Plummer's Ledge Natural Area

Coordinates: 43°50′06″N 71°53′03″W / 43.83500°N 71.88417°W / 43.83500; -71.88417

Small glacial pothole at Plummer's Ledge

Map of Plummer's Ledge

Plummer's Ledge Natural Area in Wentworth, New Hampshire is a 3.5-acre (1.4 ha) plot of land protected by the State of New Hampshire to preserve unique geologic features called glacial potholes.

Geologists usually account for the isolated potholes, now high and dry, by the plunging of melt water through vertical cracks or crevasses in the glacial ice. These cracks, called moulins, caused water, boulders, cobbles, and gravel to churn with intense cutting power, drilling into the slope of a granite ledge. The three giant potholes at Plummer's Ledge are not only very large and very deep, to 15 feet (4.6 m) across and 20 feet (6.1 m) enclosed depth, but they were cut straight down into a ledge on its 45-degree side slope. The depth is an interesting puzzle. "It is hard to see how either moving or stagnant ice could hold in position a plunging torrent long enough to drill a cylindrical hole ten or more feet deep in rock."^[1]

The area was deeded to the State of New Hampshire on May 7, 1938 by George F. Plummer and is administered by the Department of Resources and Economic Development under the Division of Forests and Lands.

There is no sign marking this area. The giant potholes are at the foot of a short cliff approximately 75 feet (23 m) east of Buffalo Road, opposite a lumberyard 2.8 miles (4.5 km) from East Side Road in Wentworth village, 1.7 miles (2.7 km) from Sand Hill Road in Rumney. Access is easiest from a grassy area at the side of the road southeast of the potholes. There are traces of an old trail from the northwest corner of this area, uphill and then turning left towards the potholes, but the trail is obscured by many fallen trees; the area is evidently not maintained by the state. Only one of the potholes has been excavated, and since it is filled with water a visitor cannot see its depth.^[2]

Notes

↑ James M. Goldthwait, et al., The Geology of New Hampshire Part I—Surficial Geology (New Hampshire State Planning and Development Commission, Concord, 1951), p.34.
↑ Visit to the site, August 27, 2013.

References

The Geology of New Hampshire Part I—Surficial Geology. New Hampshire State Planning and Development Commission, Concord, 1958.

Protected areas of New Hampshire

Federal

National Historic Site	Saint-Gaudens

National Forests	White Mountain

National Trails	Appalachian Trail

National Wildlife Refuges	Great Bay John Hay Silvio O. Conte Umbagog Wapack

Other Protected Areas	Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve

State

State Parks	Ahern Androscoggin Annett Bear Brook Bear's Den Beaver Brook Falls Bedell Bridge Binney Pond Bradford Pines Cardigan Cathedral Ledge Chesterfield Gorge Clough Coleman Crawford Notch Crosby Mountain Curtiss Dogwood Daniel Webster Birthplace Deer Mountain Campground Dixville Notch Dublin Lake Echo Lake Eisenhower Memorial Ellacoya Endicott Rock Forest Lake Fort Constitution Fort Stark Franconia Notch Franklin Pierce Homestead Gardner Memorial Wayside Governor Wentworth Historical Site Greenfield Hampton Beach Hannah Duston Heath Pond Bog Humphrey's Ledge Jenness Jeremy Hill Jericho Mountain Kingston Lake Francis Lake Tarleton Madison Boulder Mascot Mine Milan Hill Miller Mollidgewock Monadnock Moose Brook Mt. Sunapee Mt. Washington Nansen Wayside North Hampton Northwood Meadows Odiorne Point Otter Brook Pawtuckaway Pillsbury Pisgah Plummer's Ledge Rhododendron Robert Frost Rollins Rye Harbor Sculptured Rocks Silver Lake Smith's Ferry Taylor Mill Umbagog Lake Wadleigh Wallis Sands Wantastiquet Mountain Weeks Wellington Wentworth Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion White Island White Lake Winslow

State Forests	Abbott Agnew Allen Alton Bay Ames Ammonoosuc Annett Annie Duncan Ashenden Ayers Ballard Bear Mountain Belknap Mountain Benton Big Island Black Mountain Blair Blue Job Mountain Bowditch-Runnels Cape Horn Cardigan Mountain Carroll Casalis Chemung Cilley Connecticut Lakes Connecticut River Contoocook Conway Common Lands Cowden Craney Hill Cushman Davisville Davis-White Devils Slide District #5 Dodge Brook Eaton Fall Mountain Fay Feuer Foster & Colburn Fox Gay George Duncan Gile Gilmore Goodwin-Chandler Grant Green Mountain Hamel Harriman-Chandler Haven Hemenway Hodgman Honey Brook Hubbard Hill Huston-Morgan Hyland Hill Kearsarge Mountain Lang Station Lead Mine Leighton Litchfield Little Pine River Livermore Falls Lord Pines Lovewell Mountain Low Marshall Mascoma Mast Yard Max Israel Meadow Pond Merrimack River Merriman Mt. Major Nash Stream Nottingham Nursery Opechee Bay Page Page's Corner Paugus Bay Percy Pine River Piscataquog Powwow River Prescott Province Road Ragged Mountain Reed's Ferry Rock Rimmon Russell Russell-Abbott Russell-Shea Saltmarsh Pond Sanborn Scribner-Fellows Second Presidential Sentinel Mountain Shadow Hill Shaker Shieling Sky Pond Soucook River Southeast Stevens Pines Strawberry Hill Sugar Hill Swain Taylor Totten Trails Upton Morgan Urban Forestry Center Vienna Smith Vincent Wade Walker Welton Falls West Iron Works Road White Farm William Thomas Woodman

Other

Other	Lost River Reservation Proctor Wildlife Sanctuary Sheldrick Forest Preserve

New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development (web)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, August 27, 2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.