Norwottuck is the Algonquian name for an area that is now Northampton and Hadley , Massachusetts . It is also used to refer to the Algonquian people who once lived there, who were part of the Pocumtuck Confederacy . Early English documents also refer to the area and people by the orthographic variants Norwootuc , Nonotuck , and Nolwotogg , the latter being the best representation of the local dialect.
25-555: White (1903) claims that the territory of the Norwottuck extended "from the 'Great Falls' at South Hadley to Mt Sugarloaf . Colonists cite a deed of land signed by three Norwottucks: Umpanchla alias Womscom, Quonquont alias Wompshaw, and Chickwalopp alias Wowahillowa in selling land to John Pynchon (son of William Pynchon ). Although the Norwottuck may have resided in the area until around 1700, their presence often went unrecorded. Many local geographical and other features are named for
50-528: A very prominent landscape feature visible for miles. Despite low elevations relative to the Berkshire Mountains to the west, dramatic cliff faces and a rise of 500 feet (150 m) to 600 feet (180 m) from the nearby Connecticut River make the mountain a popular tourist and hiking destination. Sugarloaf Mountain is the southern terminus of the Pocumtuck Range . The name sugarloaf refers to
75-453: Is easily accessible via Route 116 and is only a 15-minute drive from the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. There is parking at the base of the mountain and at the top of the paved road that leads from the parking area to the summit of South Sugarloaf. It is free to hike the trails or climb the road by foot or by bike, but there is a nominal fee for vehicles. North Sugarloaf Mountain
100-528: Is now Sugarloaf Mountain. There may be some truth to this tale; 15,000 years ago the Connecticut River from northern Vermont to southern Connecticut was post- glacial Lake Hitchcock . A now extinct species of giant beaver as big as black bears once inhabited North America at about the same time (see Pocumtuck Range for details). Sugarloaf Mountain, geologically contiguous with the Pocumtuck Ridge to
125-464: Is only accessible by foot; a small cave is located just beneath the summit ledges. In Fall 2008, the Mel Gibson film Edge of Darkness was filmed at the summit of South Sugarloaf. The observation tower was temporarily renovated for the film. Tholeiitic The tholeiitic magma series ( / ˌ θ oʊ l i ˈ aɪ t ɪ k / ) is one of two main magma series in subalkaline igneous rocks ,
150-541: Is partially composed, was deposited mainly by rivers and alluvial fans , with some localized floodplain ponds or swamps . The formation is known in other locations to preserve Triassic fossils such coprolites , plant remains such as Clathropteris and Equisitites , and fishes such as Semionotus , Redfieldius , and Ptycholepis . Additionally, the Sugarloaf Formation preserves rare examples of lithified armored mud balls . A seasonal auto road climbs
175-542: Is the basal unit of the Deerfield rift basin and was formed by fluvial and alluvial processes. It is overlain by 50 m (160 ft) of lacustrine deposits called the Fall River beds. The Fall River beds are capped by 80 m (260 ft) of tholeiitic basalt flows which are most visible as part of the geology of the Pocumtuck Ridge to the north. The basalts are overlain by a black siltstone to conglomerate called
200-401: Is the carcass of a human-eating giant beaver who lived in a lake now occupied by the Connecticut River. The people complained to the god Hobomok that the beaver was greedy, and consuming all their resources. In response Hobomok decided to kill the beaver with a club he fashioned from a large tree. After the struggle, the beaver died, sank to the bottom of the lake, turned to stone, and became what
225-459: The Earth's mantle . Tholeiitic basalt constituting the oceanic crust is termed MORB: m id- o cean- r idge b asalt. Throughout the process of igneous differentiation , the oceanic crust acts to reduce the magma, producing the tholeiitic trend. In contrast, alkali basalts are not typical of ocean ridges, but are erupted on some oceanic islands and on continents, as also is tholeiitic basalt. Because
250-627: The Norwottuck. The name Mount Norwottuck was given to a mountain previously known as Hilliard Knob in 1841 by Edward Hitchcock . The Norwottuck Rail Trail is likewise named after the people. Sugarloaf Mountain (Massachusetts) Sugarloaf Mountain or Mount Sugarloaf , is a butte -like mountain located in South Deerfield, Massachusetts , United States, with two summits, North Sugarloaf Mountain 791 ft (241 m) and its more popular knee, South Sugarloaf Mountain 652 ft (199 m). Its cliffs, made of arkose sandstone , are
275-562: The Turners Falls Sandstone and Mt. Toby Conglomerate. Mount Toby , the type locality for the Mt. Toby Conglomerate, can be seen directly across the Connecticut River from Sugarloaf Mountain. About 200 million years ago, as the continent of North America began rifting apart from Africa and Eurasia , a series of erosion and deposition episodes interspersed with basalt lava flows created this layer cake. Faulting and earthquakes tilted
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#1732863202389300-411: The alkali corner as they cool. In the tholeiitic magma, magnesium-rich crystals are produced preferentially, the magnesium content of the magma plummets, causing the magma to move away from the magnesium corner until it runs low on magnesium and simply moves towards the alkali corner as it loses iron and any remaining magnesium. With the calc-alkaline series, however, the precipitation of magnetite causes
