NYSGA 1974
NEW YORK STATE GEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
46th Annual Meeting October 18-20, 1974
FIELD TRIP GUIDEBOOK
Donald N. Peterson, Editor
EDITORS NOTE
On behalf of the Department of Geology, State University of New York, College at Fredonia, I extend a cordial welcome to the partici pants of the 46th annual meeting of the New York State Geological Association. We hope that your participation will prove to be both enjoyable and educational.
I would like to acknowledge the contributors for taking the time to assist in the preparation of this guidebook. Although I was working with a slight handicap this year (the contributors represent eight different institutions), most of the deadlines were met with a minimum of prodding. Without their cooperation, our hosting of the NYSGA meeting would not have been possible, so, thank you.
I would like to express my gratitude to our departmental secretary, Mrs. Nancy Jagoda, who persevered with me in the preparation and typing of this guidebook, answered correspondence, and performed numerous and sundry jobs in helping to organize the meeting. Thanks also go to Mssrs. Don Burdick and Ron Warren of the Fredonia State Instructional Resource Center who helped in the preparation of some of the illustrations for this guidebook. Last, but not least, I would like to thank Mr. Joe Woloszyn and his staff at the campus print shop who did such a fine job of printing and binding the guidebook.

A: LOCKPORT (MIDDLE SILURIAN) AND ONONDAGA (MIDDLE DEVONIAN) PATCH REEFS IN WESTERN NEW YORK
Donald J. Crowley
State University College, Fredonia, N. Y.
(Field Trip Leader) and
Richard Z. Poore
Brown University
Providence, R. I.
INTRODUCTION
A recent flourish of oil and gas exploration in the, Appalachian Basin has increased the interest in Silurian and Devonian reefs in New York and surrounding states. Although the companies do not expect to find reefs as large as those in the Michigan Basin, recent production of natural gas from Onondaga reefs around Steuben County, N. Y. has been sufficient to bring about a search for other Devonian reefs as well as Silurian reefs.
Patch reefs in the Lockport Formation (Middle Silurian) and Onondaga Limestone (Middle Devonian) are exposed along the northern edge of the Appalachian Basin in Western New York and have been studied in detail. Lockport reefs, occurring in the Gasport Member have been studied by Crowley (1973) and one Onondaga reef near LeRoy, N. Y. has been studied by Poore (1969). The object of this paper and accompanying field trip is to compare the Gasport reefs with the Onondaga reef.

STOP 1. Road cut on escarpment in the village of Pekin
Two patch reefs in the Gasport Member (Lockport Fm) are exposed on the west side of the road cut (See Fig. 4 in report). Lower few feet of the overlying chert-bearing Goat Island Member are also exposed.

STOP 2. Railroad cut on the east side of "The Gulf"
Railroad cut on the east side of "The Gulf", 1.3 miles east on route 31 from intersection with route 78 in Lockport. Lockport 7.5' quad.
2012: As Route 31 is not in the railroad cut, this stop has been located in the railroad cut, about 1.3 miles east of the intersection between Routes 78 and 31.
DeCew Member and the crinoidal bar facies of the Gasport (Lockport Fm.) are exposed. This is the most fossiliferous exposure of the Gasport and preservation of fossils is also good. Coral thickets form lenses in the crinoidal bar facies.

STOP 3. Frontier Stone Products quarry
All Gasport facies (Lockport Fm.) are exposed including several patch reefs. Stromatoporoid cap facies forms light band near the top of the quarry walls. A few feet of the Goat Island Member is exposed above the light band and the floor of the quarry is the top of the DeCew Member.

STOP 4. Abandoned quarry ("LeRoy quarry").
Patch reef in Onondaga Limestone exposed in the middle of the quarry. Edgecliff and the lower part of the Clarence member exposed around the outside quarry wall. (See Fig. 8 in report for cross section of reef).

B: UPPER DEVONIAN STRATIGRAPHY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NY
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF UPPER DEVONIAN UNITS TO BE OBSERVED ON CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY FIELD TRIP
Irving H. Tesmer
Geosciences Department
SUNY College, Buffalo, NY 14222
PREVIOUS WORK
The first major work related to the geology of Chautauqua County appears in James Hall's (1843) Survey of the Fourth Geologic District. Chautauqua County stratigraphy was later studied in greater detail and modified by such workers as Clarke (1903), Chadwick (1923; 1924), Caster (1934), Pepper and de Witt (1950; 1951) and de Witt and Colton (1953). New York State Museum Bulletin 391 (Tesmer, 1963) describes the stratigraphy and paleontology of Chautauqua County.
Devonian stratigraphic nomenclature pertinent to this region his been subject to various interpretations (e.g., Rickard, 1964 and Oliver et al., 1969). In this guidebook, the present author follows the-stratigraphic terminology used in his other publications (Tesmer 1963; 1966; 1967; 1974; Buehler and Tesmer 1963).
NOTES ON THE AMMONOID AND CONODONT ZONATIONS OF THE UPPER DEVONIAN OF SOUTHWESTERN NEW YORK
William Kirchgasser
Department of Geological Sciences
SUNY College at Potsdam
INTRODUCTION
The sequence of zones currently recognized for the upper part of the Upper Devonian of New York is based on research by House (1962, et al.) on the ammonoid (goniatite) cephalopods and by Hass (1958) and Huddle (in Oliver and others, 1968 and Klapper and others, 1971) on conodonts. During the course of their studies of the succession in southwestern New York the author has had the opportunity to work with Michael House and John Huddle and the notes which follow summarize their reports to date. The zonations and the horizons from which biostratigraphically important faunas have been recorded are shown in Figure 1. Although the New York record for the upper part of the Upper Devonian is far from complete, correlations have been made at several levels with the standard zonal sequences of Europe.
Above the Dunkirk Shale, horizons yielding determinable ammonoid and conodont faunas decrease in frequency as the offshore shales with calcareous horizons and pelagic faunas interfinger with and are overlain by thick sequences of silty shales, siltstones and sandstone with benthonic faunas, and non-marine units in the upper part. The Dunkirk is the highest major black shale in the succession and above this level the subdivision and regional correlation of the rocks have proved to be more difficult than lower down in the section where black shale horizons provide stratigraphic control. Because key faunal horizons are scattered and difficult to trace, the positions of many zonal boundaries are not known with certainty.
Ammonoids are rare in New York above the Gowanda Shale and, in this part of the succession, conodonts would seem to offer the most promise for further zonal refinement.

B: UPPER DEVONIAN STRATIGRAPHY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NY

Several levels of river terraces
Several levels of river terraces are exposed on each side of the bus at this point associated with higher stages of Lake Erie.

Cross Canadaway Creek Bridge.
Good exposures of the Gowanda shale at this point continue upstream to Laona, NY.

Stream terraces and an oxbow lake
Well-defined stream terraces can be seen on the right side of the bus. An abandoned oxbow lake can be observed 25 feet above the present level of the creek.

Type section of the Laona Siltstone
100 feet to the right (west) of this intersection is the type section of the Laona Siltstone exposed in a small waterfall.

Road cut through semi-stabilized landslides on left of bus.
Hill is composed of till overlying proglacial lake deposits. The creek flows in bedrock 200 feet to the right (W).

Exposures of the Westfield Shale are seen on the right side of the bus.

STOP 1. Shumla Siltstone
Exposures examined here are the type section of this unit. The lower contact is exposed downstream from the bridge. The underlying Westfield shale includes interbedded siltstones and shales. The base of the Shumla is marked by a massive siltstone which grades upward into increasingly thinner bedded units. These strata in turn grade upward into interbedded siltstones and shales which characterize the overlying Northeast shale. Trace fossils are abundant in several zones in these outcrops as are sedimentary structures including ripple marks, flute casts, and soft sediment deformation.

Passing the crest of the Pleistocene beach ridge of Glacial Lake Whittlesey.

The bus will pass over the Lake Warren beach complex in the next 0.3 miles.

Crest of Warren II beach
Mobil station on the right is near the crest of Warren II beach and it displays the best topographic expression of all the beaches along this traverse. Dunkirk Ready-Mix plant is located in the beach deposit.

STOP 2. Hanover Shale and Dunkirk Shale
Exposures allow the examination of the contact between the grey-green Hanover Shale and the black, fissile Dunkirk Shale. Numerous pyritized worm burrows and carbonized plant stems are seen at this locality. Rare specimens of the inarticulate brachiopod Barrolsella compbelli have also been collected. Exposures of a "bedded" till are also exposed along the eastern side of the headland overlying a striated surface of Dunkirk Shale.

On left is gas wellhead
On left is gas wellhead, one of approximately 60 wells drilled during the past 2 years in Chautauqua County. Production comes from the Silurian Medina Sandstone.

Bridge over Little Canadaway Creek.
Exposures are in the South Wales Shale.

Bridge over Slippery Rock Creek.
Exposures include the South Wales at the lake shore and Gowanda Shale at the bridge and upstream.

Bridge over Corell Creek.
Exposures are the Gowanda Shale.

