Taughannock Creek Joint Patterns
January 06, 2004
Provided and copyright by: Roger Hopkins, Ruth's Waterfalls
Summary authors & editors: Roger Hopkins
Taughannock Creek, in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, is a good place to see examples of "joint sets" in the sedimentary rocks. These regular rectangular fracture patterns are not man-made even though they look like they are! They were caused by geological stresses acting on the rock. Geologists believe that separate episodes caused the cracks in each of the two directions. Similar patterns can be viewed throughout the Ithaca area. This photo is just below the 215 foot (66 meter) high Taughannock Falls in Tompkins County, New York.
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