DRUMLINOIDS CATATONK QfeiTOE FOLIO. gLo. D. HUBBARD. / / / REPRINTED FROM Bulletin of the American Geographical Society Vol. XXXVIII, June, 1906. I • \l DRUMLINOIDS OF THE CATATONK FOLIO.* BY GEO. D. HUBBARD. The area designated the Catatonk Folio includes the Dryden, Harford, Owego, and Apalachin sheets of the United States Topo- graphic Atlas, and is situated in the south central part of the State of New York. Ithaca lies near the northwest corner, Owego near the southwest corner, and Binghamton two or three miles beyond the eastern boundary. The Pennsylvania line is coincident v/ith the southern limits. The region is a part of the maturely-dissected upland of the northern portion of the Allegheny Plateau, and has a relief of US 00-1 )^ 00 feet. The continental glacier once covered the entire area, and extended 50 miles or more beyond ;f and in retreating did not leave appreciable moraines in the southern part of the area, but heaped large accumulations in the northern part. Most of the glacial striae indicate a movement from E. N. E. or N. E. While there is a great variety of morainic form and distribution in the northern half of the area, and much of interest has been found there, in the southern portion the glacial field is quite mono- tonous. By far the most attractive till deposits here are numerous rounded hills, usually drumlin-shaped, and distributed rather unsystematically. They vary in length from less than one-eighth to fully three-fourths of a mile, and in height from 15 to 100 feet. Because of their resemblance to drumlins they will be termed drumlinoids. Descriptions . — In the Harford sheet, which was mapped by Mr. B. S. Butler, the village of Nanticoke is on one of these rounded or elliptical hills, ten of which occur in the one valley. Numerous village wells reach a depth of from 30 to 80 feet, and not one encounters bed-rock. Yet the deeper wells extend below the bottom of the hill. A short distance south of Nanticoke are * By permission of the Director of the United States Geological Survey. The field work of this paper was done while the author was acting as an assistant to Professor R. S. Tarr under the U. S. G. S. in the study of the physiography and quaternary geology of the Catatonk Folio. Some of the drift forms herein described were mapped and studied by Professor Tarr, and others by Mr. B. S. Butler. Acknowledgment to both is gladly made for contributions received from their work and for many suggestions made during the devebpment of the interpretation of the phenomena. In addi- tion, Professor 1 arr has read the report and given valuable criticism and suggestion. + Lewis, H. C.— Second Geol. Surv. Pa. Z. Ch. 2 and 3. Wright, G. F.— The Ice Age of N. Amer. Ch. VII. . 1Q2QO ■ 2 Drumlinoids of the Catatonk Folio. three similar hills, and about the same distance north are four more; while 2 miles N. W. is another pierced by a well 18 feet deep through till. Just beyond the latter is a still larger one, with one well 18 feet deep and another 80 feet deep. Neither well touches rock, but each is reported as having passed through hard- pan most of the way. The 80-foot well goes below the base of the hill. All the above ten till-masses stand out abruptly into the valley, forcing the stream to one side and sometimes requiring it to cut* in rock. Another characteristic mass occurs on the Apalachin sheet about a half mile north of Gaskill. (See Fig. 1.) The valley in which it lies is a broad, mature form with a well-devel- oped flood-plain for some distance both above and below this point. The till lies athwart the val- ley very much like a great dam, higher in the central part than at either side, in outline nearly circular, and about 600 yards across. Its total height above the border- ing stream-bed is about 100 feet. So completely does this mass of material obstruct the valley that the stream now flows in a rock gorge 25-75 feet wide along its eastern margin. The rock wall on the east rises precipitously almost 75 feet; but on the west it only shows at one point, where it rises about 10 feet, above which is a till slope of 20-30 feet. (See section, Fig. 2.) The hill is smooth and rounded. An old dug well whose depth is not exactly known, but is in the vicinity of 25 feet, is found near the north side. Between the till hill and the rock wall on the west side of the valley is a low col some 30 feet below the hill top. There must have been a similar but lower one on the east side. Apparently there was a time when this dam across the valley ponded back the waters until they overflowed at FIG. I. — CONTOUR MAP OF DRUMLINOIDS, NANTICOKE CREEK, MILE NORTH OF GASKILL. SCALE, 2 IN.