Queries by the Geologists of the Survey of New York. 129 
2. Does it originate from mineral springs, or from stagnant waters ? 
3. Has it been used as an iron ore? 
Marshes. 
1. Have the marshes on the borders of lakes, on the banks of 
streams, or on the flat table lands, in your vicinity, changed materi- 
ally within the period of ae or within the remembrance of old 
inhabitants ? 
2. Have they become more wet, and risen so as to cover land be- 
fore dry ? 
_ 8. Have they sunk in level, and from what cause ? 
4. Have they become more dry, and from what cause ? 
5. Have they changed in the natural growth of the soil ? 
Drainage of Lakes. 
1. Are there any evidences of the lakes in your vicinity having 
once occupied a higher level than they do at present ? 
2. Does this evidence consist in elevated beaches, or the cutting 
down of their outlets, or both these combined ? 
3. Are there valleys which seem to have been once lakes, and 
what evidence is there on this point? 
4, Are there regular stratified deposits of clay, sand, gravel, &c. 
in the valleys? 
5. Are organized remains of plants or animals found in them? 
6. In the gorges at the outlets of lakes, or along the courses of 
the streams which flow from them, are there marks to show the 
wearing action of water much above its present level. 
7. Are there deep defiles through the country through which the 
water flows or seems to have once flowed? - 
8. What is the nature of the strata of those defiles, and generally, 
of the country at any of the particular localities to which you may 
have referred ? 
firvers. 
1. Are the rivers and streams in your vicinity, deepening their 
channels, or raising their beds by the deposit of alluvial matter ? 
2. Do you know of instances of lateral streams bringing in such 
quantities of alluvial matter, and of so coarse a texture, that the larger 
stream is unable to sweep it away, and causes the formation of lakes 
in the valleys above ? 
3. Are rivers or smaller streams lost by sinking in the ground ? 
Vou. XX XI.—No. te 17 
