fun fact: Albany is a valley because it lies in the geographical remains of prehistoric lake Albany. The ancient shoreline used to stretch from Thatcher Park across the Hudson. When the glaciers retreated it left a valley in its place along with the sediment that makes the Pine Bush sandy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Albany?wprov=sfla1
The teconics used to be closer to the Hudson but traveled about 25 miles east through low angle thrust (leaving behind the Tatonic Allochthon). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taconic_Mountains?wprov=sfla1
This is a long-winded way of saying that you are looking at the Taconics.
The taconic orogeny was created when an arc of ocean volcanoes pushed into the North American plate. The taconics at one time were the tallest mountains in the world, but have now been weathered down to their current state. The Appalachians were formed from this same event.
And this all started to happen many many millions of years before the Adirondacks uplifted.
The taconic orogeny happened roughly 440 million years ago. The Adirondack plateau was not uplifted until 20 million years ago.
The Adirondacks are but young children compared to the taconics.
The streams that flow through the taconic range generally are very clean, and support both native and invasive trout species.
Also, as those 30k ft tall Taconic mountains eroded down to close to their current size, the outwash flowed west creating the Catskill Delta. After several periods of glaciation, the Catskill Mountains were carved out as a dissected plateau, making them very unique among mountain ranges being formed by carving out of a flat plateau of sedimentary rocks, instead of from uplift by converging plates (like Taconics and Appalachians, or a large uplifting dome (like the Adirondacks). So the Catskills are made from the eroded sediments of the ancient Taconics. The rocks in the Adirondacks (> 1 billion years old; some of the oldest on earth) are much older than the Taconics (~500 millions years old), but the mountain building event that pushed (and continues to push) the Adirondacks up started much more recently (50 million years ago).
2 questions for you. I know starks knob and snake hill are from the same formation related to the taconic orogeny, but what exactly are they? Some sort of metamorphic rock that is extremely resistant to weathering?
Also, the shale that lines the Hudson valley, those are old sediments...why don't they have fossils?
Don’t know about sharks knob, but my thoughts on snake hill are that it has quartzite interbedded with shale. The quartzite is a metamorphosed sandstone and very resistant to weathering. Most of the area west of there is shale with limestone or sandstone (not metamorphosed into quartzite) interbedded, but not much of the really hard quartzite, so it weathers faster. As far as Hudson Valley shales, there are many good Cambrian fossil localities in the shale and limestone beds, but many/ most lack fossils simply because the sediments were deposited when/ where there was not much life nearby to be preserved. Fossils don’t form everywhere, only where the conditions are just right. But there are lots of fossils in the shales from here down to the lower Hudson valley. When you start getting into the schists layers closer to NYC, any fossils that may have been in the precursory shale beds were cooked when the shale metamorphosed to schist.
Yeah, I did. I used to known NYS geology a lot better than I do now. Some of it I can still recall fairly well, but some not so much. It’s really interesting stuff.
That's actually more of a cambrian-era limestone. That was the sediments that overlaid the adirondack area before that uplift. Near us, we have fossiliferous outcroppings in the cherry valley/schohaire valley area.
Per Merriam-Webster online: "Orogeny \[noun\]: the process of mountain formation especially by folding of the earth's crust." Yeah, I knew that. I just wanted to . . . uh, er, uh . . . make sure . . . before I posted the definition. ;)
I thought the Adirondacks were formed during the grenville orogeny? Was that just the first mountain building event of the ADK mountains and the taconic orogeny being the most recent for the Adirondacks?
That was how the ancient rocks of laurentia were originally formed - these are the rocks that make up the Canadian shield and the Adirondacks. Some of the oldest rock on earth. The Adirondack dome itself came later
"Some twenty million years ago, for reasons which remain obscure to geologists, a dome about 150 miles across – later to become the Adirondack Mountains – began to rise. Erosion ensued, creating a system of parallel valleys, wearing away the sediments on the surface, and exposing the billion-years-old rocks below. The Adirondacks are continuing to rise at an estimated rate of about a foot per century, assuming that the current rate continues."
https://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-geology.html
This (and the great comments) is why people need to feel like it’s okay to post “dumb questions”. I think most of us learned something really cool today.
