GLACIAL WATERS IN THE LAKE ERIE BASIN 



45 



ment or indentation in the higher ground forming the Cattaraugus 

 valley the higher beaches swing landward, toward the southeast, 

 nearlv to Gowanda, or about 10 miles. Beyond this break, the 

 belt of beaches continues its northeast course, but the beaches 

 lose their continuity and parallelism. From the Cattaraugus to 

 Eden Valley the higher beach, the Whittlesey, can be continuously 

 traced by cliffs or bars, while the lower shore phenomena, the 

 Warren, are discontinuous though strong, and distributed over a 

 belt 2 or 3 miles wide. From Eden Valley to Indian Falls, on the 

 contrary, the Warren beaches become more continuous and direct, 

 while the Whittlesey beach, lying across ridges and valleys, is 

 immature, broken and irregular and weakens and finally disappears 

 near Marilla. 



Throughout its whole extent in New York the Whittlesey beach 

 is characterized by simplicity and unity. When marked by wave- 

 built bars or embankments Of sand and gravel it is single and definite 

 and fairly strong excepting of course toward its extinction east 

 of Buffalo. In this respect the Whittlesey and Warren are very 

 different. The Warren shore phenomena are complex, being only 

 exceptionally a single ridge of gravel. Usually the Warren forms 

 several ridges, variable in strength and altitude. This complexity 

 of the Warren shore will be discussed in a later chapter after the 

 phenomena have been described in more detail. 



In the Huron and western Erie basins the prevailing complexity 

 of the Warren shore phenomena and frequent pronounced du- 

 plicity gave occasion for distinct names and for the belief in two 

 distinct lake levels. The higher of the more persistent ridges was 

 called "Arkona" and the lower "Forest," names given by J. W. 

 Spencer to beaches in Ontario, Can. Throughout the district 

 in New York described in this paper two bars or two series of bars 

 may frequently be recognized, and the names Arkona and Forest 

 have been used by Leverett in the description of this region. 

 While convenient for use in study and discussion the names are 

 inappropriate for final or permanent designation of the New York 

 beaches since the types are far away in another province, implying 

 two lake levels which are not yet proven, and are not descriptive or 

 suggestive of the lake which produced them. The appropriate 

 naming is to designate the beaches fractionally or locally bv some 

 geographic feature, usually a village on the bar, and to 

 refer to the beaches in the comprehensive way as the higher or 

 superior Warren and the lower or inferior Warren. These names 

 will be noncommittal on the question of two distinct lake levels 



