Its cu ta form the foundation of Volcanic rock thick and homogeneou Long I land, the Atlantic Highland ·, in character have al o been injected and t he ragged front making up the into the area at different time , ome hilly belt of outhern ew J r ey. v rv early, other later , but none very 3. The Newark Lowland i a plain recently. These and ome of t he crys developed on inclin cl weak trata con- tallin one form the mo t re i tn,nt i ting of red an 1 tone an l hale of rido·e . The di tribution of the rock i Tria ic age. The intru ive heet of in the form of belt with a prevailing re istant volcanic rock form the promi northeaf-t- outhwe t dir ction. nent re idual ridg known a the Pali-
The e ntial relief feature and ade 1 ,vatchung, Hook, u h tunk phy iographic province of the area are and Sourlancl mountain , and Long and hown in a graphic manner on the Rocky hill.. relief map, frontispiece. They may be 4. The w England pland i ummarized a follows : repre ented in the district by the l\!Ian 1. The continental helf, which rep hattan and Reading prongs. Thi up re ent th ubmerged margin of the land con i t of di ected and di - continent, extend ea twarcl from the ordered cry talline rock . The Man N w Jer y hor for about 100 mil to hattan prong xtend down the ea t the 100 fathom line. Beyond that bank of the Hudson e tuary from the point the ea floor drop rapidly to the Hio·hland to and including ,'.Ianhattan great and extensive oceanic depth. of Island . The north central portion of 2000- 4600 fathom . . taten I land i an outlier. The Rend 2. The oa tal Plain i that portion ino· prong extend a highland from of the former ubmergecl continental the gorge of the Hud on soutlnn'st helf which has be n rai, ed above the ward aero ew York and N" cw J er. cy . ea without apparent deformation. to Reading, Penn ylvania .
3 4 GUIDE LEAFLET
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'ketch map of New York ity and vicinity, howing position of the t rminal moraine and dir ction of t he ice movement (indicated by the arrow ) during the la tor Wi con in ofaciation. After rnited 'tate ,eoloo-ical urvey
5. The broad valley to the west GLA IATIO : The north rn portion occupied by the ·yv allkill and Paulins of the New York ity di trict ha been Kill i a part of the great Appalachian traver ed at lea t four tim by great Valley, which extend from Birming heets of ice which moved down from ham, Alabama, to Lake Champlain. the Labrador center. The e continen It is one of the prominent subdivisions tal glaci r modified the drainage and of the ewer Appalachian phy io the urface of the land over which they graphic pr vince. pa sed. The terminal morain which 6. The narrow Kittatinny Moun repre ents the outhernmo t xtent of tain ridge clipping w tward, represent the la t ice field appear a a con picu th northea tern exten, ion of the belt ou ridge con i. ting of knob and of newer and folded Appalachian of kettle hol on Long I Ian l, taten c ntral Penn ylvania. I land, and r w Jer ey. It continue 7. The Alleghany Plat au app ar w twarcl aero the United tate we t of th Delawar River. Farther to th Pacific Ocean near attle, north in ew York tate the 'at kill \Va hington. Mountain. repre rnt a ubdivi ion of The ctrift bowlder and un orted rock thi plateau. debri in the t rminal rnorain and GEOLOGY OF iVEvr YORK CITY AND IT V I CI N ITY ;)
The "rocking tone," New York Zoological Park, an ice-tran ported bowlder re ting on a glaciated urfoce northward give a. clue a to the direc tary on gm and containing numerou tion of ice movement. Larg bowlders marine fo il were cleri vecl from the of cry talline rock from Jamaica and xposure m ea t central ew York Holli Long I land, indicate that they tate. were plucked out of the bed rock in the Each of the four continental 0 -lacier vicinity of Y onk r , Mt. Vernon and of the Plei tocene epoch con i ted of ice other place in ,Ve tchester County, thou ands offeet thick. They not only Xe"· York. Glacial-borne pebble plucked out huge bowlcler the ize of a containing fo il and oolite have been house and tran ported them long di - found at Broadway and 191st treet. tanc , but they al o cow·ed off the The fo il r pre ent minute fragment oil-cover in many place and left bare of bryozoa and coral , of Devonian age, rock urfaces, roches moutonnees 1 little
