Stop #6: Agassiz Outcrop
Location:
Ellsworth, south of the intersection of Routes 1A and 179. Park nearby and walk to the site.
N 44°33’42” W 68°26’19”
Geology:
Agassiz Historical Outcrop: This is on the National Register of Historic Sites. The Laurentide Ice Sheet flowed over this low bedrock hill area and eroded it to a smooth, scratched surface. These glacial scratches are called striations. Professor Louis Agassiz, Harvard College, published on this feature in 1864, concluding that it was formed by glacial ice in contrast to the Biblical flood. This was the first site in the United States where the effects of continental glaciation were recognized in a scientific publication.