Lake Albany EarthCache
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“Glacial Lake Albany”
Way back when, the entire region that is now Hollyhock Hollow Sanctuary was under a giant glacier. As the ice melted and retreated, huge lakes were formed and over time those lakes drained toward the ocean, forming many creeks and rivers. The Onesquethaw Creek is one of those creeks, and it is thought that at one time the creek itself formed a portion of the southwestern shore of glacial Lake Albany. Note all of the large stones/boulders located in the steam (which are both a result of the glacier itself) pushing earth and stone forward as it was built, but leaving them in the midst of the melt water drainage in what is now called the Onesquethaw Creek.
At the listed I.P. (which I forgot to get when I was there today) you will notice a water level ruler that measures up to 6’. To claim credit for this cache (and for a monitoring tool), post the level of the water at the time you were there.
It’s hard to believe walking around Albany and the surrounding area that just over 10,000 years ago this area and much or northwestern New York was covered by ancient glacial lakes the size of a small seas. Now imagine the glacial lake that was here, known as Glacial Lake Albany, at an elevation of approximately 450 feet above sea level. So, how did this happen and how do we know it was here?
About 1.6 million years ago an ice age in upstate New York began and, including short intervals of warmth, it lasted until approximately 10,000 years ago. During this time, enormous ice sheets, known as glaciers, advanced and retreated throughout Canada and the northeastern United States, including New York. Glaciers more than a mile high covered this part of the state, leaving scars on the highest Adirondack peaks. As these monstrous fields of ice moved south they tore Adirondack rocks from the peaks, scoured everything in their path widening valleys, creating ancient lakes and transporting enormous amounts of rock, gravel, sand, silt and clay.
Glaciers erode the landscape in many ways, two of which are surface abrasion (discussed above) and plucking. As the glacier flows over bedrock it encounters fractures (breaks) in the rock surface. Water within the glacier flows into the fractures and eventually freezes. When the water freezes it expands and causes the rock to crack or break off from the surrounding bedrock. This action is known as plucking, as the rock is then plucked off the surface and carried along with the glacier. These immense pieces of rock are carried by the glacier large distances, in some cases thousand of miles, and are deposited at a later time as the glacier melts. The large rocks that are left behind by the glaciers as are known as “glacial erratics”. Glacial erratics are typically rounded in appearance and differ from the surrounding bedrock. In general, the rounder the erratic, the longer it was carried and reworked by the glacier.
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