J. Bret Bennington, professor of geology and chairperson in the Department of Geology, Environment and Sustainability at Hofstra University gave a Google Earth presentation titled “The Surprising Geological Origins of Paumanok” to a small audience in the Helene Fortunoff Theater at Monroe Lecture Center on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
Paumanok is the Native American word for Long Island, meaning “the island that pays tribute.” Bennington joked that this shows how long there have been high taxes on Long Island.
“We’re going to talk about Long Island, how we got here, where we come from,” Bennington said after introducing himself. Bennington said, adding that “in order to find the origins of Long Island, you have to start with Switzerland.”
Through Google Earth, Bennington took the audience to the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps. He pointed out a bowl-shaped valley that is carved into the mountainside, which was formed by a glacier. “Glaciers have the incredible ability to erode,” Bennington said.
Bennington continued his Google Earth journey through the Adirondacks, highlighting the glacially-modified peaks before moving to Bear Mountain in the Hudson Highlands. As Bennington was showing the audience a picture of the bedrock, demonstrating the scratches and gouges caused by glaciers, the lights flickered for a moment and the projector had lost its signal.
Bennington then brought the audience to the cliffs of Caumsett State Park on Long Island to show glacial till, which he explained is a result of the “ice [wasting] away.” along the cliffs of Caumsett State Park. “Long Island is made up of glacial till and glacial outwash,” he said. Bennington also showed boulders called “erratics” that are “typical of glacial regions.” As an example of the erratics on Long Island, Bennington mentioned the Shelter Rock boulder, which is located on the property of the Greentree Foundation.
Bennington later showed the audience a video about the formation of Long Island Sound. The video started by showing the Sound as a shallow basin 30,000 years ago. Bennington explained that around 21,000 years ago, “ice [came] down from the north,” leaving behind a “glacial moraine.” By 12,000 years ago, “Long Island [was] becoming an island.” Long Island has three glacial moraines: the Ronkonkoma Moraine, the Harbor Hill Moraine and the Roanoke Point Moraine.
“One thing I’ve always found is people on Long Island are interested in Long Island,” Bennington said. Before the presentation, Bennington asked himself, “What’s the most effective way to teach people about the geography of Long Island?” He said he chose to use Google Earth because he wanted to “have a very dynamic presentation” that could be easily understood by his audience.
Bennington’s presentation was part of the “Science Night Live” public lecture series, which he has been a featured speaker in before. “I’ve always been involved in helping run it,” Bennington said. He talked about the origins of the “Science Night Live” lecture series when he conducted talks through the Institute for the Development of Education in the Advanced Sciences, known as IDEAS. Bennington said, “we resurrected it as ‘Science Night Live’” after a quick hiatus. “We used to get 150 people … we’re trying to rebuild the audience.”
Nicholas DeSimone, a first-year engineering student, agrees with what Bennington said about Long Islanders being interested in Long Island. “Being from Long Island, I’ve always been very interested in the geography,” DeSimone said. As a lifeguard, he said he had noticed the geological features shown in the presentation, and that they were “something that was interesting” for him to see.
“I’ve met with Dr. Bennington a couple times,” said junior sustainability major Tom Parisi. “It seems like a very interesting lecture.” Parisi was not required to view the presentation for his major, instead he chose to come out of personal interest.
[email protected] • May 10, 2020 at 12:51 am
Excellent writing. Excellent coverage of the event!