B5: GLACIAL FEATURES AND THE “GREAT DIVIDE” BETWEEN WATKINS GLEN AND ITHACA
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Carol Griggs, Cornell Tree-Ring Lab
Cornell University Ithaca, NY cbg4@cornell.edu
Introduction
Glacial features are generally studied on the large-scale, just as glaciers are naturally large. Here we look at some features in a small valley in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York that are interesting because they were developed by the interaction and possible collisions of ice and meltwater forces on a larger scale when the Valley Heads Moraine was formed. In this study we are looking at conditions that began in approximately 15,000 years cal BP.
The area of study starts in the Susquehanna River Valley in south-central New York State (Figure 1), to the south of the Valley Heads Moraine (VHM). A tributary to the Susquehanna from Bath to Waverly, NY, is the Cohocton River that runs along the southwest side of the VHM at the bottom of the Finger Lakes. It merges with the Tioga River into the Chemung River in Corning, which continues eastward on the south side of Elmira, and joins the Susquehanna River south of Waverly, NY. While Horseheads, NY, sits on an alluvial plain just north of the Chemung, no significant river runs through the city today. Rather the alluvium was deposited by the ice sheet runoff over time, and one of the VH lobes ended just north the city (Figure1).

B5: GLACIAL FEATURES AND THE “GREAT DIVIDE” BETWEEN WATKINS GLEN AND ITHACA

2. Elmira Sandpit

3.Catherine Creek turns arouund

4. Post Office near Mastodon site

5. Top of Valley Heads

6. Dike in Cayuta Lake Basin

7. Potato Hill

8. Cayuta Outlet

9. Middle of valley stop

10. North shore of Cayuta Lake

11. Gap on Swan Hill Road

12. Hendershot Gulf comes out