STOP 3. Gowanda Shale, Corell's Point Fauna
Park on shoulder beyond the entrance to the trailer park on the right (N) side of the road. Walk down to the beach turn to the left (SW) and proceed approximately 100 yards.
Exposures at about lake level continue for approximately 100 yards. Cephalopods are pyritized and concentrated in bands, the most prominent of which is approximately 2 feet below a conspicuous zone of very large septarian concretions. This exposure is also notable for the bedrock-till contact which includes till injected along bedding planes and the incorporation of large blocks of bedrock in the till.

Elongate glacial landforms
On the left of the bus (S) observe the elongate glacial landforms which characterize this specific portion of the lake plain. These deposits may represent reworked sand deposits of higher lake stages.

Bridge over unnamed creek.
Exposures of Gowanda Shale include a 15 foot waterfall at the lake.

Bridge over Bournes Creek.
Exposures of Gowanda Shale and Laona Siltstone.

First Lighthouse illuminated by natural gas in U.S.A.

Crossing Glacial Lake Whittlesey beach crest?

Bridge over Little Chautauqua Creek gorge.

Pull off road onto shoulder for overview.
Stop is located on the lake escarpment moraine. Optional lake plain overview.

Chautauqua Lake.
Field trip route will traverse over Pleistocene and Recent Alluvial sand and silt for the next several miles.

Route now travels over Kent ground moraine.

Cross Prendergast Creek and drive onto Kent end moraine.

STOP 4. Panama Conglomerate Member of the Cattaraugus Formation
Exposures examined here constitute the type section of this unit. A thickness of approximately 70 feet is exposed. The conglomerate is cross-bedded in part and consists predominantly of milky quartz with occasional jasper pebbles averaging less than one inch in diameter. Localized weathering and erosion along joints account for the various "dens", "alleys", and special shapes which characterize Panama Rocks Park.

Kent end moraine
Route between Panama, NY and Ashville traverses over a Kent end moraine which is somewhat older than the one observed at mile 44.5.

STOP 5. Ellicott Member of the Chadakoin Formation
Exposures in this Erie-Lackawana railroad cut are very fossiliferous. The fauna includes brachiopods Camarotoechla, Cyrtospirifer and Productella and pelecypods Leptodesma and Mytilarca.

STOP 6. Dexterville and Ellicott Members of the Chadakoin Formation
The exposures in this inactive quarry represent the type section of both members. The lower unit, the Dexterville, is predominantly shale. Good fossil collecting is possible from both members at this location. Pugnoides duplicatus is restricted to the Dexterville strata and has been used as an index fossil for that unit. Rare specimens of very poorly preserved glass sponges have been collected from these exposures.

Airport overview.
Panoramic view of the glaciated terrain. Uplands are predominately Kent ground moraine. Glacial streamlining is very obvious.

Kent stratified drift deposits.
Between Gary, NY and Sinclairville, Route 60 traverses a series of Kent stratified drift deposits. The flood plain of Cassadaga Creek observed on the left (W) of the bus is recent alluvium and stream gravels.

Outwash plain of lake escarpment moraine
complex.

Bedded sands and gravels in pits behind
trailers.

Lake escarpment moraine front .

Typical morainal topography.

Landslides in complex glacial deposits
Landslides in complex glacial deposits which include varved clays deposited in a proglacial lake as well as till of Lake escarpment age.

C: LATE MIDDLE AND EARLY UPPER DEVONIAN DISCONFORMITIES AND PALEOECOLOGY OF THE MOSCOW FORMATION IN WESTERN ERIE COUNTY
Carlton E. Brett
Department of Geological Sciences
SUNY at Buffalo
INTRODUCTION
Since the time of Cooper's (1930) survey of the Hamilton Group in New York State, it has been well established that the stratigraphic sections exposed in Erie County are relatively incomplete compared to the section in Central New York, particularly in the upper Hamilton Group. Clastic sediments derived from highlands to the east often failed to reach western New York. Thus, thin lag deposit limestones and scoured contacts between members or individual beds may be time equivalent to thick sequences of shales and siltstones in the east.
In western New York the Windom Member of the Moscow Formation is bounded above and below by unconformities representing two fairly major periods of non-deposition. Careful examination of the contacts provides evidence that these were also periods of erosion suggesting local shoaling of the seas. These disconformities are described in some detail in the present paper because of their implications in the interpretation of the depositional environments of the Moscow and overlying (Upper Devonian) Genesee Formation.
The study area covered in this report (Fig. 1) includes all outcrops form Cazenovia Creek at Spring Brook (Orchard Park 7.5 min. quad.) to Pike Creek near Derby, NY (Eden 7.5 min quad.) a total distance of about 20 miles.

C: LATE MIDDLE AND EARLY UPPER DEVONIAN DISCONFORMITIES AND PALEOECOLOGY OF THE MOSCOW FORMATION IN WESTERN ERIE COUNTY

STOP 1. Cazenovia Creek at Northrup Rd.
A good exposure of Ludlowville Moscow contact can be seen on the left bank just downstream from the bridge. A thick section of Tichenor Limestone with basal shaley layer containing large favositids is overlain by the Trachypora bed of the Kashong Member about 11-14 in. thick containing abundant crinoid columnals, the coral Trachypora, large pelecypods, and gastropods. The base of the Moscow is the contact between the Kashong and Tichenor. The Kashong-Windom contact is marked by a rusty layer containing abundant crinoidal debris and Ambocoelia umbonata with occasional reworked specimens of Trachypora from the underlying Kashong. About 74 in. of Ambocoelia beds are present in the lower Windom here followed by (inaccessible) ledges of the calcareous Spinatrypa and coral-trilobite beds.
At the falls east of Northrup Road, the Tichenor lower contact with the fossiliferous Wanaka shale can also be seen. High cliffs which can be seen in the distance upstream from the falls exposes about 40 ft. of Windom capped by the black Genesee shales and Genundewa limestone.

STOP 2.
Proceed down dirt path on the left side of the road near utility poles. At the bottom turn left and walk to exposure on Cazenovia Creek bank. Here the upper Windom Shale is at water level, the Genundewa Limestone of the Genesee Formation forming a projecting ledge. About 1 mile downstream is a good exposure of the Moscow/Genesee contact. About 20 in. of black Geneseo shale separates the Upper Windom (Praeumbona Beds) from the Genundewa. At intervals, lenses of Liecester Pyrite 0.5-6 in. thick occur at the contact. These are fossiliferous and contain an assemblage of diminutive brachiopods and mollusks. One lens along this section shows interbedding of the pyrite with black Geneseo shale. The basal layer of the Genundewa at this locality contains abundant, well-preserved fish bones.

Bridge on U.S. 20 over Smokes Creek
Bridge on U.S. 20 over Smokes Creek (Type locality of the Windom is north, downstream) Orchard Park Stadium on left side.

STOP 3. Cloverbank Quarry.
Leased quarry of Lehigh Cement Co., on east side of Versailles-Pennsylvania R.R. tracks about .3 miles southwest of the intersection of the tracks and Clover Bank Road.
The Quarry walls about 50 ft. high expose the Upper Devonian Middlesex-Cashaqua Shale, floored mainly by the shaley upper contact of the Genudewa limestone and the West River shale. In a narrow pit the Genundewa is breached and a section extends down some 8-10 ft. to, or just belew, the Praeumbona bed of the Windom shale. The Windom here is in contact with the North Evans Limestone and the contact is an erosion surface showing characteristic "rip-up" horizon. The uppermost Windom bed is a concretionary, calcareous, grey (1-3 in.) shale or argillaceous limestone. It appears to be unfossiliferous. The upper layer is undulating and pieces of this layer have been incorporated into the overlying North Evans as "slices" which appear to be cracked and torn up. Others occur as rounded chunks. The crinoidal debris of the North Evans appears within cracks in fue Windom upper layer as if injected. Some of the pieces of the upper Windom bed have greenish stains on the surface suggestive of glauconite. The North Evans contains much debris including abundant fish plates and teeth, phosphatic nodules, much pyrite (note rusty stains), and a few invertebrate fossils : crinoid plates and rugose corals. The Genundewa itself is only about 6 in. thick and quickly grades into a somewhat sandy shale (West River). It is in direct undulating contact with the underlying North Evans although in places this contact is obscure.
2012: GE photo from 3/27/95 shows quarry before real estate development. Since then, it looks like it's gone...

Town of Wanakah.
Type locality for the Wanakah shale (Ludlowville Formation).

