Surficial Geology 

of the Canaan Area 

New Hampshire 

By CHARLES S. DENNY 

CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1061-C 

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1958 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

FRED A. SEATON, Secretary 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

Thomas B. Nolan, Director 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

Washington 25, D. C. • Price 75 cents (paper cover) 
CONTENTS 

PaC' 

Abstract---------------------------------------------------------- 73 

Introduction------------------------------------------------------ 73 

Physical geography________________________________________________ 75 

BedrockgeologY--------------------------------------------------- 75 Surficial geology_________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 75 

Wisconsin drift______ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 7 6 

Till------------------------------------------------------ 76 

Compact tilL ______________________ --------------_____ 76 

Loose tilL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 7 8 

Stratigraphic relations__________________________________ SO 

Origin________________________________________________ SO 

Glaciofluvial sediments _________________________ -'-___________ S2 

Kame deposits ______________________________________ .:.. _ 82 

Terracesand__________________________________________ S4 

Origin________________________________________________ S5 

Weathering of drift__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ S7 

Age of drift __________________________________ ----- _____ --- 91 

Abandoned stream channels _________________________________ ---- 91 

Abradedbedrock______________________________________________ 92 

Colluvial deposits and patterned ground__________________________ 92 

Eolian features ________________________________________ ------__ 95 

Recentdepo~ts----------------------~------------------------ 96 Late Qua ternary history____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 96 

Literature cited _________ -· _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 98 

Index------------------------------------------------------------ 101 

m 
ILLUSTRATIONS 

[Plates in pocket] 

PLA~E 4. Map of surficial geology of Canaan area, New Hampshire. 

5. Map of bedrock geology of Canaan area. Pag4J 

FIGURE 13. Map of New England and vicinitY------------------------ 74 

14. Loose till overlying compact till_------------------------- 79-

15. Loose tilL--------------------------------------------- 79· 

16. Boulder-covered knolls of loose till and adjacent kame deposits ____________ -------____________________________ 80· 

17. Loose bouldery till resting on compact tilL________________ 81 

18. Kame deposits mantled by unstratified sand disturbed by roots 

oftrees---------------------------------------------- 83 

19. Lacustrine sand overlain by stream-laid gravel partly disturbed by tree roots __ -----------------------------___ 84 

20. Terrace sand disturbed by tree roots______________________ 90 

21. Map of ancient(?) boulder stripes or boulder garlands_______ 93 

22. Boulder-strewn east slope of Moose Mountain______________ 95 

23. Map and cross section of a gully on a till slope_____________ 96 

TABLES 

TABLE 1. Section of compact till in area of schistose bedrock__________ 77 

2. Section of compact till near Webster Lake______________ _ _ _ 77 

3. Profile of a Podzol soil _________ - _--- __________ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 8S 

4. Profile of a Brown Podzolic soiL- __ ----------------_----- 8SJV 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY 

SURFICIAL GEOLOGY OF THE CANAAN AREA, NEW 

HAMPSHIRE 

By CHARLES s. DENNY 

ABSTRACT 

Slightly weathered glacial drift of Wisconsin age, perhaps belonging to the 

Cary substage, covers most of the Canaan area, which includes parts of the Mascoma and Cardigan quadrangles in west-central New Hampshire. Largely concealed beneath the drift are igneous and metamorphic rocks of Paleozoic age. 

Two kinds of till are recognized: a loose, olive-gray to white upper till that 

includes both unsorted and stratified mixtures of boulders, cobbles, and pebbles 

in a matrix of sand and silt with little clay; and compact olive-gray to grayishbrown lower till that is a mixture of fine sand and silt with little clay containing 

a few fragments of rock. Compact till commonly has a platy structure down to a 

depth of 10 feet; below that depth it is structureless. Loose till rests in places 

on compact till. Both came from the same ice sheet. Compact till was probably 

deposited beneath the ice sheet Loose till accumulated beneath and on top of 

the ice as a result of wastage, both from above and from below, and was partly 

reworked by melt water. The till is overlain by sandy kame deposits that form 

terraces, in places associated with abandoned stream channels. A few ventifacts 

occur on top of some of the kame deposits. Colluvial deposits are scarce. Small 

areas of frost-disturbed patterned ground occur near the summit of Mount 

Cardigan, and some ancient effects of frost disturbance have been found on its 

western slope. Sandy and silty alluvium and swamp deposits have accumulated 

since the ice disappeared. · 

INTRODUCTION 

The Canaan area includes the eastern two-thirds of the Mascoma 

quadrangle and the western third of the Cardigan quadrangle, in 

west-central New Hampshire southeast of Hanover (fig. 13). The 

drift is of Wisconsin age and includes a loose bouldery upper till and 

a compact lower till, both probably deposited by the same ice sheet, 

and kame deposits of sand and gravel. 

Field work was done in 1940 and 1941 under a grant from the 

Penrose Fund of the Geological Society of America. Two additional 

73 
74 CONTRIDUTIONS TO GENlERAI.t GEOLOGY 

76° 74° 

EXPLANATION 

BB -Buuards Bay moraine (Mather, Goldthwait. and 

Thiesmeyer, 1942) 

C-Charlestown (Watch Hill) moraine (Woodworth, 1896) 

HH-Harbor Hill moraine (Woodworth, 1901; Veatch, 1903, 

1906; Fuller, 1914) 

~w-Late Wisconsin terminal(?) morame stage (Rich, 1935) 

N-Nantucket moraine (Woodworth and Wigglesworth, 

1934) 

OL-Border of Olean drift (Leverett. 1934, MacC!intock and 

Apfel, 1944; Denny, 1956 ) 

R-Ronl<nnkoma moraine (Veatch, 1903; fuller, 1914) 

s-Sandwich moraine (Mather, Goldthwait. and 

Thiesmeyer, 1942) 

-46• VH-Valley Heads moraine (Fairchild, 1932) 

c 

NEW YORK 

72" 

Drift borders ~--- of Wisconsin stage, 

dashed wllere inferred 

x2 

Localities referred to in text 

.. ( ~.1"-('J 

I I 

.------~! \ 

VT 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

N H I 

Q / 

I 

J / 

> l 

,r' 

I n ! Portland 

-....:;?Lake 

I 

'?" /1 

I I ,...r-., I \-- 1 

MAINE 

FIGURE 13.-Map of New England and vicinity showing some drift borders of the Wisconsin stage (Denny, 

1956a, fig. IC) and location of Canaan area. 

weeks were spent in the area in 1954. The writer acknowledges 

with thanks the assistance of the society and their consent to publication outside their jurisdiction. W. H. Lyford, soil scientist in the 

Soil Conservation Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, gave 

freely of his knowledge of the region. The work in 1940 and 1941 

was carried on under the guidance of the late J. '\V. Goldthwait whose 

kindly assistance is gratefully remembered. The bedrock outcrops 

shown on plate 4 are based chiefly on unpublished data made available 

through the kindness of K. Fowler-Billings and C. A. Chapman. The 

author is also grateful for the assistance of S. E. White and D. C. Nutt. 
1

SlJiRFICIAL GEOLOGY OF THE OANAAN AREA, NEW HAMPSmRE 7 5 

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 

The Canaan area is in the maturely dissected uplands of central 

New England. Low mountains rise 1,000 to 2,000 feet above rolling 

hills a few hundred feet high that separate narrow flood plains, 

swamps, and ponds. The lowest point in the area is Mascoma Lake, 

altitude 751 feet; the highest Mount Cardigan, altitude 3,121 feet. 

Melvin Hill, the divide between Indian River and Smith River just 

north of Tewksbury Pond, and Mount Cardigan are on the boundary 

between the Connecticut and Merrimack watersheds (fig. 13). The 

Mascoma and Indian Rivers flow westward across the regional trend 

of bedrock structure for part of their courses, but most streams flow 

northward or southward parallel to the structure. 

The region has long cold winters with heavy snowfalls and short, 

comparatively cool summers. The climate varies widely with altitude 

(U. S. Dept . .Agr., 1941, p. 989-1001). Podzolic soils characterize 

the area (Latimer and others, 1939). 

BEDROCK GEOLOGY 

The Canaan area is underlain by igneous and metamorphic rocks of 

Paleozoic age that were deformed and metamorphosed during late 

Paleozoic time (pl. 5). Most of the rocks are foliated. The foliation 

strikes northward. 

The bedrock influences the location of major topographic features. 

Quartz-rich rocks in the Clough quartzite (pl. 5) underlie highlands 

along the western edge of the area. To the east, foliated igneous rocks, 

including granite, quartz monzonite, and granodiorite, and the 

Bethlehem gneiss form lowlands and rolling hills. The divide between 

the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers follows a highland where the 

Littleton formation is cut by many pegmatites close to its contact 

with Bethlehem gneiss. The summit of Mount Cardigan is composed 

of Kinsman quartz monzonite, but its western slope and much of the 

divide to the north is underlain by quartzite and sillimanite schist in 

the Littleton formation. In summary, the Clough quartzite and 

Littleton formation, rocks with abundant pegmatite, and the Kinsman 

quartz monzonite underlie highlands; foliated igneous rocks and the 

Bethlehem gneiss underlie lowlands. 

