316 
A Grooved and Striated Contact Plane between 
the Nebraskan and Kansan Drifts: J. ERNEST 
CaRMAN. (Introduced by George F. Kay.) 
The paper described the unique feature of a 
grooved and striated contact plane between the 
Nebraskan (pre-Kansan) and Kansan drifts. Both 
sides of the contact plane are striated. Neither 
side is the mold of the other. The possible ex- 
planations are considered and the conclusion 
reached that glaciation produced the feature. 
The Nebraskan Drift of the Little Sioux Valley in 
Northwest Iowa: J. ERNEST CARMAN. (Intro- 
duced by George F'. Kay.) 
The paper traced a farther extension of the 
Nebraskan drift and compared the Nebraskan and 
Aftonian deposits of this region with those along 
the Missouri River. 
Dr. Carman’s two papers were discussed by J. 
W. Spencer, F. Leverett and W. M. Davis. 
Hanging Valleys and their pre-Glacial Equivalents 
in New York: J. W. SPENCER. 
Visiting that most beautiful gorge, Watkins 
Glen, at the head of Seneca Lake, it would seem 
that the stream is entirely post-Glacial; but above 
the railway bridge a great cove, like that of the 
Whirlpool Basin at Niagara, is developed, with its 
northern side and end composed of drift. Its con- 
tinuing channel to the lake has been discovered by 
boring. The same is true of other falls in this 
locality. Taughannock, on the western side of 
Cayuga Lake, is of little less importance. Its pre- 
Glacial channel, as observed by Hall in 1842, is 
situated immediately to the north. 
Equally important are hanging valleys in north- 
ern New York. Between Carthage and Boonville 
is a plateau at 1,400 feet above sea level, overlook- 
ing the Black River and the much lower country 
east of it. The plain is bounded on the west by 
an escarpment 500 feet high, surmounted by an- 
other plateau. The Black River shales here are 
easily incised. Here the finest hanging valley with 
waterfalls is Whetstone Gulf, two miles north of 
Housie P. O., while the great pre-Glacial valley 
occurs at this hamlet, with the drift partly re- 
moved from it. 
It seems that wherever an important drainage 
basin occurs with modern waterfalls, equivalent 
pre-Glacial valleys may be found, although more 
or less filled with drift. Accordingly, in New 
York State hanging valleys of themselves are no 
evidence whatsoever of the over-deepening of the 
trunk valleys or plains in front of them by glacial 
erosion. 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 895 
Closing Phase of Glaciation in New York: H. L. 
FAIRCHILD. 
As the Labradorian ice sheet melted away from 
the north border of New York State, it allowed the 
water of the ice-bound Lake Iroquois to escape at 
Covey Hill Gulf and to pass around the northeast 
slope of the Adirondack highland. Being confined 
and directed by the ice border, this stream flow 
produced the extensive areas of bare rock in the 
towns of Mooers, Altona and Beekmantown, for- 
merly described by Woodworth (N. Y. State 
Museum Bulls., 83, 84). The later stream flow, 
along the Altona rocks, determined the level of a 
narrow lake lying northwestward, into which Lake 
Iroquois was lowered by the waning of the ice 
front on Covey Hill, and for a time this lake suc- 
ceeded Iroquois in the Ontario basin. It is pro- 
posed to call this water Lake Emmons (after 
Ebenezer Emmons, whose district in the first 
geologic survey of the state covered this area). 
The further weakening of the ice border finally 
allowed Lake Vermont (named by Woodworth), 
which had previously been confined to the Cham- 
plain Valley, to succeed Lake Emmons and in turn 
to occupy the Ontario basin. It is proposed to 
call this expanded water Lake Vermont-New York. 
These two water planes in the Ontario basin, 
inferior to Iroquois, are represented chiefly by 
delta sand-plains on the larger streams. Eventu- 
ally the waning of the ice east of the Champlain 
embayment allowed the glacial waters to become 
confluent with the sea, and the sea level waters 
were thus established in both the Champlain and 
Ontario basins at the same time. The height of 
the marine beaches about Covey Hill is 525 feet, 
which definitely gives the amount of land uplift 
on the international boundary since the ocean 
transgressed that area. Maps exhibit the glacial 
drainage channels, the deltas and the shore lines 
of the three water planes in the Champlain district 
and the four planes in the Ontario district. 
The paper was discussed by F. B. Taylor, J. W. 
Spencer and H. L. Fairchild. 
Post-Glacial Erosion and Oxidation: GEORGE F'RED- 
ERICK WRIGHT. 
(1) Opportunities for observation in Ohio. (2) 
Small amount of erosion by the streams north of 
the watershed entering Lake Erie. (3) Esker ter- 
races in the valleys of the Styx and Killbuck on 
the south side of the watershed. (4) Comparison 
of calculations from these sources with those from 
Niagara and other post-Glacial gorges. (5) Ex- 
