LIVE LONG LAKES: NEW CONSTRAINTS ON GLACIAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE CENTRAL NEW YORK FINGER LAKES

Long regarded as a premier example of glaciated landscapes, the Finger Lakes in central/western New York State have captivated the attention of Quaternary geologists for more than 100 years. Yet their origins have long been debated and chronologic evidence to help support or dismiss multiple hypotheses has remained elusive.

It is generally accepted that the Ontario Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the Late Wisconsinan is responsible for the present landscape observed in the Finger Lakes region. Moreover, as the lowest elevation north-south oriented axial depression in Central New York, the Cayuga Lake Basin would/will be the recipient of any and all invasions of continental glacial ice extending into the southern tier of New York. Such intrusions presumably create a record of glacial onset, phases of retreat and high elevation proglacial lakes constrained by earlier ice margins such as the valley Heads moraines to the south. Reconnaissance geologic mapping by the New York State Geological Survey sponsored by the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program of the USGS expanded on earlier reports from a 1957 study and provided additional sedimentologic and stratigraphic data that allows us to reevaluate the proposed glacial chronology and geomorphic origins of the Finger Lakes Region during the Late Pleistocene.

Stratigraphic sections of glacial deposits in excess of 34 meters in height preserved in a prominent deeply incised ravine oriented perpendicular to the Cayuga trough comprise of multiple diamicton units interpreted as glacial tills. Tills are underlain by laterally continuous, correlative sub-till fluvial and lacustrine facies. Paleo-flow reconstructions on sedimentary structures within deeply buried fluvial and lacustrine facies indicate drainage into an open-system within the Cayuga Lake Basin. Collectively the deposits observed are interpreted to represent multiple glacial phases. Radiocarbon dates on Sub-till organics, recovered in the fluvial and lacustrine facies in combination with optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating provide robust, internally consistent chronologic data that document a record of glacial fluctuations into the Cayuga Trough extending beyond marine isotope stage 4 (MIS 4).