Editing Newton, New Jersey (section)

===Geological features===
Newton is located in the [[Kittatinny Valley]], a segment of the [[Great Appalachian Valley]]. The Great Appalachian Valley is a gigantic trough—a {{convert|1,200|mi|km|adj=mid|-long|abbr=off|sp=us}} chain of valley lowlands that stretches about from [[Quebec]] to [[Alabama]] and is the easternmost edge of [[Ridge and Valley Appalachians]] [[Physiographic regions of the world|physiographic province]]. This physiographic province, one of five in New Jersey, occupies approximately two-thirds of the county's area (the county's western and central sections) dominated by [[Kittatinny Mountain]] and the Kittatinny Valley. This province's contour is characterized by long, even ridges with long, continuous valleys in between that generally run parallel from southwest to northeast. The features of the Ridge and Valley province were created approximately 300–400 million years ago during the [[Ordovician period]] and [[Appalachian orogeny]]—a period of tremendous pressure and rock thrusting that caused the creation of the [[Appalachian Mountains]].<ref>Hatcher, Robert D. Jr. [http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2008AM/finalprogram/abstract_150729.htm "Tracking lower-to-mid-to-upper crustal deformation processes through time and space through three Paleozoic orogenies in the Southern Appalachians using dated metamorphic assemblages and faults"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806090332/https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2008AM/finalprogram/abstract_150729.htm |date=August 6, 2018 }} in ''Abstracts with Programs'' (Geological Society of America), Vol. 40, No. 6, 513. Accessed August 28, 2012.</ref><ref>Bartholomew, M.J., and Whitaker, A.E., 2010, The Alleghanian deformational sequence at the foreland junction of the Central and Southern Appalachians in Tollo, R.P., Bartholomew, M.J., Hibbard, J.P., and Karabinos, P.M., eds., From Rodinia to Pangea: The Lithotectonic Record of the Appalachian Region, GSA Memoir 206, p. 431-454.</ref> This region is largely formed by [[sedimentary rock]].<ref name="LuceySCGeo">Lucey, Carol S. ''[http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/county-series/Sussex_County.pdf Geology of Sussex County in Brief].'' (Trenton, NJ: New Jersey Geological Survey, November 1969), 21pp. Accessed August 28, 2012.</ref><ref name="NJGSInfoCirc">Dalton, Richard. [http://www.nj.gov/dep/njgs/enviroed/infocirc/provinces.pdf New Jersey Geological Survey Information Circular: Physiographic Provinces of New Jersey] (Trenton, NJ: Department of Environmental Protection, State of New Jersey, 2003, 2006). Accessed August 28, 2012.</ref>

Newton's land area drains into the watersheds of the Paulins Kill and [[Pequest River]]—two rivers that are tributaries of the Delaware River. These watersheds are separated by slate ridges that are part of the [[Martinsburg Formation]]. These slate ridges were quarried for slate for roofs and other industrial purposes beginning with a quarry opened by Elijah Blackwell in 1859 that operated under a series of different owners and commercial entities until 1930.<ref>Kevin W. Wright, [http://www.newtonnj.net/Pages/newtonindustry.htm "Newton Industries"], Newton NJ: Pearl of the Kittatinny (newtonnj.net). Accessed May 12, 2015.</ref>