The Valley Heads Moraine south of Ithaca marks a former southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, south of the Finger Lakes. It is an interrupted belt of glacial and glaciofluvial sediment that closed formerly south-flowing valleys. The video argues that water gaps through ridges in the Valley and Ridge province show water crossing submerged ridges during a peak flood, and describes the landforms as classic subglacial-flood geomorphology. A roughly half-mile drumlin had a blunt north end tapering south. ❄️
Valley Heads Moraine marks the former ice edge south of Ithaca
Site mentioned
📍 Finger Lakes
Key facts
- The Valley Heads Moraine is an interrupted, roughly 280-kilometre band of glacigenic sediment across central New York.
- It marks a former southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, south of the Finger Lakes, and blocked formerly south-flowing river valleys.
- Its deposits include glacial and glaciofluvial material; sources do not support describing them as an exact half-water-laid, half-glacial mixture.
- The video interprets water gaps through Valley and Ridge ridges as evidence that water crossed submerged ridges during a peak flood.
- The roughly half-mile-long drumlin had a blunt north end and tapered southward, consistent with southward ice flow.
Sources
Ithaca Was Glaciersmuseumoftheearth.org
The Valley Heads Moraine near the south end of Cayuga Lake is additional evidence of past glaciation. And to the north, drumlins are visible from Syracuse ...
Geology of the Finger Lakesearthathome.org
Moraines are visible south of Ithaca at North Spencer, along Route 13 west of Newfield, and northeast of Ithaca between Dryden and Cortland.
Geological History and Glacial Formation of the Finger Lakeslifeinthefingerlakes.com
The Valley Heads Moraine, a major moraine across central New York, closed the southern ends of several formerly south-flowing river valleys.
"Origin and formation of the Valley Heads Moraine system ...digitalcommons.unl.edu
by MQ Yang · 1992 · Cited by 3 — The Valley Heads Moraine (VHM) is a 280 km-long interrupted and discontinuous band of glacigenic sediment in central New York.
Glacial geology and the origin and distribution of aquifers ...usgs.gov
Glacial geology and the origin and distribution of aquifers at the Valley Heads moraine in the Virgil Creek and Dryden Lake-Harford Valleys, Tompkins and ...
Geological Survey Bulletin 1292 (Yesterday's Glaciers)npshistory.com
You can see particularly good examples of moraines formed about 11,000 years ago near Tipsoo Lake, where the pond southeast of the lake is dammed by a moraine, ...
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