SURFICIAL GEOLOGY 

The surficial mantle includes till and kame deposits of Wisconsin 

age and alluvium and swamp deposits of Recent age. The kame 

deposits are well exposed in numerous borrow pits, but the other surficial deposits are largely concealed beneath the vegetation. Contacts 
76 CONTRIBUT:tONrS TO G'EN!ERAL GEOLOGY 

on plate 4 are drawn primarily on topographic evidence; rarely is a 

contact exposed. Contacts are dashed lines where topographic 

evidence is equivocal or where designation of a surficial map unit 

is queried. 

WISCONSIN DRIFT 

TILL 

Two varieties of till are distinguished in the Canaan region. One 

is a loose, bouldery material with a coarse sandy matrix. The other 

is a compact till containing few boulders. Commonly the loose till 

rests on the compact till. This distinction between a loose upper 

till and a compact lower till was made originally in New Hampshire 

by Upham who later adopted Chamberlin's terms "englacial" and 

"subglacial" drift (Torell, 1877; Upham, 1878, p. 9-10; 1891; Crosby, 

1890; Chamberlin, 1894; Flint, 1947; Lawrence Goldthwait, 1948). 

Both varieties of till are found throughout the area, but loose till is 

extensive at the surface where the bedrock is coarse grained and 

massive, and compact till is widespread where the bedrock is fine 

grained and schistose. On plate 4, the till is not divided into the two 

varieties. The loose, bouldery till was probably deposited in part 

directly by ice and in part by water. The compact till wasdeposited 

beneath moving ice. Some geologists have interpreted a loose till 

resting on compact till as the deposits of two glaciations (Currier, 

1941; Moss, 1943; White, 1947; Judson, 1949). Some data on the 

physical properties of till in New Hampshire are given by Lawrence 

Goldthwait (1948). 

COMPACT TILL 

This till is olive-gray to grayish-brown and its matrix ranges in 

texture from fine sand to silt loam (Soil Survey Staff, 1951, p. 205-

213). Most till with a silt loam matrix is found where the adjacent 

bedrock is the Littleton formation or the Ammonoosuc volcanics 

(pl. 5). Compact till contains from 5 to 10 percent pebbles, cobbles, 

and boulders. Many rock fragments are abraded and striated, 

especially those that are fine grained. Most compact till is a heterogeneous mass of material, but in some exposures, there are faint 

wavy laminae of fine sand. Compact till commonly has a platy 

structure, the plates being parallel to the ground surface. The plates 

increase in size from about 1 inch long near the surface to lengths of 

from 3 to 6 inches and thicknesses of from 1 to 2 inches at depths of 

10 feet or more. In the few deep excavations studied, platy structure 

was not visible in compact till at depths of more than 10 or 15 feet 

(tables 1 and 2). 
SURFICIAL GEOLOGY OF THE OANAAN ARE:A, NlEW HAMPSHIR·E 77 

TABLE,l.-Section of compact till in area of schistose bedrock. Exposure in east 

bank ~of Stony Brook about 1 mile south of State Route 14, or about 3 miles west of 

Enfield (loc. 1, jig. 13; outside of area shown in pl. 4) 

A~~~;:;:u Top. (feet) 

1. Sand; bouldery, yellowish-brown, noncalcareous, loose, unstratified____ 3 

Contact sharp. 

2. Till; silt loam matrix; dominantly dark brownish-gray; locally mottled 

with brown; noncalcareous; compact; platy structure; contains 

pebbles, cobbles, and a few boulders, all with a yellowish-brown silty 

coating. Some pebbles of gneiss are soft; others are hard__________ 9 

Contact gradational through about 6 inches. 

3. Till; silt loam matrix; mottled olive-gray and grayish-brown; dominantly 

olive-gray near base; calcareous, firm; compact; structureless______ 6 

4. Till: similar to that above except transititional in color from that above 

to that beloW------------------------------------------------- 3 

5. Till; silt loam matrix; olive-gray; calcareous; firm; compact; structureless; contains perhaps a maximum of 10 percent of pebbles, cobbles, 

and boulders, many striated. About half of the fragments are of 

relatively fine-grained schistose rock. In places contains a few 

layers of sand as much as a quarter of an inch thick________________ 48 

Base not exposed. 

TABLE 2.-Section of compact till exposed in borrow pit on north side of State Route 

11 about 1 mile west of Webster Lake, Penacook quadrangle, New Hampshire 

(loc. 2, jig. 13; about 19 miles southeast of Canaan) 1 

Top. 

Approximate 

thirknua 

(feet) 

1. Outwash or till; boulders, cobbles, and pebbles in a coarse sandy matrix; 

yellowish-brown; loose; unstratified ________ ---------------------- 10 

Contact sharp, wavy. 

2. Till; sandy loam matrix; dark grayish-brown (2.5 Y 4/2); noncalcareous 

(pH 7.0-8.0); hard; compact; platy structure; contains about 5 

percent of rock fragments, most less than a half inch in diameter. 

Plates are curved and near base of unit 2 are approximately 6 inches 

by 3 inehes by 1 inch; plates are progressively smaller toward top. 

Surface of plates covered by single layer of sand grains. Some 

fragments of schistose rock can be crushed between the fingers______ 10 

Contact gradational through about 4 inches. 

3.iTill; loam matrix; olive-gray to dark olive-gray (5 Y 4/2-3/2); very 

slightly calcareous: hard; compact; structureless; contains a few 

percent of fragments of schistose and coarse-grained igneous rocks. 

A very few fragments are stained brown and can be crushed between 

thefingers--------------------------------------------------- 40 

Base not exposed. 

1 Density, moisture content, and mechnnical analyses of samples of till from this pit are given by Lawrence 

Goldthwait (1948). Locality listed as "Andover, on Rt. 11 'Borrow Area A' for Franklin Dam." 

448184--58-2 
78 CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY 

The compact till occurs in all topographic positions but is probably 

most extensive on lower slopes, especially on north-facing and northwest-facing hillsides. At or near summits the till is thin or bedrock is 

exposed. The maximum exposed thickness of compact till is about 

30 feet, but thicknesses of more than 50 feet are readily inferred. 

For example, Gulf Brook flows northward from Spectacle Pond in 

Enfield in a gorge nearly 80 feet deep apparently cut in compact till 

(pl. 4). 

Along the edge of valley floors compact till is overlain by younger 

deposits. Its extent or thickness beneath such deposits is unknown. 

On some slopes and on most hilltops compact till abuts against rock 

outcrops with no topographic break. In other places a gentle slope on 

compact till near a valley bottom extends uphill to a steep slope on 

bedrock thinly veneered with drift. 

LOOSE TILL 

The loose till is an olive-gray to white mixture of sand and silt with 

little clay (texture, coarse sand to loam). Boulders, cobbles, and 

pebbles are perhaps as much as 25 percent of the total mass. The 

rock fragments are angular and subangular; striated fragments are 

scarce. Most loose till is irregularly and discontinuously stratified, 

the beds lensing out within distances of a foot or two (figs. 14 and 15). 

A eharacteristic feature is small curving lenses of sand ranging from 

2 inches to 1 foot long and from X ineh to 3 inehes thick in an otherwise 

massive deposit. In plaees a pebble-free deposit consists of thin, 

eurved ]ayers of fine sand that resemble lake beds. 

Two sketches illustrate the structure of loose till. In figure 14, 

unit 1 is a bouldery unsorted mixture of sand containing a few curved 

laminae of silt. The unit eould have been deposited direetly from 

melting ice. However, units 2 and 3 are more or less stratified and 

seem to require moving water for their depositioTJ. The layers of 

unit 2 curve around the base of the overlying boulders and in unit 3 

the stratification is discontinuous, curved, or incJined. The underlying compaet till, unit 4, is firm and eompact in comparison with the 

overlying material and eontains relatively few fragments of rock. 

In figure 15 none of the units are typical till. Unit 7 resembles 

lake beds and is intertongued with the eoarse, almost struetureless 

sand of unit 6. Unit 4 appears to be water-laid gra"\lel and sand. 

Unit 3 is massive eoarse sand eontaining fragments of laminated fine 

sand. Unit 2 is partly massive, partly stratified, and contains only a 

few pebbles. 

Near South Grafton Sehool and elsewhere a very sandy loose till 

containing relatively few fragments of roek forms knolls and ridges 

as much as 50 feet high. Many such knolls are covered with boulders 
SURFICIAL GEQILOGY OF THE OANAAN_AREA, NlEW HAMPSHIRE 79 

and topographically resemble kame deposits (fig. 16). There is a 

gradation in lithologic character, in structure, and in topographic 

expression from loose till into kame deposits. On plate 4, kame de .. 

posits are restricted to well-sorted and well-stratified materials 

forming distinct knolls, ridges, or terraces. 

r 

Horizontal and vertical scale 

EXPLANATION 

LOOSE TILL 

Pebbles, cobbles, Sand Silt 

and boulders 

STRUCTURES 

Massive Laminated 

~ or bedded 

COMPACT TILL 

Sand 

~ and silt 

Gray, unsorted, firm, moderately friable, plafJ! structure. Plates are coated with grains of fine sand. Contains a few small fragments of rock and a few lenses of medium• 

grained white sand as much as a quarter of an inch 

1 0 3 Feet thick and a few inches long 

L__L__.~-----L------L-----~ 

4 

Slump Units referred to in text 

FIOURE 14.-Loose till. Unsorted mixture of pebbles, cobbles, boulders, and sand overlying laminated 

sand. Rests on compact till. Top of figure about 3 feet below ground surface. Exposure in road cut. 

altitude 1,020 feet, on west side of unsurfaced road about 1.2 miles south of Tuttle Hillin Orange Ooc. 

