My 2023 New Year’s resolution is to explore Mount Katahdin to my upmost ability. I want to explore where it came from and when, its historical and current geology, flora and fauna and current human research, development, exploration and recreation.
It appears that Katahdin was formed roughly 400 million years ago (Ma). In this case “roughly” means give or take a few million years. Considering homosapiens have been around for about 200,000 years, this “roughly” is quite a gap. Of course using the term “around” for humans we are probably giving or taking 50,000 years. Everything is relative and there is lots of time to play with. 😉
I’m not a geologist, so where to begin? It turns out that the good folks at Maine’s Department of Conservation, Maine Geological Survey, published a wonderful booklet in 2010. If you wish to order yourself a copy, rather than read my uneducated musings, you can buy it from the Baxter State Park shop. Only $10.00, that is a bargain these days.
https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mgs/explore/bedrock/faq.htm#q7
I think it is safe to say, there are currently no active volcanoes in Maine, including around Katahdin. But 400 Ma things were quite different. My exploration into Katahdin’s geology has pushed me to explore tectonic plates and their migration1. Some geologists think that Katahdin rests on a slice of a tectonic plate, which then ran into the plate that is now North America. After this event, the area erupted in major volcanic activity, with Traveler Mountain being the epicenter. The Traveler Rhiolyte from Traveler Mountain was conservatively estimated to be 80 cubic miles. For a recent comparison, the devastating Mount St Helen eruption produced less than 1/10 of a cubic miles of rhyolite. (A Guide to the Geology of Baxter State Park and Katahdin p. 31)
Updated 1/31/2023
1The Tectonic Plates are Moving, Roy Livermore, Oxford University Press, 2018