STOP 4. Eighteenmile Creek
Section 5 About 1/4 mile south of the bridge at route 5 over Eighteenmile Creek, the creek makes a major U-bend and swings around from southwest to northeast. Due south from the bridge on the left side of the stream is a large meander scar, then the bank rises steeply where the stream is actively cutting into the Tichenor Limestone. Here the Tichenor forms a slightly undercut ledge about 1-2 ft. from the water edge, for about 1/4 mile to a small falls. The lower beds of the Windom Shale (here about 17 ft. thick) are easily studied here. The upper 1-3 ft. or so of the Wanakah which is exposed here is quite fossiliferous. The Tichenor is 1 foot thick, massive and contains abraded crinoid columnals and other fossils. Its upper surface is notably rich in the pelecypod Plethomytilus here, and contains traces of burrows. At this locality a zone of shale about 3 in. thick in direct contact with upper Tichenor Limestone contains waterworn fragments of brachiopods (Spinocyrtia), limestone pebbles eroded from the underlying Tichenor, and rounded black pebbles (0.2-0.5 in.) probably phosphatic. A large crinoid root (scutella-form) was in place on the upper surface as well as bored and abraded shells. The lowest 2 ft. of the Windom contain the extremely rich Ambocoella beds, and these are overlain by classically developed coral beds (3 in. thick) with large Cystiphylloides and the brachiopods Atrypa, Spinatrypa, followed by one foot of calcareous shale containing Amplexiphylloldes, Stereolasma, Mucrospirifer consobrinus, and well preserved trilobite remains. Poorly preserved Nuclulites are found in the middle of these shales and just a few inches above the "trilobite-coral" layer a few pyritized fossils (Bucanopsis and nautiloids) were obtained. Associated with these (just below) was a thin unfossiliferous, calcareous lens and above some Mediospirifer and corals were collected.
Most of the overlying shales are barren, although near the top, the slightly concretionary calcareous Praeumbona bed contains abundant brachiopods. The Genundewa Limestone overlies the Windom about 17 ft. above the Tichenor. Fallen blocks reveal a thin coating of "Conodont bed" adhering to the underside of the Genundewa. This unit contains pieces of upper Windom argillaceous limestone as well as dark shale pebbles.
The section is capped by about 20 ft. of Genesee Formation and massive jointed Middlesex black shale fallen blocks of the yield plant remains.
Section 4. Proceeding upstream from the falls at section 5, Eighteenmile Creek bends to the south. About 500 ft. above the falls a steep bank on the south (right) side of the creek exposes a section of some 75 ft. (Section 4). At the top of the bank the black Rhinestreet Shale (Upper Devonian, West Falls formation) forms a nearly vertical wall. Below it is the greenish-grey Cashaqua, blocky black Middlesex Shale (two members of the Sonyea formation), and a dark-grey West River Shale. The Genundewa limestone forms a projecting ledge at the base of the cliff. The "Conodont bed" (North Evans) is either missing or occurs as very thin patches on the underside of the ledge. A few feet of Windom crop out beneath the ledge. The creek is very deep next to this section and therefore it is difficult to examine in detail.
Section 3. Opposite the upper end of section 4 the creek swings back north and cuts the end of a promontory on the north side of the channel. Here an easily accessible section of upper Windom to Cashaqua can be seen. Note the double concretionary layer in the upper Windom. The basal Genundewa has black shaley seams, but the "Conodont bed" is apparently absent here.
Section 1. If time and creek conditions permit, we will proceed around the end of the promontory and upstream (east) about 500 ft. to exposures on the left bank near the trestle of N. Y. Central Railroad. Here in the type locality, the North Evans Limestone thickens to a maximum of about 4 in. In places, interbeds of dark shale separate the North Evans limestone into two bands. The unit is also separated from the overlying Genundewa by a black shale seam.
Return to the bus via a dirt path running from the end df the promontory at section 3 to the end of Basswood Drive. Access to sections of Eighteenmile Creek from private lands has been provided by kind permission of the owners, Mr. S. Prahovic and Mr. W. F. McLimans. Please respect this privilege.

D: FROM LAKE ERIE TO THE GLACIAL LIMITS AND BEYOND (or What the Glaciers Did For Us)
E. H. Muller
Geology Department
Syracuse University
R. K. Fahnestock
SUNY, Fredonia
Today's trip will take us from Fredonia southeastward to Olean returning by way of Otto (The route and features of this trip will be found on Plate 1). Leaving the Erie lake plain in the morning, the route crosses the glaciated plateau to the edge of the unglaciated Salamanca re-entrant. Topographic features ond surface glacial deposits are progressively older southward, ranging from nearshore deposits of Lake Warren across moraines of the plateau margin to early Wisconsin features of the Olean drift border. Deposits of post-Sangamon, pre-Farmdale age will be studied in exposures at Otto.

D: FROM LAKE ERIE TO THE GLACIAL LIMITS AND BEYOND (or What the Glaciers Did For Us)

Continue up the Water Street hill
Continue up the Water Street hill, climbing above the creek terraces graded to the Lakes Warren and lower levels of the glacial Great Lakes.

Beach-delta complex of Lake Whittlesey
At the top of the hill the level plain is a beach-delta complex formed at the Lake Whittlesey level, 830 ft. at this point. Lake Whittlesey shoreline rises about 1 foot per mile toward Buffalo.
To the Southwest a drift-free bench (1) (the circled numbers refer to location on Plate 1.) marks one of the many ice marginal drainage channels. The north wall of this channel must have been the glacier. Beyond the bench lies the escarpment. The escarpment which separates the lake plains from the plateau has been called the Portage Escarpment, but it is developed on the Canadaway Formation in this area. The escarpment bears no relationship to the Portage Group, which does not crop out in Chautauqua County. The Canadaway Formation totals about 950 feet and is composed dominantly of shale. The Laona and Shumla Members, each about 30 feet thick are largely siltstone and somewhat thicker-bedded than the other members. These two siltstone members may account for details of the character of the scarp as developed eastward toward Forestville.
Question: In view of the dominantly shale lithology exposed in this portion of the escarpment, is structural control an adequate explanation of the origin of this scarp? Regional dip is very gentle toward the south. If the topography be truly cuestaform, where are the resistant capping strata responsible for the scarp which is 700 to 1100 feet high in eastern Chautauqua County?

Village of Laona
Turn east, crossing Canadaway again in the village of Laona. On the south side of the bridge, (2) a mill dam, its pond now filled with debris, raises the height of the waterfall over the Laona siltstone under the bridge. One hundred and fifty years ago Laona, like all towns was a major user of water power. The county historian points out that about 35 factories drew their power from the Canadaway and it is said that there were at least seven dams in Laona alone. Anyone considering floodplain landforms must keep in mind both man and beaver as geologic agents.

Buried valleys
Heading south on Route 60 we pass through a broad open valley with only isolated patches of bedrock exposed (3). This is a post-glacial excavation of a complex of buried valleys. The streams of this area have made similar excavations each time the glacier retreated from the escarpment. The buried valleys (also featured on tomorrow's trip F) have a variety of forms from steep-walled canyons (Fig. F1) to broad, open valleys with gentle walls (Fig. F5).

STOP 1. Route 60 Landslide Area.
This area will also be visited tomorrow on Trip E, Environmental Geology. You may wish to consult the descriptions of the landslides and associated problems with the Fredonia Reservoir.
The glacial sequence consists of till, lake rhythmites, and till. The landslides start with a failure at or near the lower contact of the lake beds. Although the upper contact of the lake beds has not been observed, it is thought to be relatively undisturbed. If so, a till flow, a la Hartshorn (1958, 1960) may be a possibility.
There are about 20 feet of interlayered clays and silts which may represent (A) annual pairs (varves) or (B) storm pairs resulting from disturbance and more rapid settling of the silts; or (C) maybe you have an idea. If (A), this small lake lasted longer than some or all of the Glacial Great Lakes. If (B) it didn't. Cloture will be invoked after 10 minutes to allow vote of all present to be taken to settle the matter for all time.

Cassadaga Lakes
Continuing South on Rt. 60, a brief side trip to the Cassadaga Lakes will be made to show the evidence of formation from the melting of ice blocks buried in outwash. The Cassadaga Lakes (5) lie between the Lake Escarpment (4) moraines to the north and remnants of a slightly older moraine to the south.

Cassadaga Valley
Continue south on Rt. 60 through the Cassadaga Valley which is filled about half way from the bedrock floor to the adjacent summits. A well near Gerry has penetrated 600 feet of fill. In contrast to the thickness of fill in the valleys, the streamlined drumlinoidal topography of the uplands is covered in most places by a veneer of ground moraine (basal till plastered on under the glaciers).

Groundwater issues near Holmquist Creek
Crain (1966) recognized that the Jamestown water supply was independent of the flow of Cassadaga Creek as heavy pumping of adjacent wells had no effect on the creek. This is thought to result from lake silts and clays near the surface of the valley fill acting as an aquiclude. The pumping did, however, show effects on permeable zones within the valley fill. These zones known as the Jamestown aquifer occur at lower elevations as one goes northward raising the question of what permeable deposit would dip northward, up glacier or up valley.
Obvious water losses, of the streams tributary to Cassadaga Creek, occur as they flow across the "alluvial fan-deltas" which occur along the valley margin where the relatively steep streams emerge onto a flat valley floor. These water losses suggested to Crain the relationships between the tributary stream deposits and the aquifer shown in Figure D3. The losses are not as obvious if one follows the streams out onto the valley floor where a major part of the "lost" water reappears. Here it flows in tightly meandering channels as the "deltas" thin toward their margins and the effects of the lake deposits are felt.
The Sinclairville (8), Gerry (6), Holmquist(9)and Folsom (10) "deltas" are among the "recharge" areas mapped by Crain.
Agnes caused considerable damage in many areas of New York, but a study of Holmquist Creek by Winter (1974) revealed that very little erosion or deposition occurred. The spring meltwater flows appeared to be significantly more effective in moving sediment and causing change. On high gradient streams with small drainage basins like Holmquist Creek, intense events covering much smaller areas are the prime movers and land sculptors. Events with a recurrence interval of 100 years or more play a much more important role than do events like Agnes with a 25 to 50 year interval.

