A Natural Resource Management Guide for the County of Morris A ...

western Connecticut. Schooleys Mountain, Mase Mountain, Bowling Green Mountain, and Mount Paul are part
of the second ridge of the Highlands. The peaks and plains east of the mountain ranges including Fox Hill and
Copperas Mountain, over to the border escarpment, comprise the third ridge. The rolling hills of the Piedmont
consist of sandstones and shales punctuated by the erosion-resistant volcanic igneous rocks of the Watchungs.
These basalt ridges are known locally as Hook Mountain (Montville) and Long Hill (Long Hill and Harding
Townships). Refer to the Landforms map (Plate 4) for location of these features.
Rivers and streams within the county flow generally southwestward, following the trends of the Highlands.
Notable exceptions are the east-flowing Pequannock River, the Rockaway River, which flows south out of
Berkshire Valley and then east through a gap in the eastern Highlands, and the Passaic River, which rises in
southern Mendham Township, flows north through the Watchung valley, and turns eastward at Montville towards
the Great Notch, Little Falls, and Paterson.
Erosion, glaciation, and human activities have sculpted our geologic foundation into the familiar shapes of today's
landscape. Erosion's effect on the landscape, is related to a number of factors: erodibility of materials, e.g., shale,
sandstone, and limestone wear away much more readily than granite and gneiss. Caves and solution cavities in
limestone formations represent consequences of erosion. Steepness of slope and the presence or absence of
vegetative cover also affect the rate and nature of the erosion process. The broad, rounded hills and flat-topped
ridges of the Highlands reflect hundreds of thousands of years of erosion by wind and rain. The wide, gently rolling,
eroded plateau known as the Schooleys Mountain peneplain (Washington Township) is another example of
erosional manifestations.
These sloped reliefs provide a visual amenity to those traveling in the region but also contribute to the diverse
ecosystems within the county. Uplands and outcrop areas, characterized by extremely dry conditions, provide
excellent examples of succession where rock becomes inhabited, sequentially, by moss, lichens, herbs, shrubs, and
trees. Habitat in the higher elevations host specific communities of flora and fauna, including rare species, and give
rise to the headwaters of our rivers. A non-renewable resource, once blasted, ridges cannot be restored, although
restoration of wetlands and disturbed areas in former quarried land is occurring.
Icy Visitors
A profound impact on the landscape was the arrival,
stay, and departure of the glaciers. As the lobes of ice
moved across the landscape they scraped up soft shales
and loose rubble and sheered off ridges exposing sharp
cliffs of polished Precambrian bedrock. The southeast
travels of the glacier resulted in gentler slopes and
fewer rock outcrops on the northwest side of ridges,
and steep escarpments and many rock outcrops on
southeast slopes. Green Pond and Copperas Mountains
reflect this general pattern.
Figure 2 - Terminal Moraine
Most of the tills dropped by the glacier are relatively
local in origin. Generally, till deposits are thickest in
valleys and at the base of slopes. Thus the overall
effect of the glacier was to smooth down high places
and elevate lower ones. The Newark Basin, within the
Piedmont, was raised an average of 100 feet above sea
level by glacial deposits.
A Natural Resource Management Guide
for the County of Morris 25