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NE-AIPG FIELD TRIPS Here are examples of several recent NE-AIPG Field Trips. Please join us on our next field trip. Everyone, including non-members, are welcome! 2004 Spring Meeting at Petrified Sea Gardens - Saratoga Springs, NY Our 2004 Spring Meeting included a field trip to the Petrified Sea Gardens to observe the spectacular exposures of stromatolite fossils, a trip that was also included in the AIPG Annual Meeting in October 2004. The word stromatolite literally means "stone mattress" because the fossils were originally thought to be formed by an animal. The concentric layers of stone were actually created approximately 500 million years ago through the action of cyanobacteria when the area was a reef along the shoreline of an ancient sea. After dinner, Dr. Ed Stander from SUNY Cobleskill provided a presentation entitled The Geology of Thacher Park - A Revision. Unlike virtually everywhere else in the eastern North America, the Ordovician -- Devonian Stratigraphy in Thacher Park is preserved in near layer cake perfection. Careful mapping of the sandstone sequence within the confines of the park has shown that it is not as pristine as reported in the past.
2003 Fall Meeting at The Museum of Natural History NE-AIPG's Fall Meeting included a behind-the-scenes, curated tour of the dinosaur collection at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The fossil halls in the museum were completely renovated between 1994 and 1996, and now consist of a continuous loop on the fourth floor, tracing the history of vertebrate evolution. Unlike most fossil exhibits, the Museum’s fossil halls display the specimens according to evolutionary relationships, dramatically illustrating the complex branches of the tree of life, in which animals are grouped according to their shared physical characteristics. Such relationships are determined through a method of scientific analysis known as cladistics, which the Museum helped pioneer.
Spring 2003 at the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY Participants toured the Saratoga Springs where the naturally carbonated
springs were in vogue in the mid-nineteenth century and the mineral springs
were touted for the beneficial medicinal properties. Resort spas sprung up
and flourished around many of them, as thousands of people came yearly to
drink, bathe, and soak in the waters often prescribed by the physicians of
that time. After dinner the participants enjoyed a presentation on the Barton
Garnet Mine at Gore Mountain, N.Y. by Dr. William Kelly of the New York
Geological Survey. Fall 2002 at the Roxbury Iron Mine in Roxbury, Connecticut Participants toured Connecticut's Museum of Mining and Mineral Science in
Kent, Connecticut with the museum's founder, John Pawloski, who has a degree
in mining engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, and recently retired
after 30 years of teaching earth science. The Field trip continued with a
tour of the former steel works and iron mine in Roxbury, Connecticut and
finish with dinner in the New Milford area. Spring 2002 at the Weehawken Water Tower in
Weehawken, New Jersey Participants toured the Weehawken Water Tower and experienced a beautiful
view of New York City and listened to Eric Holtermann of Holt, Morgan Russell
(Architects) describe the unique challenges and techniques that have been
used to study and restore this structure. As a post-prandial treat, Dr. Alec
Gates of the Geology Department at Rutgers - Newark provided a presentation
on the fault and fracture patterns in the Hudson Highlands.
Fall 2001 at the Caumsett State Park in Lloyd Neck,
LI, NY Participants saw examples of glacial tectonics at the beaches of Saumsett
State Park on the North Shore of Long Island (Lloyd Neck, Huntington, NY) and
joined in a lively discussion with SUNY Stony Brook Geology professor Gill
Hanson about the re-classification of glacial geology on Long Island. Spring 2001 at Mystic Marine Aquarium in
Mystic CT"
Participants toured the Mystic Aquarium and saw a presentation by an
associate of Robert Ballard (who discovered the Titanic) who was searching
for signs of anchient civilizations in the Black Sea. Fall 2000 at Hayden Planetarium/Museum of
Natural History in New York City
Participants came to the American Museum of Natural History and watched
the Department of Planetary Science Chairman Dr. Jim Webster provide a
curated tour of the new Rose Center for Earth and Space and Hayden
Planetarium. Spring 2000 at the Blue Circle
Cement/Limestone Mine in Ravena, NY
Participants toured the Blue Circle Cement limestone rock quarry and a
cement plant. This was a joint meeting with the Hudson Mohawk Professional
Geologists' Association. Blue Circle Cement is one of four active cement
quarries in New England and New York. The quarry mines limestones from the
Middle Devonian Helderberg Group, a group of limestones with varying chemical
compositions. The lowest two formations, the Manlius and Coeymans limestones,
are the main units being mined for cement raw material. Overlying the Manlius
and Coeymans limestones are the Kalkberg and New Scotland formations, two
relatively impure limestones that have high silica contents. The Kalkberg and
New Scotland Formations are stripped off the underlying units and are either
stockpiled as overburden waste or used for aggregate by Callanan Industries.
Geologists on the trip will be able to see the complete sequence of
formations from the base of the Manlius to the top of the Becraft. Within the
sequence fossil humters may be able to find the type fossil for the Coeymans
Formation (Gypidula coeymanensis). |
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