Earth Science of the Northeastern United States

The place where you are right now has a rich geological history that is recorded by the rocks beneath you and the fossils that they may contain. The rocks and fossils reveal the movements of continents and the evolution of new forms of life. This history helps to explain why the Earth looks like it does today. It also explains things like the distributions of natural resources, from rare minerals to rich soils for agriculture. Studying Earth's ancient climate also helps us to make sense of how the climate is changing today and how it will affect us where we live.

The goal of this part of the [email protected] project is to explain the Earth science of the northeastern United States, which is defined here to include Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. Major regions include the the Central Lowland, Inland Basin, Blue Ridge and Piedmont, Coastal Plain, and Exotic Terrane.

Contents

Note: This part of [email protected] is under development.


Overviews of Northeastern U.S. Earth Science


Geologic History
Glaciers
Energy

Central Lowland Region

Northern New York bordering Lake Ontario.


Inland Basin Region

New York, western Vermont, much of Pennsylvania, northwestern New Jersey, and western Maryland.


Rocks
Topography

Special topic: Inland Basin: Finger Lakes region

Earth science of the Finger Lakes region of Central New York (Inland Basin):


Geology of the Finger Lakes
Geology of Taughannock Falls State Park
Geology of Cascadilla Gorge
Geology of Six Mile Creek Natural Area
Finger Lakes Wine and Geology
Ithaca is Gorges: The Glacial Landscape of the Cayuga Lake Basin and Fall Creek

Appalachians & Piedmont

Central Maryland, southeastern Pennsylvania, a small part of central to northeastern New Jersey, and a tiny part of northern Delaware.


Coastal Plain

Eastern Maryland, Delaware, southern New Jersey, Long Island, other islands off the southern New England coast, and Cape Cod (Massachusetts).


Exotic Terrane

Maine, New Hampshire, most of Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and small parts of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.


Resources

Lists of supplemental and teaching resources for the Earth science of the northeastern U.S., sorted by topic.


Resources

Credits

Most of the [email protected] content in the Here on Earth: Earth Science of the Northeastern United States section comes from The Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Geology of the Northeastern U.S., published in 2000 and reprinted 2016 by the Paleontological Research Institution. The citation for the original book is:

  • Ansley, J. E. 2000, reprinted 2016. The Teacher-Friendly Guide to the Geology of the Northeastern U.S. Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, New York, 205 pp.

The book was adapted for the web by Elizabeth J. Hermsen and Jonathan R. Hendricks in 2022. Changes include formatting and revisions to the text and images.

The original chapters adapted for the Northeastern U.S. section of Here on Earth are as follows. Some of the content has been spread over multiple pages on this website, so links are not provided below:

  • Chapter 1. Geologic history of the Northeastern US.
  • Chapter 2. Rocks of the Northeastern US.
  • Chapter 3. Glaciers of the Northeastern US.
  • Chapter 4. Fossils of the Northeastern US.
  • Chapter 5. Topography of the Northeastern US.
  • Chapter 6. Mineral Resources of the Northeastern US.
  • Chapter 7. Non-mineral Resources of the Northeastern US.
  • Chapter 8. Environmental Issues of the Northeastern US.