The geology of New Hampshire is similar to that of the rest of New England in comprising a series of metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Late Proterozoic to Devonian age, intruded by many plutons and dikes ranging in age from Late Proterozoic to early Cretaceous. New Hampshire is known as "the Granite State", but less than half is underlain by granite; much of it is schist or gneiss, both of which are metamorphic rocks. [1]
The state straddles three composite tectonostratigraphic terranes. The larger part of the state lies on the Central Maine composite terrane, comprising the Central Maine trough in the east and the Bronson Hill mantled gneiss domes in the west. A small area of the first composite terrane belongs to the Hurricane Mountain belt and olistostrome belt. The northernmost corner of the state lies in the Connecticut Valley trough of the Boundary Mountains composite terrane. In the coastal region in the southeast is the Merrimack–Orrington Belt of the Nashoba–Casco–Miramichi composite terrane. [2]
The state is bounded by Quebec, Canada, to the north and northwest; Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east; Massachusetts to the south; and Vermont to the west. New Hampshire's major regions are the Great North Woods, the White Mountains, the Lakes Region, the Seacoast, the Merrimack Valley, the Monadnock Region, and the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee area. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U.S. coastal state, with a length of 18 miles (29 km), [3] sometimes measured as only 13 miles (21 km). [4] New Hampshire was home to the rock formation called the Old Man of the Mountain, a face-like profile in Franconia Notch, until the formation disintegrated in May 2003.
The White Mountains in New Hampshire span the north-central portion of the state, with the summit of Mount Washington the highest point in the northeastern United States.
In the southwest corner of New Hampshire, the landmark Mount Monadnock has given its name to a class of earth-forms – a monadnock – signifying, in geomorphology, any isolated resistant peak rising from a less resistant eroded plain.
Major rivers include the 110-mile (177 km) Merrimack River, which bisects the lower half of the state north-south and reaches the Atlantic Ocean in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Its New Hampshire tributaries include the Contoocook River, Pemigewasset River, and Winnipesaukee River. The 410-mile (660 km) Connecticut River, which starts at New Hampshire's Connecticut Lakes and flows south to Connecticut, defines the western border with Vermont. The state border is not in the center of that river, as is usually the case, but at the low-water mark on the Vermont side; meaning that the entire river along the Vermont border (save for areas where the water level has been raised by a dam) lies within New Hampshire. [5] Only one town – Pittsburg – shares a land border with the state of Vermont. The "northwesternmost headwaters" of the Connecticut, now known as Halls Stream, define Canada's border with New Hampshire.
The Piscataqua River forms the state's only significant ocean port where it flows into the Atlantic at Portsmouth. The Salmon Falls River and the Piscataqua define the southern portion of the border with Maine. The largest of New Hampshire's lakes is Lake Winnipesaukee, which covers 71 square miles (184 km2) in the east-central part of New Hampshire. Umbagog Lake along the Maine border, approximately 12.3 square miles (31.9 km2), is a distant second. Squam Lake is the second largest lake entirely in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any state in the United States, approximately 18 miles (29 km) long. [6] About 7 miles (11 km) offshore are the Isles of Shoals, nine small islands (four in New Hampshire and five in Maine).
While New Hampshire, along with the rest of New England, does not frequently experience earthquakes, it has experienced several in history and has been affected by some of the larger events that were centered in the Saint Lawrence rift system in Canada. One of these was the 1663 Charlevoix earthquake that was centered near the Quebec–Maine border, the magnitude of which has since been estimated at 7.3 to 7.9. In 1727, Newbury, Massachusetts, experienced a damaging earthquake that shook New Hampshire also. The 1755 Cape Ann earthquake, estimated magnitude 5.5–6.0, also shook most or all of New Hampshire. On November 9, 1810, Exeter experienced an estimated intensity VI (Strong) tremor. It was accompanied by an unusual noise like an explosion, and broke windows in Portsmouth. Concord, the capital, experienced a series of shocks between 1872 and 1891. One earthquake was felt in late 1872, lasting ten seconds in Concord, and was felt in Laconia and other towns to the north. Ten years later, another tremor was strongest in Concord, although Dover and Pittsfield reportedly had buildings shaken. On November 23, 1884, a light shock was followed fifteen minutes later by a severe earthquake in Concord. The second shock was felt in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and eastern New York. Concord's last tremor in that period was mild and was reported in Cambridge and Melrose, Massachusetts.
