Stories in Stone Early Connecticut Silver, 1700–1840 by Peter Bohan and Philip Hammerslough Introduction and Notes by Erin Eisenbarth The Old Leather Man by Daniel DeLuca Westover School: Giving Girls a Place ofTheir Own by Laurie Lisle Henry Austin: In Every Variety ofArchitectural Style by James F. O’Gorman Making Freedom: The Extraordinary Life ofVenture Smith by Chandler B. Saint and George Krimsky Welcome to Wesleyan: Campus Buildings by Leslie Starr Stories in Stone How Geology Influenced Connecticut History and Culture by Jelle Zeilinga de Boer Stories in Stone How Geology Influenced Connecticut History and Culture Jelle Zeilinga de Boer wesleyan university press middletown, connecticut Published by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 06459 www.wesleyan.edu/wespress © 2009 by Wesleyan University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States ofAmerica 5 4 3 2 1 Wesleyan University Press is a member ofthe GreenPress Initiative. The paper used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zeilinga de Boer, Jelle. Stories in stone / Jelle Zeilinga de Boer. p. cm. — (Garnet books) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn978–0-8195–6891–5 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Geology—Connecticut. I. Title. qe93.z45 2009 557.46—dc22 2009011073 c To Bjorn, Byrthe, and Babette, with apologies for all those years in which they had to share their father with Connecticut’s rocks This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1. In the Beginning: Continental Fusion and Breakup 8 2. Weather and Climate: Hurricanes and Ice Ages 27 3. Connecticut’s Geologic Treasures: Gems and Ores 56 Sidebar:Gems in Quarry Tailings 74 Sidebar:Other Historic Quarries and Mines in Connecticut 82 4. Settlers and Soils in the Central Valley: The Legacy of Glacial Lake Hitchcock 83 5. The Metacomet Ridge: The Scientific, Political, and Cultural Impact ofan Old Lava Flow 105 Sidebar:The Curse of the Black Dog 129 6. The Moodus Noises: The Science and Lore ofConnecticut Earthquakes 132 Sidebar:Moodus Tremors and Sonic Booms 156 7. Visitors from Space: The Weston and Wethersfield Meteorites 157 Afterword: Our Lithic Inheritance 171 Bibliography 175 Index 197 This page intentionally left blank Preface Many ofus have, at one time or another, wished that stones could speak. It first happened to me when I was six years old and was standing on a trop- ical beach holding a stone to my ear. I had just listened to a shell, and al- though it spoke in a whisper, the stone remained silent! My experiment was triggered by a volcano near my childhood home in Indonesia that had rumbled for weeks. I had been told that the rocks inside this giant had woken up and were plotting their escape. The piece ofrock that I held in my hand was volcanic, and I was wondering what it could tell me about its birth and travels to the ocean. Only much later did I learn that the deep humofan awakening volcano is caused by the rise and expansion ofgas bubbles in magma. After the Japanese invasion during World War IIand subsequent Indonesian revolution, I returned to the Netherlands with what remained ofmy family and decided to study earth science. To find anything volcanic, Dutch geology students had to cross bor- ders and travel to the MassifCentral in France. There we found phono- lites, a volcanic rock that emits a clear tone when struck. By varying the sizes of assorted fragments, we produced a xylophone and com- posed rock music. While working in Central America many years later, I learned about another, more sinister “voice”ofthe rocks: the rumble that precedes the shaking of an earthquake. Over time I learned that rocks could tell me so much, much more by their silence. Stones from space have provided us with information about the age of the solar system. The minerals in volcanic and metamorphic rocks testify to temperatures and pressures deep inside the Earth, and sediments speak about time, past climates, and evolution. In one form or another stones do speak, but only to those who are willing to listen. In this book I re- late what rocks and their minerals have told me about the role they played in Connecticut history. They spoke to me, and I hope that they will do the same for you.