To enhance outdoor recreation and environmental education in Connecticut, the State Geological Survey of DEEP is preparing short geological reports for Connecticut State Parks. www.ct.gov/deep/geologystateparks

Connecticut Survey volunteer Randolph Steinen (retired UConn professor), working with other Survey personnel, college students, and local geologists, has written reports for seven state parks and is conducting field work for two others.  Reports for Mansfield Hollow State Park, Osborndale State Park, Silver Sands State Park, Sleeping Giant State Park and West Rock State Park are in edit, for online publication this year.  Reports for Bolton Notch State Park and Devil’s Hopyard State Park are written but require further illustration.  Field work is under way at Penwood State Park and Rocky Glen State Park. 
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Input from Society members regarding park selection for new or updated geologic reports is welcome.  Also, please contact the State Survey if you are interested in being part of the field team.  Weekend field work can be arranged. Contact randolph.steinen@ct.gov

EarthCaches also exist for many state park locations that do not have a park geologic report.  EarthCaches are administered by the Geological Society of America as a special part of the Geocache system.  Connecticut Geological Survey EarthCaches http://www.depdata.ct.gov/maps/earthcache/earthcachemap.htm

Jacqueline Giblin & Melissa Luna (2016 GSC Grant Awardees)
Faculty Sponsor: Michael Wizevich
GSC Newsletter Article Project Summary

​The purpose of this project was to utilize uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating of detrital zircon grains to determine the provenance of the sediment infill of the Mesozoic Hartford and Pomperaug basins. The source areas for much of the sedimentary fill of the Hartford and Pomperaug rift basins is not well constrained due to discontinuous outcrop, complex paleocurrent patterns and complicated tectonic history of the source areas. Scientists have proposed sources from the east, west, and both the east and west; there is little agreement on a definitive source or sources of material in the basin. Zircon is a durable mineral found in nearly all sedimentary rocks and can be dated by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (LA-ICPMS) analysis of U-Pb in the detrital zircon grains.  The age of a detrital zircon provides the date of the source rock in which it formed. Dates of zircons and potential source rocks can be matched and thus provide the areas that they came from.