In the Beginning – Geology, Glaciation and Geography

 

In the beginning…

 

That is the usual place to start a history of about anything, so it seems appropriate to begin this one the same way.

 

Meridian’s beginnings, like every other place on Earth, started with the condensation of a ring of dust and debris around the sun. That ring of dust and debris became the series of planets that make up our solar system. Meridian’s real history begins with the most recent Ice Age, which lasted over 100,000 years, ending between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago.

 

USGS.gov

The current climate is appreciably warmer than it was during the Ice Age (and the current climate change is accelerating that warming). During the Ice Age, Meridian was covered by glacial ice a mile thick. That ice created the peculiar terrain of the area, scouring away the earth in some places, and depositing soil and rocks in others.

 

If you look around, you will notice the uncommon landscape that surrounds Meridian. The village sits in the middle of a large field (sometimes called a “swarm”) of glacially formed hills called “drumlins.”   There are about 10,000 drumlins in upstate New York, following the southern shore of Lake Ontario. There are drumlins on the floor of Lake Ontario itself and another 7,000 drumlins exist across the Lake on its northern shore in Canada.[1]  There are other drumlin swarms elsewhere on earth, but Central New York’s swarm is bigger than most and it fascinates geologists.

 

Drumlins follow the direction that the glaciers traveled. As these massive rivers of ice moved southward, they sculpted the land. Drumlins are the very visible evidence of the glaciers’ movement.[2]  Those around Meridian are aligned askew from true north-south, inclined slightly to the northwest. The shape of drumlins has been compared to that of whales, long and narrow. The north ends of drumlins are usually a steep slope, with the southern slopes having more gentle gradients.[3]  Traveling from east to west or vice versa, over the tops of the drumlins and into the valleys between them, can sometimes feel like riding a roller coaster.

 

 

Drumlin Field: Wayne County, NY
Shaded Relief Imagery,

derived from the USGS Geological Survey National Elevation Dataset,

Modified by Pollinator. (Public Domain)

 

The eastern entrance to the village on Route 370 cuts through a drumlin. The northern half of that drumlin used to be called “Butter Factory Hill,” because, of course, there was once a butter factory there.

 That same Ice Age, as its glaciers moved southward and gouged out the land, was responsible for the creation of the Finger Lakes as well as the drumlin field.[4]  The two lakes south of the village, Otter and Cross Lakes, may not be as long or as deep as Cayuga or Seneca or the other, more “official” Finger Lakes, but they were created in the same way and are equally important evidence of the huge effect of glaciers on Central New York State.[5]

 In addition to the lakes, there are other, shallower depressions that resulted from the glaciers. Today we see lowlands and marshes in these shallow depressions that are not deep enough to be lakes. The “Sunnyside” area, east of the village, is a classic example, as is the swampy area to the northwest of Cato-Meridian School. The Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge at the north end of Cayuga Lake, is an even larger example.

 Those swampy areas had in significant role in later New York State History, creating difficulties for early settlers because they were perfect breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Those mosquitoes had an adverse effect on the region’s early settlers, on the workers who built the Erie Canal and on Meridian’s residents today.

 The glaciers also deposited rich soils. Those deposits were later the basis for the agriculture that made upstate New York an excellent place for the human beings, both Native American and European, that eventually settled there.

 

 

---

[1] Kerr, M. and Eyles, N., “Origin of drumlins on the floor of Lake Ontario and in upper New York State”, Sedimentary Geology, 193(1-4):7-20, American Geological Institute, 2007.

[2] Tarr, Ralph S., The Physical Geography of New York State, New York: The McMillan Company, 1902.

 [3]Fairchild, Herman L., Pleistocene Geology of New York State,” Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, Vol, 24, pp 133-162, 25 March 1913.

[4] Thompson, John E., Editor, Geography of New York State, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1966, 1977.

[5] Von Engeln, O.D., The Finger Lakes Region: Its Origin and Nature, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1961.