Ice contact stratified drift
On NY 394 (old route 17) we will head eastward crossing ice contact stratified drift (11)

Skirt the north edge of the Hartson Swamp
Skirt the north edge of the Hartson Swamp (12) which lies atop thee Poland aquifer, a permeable zone in the Conewango-Cassadaga valley fill. Aside from the permeable zones in the valley fills, groundwater is not abundant. In the uplands limited quantities can often be produced from zones of broken bed rock at the contact with overlying drift. Where the drift is thin or lacking and ground water must be produced from the local shales and siltstones, there is little of it and the quality leaves much to be desired.

Climb the valley of Mud Creek
Crossing the Conewango from Roland Center the route climbs the valley of Mud Creek (13). Note the gradient and character of the stream and valley floor. We will attempt to compare this valley with that of Elkins Brook (14), the next one to the north, in order to determine whether the present streams fashioned either valley.

Elkins Brook valley (14)

Knob and kettle topography
On the upland, the route will traverse the glacial boundary crossing and recrossing it at several places. At some points we will be in knob and kettle topography with as much relief as any of the younger moraines to the north (15). While there are some evidences of glaciation such as foreign cobbles and boulders a few hundred yards beyond the obvious moraine, the changes in relief in the upland are not as striking as in the valleys. We will travel beyond the region affected by glaciation and along its fringes and then return through the sequence of moraines and filled valleys typical of New York State. A major point of this field trip is the contrast between unglaciated, marginal, and repeatedly-glaciated terrain.

Former kame delta
Large quantities of gravel for the new route 17 (The Southern Tier Expressway) were removed from a large kame delta which has since been landscaped.

STOP 2. Refer to Plate 2c and d
Dropping off the north side of the glaciated upland into the Ancestral Allegheny Valley now occupied by minor tributaries of the Conewango, we will pause for a view of the ice contact face (17) of the Kent terminal moraine and related features on the valley floor. The valley before us is the site of the reservoir advocated by Arthur Morgan (1971, Dams and other Disasters) as an alternate to the Kinzua Reservoir we will cross later. While Morgan was careful to not publish any maps, his plan would appear to make sense increasing the safety of the Allegany drainage while living up to George Washington's promises to leave the Indian lands untouched "so long as the sun rises and the river runs" in the works of the Pickering Treaty, the oldest existing U.S. Treaty (Morgan, 1971, p. 318).

Post-glacial Allegany valley
The route winds by the most direct path now available, through the town of Steamburg Rt. 394 (old Route 17) and south along the Kinzua Reservoir (18) on Reservoir Rd. in the post-glacial Allegany valley to Hotchkiss Hollow.

STOP 3. Quarry just into Hotchkiss Hollow.
"Devil's concrete" (conglomerate) has preserved the bedding of this quarry in striking contrast to most gravel deposits. What does the bedding indicate about the direction of the gravel source? What is the significance of the lithologies present in the gravel? What can you make of the feature blocking the mouth of the valley and of the form of its surface from which we just descended?

Traverse the glacial margin
In this portion of the trip we will traverse the glacial margin, but the final route has not been established as of this writing. In any case, we must return north to cross the Allegany on new Route 17. Wisconsin valley train has been quarried for the Route 17 fill (19). A terrace remnant of valley train (20) is deeply cut for the new route on the SE side of the river (Expletive deleted Landscaping!) (21) The new highway construction has triggered numerous landslides, rockfalls and mudflows. A route through Salamanca, Kilbuck, and Limestone, or an alternate route along the reservoir and south of the Allegany State Park may be taken (NY Rt. 220 to PA Rt. 346).
On either route, contrasts between glaciated valleys and valleys in which the only effects are those of lakes like the one in Hotchkiss Hollow and valleys untouched by any glacial effects will be seen..

Oil wells
As we approach Bradford (the home of Kendall Oil Co.), many wells producing in the manner of the early oil industry can be seen. A pump house and wells of this type will be seen at STOP D4 in Rock City.

Derrick City
Turn east onto PA Route 646 at Foster Brook (22) staggering through Derrick City and up over the Knapp Creek (23) summit to Rock City.

Old inter-urban railroad line
The route becomes NY 16 at the state line. It follows the old right-of-way of the Western New York and Pennsylvania RR interurban between Bradford and Olean which followed the route of a narrow gage railroad built in 1878 to haul oil.

STOP 4. Olean conglomerate weathering escarpment.
Olean Rock City, Allegany town, Olean quadrangle, Cattaraugus County (78°28'30"W, 42°1'N).
This is the type locality for the Olean conglomerate (Lesley, 1875), exposed in weathering scarp 64 ft. thick. Cross-beddng, joint cracks and ellipsoidal quartz pebbles to more than 30 mm in length are characteristic. This unit occurs on summit remnants of the Upland peneplain as far east as Alma Hill in Allegany County at 2548 feet above sea level, the Highest elevation in western New York. Southward into Pennsylvania, the formation loses its conglomeratic character in 20 to 30 miles.
This ledge consists of joint blocks separated by interconnecting passages which widen toward the exposed scarp face. Near the parent ledge, the joint blocks show a minimum of rotation and subsidence, but outwards they show varying amounts of tilt and downward movement. Noting that the blocks appear now to be immobile and disintegrating in place, Smith (1953) identified this and other nearby "rock cities" as periglacial features. A similar, though less striking, rock city in the area of Early Cary glaciation is at Panama Rocks, Chautauqua County.
Question: What evidence is there as to the relative importance of weathering, wedging, creep, sapping or other processes to produce this display of joint enlargement? What evidence shows the blocks to be immobile and the rock cities to be relics of periglacial environments?
The following paragraphs from Cochran (1957) on the production of oil is applicable to the oil fields around Rock City.
In the Allegany (Bradford area) field primarily two different means are used in pumping wells, that is the individual well jack and the Oklahoma style Jack pumped by a central power. The main difference in these two methods is that the individual well jack is a unit complete in itself with a motor to supply power to the jack for lifting the rods and bottom hole equipment. The power to the Oklahoma style jack is supplied by a cable or rod llne from the eccentric of the central power.
Two different types of central powers are in use today, the gear power and the bandwheel power. Tne gear power uses a gear and pinion powered from the engine by a belt to motivate the eccentric whereas the bandwheel power uses a horizontal band wheel powered by a belt running from the engine to motivate the eccentric.
Generally about 25 wells are pumped off of one central power. About four barrels of fluid per hour can be pumped from each well. Since this is normally more than will flow into the well bore it is not necessary to pump all the wells simultaneously, and the pumping times of the individual wells may be staggered throughout the pumping period.
Note: See Cochran (1957) for information on water flooding, well shooting and other aspects. A detailed and readable account of the early New York oil industry is contained in Herrick (1949).

Harbell Farm Well No. 1
In village of Knapp Creek, turn right (north) onto County Road 61 which drops sharply into valley of Four Mile Creek. Harbell Farm Well no. 1 the state's oldest oil well which has produced continuously since 1811 (Herrick, 1949) lies in this valley.

Rockview
Rockview (24) the first of six boom towns to spring up in and around the Four Mile valley in 1877 had 6 stores and 70 homes. Other towns included Rock City, Knapp Creek and Stateline.

West Branch Four Mile Creek
West Branch Four Mile Creek lies to the west across the valley. Distribution of erratic pebbles and cobbles suggests that this is the approximate limit of glaciation in the valley of Four Mile creek (25).

Terrace gravels
Foundation excavations at left exposed terrace gravels with several per cent of crystalline pebbles, leached more than 8 ft.

Terrace remnant
To the right, ahead, a flat-topped ridge extends northwest, confining the flood plain to one-third of the valley width. This terrace remnant is poorly exposed, but is believed to consist of gravel, leached to 8 or 10 feet and overlain by several feet of yellow-brown silt and silt loam. The elongate form of the ridge suggests ice-marginal deposition, perhaps as an outwash delta. A tempting explanation for ponding in the Allegheny Valley is by glacial damming. Such imponding did not occur downstream from this point in Olean or later time.

Road to abandoned rock quarry
Unmarked road to left leads to abandoned rock quarry and upper levels of STOP D5.

STOP 5. Kame delta complex.
Allegany Sand and Gravel Pit, Buffalo Slag Company. Birch Run at edge of Allegheny Valley, 0.9 miles SE of Russell, Allegany town, Salamanca quadrangle, Cattaraugus County. (78°32'50" W, 42°5'25"N).
Exposures in kame delta at several levels. Gravel is leached 9 to 12 ft. Carbonate content low, comprising only a few per cent of pebbles. Cementation by secondary carbonate is limited. Cobble imbrication, forset bedding and slump structures suggest deposition toward west. In upper level as exposed in 1959, 40 feet of boulder-free cobble gravel overlay 15 feet of sand over 10 feet of till. Till is olive brown, silt loam matrix, low in lime, with coarse fraction consisting primarily of stream-worn pebbles and flaggy boulders.
Search for erratic pebbles revealed none more than a mile south up the valley of Birch Run, nor could any be found on the south side of valley of Birch Run. A few erratics in the saddle at 1760 feet, 3/4 mile southeast of the pit confirm the inference that proglacial meltwaters drained across the saddle south from Allegheny Valley into the valley of Birch Run.

