128 



SCIENCE 



[X. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 812 



across western New England the configuration of 

 the ice front, as expressed in horizontal plan, was 

 greatly influenced by the topography. The Hud- 

 son and Champlain valleys are relatively deep, 

 and are substantially continuous as one valley 

 from the lowlands of the St. Lawrence on the 

 north to the Atlantic Ocean on the south. This 

 great trough is bounded by mountain ranges on 

 both sides ten to twenty miles back from its axis. 

 Into the north end of this trough the ice poured 

 in a powerful stream, and the easy path of flow 

 which it found along the valley axis led it there 

 to push southward many miles beyond the points 

 where it overtopped the two flanking mountain 

 ranges. Thus in every stage of advance and re- 

 treat there was a great, sharply pointed ice lobe 

 projecting one hundred miles or more south of 

 the general line of the contemporary ice front on 

 the adjacent higher ground. 



The land around the headwaters of the Con- 

 necticut River is high, being a continuation of the 

 Green Mountain range. On this account the ice 

 sheet did not enter the Connecticut Valley until 

 it had overtopped and flowed down the east side 

 of the Green jMountain range. Thus, although 

 the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts is nearly 

 as deep and wide as the Hudson Valley, it held no 

 great ice lobe. The ice came into the Connecticut 

 Valley over the Green Mountain range from the 

 northwest, and the whole region between the two 

 rivers was domineered by the ice of the Hudson 

 lobe. 



Detailed studies in the Housatonic and Taconic 

 quadrangles have disclosed the presence of no 

 large or continuous terminal morainic deposits, 

 but instead many small, scattered fragments in 

 the valleys. These mark the places of the ter- 

 mination of small ice tongues, which crept for- 

 ward a few miles into the valleys from the front 

 of the main ice mass. Each such deposit marks 

 a halting place in the retreat of the ice. By fol- 

 lowing the series of these morainic fragments 

 through parallel and interlacing valleys a method 

 of correlation was found by which it was possible 

 to reconstruct the successive positions of the ice 

 border. It was thus found that the general trend 

 of the ice border in retreating across Berkshire 

 County and adjacent areas was from northeast to 

 southwest, and the general direction of ice move- 

 ment was about south 40° east. This general 

 trend marks the eastern limb of the Hudson 

 Valley ice lobe, but the mountainous character 

 of the region and the plastic adaptation of the 

 ice to the topography caused the formation of 



many sharp little ice tongues with equally sharp 

 reentrant angles between them. Thus, at each 

 halt, the border of the ice was intensely serrate. 

 The slope of the small ice tongues varied from 

 100 to 120 feet per mile in some cases. The rate 

 of rise along the general front, ignoring the 

 smaller tongues, was something like 30 feet to the 

 mile. In most of this region the successive halts 

 are spaced by intervals of 3A to 4 miles. 



On account of the obstruction of natural drain- 

 age by the ice mass many small temporary glacial 

 lakes were formed. One of the largest was Lake 

 Housatonic, a sprawling, irregular lake, lying 

 mainly between Lee and Glendale. One of the 

 largest lakes of New England, however, occupied 

 the valley of the Hoosic River, and is known as 

 Lake Bascom. From flrst to last this lake was 

 25 or 30 miles long, and at Williamstown it was 

 500 feet deep. Numerous deltas were formed in 

 it by mountain streams, and mark different levels 

 of its waters. Outlets or points of overflow from 

 this lake are well marked at several places and 

 at different levels. 



Glacial erosion in this region was in general 

 very slight, and is conspicuous only on mountain 

 tops and lesser saliences. Nothing was found sug- 

 gesting over-deepening by ice action. The whole 

 area is covered with immense numbers of bowl- 

 ders, but few were found that could be attributed 

 to a source more than twenty miles back on the 

 line of ice movement, and none that are traceable 

 to the Adirondacks or any other point west of the 

 Hudson. 



Studies in the Ware and Quinsigamond quad- 

 rangles in central Massachusetts by W. C. Alden 

 show fragmentary moraines of similar character, 

 distribution and spacing, and seem to indicate a 

 close resemblance in the manner of glacial retreat. 



On Friday evening the Association of American 

 Geographers met informally in Technology Union 

 for a round table conference on the topic " The 

 Organic Side of Geography, its Nature and Lim- 

 its." The conference was led by Professor Albert 

 Perry Brigham. 



Owing to the illness of several of those con- 

 cerned with the preparation of this manuscript 

 the account of geology and geography at the Bos- 

 ton-Cambridge meeting has been delayed until this 

 late date. The secretary makes his humble apol- 

 ogies to the geologists and geographers, and hopes 

 that although delayed this account will be of 

 interest to many. 



F. P. GULLI^'EB, 



Secretary Section E 



