Stop #19: Delta Top

Location:
North of Cherryfield. Follow Ridge Road up the pro-graded front edge of the delta. At the major intersection, bear left (north) on Schoodic Lake Road. Roads may be unmarked; this intersection has a historic monument in remembrance of Burliegh Crane, former Director of the University of Maine Blueberry Research Farm in Jonesboro.

N 44°40’45” W 67°52’59”

Geology:
Delta Top: Pineo Ridge is a large glacial marine delta, formed along the glacier’s edge, composed of glacial outwash sand and gravel with a surface area measured in square miles. Crossing the road is a prominent abandoned meltwater stream channel. This, and many similar channels, carried sediment from the glacier margin to the outer edge of the delta. These channels generally parallel the road, rising northward to where the glacier margin once stood. As the former glacier margin is approached, the sediments coarsen. Large boulders become common and the topography becomes irregular.