Long Island Glacial Erratic

August 29, 2007

Wave_on_rock_hulse_landing_bch

Provided by: Stephanie Burns
Summary author: Stephanie Burns

During the summer, this large pegmatite boulder at Hulse Landing Beach in Wading River, New York, is covered with screaming children leaping into Long Island Sound. However, as photographed on this very cool and windy Sunday in May, the waves were crashing into the north side of the boulder quite forcefully. The southern coastline of Connecticut is visible along the horizon. This boulder is at least 15 feet tall (~5 m), and is a glacial erratic that was most likely plucked from the bedrock beneath Long Island Sound and later deposited along the Roanoke Point Moraine during the retreat of the Wisconsinan glaciers some 20,000 years ago. Years of wind and wave action have eroded the bluffs along this beachfront, to the south of the boulder, some 50 yards (~ 46 m).

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