Talk:Metacomet Ridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	Metacomet Ridge is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do.
January 26, 2008 Featured article candidate Promoted

This article is within the scope of the following WikiProjects:

WikiProject Mountains (Rated FA-Class) This article is part of WikiProject Mountains, a project to systematically present information on mountains. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit the article attached to this page (see Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ for more information) FA This article has been rated as FA-Class on the Project's quality scale. [FAQ] ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale for WikiProject Mountains. If you have rated this article please consider adding assessment comments. Help with this template WikiProject Volcanoes (Rated FA-Class) Portal This article is part of WikiProject Volcanoes, a project to systematically present information on volcanoes, volcanology, igneous petrology, and related subjects. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit the article attached to this page (see Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ for more information), or join by visiting the project page. FA This article has been rated as FA-Class on the quality scale. Mid This article has been rated as mid-importance to WikiProject Volcanoes on the project's importance scale. If you have rated this article please consider adding assessment comments. Help with this template WikiProject Massachusetts (Rated FA-Class) Massachusetts Portal Metacomet Ridge is part of WikiProject Massachusetts, an effort to create, expand, and improve Massachusetts-related articles to a feature-quality standard. For more information on this project or to get involved see the WikiProject Massachusetts project page. FA rated as FA-Class on the assessment scale WikiProject Connecticut (Rated FA-Class) This article is part of WikiProject Connecticut, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Connecticut, United States on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the project page to join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. FA This article has been rated as FA-Class on the assessment scale.

[edit] Thanks to those that brought this article up to featured status

I would like to thank all the editors who worked to bring this article to FA status. In particular, I would like to thank User:Noroton who nominated the article and contributed significantly to copyediting, and User:Ken Gallager, who stepped out of his traditional sphere of influence (New Hampshire articles) to thoroughly copyedit Metacomet Ridge. Thanks!!!--Pgagnon999 (talk) 00:54, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Assorted questions

Is Avon Mountain part of the ridge? (I missed it if it was mentioned). Are we certain that East Rock is part of the ridge? Is there anything worth saying about the weather on the ridge? (or did I miss it - I am thinking about Skinner Mountain, but I guess that was once off). Is the cactus somehow typical? Prickly pear is fairly widespread - and where I've seen it I would have supposed it was associated with Indian trading. Finally, the geologic process that formed the ridge was paralleled by a process forming the Watchung Range in New Jersey - I think the characteristic tilts are a bit different. Worth mentioning? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jd2718 (talk • contribs) 03:53, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments and feedback. Answers:

• Isn't Avon Mountain part of Talcott Mountain, a sub-peak or sub-designation of that ridge? I deliberately avoided including sub-peaks in the list so that it wouldn't become too long. Note that I listed the Mount Tom Range, Holyoke Range, and Hanging Hills instead of listing the individual peaks within those ranges.
• East Rock is certainly part of the range. Several sources in the article indicate its geologic and visual relationship.
• Weather along the ridge isn't significantly distinct from the surrounding landscape, as the ridge is fairly low. It may be a bit windier at the top, but that's about it--hardly noteworthy. However, the aritcle does mention and describe microclimates, which, in a tangental way, have to do with weather, and represent a distinct difference between the ridge and surrounding area.
• Prickly pear in New England seems to have always been scarce. The northernmost limit of its range is Cape Cod, where it is rare, as it is in Connecticut. I would suspect that there wasn't much to trade, although it's difficult to say if the prickly pear was or was not more prolific before the arrival of the Europeans, or to what degree. if you can find information about it specific to New England, I'd love to hear about it.
• The old continental rift that created the Metacomet Ridge also created a number of other landscape features/ rock strata from North Carolina to Nova Scotia. The Watchung Range is one of them, as are the Pallisades. However, the Metacomet Ridge forms a fairly contiguous and distinct feature from north central Massachusetts to southern Connecticut. The Watchung Range and the Pallisades are now separated from the Metacomet Ridge by a significant geologic and visual discontinuity--for comparison, consider the relationship between the Ozarks and the Appalachians. That said, it would certainly be possible to mention that the continental rifting that created the Metacomet Ridge geology also created similar geologic strata in other parts of North America, however, it might be beyond the scope of this article to single out the Watchung Range--i.e., if you did that, you'd also have to mention all the other related ranges/ strata from North Carolina to the Saint Lawrence gulf. The "See also" section of the article lists another article that describes "traprock ridges in other parts of the world"; the Pallisades are mentioned there; you might want to add an link to the Watchungs in that article.
• Finally--and I probably don't need to tell you this--keep in mind that the article has just been promoted to FA status. If you add anything to it or take anything away, please be careful to maintain that level of quality.

--Pgagnon999 (talk) 15:33, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, Avon Mountain is part of Talcott Mountain, see [1].

--Pgagnon999 (talk) 15:54, 27 January 2008 (UTC)