= I MILE. ENLARGED FROM APALACHIN SHEET. Drumlinoids of the Catatonk Folio. a the lowest place, that probably being above the present rock gorge. The lowlands to the north consist of fine sand and clay at the surface. A quarter of a mile upstream from this large rounded hill is another similar form more separated from the valley wall than the last but not discerned by the topo- grapher. This one is twice as long as broad, rises 60 feet above the stream, and fig. 2.— cross section at a— b, fig. i, vertical ex- aggeration DOTS =TILL. LINES =ROCK. lies with its long axis essen- tially parallel with the valley at that point, and on its northern slope presents a morainic surface. South of the large mass, above described, the valley contains two more small similar hills, one of which appears in Fig. 1. In the valley of Barnes Creek, one and one-half miles north- east of Owego, occurs a small ovoid hill, which forces the stream against rock on the east. Its long axis, 250-300 yards in length, lies north and south and parallel with the valley. A de- finite sag may be seen between the hill and the west valley wall; and the surface of the former is a little irregular and has one little swamp. There is a good flood-plain below this obstruction, and also for a mile and a half above; but the stream passes the hill in a narrow gorge, in which the Owego Water Board has caused to be erected a dam to retain water for a city supply. Near the mouth of Tracy Creek on the Apalachin sheet a ridge, which seems to be essentially all till, lies exactly across the valley. (See Fig 3.) Its surface is smooth and rounded, and not the least FIG. 3. — NEAR THE MOUTH OF TRACY CREEK A CROSS RIDGE NEARLY CLOSES THE VALLEY. SCALE, 2 IN.= I MILE. >L ^ 8 uc . lioo IOOV 4 Drumlinoids of the Catatonk Folio. morainic. The creek flows through a broad flood-plain for five or six miles above this point, and then, as it runs along the west side of the obstruc- tion, is forced in- to a narrow rock gorge. The gorge has a high steep bluff of rocks on the west, but only FIG. 4.— CROSS SECTION AT A- B, FIG. 3 . DOTS __TILL. LINES = ROCK. alOWOne OH the VERTICAL EXAGGERATION 8%. J r east, composed ot till, in which the rock shows at but one point. (See section, Fig. 4.) In the next valley to the west, that of the Apalachin Creek, about N half a mile north of South Apalachin, may be found a neat little rounded hill rising in the midst of the valley and tied to the west val- ley wall by heavy till deposits, which present in part a smooth surface and in part a morainic one. A stream cut on the east exposes only till. The whole structure at this point resembles much a morainic loop, save that its northern and eastern portions are very smooth. In the valley of the Choconut, where these peculiar forms first attracted marked attention, there are nine individual examples, and clustered to the east of the mouth are four more of doubtful character. All are rounded and some bear striking re- semblances to the drumlins of the Syracuse-R och- ester, N. Y., dis- trict.* Where one axis is appreci- ably longer than another it lies parallel with the valley, except in one case. Of the four at the mouth of the valley, the two outer ones are parallel with the Choconut, while the two inner ones are parallel to the * Lincoln— Amer. Jour. Sci., Vol. XL 1 V (1892), pp. 290-301. Tarr— The Phys. Geog. of N. Y. State, pp. 146-151. Drumlinoids of the Catatonk Folio. 5 receiving Susquehanna. Not all of these thirteen hills have been proved to be of till. Several are apparently of till, others may be. Three will be described in detail. The first one encountered after entering the valley lies about two miles from Vestal, a station on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. It is about a half mile in length and nearly a fourth in width, and rises a hun- dred feet above the stream. Its north end is the broadest, but the middle portion is the highest. The surface is of a weak sag-and- swell type, with no swamps; while between it and the west valley wall there is a well-marked depression. (See Fig. 5.) Two wells on its northern slope are 18 and 23 feet in depth respect- ively, and neither encounters rock. One on its summit is open and 45 feet deep; no record of mate- rial passed through could be found, but a large dug well would scarcely be made in rock. The hill is so situated in the valley that the stream flowing in a broad flood - plain both above and be- low this point is here crowded into a narrow channel for a third of a mile, but no rock appears at any point in the cut. The whole section is a typical till cut. The stream cuts against rock in the east valley wall just north of the gorge at R in Fig. 5. Another smoother, rounder hill occurs a mile farther up stream fairly well separated from the west valley wall but not close enough to the other to crowd the stream; hence there are no stream cuts in it. However, appearance and tradition, the only evidence available, agree that it is not a rock hill. Close to it and to the north is a small rounded hill with its largest and highest end to the south. A mile above the last large one is the most regular hill found. (See Fig. 6.) Its relation to the valley is all told by the figure. A well dug at X in Fig. 6 is said by the owner to be 25-30 feet deep, but no rock was encountered. If this hill were in a drumlin region it would unquestionably be called a drumlin. o FIG. 6 . — DRUMLINOID 3^-4 MILES ABOVE VESTAL IN CHOCONUT CREEK VALLEY. SCALE, 2 IN.