GEOLOGY OF THE LAKE PLACID QUADRANGLE 9 



GENERAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 



The Lake Placid quadrangle lies immediately north of the great 

 group of highest mountains in the Adirondack region. Altitudes 

 range from 660 feet where the East Branch Ausable river leaves 

 the quadrangle on the east, to 4872 feet at the summit of Mt White- 

 face near the center of the quadrangle. Mt Whiteface rises majes- 

 tically as a great mass culminating in a sharp peak from 2500 to 

 3800 feet above the immediately surrounding country. Around the 

 nearly circular base of the mountain the distance is approximately 

 16 miles. Eight or ten sharp, rugged spurs with deep intervening 

 valleys radiate from near the summit. The great bowllike depres- 

 sion just east of the summit of Whiteface was formerly occupied 

 by a local glacier, and its remarkable shape is due to the action of 

 the glacier in plucking out the rock. The valley between Esther 

 mountain and Marble mountain was also formerly occupied by a 

 local glacier. 



Sentinel range, some 8 miles long, has several peaks rising from 

 3600 to 3902 feet above the level of the sea. This, too, is a very 

 rugged, steep mountain mass. Just north of Sentinel peak is 

 another fine example of a bowllike depression cut out by a local 

 valley glacier. A local glacier also lay in the valley next to the 

 north. 



Pitch-off mountain, with altitude 3340 feet at the southern edge 

 of the map area, is the northern slope of the still higher mountain 

 within the Mount Marcy quadrangle. 



St Armand mountain is an irregular mass with several points 

 from 3100 to 3250 feet above sea level. It lies just northeast of 

 Moose mountain, whose altitude is 3921 feet in the Saranac quad- 

 rangle. 



Wilmington mountain is a relatively narrow ridge 7 miles long 

 with a number of points 2800 to 3450 feet above sea level. It is 

 a very rugged, densely wooded mountain rising 1500 feet above the 

 narrow valley on the west and more than 2000 feet above the broad 

 valley on the east. 



Catamount mountain ridge, in the north-central portion of the 

 map area, is about 3^ miles long and relatively broad with its 

 summit (Catamount) 3168 feet above the sea. Its western end 

 rises abruptly 1500 feet and, viewed from the broad valley on the 

 west, it is a very impressive sight (see plate 19). 



On a large scale, Mt Whiteface and Wilmington mountain taken 



