REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 



Glacial striae. Over a large part of the area of the sheet the 

 striations on the rocks show that the ice which produced them 

 was moving in a southerly direction. This is not the usual di- 

 rection in the Adirondack region, and these markings were evi- 

 dently produced by ice whose direction of movement was con- 

 trolled by the meridional depression of the Champlain valley. 

 On Band hill the direction was midway between this and the 

 usual southwesterly direction which prevails throughout the 

 northern Adirondacks, the readings varying between s 5° w and 

 s 30 D w. 



Water levels. 8igns of the action of standing water are numer- 

 ous in the region, but the writer has been unable to give them 

 the attention they deserve and can speak of them only in pre- 

 liminary fashion. Fragmentary beaches and terraces are found 

 at the 360 and 440 foot levels, less well marked at 280 feet and 

 somewhat doubtfully at 540 feet. The two best denned levels 

 are marked by fragmentary beach ridges, behind which are often 

 long narrow marshy strips, and by sand delta levels in the Little 

 Chazy river. North of West Chazy what resemble cliffs and 

 wave-cut terraces appear at these levels, but some hesitation is 

 felt in ascribing this origin to them, since they are found at other 

 levels also, and the rocks are so resistant that the length of time 

 required for the work would seem out of all proportion to the 

 length of time during which the water stood at these levels, as 

 indicated by the strength of the beaches and delta terraces. 

 Wave action was probably effective in sweeping away all fine 

 material from the benches, but that they were cut by the waves 

 is not thought probable. The cliffs may be fault scarps. 



Baldwin reports marine shells from Plattsburg township at 

 340 feet, and there can be no question that the water level at 440 

 feet represents marine submergence to that depth. But signs of 

 wave action between 500 and 540 feet were noted in several places, 

 and it should be added that one of the great sand terrace levels 

 in the Saranac valley has the same altitude. On the turnpike at 

 West Beekmantown and southward is much sand at 520 to 540 

 feet with strong resemblance to a beach. There is a sand ter- 