4, pl. 4). 

1-...-1 

Cobbles 

EXPLANATION 

TEXTURES 

Pebbles Medium to coarse sand 

STRUCTURES 

E'?3 

~ 

Massive 

,,, 

Laminated or bedded 

Slump 

Units referred to in text 

Horizontal and vertical scale 

Fine 

~ 

~ 

to medium 

sand 

0 3F"t 

FrouRE 15.-Loose till. Inter layered and intertongued sand containing a few pebbles and cobbles. Units 

in part massive, in part _laminated or bedded. Exposure in road cut. Location same as figure 14 Ooc. 

4,pl. 4). 
80 CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY 

WEST EAST 

~~.~----------~-m_e~de~po~si=~ Compact 

-----.~-,~~ 

1000' 

900' 

800' 

100 0 500 Feet 

Datum is mean sea level 

FIOURE 16.-Boulder-covered knolls of loose till on lower part of valley wall just above top of adjacent kame 

deposits. Locality is the southwest slope of Pine Hill on east side of Smith River in Danbury Ooc. 7, 

pl. 4). Cross section based on a field sketch and plate 4. 

Loose till is best exposed and probably most extensive on lower 

slopes just above the top of the kame deposits. Sections as much as 

30 feet thick are exposed. Loose till appears to be absent from large 

areas on the uplands. 

STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONS 

Loose bouldery till resting on compact till was seen at several 

exposures. In figure 17 a boulder-strewn knoll is underlain by about 

8 feet of loose till that grades through a zone about 3 inches thick 

into firm, compact till with platy structure. Loose till was nowhere 

seen to overlie bedrock, but compact till has been seen to rest on bedrock at a number of places. No loose till has been found beneath 

compact till. 

ORIGIB 

The compact till and the loose till were deposited by one ice sheet 

but are unlike because of differences in manner of deposition. The 

field evidence demonstrates that loose till is bouldery and sandy, 

that compact till is loamy and includes fewer boulders than loose till, 

that loose till overlies compact till, that small masses of one variety 

of till occur within the other type, and that much loose till underlies 

knolls on lower valley walls. Loose till is less extensive on uplands and 

mountains. 

These field relations are for the most part those observed by Upham 

(1878) but, in addition, he noted that most fragments of rock in the 

lower till were abraded to a considerable extent and some came from 

distant sources, whereas the fragments in the upper till were less 

abraded and locally derived, perhaps from adjacent hilltops. Upham 

concluded (1878) that the upper till was debris carried on top of or 

within the ice sheet, whereas the lower till was carried and deposited 
SURFICIAL GEOILOGY OF THE CANAAN AREA, NlEW HAMPSHIRE 81 . I 

Horizontal and vertical scale 

1 0 6 Feet 

EXPLANATION 

Loose till 

San.& loa'!' to loam :natrix, white to pale-gray, slight(y 

firm, frtable, contams numerous pebbles cobbles and 

boulders, especially near top; locally ha~ a weak 1p/aty 

structure. Dashed line is approximate base of 8 horizon of sod profile. Base of unit is·- definable withtn 3 

tnches. Tongues of loose till project downward into 

compact ttl! 

Compact 

~ 

~ till 

Loam. matrix, grayish-brown, fi'rm platy structure; plates 

onentated parallel to upper contact; contatns a few 

small pebbles and thin, curved lenses of loose sand 

FIOURE 17.-Loose bouldery till resting on compact till. Exposure along dirt road at corner, 

altitude 1,220 feet, about half a mile west of Shepard Hill in Grafton Ooc. 5, pl. 4). 

under the ice. Upham's use of "upper till, and "lower till" does not 

entirely correspond to the writer's use of "compact till" and "loose 

till." Upham implied that the upper till formed an almost continuous surface mantle. He included in the upper till the soils developed on compact till. - -

The two varieties of till probably originated in the following way: 

Compact till was deposited beneath the glacier and doubtless owes its 

compactness partly to the weight of the overlying ice. Loose till, on 

the other hand, accumulated beneath, within, or on top of the ice, 

probably when it was melting upward from the bottom as well as 

downward from the top. Water-laid drift was deposited beneath or 

within the ice and subsequently was overlain by unsorted debris from 

within or on top of the ice sheet. The laminae of sand and slit wrapped 
82 CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY 

around the lower part of the boulders (fig. 14) suggest that the boulders 

were let down from ice above after the laminae of sand and silt were 

deposited. 

Boulder-strewn knolls of loose till resting on compact till and in 

turn overlain by kame deposits (fig. 16) suggest the following sequence 

of events: As the marginal zone of the glacier wasted downward, 

bouldery loose till was dropped on compact till, at first from beneath 

the ice with some water-laid material, later by sliding from the surface 

of the ice or from the adjacent valley wall. Streams flowing in channels between wasting ice and the valley wall laid down kame deposits 

on or against the loose till. Boulders were dropped or slid from the 

ice or from the valley wall on to both till and kame deposits. The 

relative scarcity of boulders within some loose till ·and m.ost kame 

deposits compared with their abundance on the surface suggests that 

such bouldery accumulations result from surface sliding rather than 

as a lag concentrate. 

The platyness of the compact till is con1monly regarded as a 

structure resulting from con1pression of the till caused by the weight 

of the overlying ice (Flint, 1947, p. 106-107). However, this platyness 

}Ilay be primarily a result of weathering (p. 87). 

GLACIOFLUVIAL SEDIMENTS 

The glaciofluvial deposits are chiefly sand, but about one-fifth are 

gravel. These materials were mapped as kame deposits and terrace 

sand (pl. 4). The sand is both coarse and fine grained, light gray to 

white, commonly includes scattered pebbles, and much of it is well 

sorted. The gravel consists chiefly of pebbles and a few cobbles in a 

coarse sandy matrix. Boulders are rare. The glaciofluvial deposits 

form horizontal strata ranging from 1 inch to 2 feet thick; a common 

thickness is 2 or 3 inches. Crossbedding (fig. 18) is a comn1on feature 

of both the sand and the pebble graveL Within one borrow pit the 

foresets may dip in several directions. The glaciofluvial deposits are 

known to rest on till or bedrock. The terrace sand is assumed on 

topographic evidence to rest on or against the adjacent kame d-eposits, 

but the contact was not exposed. 

KAME DEPOSITS 

The water-laid drift mapped as kame deposits forms terraces or 

ridges that extend northward along lower valley walls or valley 

floors. The deposits are more extensive in northward-draining 

valleys than in those that drain south and are a little more numerous 

on the east side of valleys than on their western slopes. Sandy kanws 

contain less than about 40 percent gravel, commonly not more than 

10 percent. They are more abundant than the gravelly kames. 

Kame deposits locally resemble loose till. On plate 4 kame deposits 
SURFICIAL GEOILOGY OF THE CANAAN ARE:A, NlEW HAMPSIDR'E 83 

EXPLANATION 

Unstratified sand 

Pebbly, loose; lower contact sharp to gradational, 

definable within I to 6 inches 

Stratified sand and gravel 

Pebbly, loose; crossbedded. 

Base not exposed 

5 

Horizontal and vertical scale 

0 10 Feet 

Frr.URE 18.-Crossbedded kame deposits along Smith River in Danbury. Upper part of deposit is un~ 

stratified, the result of mechanical disturbance caused chiefly by roots of trees. Exposure in borrow pit 

on east side of U. 8. Route 4, 1.4 miles northwest of Danbury (loc. 8, pl. 4). 

are shown only where the materials are well sorted, well stratified, and 

form conspicuous knolls, ridges, or terraces. A few poorly exposed 

masses, apparently water-laid drift, are mapped as probable kames 

(Qk?). 

Many sandy kames consist of 1 to 2 feet of crossbedded pebble 

gravel overlying stratified sand. The sand commonly contains lenses 

of crossbedded gravel and is probably a stream deposit; such kames are 

those in the valley of Little Brook south of George Pond and those 

that extend southeastward from Mirror Lake into and down the valley 

of Smith River to Danbury. In some sandy kames, the sand forn1s 

regular beds ranging from a fraction of an inch to about 2 inches in 

thickness and showing small-scale crossbedding or ripple marks. 

Such sand, probably of lacustrine origin, is exposed in borrow pits 

west of Mirror Lake and west of Melvin Hill (fig. 19). In the valley 

of Haines Brook south of Canaan, and in a small valley just west of 

Danbury, sandy kame deposits, at least in part of lacustrine origin, 

are covered with boulders as much as 10 feet in diameter, a few of which 

have been sand-blasted, especially those in the southern part of each 

valley. In places the sand is horizontally stratified; elsewhere 

foreset(?) beds dip southward. 

The gravelly kames are small deposits of gravel that commonly form 

narrow ridges. A string of such ridges east of the junction of Indian 

River and Mascoma River was probably deposited in a channel in the 

ice. Exposures show southward-dipping beds. 

