Ossipee Mountains and Prof Nelson Eby's Field Trip Guide Page

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Jazzbo

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I thought I would start yet another thread on the Ossipees. I was looking around on line for info on ring dikes and came up with this web page listing Prof. Nelson Eby's list of field trips and related links. I would definitely classify this writer as an "authoritative" source. Professor Eby teaches geology at UMass Lowell. There's lots of trips listed for trips to magmatic hot spots around NH. One can glean a lot of interesting stuff just by reading some of these technical papers.

http://faculty.uml.edu/Nelson_Eby/field%20trip%20guides.htm

The ring dike structure is relatively common in NH and Quebec and probably also in Maine. It's more like a process that took place in various forms. There's even a string of ring dikes structures called the Montegenerian Hills that stretches across Quebec from Montreal over to Mont Megantic that are all ring dike structures. Anyone who drives up to Montreal from the south has probably wondered about those striking mountain ridges that dot the landscape. Mont Megantic appears to be a smaller version of the Ossipees. Smaller but still a circular dike mountain ridge of similar materials.

Those with some scientific background might consider taking some of his courses. The field trips sound pretty interesting.

Trolling around randomly in some of his Powerpoint slides on Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology I came up with some interesting slides. Several of these show exactly what might have happened during the development of Ossipee ring dike.

http://faculty.uml.edu/Nelson_Eby/89.304/Schedule.htm
 
Mont Megantic Ring Dike

Thanks KDT. Pawtuckaway mountains developed by similar process. That's really cool! I've never seen that Wikimapia before. I get a similar view of circular shape of Mont Megantic located to the west of Lake Megantic in Quebec. It's part of the Montegenerian Hills that stretches across Quebec from Montreal toward Lake Megantic. Check this out!

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=45.4497749&lon=-71.1498642&z=11&l=0&m=a&v=2&search=Jackman%20ME

I've never been there, but thanks to the internet I can be like that guy Chauncey Peter Sellers played in "Being There". I tried to post a link to terrain view I got in Google, but it wouldn't work for me. It really looks circular in Google Maps terrain mode. It's so circular man! Higher summits are approx same elevation as Ossipee around 1000 meters or 3000'.
 
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Moats Geology

I spent a while in my youth mapping the volcanic deposits in the Moat Range. There are great sections of layered volcanic rocks there -rhyolites, ash, volcanic breccias, volcanic blocks, tuffs, etc. The South Moat Mountain Trail cuts the stratigraphy well. The WMNF Albany campground sits on the syanite ring dike. Here is some of the information we published:

http://abacus.bates.edu/acad/depts/geology/jcreasy.WM.html

I'm having trouble with the link, but it might work for you.

Cheers,

Fitz.
 
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Thanks for sharing Fitz!

Hi Fitz .... Thanks for sharing. I've browsed through your thesis and bookmarked it for further reading. Good reading for those weekends I'm staying home. Just one comment though. You need a few more landmarks on some of those maps so people can connect the map symbols with ground features.

The Moats have some beautiful rocks. Of course there's Diana's Bath.

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But one of my favorites is this snapshot I took at Junction of Moat Mt and Red Ridge Trail back in Oct. What do you suppose this is?

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Nice views of Pinkham and Carter Notch regions on this day with the nice rocks in the foreground.

2981444850088087945S600x600Q85.jpg
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Just for yucks I'm inserting a link to an Wikimapia aerial view of Ossipees.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=43.767127&lon=-71.2683105&z=12&l=0&m=a&v=2
 
This may have already been mentioned elsewhere, but I was surprised to find while researching ring dikes that it has recently been determined that Pawtuckaway State Park is located on a ring dike. I guess they discovered this through Google Earth.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=43.110632&lon=-71.18866&z=14&l=0&m=a&v=2

KDT


The Pawtuckaway's have been one of the well-known ring-dike complexes in N.H. long, long before GoogleEarth was developed, but that is still a really cool image, which got a lot of attention recently in the media, hence perhaps the confusion.

The bedrock geologic map of the state of N.H. is very colorful, includes all the ring-dike complexes and much more, and is reasonably priced. Buy the rolled version (vs folded) so that you can use as a wall-hanging! :)

http://des.nh.gov/index.htm
 
Every time I tell a group of school kids that they're living near a big volcano (the Ossipees), they roll their eyes in disbelief. During the same presentation, I will occasionally acquaint them with the lahar drill conducted regularly at the school in Orting, WA. And then I spend the remaining time trying to quell the rising anxiety. Prolly shouldn't even go near the Great New England Earthquake of 1755 . . . :eek:
 
Dr D .... Thanks Dr D. It took a bit of searching. Would this be the one (or two) you're referrring to?

