A Natural Geologic Wonder to ponder in this latest installment in my series of short videos focused on individual features of interest… though the only Ancient Mystery here, perhaps, is whether or not the striking Champlain Thrust Fault was of any significance to the ancient Indigenous of the area. I believe it may have been important, given its remarkable appearance and given some possible, though unconventional, stonework nearby (which I hear may be covered in some upcoming special footage for paid subscribers).
See the Champlain Thrust Fault from a distance as it's situated on the peninsula, then head down to the shore in front of the Fault to give you an up-close look at its unique geology. We’ll see the "hanging wall", the orange and tan Lower Cambrian Dunham Dolostone which is about 500 million years old, on top. And note the "footwall"below, the dark gray to black Middle Ordovician Iberville Shale, is about 460 million years old, 40 million years "younger" than the rock above.
Older rock is usually found below younger rock, but about 10 million years after the shale formed in proto-Vermont, a land form including proto-New Hampshire and proto-Maine came slamming into the whole proto-continent, pushing the dolostone up and over the shale. This reversed the usual order, so it's called a Reverse Fault. And due to the fact that here it's at a low angle to the Earth's surface, it's known as a Thrust Fault.
In an Ancient Stone Mysteries of New England - Feature Focus, you get a look at stonework and related subjects in concentrated micro-bursts filled with exclusive footage and briefly related facts and speculation... bite-sized and built for today's schedules. This series lets me mine many hours of video footage and hundreds of thousands of images to create brand-new presentations using both seen and previously unseen work from my archives. This Fault footage comes from two visits in the early and late Spring of 2021, and a Memorial Day visit in 2022.
If you want to learn more about Ancient Stone Mysteries of New England, check out more videos on the YouTube Channel, join the discussions on the Facebook Group, or read the book, Ancient Stone Mysteries of New England - available everywhere. Links and details at https://AncientStoneMysteries.com.
The Lone Rock Point Peninsula is the Private Property of the Episcopal Church of Burlington, Vermont. Public Trails are available thanks to a partnership with the Lake Champlain Land Trust and the City of Burlington. They ask visitors to sign up for a (free) Trail Pass before arriving. More information: https://RockPointVT.org/Trails.
If there are features you would like me to focus on, please suggest them in the comments.
A DIY work by yours truly, Mike Luoma. Everything here is my work, with the exception of the Music - I use Royalty-Free work by Composer and Performer Kevin MacLeod. Official credits follow below.
Music Credits:
Healing by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3860-healing
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Champlain Thrust Fault