Most kame deposits are at least 20 feet thick. The greatest 

thickness exposed or readily inferred is about 80 feet. 

Near the margins of many kame deposits, the beds have been 

displaced along both normal and reverse faults with displacements of 

as much as several feet. Many of the fault planes strike parallel to 
84 CONTRIBUTIONS TO G'E:NERAL GEOOOGY 

1 . 

C' 

Horizontal and vertical scale 

0 

EXPLANATION 

4 Feet 

••• 0 • 

• • ~::. •• • •• ~·. 0 •• '!. 

•• • •• :_~ .o ... :. • •• ·.:.: ... 

~J::·t< 

C' 

Plow layer Pebble gravel and sand 

Fine sanr/y loam, f.ebb(y, dark grayish-brown (10 YR 4/2), 

loose, unstratified, local(y weak platy structure. Lower contact sharp 

Gravel has very coarse sandy matrix, yellowish-brown to 

brownish-yellow (10 YR 5/6-6/ 6). Lenses of medium 

to very coarse sand, in places slight(y cemented. Irregular horizontal stratification. Lower contact sharp 

Unstratified sand 

Sand, medium to very coarse grained, silty, pebb(y, yet- Fine to medium sand 

lowish-brown to browntsh-yellow (10 YR 5/6-6/6), Sand, pale-yellow (5Y 7/ 4), loose, dry, thin-bedded, con- loose, unstratifi'ed, locally contains small roots and· tains a few lenses of very coarse sand; local(y beds are 

slight(y cemented fragments of underlying deposits. slightly contorted or fractured. Lower contact sharp, 

Unit z IS Silty coarse sand, pale brown (IOYR 6/3). wary 

Lower contact sharp, irregular, local relief almost 3 

feet 

Fine to very fine sand 

Sand, pale-gray to white, stratifi.ed; w1th a few olwe-gray 

beds of silt and of silty clay. Bedding slightly curved: 

in places cross-bedding wave length ranging from 2 

to 12 inches, ampl/tude from ~ to I inch. Base not exposed 

FIGURE 19.-Sandy kame deposits. Stream-laid pebble gravel and sand overlying horizontally bedded 

sand of lacustrine origin. The unstratified sand, probably disturbed by tree roots;-forms a downward· 

projecting tongue that may be the cast of a large root. Section C-C' is at right angles to section A-C-B. 

Exposure in borrow pit on east side of road about 1.5 miles west of Melvin Hill in Springfield Ooc. 9, pl. 4). 

the edge of the deposit and dip steeply; most dip more than 60°. The 

deformation probably dates from a time when the water or ice content 

of these deposits was greater than at present because a Podzol soil 

cuts across the upper part of the deformed zone, and excavation 

of the deposits causes slumping, not faulting. 

TERRACE SAND 

This unit is composed of coarse and fine sand, chiefly in horizontal 

beds. Lenses of gravel are scarce. The deposit is poorly exposed, 

forming low terraces along streams. Terrace sand is arbitrarily 

defined as a deposit that lacks the gravel cap or the topographic 
SURFICIAL GIDOLOGY OF THE CANAAN AREA, NEW HAMPSHIRE 85 

expression characteristic of kame deposits. It lies commonly not 

more than 10 feet above an adjacent flood plain. Locally the terrace 

may be cut into kame deposits. The thickness of the te.rrace sand 

presumably exceeds 10 feet, but the depth and extent of the sand 

beneath the valley floor is unknown. In headwater areas the terrace 

sand was probably deposited near wasting glacial ice, probably almost 

contemporaneously with adjacent kames. In broad valleys the terrace sand is less directly a product of wasting glacial ice, and part 

of it is somewhat younger than terrace eand in headwater areas. 

ORIGIN 

The distribution and internal character of the karrw deposits indicate 

that they were laid down in water in association with glacial ice, are 

younger than the adjacent bouldery loose till and older than the 

adjacent alluvium or swamp deposits, and have been dissected. The 

terrace sand is partly of similar origin and partly the result of postglacial alluviation or erosion. 

During deglaciation the ice edge probably melted back in a northerly 

direction. The southern (and probably the higher) parts of the area 

were uncovered before the northern part, and melt water flowed in 

general southward; at present much of the drainage is westward down 

the Mascoma River. However, the proof of such northerly retreat 

and southward drainage is suggestive but not conclusive. The 

evidence is as follows: The abandoned stream channels on the valley 

sides con1monly have a southerly gradient indicative of a southward 

streamflow. The bedrock divide about a mile north of Tewksbury 

Pond (Orange Summit) originally contained large potholes that were 

obliterated when the railroad was built. These potholes suggest melt 

water drainage across the divide but not necessarily southward. The 

downvalley gradient of the tops of the kames along the Smith River 

and the continuity in size and altitude of those across the Little BrookBog Brook divide south of George Pond suggest deposition by southward-flowing streams. The kames in the valley of Haines Brook south 

of Canaan and in the valley west of Danbury between Leeds Hill and 

Pond Ledges were apparently deposited in standing water held in by 

ice to the north. This melt water escaped eastward or southward 

thrqugh abandoned stream channels. 

The fact that many kame deposits have a gravel cap resting on finer 

material is difficult to explain. Perhaps the gravel cap was deposited 

by a relatively large ice-marginal stream flowing partly across earlier 

water-laid deposits and partly across ice, in a. channel formed both by 

erosion and by deposition. The deposits beneath the gravel cap were 

laid down in isolated pools or channels, not necessarily at the same time 

nor at the same level. 

448184-58-3 
86 CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENIE.RAL GEOLOGY 

Most of the kame deposits were laid down by streams flowing in 

channels at or near the edge of the ice sheet. Some of the kamebuilding streams flowed in channels in the ice sheet, as shown by the 

ridges of gravel and sand whose outer portions are faulted and 

deformed. Such deposits were built against a wall of ice. As the 

ice melted, they were faulted. The absence of deformed kame 

deposits, except locally near their margins, and the scarcity of exposures of till overlying water-laid drift indicate that when the kame 

deposits were formed, the adjacent ice was stagnant. 

Most kame deposits in New England were once interpreted as 

deltas built into lakes ponded between a northward-retreating glacier 

margin and bedrock hills to the south (Goldthwait, 1938; Lougee, 

1939, fig. 43). Few geologists have championed this view in recent 

years \Lougee, 1940). In a few places, however, the kame deposits 

may have been laid down in ponded water, for example, in the valley 

of Haines Brook and near Mirror Lake, although the ponds need not 

have been much more extensive than the deposits themselves. Lougee 

(1939, p. 142-143, fig. 43; Upham, 1878, p. 65) supposed that the sill 

at Orange Summit (the divide in the valley between Mirror Lake and 

Tewksbury Pond) controlled the level of a proglaciallake that widened 

northward and westward as the ice edge retreated until the lake 

covered a large part of the Canaan region and was finally drained by 

overflow westward down the Mascoma River valley into the Connecticut River. There is almost no evidence for such a large lake. Varved 

clays, which cover large areas in the Connecticut River valley to the 

west (Upham, 1878; Antevs, 1922), are exposed at only a few isolated 

places in the Canaan area, as in the Haines Brook valley, where a lake 

could have had a maximum Prea of only a few square miles. 

The time of formation of one body of kame deposits in relation to 

others in the same valley or in other valleys is largely unknown. The 

evidence bearing on this question is meager. For example, the kame 

deposits along Little Brook south of George Pond in Enfield may have 

been laid down when melt water flowed from the vicinity of George 

Pond southward up Little Brook valley and across the existing divide 

into Bog Brook valley that drains southward into the Sunapee quadrangle. The topographic and lithologic character of these kames suggest that they were deposited almost contemporaneously by _one 

southward-flowing stream. The adjacent areas now filled with 

alluvium and swamp deposits were then occupied by glacial ice. 

North of George Pond the kame deposits were probably formed partly 

in standing water and partly by northward-flowing streams. 

In like manner the kames along Smith River from Tewksbury Pond 

to Grafton Center suggest contemporaneous deposition over a distance 

of at least 2~ miles. The deposits are generally bouldery near 
SURFICIAL GEOLOGY OF THE CANAAN AREA, N1EW HAMPSHIR'E 87 

Tewksbury Pond and are somewhat finer grained to the south near 

Grafton Center. Likewise the top of the deposits define a grade line 

that is roughly parallel to that of Smith River. In other southtrending valleys the topographic expression and internal character of 

the kames require contemporaniety of deposition over distances of 

not more than 2 miles. 

Thus, while the ice sheet was leaving the Canaan region, it had a 

stagnant terminal zone at least a few miles wide measured in a 

northerly direction. But the characteristics of the ice sheet near its 

margin, such as its thickness and rates of movement or wastage, are 

conjectural (Goldthwait, 1938; Antevs, 1939; Lougee, 1940; Flint and 

Demorest, 1942; Rich, 1943). The abundance of water-laid drift in 

the Canaan region, as elsewhere in central and southern New England, 

requires a large volume of melt water and of rock debris. The waterlaid drift could have accumulated by rapid melting over a wide 

stagnant zone (measured in many tens of miles), or by rapid melting 

along the narrow front of an ice sheet moving forward about as fast 

as it melted. Other explanations are also possible. 

