B6: QUATERNARY GEOLOGY AND LANDFORMS BETWEEN BUFFALO AND THE GENESEE VALLEY
R.A.Young
Department of Geological Sciences
SUNY College at Geneseo
Geneseo, New York 14454
and
Jason P. Briner
Department of Geology
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York 14260
INTRODUCTION
The Quaternary geology and landforms in western New York State north of the southern Finger Lakes (Valley Heads moraine) formed during the final recession of the Late Wisconsin ice sheet from its terminal position (Figure 1). There are a few places where Middle Wisconsin drift is preserved, such as in the Genesee Valley (Young and Burr, 2006), that indicate there is a more complex, older glacial record yet to be explored. This field trip explores the dominant geomorphic features created by the final stages of ice recession across a scarp-dominated bedrock landscape from Batavia to the southern Lake Ontario shoreline.
The complex sequence of proglacial lakes that accompanied glacial recession across the Great Lakes region is well documented in the geologic literature of the last century, but some events continue to be subjects of detailed study and debate. For the purposes of this field trip, the creation of glacial Lake Whittlesey (Figure 2) at the time of the Port Huron advance (circa 13,000 14C yrs BP) is an appropriate place to begin a discussion of the major events in western New York that culminated in the formation of early Lake Ontario, Lake Tonawanda, and the development of Niagara Falls in the Niagara Gorge.

B6: QUATERNARY GEOLOGY AND LANDFORMS BETWEEN BUFFALO AND THE GENESEE VALLEY

STOP 1. Buffalo/Niagara Falls moraine complex
The Buffalo/Niagara Falls moraine complex. Gravel quarries are cut into a large outwash fan (labeled Wisconsin outwash gravel (Wog) on Muller (1977) which borders the Buffalo Moraine. Borings made for the study of the gravel aquifer in this area show two till units bracketing up to 40 ft. of sand and gravel, indicating that the outwash fan pre-dates a more recent ice advance. Thin red lake clay partings separate thick rippled sand units, indicating that the outwash sand/gravel was likely deposited subaqueously. The overlying till and sand/gravel unit shows evidence of flow and deformation. The till has been traced at least to the Alden Moraine (Figure 3), 8 km to the south.

Cross Crittenden Rd. and onto Lake Warren beach ridges
Glacial Lakes of the Erie Basin. Because the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) was sourced in the north (Figure 1 ), and Lake Erie drains north, large pro-glacial lakes were created as the LIS flowed into and out of the Lake Erie basin. The highest lake level recorded in the greater Buffalo region, termed Glacial Lake Whittlesey (Figure 2), created mainly an erosional escarpment between 850 and 900 ft. asl (260-274 m asl). Present Lake Erie elevation is 570 ft asl (174 m asl). As the LIS retreated to the Alden, Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Batavia moraines (Figure 3), the lake level dropped to a new level termed Glacial Lake Warren, which deposited beaches along the field trip route from 820 to 850ft. asl (250-260 m asl) between 12,700 and 12,500 14C yr BP. Following Glacial Lake Warren, lower lakes termed Grassmere, Lundy, Algonquin and Dana existed; these lakes pre-date non-glacial Lake Tonawanda (see below), which existed from slightly before 12,000 14C yr BP up to ∼9000 14C yr BP. See shoreline elevations and relative amounts of postglacial uplift on Figure 8.
Key chronological constraints on the glacial history of western New York (from Muller, 1977; Calkin, 1970)_.
14,100 to 13,400 | Valley Heads, Lake Escarpment, Gowanda Moraine deposits
13,000 | Lake Whittlesey, Hamburg Moraine
12,700 | Lake Warren (high stand), Alden Moraine
12,500 | Lake Warren (low stand), Batavia Moraine, Niagara Falls Moraine
12,400 to 9,000 | Existence of Lake Tonawanda
12,200 to 11,000 | Lake Iroquois (main phase)

