FACTOID #53: If you thought Antarctica was inhospitable, think again - its land area is only ninety-eight percent ice. Reassuringly, the other 2% is categorised as "barren rock".
The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeast New Jersey and southern New York in the United States. The cliffs stretch north from Jersey City approximately 20 mi (32 km) to near Nyack, New York. They rise nearly vertically from near the edge of the river, ranging in height between 350 ft (107 m) and 550 ft (168 m). The cliffs are among the most dramatic geologic features in the vicinity of New York City, forming a canyon of the Hudson north of Fort Lee, New Jersey, as well as providing a dramatic vista of the New York City skyline from the opposite bank of the Hudson.
The cliffs are the margin of a diabase sill, formed approximately 200 million years ago at the close of the TriassicPeriod by the intrusion of molten magma upward into softer sandstone. The molten material cooled before reaching the surface. Subsequent water erosion of the softer sandstone left behind the columnar structure of harder rock that exists today. The cliffs are approximately 1000 ft (300 m) thick in sections and were probably originally 1000 ft (300 m) high, approximately twice as high as they are today.
The Lenape called the cliffs "We-awk-en", meaning "rocks that look like rows of trees" (Weehawken, New Jersey, which sits at the top of the cliffs across from Manhattan, takes it name from the Lenape word).
In the 19th century, the cliffs were subject to widespread quarrying for railroad ballast, leading to local efforts to preserve the cliffs. A section of the cliffs north of Fort Lee were subsequently purchased by John D. Rockefeller, who donated them to the State for permanent preservation. The land is now Palisades Interstate Park. The park is a popular destination for local hiking and other outdoor recreational activities.
Crossings of the Palisades
This list runs from south to north. The south end of the Palisades is subjective.
This is an incomplete list. You can help Wikipedia by expanding or completing it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Palisades&action=edit)
To respond to this threat, the Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) was formed in 1900 by the New York and New Jersey state legislatures "to provide for the selection, location, appropriation and management of the certain lands along the Palisades of the Hudson River for an interstate park".
The Palisades Interstate Parkway is exceptionally significant in the themes of conservation, recreation, transportation and regional planning for its role in the conservation of a significant endangered landscape, the development and promotion of recreation, and regional land use planning.
Beginning in 1900 with the formation of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC), the states of New York and New Jersey commenced a cooperative effort to acquire and preserve a large tract of the Palisades that was threatened by quarrying operations.
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