which are imilar to tho e found at de ert in fact1 on which no plants other pre ent in the Cat killMountainregion. than lichen can grow. A o-ood example The oolite , which are mall, concentric of a glaciated urface with an ice phere cemented together, re emble transported bowlder re. ting upon it i ~ fi h roe. They, too, came from up- tate the "rockino- tone n in the Ne"' York New York. On taten I land, Long Zoological Park, Bronx, figured above. I land, and hort Hill , Jew Jer ey: Rock h lcl firmly in the base of the many large drift bowlder of e limen- ice erved not only a abra ive. but al o 6 GUIDE LEAFLET
Exposure of glacial till , containino- and, o-rav 1, a nd bowlcler , in contact with erpentine rock, at 'a. tie Point, Hol okC'n. After rnitecl tate Geoloo-ic·al 'urvey, Pa, aic Folio, ~o. 157 a etching tool . De p parallel groove bowlcl r from the Pali a cle foun l in in cry talline rock appear at variou Yonker and :New York ity indicate place on River icl Drive, particularly t hat the ice moved outhea terly on the outh .-icle of the Drive wher it diagonally aero th Pali acle and the leave t he Hurt on River at about 200th Hue! on River a hown on the tr et. The. e glacial trire runnino diagram, p. 2. northwe. t-. outhea. t o-ive the direction A tr am leaving th front of the of i e movement. l\Iany diaba e glaci r oftentime contain cl a laro-e GEOLOG}' OF .\ Elr rORK IT}' AXD IT, rI LYIT}' I
STO~M Kl WC
ro -, ection drawing of the ediment in the Hud on River at torm King ~fountain, where i located t h a-reat iphon of the Xe"· York ity aquC'duct. From B ulletin 1-16 of the Xe"' York tate ~I u eum
Yolume of water and had con iderable the out h of the terminal moraine be tran porting power. Hence pebble , tween the re centic outlin of the and, and fine rock debri "·ere carried \\rat chung Mountain on the ea t and in con iderable quantity. In mo tin- outh and the ew Jer ey hio-hlancl on tanc the tream deployed fanwi e the we t. The water. of the lake almo t immediat ly on their emero- nee drained through the M uggy Hollow from the glacial heet and th material outlet at the outhwe t corner into the · carri d from the ice wa dropped clo e Raritan River vall y. ,rhen the ice to the margin of t he glacier. The fan front retreated northward, the lake form cl by ingle t ream were u. ually water followed it and occupied the ma11, being from half a mile to two entir ba in behind the \Ya tchung mile in radiu · conflu ent fan were fountain to th we an l outhwe t laro-!:"> er varying• from one to ix mile in of Pater. on, Tew Jcr ey. The numer radiu . Th material ar om what ou fr h-water mar he of today, along ortecl and tratifiecl and are called out the upp r cour e of the Pa aic River, wa h clepo it . The e depo it occur at cover portion of the bed of thi for hort interval along the outhern mer o-lacial lake. ee map, pp. 12-13. margin of the terminal moraine. Town Great accwnulation of glacial till, a I uilt on ome of th laro-er outwa h mechanical mixture con i ting of un- plain are Plainfield T e,Y J er ey, Flat ort 1 clay, an 1, pebble~, and , mall bu h and H mp tead, Long I lan 1. bowlcler , are found generally in the \Yhile o-lacial tream wer lepo,it wak of the glaci r. In the Xew York ing fan- hapecl outwa h clepo it in City li. trict it varie from a fraction many place along th ic front, a of a foot to 500 feet in t hicknc ·s. A o-lacial lake, Lake Pa aic, appeared to good expo ure of it re ting on , erpcn- Aeroplane view of pper l\lanhattan I land, with t he H arlem River in t he foregrnund, t he Hu I on river and Pali ade in t he background. The three aqueduct , High Bridge, Crnton and at. kill, which . upply water to ew York City, enter Manhattan at thi point.
