GEOLOGY OF MOUNT MARCY 75 



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 Keene valley j the South 

 Meadows country, the area occupied by Lake Placid today and the 

 greater part of the Saranac quadrangle. Terraces are located on 

 East hill and the hill traversed by the Keene-Cascade Lakes road. 



The outlet of Lower Lake Newman is not definitely known but 

 according to the present data it seems likely that it was to the west. 

 It is possible, though regarded as very unlikely, that the Chapel 

 Pond pass became an outlet at 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 succeeding 

 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 by H. P. Gushing ^ in the 

 Saranac region, in what is generally known as the lake belt. These 

 levels have such a wide range of altitude, 1540 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 com- 

 bination of both. Doctor Gushing is of the opinion that : " these 

 sands were probably deposited as deltas in a large irregular, shallow 

 lake formed back of the ice tongue which occupied the ' lake belt ' 

 during its slow retreat north, the material being furnished by the 

 subglacial and eriglacial streams flowing into the lake at the ice 

 margin." ^ 



As nearly two-thirds of the Saranac sheet exhibits terraces and 

 sand plains of the higher levels, it is not inappropriate that the term 

 Saranac glacial waters should be applied to them. 



The area covered by the Saranac glacial waters varied so much 

 during its existence that it is difficult to give the precise limits within 

 which it lay. During the early stages it was chiefly located in the 

 Saranac quadrangle, while during its closing episodes the Lake 

 Placid sheet came in for its share, the southern- ends of the lake 

 levels extending into the Mount Marcy area. 



The general character of the terraces is that of gentle sloping 

 plains on the mountainsides without any prominent shore line feat- 



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

 Gounties," N. Y. State Mus. Ann. Rep't, 1900, p. 29. 



2 Op. cit. 



