BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 5, pp. 339-356, PL. 14 MARCH 22, 1894 



LAKE CAYUGA A ROCK "BASING 



V 



BY RALPH S. TARR 



{Presented before the Society December 29, 1893) 

 CONTENTS 



Page 



Physical Geography of the Region .studied 339 



Finger Lakes 339 



Topography of the central Area 349 



Drainage 34O 



Cayuga Lake and Valley 34I 



Seneca Lake and Valley 342 



Review of Opinions of previoLis Writers .' 342 



Observations and Interpretations 348 



Evidence of buried Valleys .348 



Evidence of Salmon Creek ,348 



Evidence of Six-mile Creek . . 350 



Conditions favoring Formation of Rock Basins 350 



Rhythm of Deposition and Erosion 



352 



Northward Flow of Cayuga River 352 



• Evidence that Lake Ontario is a Rock Basin .354 



Summary ; 355 



Partial Bibliography of Finger Lake Region 306 



Physical Geography of the Region studied. 



Finger Lakes. — In central New York there is a series — a dozen or more 

 in all — of long, nearly parallel lakes to which the general name Finger 

 lakes is applied. Several of these, notably Cayuga and Seneca, are ex- 

 tremely long ('om])ared with their width. These lakes, although nearly 

 parallel, are not strictly so, ])ut converge slightly toward a common center 

 at some point near the northern shore of lake Ontario, which lies imme- 

 diately to the north. At present all these lakes, with the exception of 

 one or two minute ones, drain northward and eventually enter lake 

 Ontario mostly through Oswego river, which flows eastward for a dis- 



* The author is indebted to Mr A. S, Eakle for assistance in the preparation of the illustrations 

 accompanying this paper. 



XLVII-Bur.r,. C4Eor,. Sor. Am., Vor,. 5. 1893. (339) 