ro -. ection of the H arl<' m River n ar High Bridge howing the ub- urfa e cro mg of the Cat kill aqueduct, the di torted rock., and the fill of glacial drift and alluvium in t he river bed. Frnm B ulletin 146, r w York, tate Mu eum. GEOLOGY OF ElV YORK CITY A N D ITS V I I N ITY 9
ubmarine channel and canyon of the Hud. on River. tate Geological urvey. tine rock may be een at a tie Point harbor. From a point ten mile out Hoboken, New Jer ey, p. 4. It often from Sandy Hook to the edge of the time fill th pr -glacial stream valley continental h lf about one hundred and frequently covers the leeward ide mile distant, a well-defined river chan of hill and the lower area . T t hole. nel exi t which increa es in depth in the Harlem River at High Bridge eaward. Near the brink of the con how that the channel has been filled up tinental platform it i 4 00 f t deep. from Oto 111 feet by glacial drift and Glacial d po it appear ov r a portion river mud, p. 6. of the cour e, p. 7. The glacial drift and ediment in R ECE T H ORE D E PO ITS : , andy th Hudson River gorge at torm King Hook, Coney I land, and Rockaway Mountain have been found by drillino· Beach ar pronounced coa tal irregu operation to be between 768 and 995 lariti . outh Beach and Midland feet thi k, with an avera o-e of 00 feet. Beach,, taten I land are le o. These In the vicinity of the Penn ylvania feature are temporary for they repr - R ailroad t unn l at 32nd treet , New ent initial tage in the proce s of York ity, the ediment are 300 f et coa. tal implification. After the initial thick, with a po ible great r dept h in reef and barrier have become land, an unte ted ection in mid tream. In the lao·oons behind them are lik to be the Lower Bay depo its accumulated filled with edimcnt and organic mat to such an extent that the mouth of ter, forming land. ee map, pp. 12-13. the river wa almost clo ed to large The development of curved pit and hip . ome 4,000,000 have been b ache along the New J er. ey an
Ancient contorted Ianhattan chi t (Archeozoi ·) with rather recent glaciated urface (Plei tocene). See geologic map. pp. 10-11. South Meadow, Central P ark, ianhattan. E . 0 . Hovey, photo. have already pa eel , let u approach gnei e and chist of very complex the Present from the chronological composition and tructure. Inter point of view. bedded quartzite and lime tone and THE AR HJEozorc ERA: In t he dawn old igenou intrusion are al o included. of life a eries of lime tone and associ Note the position on the accompanying ated edimentary rock were laid down geologic map, pp. 10- 11. in Canada near Ottawa, which have Overlying t he gneiss serie in a con been called th Grenville eries. Ac formable manner at certain localitie i cording to Profe or Berkey, of the Lowerre quartzite named after the Columbia University, certain meta locality in outh Yonker from which it morpho eel rocks in the Manhattan was fir t described. It i a thin, and Reading prong of the New Eng chistose quartzite which varies in land upland are contemporaneous in thickne from a fraction of a foot to age. The Fordham gnei exposed in 100 feet an .. 8El>LOtS l UPPER RAY 12 GEOLOGICAL MAP OF NEW YORK CITY AND VICINITY by C hester A . Reeds Ph.D. L011re· R 19 21 LEGEND B A Y S EDIMENTARY ROCK u IGNEOUS ROCK 1-{· BEACH DEPOSITS PALISADE i~ ~ ANO SAND DUNES 2O [~~ {~lllJl":il DIABASE ~ ~ r--i sw11MPAN0 tD er D'F'.:RI WATCHUNG Impr . ion pecimen from Plea a ntdale, 14 GEOLOGr OF _YETf rORK ]TY A.XD IT T7 1 LYITr 15 STEGOMUS ANOMOEPUS ANCHISAURUS ---=;;=: _....-/2~ '. - - - - ~· -----=-==--~----'::_- ..- -~ -'_! :-: . ~--:. PODOKESAURUS RHYTIDODON Certain type of dino aur of Tri a ic age which inhabited the ~ ew York, Virginia, and Connecticut Yalley ba in dolomite after the Inwood ection of ill which may date back to the clo e the city at the north end of l\Ianhattan of the earlie t of the e edimentarv I land. Good expo tll'e of th Inwood period . ince they partake of all the dolomite occw· in the vall y north of metamorphic chano-e that character Dyckman treet for in tance at :Marble ize the e ancient trata incluclino· re Hill tation on the N el\- York Central cry tallization and flo"·age. The mo t Raihoad. trikino· example are the Yonker onf ormable and overlying the In oTanite gnei , a ill, and the Raven - wood formation i a coar ely cry talline wood granodiorite, a bos . 