Cushetunk Mountain: Difference between revisions

| map = USA New Jersey Hunterdon County

| map_size = 125

| location = [[Hunterdon County, New Jersey|Hunterdon County]], [[New Jersey|New Jersey, USAU.S.]]

'''Cushetunk Mountain''' (formerly Mount Ployden and Pickel's Mountain<ref name="Beck">{{cite book|author=Henry C. Beck|title=The Roads of Home: Lanes and Legends of New Jersey|url=httphttps://booksarchive.google.comorg/books?iddetails/roadsofhomelanes00beck|url-access=CYT2_BFUWq0Cregistration|accessdate=10 January 2013|date=1 June 1984|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-1018-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/roadsofhomelanes00beck/page/87 87]}}</ref> occasionally Mount Cushetunk <ref>{{cite book|author1=Jesse Russell|author2=Ronald Cohn|title=Cushetunk Mountain|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=22uLMAEACAAJ|accessdate=10 January 2013|date=February 2012|publisher=Book on Demand|isbn=978-5-510-86930-9}}</ref> or Coshanton<ref>[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njhunter/Documents/WestJerseySociety.pdf West Jersey Society]</ref>) is a ring shaped [[mountain]] in the [[U.S. state]] of [[New Jersey]], located in [[Readington Township, New Jersey|Readington]] and [[Clinton Township, New Jersey|Clinton Township]] in [[Hunterdon County, New Jersey|Hunterdon County]]. The [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] called the mountain "Cushetunk" meaning "place of hogs" after the wild hogs found there.<ref name="Hunterdon County">[http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/pdf/parks/Cushetunk.pdf Cushetunk Mountain] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204085034/http://co.hunterdon.nj.us/pdf/parks/Cushetunk.pdf |date=2007-02-04 }}, County of Hunterdon Dept of Parks and Recreation – Cushetunk Mountain Preserve</ref> In the 1960s, the valley at the heart of the mountain was dammed and filled with water to create [[Round Valley Reservoir]]. Today, the mountain and its accompanying lake act as a vital water supply to [[Central New Jersey]], while at the same time providing numerous recreational opportunities to the region.

Cushetunk Mountain, located in [[Clinton Township, New Jersey]], [[Readington, New Jersey]]Township, [[Franklin Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey|Franklin Township, New Jersey]], and [[Raritan Township, New Jersey]] is a horseshoe shaped mountain with the tips of its two prongs ending in the west at the edge of the [[New Jersey Highlands]]. The mountain’smountain's U-shaped arc is approximately {{convert|2|mi}} in diameter, with the more massive portion of the mountain occupying the southwest corner of the ridgeline. A deep man-made lake, [[Round Valley Reservoir]], occupies the valley at the center of the horseshoe.

Before the arrival of Europeans, Cushetunk Mountain was inhabited by Unami speaking [[Lenape]], particularly the Musconetcongs who ranged between Cushetunk Mountain and [[Sourland Mountain]] to the south.<ref name="DAWN">Wittwer, Norman C. [http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/history/Ch1-DawnofHunterdon.pdf ''The Dawn of Hunterdon'']. County of Hunterdon: History. Accessed May 16, 2009</ref> An interesting claim put forward by Beauchamp Plantagenet, one of the first Europeans to explore the area around the mountain, states that a Native American king held his seat in a place resembling the valley formed by Cushetunk Mountain.<ref name="DAWN"/> The claim exists today as a legend, and no evidence has ever been found confirming Plantagenet’sPlantagenet's story of a ‘Raritan king’.<ref name="DAWN"/>

Two famous names from New Jersey’sJersey's colonial history owned land on the north slope of Cushetunk Mountain in Potterstown (part of [[Readington, NJ|Readington]] and [[Clinton Township, NJ|Clinton Township]]). One was [[John Stevens (New Jersey politician)|John Stevens]], a delegate to the [[Continental Congress]], whose grandson founded [[Stevens Institute of Technology]]. The other was [[Lord Stirling]], an [[American Revolutionary War]] General who was ranked 3rd or 4th behind [[George Washington]].<ref name="ReadHist">[http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/mun/readtwp/readtwp.htm Readingtown Township History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321233033/http://co.hunterdon.nj.us/mun/readtwp/readtwp.htm |date=2009-03-21 }}, County of Hunterdon</ref>

Historically, wildlife at the mountain included [[apex predatorspredator]]s that are no longer found in the region. A story from the colonial era involving Dr. John Rockhill, a member of the [[Society of Friends]] and supposedly Hunterdon’sHunterdon's County’sCounty's first physician, indicates that Cushetunk Mountain and neighboring Round Mountain were known to harbor wolves.<ref name="NJTales"/> It is also noted that settlers in nearby [[Flemington, NJ|Flemington]] had to defend against these wolves during the winter.<ref name="NJTales">Quarrie, George. [httphttps://www.archive.org/details/withinjerseycirc00quarr ''Within a Jersey circle; tales of the past, grave and gay, as picked up from old Jerseyites'']. Unionist-Gazette Association, Somerville, NJ, 1910.</ref>

