Main content

FIRE, ICE, AND ARMORED MUD BALLS: The remarkable geological history of the CT River Valley

Two hundred million years ago, the Connecticut River—in today’s Massachusetts—flowed through a great rift valley like those of East Africa today. There Podokesaurus, the Commonwealth’s newly named State Dinosaur, roamed, seeking fish along lakes and rivers. Occasionally floods washed blocks of hard mud downstream. The rolling mud blocks became round, and stream-bed pebbles attached to their surfaces. These very rare “armored mud balls,” now turned to stone, have been discovered in the river valley’s “red rock” sedimentary layers. The only place in the world where they can be easily seen is Franklin County, MA. With animations, abundant illustrations and samples, plus a bit of humor, the instructor, a geologist-educator, will introduce the class to the dramatic events of the last 500 million years in the CT River Valley, demonstrating why this central New England location is one of the best places in the world to study geology. 

One classroom session and a day-long field trip to Western Massachusetts, starting at the summit of South Deerfield’s Mt. Sugarloaf, followed by a circle tour of nearby Sunderland’s outstanding geological features, from bedrock outcrops to dramatic glacial and Lake Hitchcock landfoms.

Instructor: Prof. Richard D. Little

One Thursday, May 15, 4:00–6:00 pm, Wasch Center

Field trip, Saturday, May 17; transportation from the Wesleyan campus provided $115