Lippert Sand and Gravel Pit about one mile east
Lippert Sand and Gravel Pit about one mile east produces from outwash gravel below river level.

Bradford Junction.
Turn west on N.Y. Rt. 17 through Salamanca noting terrace remnants along the way. Salamanca is one town that cannot be given back to the Indians; they already own it and the lease does not have many years to run.

Look for glacial remants
On the west side of town, turn north on NY 353 toward Little Valley. As we proceed, try to spot the outermost evidence of ice action, the remnants of outwash terraces, the terminal and recessional moraines.

STOP 6. Wisconsin stratigraphy.
Otto high bluff section, stream-bluff of South Branch Cattaraugus CreekOtto town; Cattaraugus quadrangle, Cattaraugus County. (78d50'W, 4202l'15"N).
The Otto site was initially described (MacClintock and Apfel, L944) as exposing Binghamton till, Olean outwash and Sangamon interglacial deposits. As exposed in recent year s (Muller, 1957) the lower portion of the section has been alternatively interpreted as evidence of post-Sangamon, pre•classical Wisconsin environments. Both interpretations are permitted by radiocarbon dating of the uppermost organic zone, 15 ft. above the river at an age of greater than 52,000 years (GRO 2565). See discussion in text section on pre-Farmdale organic sites.
Upper part of the section is obscured by slump. Units 6 through 11 below were measured at the south end of the exposure. Units 2 through 6 were measured nearer the north end where material for radiocarbon and pollen analyses was also collected.
Bedrock is exposed only at the south.
Unit | Lithology | Thickness
11 | Stratified sand, silt and clay | 3 ft.
10b | Till, gray-brown, sparsely pebbly silty clay loam matrix. Oxidized but unleached; bright pebble lithology; silt streaks | 20 ft.
10a | Till as above, unoxldized | 10 ft.
9 | Stratified sand, silt and clay with very sparse pebbles | 3 ft.
8 | Till, gray, sparsely to moderately pebbly, silt to sandy silt matrix; includes partings of washed drift suggestive of oscillatory conditions of deposition | 40 ft.
7 | Pebble gravel, grading downward with decreasing coarseness | 5 ft.
6 | Lake clay, contorted, laminated; red and "fat", in part. | 3 ft.
5 | Gravel, coarse, consisting largely of angular to sub-rounded pebbles and cobbles of plateau rock (sandstone and siltstone). Carbonate and crystalline cobbles are very sparse. What current direction is suggested by imbrication? A thin but continuous layer of silt and carbonaceous silt about midway up in this unit was dated at greater than 52,000 years (Gro-2565). | 20 ft.
4 | Stratified silt, muck, sand and pebbly silt. Both contacts transitional, not indicative of abrupt change of environment. | 4 ft.
3 | Boulder gravel, in a lens with maximum thickness at north end of exposure. Exact position in the organic sequence of units 2 and 4 is not certain. Boulders are tightly wedged with coarse sand to pebble gravel matrix. Platy cobbles and flats tones are dominant. Erratics and glacial striae are very sparse. Top of this unit is discolored by hydrous iron oxide deposition. Difficult to obtain effervescence with hydrochloric acid except on cobble coatings, which suggests secondary deposition | 3 ft.
2 | Stratified silt, muck, peat, suggestive of floodplain deposition. Twigs are flattened and peat highly compressed. Imbrication suggests deposition from southwest. Base of section concealed below river at north. Pollen from near the base (2a-7) includes primary Picea and Pinus (Brown and Benninghoff, personal communication, see p. 25f.) | 7. 0 ft.
1 | Boulder gravel, coarse with abundance of crystalline boulders, apparently lag concentration in channel which eroded pre-existing drift. A smear of till may exist beneath and among the boulders. | 3.0 ft.
0 | Bed rock; northward blue-gray siltstone with gradient northward | 6.0 ft.+
Questions: What is the significance of the oxidized horizon at the top of Unit 3? How is the Sangamon represented? What is the character of the interval(s) represented by Units 1 through 4? What change caused the transition deposition of cobble gravel, Unit 5?

This valley served as the outlet to Lake Zoar (Plate 2d).
The first outlet [5] continuing further south and the later outlet turning north at Cattaraugus following the present course of the South Branch of Cattaraugus Creek and the route of the Erie RR westward through the low at Persia. No roads and few trains follow this route today.

Markham (28) (a well penetrated 1100 ft. of fill near here)

Conewango Valley (29) (the Ancestral Alleghany)

E: SELECTED PROBLEMS OF ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY IN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NY
William J. Metzger State University College Fredonia, NY
LAKE ERIE SHORELINE EROSION
The problems of shoreline erosion in the Lake Erie basin as well as the other Great Lakes have received wide publicity during the past two years. As Table 1 indicates, the highest monthly averages of levels of Lake Erie on record were observed during 1973 (9 months) and 1972 (3 months). These record-high lake levels have a significant effect on the intensity of wave erosion and are probably the primary cause of the extensive erosion which has been observed during the last 2 years. At the time this paper is being written (June, 1974) the Chairman of Chautauqua County Civil Defense Unit is attempting to have the lake shore area of Chautauqua County declared a national disaster area. He suggests that there is a potential of $14 million damage to private property by lakeshore erosion.
Although the problem of erosion along the shoreline is very complex, several important variables can be demonstrated by the simple model indicated in Figure 1. Note that at times of normal lake levels, the water at the shoreline is in contact with bedrock which has a very low erosion rate under normal circumstances. The lake bottom area over which the wave energy is dissipated is very large. This condition produces a stable beach and wave erosion is not a serious short-term problem. In contrast to this, however, a high-water lake level will result in much more rapid erosion. In many places along the Lake Erie shore in Chautauqua County, the water level is presently very close to the top of the bedrock and is in contact with till in many others. As the lake level reaches this till-bedrock contact, and the waves can attack the unconsolidated till, the rate of erosion increases very rapidly. The wave action is now directed at the steepest portion of the shore zone and the lake bottom area over which wave action is dissipated reaches its lowest value. These factors combine to produce intensified erosion in the most easily-eroded materials exposed along the shoreline.
However, this is not the whole story. Figure 2 illustrates an additional factor which must be considered when trying to understand the increased rate of erosion along the shore. Notice in Figure 2 that the undisturbed (stillwater) level indicates that water will be in contact with bedrock and therefore result in low rates of erosion. This may be true for a given shore area even if the stillwater level is at a record high. However, short-term meteorological activity such as rapid barometric changes and storms may cause strong, prevailing winds to develop in the lake basin. This will result in a phenomenon called setups which causes the water to pile up on one side of the lake and the surface of the water to tilt in the basin. This is known as the storm setup. The amount of setup observed at any time varies with such factors as the intensity of the storm, the length of fetch associated with the prevailing winds, the bottom topography and the depth of water. The maximum setup values for Lake Erie are not constant, but they generally range from about 1.5 feet near Cleveland, Ohio to nearly 6 ft. at Buffalo. (Corps of Engineers, 1973).
With record-high water levels, a storm which results in the maximum setup for a given area is generally accompanied by large waves with amplitudes greater than 5 ft. These large waves, in combination with the high water levels, can result in extremely rapid shoreline erosion.
When the lake water levels are at the maximum, as we presently observe them, the higher intensity waves erode the sand on the beach and carry these sediments offshore. The beaches are narrowed by both the encroachment of the water and the removal of the sand to the offshore beach area. When the lake levels return to normal, this sand should be pushed back onto the beach by the lower energy waves.

E: SELECTED PROBLEMS OF ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY IN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NY

Route travels over lake bottom sediments or glacial Lake Warren.

Niagara Mohawk electrical generation plant
At this point on the north side of the road the Niagara Mohawk electrical generation plant can be observed. Power is produced by burning bituminous coal. The problems related to the disposal of the fly ash and bottom ash produced here will be discussed at STOP 3 of this trip.

Cross Canadaway Creek bridge

STOP 1. Lake Shore Erosion Problems
This area allows a comparison of the extent of erosion between areas which have sea walls with those areas without any erosion control. In one unprotected zone over 10 feet of embankment has been eroded away during the past 20 months. One house which will be visited is seriously threatened by the active erosion which has been intensified by the high lake stages.

STOP 2. Flood control structure and shoreline erosion problem
The project you are examining was completed in the Spring of 1973 by the Corps of Engineers as a flood control measure to prevent the flooding of the low lying areas near the cottages along this portion of the beach. To the North of the wall, the elevation of the land is sufficient not to justify flood control. However this area is not protected from wave activity and rapid erosion is now taking place in that area.

