Red Clay Creek

Hurricane Sandy Q&A - Experts at UD aid state, National Weather Service during storm

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4:37 p.m., Oct. 31, 2012--The Office of the State Climatologist and the Delaware Geological Survey (DGS), both based at the University of Delaware, provided the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) and the National Weather Service with weather, coastal flooding and stream flooding information for Delaware during Hurricane Sandy.

A.I.duPont Students see geology of the Delaware Piedmont

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William "Sandy" Schenck lead a field trip through the Delaware Piedmont for the A.I. duPont High School Earth Science Class. The trip made use of the Wilmington-Western Railroad and everyone rode the railroad's "Doodle Bug." Activities included up close examinations of rock and mineral features and even "Panning for Garnets" at Brandywine Springs Park.

Outcrop Cc12-c: The Red Clay Creek Edge

Along the edge of the Red Clay Creek exists a large outcrop that extends out into the stream. This rock is part of the Wissahickon Formation, with pelitic facies, ½" elongated sillimanite nodules, and disharmonic folds. The compositional layering of this rock is 1/8 – ½" of biotite rich layers alternated with fine-grained psammitic layers (not quartz-feldspar layers). Some of these layers are sheared (shear zones). The sillimanite nodules, pegmatite pods, and shear zones in this rock are all parallel to fold axes. The axial plane of these folds is 20 degrees east of north, plunges 42 degrees northeast, and dips 90 degrees. Within this large outcrop are several 2-3' layers of “rock that rings” (when hit) and are folded with petitic gneiss. This pelitic gneiss shows more intense folding while the rest of the rock is gently folded. The “rock that rings” is also peppered with small lavender garnets.

SP20 Delaware Piedmont Geology

The Red Clay Creek Valley traverses geologic features that have long been recognized as important to science, industry, and history. The reader will note that within the text "Piedmont", and "Atlantic Coastal Plain" are capitalized. This is because these are formal geologic provinces. The "Fall Line" or "fall zone" is also an important geologic area. The Fall Line is the contact where the hard crystalline rocks of the Piedmont dip under and disappear beneath the sediments of the Coastal Plain.

Schenck rocks out on railroad geological tours

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William S. Schenck, a scientist with the Delaware Geological Survey, has been taking students from A.I. duPont High School on Wilmington & Western Railroad tours, observing rock outcrop locations along the way.