Geo-1 Lyons, J.B., Bothner, W.A., Moench, R.H., and Thompson, J.B., Bedrock Geology Map of New Hampshire, 1997: color, 2 sheets, 42” x 54” each. Folded $10 plus $3 shipping fee; flat, rolled $10
$5 shipping

While searching around, I came across some downloadable pdf files on the site. Humm ... good brain candy for winter day.

Surficial Geology 83 pages

http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/publications/geologic/documents/geologyofnh1.pdf

Bedrock Geology: 200 pages

http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/publications/geologic/documents/geologyofnh2.pdf
 
The Boston Volcano?

I've been impressed with the geological knowlwdge of Jazzbo (and a few others) before this. So. let me ask about the following intriguing reference in the Bay Circuit Trail Map 9 Description, for a section that starts near Pine Hill in Sherborn and heads south over Mt. Misery (one of many) to Rocky Narrows and the Charles:

Start of the Rim of Fire Leg - From Pine Hill School soccer field take tr south. . . .Tr becomes wide path at back edge of Pine Hill Cemetery, then ascends and turns right to follow ridge (ridge traces the fault line that marks the edge of the newer volcanic rocks to the east, which are the remains of the Boston Volcano of 600 million years ago).

We were walking on a ridge-top, but it could have been an esker for all I could tell. I have never heard of this Volcano or the Rim of Fire. I could Google it, but thought I'd ask the experts here.
 
I've been impressed with the geological knowlwdge of Jazzbo (and a few others) before this. So. let me ask about the following intriguing reference in the Bay Circuit Trail Map 9 Description, for a section that starts near Pine Hill in Sherborn and heads south over Mt. Misery (one of many) to Rocky Narrows and the Charles:

We were walking on a ridge-top, but it could have been an esker for all I could tell. I have never heard of this Volcano or the Rim of Fire. I could Google it, but thought I'd ask the experts here.

Here is a short article on some choice geological excusions in the Boston area.

http://www.geotimes.org/feb06/Travels0206.html
 
Steve Smith on Ossipees Geology

The new Mountain Ear contains yet another article by Steve Smith, at pp. 34-35, on the Ossipees, which has been his favorite topic of late. He makes many of the points raised in this thread, including a reference to Professor Eby's book, and a few other points, He states that:

Similar ring-dike formations are found elsewhere across New Hampshire in the Belknap Mountains on the southwest side of Lake Winnipesaukee, the Pawtuckaway Mountains between Concord and Portsmouth, and in the Pliny-Pilot Range north of the Presidentials.

A photo shows a dark boulder very similar to one seen here recently in another thread, which someone thought might be basalt, as I recall. A geologist friend of Smith thinks it is hornfels, prized by Native Americans for arrow-heads and similar implements.

Smith also describes a recent hike he to took to Bayle, from which he 'whacked to Bald, with Keith of the AMC and a VFTT'er (not me).
 
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The new Mountain Ear contains yet another article by Steve Smith, at pp. 34-35, on the Ossipees, which has been his favorite topic of late. He makes many of the points raised in this thread, including a reference to Professor Eby's book, and a few other points, He states that:

Quote:
Similar ring-dike formations are found elsewhere across New Hampshire in the Belknap Mountains on the southwest side of Lake Winnipesaukee, the Pawtuckaway Mountains between Concord and Portsmouth, and in the Pliny-Pilot Range north of the Presidentials.

Thanks for posting. I am pleased that Steve added the above sentence, which is one that I suggested when he asked me to read a draft of the article in his shop this past weekend. :D
 
Hi to all,
There will be a new printed map of the Ossipee Mountains available before next sunner. Presently it shows the roads, logging roads, skidder roads, hiking trails, streams, and ponds. There will be a name for each trail, and the distance between trail intersections will be shown. Any input as to what else would be helpful on a hiking map would be appreciated. The map as it is now is available on http://www.franklinsites.com/hikephotos/files/nhtrailbanditossipeesbig-2008-1123.jpg
Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. OK Roy, I haven't moved the name of the hill yet.
Thanks
 
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