AN INTERGLACIAL FAUNA FOUND IN CAYUGA VALLEY 



AND ITS RELATION TO THE PLEISTOCENE 



OF TORONTO 



C. J. MAURY 

 Ithaca, N. Y. 



On the western shore of Cayuga Lake, in central New York, is an 

 interglacial fossihferous deposit which is of interest because of the 

 rarity of similar beds which contain traces of Pleistocene life. 



The deposit is between Taughannock Falls and Frontenac Beach 

 in a small ravine which has cut through one of the delta terraces so 

 common in Cayuga valley. It was first noticed some time since by 

 Professor R, S. Tarr and was later examined by Professor G. D. 

 Harris and the writer. The following is a vertical section of the 

 locality. 



Drift 20 to 30 feet 



Gravel and sand several inches 



Fossiliferous clay 5 to 8 feet 



Bowlder clay 10 to 15 feet 



Devonian shales 10 feet exposed above lake level 



The bowlder clay in its uppermost part passes into gravel and sand 

 which are decidedly oxidized, indicating a period of erosion and 

 weathering. 



The clay in which the fossils are imbedded is a slaty blue color, 

 loose and very peaty at the base where it is composed almost wholly 

 of the remains of plants, but in the center it becomes compact and is 

 a very fine-grained, blue clay. It is distinctly stratified and splits 

 easily along the plane of bedding but not in any other direction. 



Above the fossiliferous blue clay are a few inches of sand and 

 gravel pointing to a short period of erosion at the close of the warm 

 interglacial period before the return of the ice and the deposition of 

 the great mass of overlying drift. 



The fossils are all fresh-water shells. Unios, Anodontas, and 

 Sphaeriums are common and of large size, showing that conditions 

 were favorable for their growth, but few are well preserved. 



56s 



