PLEISTOCENE GEOLOGY OF MOOERS QUADRANGLE 51 



their having been extended from low to lower grounds with the 

 recession of the ice to the northeast and the withdrawal of stand 

 ing bodies of water from the ancient shore lines. The streams 

 have thus been compelled to find their way from point to point by 

 flowing over and out through the "lowest path in the surface 

 materials. The head waters of the north branch of the Big Chazy 

 and the English rivers appear to flow in rock valleys older than 

 the last ice epoch. 



The 500 foot delta on the north branch of the Big Ghazy river 

 received contributions from both of these streams. By a shallow 

 trench about % of a mile in length the English river might now 

 be diverted into the north branch of the Big Chazy river across 

 the upper part of this delta. Two miles northwest of Mooers 

 Forks, the English river has cut its channel around the north- 

 western margin of what was probably a delta at the 420 foot local 

 water level. First the stream appears to have escaped eastward 

 by a dissection of this deposit. 



The Big Chazy river also exhibits evidence of having shifted its 

 course during the changes of level which have raised the old ocean 

 bottom above the sea level. From Thorn there is a broad stream 

 channel from 20 feet to 40 feet deep, leading northeastward to the 

 Sperry brook depression about half a mile west of Mooers Junc- 

 tion. The contours of the map fail to show this channel. At 

 Thorn the bottom of the channel is about 20 feet above the present 

 bed of the river. When this channel was used, the Big Chazy 

 must have flowed north of Mooers Junction along the northern 

 side of the 280 foot delta at that place. 



The river appears also to have flowed temporarily along a course 

 half a mile north of its present channel at Mooers Forks, as is 

 shown by the swampy channel north of the railroad curve near 

 that place. 



In many places as on the road along the eastern bank of the 

 river from Altona to Wood Falls, the Big Chazy river bed, with 

 characteristic torrential deposits, extends widely on either side 

 of the present channel. The same remark is applicable to por- 

 tions of the north branch of the river and to the English river. 

 The streams are evidently in the process of lateral shifting, 

 and at the same time they are sinking deeper into the drift 



