THE HERITAGE OF GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY: STOMPING GROUND FOR SOME OF GEOLOGY’S PREEMINENT SCIENTISTS

The stratigraphic record of the Champlain Valley contains some of the classic exposures of lower Paleozoic rocks in the U.S. A review of the geoscientists who studied these units reads like a “Who’s Who” in the history of geology in the U.S. Especially noteworthy are the paleontologic and biostratigraphic studies by Emmons, Hall, Cushing, Brainerd and Seely, and Dana (late 19^th C), who contributed significantly to recognizing the stratigraphic subdivisions of the lower Paleozoic. Cady, Kay and Rodgers (mid 20^th C) revised stratigraphic relationships in the Cambrian through Middle Ordovician to establish some fundamental structural and tectonic interpretations bearing on the evolution of the northern Appalachians. Friedman and his students (mid 20^th C) contributed much to the present understanding of lower Paleozoic carbonate sedimentology and stratigraphy. To this list could be added the paleontologists Walcott, Schuchert, Reudemann, Cooper, Ross and Shaw, to name a few of the early to mid-20^thC workers whose scholarship is still referenced in studies of Ordovician fauna found around the world.

The geological significance of the late Quaternary lake and marine deposits of the Champlain Valley was characterized by Warren Upham in 1905; “No other area of our continent promises more important information concerning the Glacial and Recent periods.” The late 19^th C and early 20^thC scholarship of Upham, Hitchcock, Peet, Fairchild, Woodworth, Ogilvie and Alling contributed to the earliest chronology of lake and marine stages in the region. These studies led to the comprehensive chronology proposed by Chapman in 1937 and later refinements by MacClintock, Stewart, Denny and others. A large body of Quaternary literature is devoted to the sedimentology and paleontology of Champlain Sea deposits including those of Goldring, Hunt and Cronin.

We hypothesize that this region attracted the attention of so many distinguished geologists because of its strategic location on the eastern margin of North America, the excellent quality of stratigraphic exposure (particularly rocks whose age was controversial and critical to 19^th C understanding of the geologic history of New England), and its proximity to early (19^thC) institutions of higher learning and the N.Y. State Museum.