Town Analyses > Putney > Physical Landscape Though it may not be
obvious, the rocks that constitute the landforms beneath the
Putney landscape have played an eminent role in determining the
cultural heritage of the town, and continue to impact the lives
of citizens today. Yet the story of Putney’s bedrock extends far
back in time before the first human beings inhabited the land.
In fact, Putney’s hills and valleys are underlain by a
foundation of stone that goes back several hundred million years
to an era called the Devonian, a time before plants even existed
on dry land! The location of the earth’s continents was much
different back then, and geologist tell us that the land which
we now call Putney was at that time below tropical waters on the
floor of an ancient ocean called the Iapetus. Over time, this
sea floor accumulated a thick blanket of sediments, with great
variability in both sediment size and mineral composition. Some
of the sediments eroded from nearby continental highlands such
as the Taconic a