Mercy College Presents

The Hudson River

Introduction
The Hudson River region is

one of America's treasures. Long before English explorer Henry Hudson sailed up the river in 1609 the waterway was a major travel route for Native Americans. The river opened trade routes north to Canada and west to the Great Lakes. Until the Mississippi Valley was settled two centuries later, the Hudson was America's most prominent, and profitable, waterway.

Geology and Geography

What is the geological make-up

of the Hudson River Valley? How was the river created? What is the rivers historical significance?

Lake Tear-of-the-Clouds
Lake Tear-of-the-Clouds is a

small pond and swamp on the side of New Yorks tallest mountainMount Marcy. In the Adirondacks. It is the source of the Hudson River, being the highest body of water that feeds it. Only two acres in size and less than three feet deep, the pond is essentially a bog. No fish live in this tiny pond. The water from Lake Tear will travel 315-miles to the Verrazano Narrows into the Atlantic Ocean.

Ancestral Rivers
The Hudson River is considered one of the Worlds

most ancient rivers. The Hudson is one of the few rivers of the world that cut through mountain ranges instead of taking easier routes around them. The processes that produce river systems that cut through mountain ranges require millions of years of geologic history. As such, they are evidence that the Earth we live on as been around for many millions (actually billions) of years.

Antecedence
In antecedence, the river involved was in place

first. The mountain range rose and the river stayed put, but it cut a groove into the rising mountain range. The more familiar name for a groove is a canyon. Tectonic forces started building a mountain range across the path of the river. If a river eroded down as fast as the new mountain range rose and it dug a canyon through the rising mountain range.

Antecedence
1. Streams and rivers flow across the land, antecedent to uplift. 2. With tectonic activity a block is uplifted ... but slowly enough that a stream can maintain its course via erosion. 3. A river runs through the uplift.

Superimposition
Here, the mountain range was in place first. Over many millions of years erosion will erode a

mountain range down to mere stubs. Nearby rivers drop some of their sediment to fill in adjacent lowlands. Eventually, you end up with a flat surface. If mountain building causes rivers to relocate to new positions on this flat surface, it is quite possible one of these new river channels may end up directly over the ancient beveled mountain range. Erosion will set in.

Superimposition
1. A mountain range ... 2. is buried by basin fill. Streams flow on the surface. 3. Streams become rejuvenated and start eroding and removing the fill, reaching the mountain range and cutting into it as well. The mountain range is exhumed, with a river crossing it

Collision with Africa

500 million years ago, movements of the earths crust

began squeezing the Iapetus Ocean out of existence. Over the next 250 million years, most of the earths land masses would converge to form the supercontinent Pangaea. North America collided with Africa producing todays Appalachian Mountains. There were three distinct phases of mountain building within this process. These were the Taconic (~470 to 450 million years ago), the Acadian (~400 to 350 million years ago), and the Appalachian (~300 to 275 million years ago).

Pangaea

The Taconic Event

In the Taconic event, the earths crust was broken

into a series of horizontal sheets/layers which were then shoved on top of each other. One of these sheets/layers of rock that was stacked was a hard erosion resistant layer called the Taconic Klippe. The Taconic Klippe itself did not get pushed to high elevations, but other layers were stacked on top of the Taconic Klippe, and they formed an impressive mountain range. The Taconic Klippe extends north-northeastward to include southwestern Vermont.

The Taconic Mountains

The Taconic Klippe

The Appalachians are old mountains and with time erosion

beveled off the high mountains/layers and filled in some of the valleys with sand and gravel. The end result was a nearly flat surface. South and southeastward flowing rivers developed across this flat surface. One of these rivers (which would become the Hudson) happened to be above a portion of the old erosion resistant Taconic Klippe. Over the last few tens of million years there has been a mild regional uplift which has allowed erosion to set in again. Rivers (and more recently, glaciers) have stripped off enough material to expose the Taconic Klippe. The Hudson River was over the Klippe, but it was able to erode down fast enough to stay in its original path.

