218 R. S. TAKR — MORAINES OF SENECA AND CAYUGA LAKE VALLEYS 



around the hilly plateau and entered into numerous smaller valleys, 

 even more complex morainic records were left. Since the lake valleys 

 are north-sloping, there were marginal and terminal lake conditions 

 associated with some of the ice stands, and these were continued after 

 the ice front had receded north of the quadrangle. Well defined deltas 

 and extensive sheets of lake clay furnish records of these lake stages. 



General Features of the Moraines 



In composition the moraines vary from lake clay, till, sand, or gravel 

 to almost every conceivable mixture of these materials. In form there 

 is also marked variety, including sag and swell topography, kame topog- 

 raphy, single ridges, groups of ridges, morainic terraces, and kamey ice- 

 front contacts backed by level plains of clay or gravel, marking the sites 

 of marginal lakes. 



In distribution, as shown in plate 36, the moraines seem at first 

 sight to be in almost inextricable confusion. This is due to the fact 

 that during a general stand the ice lobes halted at several successive 

 levels in a region of marked topographic irregularity. At certain levels 

 some of the hills rose as nunataks above the ice, and lateral tongues 

 extended from the major ice lobes into the minor valleys. There are 

 several well defined lateral moraines, each occupying a vertical distance 

 on the hill slope of from 40 to 100 feet, and during the formation of each 

 of these broad lateral moraine belts the ice terminus in each of the val- 

 leys was varying horizontally in position, causing the accumulation of 

 extensive terminal moraines. That between the lateral moraines there 

 were briefer halts is proved by the presence of non-continuous morainic 

 deposits and individual hummocks. These minor stands are doubtless 

 also represented in the terminal moraines of the larger valleys, where 

 even a brief halt made a notable record. # 



To make clear some of the features of the moraines it will be best to 

 examine certain conditions in more detail. 



Well defined lateral Moraines 



On both sides of the Cayuga and Seneca valleys there are traceable 

 lateral moraines at several levels ; but, owing to the influence of topo- 

 graphic irregularity, they are less well defined on the eastern than on the 

 western sides of these valleys. It is on the smooth slope of the western 

 side of the Seneca valley that the lateral moraines are most typically de- 

 veloped, being there almost diagrammatic in their simplicity. Here 

 there are at least five lateral moraines, which west of Watkins lie between 

 the 960 and 1,900 foot contours. The three lower of these run straight 

 along the smooth hill slope, while the two upper are more irregular be- 