'ome of mica chi t verv thick and pegmatitic, the pegmatite treak and ba ic in which i called the ).Ianhattan after the tru ion belon°· to a period of more exten iYe expo w·e on 1\Ianhattan extensive metamorphic activity and I land, p. 9. The Lowerre-Inwood penetrate the I nwood dolomite and ).Ianhattan erie i re0·arded a late ).Ianhattan chi t. Example are the Grenville in age. Thi and the Ford Harri on diorit ba ic dike , oTanitic ham erie con titute the orio·inally dike , bo e and intru ion a ho"·n edimentary bed of the Archreozoic on the accompanying geologic map Era expo ed in the X ew York ity pp. 10- 11. erpentine, "·hich i a di trict. metamorphic alteration pro luct. ha a THE PROTEROZOIC ERA, l GNEO"G like orio-in and di tribution. RocK : All igneou ro 'k of the cry tal The entire ba al erie of rock have line area under con ideration are been folded, crumpled, faulted. cru~hed, you.no-er than the eclimentary member injected, intruded, and in ten ely modi ._ince they ha,·e been intruded. But fied by recry tallization, neverthele~ , thev are not all of the ame age or they retain the fundamental a sociation kind. There are granitic tringer and and e ential character of an originally Fort L e phyto aur, R utiodon manhattanensis. Photograph of the kel ton a pre erved in the original matrix. About }10 natural iz . A de cription of it wa publi bed by t he American Mu eum of Xatural Hi tory, Bulletin XX.."\CII, pp. 275- 2, 1913 Re toration of the keleton and dermal plates of R utiodon manhattanensis. The haderl portion repre ent the parts pre erved in the Fort Lee pecimen. After W. D. Matthew Men excavating the keleton of the Fort Lee phytosaur on t he west bank of the Hud on River oppo ite 155t h treet, New York City. The pecimen wa found in a red andy marl about twenty feet below the thick sheet of diabase of the Palisades 17 1 GUIDE LEAFLET edimentary en e Many of the kesauru., Anchisauru, and Ruti·odo n gne1 , a few of the chi t , all of the (Rhytidodon), which inhabited thi zone granite and diorites are of igneou and th onnecticut Valley, are hown orio-in and occur a ill , dike , or bo , in accompanying illu tration , pp. 13- cutting the m tamorpho eel edimen- 14- 15. Only on k lcton, th Fort Lee tary member. . They, too, have been Rutiodon, pp. 14- 15, has be n found greatly metamorpho ed and are v ry n ar w York ity. Fo ii fi he and ancient, perhap late Archreozoic or a mall cru taccan, Estheria 01 1ata, have Proterozoic. al o b n found. The fo il remain THE PALJEozorc ERA: The P alreozoic indicate Tria ic ag , the initial p riod rock and fo il , which repre ent a of the Me ozoic Era, ometime called t rem nclou ly long period of time and the Ag of Reptile . follow the Proterozoic Era, are not Three ucc ive lava flow which foun l in t he imm liate vicinity of were extruded during the depo ition of ew York City. They appear, how- the ewark b d have been ub e- ever, in great force in we tern New quently faulted, flexed, and tilted into J er ey, New York, Pennsylvania, and their pre ent po ition. ince that event the Mi issippi valley tate . ero ion ha removed a great thickn s THE ME ozorc ERA, TRIA I P E- of edimentary rock and the upturned ROID : From the Rud on River we t- edges of the lava heet ar now ex ward to the crystalline rock of the posed. The Fir t and Second vVat ew Jer ey highlands occur a thick chung Mountain an l Hook Mountain 8erie of recldi h brown and tones, repre ent the e three ba altic flows. hale , and conglomerate , called the The lowe t , Fir t Mountain, i about ewark group, which dip 10 to 600 feet thick, econcl Mountain 00 15 degrees to the northw t. ear feet, and Hook Mountain 300 feet. Philadelphia, Trenton, and w Brun - About 600 feet of red and tone and wick, the tockton, Locatong, and hal cparate the fir t and second, Brun wick formation hav been clif- and 1500 fe t th cond and third. fercntiat d, but not beneath the gla- Red Tria ic and tone and hal are cial drift cov r to the nort hea. tward. also found abov and b low the e The . edimcntary rock were de- volcanic rock . po ited in a trough or graben with The Palisade diaba e i a great heet faulted maro-in which extended outh- of igncou. rock, from 350 to 1000 feet we tward from t he Ruel on River thick, which wa intruded among the aero , central New Jer ey, Penn- lower trata of the ewark group. It sylvania: and Maryland