Bedrock Valleys of the New England Coast As Related to Fluctuations of Sea Level
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Bedrock Valleys of the New England Coast as Related to Fluctuations of Sea Level By JOSEPH E. UPSON and CHARLES W. SPENCER SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 454-M Depths to bedrock in coastal valleys of New England, and nature of sedimentary Jill resulting from sea-level fluctuations in Pleistocene and Recent time UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1964 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director The U.S. Geological Survey Library has cataloged this publication, as follows: Upson, Joseph Edwin, 1910- Bedrock valleys of the New England coast as related to fluctuations of sea level, by Joseph E. Upson and Charles W. Spencer. Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1964. iv, 42 p. illus., maps, diagrs., tables. 29 cm. (U.S. Geological Survey. Professional paper 454-M) Shorter contributions to general geology. Bibliography: p. 39-41. (Continued on next card) Upson, Joseph Edwin, 1910- Bedrock valleys of the New England coast as related to fluctuations of sea level. 1964. (Card 2) l.Geology, Stratigraphic Pleistocene. 2.Geology, Stratigraphic Recent. S.Geology New England. I.Spencer, Charles Winthrop, 1930-joint author. ILTitle. (Series) For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 CONTENTS Page Configuration and depth of bedrock valleys, etc. Con. Page Abstract.__________________________________________ Ml Buried valleys of the Boston area. _ _______________ M2 1 Introduction _______________________________________ 1 General features__-_______-_--___-____--___- 21 Purpose of the investigation____________________ 1 Depth of bedrock thalwegs _ _ _ ______________ 23 Acknowledgments__ ___________________________ 2 Charles buried valley _ _________________ 23 Previous investigations._________________________ 2 Method of investigation_____________________________ 2 Aber jona-Fresh Pond buried valley _______ 23 General geologic setting.____________________________ 3 Maiden buried valley __ _______________ 24 Location of sections and sources of data _______________ 5 Unconsolidated deposits. ____________________ 24 Configuration and depth of bedrock valleys and stratig Summary of features of the Boston Basin area raphy Of fill.___----__-----_.__________________ 5 buried valleys____________--_-_-____---__- 28 Bedrock valleys of coastal Connecticut ____________ 5 Bedrock valleys near Portsmouth, N.H____________ 28 General features.___________________________ 5 Bedrock valleys of the Maine coast- ______________ 29 Depth of bedrock thalwegs_________________ 6 General features______------------____---___ 29 Housatonic River_______________________ 7 Depth of bedrock thalwegs _ ________________ 30 Quinnipiac River.______________________ 8 Presumpscot buried valley _-_-_-____----_ 30 Connecticut River ______________________ 8 Thames River________________________ 10 Kennebec bedrock valley. _ _____________ 30 Unconsolidated deposits.____________________ 10 Sheepscot River at Wiscasset _________ 31 Tffl_-_______-____________________l____ 10 Penobscot River bedrock valley __________ 31 Outwash__ __________________________ 10 St. Croix bedrock valley (Passamaquoddy Estuarine deposits._____________________ 11 31 Deposits at Middletown-Portland Bridge. _ 12 Unconsolidated deposits. ___________ _____ 33 Summary of features of Connecticut coastal Till. ----------------_--------_--- 33 valleys __________________________________ 13 Outwash _________ _ _ _ _ _ ___ 33 Narragansett Bay area___-_____-__________-_____ 13 Marine clay and silt_____------_-------- 33 General features.__---_-______--____________ 13 Summary of features of Maine coastal bedrock Depths of bedrock thalwegs__________________ 15 valleys ____________________---_____------ 36 Blackstone bedrock valley _______________ 15 Conclusions. ___________-__--___-____---_---------_- 36 Providence bedrock valley_______________ 16 Taunton-Sakonnet bedrock valley______ 18 Depths and origin of the bedrock thalwegs-- ______ 36 Unconsolidated deposits_____________________ 18 Stratigraphy of the depositional fill .---______--__. 38 Summary of features of Narragansett Bay area References cited___-_____-_---------------_--------- 39 valleys._________________________________ 21 Index _____________-______--_-______-_---_--------- 43 in IV CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS [Plates are In pocket] PLATE 1. Sections of bedrock valleys of coastal Connecticut. 2. Sections of the Charles and Maiden buried valleys in the Boston area, Massachusetts. 3. Sections of bedrock valleys along the Maine coast. 4. Map of the New England coast showing elevations of thalwegs of bedrock valleys. 