Southeastern New Hampshire and Maine experienced an earthquake in 1925. Dishes and goods were jostled from shelves in Ossipee, Tuftonboro, and Effingham Falls. In 1929 the Grand Banks of Newfoundland (800 miles (1,300 km) to the east) experienced a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, and New Hampshire felt minor effects. In 1935, a 6.25 earthquake centered in Timiskaming, Ontario, 500 miles (800 km) away, was felt in an area of over 2,500,000 square kilometers (970,000 sq mi), and some places in New Hampshire experienced Mercalli intensities as high as V (Moderate). Ossipee Lake was the site of two moderate earthquakes in December 1940. The quakes were felt in all six New England states, as well as parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In the epicentral area, a large number of aftershocks happened. One observer counted over 120 aftershocks through January 31, 1941. [7]
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Of the 50 U.S. states, New Hampshire is the fifth smallest by area and the tenth least populous, with a population of 1,377,529 residents as of the 2020 census. Concord is the state capital and Manchester is the most populous city. New Hampshire's motto, "Live Free or Die", reflects its role in the American Revolutionary War; its nickname, "The Granite State", refers to its extensive granite formations and quarries. It is well known nationwide for holding the first primary in the U.S. presidential election cycle, and for its resulting influence on American electoral politics.
Mount Monadnock, or Grand Monadnock, is a mountain in the towns of Jaffrey and Dublin, New Hampshire. It is the most prominent mountain peak in southern New Hampshire and is the highest point in Cheshire County. It lies 38 miles (61 km) southwest of Concord and 62 miles (100 km) northwest of Boston. At 3,165 feet (965 m), Mount Monadnock is nearly 1,000 feet (305 m) higher than any other mountain peak within 30 miles (48 km) and rises 2,000 feet (610 m) above the surrounding landscape. Monadnock's bare, isolated, and rocky summit provides expansive views. It is known for being featured in the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
The Merrimack River is a 117-mile-long (188 km) river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Gulf of Maine at Newburyport. From Pawtucket Falls in Lowell, Massachusetts, onward, the Massachusetts–New Hampshire border is roughly calculated as the line three miles north of the river.
U.S. Route 3 (US 3) is a United States Numbered Highway running 277.90 miles (447.24 km) from Cambridge, Massachusetts, through New Hampshire, to the Canada–United States border near Third Connecticut Lake, where it connects to Quebec Route 257.
The New England road marking system was a regional system of marked numbered routes in the six-state region of New England in the United States. The routes were marked by a yellow rectangular sign with black numbers and border. Many signs were painted on telephone poles. The routes were approved by the highway departments of the six New England states in April 1922.
The Pemigewasset River, known locally as "The Pemi", is a river in the state of New Hampshire, the United States. It is 65.0 miles (104.6 km) in length and drains approximately 1,021 square miles (2,644 km2). The name "Pemigewasset" comes from the Abenaki word bemijijoasek [bəmidzidzoasək], meaning "where side (entering) current is".
New Hampshire Route 101 is a state-maintained highway in southern New Hampshire extending from Keene to Hampton Beach. It is the major east–west highway in the southern portion of the state. Most of its eastern portion is a major freeway linking the greater Manchester area to the Seacoast Region. At 95.189 miles (153.192 km) in length, NH 101 nearly spans the entire width of southern New Hampshire.
New Hampshire Route 25 is a 96.62-mile (155.49 km) long east–west state highway in New Hampshire. It runs completely across the state from Vermont to Maine.
New Hampshire Route 11 is a 108.223-mile-long (174.168 km) east–west state highway in New Hampshire, running completely across the central part of the state. Its western terminus is at the Vermont state line in Charlestown, where it continues west as Vermont Route 11. The eastern terminus is at the Maine state line in Rochester, where it crosses the border with U.S. Route 202 and continues as Maine State Route 11.