This road closely follows the Batavia moraine.
The Batavia moraine near Batavia has noticeably greater and more irregular relief than the moraines that will be visited to the north and west. This is due, in part, to the formation of some of the younger moraines at a submerged ice front (Figure 7). In this environment moraines are subject to being covered by lacustrine sediments and then to being winnowed and eroded by waves as lake levels fall. The west end of the Batavia moraine (930+ ft as1) projects above the elevations of Lake Warren, and thus it would have escaped wave erosion when an eastern finger of Lake Warren formed a narrow extension into the Genesee Valley with shorelines at current elevations close to 860 ft asl near Geneseo, NY. While driving along this Batavia moraine segment, note its dimensions and relief for comparison with the more subdued Barre moraine to be visited later (Figures 3, 5). According to Calkin (1970) the Batavia moraine is believed to have formed around the time of the lowest Lake Warren stage, which coincided with ice recession from that position (Figure 3). Lake Warren had three phases, Warren I and II are higher and older, Warren III is the lowest and youngest, and followed a short-lived drop to a "Lake Wayne" stage (Figure 8).

Route crosses crest of Batavia moraine.

STOP 2. Onondaga Limestone Outcrop
Traveling North, Maple Rd. drops off the Onondoga Escaprment. Old quarry and recycling center exposes Onondoga limestone (Middle Devonian). Note how, in general, the regionÕs resistant bedrock units lead to relief (30-100 ft. escarpments, Figure 12 ) that dwarfs the glacial topography. STOP 2. Examine the nature of the resistant Onondaga Formation.

Crossing Nichols Hill drumlin.
Note height and trend of this prominent drumlin.

Begin ascent of drumlin along its axis.

STOP 3. Tonawanda Lowland.
Pullout on right side of road affords nice view of drumlin relief and inter-drumlin bog (Figure 13). The two drumlins here, trending WSW, show the direction of ice flow during the late stages of the last glaciation.
This location is approximately one mile north of the southern edge of Lake Tonawanda (note surrounding wetlands), which was nearly 7 miles wide at this longitude. Lake TonawandaÕs northern limit was determined by the rising dip slope of the Lockport Escarpment. The southern limit was formed, in part, by moraines (Figure 3) and by the gradual increase in elevation toward the Onondaga Escarpment (Figure 7). Lake Tonawanda formed following the lowering of Lake Warren toward the Lake Iroquois level, which is north of the Lockport Escarpment (Figure 3). Lake Tonawanda had several northerly outlets (Figure 3, Arrows), which are progressively older and higher toward the east. Lake Tonawanda waters flowed off the escarpment into Lake Iroquois, when it first formed. As shown on Figure 2, the easternmost outlet formed first and was succeeded in turn by the more westerly outlets as indicated by letters A through E on Figure 3. Current threshold elevations near the eastern (Holley outlet) are near 650 feet, whereas the threshold elevations near Gasport are closer to 600 feet. The westerly displacement of the outlets was dictated by the greater amount of postglacial rebound toward the northeast (Figure 8). Eventually the Lake drained completely after the outflow was shifted toward the modern position of the Niagara River.

Veer left as road descends northern drumlin flank.

Note stony till just south of intersection.
Road crosses Barre moraine.

STOP 4. Eagle Harbor Sand and Gravel quarry. (Lunch)
Part of the Burma Woods esker and kame moraine complex. Dozens of small-scale quarries and this large one in this vicinity.
Burma Woods Esker. This esker and outwash complex (seen in a modern excavation) may have formed during the earliest stage of Lake Tonawanda, when the ice had just retreated from the Barre moraine (Muller and others, 2003). Muller and others (2003) note that the position of this and similar eskers indicates early southward meltwater flow into Lake Tonawanda. Although the esker deposits are not currently visible in the modern pit, it is possible that the deformed sediments being excavated are contemporaneous with an ice position fronting on early Lake Tonawanda. The sediments visible in August 2006 at the working face (Figure 15) indicate that saturated sediments were deformed by intraformational slumping, and possibly by upward groundwater discharge immediately in front of the ice margin. This will be the longest stop on the trip (including lunch) and will allow time for discussion of how the currently exposed sedimentary structures may relate to the history of ice recession from the Barre moraine, or to the development of Lake Tonawanda.

