Northwestern Vermont Geoscience Tour
Todays tour will be
north of Burlington in the region of the lake where there are numerous
islands. This portion of the tour will explore some paleoenvironments
at Lessors Quarry, The Chazy Reef and a currently debated man
made structure the Champlain Causeway. We will probably collect some
markedly different meteorological data when we are on the shore of the
lake than what we did yesterday on Mount Mansfield. The structures and
fossils seen today will be connected to the specimens observed in the
Perkins Geology Museum on day 2 and refererring to your notes from that
day will be helpful.
Lessor's Quarry
This site is under the supervision of UVM as a natural area as is the previously visited Redstone Quarry. The site shows evidence of Ordovician fossiliferous limestone and folding and faulting. The site is located in South Hero Vermont about 15 miles north of the ECHO starting point. Drive east up Main street in Burlington until I-89 and go northbound until the exit 17 for the Champlain Islands and South Hero, Route 2. Take Route 2 onto the island and after about travelling 2 miles look for a sign to Lessors Quarry on South Street on the left. This portion of the day including travel will take 3 hours.
All photos above from http://www.anr.state.vt.us/DEC/GEO/photogalleryp2.htm
Visiting the site
This site is important in seeing another but different paleo-oceanic site but this one shows dramatic evidence of faulting and folding indicating the tectonic forces that shaped early Vermont. Take all of your data readings and then sketch a plan view of the quarry floor and the surrounding walls in your journal. As you can see in the photos above there is some dramatic folding and faulting in the walls of the quarry. After the initial exploration of the quarry select some of these features and sketch them in your journal referencing their location on your plan view with some sort of notation. Look for the geometry of cleavage, measure strike and dip, bedding offsets and angles. Note slickenlines on the fault surfaces, calcite veins and directional arrows of what you think were the forces involved that moved the rock. Distinguish faults from fractures and explain why you differentiate between the two. Can you gather any information about the geologic events of the site by interpreting cross cutting relationships?
The second part of this stop is about the paleo-oceanic environment that originallyy deposited the sediments in this area. There are numerous examples of Ordovician marine organisms in the rocks in this quarry. Using the guide Fossils of the Lake Champlain Region you picked up on Day 2 identify as many organisms as you can. Make notes on your diagram where you find the specimens. Is there any superpositional relationship to where the specimens are found? What type of oceanic environment was present at the time the organisms lived? Nearshore, depth, salinity etc? What was the land environment like at this time and where was this environment located relative to the paleoequator during the Ordovician period?
Both images from http://members.wri.com/jeffb/Fossils/drift.shtml
Chazy Reef
This site is world renown as one of the oldest reef structures containing the oldest stromatoporids and some of the earliest corals. To get there continue north on Route 2 from Lessors Quarry until you see a sign for Isle La Motte on the left. Once on Isle La Motte follow the signs to St Annes shrine. The Fisk Quarry preserve is slightly more than 4 miles to the south on West Shore road. The Goodsell Ridge preserve and Visitor center is on quarry road nearby. Look for the signs to direct you to this recently opened facility. This part of the day including travel will take 4 hours.
All photos above http://www.ilmpt.org/preserves2.html
Visiting the site
Visiting this site is important because it is possibly the oldest reef structure in the world. An available geologic map may be something helpful to download. This formation was built with what are referred to as framework organisms that trapped carbonate mud and grainstone and built vertical columns in the surrounding waters. Those organisms were bryozoans, stromatoporids and stromatolites which built the reef structure. Non reef-building organism fossils found in this formation include echinoderms, gastropods, trilobites and cephalopods. There is evidence of change and succession in the fossil record at this site as different organisms adapted to different depths and temperature are found in different layers. This change is believed to be allogenic rather than autogenic which is an indicator of environmental change. Sea level change due to regression is the likely cause for the organism change in the rock at this site. The presence of ancient reeef structures is important in understanding the paleo-latitudinal location of Vermont as modern reefs are typically found at 20-30 degrees latitude while the modern latitude of Vermont is 44 degrees which suggests a latitudinal change from 480 million years ago. It is believed that the Iapetus ocean lay to the east and Laurentia to the west and the reef structures formed on a platform margin that bordered deep water (22). The Fisk quarry section is simpler than the Goodsell Ridge area where the outcroppings in the field indicate an evolution to a more complex reef community as time progressed. The interpretive signage and information should be helpful in further understanding this site. As you explore the site be observant of the change in number and type of the fossils you see and record in your journal. What evidence of change do you see?