325-468: The aluminium content, with tholeiitic basalts containing 12% to 16% Al 2 O 3 versus 16% to 20% Al 2 O 3 for calc-alkali basalts. Like all basalt, the rock type is dominated by olivine , clinopyroxene and plagioclase , with minor iron- titanium oxides. Orthopyroxene or pigeonite may also be present in tholeiitic basalt, and olivine, if present, may be rimmed by either of these calcium-poor pyroxenes. Tridymite or quartz may be present in
350-482: The fine-grained groundmass of tholeiitic basalt, and feldspathoids are absent. Tholeiitic rocks may have a fine, glassy groundmass , as may other types of basalt. Tholeiitic rocks are the most common igneous rocks in Earth's crust , produced by submarine volcanism at mid-ocean ridges and make up much of the ocean crust. Tholeiitic basaltic magmas are initially generated as partial melts of peridotite ( olivine and pyroxene ) produced by decompression melting of
375-425: The iron content of the magma to remain more steady as it cools than with a tholeiitic magma. The difference between these two magma series can be seen on an AFM diagram, a ternary diagram showing the relative proportions of the oxides Na 2 O + K 2 O (A), FeO + Fe 2 O 3 (F), and MgO (M). As magmas cool, they precipitate out significantly more iron and magnesium than alkali, causing the magmas to move towards
400-499: The iron-magnesium ratio to remain relatively constant, so the magma moves in a straight line towards the alkali corner on the AFM diagram. The AFM plot distinguishes the intermediate members of the tholeiitic and calc-alkali magma series quite well. However, the felsic end members of the two series are nearly indistinguishable, so granitic rocks are generally assigned to the calc-alkali magma series. The mafic end members may be distinguished by
425-486: The layers; subsequent erosion and glacial activity exposed the tilted "layers" of sandstone, basalt, and erosion-resistant conglomerate visible today. Although not composed of basalt trap rock , Sugarloaf Mountain is a closely associated with the Metacomet Ridge by virtue of its origin via the same rifting and uplift that created those mountains. The Sugarloaf Formation (or Sugarloaf Arkose), of which Mt. Sugarloaf
450-558: The loaf-like shape that sugar was once molded into for shipment. The names Sugarloaf Mountain and Mount Sugarloaf are both used to describe this mountain. USGS sources and published hiking maps refer to (North and South) Sugarloaf Mountain . However, the Massachusetts state reservation encompassing them is called the Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation . The name Mount Sugarloaf is sometimes used to describe only
475-484: The north, is composed of Triassic arkose sandstone and conglomerate . The Sugarloaf arkose was formed in a rift valley and sits in a half graben regionally called the Deerfield rift basin. The rift basin formed in Triassic- Jurassic time and is part of an area of crustal extension that extended from Long Island Sound into Vermont and New Hampshire . The 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) thick Sugarloaf arkose
500-451: The oceanic crust. Almost all the basalt found on the Moon is tholeiitic basalt. Rocks in the tholeiitic magma series are classified as subalkaline (they contain less sodium than some other basalts) and are distinguished from rocks in the calc-alkaline magma series by the redox state of the magma they crystallized from (tholeiitic magmas are reduced; calc-alkaline magmas are oxidized ). When
525-406: The other being the calc-alkaline series. A magma series is a chemically distinct range of magma compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic magma into a more evolved, silica rich end member. Rock types of the tholeiitic magma series include tholeiitic basalt , ferro-basalt, tholeiitic basaltic andesite , tholeiitic andesite , dacite and rhyolite . The variety of basalt in the series
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#1732863202389550-400: The parent magmas of basalts crystallize, they preferentially crystallize the more magnesium-rich and iron-poor forms of the silicate minerals olivine and pyroxene , causing the iron content of tholeiitic magmas to increase as the melt is depleted of iron-poor crystals. However, a calc-alkaline magma is oxidized enough to precipitate significant amounts of the iron oxide magnetite , causing
575-485: The south summit, and the north summit is sometimes described as the Pocumtuck Ridge. Both names are used locally. The original Native American name for the mountain is Wequamps (or Wequomps ). The root wehqu- in this name or weckw- in Weckwannuck "Sugarloaf Brook" means "at the point of or extremity of" and occurs in placenames indicating a stopping point. According to Native American myth, Sugarloaf Mountain
600-404: The summit of South Sugarloaf (open late spring through the fall foliage season), and a small seasonal observation tower is located on the summit. Several steep hiking trails, including the 20-mile (32 km) Pocumtuck Ridge Trail , make the mountain a favorite local hiking destination. Most of the mountain has been conserved as part of the Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation . The reservation
625-492: Was originally called tholeiite but the International Union of Geological Sciences recommends that tholeiitic basalt be used in preference to that term. Tholeiitic rock types tend to be more enriched in iron and less enriched in aluminium than calc-alkaline rock types. They are thought to form in a less oxidized environment than calc-alkaline rocks. Tholeiitic basalt is formed at mid-ocean ridges and makes up much of
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