BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 

 Vol. 23, pp. 477-486 OCTOBER 12, 1912 



HANGING VALLEYS AND THEIR PRE-GLACIAL 

 EQUIVALENTS IN NEW YORK ^ 



BY J. W. SPENCER 



{Read before the Society December 29, 1911) 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Historical notes on the rise of our lacustrine geology 477 



Discussion concerning the Finger Lakes 478 



Hanging valley of Taughanuock Falls 480 



Reversals of drainage at the head of Seneca Valley and its excavation. .. 480 



Watkins Glen and its pre-Glacial equivalent 483 



Hanging valleys at the head of Seneca Lake and their pre-Glacial equiva- 

 lents 483 



Hanging valleys here no proof of glacial excavation 484 



Whetstone Gulf and its pre-Glacial valley 484 



Prospect Falls on side of pre-Glacial gorge 485 



Such hanging valleys in northern New York no evidence of glacial erosion. 485 



Historical Notes on the Rise of our lacustrine Geology 



The investigation of the pre-Glacial valleys of the Finger Lakes, or of 

 the Iroquoian Lakes, as designated by Mr. John Corbitt,- was a natural 

 sequel to the study of the origin of the basins of the Great Lakes. As 

 few persons are now remaining familiar with the beginnings of the re- 

 searches into the history of the lakes, some account of these may be 

 introduced. A generation ago the most popular explanation of their 

 origin was that assigning to glaciers the work of having excavated the 

 basins. This theory was based on the opinion of Sir A. Ramsay, of the 

 Geological Survey of Great Britain, who said that "the lake basins could 

 only, I believe, have been scooped out by true continental glacier ice like 

 that of Greenland," a belief based on the one fact that the lakes occur 

 in ice-worn regions. The same conjecture was made in America by Prof. 



1 Manuscript received by the Secretary of the Society January 31, 1912. 

 a Editor of the Schuyler County Chronicle, Watkins, N. Y. 



(477) 