WEATHERING OF DRIFT 

The drift is slightly weathered to depths of at least 10 feet. The 

alteration of the drift by chemical processes is apparently slight, and 

the amount of clay developed by weathering is small. A few mechanical analyses of the surficial deposits, largely within the modern soil 

profile, are given by Latimer (Latimer and others, 1939, table 9). 

The soils (Latimer and others, 1939; Simmons and others, 1949) 

range in thic·kness from about 18 to 30 inches; that is, the top of their 

C horizons are at such depths. The better drained soils developed in 

glacial drift are podzolized; they belong to the Podzol (table 3) or to 

the Brown Podzolic (table 4) great soil groups. The areal extent and 

the parent materials of these soils are given below. 

Areal extent and parent materials of podzolized soils on glacial drift 

Podzol soil 

1. Widespread occurrence above an 

altitude of about 1,200 feet; at 

lower altitudes occur where texture of parent material is loam 

or sandy loam. 

2. Most extensive in areas underlain 

by glaciofluvial deposits or by 

loose bouldery till. 

3. Most extensive in areas underlain 

by coarse-grained, relatively massive bedrock. 

Brown Podzolic soil 

1. Found chiefly below an altitude 

of about 1,200 feet where the 

texture of the parent material is 

loam or heavier. 

2. Most extensive in areas underlain 

by compact till. 

3. l\I ost extensive in areas underlain 

by schistose bedrock. 
88 CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL OEOLOGY 

TABLE 3.-Profile of a Podzol soil developed on loose bouldery till. (Soil is Hermon 

stony sandy loam; profile description generalized from Latimer and others, 1939, 

p. 67; and Simmons and others, 1949, p. 79) 

Soil horizon Description 

Ao Organic matter, black or nearly black; partly deBa 

composed leaves and twigs; locally mixed with a 

little gray sand _____________________________ _ 

Sand or sandy loam, gray with a thin darkened layer 

one-fourth inch thick near the top and a corresponding brown layer near base; loose; locally 

with a weak platy structure; pH about 4.5 _____ _ 

Sandy loam, rusty brown, slightly firm; tends to 

form lumps -that are yellow on the inside and 

reddish-brown on the outside; pH about 5.5; 

transitional downward into underlying horizon __ 

Sandy loam, pale yellowish-brown; less coherent 

than horizon above; pH about 5.3; transitional 

downward into horizon below ________________ _ 

Light sandy loam or sand, yellowish-gray; loose; 

contains many small angular fragments of the 

unweathered parent rocks; pH about 5.3 ______ _ 

Till, sandy, gritty, gray; slightly compact, friable; 

fragments of the parent rock are numerous; pH about 5.6 __________________________________ _ 

. Base not exposed. 

Range in 

Thickness depth (inches) (inches) 

3 0-3 

4 3-7 

5 7-12 

8 12-20 

10 20-30 

20 30-50 

TABLE 4.-Profile of a Brown Podzolic soil developed on slightly compact till. Each 

horizon contains as much as 10 percent of small fragmenls of schist. In some 

places the profile includes a few boulders. (Soil is Charlton loam; profile de.;, 

scription generalized from Latimer and others, 1939, p. 68) 

Soil horizon Description 

Ao Organic matter; loose leaf litter overlying darkbrown partly decomposed leaves and twigs _____ _ 

A1 Loam, dark-brown, loose; contains some finely 

divided organic matter; lower contact sharp ___ _ 

A2 Loam, brown, very friable; pH about 5.2; transitional downward into underlying horizon_------

B2 Loam, yellowish-brown, firm, friable; pH about 5.5; 

transitional downward into underlying horizon __ 

Ba Loam, pale yellowish-brown, firm, friable; pH about 

c 

5.6; transitional downward into underlying hori- zon _______________________________________ _ 

Till; loam matrix; greenish-gray or olive-gray, 

slightly compact, friable; breaks into small irregular angular to platy fragments; pH about 

5.6 ________________________________________ _ 

Base not exposed. 

Range in 

Thickness depth (inches) (inches) 

2 0-2 

2 2-4 

6 4-10 

7 10-17 

9 17-26 

24 26-50 
SURFICIAL GEOLOGY OF THE CANAAN AREA, NIEW HAMPSHIRE 89 

In the Canaan area the bedrock probably contains not more than 

a very small amount of free carbonates, and the drift is noncalcareous 

at least to a depth of 10 feet. A deep borrow pit about 19 miles 

southeast of Canaan (loc. 2, fig. 13) exposed very slightly calcareous 

drift below a depth of about 20 feet (table 2). The bedrock is the 

Littleton formation (Billings, 1955). Just west of the Canaan region 

the drift is calcareous below depths of about 10 feet (table 1). Thus 

the drift near Canaan may have been leached to depths of 10 or 20 

feet, but the amount of free carbonates removed was small, probably 

not more than 1 percent by volume. 

Compact till is slightly oxidized to depths of at least 10 feet. Below 

depths of from 10 to 15 feet it is unweathered and olive gray to dark 

olive gray (tables 1 and 2). Platy structure in the compact till 

(tables 1 and 2) is probably the result of weathering and not a fabric 

imparted to the till during deposition, because the structure is not 

visible in unweathered till. The plates are oriented parallel to the 

ground surface and decrease in size upward. Clay(?) has been deposited on tbe surface of the plates. Some exposures show narrow 

veins of yellowish-brown clay(?) that cut across the platy structure. 

Most of the rock fragments in compact till are hard and unweathered; some have a yellowish-brown surface, especially those rich in 

ferromagnesian minerals; a very few fragments are soft. The sand 

fraction of the matrix consists of angular mineral grains most of which, 

viewed with a binocular microscope, look unweathered. A few grains 

are stained yellow. 

The loose bouldery till and the glaciofluvial deposits are also little 

weathered. Their sandy matrix is essentially fresh, the color commonly white or gray. Most of the rock fragments in them are firm 

and unweathered except for a yellowish-brown stain on the outside 

of some, especially those from above a depth of about 5 feet. The 

sand fraction consists largely of angular mineral grains and rock fragments that are unweathered. Traces of a yellowish-brown stain are 

present in most samples. 

The glaciofluvial deposits commonly are not regularly stratified 

within 1 or 2 feet of the ground surface. In some exposures the 

surface layer is massive or structureless (figs. 18 and 19); in others 

the strata and the soil horizons are contorted and broken (fig. 20). 

In some places the soil horizons appear to have been developed in a 

previously disturbed stratum, elsewhere "the thickness of each horizon 

varies greatly within a yard or less * * * (horizontally), and in many 

places fragments of the A horizon lie within the B horizon" (Simmons, 

1949, p. 79). Such a disturbed layer overlies loose bouldery till in 

many places but is uncommon on compact till. These layers result 

from mechanical disturbances that are caused chiefly by the growth 
90 CONTRIBU'riONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY 

EXPLANATION 

TERRACE SAND, DISTURBED (Roughly equal to solum or A and B horizons podzol. soil) 

Sandy loam, dark grayish-brown (lOYR 4/2), loose unstratified, structure· less (unit disturbed by plowing). lower contact sharp 

Sandy loam, dark reddish-brown (2.5YR 2/2-2/4), slightly firm, strucr tureless, contams organic matter 

Sand, fine- to very fine-grained, light-gray (IOYR 7/l), loose, structureless 

Sand, fine· to very fine-grained, reddish-yellow (7.5YR 6/8), locally mol· 

=~~n~tar~~;~~~~~o~~in~ ~ckie!r~eb~f:s~ Y ~~~~t~n~i~ ~e~~~~f! within 2 inches 

·TERRACE SAND, UNDISTURBED 

Sand, coarse- and very coarse-grained; in part pale-grz to white ("pepper and salt"), loose; and in part pale-yellow (2.5Y 7 4) and slightly ce· mented; stratified, crossbedded; individual beds om i to 3" inches thick and from 3 inches to 2! feet long. Contains a few small pebbles. LQwer contact sharp 

Sand, medium· to very fine-grained, olive-gray to p~le-olive (5Y2/2-6/3), slightly firm, stratified, beds range from t to 2 mches thick. Base not exposed 

Horizontal and vertical scale 1 o 5 Feet 

~--~--~~--~--~ 

FIGURE 20. Terrace sand. Contorted upper layers, disturbed by tree roots and by plowing, overlie crossbedded sand. Exposure in borrow pit in Enfield about 0.9 mile northwest of Banks Pinnacle near 

Grafton Pond (loc. 6, pl. 4). 

and destruction of trees, principally by the roots (Shaler, 1892, p. 273-

274; Lutz and Griswold, 1939; Lutz, 1940; Goodlett, 1954). Unquestionably, the growth of the base and the roots of a large tree 

distorts the adjacent sediments. When the tree dies and its roots 

decay, the resulting cavities are filled by loose unsorted material from 

above or from either side. For example, in figure 19, section 0-0', 

the tongues of unstratified sand projecting downward into the fine 

sands may be filled root cavities; and in figure 20, the tongue-shaped 

projections of unit 3 near the center of the figure may be of similar 

origin. 