= I MILE. 6 Drumlinoids of the Catatonk Folio. Near the head of a stream entering the Nanticoke at Union Center from the west are two of the smallest examples found. They are 600-800 feet long and about 500 feet wide. Both present good till cuts where attacked by the stream. In another west branch of Nanticoke Creek, some three miles north or northeast of the village of Maine, is a hill with a four-crested summit. The hill is about 1,200 feet by 700 feet, and 50 feet high, well separated from the valley wall and certainly mainly composed of till. There are a number of forms of questionable character in this vicinity. Still others in Apalachin and adjacent sheets show similar features. Pipe Creek on the Owego sheet, mapped by Professor Tarr, has many. The largest is 60 feet high and three-fourths of a mile in length and stands out into the valley, deflecting the stream. This one is higher and steeper on the north end. There are several stream cuts in it, one 20 feet high, but none reveal rocks. Super- imposed on the south end of this larger one is a smaller hill which stream dissection has cut almost in half, exposing only till. North- west of Straits Corners is the only hill in this valley bearing mo- rainic topography. At the northeast corner of the Folio but just off into the Cort- land quadrangle is a small example of drumlinoid composed chiefly of stratified gravel and sand. So well stratified is the deposit that it has been opened and the sand and gravel drawn away for local use. This is the only drumlinoid reported in the entire Catatonk Folio region with more than traces of stratification. In the southern half of the Folio the valleys are deeply filled with till and stream deposits, often partly stratified. As a rule this fill- ing lies smoothly in the valley with a narrow trench, of post-glacial development, cut through it; but sometimes bunches of till with little sags behind them cling to the valley sides. Many examples of this class have been half or more cut away by the stream, reveal- ing thick till accumulations. Some of these occur in valleys where the more perfect drumlinoid hills are. By search throughout the whole Folio area examples may be found constituting a series, which passes by small gradations, from the thickened hump of till half removed and easily denominated valley filling, to the well- formed and perfectly preserved drumlin-shaped hill shown in Fig. 6. There are numbers of forms whose true nature has not been proved. Some of these may be rock, but where they stand out well into the valley, I cannot see how a rock hill could be pre- served except in rare accidents or very special conditions. But Drumlinoids of the Catatonk Folio. 7 one example of an authentic rock hill lying in a valley is known in the entire area, and that is a large one near Union in the Susque- hanna valley. This hill is several times as large as any of those above described, and its slopes are as steep as, or steeper than, the valley walls in this vicinity, while almost without exception the till hills have much gentler slopes, and hence appear more mature than the proximal valley walls. (See sections and maps.) Summing up the data presented in the above descriptions the following facts may be stated: 1. About seventy-five, more or less, rounded hills occur in the valleys of the Catatonk Folio. 2. Many of these have been proved by stream cuts and well sections to be composed of unstratified till. Only one is known to be essentially water laid. 3. Some of these hills blend with the valley wall with no definite sag between, some have a well-marked col, and some lie out in the valley free on both sides. 4. Many are so situated as to cause the valley to narrow and widen, and the stream to flow alternately over a broad flood plain and in a narrow gorge, frequently in the latter case to be obliged to cut a rock channel past the obstruction. 