February 2021 Newsletter
Stimulation - Knowledge - Interaction - Fun
February Food for Thought

Richard Kane, Documentary Film Producer

Friday, February 26th, 12 Noon

Virtual presentation via Zoom

Richard Kane, Maine documentary filmmaker, will discuss several films he has produced over the last 20 years. Richard Kane is a New England Emmy-nominated film director now producing the film Truth Tellers, a portrait of the artist Robert Shetterly and his project Americans Who Tell the Truth.

This event is free and open to the public.

Upcoming Coffee Clash
Marc Gousse, Superintendent of Schools, AOS 91

Friday, February 19th, 9:00 a.m.

Marc Gousse will facilitate a discussion on online versus in-person instruction for the MDI schools, including the challenges, advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.

Save the Date - details and registration information for this event will be posted on the ASC website and announced as soon as they are available.
Spring Registration Reminder
Don't Forget!

Online Registration Opens
February 3rd at 10:00 a.m.
To register online, login to your Acadia Senior College account and choose Courses and Course Offerings from the menu, or click here. To enroll in a class, click the Enroll link below each course description.

Please note that the Enroll link will not display until registration opens at
10:00 a.m. If you do not see the link at 10:00, please refresh your browser.
Special Offer for New ASC Members
Have a friend or new neighbor who would like to join us?
For a limited time, Acadia Senior College members can join for a reduced membership fee of $25/year, and get one free class (a $70 savings).

Plus new members who sign up before February 3rd can pre-register for a spring class.

Call 207-288-9500 or email learn@acadiaseiorcollege.org to sign up!
The Geology Corner
Note: this is the first in a series of articles on the Geology of Mount Desert Island. Thank you Duane and Ruth!
By Duane and Ruth Braun

In this article we will explain and explore geologic features on Mount Desert Island and other nearby locations. Following newsletter articles will be devoted to a geologic feature – how it relates to Maine’s geologic history, what to look for, and how it can be interpreted.

Let’s start with a short synopsis of Maine geologic history.

Maine did not exist 500 million years ago (mya). At that time, the edge of the North American continent (called Laurentia) was basically the Canadian border. Over the next 100 million years four terranes (an island arc, Gander, Avalon, and Maguma) were plastered on to this edge and formed Maine.

To begin the story, we must go back a billion years ago when all the continents were concentrated around the South Pole as supercontinent Rodinia.

By 500 mya the supercontinent had split up and Laurentia had moved northward toward the equator. About 480 mya an island arc collided with the edge of Laurentia forming the western part of Maine. Thirty million years later (450 mya) a slice of continental material called the Gander terrane collided with the Laurentian edge and most of Maine was formed.

The Gander terrane was originally part of the large southern continent of Gowanda. Gander broke away from what is now South America (Venezuela) and moved north across an ancient sea to collide with Laurentia. The collision zone (active volcanism) was in northern Maine. MDI and the rest of today’s coast of Maine were on the trailing edge and experienced little activity.

In another 30 million years (420mya) another slice – the Avalon terrane – collided with Laurentia.  The coast of Maine and MDI were now in the collision zone. The collision produced enough energy to form a series of volcanoes along the present coast of Maine. MDI was the largest one. These were active for several million years.
About 360 mya another slice called Meguma (basically Nova Scotia) collided with the Avalon coast and produced energy to form the younger granites found in Maine like the Lucerne granite forming the Lucerne hills.

The final collision occurred about 260 mya when North Africa collided with Laurentia to form the super continent of Pangae which would uplift and tilt MDI as part of the Appalachian Mountains. MDI was on the northwestern flank of this mountain chain. Stream erosion started cutting valleys in this mountain range. At about 240 mya, Pangae began to break up and the Atlantic Ocean started to form.

For the next 200 million years stream erosion wore down the volcanoes and mountains formed from the collisions. To the present about 2 miles of rock have been removed from the area around MDI.

Starting at about 2 ½ million years ago continental glaciers formed and advanced southward. Continental glaciers rode over MDI at least five times. Each time the glacier took advantage of stream valleys and eroded them into progressively deep troughs. The landscape you see today is a result of millions of years of stream erosion and a final sculpturing by glaciers.

In following newsletters we will explore the origins of the rock units on MDI, how many of the natural features were formed, and how geologists have been able to interpret them.
January Donations in Honor
In memory of Rob Fry
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