30,000-Year-Old Landscape Fossils Identified In New England

Researchers have identified 30,000-year-old landscape fossils in New England, which were covered in ice millions of years ago, according to a news release.

These landscapes were not unknown previously, as they are Mount Katahdin in Maine and Mount Washington in New Hampshire where they stand as the highest peaks over New England, according to GSA researcher Paul Bierman and his colleagues.

Both of these mountain ranges were once buried by continental ice sheets that emerged from lower parts of Canada millions of years ago. The researchers used atom-counting measurements to investigate the peaks. This scientific measurement enables researchers to find the mass of a large group of atoms.

The researchers found that there are no signs of erosion since the peaks were frozen down to the rocks below. The extreme ice sheets may have worked as a sealant and prevented any type of erosion from taking place.

The researchers classify the landscapes on these summits as fossils, since they were well preserved from the last ice age, 30,000 years ago. The contrast in erosion between stable fossil summit landscapes and adjacent valleys deeply eroded by glacial ice likely contributes to the development and maintenance of northern Appalachian topography, which presents the magnificent landscapes that we see, the researchers concluded. 

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