r38 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



depths with recent accumulations. This inferiority of the 

 channels to the Iroquois lake surface may be at least partly 

 attributed to the excavating power of the great rivers, com- 

 parable to Niagara. The lower section of the Burnet Park chan- 

 nel is a cataract gorge, and might have been cut by the plunging 

 waters to a depth of many feet below the surface of the receiv- 

 ing lake. The inferiority of the channels may also be explained 

 by assuming that Lake Iroquois had a lower level in the Syra- 

 cuse region in its earlier phase than it had in its later phase. 

 Such a change in level would have resulted from the relative 

 lifting of the outlet during the life of the lake. It is quite possi- 

 ble that some westward tilting of the Iroquois basin occurred 

 during the life of the lake, but we have no measure of it. In 

 the former report it was shown" that between Richland and 

 Watertown there is slight evidence of north and. south tilting 

 during Iroquois time, though the post-Iroquois tilting amounts 

 to over 5 feet to the mile. 



The data at present available for this discussion are not suffi- 

 cient for definite conclusions. 



Description of the channels 

 Channels at Syracuse 

 On the meridian of Syracuse the northernmost channel leads 

 east from the center of the city. Related to this is another 

 and lower channel on the west leading into the city. A line 

 joining the two passes directly through the center of the city. 1 

 The western channel {see pi. 11-13) which we may call the Bur- 

 net Park channel, heads 3-J miles west of the center of 

 Syracuse and 1 mile south of Solvay village. The four 

 cornprs south of Solvay are on the north bank near the 

 head of the channel, and the Solvay Process Co.'s carrier cable 

 crosses the head or intake of the channel. The map contours 

 clearly show the depression. The altitude of the head of the 

 channel is, by the map, 500 feet above tide. The upper part of 

 the channel, leading southeast, is in limestone, probably the 



x See plate 8, which uses a portion of the Syracuse sheet. 



