The Peru 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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Peru’s center stands about 3,110 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 1,260 ft to 3,260 ft, a difference of 2,000 ft: mountain country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Stratton Mountain, about 3,940 ft, 13 miles south.
The section below crosses 16 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 7×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Paragneiss. Age: Mesoproterozoic, 1.3 to 1.4 billion years old. About 4 mi of the line.
Paragneiss. Age: Mesoproterozoic, 1.2 to 1.2 billion years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Phyllite. Age: Neoproterozoic, 542 to 1,000 million years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Paragneiss, metadacite. Age: Mesoproterozoic, 1.3 to 1.3 billion years old. About 3 mi of the line.
Phyllite, metasiltstone. Age: Neoproterozoic to Cambrian, 487 to 1,000 million years old. About 2 mi of the line.
Paragneiss, quartz-feldspar-schist. Age: Mesoproterozoic, 1.2 to 1.4 billion years old. About 2 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale. 10 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.
Peru straddles the St. Lawrence Divide. Rain on the northwest side runs to the St. Lawrence River; most of the rest goes to Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.
From the center of town, a raindrop reaches Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean by way of Styles Brook, Flood Brook, the West River and the Connecticut: about 190 river miles. One that lands on the northwest side reaches the St. Lawrence River by way of Lake Brook, Big Branch, Otter Creek and the Richelieu: about 240 river miles. The St. Lawrence carries it on to the Atlantic.
150 miles of the trip are on the Connecticut.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Peru; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