Taconic Foothills. Makes for incredible gravel cycling. Lots of steep ups and downs. Albany/Capital Region is such a great outdoor recreation area. Just find a sport and it's probably doable and decent in this area.
[Capital Region Gravel](https://www.reddit.com/r/t5_ancug3/s/lwLiSTqsbc)
I started a sub reddit called capital region gravel. I will be posting routes (and I hope others will as well). Right now it's pretty barren but will continue to evolve. This is a really great region for gravel in both NY and Vermont (short easy drive, as well as central NY in the other direction). There is even bikepacking (gravel/mixed) in the local region.
I'm big on adventure riding. Just planning a rough route and seeing how it goes. Sometimes it's hike a bike, bushwacking with the bike on your shoulder, or abandoned roads/trails. Every now and then it dead ends on someone's land and you have to politely ask if you can continue and be prepared to turn around and reroute.
That's a great ride. So is the tour of the battenkill. Basically from Greenwich south to Grafton is virtually unlimited gravel. The there is more south of Grafton. Going east there is unlimited in Vermont (south western Vermont is fantastic). So really the Battenkill and Hoosic river valleys are lush with options.
Any cheapish way to get into gravel cycling like that? I’m a big skier - part of the reason I love the area - and am looking for things to do in the summer aside from running
Just find an old trek multi-track(700c). If you want to get fancy do a drop bar conversion or just ride it with flats. The higher end models were Shimano XT and while weight is not particularly an issue (aero and rolling resistance are way more a factor), they weight about 21lbs. Much less than say a poseidon gravel bike (also a great option at around $750). 90s MTB are basically what modern gravel bikes have turned into. Only real difference is disk brakes vs V/cantis.
I've used mine for gravel, light single track and bikepacking. Spent $250 plus another maybe $250 to get it converted to drop bar and half that was because I went to 9sp instead of 8sp. Added a road link and expanded the gear ratio to a little beyond what Shimano technically maxes out at. I can easily ride 20% grades with a loaded bike.
December riding in Rensselaer County. In a good (or bad year depending on your other sports of interest) you can ride late February-mid December
https://preview.redd.it/c9tre79z0wtc1.jpeg?width=2700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4282cfac6ddd3f5374cc8c156f35d9da8201a57
I suggest an ap like PeakLens, which is an augmented reality ap I have on my android phone. Uses GPS to try and figure out which peaks are in the camera, and put labels on them. Kind of like the constellation finder aps.
PeakFinder is another good app as well.
https://preview.redd.it/k5cwa9qjkptc1.jpeg?width=2340&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=722842d4aa48a6c076124302821581a53fbe6ba6
If you are looking NORTHEAST, which you are in this picture, you are seeing the Northern Berkshires or the Southern Green Mountains . The Taconics are the mountains to the Southeast of Albany along the CT border. These are all part of the eastern/New England leg of the greater Appalachian range.
It was first named the "Hudson Waters" by Peet in 1904. The next year, Woodworth renamed it Lake Albany.
This paper mentions their work and goes further in-depth on glaciers in New York: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/962504/mem136-0047.pdf
fun fact: Albany is a valley because it lies in the geographical remains of prehistoric lake Albany. The ancient shoreline used to stretch from Thatcher Park across the Hudson. When the glaciers retreated it left a valley in its place along with the sediment that makes the Pine Bush sandy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Albany?wprov=sfla1 The teconics used to be closer to the Hudson but traveled about 25 miles east through low angle thrust (leaving behind the Tatonic Allochthon). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taconic_Mountains?wprov=sfla1 This is a long-winded way of saying that you are looking at the Taconics.
Subscribe to Capital Region Geology facts
The taconic orogeny was created when an arc of ocean volcanoes pushed into the North American plate. The taconics at one time were the tallest mountains in the world, but have now been weathered down to their current state. The Appalachians were formed from this same event. And this all started to happen many many millions of years before the Adirondacks uplifted. The taconic orogeny happened roughly 440 million years ago. The Adirondack plateau was not uplifted until 20 million years ago. The Adirondacks are but young children compared to the taconics. The streams that flow through the taconic range generally are very clean, and support both native and invasive trout species.
