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The Mendon Kame Area, by H. L

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The Mendon Kame Area, by H. L Vol. 6 J No.6 PROCEEDINGS OF" THE ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF" SCIENCE VOL, 6, PP. 19S-21!!, PLATES 76-61 THE ~mXDOX KA)'lE AREA BY HERMAN L, FAIRCHILD ROCHESTER, N, y, Pl'BT,TSHJW BY THE SOCnn'Y ArGI'ST, 1926 PROCEEDINGS O F THE ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE VOL 6 . PP . 195- 215 PLATES 76-8 1 AU G U ST , 1926 T HE ~ I El\D()1'\ Ki\i\IE ARG: \ Ih I-h R.\I.\ N L. FAIR ']IILD CONTEI TS 1'.\ (;E5 l"o rclI' ord ... .. .... ...... ... .. ... .. .. .. ... ..... ... .. 1')5 Locati on ; .\rea .... .. .. .. .. .... ... ... .. .... )98 Origin ; Lake 11 istory . ... ... .... .. ......... .. .. .... ....... .. 199 Relations . ...... ...... ... .... .. ... .... ..... .. ...... .... .. .. .. ... .. 202 Topography ...... ....... .... ... .. .. ...... ..... ..... .. .. 203 Composition ; Structure . .. ... ... .. .. ..... ... ..... ... ..... .... .. 204 Features ...... .... .......... .. .. ... ... ... .... ... ..... ... .. 206 D rumlin s .... .. .. .. .. .............. ..... ... .... 206 Eskers . .. 206 Kettles ...... .... .. ...... ... ........ ..... .... .. ...... .. ... 208 Lakes . ..... .. ... .. .. ... .... ..... ... .. ...... .. ..... .. 209 Botanical Interest . .... ... .... .... ...... ... ........... .. 210 Aboriginal Occupation 2 11 List of \Vritings . ... 2 14 ]70 1 ~E \\" OIW T he nUl1l erous and striking g lacial features of western "t\ew York have been the subject of many scienti fic papers, and the re­ ma rkable g rol1p o f g ravel hills in the to\\"n o f l\Iendon, 10 miles south or l~oc h este r , has not been overlooked. B ut the hills a re deserving of special cl escri ption, because they have n6 superior in their display of the peculiar cha racters o f morainal deposits. T he pi ctorial record is made in a nticipation of the possible defacement by the g rO\\"th of population ;\lld the march o f improve l11 ent(!) The destrl1 ction o f some of the most beautiful portions of the P innacle l~a n ge is a w ~lrnin g of the danger to other features o f our fin est scenery. In the varied and beautiful topograplw o f western Kew York there is nothing 1110 re l1111I SUal a nd attractive than the lVle ndon kame, wi th their included phenomena. T he area is not appreciated because the features are not reall y seen from the high ways. ]7e w 195 I·· 1% ROCl IESTEl< J\ Ci\DE~ [ \" OF SelENC!:: people today see anything that is invisibl e from their automobile. T he three roads which li e alongside the ranges of hills afford mere­ ly a suggestion of their singular cha racters. But a little climb up Fi gllre I. MENDON KAME AREA AND SURRO U NDING TERRITORY From th e Hochester topographic sheet almost a ny of the higher roadsid e knoll s will give a vi ew of hills and holl ows with surprising form and relief. T he four most singul a r and romantic geologic products of the continental ice sheet are foulld here in excellent di srlay. T hese a re the drumlins, which surround the kame a rea (figure 1) , and 11 . L . F A [J~ CJ I(L1 )-TnE ~r EN Il():,\ .K !\ .\IE AI~I '. \ 197 the kames and eskers which constitute the g roups o f hills, with their included basin s, or kettles. A ccntury ago these objects were in­ soluble puzzles. A nd even with the rise o f the new science o f F i gure 2. MENDON KAME AREA Enlarged from th e Rochester sheet. O ll e and olle-half inches eq ual oll e mile g laciology these phenomena \\' ere 11 0t read i Iy unel erstood, beca lise they are not produced by mOllntain or strcam glaciers, \\'hich \\'ere the early subject o f O" lacial study. T hese feat1..lres a re the work 198 HOC Jl ESTER ACADEM Y OF SClE NC E only of extensiv e ice sheets or continental glaciers, and probably uncl er temperature conditions not found in the ice caps of Green­ land and A nta rcti ca. Concerning the ori"in of drumlins, ka1l1 es and kettles 1 there i­ no longe1' any doubt. A nd the only question rela ting to eskers is whether they were sO lll etimes built in open trenches, ice-walled canyons of the glacier, or \\' ere ah\'ays laid in tunnels beneath the ice sheet, subglaciall y. The few published references to or brief descriptions of the l\ fen­ clon morain e a re in the papers li sted at the cl ose of this writing. The Mendon kame a rea, with its unusual