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Rutan Hill

Extinct volcanoes of the United StatesGeology of New JerseyHills of New JerseyLandforms of Sussex County, New JerseyPapakating Creek watershed
Volcanism of New JerseyVolcanoes of the United States
Rutan Hill
Rutan Hill

Rutan Hill (also called Volcanic Hill) is the local name for a hill on the United States Geological Survey Branchville 7.5-minute map. It is located about 2.46 miles (3.96 km) south-southwest of Colesville, New Jersey in Wantage Township, of Sussex County, New Jersey in the United States. Rutan Hill rises about 270 feet (82 m) above the adjacent creek valley to an elevation of just over 1,020 feet (310 m). This hill lies entirely within private, posted property. This nondescript hill is the surface expression of a diatreme that is the northern part of the Late Ordovician Beemerville Alkaline Complex.The surface exposures of the Beemerville Alkaline Complex consist of two large nepheline syenite plutons; a nearby diatreme (Rutan Hill); and several other nearby and much smaller dikes, sills, and diatremes. The two large nepheline syenite plutons are located south-southwest of Rutan Hill along the contact between the Martinsburg and Shawangunk formations and on the southeast side of Kittatinny Mountains. The dikes or sills consist either of phonolite, tinguaite, lamprophyre micromalignite, lamprophyre micromelteigite, or carbonatite. The Beemerville Alkaline Complex also includes several lamprophyric diatremes that contain xenoliths of sedimentary rocks and gneiss and autoliths of carbonatite, potassic syenite, and lamprophyre micromelteigite.Rutan Hill is the surface expression of the largest of the lamprophyric diatremes within the Beemerville Alkaline Complex. This diatreme contains a small plug-like body of nepheline syenite that is about 30 meters (98 ft) in diameter and is choked with variety of angular to subangular xenoliths and autoliths. The xenoliths consist of shale and graywacke, fine-grained pale-blue dolomite, cream-colored fine-grained limestone, and gneiss. The autoliths consist of nepheline syenite, micromelteigite, and carbonatite. The matrix consists of an extremely fine-grained groundmass with fine-to coarse-grained megacrysts of biotite, diopside, aegerine-augite, orthoclase, magnetite, apatite, and nepheline.Rutan Hill and the associated Beemerville Alkaline Complex are the surface exposures of a much larger alkaline igneous intrusion that underlies the area of Beemerville, New Jersey. This igneous intrusion is part of the larger Cortlandt-Beemerville magmatic belt. They occur at the western end of the Cortlandt-Beemerville magmatic belt, which spans parts of northern New Jersey and southeastern New York. The Cortlandt complex, New York, defines the eastern end of this belt. Between the Beemerville alkaline complex and the Cortlandt igneous complex, this magmatic belt consists of a linear, almost east–west trending, zone of lamprophyre and felsic dikes.The currently accepted age for the emplacement Beemerville Alkaline Complex is 420 ± 6 Ma. This age is derived by the fission track dating of titanite. Mean apatite fission-track age of 156 ± 4 Ma is interpreted to represent the time the rocks of the complex were last at temperatures of 60 °C to 100 °C. Previously, Rb-Sr and K–Ar dating of biotite from the nepheline syenite at Beemerville yielded ages of about 435 ± 20 Ma (444 Ma. using current decay constants) for the Beemerville Alkaline Complex. All of these dates are consistent with the observations that the dikes of the Beemerville Alkaline Complex crosscut folded and foliated strata of the Martinsburg Formation as young as early Late Ordovician but are not known to intrude younger rocks.Based upon emplacement models for diatremes it can be inferred that the diatreme that forms Rutan Hill is the throat of an ancient, extinct volcano. However, erosion following its eruption has either completely destroyed the volcanic cone and any superficial volcanic deposits associated with it or any remaining volcanic deposits lie deeply buried as none have been mapped at the surface within the Beemerville area.This igneous complex was emplaced and the volcanic activity, which was presumably associated with it, occurred during the end of the Taconic Orogeny in the late Ordovician period. The temporal association with this Ordovician tectonism suggests that this magmatic activity may be related to fracturing of mantle rock at the junction of two Taconic age tectonic salients that intersect in the New York region. The tectonic setting of the intrusive belt is unusual because it is associated in space and time within the zone of compressional mountain building that defined the Taconic Orogeny. At that time, the western half of the Iapetus Ocean lying along the east coast of Laurentia was closing, being subducted beneath the Taconic (or Bronson Hill) Island Arc.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Rutan Hill (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Rutan Hill
Volcanic Hill, Wantage

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N 41.245513 ° E -74.676084 °
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Volcanic Hill 41
07461 Wantage
New Jersey, United States
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Rutan Hill
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High Point State Park
High Point State Park

High Point State Park is a state park straddling the border of Wantage Township and Montague Township in Sussex County, within the Skylands Region of northwestern New Jersey, United States, near the border with New York State and Pennsylvania. The park covers 15,413 acres (62.37 km2). Part of the Kittatinny Mountains, the highest point in the state of New Jersey, the aptly named High Point, sits in the northern reaches of the park, at elevation 1,803 feet (550 m). Route 23 skirts the park and provides access for visitors from the New Jersey suburbs and from points in New York. The park is administered by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry. Entrance fees are only charged from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day: $5.00 on weekdays and $10.00 on weekends.High Point Monument, built at the summit, offers views of farmland and forest, hills and valleys in three states, out to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, where the Delaware River separates the ridges of New Jersey from those of Pennsylvania. High Point offers trails for hiking and cross-country skiing and areas for camping and fishing. The land for High Point State Park, donated by Colonel Anthony R. and Susie Dryden Kuser, was dedicated as a park in 1923. The pleasant landscaping was designed by the Olmsted Brothers of Boston, a prominent landscape architectural firm of that time. The brothers were the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park.To the south, the Appalachian Trail follows a rocky ridge which has views of the valleys and mountains surrounding the area. To the north, the trail drops off the ridge through hemlock gorges into former agricultural fields with a view of the surrounding countryside and the High Point Monument in the distance.

Montague Township, New Jersey
Montague Township, New Jersey

Montague Township is a township in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 3,792, a decrease of 55 (−1.4%) from the 2010 census count of 3,847, which in turn reflected an increase of 435 (+12.7%) from the 3,412 counted in the 2000 census. High Point, within Montague Township, is the highest elevation within New Jersey at an altitude of 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. Montague is also the northernmost municipality in the state of New Jersey. Most of the area of Montague Township is public lands, primarily High Point State Park, Stokes State Forest, and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Montague is known for its scenery and wildlife; summer sports in the area include hiking, biking, camping (both public and private campgrounds are available), and fishing. The derivation of the township's name is uncertain, though suggestions include that it was named after the George Montagu, 4th Duke of Manchester, as suggested by King George II, who approved the royal patent on March 26, 1759; for Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, an author who was popular at the time; or for solicitor John Montague. Montague was incorporated on February 21, 1798, by an act of the New Jersey Legislature as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships.The township borders both New York and Pennsylvania, the only municipality in New Jersey to border both states; it is a rural community that does not have any traffic lights. Before Montague Township was granted its own post office in the 1980s, residents had all of their mail delivered through the 12771 ZIP code for Port Jervis, New York, leading to situations where residents had New Jersey driver's licenses with a New York State mailing address.