The China plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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71° on Nov. 11, 2020, the hottest reading for this week of the year since 1895. Next is 71° in 2022.
China’s center stands about 310 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 190 ft to 490 ft, a difference of 300 ft: rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Hogback Mountain, about 1,150 ft, 13 miles east-northeast.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Silurian - Ordovician Vassalboro Formation (sandstone), from the Late Ordovician to Silurian, 428 to 459 million years old.
The section below crosses 11 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 24×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Sandstone. Age: Late Ordovician to Silurian, 428 to 459 million years old. About 11 mi of the line.
Schist, slate. Age: Silurian, 428 to 445 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Felsic-volcanic, mafic-volcanic. Age: Neoproterozoic to Ordovician, 445 to 1,000 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Slate. Age: Neoproterozoic to Ordovician, 445 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Mudstone. Age: Silurian, 422 to 445 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
Mudstone, sandstone. Age: Neoproterozoic to Ordovician, 445 to 1,000 million years old. About 1 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 5 smaller units along the line are not listed.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in China reaches the Atlantic Ocean by way of China Lake, the Outlet Stream and the Kennebec: about 75 river miles.
Lake on the way: China Lake.
60 miles of the trip are on the Kennebec.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of China; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
China has a warm-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 80° in July; winter nights fall to about 9° in January. About 43 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 China normally reaches 47° and falls to 29°. The record high is 66°, in 1930; the record low 7°, in 1905. The most rain on this date, 1.01 in, fell in 1904.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1895 at Waterville Treatment Plt, 10 miles northwest, 250 ft lower. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