into outh rn extend from taten I land northward Virginia. In all probability a major along the we t bank of th Rud on . t ream with lateral t ributarie. occupied Riv r to R av r traw. At it outh rn the depression. The region wa pre- expo eel extremity it is practically at umably high and arid. Ripple mark , a level, while at the north it i 700 mu I crack , rain drop impre ~ion , and fe t higher. Throughout mo t f it footprints of reptil arc common, extent it pr- nt an e carpm nt of pecially in th Brun wick hale, and high cliff with vertical column of rock indicate flood plain and hallow water which w re developed during the cool clcpo ition. Re toration of the dino- ing tage and which ugge t the name aur. , tegomus, Anomoepu. , Podo- Pali a l , p. 16. GEOLOGY OF ETV YORK CITY A D IT VI CI NITY 19 Pali adcs of t he Hudson opposite puyten Duyvil, . Y. CRETA EousPERIOD :Stratified rocks The Cr tac ou depo it of Long I - which repre ent the clo ing stage land; which average 1550 feet in thick of the Age of Reptile re t uncon nes , vary o-reatly in composition with formably upon the Newark group in in hort di tances and are, on the whole, ew Jersey and upon the cry talline more andy than those of ew J rsey. ba al complex in Staten I land and An expo ure may be een at Elm Point Long I land. Except for a few ex on Great Neck, Long I land. po ure along the north coa t and the The inclination to the southeast of interior of Long I land th Cretaceous the bed rock urface on which the e ecli ediments are hidden by glacial ments were depo. ited is about 40 feet depo it of Plei tocene age. Their to the mile in ew J r ey, 80 feet near pre nee, however, i ascertain d from Oyster Bay and Huntington, and 40 numerous deep-well record . In the feet at Port Jeff rson, Long I land. unglaciated area outh of Raritan Bay The dip of the bed", which is the ame they are expo ed over exten ive areas. as the slope of t he unexpo ed floor, Here t hree well-defined members ap probably decreases toward the ea t pear, the ba al Raritan formation of and south. Thi old retaceou floor i pla tic clay , the Mattawan formation till pre_erved inland in t he ere ts of of clay marl , and the Monmouth, in the Pali ade and "\iVatchung ridges, cluding the Rancocas and Mansquan Schooley Mountain and Kittntinny formation of green sand and marls. Mountain of New J rsey and in the Fo il marine invertebrates and plant truncated foll of the Appalachian remain indicating Upper Cretaceous Mountain we t of Harrisburg, Pcnn- age are found in ome of these beds. ylvania. Locally in Long Isln.ncl the 20 G[:IDE LEAFLET weak upp r bed of the Cretaceou cene material a indicated by th eric h::w been o-rcatly fold cl and , torm King all(.l th r boring,; h n contorted by the pa. ·a 0·e of th Plei - it cutting i to b referred to a elate to ene glacier over th m. lat r than the cl po ition of the late t THE C EK ZOIC ERA, PLEI TO 'ENE Tertiary bed. in w J er ey. EvE rTs : Four glacial and thre inter The narrow, teep-sidecl an i cl ep glacial , tagc are repr ented on Long outer canon of the ubmarinc chann 1, Island. The period of glaciation cor p. 7, if clu to tr am ero. ion, mu t be re pond to the Tebra. kan, Kan an, Il r f rrecl to an elevation of OT at magni linoian, and "\Yi con in of the entral tude, 4 00 feet, occurring at th clo e -Cnited 'tate , and to the Gunz of the po t-l\1ann tto ero ion tao-e. l\Iinclel. Ri , and " ~urm of the Alp The great drop or fall . in it bed are 1ountain. . Locally they have been characteri ·tic of a juv nile tream or named by l\Ir. 1. L. Fuller, of the old one which ha been rejuvenat cl . l;nite l 'tate Geological Survey the A only the eclo-e of the continental ::.\Iannetto, Jameco, l\1anha . t, and helf wa notched. the epoch of maxi "\Yi con:in stage and are repre ented mum elevation mu t have been brief. primarily by gra vcl an 1 morainal During the e oncl Interglacial tage, deposit . The only one rcprc ented the Yarmouth of the l\Ii i ippi Yal within th ., limit~ of the accompanying ley, the Gardiner clay wa clepo it d geological map are the Manha et and in Long I land. It was followed by a "\Yi. con. in. The outwa h, terminal tran itional epoch repre ented by th moraine, till, and retr atal outwa h Jacob and. Throughout the time of clepo it. of the "\Yi con in .. tage are far th econ FOR THE PEOPLE FOR EDUCATION FOR SCIENCE .I