STOP 3. Fly ash-bottom ash disposal site
You will observe a trench and fill operation in relatively impervious lake bottom sediments which overlie till. The fly ash is dumped first and later covered with coarser bottom ash to prevent blowing of the very fine particulates. The ash is then covered over by the soil and glacial deposits removed in the original excavation. Attempts to control and monitor leachate will be observed including an on-site measurement of the conductivity of the water entering the pond.

Variety of glacial deposits and features.
The next segment of the trip will traverse a significant variety of glacial deposits and features. The highlights are noted in the log. At this point the bus is driving over lake bottom deposits of Glacial Lake Warren.

Lake Warren II beach ahead and to the left.
To the left and front of the bus note the line of poplar trees in the distance. They mark the location of the Lake Warren II beach.

Driving up the front face of the Warren II beach.

Inactive sand and gravel pit to the right
To the right of the bus observe the inactive sand and gravel pit. When in operation this pit is a good location to note the nature of the sediments and bedding characteristics of an ancient beach deposit.

Unnamed, poorly defined beach ridge.

Front face of the Lake Whittlesey beach.
Driving up the front face of the Lake Whittlesey beach. This is the highest proglacial stage recognized in Chautauqua County.

Crest of the Lake Whittlesey
Webster Road follows the crest of the Lake Whittlesey for the next mile on the trip route.

Lake Escarpment ground moraine
For the next 2 miles, the bus will travel over Lake Escarpment ground moraine as we gain elevation on the escarpment.

Penn Central Railroad (abandoned).
To the right of the bus observe the deep gorge which was used as the railroad right of way. This is a glacial meltwater channel formed during the deglaciation of this area when the ice blocked the normal outlet downslope to the north.

Lake Escarpment end moraine
This intersection marks the approximate northern boundary of the Lake Escarpment end moraine complex.

STOP 4. Agnes flood erosion and stream channelization problems
Pull off onto the far right shoulder of the road. Follow fence line down to the creek.
A very large landslide induced by greatly accelerated erosion during the Agnes Flood (1972) runoff is seen. The abundant supply of silt and clay from this material caused a serious siltation problem in the Village of Fredonia's Water Supply Reservoir located approximately 1.4 miles downstream. Agnes flood relief money allowed stream channelization upstream from this point to be completed in the summer of 1973. Since that time, extensive down-cutting on this stream has occurred which has contributed greatly to further siltation problems in the reservoir.

STOP 5. Stream contamination problems
Two sources of water contamination are apparent in this area. The first includes clay and silt which is being dumped down the embankment by the highway department. The second involves the unprotected pile of bottom ash and salt which is locally used for ice and snow removal on the highways during the winter. The small stream is tributary to the Village of Fredonia water supply.

Lacustrine clays, etc.
The bus is now traveling over a series of deposits that include clays deposited in proglacial lake. They will be observed at the next stop.

STOP 6. Landslides and badland erosion
This section of Route 60 was completed during 1958 and since that time a combination of slumping and earthflows have affected both sides of this cut. The glacial deposits involved in the slides are proglacial varved clays and at least two tills. The highway department has removed much material at the base of the slope which has caused further instability problems.
At the top of the hill an extensive "badlands" has developed where the soil has been removed or covered with clays taken from the road cut excavation. These clays are being washed into a tributary to the Village of Fredonia water supply reservoir.

Semistabilized landslides in similar deposits.

F: GLACIAL GEOLOGY AND BURIED TOPOGRAPHY IN THE VICINITY OF FREDONIA, GOWANDA, AND ZOAR VALLEY, NY
LOOKS AT THE PRESENT AND THE RECENT PAST
Ernest H. Muller
Dept. of Geology
Syracuse University
R. K. Fahnestock
S.U.C. Fredonia
A WORD TO THE FORE
We wish to acknowledge the stimulus provided by our respective chairpersons, Daniel Merriam of Syracuse and Olcott Gates of Fredonia who volunteered our services, and the gentle prodding of the guidebook editor. All were essential to the completion of this manuscript. The cooperation of the New York State Geological Survey and its director, Dr. James Davis, in permitting the use of appropriate portions of a draft of Muller's Glacial Geology of the Niagara Sheet and materials is appreciated. Drafting help with maps was provided by John Walton of Fredonia. Illustrations were prepared by Don Burdick and Ron Warren of the Fredonia Instructional Resource Center.
E.H.M. was wise enough to leave for New Zealand immediately upon hearing of the assignment. R.K.F., having no place to go, has proceded to reproduce Muller's 1960 Friends of the Pleistocene Field Guide with few improvements and all the controversies and inconsistancies dictated by the western New York geologic record. Some new stops have been added in light of recent local geologic events and RKF's orientation toward processes and predilection for scenery, buried and otherwise. Due to RKF's slowness in producing a manuscript, EHM has had no opportunity to recant or to correct the errors of omission or commission found in the present attempt. We all look forward to EHM's explanations on the outcrops in the fall.

F: GLACIAL GEOLOGY AND BURIED TOPOGRAPHY IN THE VICINITY OF FREDONIA, GOWANDA, AND ZOAR VALLEY, NY

Cross Rt. 60 and continue along the Lake Warren Beach.
Later Warren ridges are to the north (1) and the Lake Whittlesey (2) Ridge to the south. Note Warren strand along U.S. Route 20 in Sheridan (see plate 2f and Plate 1). The surface of this gravel terrace is at 755 feet above sea level. This beach trends east-northeast, rising about 50 ft. in elevation in 45 miles.

Gravel pits are in Lake Whittlesey beaches.
The escarpment ahead and to right (south) which separates the lake plain from the plateau has been called the Portage Escarpment, but it is developed on the Canadaway Formation in this area. The escarpment bears no relationship to the Portage Group, which does not crop out in Chautauqua County. The Canadaway Formation totals about 950 ft. and is dominantly composed of shale. The Laona and Shumla Members, each about 30 ft. thick are dominantly siltstone and somewhat thicker-bedded than the other members. These two siltstone members may account for details of the character of the scarp as developed eastward toward Forestville.
Question : In view of the dominantly shale lithology exposed in this portion of the escarpment, is structural control an adequate explanation of the origin of this scarp? Regional dip is very gentle toward the south. If the topography be truly cuestaform, where are the resistant capping strata responsible for the scarp which is 700 to 1100 ft. high in eastern Chautauqua County?

The road drops into a channel
The road drops into a channel (3) formed either along the ice margin (Gowanda) or the beach ridge.

Whittlesey strand at approach to King Road
Note Whittlesey strand at approach to King Road (Cook Rd. of Forestville 7.5 minute Quadrangle). A shallow borrow pit 0.3 mile southwest off King Rd. in 1957 exposed the following :
3. | Shingle gravel, stratified dipping southeast; dominantly of clastic pebbles; matrix coarse-textured; structure, open. | 10 ft.
2. | Laminated lake silt with thin sand and pebble layers. | 4 ft.
1. | Gravel, coarse, poorly-sorted with numerous erratics and rounded boulders suggesting derivation by wave washing of proglacial sediments. | 4 ft.

For most of the way this road follows the beach ridge.
To the south between the beach and the escarpment lie Gowanda moraine remnants (Plate 2e), kame terrace deposits and ice marginal channels. Plate 2f shows the geography of Lake Whittlesey time.

Cross Erie RR.
This is the original right of way. The railroad completed in the early 1850's ran from Piermont on the Hudson to Dunkirk, avoiding such dens of iniquity as New York and Buffalo.

Look for the spit (4) built by the longshore drift
into the Walnut Creek embayment coming up.

STOP 1. Buried valley of Walnut Creek.
Hanover Center Landslide. Figures Fl and F2 outline the general setting of this stop. A well at the house across the road from the "landslide" bottomed in "quick-sand" at 290 ft. and had to be abandoned because too much sand was pumped with the water. The landslide has appeared to result from groundwater sapping and liquifaction of the units exposed in the base of the amphitheater. Such active processes make for uneasy householders and highway departments.

Bridge over the Silver Creek Gorge.
To the east is the open valley cut in the Walnut Creek valley fill and to the west is the bedrock gorge of Silver Creek which extends most of the way to Lake Erie.

Crossing the filled valley of Walnut Creek
Turn right again (SE) onto Hanover Rd. crossing the filled valley of Walnut Creek. Note the moraine remnants to the south of the road.

Again we are along the Whittlesey beach (6).

Bridge over Cattaraugus Creek
Cross Bridge (5 ton capacity) over Cattaraugus Creek which is flowing over on bedrock part of which is the south wall of the old Allegany Channel (Figure 1-6).

Cross the ancient Allegany valley
In this area you are crossing the ancient Allegany valley (7) which has at least 500 ft. of fill near here.

Spit which extends SE from the island in Lake Whittlesey
Possible side excursion: Southeast on Long House Rd. 0.6 miles to end of road. This is a spit which extends southeastward from the island in Lake Whittlesey (8). Elevation 840+ ft.

Clear Creek
The road crosses Clear Creek and rises onto Four Mile Level (Elevation 800-840+ ft.).

