He analyzes the slices to figure out what minerals are present. In his research, Merguerian uses a special saw blade to cut the rocks into paper-thin slices. Lava flows, volcanic eruptions, and glacial events continued to shape the landscape –– literally molding Connecticut by fire and ice. These rocks, which Merguerian collected from construction sites around Connecticut and New York, carry the record of geologic events that occurred in New England hundreds of millions of years ago. The rocks seem unremarkable at first glance –– they’re what Merguerian calls “ugly rocks,” chunks that can be seen at the side of any road –– but these are often extremely valuable to scientists. “Geologists are like detectives,” he told me as he opened a drawer, revealing tagged slabs of rocks about the size of my palm. Dressed in jeans and hiking boots, Merguerian showed me his collection of rocks in the back rooms of the museum, stored from his graduate school research projects. He had come to New Haven to visit the Yale Peabody Museum’s geology collection, and asked me to meet him there. To understand why Connecticut’s landmarks fascinate geologists, I met with Professor Charles Merguerian from Hofstra University, a leading expert on geologic structure and plate tectonics in Connecticut and New York. Geologists investigate how continental collisions and lava flows shaped the landscape of Connecticut, uniquely positioned at the fault lines of Pangaea. Though the community relies on the parks as local hubs of exercise and leisure, most people know very little about the stories of these landmarks –– stories that have shaped the human history of Connecticut for centuries.į or geologists, East Rock and West Rock aren’t weekend hangout spots –– they’re ground zero in a dramatic story about how the earth under our feet has shifted ever since the planet first formed. Hikers are likely unaware that these parks once stood at the borders between continents, or that they’re tracing the footsteps of prehistoric dinosaurs. Visitors to East Rock and West Rock, the rocky ridges that flank New Haven, or Sleeping Giant mountain in neighboring Hamden only see a stable landscape covered in greenery. Lava flows, volcanic eruptions, and glacial events continued to shape the landscape –– molding Connecticut by fire and ice.įrom the top of East Rock today, these dramatic events are hardly apparent. Walking across Connecticut, the dinosaur might step into what is now Rhode Island –– or southern Morocco.Ībout 175 million years ago, as Pangaea broke apart, the continental plates spread and allowed magma to emerge from deep within the Earth. North America, Africa, and South America are joined together as the supercontinent Pangaea. A twenty-foot-tall crested Dilophosaurus prowls in search of prey, leaving three-toed footprints. The land is covered with marshy shores and turquoise lakes and steaming volcanoes. Turn back the clock 200 million years, and this view is completely different. Reporting for this piece was made possible by the Ed Bennett III Memorial Fund.Ī t the summit of East Rock Park in New Haven, Connecticut, marked by the Sailors and Soldiers war monument, the view extends for miles and miles –– across tall green trees, over downtown buildings that look like miniatures from a distance, and all the way to the blue waters of New Haven Harbor.
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