All images above from http://www.ilmpt.org/chazy.html
Mc Neil Woodchip Electric Generation Station
This stop will provide insights into an alternative fuel electrical power generation facility in Burlington VT. The plant went on line in 1980 and produces 50 megawatts of electricity from poor quality wood and wood waste chips. The facility is located in the Intervale area in Burlington and tours can be arranged by contacting Grace Link at (802) 865 7482. The facility is about 3 miles from the ECHO site and can be reached by driving east on Main street to North Prospect Street until it intersects with Intervale Road which you stay on for about a mile until you reach the generating station. This portion of the day should take about 2 hours.
www.nrel.gov/biomass/photos.html www.blm.gov/.../articles/energy/energy40a.jpg
Visiting this site
As previously stated, Vermont has a long history of environmental awareness and in the late 1970's when faced with aging electric power stations and a need for more power the Burlington Electric Department (BED) studied the feasibility of using biomass for this need. BED conducted a study to determine which fuel would be locally available, reliable, cost effrective, non polluting and publicly acceptable and wood chips rose as the best choice to meet those parameters. The 76 tons of fuel needed per hour for the plant comes from chipped low quality trees, logging residues, bark, sawdust and urban wood waste such as pallets and other uncontaminated wood products and is transported by rail or truck to the site. Using waste products as fuel significantly reduces the load on landfills as a secondary benefit. The plant has developed strict guidelines about how, where annd how much tree harvesting can occur to protect the environment and a professional forester reviews plans for cutting to assure that the environmental impact is minimized. Management of the woodpiles on site is regulated to limit decomposition and the associated negative economic and societal impacts that condition would generate. A later addition of interruptible gas or oil supply allows for the use of those fuels singly or in combination if conditions warrant the need. Air quality of the plants stack emissions is controlled by electrostatic precipitators to levels below allowable State and Federal levels but in the past there has been concerns about dust from sawdust and NOx levels that some groups felt was too high. The BED has responded to noise and dust concerns by modifying aspects of the operation and the NOx concerns were deemed to be within limits after a court decision (23,24). The tour of the site is interesting and questions about the future methods of using different types of biomass as well as different techniques such as gasification of biomass may be answered by the guide. Efficiency of use of electricity is another way to reduce the environmental impact of electrical energy production so ask the guide about BED's programs in that regard such as the Porchlight project. Take notes about this innovative plant in your journal.
Both images above by Burlington Electric Company
Lessor's Quarry
This site is under the supervision of UVM as a natural area as is the previously visited Redstone Quarry. The site shows evidence of Ordovician fossiliferous limestone and folding and faulting. The site is located in South Hero Vermont about 15 miles north of the ECHO starting point. Drive east up Main street in Burlington until I-89 and go northbound until the exit 17 for the Champlain Islands and South Hero, Route 2. Take Route 2 onto the island and after about travelling 2 miles look for a sign to Lessors Quarry on South Street on the left. This portion of the day including travel will take 3 hours.
All photos above from http://www.anr.state.vt.us/DEC/GEO/photogalleryp2.htm
Visiting the site
This site is important in seeing another but different paleo-oceanic site but this one shows dramatic evidence of faulting and folding indicating the tectonic forces that shaped early Vermont. Take all of your data readings and then sketch a plan view of the quarry floor and the surrounding walls in your journal. As you can see in the photos above there is some dramatic folding and faulting in the walls of the quarry. After the initial exploration of the quarry select some of these features and sketch them in your journal referencing their location on your plan view with some sort of notation. Look for the geometry of cleavage, measure strike and dip, bedding offsets and angles. Note slickenlines on the fault surfaces, calcite veins and directional arrows of what you think were the forces involved that moved the rock. Distinguish faults from fractures and explain why you differentiate between the two. Can you gather any information about the geologic events of the site by interpreting cross cutting relationships?
The second part of this stop is about the paleo-oceanic environment that originallyy deposited the sediments in this area. There are numerous examples of Ordovician marine organisms in the rocks in this quarry. Using the guide Fossils of the Lake Champlain Region you picked up on Day 2 identify as many organisms as you can. Make notes on your diagram where you find the specimens. Is there any superpositional relationship to where the specimens are found? What type of oceanic environment was present at the time the organisms lived? Nearshore, depth, salinity etc? What was the land environment like at this time and where was this environment located relative to the paleoequator during the Ordovician period?
