MAIN MORAINIC SYSTEM IN THE GRAND RIVER LOBE. 437 



SECTION III. IN THE GRAND RIVER LOBE. 



MORAINES OF THE SYSTEM. 



The morainic system discussed under the above title constitutes a part 

 of the great system described by Chamberlin as the terminal moraine of 

 the second Glacial epoch, ^ and is a continuation of the system described in 

 Sections I and II. The term morainic system is applied because of the 

 complexity of the belt, for it includes several moraines whose formation 

 was probably continued through a series of oscillations of the ice front. 

 Chamberlin called attention "^ to its massiveness and complexity, showing 

 that it usually covers a breadth of several miles, and contains a confusedly 

 arranged series of morainic ridges which are only in part separable into 

 distinct belts. The portion comprising the outer morainic system of the 

 Grand River lobe is, on the whole, less clearly separable into distinct belts 

 than the correlative system in lobes farther to the west. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



By reference to Pis. II and XV the course and breadth of the moraine, 

 and also the size and form of the ice lobe, may be learned. There is a 

 well-defined morainic belt encircling the Grand River Basin, and leading 

 northeastward into New York a few miles beyond the point of the reentrant 

 angle in the glacial boundary near Salamanca, N. Y. The moraine dies out 

 on elevated uplands near the village of Cattaraugus, and some uncertainty is 

 felt concerning its continuation. Whether it finds its continuation along the 

 line of the terminal moraine traced by Lewis ^ from the reentrant angle south- 

 eastward across northern Pennsylvania, or takes an eastward course farther 

 north, embracing part of the moi'aines discussed by Chamberlin in the 

 Third Annual Report, * remains to be determined. Should the latter prove 

 to be the line of continuation, the moraine traced by Lewis may fall within 

 the earl)^ Wisconsin series. 



The distribution of the moraine may be briefly outlined as follows: 

 From the reentrant angle near Salamanca southwestward the morainic 

 system is found to run nearly parallel with the Allegheny Valley, but is 



1 Third Ann. Kept. U.' S. Geol. Survey, pp. 291-402. 



2 Ibid., pp. 307, 310, et seq. 



'Second Geol. Survey Pennsylvania, Rept. Z, by H. C. Lewis. 

 * Third Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pp. 347-350, PI. XXXIII. 



