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Connecticut River Valley & Glacial Lake Hitchcock
The Connecticut River Valley is a prominent feature of the Massachusetts landscape. The "valley", as it is known to those who live there, was a good place to farm and locate industry becuase of access to markets via the Connecticut River. Those who live in the valley are familiar with the river's banks and coves, as well as the annual spring flooding along the flood plane. This is also the location of Glacial Lake Hitchcock, a lake formed by ice melting during the Pleistocene, that occupied the valley prior to the present-day river.
One of the best ways to see the Massachusetts part of the Connecticut Valley is from the top of Mt. Tom , a 2000+ acre State Reservation with amazing views, or from the top of
Mt. Holyoke from the porch of the Summit House providing exceptional views of the CT River and the Pioneer Valley. The now famous
Oxbow Lake, was painted from atop Mt. Holyoke by Thomas Cole in 1836.
A Geoscience tour of selected areas in the Connecticut Valley, including
related background science, is available via the links (located to the left) as follows:
Background
Background information will be presented on the geomorphology of the Connecticut Valley, its relationship to Glacial Lake Hitchcock, and the evolution of the Connecticut River's course and drainage patterns from the Pleistocene through the Holocene. The background information and references provided will not only better prepare you for the Field
Trip itself, but will help you act as a guide to others as well (either
in situ or elsewhere).
Field Trip
Building upon the provided background information, I have put together a
virtual (or actual) field trip highlighting key features demonstrative of
tectonic and fluvial processes, as well as associated landforms, using
diagrams, photographs, and maps. Specific locations and directions are also included for those who live in the general area and would like to explore the area first-hand.
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FIGURE 1: Travel Map