The Finger Lakes in New York don't follow random patterns. They radiate outward from a deep basin at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, and hundreds of drumlins between the lakes and Lake Ontario's south coast align on this same deep basin. Lake Seneca reaches approximately 618 feet deep to the sediment surface, with bedrock potentially 1,200 feet down. Subglacial meltwater under extreme pressure carved these features as ice sheets advanced and retreated during the last ice age.
Finger Lakes region carved by catastrophic subglacial floods
Key facts
- The Finger Lakes radiate outward from the deep basin at the eastern end of Lake Ontario
- Hundreds of drumlins exist between the north ends of the Finger Lakes and Lake Ontario's south coast
- Drumlin fields formed by subglacial sheet floods under high velocity and pressure
- The lakes and drumlins both align on the same deep basin in Lake Ontario
- Lake Seneca reaches approximately 618 feet deep (to top of sediment), with bedrock depth potentially around 1,200 feet
- Subglacial meltwater carved these features as ice sheets advanced and retreated
Sources
randallcarlson.com
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