5. The drift hills vary in length from 200 to 1,300 yards; in width from 200 to 900 yards, and in height from 20 to 100 feet. 6. They are usually somewhat elongated, but vary from circular in outline to an axial ratio of 2:1. Where elongated the long axis is usually parallel with the valley in which they lie; in a few cases it extends crosswise of the valley. 7. Rarely are they found in any but approximately north and south valleys, and they seem to lie predominantly in valleys trend- ing a little N.W.-S.E., or approaching a right angle to the direc- tion of ice movement; a few doubtful ones, however, are in the Susquehanna valley; they are known in valleys of all sizes, but are best developed in those of moderate size. 8. Usually the surfaces are smooth and rounded, but in a few instances more or less of the surface is morainic in character. This last seems to occur more frequently on the south end, or on the flank lying nearest to the valley wall. 9. Many half and other fractional forms occur, which fact sug- gests that the streams have in part destroyed them, and many fractional forms blend more or less smoothly with the ordinary valley filling, suggesting that it is the partly-formed variety which is most easily removed. This is probably due to the lack of ready- 8 Drumlinoids of the Catatonk Folio. made channel-ways around them when the streams first begin to flow through the ice-evacuated valley. io. They are grouped in valleys. Rarely is one found alone, but frequently 3 to 8 or 9 in a single valley. They are not reported from the upland, and probably do not occur there, although the difficulty of identifying them and distinguishing them from purely erosion rock forms where stream cuts are rare may have caused an occasional one to be overlooked. if. A few of the described forms show terminal differentiation, being a little larger or a little higher at the north end; a smaller number show a similar enlargement at the opposite end, but most of them have a maximum height in their central portions. Theories and explanations. Four hypotheses have been consi- dered in the attempt to explain these interesting features: First, that they are rock forms and due probably to preglacial erosion; second, that they are morainic loops modified in many cases by stream action; third, that they are over-ridden moraine; and fourth, that they are valley-filling or morainic masses carved or built by ice into drumlin-like forms. In the early stages of the study the first hypothesis was fre- quently resorted to, thinking that the hill in question each time was a smaller but similar example of the rock type seen at Union; but it soon became apparent that there was another type. Stream cuts presented the first evidence, and then the well records were sought until it became very evident that many of the forms were of till. Rarely was any evidence found that a suspected hill was of rock. That others whose internal structure is unknown are of the same character, namely, of till, is believed to be true, for two reasons: ( a ) The fact that they lie out in the valleys, thereby narrowing down to a gorge an otherwise broad, mature valley; ( b ) That their slopes, except those recently undercut, are very much more mature than those of the valley walls. It seems probable that if these hills were rock remnants they would possess as steep slopes as the valleys, and possibly often steeper slopes, because in such close proximity to the stream. This should be expected even though they have not been postglacially attacked by the streams. When it was discovered that the rounded hills were largely com- posed of till the second hypothesis was proposed, ..and in support thereof a number of points may be adduced. Sometimes the hills lie almost across a valley save for a narrow postglacial gorge; they predominate in north-south valleys; in two places small loops were found crossing valleys in the southern part of the Folio, and such Drumlinoids of the Catatonk Folio. 9 loops had become very familiar in the northern part and in the adjoining Watkins Glen Folio.* But if this be their explanation a halt of the ice-front sufficiently long to build such moraines ought to have been sufficient to construct some sort of a moraine on the valley side and to lay down washed gravel in the valleys beyond the loop. Repeated diligent search failed to reveal either moraine or gravel. No possible morainic connection has been found in any case leading away from the drumlinoids along the valley sides. In fact, in the whole southern portion of the Folio where the types are best developed no systematic moraine was found. Further, except in rare cases there has not been found characteristic morainic topography in any of the drumlin-like hills. As the third hypothesis was developed the suggestion came that the peculiar feature might stand for over-ridden moraine — i.