LOCAL GLACIATION IN THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS 



JOHN LYON RICH 



Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



The Catskills, next to the Adirondacks, are the highest mountains 

 in New York state. Several peaks rise well above 4,000 feet, while 

 the great majority of the mountains in the central part of the area have 

 an elevation exceeding 3,000 feet. Such an elevation naturally pro- 

 duces greater precipitation and a climate considerably colder than 

 that of the surrounding country, as the following extracts from the 

 report of the New York Weather Bureau plainly show. Five stations 

 have been selected for comparison: Grifhn's Corners, in the heart 

 of the Catskills; Oneonta, in the foothills to the north; Albany, Bing- 

 hamton, and Ithaca. Mean temperature for the years 1901-4: Grif- 

 fin's Corners, 42.8°; Oneonta, 45.6°; Albany, 47.5°; Binghamton, 

 45.9°; Ithaca, 46.0°. Normal annual precipitation: Catskills, 40"- 

 50"; Binghamton, 35"-4o"; Albany, 35''-4o"; Ithaca, 3o"-35''. 

 Winter conditions prevail there two or three weeks earlier, and persist 

 two or three weeks longer, than in the lower parts of the state. This 

 comparatively cool climate is an important factor, which must be 

 taken into account in a study of the former glaciation of the region. 



Comparatively little detailed work has been done on the glacial 

 geology of the Catskills. Studies of a reconnaissance nature have, 

 however, disclosed evidences that, in the higher mountains local gla- 

 ciers persisted after the withdrawal of the continental ice-sheet. Such 

 a condition is known to have prevailed to a greater or less extent in the 

 Adirondacks, the White and Green Mountains, and the Katadn region 

 of Maine. In New England, especially during the earlier study of 

 glacial geology, considerable attention was given to the question of 

 local mountain glaciation. A brief outline of the results of this work 

 is given in the following section. 



PREVIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT OF VALLEY GLACIERS 



As early as 1856 Edward Hitchcock' described striae and moraines 

 showing a movement of ice down valleys in a direction different from 



I Smithsonian Contributions, Vol. IX (1856), Art. Ill, pp. 135-44. 



113 