In addition to the growth of roots, the disturbances caused by the 

toppling of trees are probably an important cause of the lack of 

regular stratification near the top of the glaciofluvial deposits. This 

mechanical process was perhaps more effective in presettlement 

forests of large trees than in many of tbe second-growth forest stands 

of the present day. Such a disturbance probably has been going on 

since the region was reforested. Thus, the profile development of 
SURFICIAL GEOLOGY OF THE CANAAN AREA, N1EW HAMPSHIR·E 91 

the modern soils must be comparatively recent, perhaps only a few 

hundred years old (Denny and Goodlett, in Denny, 1956b). In 

·figure 20, unit 4 probably is the result of such disturbances that took 

place before the development of the existing soil profile. 

The section shown in figure 20 is interpreted as follows: Horizontally bedded sand (unit 6) was deposited perhaps in standing water. 

After erosion, crossbedded s.and (unit 5) was deposited up to approximately the present top of the section. This deposition probably 

took place during deglaciation. The terrace was forest-covered for 

thousands of years. Many generations of trees died or were toppled 

by wind, resulting in the gradual disruption of the stratification 

jn the upper few feet of the crossbedded sand and the formation of 

.a structureless surface layer (unit 4). A Podzol soil (table 3) 

was developed in this layer. In figure 20, units 2 and 3 are roughly 

the A2 horizon of a Podzol soil, and unit 4 resembles the B2 horizon 

.of a Podzol soil. A large tree grew near the center of the section 

shown in figure 20. WhBn this tree toppled or when its stump and 

roots decayed, the resulting cavities were fiHed by material from the 

A2 horizon of the soil to form the thick mass of unit 2 and the fingers 

·Of unit 3 near the center of the figure. Any mound and pit produced 

by the toppling of this hypothetical tree were destroyed when the 

land was cleared and plowed. Such disturbance produced unit 1. 

AGE OF DRIFT 

The drift in the Canaan area was deposited in Wisconsin time, 

probably in the ]atter part of that stage. It is within a region of 

probable Cary drift as interpreted by Flint (1953) and by MacClintock 

(1954), and is younger than the Valley Heads moraine (Fairchild, 

1932) south of the Finger Lakes in New York State (Denny, 1956a, 

fig. 10). The weathering and topographic expression of the drift 

.are comparable to that north of Fairchild's Valley Heads moraine 

.and are in general similar to that of the Wisconsin drift elsewhere in 

.central and southern New England. Probably the drift in the. Canaan 

region was deposited during the retreat of the ice sheet that built 

the Harbor Hill moraine on Long Island, the Charlestown moraino 

in Rhode Island, and the Buzzards Bay and Sandwich moraines in 

the Cape Cod region (fig. 13). 

ABANDONED STREAM CHANNELS 

Elongate depressions on some valley walls are believed to be 

abandoned strerrr1 channels (pl. 4) that were cut by ice-marginal 

streams flo'' ing along the edge of valley ice-tongues. These depressions commonly have steep side walls a few tens of feet high and 

flat floors a few tens to a hundred feet wide. They ra.nge from a 
92 CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY 

few hundred feet to more than a thousand feet long. The floors of 

some depressions are covered with turf; others are strewn with 

boulders. The channels are commonly in drift, but locally one wall 

is of drift and the other bedrock. The ends of some channels are 

hanging, the channels being perched on the valley wall. The streams. 

that carved them must have flowed in or on the ice sheet. The 

channel floor commonly slopes very gently south ward, but the 

channels on uplands just south of Canaan slope northward (pl. 4). 

An abandoned stream channel just north of the Mascoma River 

and just west of Mascoma Lake (outside of area of pl. 4) has potholes 

in its bedrock floor (Goldthwait, 1925, p. 67). 

Besides the abandoned stream channels shown on plate 4, many 

of the southward-trending cols on the uplands may have carried 

melt water during deglaciation. These cols are not shown as abandoned stream channels unless obviously deepened by stream erosion. 

Channels and cols similar to those in the Canaan area. are widely 

scattered throughout the Connecticut River watershed in New Hampshire and are the chief evidence cited by Lougee (1939, fig. 43) for 

the many ice-dammed lakes that he believed were formed by the 

northwesterly recession of the ice front. 

ABRADED BEDROCK 

Rock outcrops commonly are abraded. Striae are found on all 

the formations. Polished surfaces are characteristic of outcrops of 

the Clough quartzite (pl. 5). The striae in the area trend south 

or southeast. On plate 4 only those striae noted by the writer are 

shown. Additional striae are recorded on maps by Goldthwait, 

Goldthwait, and Goldthwait (1951) and by Hitchcock (1878, p. 192, 

219). In some pegmatites, large crystals of biotite or muscovite 

are striated on surfaces at right angles to the basal plane (Switzer, 

1941). 

COLLUVIAL DEPOSITS AND PATTERNED GROUND 

Colluvial deposits resulting from mass movements of the mantle 

are scarce in the Canaan area. On most slopes the surficial mantle 

is essentially stable at present and shows little evidence of downslope 

movement except that caused by tree throw (Denny and Goodlett, 

in Denny, 1956b). The few slopes where notable mass movements 

have occurred in recent years are in areas of fine-grained schistose 

bedrock. Slopes underlain by coarse-grained or massive igneoPs and 

metamorphic rocks are stable. Frost-produced patterned ground is 

now forming near the summit of Mount Cardigan (Denny, 1940). 

A small area of patterned ground lies on the northwest slope of 

Mount Cardigan a bout 1.6 miles north northeast of Orange Basin 
HURFICIAL GEOLOGY ~F THE CANAAN AREA, NIEW HAMPSHIRE 93 

-(loc. 3, p. 4). The area is a pasture apparently underlain by compact 

till, at an altitude of about 1,800 feet, sloping westward at angles of 

·4° to 8°. This boulder-strewn pasture is covered by turf, moss-

·covered hillocks, and stumps of trees, probably spruce. The pasture 

contains many shallow, irregularly shaped depressions a few tens of 

feet across that sometimes contain water. Locally there are irregular 

terracelike features with risers trat slope as much as 20°. Most 

boulders in the pasture range from 1 to 5 feet in diameter; 2 feet is a 

·common size. Many more boulders lie on the surface of the ground 

than are apparent in the adjacent drift. 

Two tongue-shaped areas of turf are outlined by lines of boulders 

that resemble boulder stripes or boulder garlands (fig. 21). An excavation in one of the boulder stripes exposed about 2 feet of bouldery 

~ 

~ ~ 

(> 

'{, 

~ 

"' I APPROXIMATE MEAN 

DECLINATION 192-z. 

?·1 •.. · . 

EXPLANATION 

Boulders shown by stipple. Areas left white are covered by turf and 

low shrubs. Boulders are chiefly coarse-grained sillimanite schist, but 

include other types of schist, gneiss, and quartzite 

5 0 20 Feet I• II I I I I I I 

Contour interval 2 feet 

Datum assumed 

FtoURE 21.-Map of ancient(?) boulder stripes or boulder garlands on a west-facing slope underlain by 

compact till. Locality is on northwest slope of Mount Cardigan about 1.6 miles north northeast of Orange 

Basin at an altitude of about 1,800 feet Ooc. 3, pl. 4). 
94 CONTRIBUTIONS TO G'ENiERAL GEOLOGY 

material overlying compact till containing numerous pebbles and a. 

few cobbles. The largest boulders were at the surface. Water sometimes flows in the boulder stripes. The vegetation-covered areas 

between the boulder stripes are slightly convex. The large mass o{ 

boulders northwest of the center of figure 21 is at the head of a shallow 

draw that extends dowDslope for perhaps 200 feet. Part of the floor 

of the draw is covered with boulders; the rest is covered with turf. 

The exposed boulders may be segments of a continuous deposit that 

is partly concealed beneath the turf. 

Almost parallel bands of boulders trend downslope in other parts of 

the Canaan region, as the slope east of Indian River near Birch Corner 

School in Canaan, the hillsides about a half mile southwest of Gifford 

School in Grafton, and the slope west of George Pond in Enfield. 

Some of the boulder bands, especially those near Orange Basin, are 

probably the result of both downslope and lateral movement of the 

mantle caused by repeated freeze and thaw. Such an origin is suggested by the close packing of the boulders with their longer axes in a 

vertical plane and by their abundance in comparison with those in the 

underlying compact till. The bands appear to be too large to be lag 

deposits, the result of present-day erosion by running water. The 

moss-covered hillocks on the slope near Orange Basin probably result 

from present-day frost heaving; but the continuous cover of vegetation that surrounds and locally crosses the boulder stripes indicates 

that the boulders have not moved for several years. The spruce(?) 

stumps suggest that the patterned ground was tree-covered and stable 

in the recent past. Thus these boulder stripes are probably at least 

100 years old. Perhaps they are as old as the Pleistocene. 

In other places, however, the boulder bands are relatively narrow,. 

the boulders widely spaced, and the associated gully more pronounced. 

than those shown in figure 21. Such bands are probably lag deposits. 

left by running water. 

Mountain slopes in the Canaan region are commoDly strewn with. 

boulders (fig. 22) most of which are covered with ferns and lichens; 

apparently they have not moved for a long time. Perhaps the 

boulders moved during a past interval of slope instability or were 

dropped in their present position by an ice sheet. In a few places on 

steep slopes or at the base of cliffs are bare boulders that may have 

moved in recent years. 

