GEOLOGY OF THE LAKE PLACID QUADRANGLE 83 



Eastern portion of Upper Lake Newman. The life of the east- 

 ern portion of Upper Lake Newman was probably relatively short 

 compared with that of the western area, for the terraces are very 

 indefinite and the separation of the benches into an upper and a 

 lower series does not exist, or at least can not be demonstrated. 

 Thus soon after the establishment of greater Upper Newman, the 

 outlet was changed, perhaps rapidly deepened by the additional 

 volume of water from the eastern section, so that the waters fell 

 to the level of Lower Lake Newman. 



Upper series: eastern and western sections. Lower Lake 

 Newman. This lake was of still greater extent than any of the 

 above-described bodies of water. Its northern, and especially the 

 northwestern, extent and boundaries are still to be studied and 

 worked out. Our present knowledge would lead us to conclude, 

 however, that the valleys occupied by the West and East branches 

 of the Ausable river were flooded, the connecting link between the 

 two being the Wilmington notch. This is inferred by the fact that 

 deltas and terraces at similar heights were found to the east and 

 west of the Notch; how else could the waters of the two areas 

 have been confluent? These waters thus flooded the area covered 

 by Lake Placid and the greater portion of the Saranac quadrangle. 

 As the ice barrier retreated the area around Franklin Falls was 

 covered by the later stages of Lower Lake Newman. The outlet 

 is assumed to have been west, although its location is at present 

 unknown. It is possible, though exceedingly unlikely, that the 

 Chapel pond pass may have been an outlet toward the close of this 

 period, changing the drainage to the east. 



The South Meadows, and the two Newman lakes, probably had 

 outlets to the west; the Keene lake drained south; but the suc- 

 ceeding lake (or group of lakes) had drainage to the east. 



Saranac glacial waters. The series of sand plains, terraces 

 etc. that come under this head were recognized and described by 

 H. P. Gushing,^ in the Saranac region, in what is generally known 

 as the " lake belt." These levels have such a wide range, 1450 

 to 1660 feet, that they must have been produced by a series of 

 glacial lakes, or have been deposited by aggrading streams which 

 no longer exist, or by a combination of both. 



Doctor Gushing is of the opinion that " these sands were prob- 

 ably deposited as deltas in a large irregular, shallow, lake formed 



^ Gushing, H. P., Recent Geological Work in Franklin and St Lawrence 

 Gounties, N. Y., State Mus. Annual Rep't. 1900, p. iV2g. 



