Stories in Stone: How Geology Influenced Connecticut History and Culture

221 Pages·2009·3.974 MB·English

by  Jelle Zeilinga de Boer

Stories in Stone
Early Connecticut Silver, 1700–1840
by Peter Bohan and Philip Hammerslough
Introduction and Notes by Erin Eisenbarth
The Old Leather Man
by Daniel DeLuca
Westover School: Giving Girls a Place ofTheir Own
by Laurie Lisle
Henry Austin: In Every Variety ofArchitectural Style
by James F. O’Gorman
Making Freedom: The Extraordinary Life ofVenture Smith
by Chandler B. Saint and George Krimsky
Welcome to Wesleyan: Campus Buildings
by Leslie Starr
Stories in Stone
How Geology Influenced Connecticut History and Culture
by Jelle Zeilinga de Boer
Stories in
Stone
How Geology
Influenced
Connecticut
History and
Culture
Jelle Zeilinga de Boer
wesleyan university press
middletown, connecticut
Published by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 06459
www.wesleyan.edu/wespress
© 2009 by Wesleyan University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
5 4 3 2 1
Wesleyan University Press is a member ofthe GreenPress Initiative. The paper used
in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zeilinga de Boer, Jelle.
Stories in stone / Jelle Zeilinga de Boer.
p. cm. — (Garnet books)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn978–0-8195–6891–5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Geology—Connecticut. I. Title.
qe93.z45 2009
557.46—dc22 2009011073
c
To Bjorn, Byrthe, and Babette,
with apologies for all those years
in which they had to share their father
with Connecticut’s rocks
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Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. In the Beginning: Continental Fusion and Breakup 8
2. Weather and Climate: Hurricanes and Ice Ages 27
3. Connecticut’s Geologic Treasures: Gems and Ores 56
Sidebar:Gems in Quarry Tailings 74
Sidebar:Other Historic Quarries and Mines in Connecticut 82
4. Settlers and Soils in the Central Valley: The Legacy of
Glacial Lake Hitchcock 83
5. The Metacomet Ridge: The Scientific, Political, and Cultural
Impact ofan Old Lava Flow 105
Sidebar:The Curse of the Black Dog 129
6. The Moodus Noises: The Science and Lore ofConnecticut
Earthquakes 132
Sidebar:Moodus Tremors and Sonic Booms 156
7. Visitors from Space: The Weston and Wethersfield Meteorites 157
Afterword: Our Lithic Inheritance 171
Bibliography 175
Index 197
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Preface
Many ofus have, at one time or another, wished that stones could speak. It
first happened to me when I was six years old and was standing on a trop-
ical beach holding a stone to my ear. I had just listened to a shell, and al-
though it spoke in a whisper, the stone remained silent! My experiment
was triggered by a volcano near my childhood home in Indonesia that had
rumbled for weeks. I had been told that the rocks inside this giant had
woken up and were plotting their escape. The piece ofrock that I held in
my hand was volcanic, and I was wondering what it could tell me about its
birth and travels to the ocean. Only much later did I learn that the deep
humofan awakening volcano is caused by the rise and expansion ofgas
bubbles in magma. After the Japanese invasion during World War IIand
subsequent Indonesian revolution, I returned to the Netherlands with
what remained ofmy family and decided to study earth science.
To find anything volcanic, Dutch geology students had to cross bor-
ders and travel to the MassifCentral in France. There we found phono-
lites, a volcanic rock that emits a clear tone when struck. By varying
the sizes of assorted fragments, we produced a xylophone and com-
posed rock music. While working in Central America many years later,
I learned about another, more sinister “voice”ofthe rocks: the rumble
that precedes the shaking of an earthquake. Over time I learned that
rocks could tell me so much, much more by their silence. Stones from
space have provided us with information about the age of the solar
system. The minerals in volcanic and metamorphic rocks testify to
temperatures and pressures deep inside the Earth, and sediments speak
about time, past climates, and evolution. In one form or another stones
do speak, but only to those who are willing to listen. In this book I re-
late what rocks and their minerals have told me about the role they
played in Connecticut history. They spoke to me, and I hope that they
will do the same for you.