Some gentle slopes on till are furrowed by broad, shallow gullies. 

One such gully is shown in figure 23. It has steep walls and is floored 

chiefly with boulders. This gully is one of several parallel gullies on a 

boulder-strewn slope. Absence of alluvial deposits at the mouth of 

the gully shows that it was not cut by modern stream erosion. The 

shape of the gully suggests formation by ma.ss movements. 
SURFICIAL GEOLOGY OF'J.'HE CANAAN AREA, NlEW HAMPSHIRE 95 

18001 

Partly 

forested Completely forested· 

~~------------------A------------

Mantle of fragments of quartzite 

Small fragments, large fragments, 

~~~ 

A few bedrock outcrops, scattered boulders 

16001 ( 

14001 

12001 

10001 

Clough quartzite 

Ammonoosuc volcanics, 

chiefly amphibolite 

soo'_j_ _________________ _._ _______________ L_ ___ ___J 

WEST EAST 

200 0 800 Feet 

FIGURE 22.-Boulder-strewn east slope of Moose Mountain west of Enfield Reservoir (loc. 1,. 

pl. 4). The slope is forest covered and mantled by quartzite boulders and smaller fragments~ 

Next to the cliffs is an unstable mass of small rock fragments. Lower on the slope is a stabilized 

mass of boulders. The boulders form lobes pointing downslope. Bedrock data from Chapman 

(1939); structure not shown, bedding and foliation essentially vertical. Surficial deposits 

omitted except for fragments of rock on surface of ground. 

EOLIAN FEATURES 

A few of the boulders on top of some kame deposits have been 

polished and slightly fluted by sand blasting. Such ventifacts are 

commonly coarse-grained granitic rocks or pegmatite. The quartz. 

grains stand out because the adjacent feldspar and mica have been 

etched away. J11 some boulders of pegmatite, books of mica are, 

polished on surfaces at right angles to the basal plane. The ventifacts are only slightly etched as compared to those from other glaciated'. 

regions such as Cape Cod (Mather, Goldthwait, and Thiesmeyer,. 

1942). Many of the ventifacts have been slightly weathered since they 

were abraded. Ventifacts are found chiefly on the kame deposits 

between Leeds Hill and Pond Ledges in Danbury, and in the Haines 

Brook valley south of f1anaan. No ventifacts were found in areas. 

where sand is moved today by the wind; hence the ventifacts are 

ancient. Probably they are contemporaneous with the kame deposits~ 

Sand is now beirg moved by the wind in a few areas of bare ground 

(included in the Vftndsor soils, Latimer and others, 1939; Simmons. 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO G'ENERAL GEOLOGY 

• • 

• • 0 0 

0 co Ol 

"' • 

co .co co A' 

• • • 

MAP 

Till overlying bedrock 

100 0 400 Feet 

'"'"""' Contour I interval 10 feet 

Datum is mean sea level 

~\ EXPLANATION 

ElGillJ D 

Alluvium Till Boulders 

Contact, approximately located 

"FIGURE 23.-Map and cross section of broad shallow gully, a common feature on some till slopes, and perhaps 

the result of ancient mass movements. Gully, on northwest-facing slope of Town Hill, is just southeast of 

Goose Pond Brook in Canaan (loc. 2, pl. 4). 

:and others, 1949). Such areas have probably been formed since the 

.arrival of the first settlers. 

RECENT DEPOSITS 

Alluvium and swamp deposits occupy the valley bottoms. The 

.alluvium is chiefly sand and silt (textures range from sand to silt 

1oam); the amount of gravel is small except near the base of mountains. The swamp deposits include peat and muck. The thickness 

of these deposits is unknown; their extent on plate 4 is based largely 

on soil maps (Latimer and others, 1939; Simmons and others, 1949). 

'These deposits are assigned to the Recent epoch. Although pal6ontologic evidence of age of these deposits is lacking, they are younger 

than the drift. 

LATE QUATERNARY HISTORY 

Before the advance of the last ice sheet, the Quaternary history 

·Of the Canaan area is obscure. Drift older than the last glaciation 
SURFICIAL GEOLOGY OF THE CANAAN AREA, NEW HAMPSIDRE 97 

has not been identified. Goldthwait and Kruger (1938, loc. 23 and 33, 

table 1) described two localities in the area where weathered bedrock 

occurs beneath drift. Although the weathering probably antedates 

the last glaciation, its exact age is unknown. The last ice sheet that 

covered the Canaan area probably advanced as far south as Cape 

Cod, southern Rhode Island, and Long Island, where it built prominent moraines (Denny, 1956a). The polished anCJ striated bedrock 

ledges record that the last movement of the ice sheet, just before its 

disappearance, was to the south and southeast. 

The complete history of deglaciation is unknown. The surficial 

deposits on the floor and the sides of a typical northward-trending 

valley (fig. 16) probably record the following sequence of events. 

After compact till was deposited on an abraded bedrock surface by 

active gJacial ice, the glacier became almost motionless (doubtless 

because it was being thinned from above and from below) and loose 

till was deposited beneath it, partly by running water, partly in ponded 

water, and partly directly from the ice. As the upper surface of the 

glacier was lowered, the loose till became mantled by boulders derived 

from the ice or from the adjacent valley wall. Continued wastage 

formed streams that flowed in open channels between the ice and the 

valley wall and built kame deposits to levels that were slightly below 

the top of adjacent loose till. In some places both sides of such 

channels were made of ice. Fine sands were deposited in standingwater. Later, sand and a little gravel were deposited by streams. 

Finally the gravel that now caps many kame terraces was laid down. 

In some places the upper gravel may have been deposited during dis--

section of the kame deposits. During the close of gravel deposition,_ 

or immediately thereafter, sand was picked up, carried, and deposited 

by wind, producing a few slightly polished and etched boulders. 

Some of the material mapped as terrace sand was deposited at about 

the same time as the adjacent kame deposits. Meanwhile further· 

north the melt water that laid down the kame deposits may have 

flowed in channels cut partly in ice and partly in bedrock-the 

abandoned stream channels of the present day. Dissection probably 

followed immediately. Little erosion or deposition has taken place 

since the ice disappeared. Some of the terrace sand may have been 

deposited in early postglacial time. Some of the larger streams have· 

slightly widened their flood plains and deposited a covering of alluvium .. 

Swamp deposits accumulated in depressions on the valley floor. 

In the Smith River-Indian River lowland, there is a sequence of 

kame deposits. Assuming a northward retreat of the ice, the oldest 

kame deposits are those west of Danbury; between Pond Ledges and 

Leeds Hill, these deposits were built by melt water that flowed south 

and southeast through the abandoned stream channels (pl. 4). As the, 
98 CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY 

lowlands north and east along Smith River were uncovered by downwastage, the kame deposits in the valley of the Smith River accumulated. These kames, or at least their gravel cap, may have been 

deposited by a stream that flowed southward from the vicinity of 

Tewksbury Pond nearly to Danbury. It is possible that in the reach 

south of Grafton Center the stream deposited the terrace sand. After 

the rock sill at the divide between Tewksbury Pond and Mirror Lake 

was uncovered, melt water flowed across it and formed large potholes 

(Jackson, 1844, p. 113-114; Upham, 1878, p. 63). Perhaps an icedammed lake was formed north of this rock sill as indicated by the 

apparent delta structure of some of the kame deposits near Mirror 

Lake. But the Mirror Lake basin was probab]y occupied by a block 

1>f ice when the adjacent kames were built; thus any ice-dammed 

lake north of the divide must have been at least partly filled by 

glacier ice. 

LITERATURE CITED 

Antevs, Ernst, 1922, The recession of the last ice sheet in New England: Am. 

Geog. Soc., Research ser. no. 11. 

---1939, Modes of retreat of the Pleistocene ice sheets: Jour. Geology, v. 47, 

p. 503-508. 

Billings, M. P., 1955, Geologic map of New Hampshire: U. S. Geol. Survey in 

cooperation with N. H. Plan. and Devel. Comm. and Div. of Geol. Sci., 

Harvard Univ. 

"Chamberlin, T. C., 1894, Proposed genetic classification of Pleistocene glacial 

formations: Jour. Geology, v. 2, p. 517-538. 

Chapman, C. A., 1939, Geology of the Mascoma quadrangle, New Hampshire: 

Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 50, p. 127-180. 

-crosby, W. 0., 1890, Composition of the till or boulder clay: Boston Soc. Nat. 

History Proc., v. 25, p. 115-140. 

