REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I916 39 



This condition harmonizes with the evidence of very slight glacial 

 erosion in the bottoms of all but a few of the valleys occupied 

 by glaciers, and with the fact that the moraines of the local glaciers 

 are built largely of drift previously deposited by the continental 

 glacier. 



All these features indicate that the local glaciation of the Cat- 

 skills, though extensive, could not have been of long duration. 



The moraines of the local glaciers are remarkably fresh and 

 distinct and are undoubtedly among the most recent glacial deposits 

 of the region. The evidences upon which a statement of the 

 exact date of local glaciation might be based have been partly 

 worked out, but not in sufficient detail to warrant review here. 



Broader problems. The work of the past summer, in addition 

 to its contribution to the knowledge of the local details of the glacial 

 history of the Catskills, brought forward two major problems of 

 more than local interest. 



The first is based on the seeming greater age of the glacial 

 deposits in the lea of the Catskills than elsewhere, and may be 

 stated as follows : Did the ice of the last glacial epoch (possibly 

 corresponding to the Late Wisconsin of the Middle West), though 

 it pushed into the northern and eastern Catskills, fail to override 

 the southern ranges? 



The second is based on the somewhat anomalous phenomenon 

 of extensive, though seemingly short-lived, local glaciation in a 

 region far to the south of such mountain groups as the White 

 mountains, Green mountains and Adirondack^ where the evidence 

 hitherto presented indicates a very limited development of local 

 glaciers at the close of the last glacial epoch. The problem may 

 be stated thus : Is the local glaciation of the Catskills a border 

 phenomenon of an ice sheet which ended in the Catskills, or is it 

 merely a phenomenon of the retreat of the continental glacier from 

 its maximum limits in New Jersey and Pennsylvania? 



The solution of these two closely related problems should be 

 made the first object of future studies. 



INDUSTRIAL GEOLOGY 



Mr David H. Newland reports as follows: 



Mining summary. The U9iial summary of the mining develop- 

 ments, with statistics of production, was presented in the form of 

 an annual bulletin for the information and guidance of those inter- 

 ested in the local resources. The year's contribution of crude 