STOP 5. Burma Woods esker
Turn left onto Maple St. and pull off to the right at one tenth of a mile to see the roadcut through the Burma Woods esker. This esker is only several meters high, but contains well-rounded sand and cobbles with some boulders. Watch for traffic.

This road is built atop the Barre Moraine.
Note how the Burma Woods esker trends perpendicularly to the Barre Moraine (Figures 3, 5).

STOP 6. Lake Tonawanda spillway.
This is the location of one of the main spillways from Lake Tonawanda across the Lockport Escarpment south of Medina (see Figure 3 and discussion for Stop 3). At this location the lake outflow was able to cut down through the Barre Moraine, probably beginning at a low saddle in the moraine crest.

Cross Lake Tonawanda outlet channel.

STOP 7. Victor Fitchlee Park
Rest stop and short walk into Royalton Ravine (lake outlet at East branch of Eighteenmile Ck). This Park has restroom facilities and is located adjacent to a deep outlet channel passing through Gasport. A short walk down Royaltine Ravine leads to the broader Tonawanda channel, and the Ravine exposes shaley bedrock, which indicates how thin the glacial drift is at this location.

View to left off of Niagara Escarpment.
Smoke stack in distance on shore of Lake Ontario, 12 miles away.

Road follows old Earie Canal

Note series of locks to get the Erie Canal across the Niagara Escarpment.

STOP 8. Outwater Park.
Overlook to Lake Ontario from top of Niagara Escarpment.

STOP 9.Fossiliferous surface of the Lockport Dolomite.
Hidden driveway on right leads to footpath to old quarry site where glacial drift has been stripped away revealing a striated fossiliferous surface of the Lockport Dolomite.

Good exposure on left of Medina Group
Good exposure on left of Medina Group in Niagara Escarpment. Alternate STOP 9.

Glacial lake Iroquois.
Route 104 follows the glacial Lake Iroquois beach.
Glacial Lake Iroquois is probably the best known of the proglacial lake stages in the Ontario basin, because of its prominent relief and the location of the original Route 104, which followed its course along much of the lake shore. The development of the Niagara Gorge and the retreat of Niagara Falls, and their relationship to Lake Tonawanda, are complex and interesting stories, described recently by Brett and Calkin (1996) in the guidebook for the Northeast Section Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Buffalo.
Lake Iroquois formed around 12,200 14C yrs BP, and persisted for several hundred years, based on existing chronology and the strong development of its shoreline. Many of its features are as well developed as those seen along the modern shoreline of Lake Ontario. It is not generally realized that Lake Ontario subsequently reached a much lower level when the ice sheet finally vacated the north flank of the Adirondacks (Covey Hill outlet) and Lake Iroquois waters escaped to the Atlantic Ocean (glacially lowered) via the St. Lawrence Valley. Since reaching this lower level, which was between 200 and 300 feet lower at Rochester, NY, the modern lake has been steadily rising to its present level. This is the result of postglacial tilting of the basin and uplift of the threshold that controls flow out through the St. Lawrence River. It was previously thought that Lake Ontario was a marine or brackish arm of the ocean for a short period (Champlain Sea), but modern studies have demonstrated that marine waters did not advance much west of Ogdensburg, NY, during that post-Iroquois, early Lake Ontario low stand. Further reading about the glacial history of the Ontario and Erie basins is contained in Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 30, Quaternary Evolution of the Great Lakes (Karrow and Calkins, 1985), and in Special Paper 35, The Late Quaternary Development of the Champlain Sea Basin (Gadd, 1988).

Road is still on a beach berm
Here, the road is still on a beach berm, but this beach is a spit-like feature that diverges westward from the main Iroquois beach strand.

STOP 10.
Stop to see sand and gravel of the Iroquois beach.

You immediately drive off Iroquois beach
You immediately drive off Iroquois beach and onto flat Iroquois lake plain.

STOP 11. Wilson Tuscarora State Park (time permitting).
Compare character of modem Ontario beach and its sediments with those most recently viewed at Stop 10.