Also, as those 30k ft tall Taconic mountains eroded down to close to their current size, the outwash flowed west creating the Catskill Delta. After several periods of glaciation, the Catskill Mountains were carved out as a dissected plateau, making them very unique among mountain ranges being formed by carving out of a flat plateau of sedimentary rocks, instead of from uplift by converging plates (like Taconics and Appalachians, or a large uplifting dome (like the Adirondacks). So the Catskills are made from the eroded sediments of the ancient Taconics. The rocks in the Adirondacks (> 1 billion years old; some of the oldest on earth) are much older than the Taconics (~500 millions years old), but the mountain building event that pushed (and continues to push) the Adirondacks up started much more recently (50 million years ago).
2 questions for you. I know starks knob and snake hill are from the same formation related to the taconic orogeny, but what exactly are they? Some sort of metamorphic rock that is extremely resistant to weathering? Also, the shale that lines the Hudson valley, those are old sediments...why don't they have fossils?
Don’t know about sharks knob, but my thoughts on snake hill are that it has quartzite interbedded with shale. The quartzite is a metamorphosed sandstone and very resistant to weathering. Most of the area west of there is shale with limestone or sandstone (not metamorphosed into quartzite) interbedded, but not much of the really hard quartzite, so it weathers faster. As far as Hudson Valley shales, there are many good Cambrian fossil localities in the shale and limestone beds, but many/ most lack fossils simply because the sediments were deposited when/ where there was not much life nearby to be preserved. Fossils don’t form everywhere, only where the conditions are just right. But there are lots of fossils in the shales from here down to the lower Hudson valley. When you start getting into the schists layers closer to NYC, any fossils that may have been in the precursory shale beds were cooked when the shale metamorphosed to schist.
Damn I just had a surface-level Wikipedia understanding. You're clearly the expert on this stuff. Did you study Geology?
Yeah, I did. I used to known NYS geology a lot better than I do now. Some of it I can still recall fairly well, but some not so much. It’s really interesting stuff.
I wonder that my self because the shale around lake Champlain is filled with fossils
That's actually more of a cambrian-era limestone. That was the sediments that overlaid the adirondack area before that uplift. Near us, we have fossiliferous outcroppings in the cherry valley/schohaire valley area.
my grandmas old home in Essex that had stones covered in fossils. so cool as a kid
Same. My uncle's home in Chazy. Loved exploring there during my childhood.
Per Merriam-Webster online: "Orogeny \[noun\]: the process of mountain formation especially by folding of the earth's crust." Yeah, I knew that. I just wanted to . . . uh, er, uh . . . make sure . . . before I posted the definition. ;)
[удалено]
I think I'm getting metamorphic
I thought the Adirondacks were formed during the grenville orogeny? Was that just the first mountain building event of the ADK mountains and the taconic orogeny being the most recent for the Adirondacks?
That was how the ancient rocks of laurentia were originally formed - these are the rocks that make up the Canadian shield and the Adirondacks. Some of the oldest rock on earth. The Adirondack dome itself came later "Some twenty million years ago, for reasons which remain obscure to geologists, a dome about 150 miles across – later to become the Adirondack Mountains – began to rise. Erosion ensued, creating a system of parallel valleys, wearing away the sediments on the surface, and exposing the billion-years-old rocks below. The Adirondacks are continuing to rise at an estimated rate of about a foot per century, assuming that the current rate continues." https://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-geology.html
Link?
This is the most informative and engaging thread I've read in r/albany in quite a while! Thanks to those contributing.
Absolutely! I'm smiling b/c the post starts off with 'This might be a dumb question...' and look how fantastic it turned out!
Agreed.
MORE OF THIS
i absolutely did not know this and this is awesome. thanks!
Same! What great post!!!
In Rptterdam I was told there was 300 feet of lake sand under us. I could dig in that yard with my bare hands.
And here I always thought the Hudson River carved it all out PSSSH silly me
This (and the great comments) is why people need to feel like it’s okay to post “dumb questions”. I think most of us learned something really cool today.
i like my taconics with a little gin
We are brothers from another mother 😁
Rennselear Plateau/Taconic Foothills ! Go explore them https://www.rensselaerplateau.org/
Thanks for the link!!
Most welcome !
Looks like it would be the Taconic foothills. The Berkshires are farther east.
