10 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Niagara gorge where the strata are exposed from the base to the 

 top. Five miles farther east the depression occupied by Irondequoit 

 bay causes another deflection in which the beds are bent in a long 

 loop toward the south. 



Beyond Irondequoit bay the basal members of the Clinton spread 

 out northward and cross the " Ridge road," a conspicuous terrace 

 which marks the old shore line of the glacial Lake Iroquois. Their 

 northerly outcropping edge parallels this shore line, about a mile 

 distant, as far as' Sodus, Wayne co. Between Sodus and Verona, 

 Oneida co., an embayment of Lake Iroquois extended southward 

 into the Finger Lake region and the entire Clinton between these 

 localities is included within the old lake basin. 



In the section from Sodus to the Oswego river, drumlins form 

 a prominent feature of the topography, whereas to the west they are 

 but little developed in the vicinity of the Clinton belt. Their pres- 

 ence conditions the great variation in the amount of overburden en- 

 countered in this part, which may reach a thickness of lOO feet or 

 more. They have the usual elongated oval shape, with the main 

 axis parallel to the direction of the ice movement, which was about 

 north and south. They attain an average length of a mile, and some 

 of the more rounded ones are half that in width. Their distribution 

 is irregular, closely set and overlapping at the bases in some places 

 and again spreading out so as to leave an intervening stretch of level 

 country. There are few exposures of the underlying rocks, chiefly 

 along the streams that wind through the connecting depressions. 



In the Oneida lake region, the Clinton formation crosses a very 

 flat part of the Iroquois basin. The surface is composed mostly of 

 clays and sands that have been washed over and leveled by wave 

 action. The thickness of these materials is inconsiderable, though 

 few rock outcrops occur. 



After entering Oneida county, the trend of the formation, hitherto 

 nearly east and west, bears gradually to the south until it is about 

 30° south of east. From Verona to Hecla Works, the country is 

 still comparatively level, but loses this character as the Mohawk 

 river is approached, near which the formation becomes involved in 

 the range of hills that limits the valley on the south and merges 

 gradually with the higher ranges of the Helderbergs, so as to 

 present an uninterrupted highland extending eastward into Albany 

 county. 



