What's New in Minerals: Springfield Show 2008

摘要

This year I vowed that while driving home after the Springfield Show I would spend some time studying the geology of New England. Recent articles in the media had referred to a "newly discovered" (that is, new to the media) fault zone under New York City and adjoining parts of New England, so I decided to do some research on the subject. I ordered a geologic map of the northeastern United States from Ward's in Rochester, and I put in a few hours of research on the Internet. The more research I did, the more I realized how complicated the geology of the northeastern United States actually is. According to what's written on the Ward's map, "The Northeastern states, especially the southern New England area, possibly has undergone more violent geographic changes over a longer period of time than any other portion of the United States." Sure enough, on the map the northeast looked to me like a bowl of vegetable soup loaded with alphabet noodles. I decided to visit Cameron's Line, a fault that runs through New England, Manhattan and Staten Island, then through New Jersey and into the Atlantic Ocean-but only on the way home from Springfield, after the show was over.