Currier, L. W., 1941, Tills of eastern Massachusetts: Geol. Soc. America Bull., 

v. 52, p. 1895-1896. 

Denny, C. S., 1940, Stone rings on New Hampshire mountains: Am. Jour. Sci., 

v. 328, p. 432-438. 

·---1956a, Wisconsin drifts in the Elmira region, New York, and their possible 

equivalents in New England: Am. Jour. Sci., v. 254, p. 82-95. 

---1956b, The surficial geology and geomorphology of Potter County, Pa.: 

U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 288. 

Fairchild, H. L., 1932, New York moraines: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 43, 

p. 627-662. 

Flint, R. F., 1947, Glacial geology and the Pleistocene epoch: New York, John 

Wiley and Sons, 589 p. 

---1953, Probable Wisconsin substages and late-Wisconsin events in northern 

United States and southeastern Canada: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 64, 

p. 897-920. 

Flint, R. F., and Demorest, Max, 1942, Glacier thinning during deglaciation: Am. 

Jour. Sci., v. 240, p. 29-66, 113-136. 

Fowler-Billings, K. S., 1942, Geological map of the Cardigan quadrangle, New 

Hampshire: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 53, p. 177. 
SURFICIAL GEOLOGY OF THE CANAAN ARE:A, NlEW HAMPSmRE 99 

Fowler-Lunn, K. S., and Kingsley, Louise, 1937, Geology of the Cardigan 

quadrangle, New Hampshire: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 48, p. 1363-1386. 

Fuller, M. L., 1914, The geology of Long Island, New York: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Prof. Paper 82. 

'Goldthwait, J. W., 1925, The geology of New Hampshire: N.H. Acad. Sci. Handb. 

no. 1. 

---1938, The uncovering of New Hampshire by the last ice sheet: Am. Jour. 

Sci., 5th ser., v. 3-6, p. 345-372. 

Goldthwait, J. W., Goldthwait, Lawrence, and Goldthwait, R. P., 1951, The 

geology of New Hampshire-Part I, Surficial geology: N. H. Plan. and 

Devel. Comm. 

Goldthwait, J. W., and Kruger, F. C., 1938, Weathered rock in and under the 

drift in New Hampshire: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 49, p. 1183-1198. 

<Goldthwait, Lawrence, 1948, Glacial till in New Hampshire: N. H. Plan. and 

Devel. Comm., Min. Research Survey, pt. 10. 

{}oodlett, J. C., 1954, Vegetation adjacent to the border of the Wisconsin drift 

in Potter County, Pa.: Harvard Forest Bull. 25. 

Hadley, J. B., and Chapman, C. A., 1939, The geology of the Mount Cube and 

Mascoma quadrangles, New Hampshire: N.H. Plan. and Devel. Comm. 

Hitchcock, C. H., 1878, The geology of New Hampshire: Concord, pt. 3, p. 

177-340 . 

.Jackson, C. T., 1844, Final report on the geology and mineralogy of the State 

of New Hampshire: Concord . 

.Judson, Sheldon, 1949, The Pleistocene stratigraphy of Boston, Massachusetts, 

and its relation to the Boylston Street Fishweir, in Johnson, Frederick, The 

Boylston Street Fishweir II: Peabody Found. for Archeol. Papers, v. 4, 

no. 1, p. 7-48. 

_Latimer, W. J., and others, 1939, Soil Survey of Grafton County, New Hampshire: 

U. S. Dept. Agri., Bur. Chemistry and Soils, no. 6, ser. 1935. 

:Leverett, Frank, 1934, Glacial deposits outside the Wisconsin terminal moraine 

in Pennsylvania: Pa. Geol. Survey, 4th ser., Bull. G 7. 

Lougee, R. J., 1939, Geology of the Connecticut watershed: N.H. Fish and Game 

Dept., Bioi. Survey Connecticut Watershed Rept. no. 4, p. 131-149. 

---1940, Deglaciation in New England: Jour. Geomorphology, v. 3, p. 

189-216. 

Lutz, H. J., 1940, Disturbance of forest soil resulting from the uprooting of trees: 

Yale Univ. School of Forestry Bull. no. 45. 

Lutz, H. J., and Griswold, F. S., 1939, The influence of tree roots on soil morphology: Am. Jour. Sci., v. 237, p. 389-400. 

MacClintock, Paul, 1954, Leaching of Wisconsin gJacial gravels in eastern North 

America: Geol. Soc. Ame1ica Bull., v. 65, p. 369-384. 

MacClintock, Paul, and Apfel, E. T., 1944, Correlation of the drifts of the Salamanca Re-entrant, New Ymk: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 55, p. 1145-1164. 

Mather, K. F., Goldthwait, R. P., and Thiesmeyer, L. R., 1942, Pleistocene 

geology of western Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 

53, p. 1127-1174. 

Moss, J. H., 1943, Two tills in the Concord quadrangle, Massachusetts: Geol. 

Soc. America Bull. v. 54, p. 1826. 

Rich, J. L., 1935, Glacial geology of the Catskills: New York State Mus. Bull. 

299. 

---1943, Buried stagnant ice as a normal product of a progressively retreating 

glacier in a hiily region: Am. Jour. Sci., v. 241, p. 95-100. 
100 CONTRIBUTIONS TO G'EN1

E.RAL GEOLOGY 

Shaler, N. S., 1892, The origin and nature of soils: U.S. Geol. Survey 12th Ann .. 

Rept., pt. 1, p. 213-345. 

Simmons, C. S., and others, 1949, Soil Survey of Cheshire and Sullivan Counties1 

New Hampshire: U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Plant Industry, Soils, and Agr. 

Eng., no. 23, ser. 1937. 

Switzer, George, 1941, Hardness of micaceous minerals: Am. Jour. Sci., v. 239, 

p. 316. 

Torell, Otto, 1877, On the glacial phenomena of North America: Am. Jour. 

Sci., 3d ser., v. 13, p. 76-79. 

Upham, Warren, 1878, Modified drift in New Hampshire, in Hitchcock, C. H., 

The geology of New Hampshire: Concord, pt. 3, p. 3-176. 

---1891, Criteria of englacial and subglacial drift: Am. Geoiogist, v. 8, 

p. 376-385. 

U.S. Dept. Agr., 1941, Climate and man-Yea1book of Agriculture: 77th Cong., 

1st sess., H. Doc. 27. 

---Soil Survey Staff, 1951, Soil Survey manual: Agri. Handb. 121. 

Veatch, A. C., 1903, The diversity of the glacial period on Long Island: Jour. 

Geology, v. 11, p. 762-776. 

---1906, Outlines of the geology of Long Island-Underground water conditions of Long Island: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 44, p. 15-85. 

White, S. E., 1947, Two tills and the development of glacial drainage in the 

vicinity of Stafford Springs, Conn.: Am. Jour. Sci., v. 245, p. 754-778. 

Woodworth, J. B., 1896, The retreat of the ice-sheet in the Narragansett Bay 

region: Am. Geologist, v. 181 p. 150-168. 

---1901, Pleistocene geology of portions of Nassau County and Borough of 

Queens: N.Y. State Mus. Bull. 48, p. 618-670. 

Woodworth, J. B. and Wigglesworth, Edward, 1934, Geography and geology of 

the region including Cape Cod, the Elizabeth Islands, Nantucket, Marthas 

Vineyard, No Mans Land, and Block Island: Harvard Coli. Mus. Comp. 

Zoology Mem., v. 52. 
INDEX 

Page Page 

.Acknowledgments _____ -------------------... _ 74 Mascoma group of Chapman_________________ 95 

Alluvium _ ------------------------------- 85, 86,96 Mascoma quadrangle_________________________ 73 

.Ammonoosuc volcanic rocks __________ ··------ 76,95 Metamorphic rocks.-------------------------- 75 

Moraines _____ --- •. --------------------------- 91,97 

Bethlehem gn.:iss ••• ----------- ___ ----··------- 75 

Boulder garlands, stripes.------------------ .• 93-95 Patterned ground---------------------------- 92-94 

Penacook quadrangle ______ ---------------.___ 77 

.Cardigan Qliadrangle_________________________ 73 

.Cary drift •• _--------------------------------- 91 QWU"ternary history. See Geologic history. 

·Clough quartzite._----------------------·-_ 75, 92, 95 

.Cols .•. ______ ---------------------. ------··---- 92 Roots, influence______________________________ 90 

Dfposits See Kame deposits, Sediments 

Drift, Wisconsin age ______ -------- 73, 74,76-91,92,97 

.Eolian features. &e Ventifacts. 

·Geography ____________ ------------------- --- 73,75 

,Geology, bedrock ___________ --------- .PI. 5, 75, 88,92 

.Ocologic history __________________ 80-82,85-87,96-98 

·Geology, surficiaL---------------- ----- Pl. -1,75-96 

:Igneous rocks _______ ----.-------------·------- 75, 76 

_Kame deposits. ______________ .. ___ 79,82-87,95,97-98 

.Kinsman quartz monzonite____________________ 75 

_I.ittleton formation ________________ .. _______ 75, 76,89 

·Loam, Charlton .. ---------------------------- 88 

Sand, terrace ___ --------------------- 84--85,90,97-98 

Sediments, colluviaL •••• --------------------- 92-94 

glaciofluviaL ____________________ ------ 8()-87, 89 

origin ___ ---------------.•. --------------- 83-87 

Recent age _____ -----------------------___ 96 

Soil, Brown Podzolic ••••• -------------------- 87-88 

PodzoL ---------------------------- 84,87-88,91 

Stream channels, abandoned----------------- 91-92 

Terraces. See Sand. 

'!'ill, compact--------------····---- 76-78,80-82, &'1, 93 

loose----------------------------- 76,78-82,88,89 

lower------------------------------------- 73,81 

origin ____________ .-----------------------_ 80--82 

stratigraphic relations ____________ ·------- 80 

upper-----------------------------------. 73, 81 

Hermon stony sandy-----·--------------- 88 Ventifacts. ___________________________________ 95-96 

101 

0