Minisink: Difference between revisions
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==Geology and geography== |
==Geology and geography== |
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===The course of the Delaware River. |
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The [[Delaware River]] constitutes part of the boundary between [[Pennsylvania]] and [[New York]], the entire boundary between [[New Jersey]] and [[Pennsylvania]]. The [[Minisink]] is a [[buried valley]] where the Delaware flows in a bed of [[glacier|glacial]] [[till]] that buried the eroded bedrock during the [[last glacial period]]. It then skirts the [[Kittatinny Mountains|Kittatinny ridge]], which it crosses at the [[Delaware Water Gap]], between nearly vertical walls of [[sandstone]], [[quartzite]], and [[conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]]. |
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The [[Delaware River]] was often referred to as the Minisink River in early Dutch colonial documents and on early maps. The Delaware River constitutes part of the boundary between [[Pennsylvania]] and [[New York]], the entire boundary between [[New Jersey]] and [[Pennsylvania]]. The middle section of the Delaware River's course, roughly between [[Port Jervis, New York]] and the [[Delaware Water Gap]] (a break in [[Kittatinny Mountain]] where the river runs through) is the north and southern points of the Minisink or Minisink Valley. The river flows down a broad [[Appalachian Mountains|Appalachian]] valley. The Minisink is a [[buried valley]] where the Delaware flows in a bed of [[glacier|glacial]] [[till]] that buried the eroded bedrock during the [[last glacial period]]. |
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At [[Port Jervis, New York]], it enters the Port Jervis trough. At this point, the [[Walpack Ridge]] deflects the Delaware into the Minisink Valley, where it follows the southwest [[Strike and dip|strike]] of the eroded [[Marcellus Formation]] [[bed (geology)|beds]] along the Pennsylvania–New Jersey state line for {{convert|25|mi|km}} to the end of the ridge at Walpack Bend in [[Walpack Township, New Jersey]] in the [[Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area]]. <ref>Witte, Ron W. and Monteverde, Donald H. [http://www.njgeology.org/enviroed/newsletter/v2n1.pdf "Karst in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area" in ''Unearthing New Jersey'' Vol. 2, No. 1 (1 February 2006). (Trenton: New Jersey Geological Survey, Department of Environmental Protection).</ref><ref>White, I.C. and Chance, H.M. ''The Geology of Pike and Monroe Counties'' Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, Report of Progress, G6 (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: 1882), 17, 73–80, 114–115.</ref> It then skirts the [[Kittatinny Mountains|Kittatinny ridge]], which it crosses at the [[Delaware Water Gap]], between nearly vertical walls of [[sandstone]], [[quartzite]], and [[conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]]. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 16:21, 2 January 2013
The Minisink or (more recently) Minisink Valley is a loosely defined geographic region of the Upper Delaware River valley in northwestern New Jersey (Sussex and Warren counties), northeastern Pennsylvania (Pike and Northampton counties) and New York (Orange and Sullivan counties). The name was derived by Dutch colonists from the Lenape name for the area, as they named bands of their people after geographic places which they inhabited as territory throughout the mid-Atlantic area.
The term "Minisink" is not used often today. It is preserved because of its historical relevance concerning the early European settlement of the region during the American colonial period ad for its role in early "first contact" between Native Americans and colonial settlers.
Originally inhabited by Munsee-speakers of the Lenape or Delaware Indians, this area was first settled in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries by Dutch and French Huguenot families from colonial New York's Hudson River Valley.
Much of the historical Minisink region has been incorporated into the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
Geology and geography
===The course of the Delaware River. The Delaware River was often referred to as the Minisink River in early Dutch colonial documents and on early maps. The Delaware River constitutes part of the boundary between Pennsylvania and New York, the entire boundary between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The middle section of the Delaware River's course, roughly between Port Jervis, New York and the Delaware Water Gap (a break in Kittatinny Mountain where the river runs through) is the north and southern points of the Minisink or Minisink Valley. The river flows down a broad Appalachian valley. The Minisink is a buried valley where the Delaware flows in a bed of glacial till that buried the eroded bedrock during the last glacial period.
At Port Jervis, New York, it enters the Port Jervis trough. At this point, the Walpack Ridge deflects the Delaware into the Minisink Valley, where it follows the southwest strike of the eroded Marcellus Formation beds along the Pennsylvania–New Jersey state line for 25 miles (40 km) to the end of the ridge at Walpack Bend in Walpack Township, New Jersey in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. [1][2] It then skirts the Kittatinny ridge, which it crosses at the Delaware Water Gap, between nearly vertical walls of sandstone, quartzite, and conglomerate.
See also
External links
- Minisink Valley Historical Society website (www.minisink.org)
- "Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area", National Park Service
41°05′36″N 74°59′32″W / 41.093454°N 74.992247°W
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- ^ Witte, Ron W. and Monteverde, Donald H. [http://www.njgeology.org/enviroed/newsletter/v2n1.pdf "Karst in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area" in Unearthing New Jersey Vol. 2, No. 1 (1 February 2006). (Trenton: New Jersey Geological Survey, Department of Environmental Protection).
- ^ White, I.C. and Chance, H.M. The Geology of Pike and Monroe Counties Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, Report of Progress, G6 (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: 1882), 17, 73–80, 114–115.
