HAMBURG MORAINE. 677 



INNER BORDER PHENOMENA. 



From the western teiToinus eastward to Cattaraugus Creek this moraine 

 is followed closely by the Belmore beach, but farther east the beach bears 

 away from the moraine, its course being- through the low country, while the 

 moraine rises to somewhat elevated country. The Hamburg moraine, 

 which leads eastward from the village of Hamburg, lies, throughout its 

 course, only a few miles north of the Gowanda, but is entirely distinct from 

 it. Between the two moraines there is a strip in which the drift shows but 

 little aggregation in knolls and is on the whole a thinner deposit than on 

 either moraine. The most conspicuous development of morainic topography 

 is near the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek, as indicated above. On some of 

 the high ridges the di-ift is so thin that shallow ditches reach the rock, which 

 in places is touched by the plow. In the valleys the drift is very thick, 

 there being nearly as much as on the bordering moraines. Bowlders are 

 much less conspicuous on this tract than on the Gowanda moraine, but 

 otherwise the drift is not strikingly different in the two situations. 



The beaches and attendant lake features are discussed farther on. 

 We therefore pass directly to the Hamburg moraine. 



HAMBURG MORAINE. 

 DISTRIBUTION. 



The Hamburg moraine has not been recognized west of the village of 

 Hamburg, N. Y., which is situated 10 miles south of the city of Buffalo. 

 It seems probable, however, that the ice margin extended westward from 

 Hamburg along the north side of Eighteenmile Creek to Lake Erie. Pos- 

 sibly the somewhat indirect westward course of the creek will prove to be 

 due to the presence, along its north side, of a water-laid morainic ridge 

 so broad and low as to be scarcely perceptible and yet of sufficient relief 

 to prevent the stream from taking the more direct course northwestward 

 into Lake Erie. 



At Hamburg a distinct till ridge appears near the level of the upper 

 beach of the Lake Warren series and leads northeastward to Orchard Park, 

 where it is crossed by the Belmore beach. From Orchard Park the course 

 is eastward across Cazenovia Creek to the north edge of East Aurora, and 

 thence to Buffalo Creek, the outer border in Buffalo Creek Valley being at 

 Porterville, and the inner border near East Elma. In the 15 miles from 



