7 March 2010
Where I am today
Posted by Callan Bentley
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About Callan
Callan Bentley is Associate Professor of Geology at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. For his work on this blog, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers recognized him with the James Shea Award. He has also won the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, and the Biggs Award for Excellence in Geoscience Teaching from the Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America. In previous years, Callan served as a contributing editor at EARTH magazine, President of the Geological Society of Washington and President the Geo2YC division of NAGT.
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If you can get into NJ, assuming you have a car, you will love the columnar jointing in the Orange Mountain Basalt in the roadcuts along Interstate 280, which I think is called the Orange Mountain Expressway. I saw it back in the 1980’s and it was spectacular. I have a couple of photos here: http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~pgore/geology/geo101/plutons.php
Found this description online for you:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Places/volcanic_past_new_jersey.html
Along Interstate 280:
Driving westward along Interstate 280 the highway crosses the valley west of Newark … the highway begins to ascend the grade rising to the ridge top of the 1st Watchung (Orange Mountain) … The cliffs consist of a single massive lava flow that cooled and cracked into columnar joints. The unusual feature of this flow are the complexity of the columnar joints. In some locations, the joints tend to radiate away from a central core. These patterns were generated by an uneven cooling pattern in the flow, possibly a result of degassing structures or uneven mixing of the lava as it cooled.