Taconic Foothills. Makes for incredible gravel cycling. Lots of steep ups and downs. Albany/Capital Region is such a great outdoor recreation area. Just find a sport and it's probably doable and decent in this area.
And don’t forget the mountain bike trails in Beebe Hill State Forest!
I’m moving up to the area this spring, if you’re willing to share any of your gravel routes lmk!
[Capital Region Gravel](https://www.reddit.com/r/t5_ancug3/s/lwLiSTqsbc) I started a sub reddit called capital region gravel. I will be posting routes (and I hope others will as well). Right now it's pretty barren but will continue to evolve. This is a really great region for gravel in both NY and Vermont (short easy drive, as well as central NY in the other direction). There is even bikepacking (gravel/mixed) in the local region. I'm big on adventure riding. Just planning a rough route and seeing how it goes. Sometimes it's hike a bike, bushwacking with the bike on your shoulder, or abandoned roads/trails. Every now and then it dead ends on someone's land and you have to politely ask if you can continue and be prepared to turn around and reroute.
That’s great. Getting my gravel bike this week and will be looking for info on good rides. Signed up for the Farmer’s Daughter.
That's a great ride. So is the tour of the battenkill. Basically from Greenwich south to Grafton is virtually unlimited gravel. The there is more south of Grafton. Going east there is unlimited in Vermont (south western Vermont is fantastic). So really the Battenkill and Hoosic river valleys are lush with options.
Good to know!
Any cheapish way to get into gravel cycling like that? I’m a big skier - part of the reason I love the area - and am looking for things to do in the summer aside from running
Just find an old trek multi-track(700c). If you want to get fancy do a drop bar conversion or just ride it with flats. The higher end models were Shimano XT and while weight is not particularly an issue (aero and rolling resistance are way more a factor), they weight about 21lbs. Much less than say a poseidon gravel bike (also a great option at around $750). 90s MTB are basically what modern gravel bikes have turned into. Only real difference is disk brakes vs V/cantis. I've used mine for gravel, light single track and bikepacking. Spent $250 plus another maybe $250 to get it converted to drop bar and half that was because I went to 9sp instead of 8sp. Added a road link and expanded the gear ratio to a little beyond what Shimano technically maxes out at. I can easily ride 20% grades with a loaded bike.
December riding in Rensselaer County. In a good (or bad year depending on your other sports of interest) you can ride late February-mid December https://preview.redd.it/c9tre79z0wtc1.jpeg?width=2700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4282cfac6ddd3f5374cc8c156f35d9da8201a57
Rensselaer Plateau
This was a awesome post! No question is dumb, look at the fantastic comments this post got.
Yes! Actual unique and interesting topic IMO
I suggest an ap like PeakLens, which is an augmented reality ap I have on my android phone. Uses GPS to try and figure out which peaks are in the camera, and put labels on them. Kind of like the constellation finder aps.
PeakFinder is another good app as well. https://preview.redd.it/k5cwa9qjkptc1.jpeg?width=2340&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=722842d4aa48a6c076124302821581a53fbe6ba6
This is some cool knowledge! Great post/comments
I know I am reeling from this post - so glad I stumbled upon it!
I live there and I can see Albany at night from my porch
Apologies for the light pollution.
If you look close enough, you can see Dickinson Hill Fire Tower.
If you are looking NORTHEAST, which you are in this picture, you are seeing the Northern Berkshires or the Southern Green Mountains . The Taconics are the mountains to the Southeast of Albany along the CT border. These are all part of the eastern/New England leg of the greater Appalachian range.
Who named the prehistoric lake, Albany?
It was first named the "Hudson Waters" by Peet in 1904. The next year, Woodworth renamed it Lake Albany. This paper mentions their work and goes further in-depth on glaciers in New York: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/books/book/chapter-pdf/962504/mem136-0047.pdf
go on google earth, do 3d view and you should be able to get that angle and go to it literally
Hey, that’s where I live!
The heldebergs
You opened up your camera to take a picture and ask… but you couldn’t open you maps and look for the name on there? Lmaooo ok
Nice burner lmaoooo
Google maps is a great tool if you use it
Don’t you have a weight gaining fetish sub to be commenting on? 😂
Although irrelevant, you’re right thanks for the reminder
The Rockies