BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 



VOL. 8, PP. 269-284, PL. 30 MARCH 29, 1897 



LAKE WARREN SHORELINES IN WESTERN NEW YORK 



AND THE GENEVA BEACH 



BY H. L. FAIRCHILD 



(Read before the Society December 30, 1896) 



CONTENTS 



P*ge 



Introduction 269 



Maps 272 



Warren shoreline 272 



From Crittenden to Indian Falls . . . 272 



From Indian Falls to Batavia 274 



From Batavia to Caledonia 276 



The Genesee emba) r ment 277 



From Geneseo to Lima ... 277 



East of Lima 281 



Geneva beach 281 



General description 281 



Detailed description 282 



Introduction. 



Lake Warren* is the name given by geologists to an extensive bod}'' of 

 water held at a high level in a portion of the Laurentian basin by a bar- 

 rier of glacial ice which blocked the low eastern outlets. The Laurentide 

 continental glacier, which at its maximum covered all the upper Missis- 

 sippi valley and the basin of the Great Lakes, had at this time receded so 

 as to leave at least the southernmost part of the Laurentian basin exposed. 

 The ice still lay over most of Canada and northeastern New York, and 

 the water in the uncovered part of the basin being unable to escape by 

 the Saint Lawrence or Mohawk valleys, these being still closed b} T the 

 ice-sheet, was compelled to find an outlet to the sea by the Mississippi. 



*The name was proposed by J. W. Spencer in an article in Science, vol. xi, January, 1888, p. 49, 

 in honor of General G. K. Warren. The literature will be found mainly in the writings of J. W. 

 Spencer, Warren Upham, and F. B. Taylor, in the American Journal of Science, American Geol- 

 ogist, and Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 



XL— Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., Vol. 8, 1896 (269) 