5. Map of the New England coast showing elevations of the thalwegs of preestuarine valleys. Page FIGURE 1. Index map of New England showing rivers, location of sections, and major structural basins._______________ M6 2. Section of the Connecticut bedrock valley at highway bridge between Middletown and Portland, Conn______ 9 3. Sketch map of Narragansett Bay showing locations of bedrock valleys and sites of sections or where other data were obtained_____________________________________________________________________________ 14 4. Profile of thalweg of Blackstone bedrock valley between Woonsocket and the city of Warwick, R.I__________ 17 5. Section of Taunton-Sakonnet bedrock valley at Tiverton, R.I__________________________________________ 19 6. Sketch map of Boston area, Massachusetts, showing locations of buried bedrock valleys and of geologic sections- 22 7. Profile of thalweg of Aberjona-Fresh Pond and lower Charles buried valleys._____________________________ 25 8. Section of Maiden buried valley at Maiden, Mass-______--__-________--_-_--__----_-_-___--_----_----_ 26 9. Sketch map of the vicinity of Eastport, Maine, showing thalwegs of St. Croix bedrock valley and tributaries in the southern Passamaquoddy Bay area-__-_----__--------_----------_---_-----_------------------- 32 TABLES TABLES 1-5. Summary of: page 1. Stratigraphy of unconsolidated deposits in New England bedrock valleys._________________________ M5 2. Information on bridge foundation borings at crossings of bedrock valleys in Connecticut-_______^_____ 6 3. Data on bedrock valleys at 10 sites in Narragansett Bay________________________________________ 15 4. Information on crossings of buried valleys in the Boston Basin area, Massachusetts._________________ 23 5. Information on crossings of bedrock valleys along the Maine coast._______________________________ 29 6. Inferred elevations of thalwegs of New England coastal bedrock valleys-_________________________________ 37 7. Generalized comparison of late Pleistocene and Recent stratigraphic units in bedrock valleys of the New England coast____-_-____-______-_____-____-___---_--___--___--_______-_-__-______________- 38 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY BEDROCK VALLEYS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST AS RELATED TO FLUCTUATIONS OF SEA LEVEL By JOSEPH E. UPSON and CHARLES W. SPENCER ABSTRACT The igneous and metamorphic rocks, buried beneath Test borings for bridges crossing 14 New England rivers or the coastal-plain sediments of New Jersey and Long bays near the coast (including Narragansett and Passamoquoddy Island, emerge at about New York City. Thence, Bays) reveal information on depths to thalwegs of buried east and north, except for Cape Cod and for local bedrock valleys and on the nature of contained unconsolidated accumulations at other places of glacial and marine sediments. An attempt is made to infer from these data some thing of the time and rate of sea-level rise in late- or post deposits, these rocks occur along most shores, either glacial time as one phase of the general problem of encroach exposed or thinly covered. Along all coastal stretches ment of salty ground water from the sea. exposed to the open sea, these rocks are washed clean Thalweg elevations near the coast range from about 95 within the zone reached by high tides and storm waves. feet msl (mean sea level) to about 420 feet msl. Virtually At the mouths of the streams and rivers, however, the level reaches on the Blackstone buried valley at about 200 feet msl and on the Charles at about 250 feet msl suggest bedrock lies some distance below sea level. at least local base levels. The bedrock valleys were formed Nearly every stream enters the sea above or near the before the Wisconsin Glaciation, and the thalweg elevations site of a buried or submerged bedrock valley which are not considered to be a measure of sea-level decline at the contains unconsolidated deposits. At the shore the Wisconsin maximum. The unconsolidated deposits within the bedrock valleys are deepest parts of these valleys, the thalwegs, lie from a of late and post-Pleistocene age, and differ systematically few tens of feet to more than 400 feet below present along the coast. In the valleys off the Connecticut coast, sea level. The largest of these valleys are those of: fluvioglacial outwash, possibly related to a stand of the ice at the Housatonic, Quinnipiac, Connecticut, and Thames Middletown, Conn., is overlain in irregular contact by estuarine Rivers in Connecticut; Narragansett Bay in Rhode deposits extending to about present sea level. Valleys in the Boston area and in southern Maine contain mainly glacial- Island and Massachusetts; the streams entering Boston marginal marine clays, also overlain by estuarine deposits. Harbor, Mass.; 'and the Portland Harbor area, Passa- Estuarine deposits of appreciable