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This part of Western New York is rich in glacial history. If you look around you will see a landscape of glacial engineering. For example, at posted coordinates you are on top of one of many moraines in the area. This moraine is called the Barre Moraine. It roughly runs from Lockport to West Berre. To the north are the Albion Moraine and the Carlton Moraine. To the south are the Batavia Moraine, Niagara Falls Moraine and the Buffalo Moraine, to name a few. Other features visible from this location are a Kame Deposit, immediately to your northeast and a ridge of Glacial Till (Oak Orchard Ridge) to the south. Between the Barre Moraine and the Glacial Till is lowlands that is made up of Lacustrine Silt/Clay that was laid down by a post-glacial lake, Lake Tonawanda. Also near by are Eskers and the remains of and ancient beach. If you drive west, crossing over S. Gravel Rd. and drive down Dunlop Rd. you will come to where the Oak Orchard Creek breached this moraine.
What is a Moraine?
A moraine is material transported by a glacier and then deposited. There are eight types of moraine, six of which form recognizable landforms, and two of which exist only whilst the glacier exists.
The types of moraine that form landforms are Ground, Lateral, Medial, Push, Recessional and Terminal. The two types only associated with glacial ice are Supraglacial and Englacial moraine.
Ground Moraine
A Ground Moraine is till deposited over the valley floor. It has no obvious features and is to be found where the glacier ice meets the rock underneath the glacier. It may be washed out from under the glacier by meltwater streams, or left in situ when the glacier melts and retreats.
Lateral Moraine
A Lateral Moraine forms along the edges of the glacier. Material from the valley walls is broken up by frost shattering and falls onto the ice surface. It is then carried along the sides of the glacier. When the ice melts it forms a ridge of material along the valley side.
Medial Moraine
A Medial Moraine is formed from two lateral moraines. When two glaciers merge, the two edges that meet form the center line of the new glacier. In consequence two lateral moraines find themselves in the middle of the glacier forming a line of material on the glacier surface. The existence of a medial moraine is evidence that the glacier has more than one source. When the ice melts it forms a ridge of material along the valley center.
Push Moraine
Push Moraines are only formed by glaciers that have retreated and then advance again. The existence of a push moraine is usually evidence of the climate becoming poorer after a relatively warm period. Material that had already been deposited is shoved up into a pile as the ice advances, and because most moraine material was deposited by falling down not pushing up, there are characteristic differences in the orientation of rocks within a push moraine. A key feature enabling a push moraine to be identified is individual rocks that have been pushed upwards from their original horizontal positions.
Recessional Moraine
Recessional Moraines form at the end of the glacier so they are found across the valley, not along it. They form where a retreating glacier remained stationary for sufficient time to produce a mound of material. The process of formation is the same as for a terminal moraine, but they occur where the retreating ice paused rather than at the furthest extent of the ice.
Terminal Moraine
The Terminal Moraine forms at the snout of the glacier. It marks the furthest extent of the ice, and forms across the valley floor. It resembles a large mound of debris, and is usually the feature that marks the end of unsorted deposits and the start of fluvially sorted material.
Supraglacial Moraine
Supraglacial Moraine is material on the surface of the glacier, including lateral and medial moraine, loose rock debris and dust settling out from the atmosphere.
Englacial Moraine
Englacial Moraine is any material trapped within the ice. It includes material that has fallen down crevasses and the rocks being scraped along the valley floor.
To claim this cache you need to E-mail me the answers to the following questions and post a pic. (optional).
1. What type of moraine is the Berre Moraine?
2. How high above the ancient lake bed (to the south) is the moraine? Above Oak Orchard Creek (to the north)?
3. What was the general direction of travel of the melting glacier?
4. What is the general make up of this moraine (is it rocky, sandy, mixture)?
Additional Hints
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