STOP 2. Gernatt Gravel Products Pit.
Figure F3 summarized the relation between Four Mile Level and the land form being quarried for gravel. If Four Mile is Whittlesey, what is this? If this Whittlesey, then what is Four Mile? What agencies can produce such level surfaces?

STOP 3. Wisconsin Stratigraphy
Gowanda State Hospital Section. Stream bluffs, Clear Creek at Route 62, 39, 18. Collins town, Cattaraugus quadrangle, Erie County. (78°55'50"W, 42°29'20"N). Composite section.
Unit | Lithology Thickness
11 | Alluvial gravel; oxidized, many pebbles and cobbles deeply weathered; rounded to sub-rounded; exotic pebbles numerous | 3.3 ft.
10e | Silt, dark olive-gray; stratified, includes fine sand laminae; oxidized and leached | 1.0 ft.
10d | Silt, tan to olive, oxidized but unleached | 1.3 ft.
10c | Fine sand, finely laminated, yellow-brown 1.2 ft.
10b | Clay and silty clay interlaminated with sand and silt; pairs are 0.5 to 0.25 inch thick, finer toward top. Clay-rich layers are unoxidized. | 6.5 ft.
10a | Silt and fine sand, light-to medium-gray; unoxidized, unleached; laminated to medium-bedded; sparsely pebbly towards base | 10.0 ft.
9 | Till, silty matrix, blue-gray, sparsely pebbly with shale and siltstone dominant. Includes sand and silt lenses but is more compact than overlying laminated units. | 4.0 ft.
8 | Stratified sand, silt and sandy gravel; unoxidized | 1.0 ft.
7 | Till, silty matrix, dark blue-gray, compact, sparsely pebbly. Upper contact marked by seep. Includes minor light gray silt partings. | 8.O ft.
6 | Stratified silt, sand and gravel; unoxidized; upper contact transitional, lower contact sharp | 2.0 ft.
5 | Till, silty matrix, dark blue-gray, compact; moderately pebbly with relatively high proportion of exotic pebbles. Faint seep shows better-sorted lens. | 6.0 ft.
4 | Gravel, pebbles and cobbles in coarse sand. Crude imbrication suggests flow to northwest. Pebbles dominantly rounded with diverse lithology. Unit thickens southwest to about 20 ft. at the stream bend. | 3.0 ft.
3 | Till, calcareous throughout; color ranging from olive-brown to orange-brown, suggesting incomplete assimilation of diverse materials. Compact. Sparsely to moderately pebbly. Toward base appears to incorporate and deform under lying stratified sediments. | 20.0 ft.
2 | Silty and carbonaceous clay; stratification disturbed enough to suggest crushing and sliding. One layer contains sparse invertebrate tests and several contain twigs and other plant remains. Wood is more than 38,000 years old (W-866). This unit abuts northward against Unit 3. | 15.0 ft.
1b | Till, pink, silty matrix, (Color 5Y 4/1), fairly pebbly. Surface rises east cutting out part of overlying stratified section. Relationship to Unit 3 not clear as contact is nowhere exposed. Base obscured west of bridge but transitional relationship to underlying is suggested 200 ft. upstream. | 18.0+ ft.
1a | Till, medium blue-gray (5B 5/1), with abundant shanners and flaggy bits of local blue-gray siltstone. Basal contact concealed, but upstream a few hundred yards this unit rests on bedrock. This may be a color phase of the overlying pink till, different only in assimilation of abundant local rock. | 6.0+ ft.
(Note: Sequence of deposition of lower, contorted and disturbed portion of bluff is not certainly established because of discontinuity of exposure and obscured relationships.)
About.8 mile west of highway bridge a well is reported to have penetrated 620 feet of unconsolidated material to about 240 feet above sea level. If correct, this information gives a measure of depth and sharpness of the bedrock valley.

Cross Gowanda moraine,(9) marking recessional position north of the Lake Escarpment moraines.

Begin rise onto proximal slope of massive Lake Escarpment moraine complex (10).

Commence descent into Zoar Valley following Zoar Valley Rd.
CAUTION : This is a long, steep grade. USE LOWER GEAR
Cattaraugus Creek flows across the grain of bedrock topography, crossing bedrock uplands through confined, steep-wall gorges and crossing drift-filled lowlands in broad, mature reaches. One such open reach is Zoar Valley ahead to the southeast, whereas due south at this point, Cattaraugus enters a 3-mile long gorge deeply incised in bedrock. (Figure F4).
Silt and silty-clay till and lacustrine sediments in slumped moraine topography at left. Soil is mapped as Mahoning silty clay loam, steep phase.

Cross Cattaraugus Creek.
Leave interval between cars in crossing wooden bridge (Three ton capacity) (11). Cross mature floodplain.

Pass Girl Scout Camp.
Waterfalls ahead mark the west edge of a drift-filled bedrock valley. Commence climb out of Zoar Valley on steep, winding road.

Crest of a Lake Escarpment moraine.

Turn Right on Forty Rd. to the 2-ton bridge
Turn Right on Forty Rd. to the 2-ton bridge over the South Branch of Cattaraugus Creek. The road climbs out of the valley. More spectacular views are available at STOP F5.
2012: Bridge is gone. This path will take you to the next stop, but by way of a lengthy route to the south, to a different bridge across the South Branch of Cattaraugus Creek.

STOP 4. Enigmatic deposit
If slumping has not obscured the bedding, the source direction and extent of the beds should clearly reveal the nature of this deposit. Should the relationships be somewhat vague, an attempt will be made to make them perfectly clear. There will be complete cooperation with no attempts to stonewall the investigators.

STOP 5. Zoar Gorge Lookout.
The view point about 200 meters from the parking space is on a knife edge meander core well above the valley floor. There are friendly trees for those who prefer something to hold on to.

STOP 6. East valley wall of the ancient Allegany valley.
The small tributary which has filled the Gowanda water supply reservoir to spillway level leaves the broad valley at the cam on the west to enter a deep, entrenched, meandering channel in bedrock on the east side of the road. From this bedrock channel it emerges into Cattaraugus Creek.
Brave souls may visit the meander core via a knife edge (without trees this time) or may peer into the broadening valley of Cattaraugus Creek and observe immediately below in the face of the cliff the diagonal line of the contact of fill and bedrock which is shown in Figure F5.

Turn Right on Broadway into Gowanda
Turn Right on Broadway into Gowanda, astride Cattaraugus Creek in Erie and Cattaraugus Counties. Gowanda in the Seneca langauge means "a beautiful valley between hills". The Seneca Nation of Indians maintains its business office in downtown Gowanda, but the reservation is north of town, extending along Cattaraugus Creek to Lake Erie.
Cattaraugus in the Seneca language means "odorous waters", an epithet given new meaning by the white man's tannery and glue factory on the southern outskirts of Gowanda. Cattaraugus Creek is the largest creek in New York west of the Genesee River to flow north across the Lake Escarpment Valley Heads moraines. In so doing, it has inherited the valley of the Ancestral Allegheny River where it descended from the plateau in a constricted gorge. Bedrock exposures on opposite sides of the valley at Gowanda are only 0.7 mile apart, yet a municipal well is reported to have penetrated 320 feet of drift. (Note: Well probably not on axis of valley as 7-800 ft. is reported elsewhere.)

G: A SELECTED MIDDLE DEVONIAN (HAMILTON) FOSSIL LOCALITY
BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND PALEOECOLOGY OF THE WINDOM SHALE MEMBER (MOSCOW FORMATION) IN ERIE COUNTY, NY.
Carlton E. Brett
State University of New York at Buffalo
The exposures of Hamilton strata along Lake Erie shore and in various creek beds in Erie County south of Buffalo ar e among the best-known and most thoroughly-studied Middle Devonian fossiliferous sequences in the world. The monumental studies of James Hall and A. W. Grabau (1898, 1899) provided a solid back•ground for numerous later studies. Yet, in over a century of study, many biostratigraphic and paleoecological problems remain unlnvestigated.
Recently, an exceptionally large and complete section of the Windom Shale (Moscow Formation) has been exposed in the shale quarries of Penn Dixie Cement Co. near Bayview, N.Y, This outcrop provides an excellent opportunity for detailed study of the fossil horizons of this upper Hamilton unit. Discovery of several new and little-known horizons at this quarry have led to the present restudy of biostratigraphy of the Windom in Erie County.

