Glacial Ice sculpted New York's Finger Lakes Region

The beautiful Finger Lakes region of Central New York consists of eleven long thin lakes running from the flat topography in the north to hilly topography in the Southern Tier. Dozens of spectacular waterfalls can be found along streams flowing into the lakes, especially near the southern ends of Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. These features are all manifestations of mile-thick ice sheets that cover the region during the Pleistocene Ice Ages. This video explains how ice sculpted the topography of of the Finger Lakes region. The video is part of an exhibit at the Museum of the Earth (Ithaca, NY) on the history of glaciers in the region.

Produced by: Bryan Isacks


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[paleontologicalresearchins]

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[TheFarmacySeedsNetwork]

Excellent information ! Thank you! Incorporating intoa regenerative farming video! 🌱

[miranda]

If you adjust the speed to 0.25 times faster it's actually possible to listen to her

[kaitlyn]

Wow what an interesting story of how these areas formed. Thanks for sharing!

[clarkewi]

Fascinating. I could imagine Mr. Rogers giving this lecture with little bells sounding in the

[taylorlown]

When you record a kindergarten teacher reading this as a book aloud to their class.

[ShellBAtoms]

Thanks. I'd never heard of the Museum of Earth, and just checked it out online. I'll visit sometime.
I don't know why the map was turned to put north at the bottom - but no worries.
Good info.

[andymacdougal]

Bryan, I respect your knowledge, I am having a problem, though, picturing ice being a shaping force that cuts down and gouges long thin lake basins. Glaciers round off and flatten out hilltops, no? Where else have we seen glaciers cutting down into lake beds?

[Jamba-wlez]

How do you explain the dovetail drumlins to the north?

[privatedata]

Are there any photographs of this happening to substantiate this ? Thanks again .

[TheWinterShadow]

Damn if Ice do, damn if ice don't,

[andymacdougal]

I disagree with the assertion that moving ice sculpted the finger lakes. I believe they were cut by fast moving and fast melting ice water from whatever the event was that ended the Younger Dryas. You can see it plain as day in your colorful topographic map in this video. Think of the potential energy of the sheer mass in the ice that was suspended as high as 2 kilometers in the air. Now, picture that melting RAPIDLY and the water welling up and releasing over and over cutting DEEP channels into that soft shale. I would go back to the drawing board here, respectfully.