Both images from http://members.wri.com/jeffb/Fossils/drift.shtml
Chazy Reef
This site is world renown as one of the oldest reef structures containing the oldest stromatoporids and some of the earliest corals. To get there continue north on Route 2 from Lessors Quarry until you see a sign for Isle La Motte on the left. Once on Isle La Motte follow the signs to St Annes shrine. The Fisk Quarry preserve is slightly more than 4 miles to the south on West Shore road. The Goodsell Ridge preserve and Visitor center is on quarry road nearby. Look for the signs to direct you to this recently opened facility. This part of the day including travel will take 4 hours.
All photos above http://www.ilmpt.org/preserves2.html
Visiting the site
Visiting this site is important because it is possibly the oldest reef structure in the world. An available geologic map may be something helpful to download. This formation was built with what are referred to as framework organisms that trapped carbonate mud and grainstone and built vertical columns in the surrounding waters. Those organisms were bryozoans, stromatoporids and stromatolites which built the reef structure. Non reef-building organism fossils found in this formation include echinoderms, gastropods, trilobites and cephalopods. There is evidence of change and succession in the fossil record at this site as different organisms adapted to different depths and temperature are found in different layers. This change is believed to be allogenic rather than autogenic which is an indicator of environmental change. Sea level change due to regression is the likely cause for the organism change in the rock at this site. The presence of ancient reeef structures is important in understanding the paleo-latitudinal location of Vermont as modern reefs are typically found at 20-30 degrees latitude while the modern latitude of Vermont is 44 degrees which suggests a latitudinal change from 480 million years ago. It is believed that the Iapetus ocean lay to the east and Laurentia to the west and the reef structures formed on a platform margin that bordered deep water (22). The Fisk quarry section is simpler than the Goodsell Ridge area where the outcroppings in the field indicate an evolution to a more complex reef community as time progressed. The interpretive signage and information should be helpful in further understanding this site. As you explore the site be observant of the change in number and type of the fossils you see and record in your journal. What evidence of change do you see?
All images above from http://www.ilmpt.org/chazy.html
Mc Neil Woodchip Electric Generation Station
This stop will provide insights into an alternative fuel electrical power generation facility in Burlington VT. The plant went on line in 1980 and produces 50 megawatts of electricity from poor quality wood and wood waste chips. The facility is located in the Intervale area in Burlington and tours can be arranged by contacting Grace Link at (802) 865 7482. The facility is about 3 miles from the ECHO site and can be reached by driving east on Main street to North Prospect Street until it intersects with Intervale Road which you stay on for about a mile until you reach the generating station. This portion of the day should take about 2 hours.
www.nrel.gov/biomass/photos.html www.blm.gov/.../articles/energy/energy40a.jpg
Visiting this site
As previously stated, Vermont has a long history of environmental awareness and in the late 1970's when faced with aging electric power stations and a need for more power the Burlington Electric Department (BED) studied the feasibility of using biomass for this need. BED conducted a study to determine which fuel would be locally available, reliable, cost effrective, non polluting and publicly acceptable and wood chips rose as the best choice to meet those parameters. The 76 tons of fuel needed per hour for the plant comes from chipped low quality trees, logging residues, bark, sawdust and urban wood waste such as pallets and other uncontaminated wood products and is transported by rail or truck to the site. Using waste products as fuel significantly reduces the load on landfills as a secondary benefit. The plant has developed strict guidelines about how, where annd how much tree harvesting can occur to protect the environment and a professional forester reviews plans for cutting to assure that the environmental impact is minimized. Management of the woodpiles on site is regulated to limit decomposition and the associated negative economic and societal impacts that condition would generate. A later addition of interruptible gas or oil supply allows for the use of those fuels singly or in combination if conditions warrant the need. Air quality of the plants stack emissions is controlled by electrostatic precipitators to levels below allowable State and Federal levels but in the past there has been concerns about dust from sawdust and NOx levels that some groups felt was too high. The BED has responded to noise and dust concerns by modifying aspects of the operation and the NOx concerns were deemed to be within limits after a court decision (23,24). The tour of the site is interesting and questions about the future methods of using different types of biomass as well as different techniques such as gasification of biomass may be answered by the guide. Efficiency of use of electricity is another way to reduce the environmental impact of electrical energy production so ask the guide about BED's programs in that regard such as the Porchlight project. Take notes about this innovative plant in your journal.
Both images above by Burlington Electric Company
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Day 6 |
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