684 GLACIAL FORMATIONS OF ERIE AND OHIO BASINS. 



outwash, but whicli may not have been excavated by glacial waters. The 

 esker delta noted above lies in this sag, and its form seems to indicate that 

 it was built up in a body of still water or in a stream with very sluggish 

 current The gravelly outwash to the west of the esker delta and the delta 

 itself indicate that cun-ents of considerable strength were issuing from the 

 ice sheet; but these were, perhaps, forced out by hydrostatic pressure into 

 a body of water which had but little current. 



ALDEN MORAINE. 

 DISTRIBUTION. 



The Alden moraine has been recognized no farther west than Alden 

 Center, in eastern Erie County, N. Y. It appears as a well-defined ridge 

 immediately east of Alden Center on the east bluff of Ellicott Creek and 

 just back of the lower or Forest-Crittenden beach of Lake Warren. It 

 takes a course north of east into Cenesee County, and, as above noted, 

 becomes united with the Marilla moraine about 3 miles east of the county 

 line. Its inner border at the west end is south of the Lackawanna Railroad, 

 but the moraine soon crosses to the north side of that railroad and lies near 

 the Lehigh Valley and New York Central railroads. For 2 or 3 miles in 

 northern Darien and southern Pembroke townships, Genesee County, it 

 extends slightly beyond (north of) the New York Central Railroad, but 

 with this exception it lies south of that railroad to the valley of Tonawanda 

 Creek in Batavia. The Batavia moraine there comes in from the northwest 

 and overrides or combines with the Alden moraine, and it has not been 

 recognized between Bata-sda and the eastern limits of our district, the Genesee 

 River. 



RANGE IN ALTITUDE. 



This moraine, like the Marilla, presents but little range in altitude; the 

 western end, near Alden Center, stands about 850 feet above tide, and there 

 are but few points between that place and Batavia that rise above 950 feet. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



The greater part of this moraine is very similar in contour to the 

 Marilla moraine, there being generally a definite ridging from east to west 

 in line with the moraine. The ridges are not continuous for long distances, 

 so that drainage lines find frequent gaps through which to pass northward. 