The Hudson Fiord

The Hudson Fiord cuts

Today, the erosion resistant Taconic Klippe has emerged as a low range of mountains. The Hudson River was superimposed above it millions of years ago, but has been able to erode down fast enough to maintain its original path. It thus cuts through the Taconic Mountains instead of finding an easier path somewhere else.

through an ancient rift valley in the Hudson Highlands between Peekskill and Cornwall-onHudson. The fiord is the narrowest section of the Hudson, carved through resistant rocks.

The Wisconsin Ice Ages

Another determining factor for the path of the Hudson was the

Ice Age. The Ice Age began around 2 million years ago, and was characterized by global cooling punctuated by intervals of global warming. Glaciers reached the New York City region at least three times, the last two during the latest glaciations, the Wisconsin, which lasted over 100 million years. The Wisconsin ice sheet flowed southward from Canada down the Hudson and Connecticut river valleys. Blocked by ice, the Hudson changed course, draining the Connecticut, Passaic, Hackensack and Raritan rivers as it flowed across Newark Basin and through what is now Raritan Bay.

The Last Ice Age

As the last glacier retreated from the New York City region

around 18,000 years ago, lakes formed between the terminal moraines and the ice front. The Hudson was for awhile impounded behind the terminal moraine. 12,000 years ago the moraine was breached by rising waters at the Verrazano Narrows, and the waters of Lake Hudson were released in a torrent that scoured the channel 200 feet down to bedrock, making the Narrows the deepest section of the Lower Hudson. The Hudson river assumed its present-day course through the Narrows, coursing across a still-exposed continental shelf. At the edge of the shelf the Hudson carved a deep canyon plunging 9000 feet down to the ocean bottom. This is known as the Hudson Canyon.

Changing Landscape: N.Y.C. Region

Pleistocene glacial deposits Glacial lakes at the end of the last ice age in New York in New York City region City

Changing Landscape N.Y.C. Region

New York City region near the end of the last glaciation Early Holocene landscape in New York City region

The Hudson Canyon

The Hudson Canyon is an

extension of the Hudson River Valley. The canyon runs from the New York/New Jersey Harbor up to 400 nautical miles out to sea, at points reaching depths of 10,500 feet. The Hudson Canyon contains a remarkable diversity of deep-sea life, including extensive and complex deep sea coral and sponge formations.

A Tidal River
As sea level rose, the ocean drowned

the Hudsons mouth. By 6,000 years ago, sea level stabilized. The commingling of fresh and salt waters in the Lower Hudson created an estuary, or tidal river. Ocean tides push up the Hudson as far as Troy. The Lenapes, who settled the region around that time, called the Hudson Mahicanituck, of the great waters or sea, either ebbing or flowing.

Geography and the Lenapes

The Lenapes and the neighboring tribes used the Hudson and its surroundings for: Security Travel and trade route Food source

Security
Villages built on high

ground were easier to defend. Views of the river increased security. Easy to see enemy arriving. River also offered escape route.

Trade and Travel

Much easier to travel

on river than trek through the woods. River made it easier to transport goods. The river made trading easier and faster.

Food
Sturgeon

Crabs, Oysters and clams

The Hudson River

Shad

Striped Bass

Geography and the Revolution

Which ever side

controlled the Hudson River would win the war! The Hudson River was the geographic link between major British bases in New York City and Canada, and separated New England from the Mid-Atlantic.

The Hudson Highlands

The Hudson Highlands were the key

terrain of the American Revolution . West Point was the most dominating position along the Hudson River . West Point was located on the most significant transportation and communication artery in the Colonies. Forts Arnold, Webb, Wyllis, Clinton, Montgomery, Constitution, and Putnam along with a few Redoubts supported the defense of West Point during the Revolution.

Fortifications on the Hudson

Chaining the Hudson

Summary
The collision with Africa and earthquake activity created the Appalachian and Taconic Mountain ranges. Through superimposition the Hudson River cut through sediment rock. Glacial advances and retreats cut deeper into the river bottom creating a system of huge lakes. The collapse of the sea wall left behind a tidal estuary

Geography
Native Americans were able to survive by living off the land, trade and travel. The Americans were able to defend key areas along the river during the Revolution.

Geology

These geological events allow oceanic sea life to thrive far upriver and have created the rugged and beautiful Hudson Highlands making the Hudson River a national treasure.

Historical Significance

The End