By Bill Korbel
I saw a terrific documentary on the History Channel recently that is a must see for any Long Islander with the slightest bit of curiosity about how the place we live in came to be. It's part of the "How The Earth Was Made" series. Specifically the one on New York.
Long Island was formed some 16,000 years ago when the last glacier receded northward. The hills that run the length of the island along the north shore are made of rocks and boulders plowed up by the mile thick glacier. Think of that! Ice 5,000 feet thick! When the ice melted, it left a huge lake that covered much of upstate NY. The water from that broke through an ice dam and rushed southward opening what is now New York harbor to the sea and putting the finishing touches on the local area's geography. If you want to make long range plans, the best science today expects the ice sheets to return to Long Island within 40,000 years.
Long Island is very young compared to NYC. About 400 million years ago, what is now the east coast of the US was connected to North Africa and 20,000' mountains covered the area. As the continents drifted apart, volcanoes covered much of the eastern US with lava. Then came the glaciers that ground down the big mountains into the little ones we have now.
By the way, do you know why the tallest buildings in Manhattan are clustered in midtown and lower Manhattan? I didn't, until I watched this episode. It's because only in those two areas is the bedrock that makes up Manhattan's's base close enough to the surface to give sky scrapers the solid footing they need.
It's really a beautifully produced program and I highly recommend it.
It will probably be repeated on cable, but it is also available on line at this site:
http://www.history.com/video.do?name=How_the_Earth_Was_Made&bcpid=9786056001
Click on the Full Episode box and look for it in the list.
Bill