A COLLEGE LEVEL GEOLOGY FIELD TRIP IN WESTERN CONNECTICUT AND VICINITY

There are a number of excellent locations for field exposure for college students in, and around Western Connecticut. These are accessible for a one day field trip within striking distance of New York City, Bridgeport and New Haven, CT and other nearby locations. They are also suitable for an expanded weekend field trip. The field locations include; Kent Falls State Park, Kent, CT, Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill, CT, the Hubbard Mining Museum, Kent, CT, Bash Bish Falls in Mt. Washington, Massachusetts, Macedonia Brook State Park in Kent, CT and various outcrops exposed along U. S. Route 7 north of Danbury, CT. Attractions include dinosaur footprints, good exposures of Paleozoic metamorphic rocks, Precambrian outcrops, illustrations of the relationship between lithology and geomorphology, (particularly at Kent falls and Bash Bish Falls), fluvial potholes at Kent Falls, rock, mineral and mining exhibits at the Hubbard Mining Museum, and an outcrop showing an intrusive contact along Route 7. On this field trip, the students will have the opportunity to cross two major unconformities and see the evidence for them. In addition to the opportunity to collect rock and mineral samples, students will be able to make plaster casts of dinosaur footprints at Dinosaur Park. Students will also have the opportunity to visit Tory Cave, a marble cave in the Stockbridge formation, off route 7, just south of Gaylordsville, CT. Field experience is essential to a good geological education and this area provides students with excellent opportunities for such field exposure.