NEW YORK – CENTRAL PARK
LOCATION
PRIMARY LAND COVER
This image extends east from the City Block into Central Park. The contrast between the built environment and the forested landscape interests me both as an artist and as a geologist. Standing on a sidewalk and standing beneath a canopy of trees are very different experiences, yet both rest upon the same bedrock below.
The constant between the city and the park is the Manhattan schist that underlies them. Yet the surface conditions above influence what happens below. Rain falling on streets and rooftops is directed into storm drains and carried away to nearby rivers. Rain falling within the park lands on tree canopies, lawns, and permeable soils, where it infiltrates downward. That water eventually reaches the bedrock surface and moves through fractures in the schist, contributing to groundwater recharge.