Connecticut Geology Trips

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Copyright © Perry Heights Press, 2004

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Hoppers-Birge Pond Nature Preserve, Bristol

A great place to hike—and one of the best places in Connecticut to explore glacial geology features such as glacial eskers, hoppers, and till.

Where large blocks of ice were once stranded, today there are huge, bowl-shaped depressions left in the landscape, and that can be seen from along the preserve's glacier trail.

Throughout the preserve is a unique mix of glacial till, the sand, gravel and small stones transported by the ice. Seemingly out of place are chunks of brownstone they don't seem to belong. Their presence suggests the ice filled the valley until it spread over the metamorphic terrane in Bristol, and carried chunks of brownstone along with it.

The trail continues along the summit of a glacial esker, a former "upside-down" river valley formed by a river of melt water that once ran beneath the glacier.

Yale Peabody Museum, Mineral Room, New Haven

Another surprising aspect of the geology of Connecticut is the marvelous variety of minerals found throughout the state.

Minerals have been a subject of great interest here for centuries, both for their economic value and beauty. The collection on display in the mineral room at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven is among the finest and most complete in New England.

The mineral room has samples of local minerals, information about their distribution, as well as fundamental information about their nature and formation.

A must-see for all mineral fans!

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