di splay of glacial topog­ raphy and phenomena; its group of lakes, '0 rare in this region ; its peculiar botanical interest; its elevation above the surrounding country; its definite and limited area ; its Indian trails and camp sites and its high educational value in the study of nature, should be preserved inviola te as either a State or a County park. LOCATION ; AREA This g roup of mounds and basins, knobs and kettles, piled abollt two large eskers, li es in the towns o f Pitts ford and Mendon some ten miles south of the City of Rochester. The a rea is bounded on the west by the Clover Road and on the east by the P itts ford Road. It covers about two miles east and west by two and one-half miles north a nd south. The features with high reli ef, sharp knoll s and deep kettles, form two north and south belts \\' ith a low and smoother inter ven ing tract. This rniddle tract hold s four lakes, and is traversed along the east side by the Douglas Road. T wo roads cross the a rea, the Canfi eld Road north of the large ( iVIendon) lake, and the Pond Road in the southern part of the area. T hese geo­ graphic features a re shown in the maps, figures 1 and 2. These l\ Iendon lakes, locally call ed "ponds," a re the only nat­ ural bodies of standing water in Monroe County, excepting three lakelets nea r Bushnell Basin, in the Irondequoit Vall ey, and DI ue Pond, three miles west of Scottsville. A fair imitation of the l\Jendon kames and kettles is seen in the higher g round of l\'fount Hope Cemetery, with suggestion s in other parts of the P innacle range o f morainic hills (see paper 9 of the 1 For a glossary of technica l terms in glacial science see pages 144-148 of this volume. (Paper lIl1lnb er 9 o f the appended li st o f writings.) 11 . I.. F.\ 1I<C lIll.l l- TIII-: :\ I ENDO:\" K;\ :\[ E AREA 109 a ppended li st of wri tings). In the axis o f the upper Irondequoit Valley is another example o f this striking topography. T he kallle­ morain e area having more general resemblance is that o f the Junius P onds, in the town of Junius, midway between Lyons and Geneva. \ feeble imita ti on li es east a nd northeast of nata via, tra versed by the "0:e w York Central R ailroad. As the kames are hills of g ravel built by strea ms pouring out o f the mel ting ice sheet, it would be expected that the drainage \\·ottld be · guided by the va ll eys or depressions beneath the thinning ice. S uch is the case with the Irondequoit area. B ut the :\ lendon a rea, lik e the P innacl e morain e, stands high on a plain, with no sugges­ ti on o f subglacial or topographi c control o f the drain age. W i:h the bold relie f and the deep and stee p-walled basins the :\ lendon ka mes, and their included eskers, a re the choicest example o f the pec ulia r product o f glacial ice and water actin g in conce rt. O RIG I N; L A KE H IST ORY T he ka mes a re a product o f the constructi onal (depositional ) work of the ma rginal ice during the melting phase o f th e ice sheet. They were built by streams Rowing from the ice front, and emerg­ ing frolll beneath the ice ( subglacial ), and perhaps under hydrauli c pressure. During it s long jourlley from the north the glacier had gathered great quantity o f rock-rubbish from the land over which it rubbed. i\ lost o f this load o f drift was held in the basal portion o f the ice sheet. D uring the waning and disappearance o f the ice cap, by ma rgin al melting and recession ( northwa rd ) o f the ice front, the burden 0 f d ri ft was dropped on the la nd. ( See fi gure 1, page 1.;0 o f thi s volume, paper i\'o. 9.) C Il c1e r ullusual combination o f mechani cal concli tions the basal, or subglacial, load of c1 ri ft was piled as clrumlins by the overriding act ion o f the ice sheet. I n the Rochester-Syracuse region we have the fin est displ ay o f drumlins in the world. T he il Ienclo n ka mes li e in the southern ma rgin o f the heavier drumlin a rea. Another la rge pa rt of the drift load fell within the grasp o f water, Rowing beneath the ice sheet, and some part of thi s, the coarser materi al, was deposited in the beel s o f the subglacial streams, as eskers. (Plates 80, 8 1. ) T he remaincler o f the glacier's drift load, which had escaped deposition beneath the ice as drumlin and eskel-, was bound to be 200 ROCJT ESTER ACADE.\IY or SCI I': NCr:: clropped at the melting ice margin .
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