.Like the nearby [[The Palisades (Hudson River)|Palisades]] and [[Sourland Mountain]], Cushetunk Mountain formed approximately 200 million years ago around the [[Triassic]]/[[Jurassic]] boundary as an intrusion of igneous rock, [[diabase]], into local shale and sandstone. The intrusion occurred when the [[Newark Basin]], an aborted [[rift zone]] that formed as [[Pangaea]] began to break up, was still volcanically active. Originally, it was thought that Cushetunk Mountain was formed well after the nearby [[Watchung Mountains]], also of volcanic origin. The theory was that the deposition of sediment into the Newark Basin was still occurring after the Watchungs were extruded, which explained how Cushetunk Mountain was able to intrude into strata above the height of the Watchungs.<ref name="Lewis">{{cite book|publisher=New Jersey Geological Survey|title=The Origin and Relations of the Newark Rocks.|url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=wzUxAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA126|accessdate=10 January 2013|year=1907|page=126|last=Lewis|first=Volney J.}}</ref> However, it is now known that Cushetunk Mountain, as well as other intrusive bodies in the Newark Basin, are at least 10 million years older than the Watchungs, which implies that erosion and/or uplift<ref name="Lewis"/> must have occurred after Cushetunk Mountain was intruded in order to allow the Watchungs to form at the surface.<ref>Armstrong, R. L., Besancon, J. A Triassic time scale di-lemma: K-Ar Dating of Upper Triassic Mafic Igneous Rocks, Eastern U.S.A. and Canada, and Post-Upper Triassic Plutons, Western Idaho, U.S.A. ''Eclogae Geol. Helv.'', Vol. 63, p. 15-28, 1970.</ref> Both Cushetunk Mountain and the Watchungs were elevated after millions of years of erosion stripped away the overlying sandstone and shale strata and exposed their durable [[trap rock]] masses to the surface.<ref name="USGS1">[http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/nyc/mesozoic/mesozoicbasins.htm U.S. Geological Survey - NYC Regional Geology, Mesozoic Basins]</ref>

Contrary to popular belief, the ring-like shape of the mountain does not represent a crater, particularly since the mountain was formed primarily within the Earth. Instead, the mountain’smountain's shape seems to be the result of an intruding sheet of magma becoming dramatically flexed as it penetrated local strata.<ref name="USGS 1890">{{cite book|title=The Relations of the Traps of the Newark System in the New Jersey Region|url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=iB0MAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA65|accessdate=10 January 2013|year=1891|publisher=Geological Survey (U.S.)|pages=65, 73}}</ref> Round Mountain, just to the south of Cushetunk Mountain, formed as the intruding sheet that created Cushetunk Mountain reached a [[syncline]].<ref name="USGS 1890"/>

A unique feature of Cushetunk Mountain’sMountain's geology is that the igneous intrusion forming the mountain partly overlaps PaleoziocPaleozoic limestone west of the [[Ramapo faultFault]].<ref name="USGS 1890"/> Occurring just south of Molasses Hill Rd in [[Clinton Township, NJ|Clinton Township]], the overlap is significant for two reasons. First, the overlap marks one of the only locations in the [[Newark Basin]] where an intrusion successfully crossed the Ramapo fault and effectively spilled over the western edge of the basin. Second, the trap rock comprising the intrusion at this location is fine grained and unlike the dense, coarse diabase common to Cushetunk Mountain.<ref name="USGS 1890"/> It is thought that this is because the intrusion erupted to the surface as it overran the Paleozoic limestone.<ref name="USGS 1890"/>

While most of the mountain ridges in New Jersey run generally north to south, Cushetunk Mountain primarily has an east-west ridge orientation because of the elongated north and south prongs of its horseshoe-like ridge. This produces significantly different microclimates between the north facing and south facing slopes of the mountain.<ref name="Cantlon">Cantlon, J. E. 1953. Vegetation and microclimates on north and south slopes of Cushetunk Mountain, New Jersey. ''Ecological Monographs'' 23: 241-270.</ref> On south facing slopes, the air temperature near the ground is consistently higher than on the north facing slopes, which do not receive as much sunlight.<ref name="Collins">{{cite book|author1=Beryl Robichaud|author2=Karl Anderson|title=Plant Communities of New Jersey: A Study in Landscape Diversity|url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=yHnmIaudsWkC&pg=PA96|accessdate=10 January 2013|date=1 July 1994|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-2071-1|page=96}}</ref> In terms of ecology this creates a noticeable impact on Cushetunk Mountain’sMountain's vegetation.

Because the north slope of the mountain is cooler and shaded, moisture is more easily retained. This results in larger trees, as well as the growth of trees not seen on southern facing slopes. These trees include [[Betula lenta|black birch]], [[Liriodendron tulipifera|tulip tree]], [[Fraxinus americana|white ash]], [[basswood]], [[hickory]], [[beech]], and [[sugar maple]].<ref name="Hunterdon County"/><ref name="Collins"/> Shrubs are abundant in the understory of the northern slopes, as well as herbs typical of more northern forests, including wild ginger, wild sarsaparilla, black snakeroot, and columbine.<ref name="Collins"/>

On the warmer, dryer southern slopes [[chestnut oak]] and [[Quercus rubra|red oak]] prevail, although the trees are also common to the northern slopes.<ref name="Collins"/> In the understory, [[dogwood]] is dominant, and the diversity and number of shrubs is reduced. Grasses and sedges are the most prevalent ground cover.<ref name="Collins"/>

*[[Deer Path Park]], located on and adjacent to Round Mountain and including the [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20021110094744/http://co.hunterdon.nj.us/depts/parks/guides/RoundMountain.htm#trails Peter Buell Trail].

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20021110110424/http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/depts/parks/guides/Cushetunkmountain.htm#trails Cushetunk Mountain Nature Preserve]

[[Category:GeographyLandforms of Hunterdon County, New Jersey]]

[[Category:VolcanismIgneous petrology of New Jersey]]

[[Category:Triassic volcanismmagmatism]]

[[Category:Jurassic volcanismmagmatism]]

[[Category:IntrusionsIgneous intrusions]]