New Hampshire Route 103 is a 48.300-mile-long (77.731 km) east–west highway in west-central New Hampshire, United States. The highway runs from Claremont, at the Vermont border on the Connecticut River, to Hopkinton, west of Concord.
Title I: The State and Its Government, is the collection of New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated which relate to the state's government as a whole. Like other portions of the RSAs, the Title is divided into Chapters and Sections organized in numbers and subsections organized in lowercase letters.
New Hampshire Route 9 is a 109.910-mile-long (176.883 km) state highway located in southern New Hampshire. It runs across the state from west to east and is a multi-state route with Vermont and Maine, part of 1920s-era New England Interstate Route 9.
The Ossipee River is an 18.3-mile-long (29.5 km) river in eastern New Hampshire and western Maine in the United States. It is a tributary of the Saco River, which flows southeast to the Atlantic Ocean at Saco, Maine.
The northern boundary of the U.S. state of Massachusetts adjoins two other states: Vermont and New Hampshire. The majority of the boundary is roughly a straight line from the northwest corner of the state east to a point in Dracut, just north of Lowell. East of that point, the border is a series of line segments about 3 miles (5 km) north of the curving Merrimack River, ending in the Atlantic Ocean.
Mount Sunapee is a 5-mile-long (8.0 km) mountain ridge in the towns of Newbury and Goshen in western New Hampshire, United States. Its highest peak, at the north end of the mountain, is 2,726 feet (831 m) above sea level. The mountain has three secondary peaks, White Ledges at 2,716 ft (828 m); North Peak at 2,280 ft (695 m); and South Peak at 2,608 ft (795 m). The north end of the mountain, including the summit, is within Mount Sunapee State Park, which encompasses 3.85 square miles (10.0 km2) and is home to the popular Mount Sunapee Resort. The mountain extends south to Pillsbury State Park in the towns of Goshen and Washington.
Defunct placenames are those no longer used officially.
Pitcher Mountain is a 2,153 foot monadnock located in southwest New Hampshire. The mountain is traversed by the 50 mile (80 km) Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway and offers 360 degree views from its open summit. Lower elevations are wooded with species of the northern hardwood forest type; small stands of coniferous red spruce cling to the upper slopes. A fire tower stands on the summit and a beef livestock farm occupies the east shoulder of the mountain. Pitcher Mountain is part of an extensive area of heath barrens and blueberry fields that continue north over Hubbard Hill and Jackson Hill.
U.S. Route 4 (US 4) in the state of New Hampshire runs for 106.834 miles (171.933 km) across the central and southern part of the state, stretching from Lebanon on the Connecticut River border with Vermont southeast to Portsmouth on the eastern coast.
New England is a region in the North Eastern United States consisting of the states Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Most of New England consists geologically of volcanic island arcs that accreted onto the eastern edge of the Laurentian Craton in prehistoric times. Much of the bedrock found in New England is heavily metamorphosed due to the numerous mountain building events that occurred in the region. These events culminated in the formation of Pangaea; the coastline as it exists today was created by rifting during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The most recent rock layers are glacial conglomerates.
The geology of Massachusetts includes numerous units of volcanic, intrusive igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks formed within the last 1.2 billion years. The oldest formations are gneiss rocks in the Berkshires, which were metamorphosed from older rocks during the Proterozoic Grenville orogeny as the proto-North American continent Laurentia collided against proto-South America. Throughout the Paleozoic, overlapping the rapid diversification of multi-cellular life, a series of six island arcs collided with the Laurentian continental margin. Also termed continental terranes, these sections of continental rock typically formed offshore or onshore of the proto-African continent Gondwana and in many cases had experienced volcanic events and faulting before joining the Laurentian continent. These sequential collisions metamorphosed new rocks from sediments, created uplands and faults and resulted in widespread volcanic activity. Simultaneously, the collisions raised the Appalachian Mountains to the height of the current day Himalayas.
