![]() ![]() Sub-ranges and geographical segments South Taconics In the 20th century, it became attached to the theory of an Ordovician mountain-building event involving much of what is now eastern North America named the " Taconic Orogeny". It gained prominence in the field when Dewey's protégé Emmons proposed the existence of a "Taconic System" in 1839 (see above). The term first entered geological literature in 1819 with Chester Dewey's "Sketch of the Mineralogy and Geology of the Vicinity of Williams' College". Dwight's account was deemed the "first recorded ascent" of that peak in a 1989 text on regional hiking history. Timothy Dwight IV used the name "Taughkannuc Mountain" in an account of his 1781 ascent of the summit later named Mount Everett. ![]() As written English, the term appears in a 1685 petition for the right to purchase land in western Massachusetts. The spelling "Taghkanic", among several variant transliterations, is current for about a half-dozen locales, mostly within the immediate region. Taconic is likely from a Delaware word meaning "in the trees". This early phase of ideas about the Taconic Mountains is compared with the Great Devonian Controversy that preoccupied British geologists for part of the 19th century. Yet as late as the 1880s the leading geologists James Dwight Dana (Yale University) and Jules Marcou wrote of continued disagreements over Emmons' theory. Initially Hall gained decisive support from prominent scientists of the day, including Louis Agassiz and Charles Lyell. Īn earlier and largely separate dispute over the age of the Taconic Mountains based on the region's sparse fossil record began in the 1830s and centered on the conflicting theories of Ebenezer Emmons of Williams College and James Hall of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Their proposals regarding the Taconics, however, were viewed as unproven and controversial until Zen's work. Į-An Zen proved this allochthon's existence in 1966 via a study of the region's faulting, although it had been proposed around 1906 by Rudolf Ruedemann and separately by Arthur Keith, each using concepts associated with French geologist Marcel Alexandre Bertrand. It formed during the Ordovician period in the collision of the North American Plate into a volcanic island arc. Rocks of this allochthon are older than the strata lying beneath, and consist of slate, phyllite, and schist, "plus some minor lenses of limestone." The structure is larger than the current Taconic Mountains, extending westward toward the Hudson River. The range is part of the Taconic Allochthon, a local rock structure which traveled to its current position from about 25 miles to the east through low-angle thrusting. Several hundred miles of trails are within these mountains, including parts of the Appalachian Trail. ![]() Although mostly private property, the Taconics contain a half-dozen sizable state forests and parks, as well as many preserves of lesser acreage protected by land trusts. Spruce-fir at higher elevations, "and oak and hickory common to the south and at lower elevations." The area is part of the New England-Acadian forests ecoregion. įorests are predominately maple-beech-birch with some The Taconics' highest point is Mount Equinox in Vermont at 3,840 feet (1,170 m) among many other summits are Dorset Mountain, Mount Greylock and Mount Everett. The range, which played a role in the history of geological science, is separated from the Berkshires and Green Mountains to the east by a series of valleys, principally those of the Housatonic River, Battenkill River and Otter Creek. The Taconic Mountains ( / t ə ˈ k ɒ n ɪ k/) are a 150-mile-long sub-range of the Appalachian Mountains lying on the eastern border of New York State and adjacent New England. ![]()
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