G: A SELECTED MIDDLE DEVONIAN (HAMILTON) FOSSIL LOCALITY

STOP 1. Penn Dixie Quarry, Buffalo Southeast quadrangle
The reference section that has been selected for this quadrangle is a large shale quarry (formaiy owned by Penn Dixie Cement Co. of Woodlawn) north of Big Tree Rd. just west of the Erie-Lackawana tracks in the Town of Hamburg. The main access road to this quarry is located near the corner of Big Tree Rd. and Bayview Rd. This road divides the quarry -- actually a large shale pit -- into east and west sides. The west side is older and has not been used for several years consequently it is highly weathered and is beginning to grow in with grass in a few spots. It is still owned by Penn Dixie Co. although this company is out of business in Buffalo. The east side is somewhat larger, is floored almost entirely by grey Windom Shale (Moscow Formation), and was actively used up to 1970 as a source of landfill. Presently it is owned by Sipprell Bros. Real Estate, Hamburg.
1A. East Side of Quarry -Upper Windom
The south side of the quarry forms a slight bank (8-10 ft. high). In places the uppermost Windom beds and the overlying Genundewa-West River are exposed. There is no Genesee black shale nor any Penn Yan-exposed here. Rather, the Genundewa Limestone is in direct contact with the "Conodont bed".
The Conodont bed is a coarse-weathering, dark-grey (weathering yellowish-buff) limestone. Fish plates, teeth, and mandibles are very common in this limestone as are conodonts. This bed which is equivalent to the North Evans of Wells (in Rickard, 1964) yields abundant conodonts and bone fragments when digested with diluted acetic acid. Worn, broken valves of brachiopods (Ambocoelia praeumbona, Atrypa reticularis, and Mucrospirifer mucronatus) also occur in this bed, apparently derived from the underlying limestone.
The uppermost Windom is a calcareous, concretionary layer about one foot thick, weathering light-yellowish, but light-grey when fresh, and containing fossils (Ambocoelia praeumbona, Phacops, Mucrospirifer) which are quite abundant in spots. Directly above this (in some places) is a thin (1-2 in.) layer of argillaceous limestone. It occurs on the underside of the Conodont limestone and is partly or entirely incorporated into the North Evans. Angular slabs as well as rounded pebbles, can be seen "fIoating" in the crinoidal bone-bed matrix of the latter. It appears brecciated and the fragments have cracks in them which are "squeezed" full of crinoidal matrix. Some greenish stains on the concretionary bed resemble glauconite.
The upper Windom is shaley below the uppermost concretionary layer for about 3 ft. and is "barren" of fossils. The "Praeumbona bed", a calcareous, slightly concretionary interval about l.5 ft. thick caps the small knob in the southwest corner of the east side of the quarry. Abundant Ambocoelia praeumbona (in patches) as well as Atrypa, Athyris, Devonochocnetes, auloporid corals and large trilobites (Phacops) occur in this unit. Below this is a shale interval some 5 ft. thick extending down to the next thin calcareous bands. This interval contains pyritized fossils and a fauna similar to that of the Ledyard shale (Fisher 1951). Pyrite nodules also occur here, but they are almost always small twig-like bodies unlike the large nodules found at Alden. The most abundant fossils here are Nuculites, tiny Tropidoleptus and Ambocoelia, the ammonoid Tornoceras uniangulare, nautiloid fragments and the gastropod Mourtonia. Rarer items include coiled Greenops and wood fragments. At present, this undescribed occurrence of pyritized fossils is under study.
The remainder of the middle Windom which covers most of the quarry floor is barren of fossils down to the lower 3-4 ft. Three thin calcareous shale bands about 2 in. thick are exposed just below the pyrite zone and represents distinct traceable horizons (no fossils).
1B. Tichenor limestone and coral-trilobite beds
In the northeast corner of the quarry, mounds of bulldozed shale have been left. These mark the position of the fossiliferous lower Windom. Here the contact between the Windom and the Tichenor limestone is exposed in a few spots due to the occurrence of small swells which dome the Tichenor up 5-6 ft. (in maximum relief) above its normal position. (The cause of this structural feature is unexplained; such features are rare in western New York). The upper surface of the limestone has a very rusty appearance due to large amounts of pyrite. Fossils in the Tichenor, of which Spinocyrtla and crinoid predominate, are somewhat abraded. There are not as many Favosites or other corals as elsewhere. The upper surface of the Tichenor limestone appears to have been subjected to erosion prior to Windom deposition. There are pockets in the surface of the Tichenor which are filled with soft, grey shale (Windom). The lowest beds of the Windom here are very soft, friable, grey shales containing Ambocoelia (though not in great abundance as at Eighteenmile Creek). These occupy the lower foot of the Windom.
The coral layer fauna of the Spinatrypa bed is well-developed at this locality, though not as rich in Heliophyllum or Cytiphylloides as that of Eighteenmile Creek. In 1970 when bulldozers were still working in this area, it was possible to collect literally bushels of excellently preserved Cystiphylloides, Heterophrentis, Atrypa, Spinatrypa, and Mediospirifer from this bed. Rhipidomella, Douvillina, Megastrophia and rarely Elytha are also found in this layer. The total thickness of this layer is probably only about 3-5 in.
Some 2 ft. up from the Tichenor limestone the shale becomes calcareous. These harder layers stand out in several spots surrounding the Tichenor "domes". This is the coral-trilobite horizon characterized by a low diversity fauna made up chiefly of trilobites and rugose corals. Phacops predominates here and occurs most frequently as somewhat distorted, coiled individuals when complete. Flat specimens can also be obtained though more rarely and occasionally they are found in clusters. I collected here a single slab with 11 complete individuals of Phacops rana. Greenops and Dechenella are also rarely found. Brachiopods are much reduced in this horizon, but Atrypa, Rhipodemella, Athyris and Mucrospirifer consobrinus are present. Trace fossils are particularly prevalent at this horizon, the surfaces of otherwise barren slabs show long sinuous "trails" of limonite suggesting worm or gastropod tracks. Typically, the lower beds are packed with rugose corals, but like the trilobites, their distribution tends to be patchy. Traces of nautiloids (Spyroceras, "Orthoceras") are fairly common and I have collected a very faint trace of a large goniatite here. The area around the outcropping edges of the "Trilobite-beds" are considerably worked by collectors who have made extensive "pits" and debris piles. These calcareous layers are about one foot thick and grade into barren middle Windom seen in section 1A.

H: GEOLOGY AND OCCURRENCE OF OIL AND GAS IN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NEW YORK
Arthur M. Van Tyne
Senior Geologist-in-Charge
Oil and Gas Office, Geological Survey
New York State Museum and Science Service
Alfred, New York
HISTORY-SHALE GAS DRILLING
The first natUral gas well completed in New York State, and the United States, was drilled at Fredonia in 1821 to a depth of 70 feet. The owner and driller of the well, William A. Hart, was the first man to market natural gas in the United States and, through his efforts, Fredonia became the first community in the United States to be lighted by natural gas. During his visit to the village in June of 1825 General Lafayette is said to have been delighted by the gas light illumination. The well produced gas in declining volume for a number of years but no enlargement of service was possible. Therefore, in order to secure a new supply of gas, Mr. Preston Barmore drilled a new gas well during the year 1858. The well was located about one mile northwest of the Hart well and consisted of a dug cavity about 30 feet deep in the bottom of which two holes were drilled to depths of 100 and 150 feet. In the fall of 1858 Mr. Barmore, together with Elias Forbes, formed the Fredonia Gas Light Company and commenced supplying gas to the village. The first deep well was drilled by Alvah Colburn in 1871 at his mill located south of Main Street. The well which was drilled to a depth of 1,256 feet encountered gas between 130 to 300 feet, and reached the Onondaga limestone at 1,079 feet. A concerted effort to find more gas was initiated and it is estimated that 300 shale gas wells were drilled in Chautauqua County towards that end.
Medina Drilling
During the autumn of 1886, and the first half of 1887, the first Medina Sandstone well in the county was drilled about one-half mile southeast of the village by the Fredonia Gas and Fuel Company. This well reached a total depth of a little over 2,500 feet and obtained production of about 7,000 cubic feet of gas per day, with a maximum pressure of 160 pounds, from the Medina. Additional Medina drilling did not take place until 1903 when the South Shore Gas Company and the Brocton Gas Company began to drill Medina wells in the Brocton and Silver Springs areas. This development was probably spurred by successful Medina drilling to the north in Erie County around the turn of the century. Since 1903, drilling in Chautauqua County has continued on a sporadic basis with the majority of wells being drilled for Medina sandstone gas production. It appears that the present spurt in Medina drilling, commenced in 1973, will surpass all previous periods of drilling in the total number of wells drilled. It is estimated that about 700 Medina wells have been drilled to date in Chautauqua County.
Deep Drilling
The first of ten deep wells drilled in Chautauqua County was the Cassity #1 of Frost Gas located one-half mile east of Dunkirk. This well was originally drilled to a depth of 2,052 feet in 1908 and was re-entered and drilled deeper in 1916. The well topped the Trenton at 4,010 feet and was stoped at 4,035 feet. The Niehaus well, located two and one-half miles northeast of Dunkirk, was also an old well which was drilled deeper to 4,517 feet. The drilling was stopped in 1949 after encountering a good show of gas and considerable salt water in the Cambrian Theresa (Galway) Sandstone.
Since then, eight more deep wells have been completed all ending in Cambrian sandstones except one which stopped in the Trenton. No well has been drilled to basement rocks in Chautauqua County, but the deepest well in the county, the Harrington #1 of Wolf's Head Oil, located six miles northwest of Jamestown and one-quarter mile east of Ellery, was completed at 7,694 feet in the Cambrian Potsdam Sandstone which overlies basement rocks. Two of the deep wells had good shows of gas from Cambrian sandstones, but no commercial gas or oil production has so far been found in the Cambro-Ordovician rocks of Chautauqua County. 2012: No field trip present.