[Chat] Chat news needed

Tue Aug 26 15:49:57 EDT 2003

I use a computer program at work called TopoUSA from
DeLorme (www.delorme.com) that includes 6 CD-ROM disks
covering the whole U.S. It has streets, highways,
railroads, bike paths, hills, valleys, rivers, ponds
and all sorts of good stuff for printing your own
hiking maps, if you choose. It sells for between $70
and $100, depending on whether there's a sale on. 

It's a lot cheaper to get topo maps from the MGS, if
you don't need maps of the whole country. I think
you'll want both the east and west quadrangles and
they sell for $6 each.

I also used the program (in off hours of course) to
help select the location for our home purchase -- I
thought 190+ ft above sea level was pretty safe for
the 100 year flood plain, but it's not for the 500
year. So we can expect to get flooded at least once in
every 500 year period. ;) The highest point in CV is
around 29th and Vineyard at 225 ft, unless you count
275 ft above sea level near the lacross statue on the
Hopkins Campus. Also, folks on Ilchester might like to
know that they are more or less the same height above
sea level as Abell.

Near as I can tell, the highest point in Baltimore
City is near the intersection of Park Heights Ave and
Slade Ave in the northwest corner (1888 boundary
line)at 473 ft above sea level. There's also a high
point in the Cylburn Park at 434 ft. 

One of the interesting things that Dr. Reger told me
about was the transition from the Piedmont mountains
(if I remember correctly), north and western part of
Baltimore City, to the coastal plain, toward the south
and eastern parts. He said that some of the oldest
Appalachian Mountains are actually buried beneath
Baltimore. The ones that we call the Appalachians
today are the "new" Appalachians. Also there are some
weird dome things (Phoenix, Texas, Towson, and
another) beneath the Baltimore region that are among
the oldest rocks on the east coast but their origin is
a mystery. At one point, scientists tried to drill all
the way to the bottom of one of them and couldn't find
the bottom.

Fortunately, all of the faults in our area are called
"sealed" or "welded" faults, since later geologic
activity filled them up or cut them off from the
molten material below. Another neat thing that Dr.
Reger told me about was that the gabbro rock which
underlies a whole lot of Baltimore weathers into
"sapprolite", which basically means "rotten rock," and
it's the reddish clay stuff that can be found
everywhere.

:)

Crystal

--- Christine Gray <Langwidge at erols.com> wrote:
> Crystal,
> 
> Thank you for your message about the geological
> society.
> 
> Please let me know if you find or hear of a
> topographical map of Baltimore
> City .
> 
> Do you happen to know what the highest point in the
> City is?
> 
> Christine
> 
>  -----Original Message-----
> From: 	Chat-bounces at charlesvillage.info
> [mailto:Chat-bounces at charlesvillage.info]  On Behalf
> Of Crystal
> Sent:	Tuesday, August 26, 2003 1:28 PM
> To:	dawnacobb at mindspring.com; The Charles Village
> Chat List
> Subject:	Re: [Chat] Chat news needed
> 
> Charles Village Treasure Unearthed!
> 
> A few days ago I was doing some internet searching
> for
> a project with the aim of finding maps of Baltimore
> City that would give me an idea of the composition
> of
> the soil and rock beneath the city rather than the
> normal topographic and street maps of which I
> already
> have several different versions. Lo and behold the
> website popped up for the Maryland Geological Survey
> which is mere blocks from my house, since it is at
> 2300 St. Paul Street. I have passed by this building
> many, many times and had figured that it was only
> offices so I was very surprised to find out that it
> is
> also a public library! Typically, the library is
> open
> from 8:30 to 4 pm Monday through Friday, but I got
> in
> touch with Dr. Jim Reger who offered to give me a
> personal tour beginning at 7 am so that I could
> catch
> my train to work afterward.
> 
> Dr. Reger was a fountain of information about rock
> formations and characteristics! He helped me to
> identify 4 maps that I was able to purchase from the
> library store and also showed me maps that depicted
> the growth of the city from very early times.
> 
> Some of these maps can also be found in the Maryland
> Room in the Enoch Pratt library, but they don't have
> nearly the variety, nor the expertise of the
> Maryland
> Geological Survey library.
> 
> Visit their website at http://www.mgs.md.gov to get
> info on the Crystal Grottoes and a walking tour of
> Baltimore City Building Stones
>
http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/features/walking/index.html.
> 
> 
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