Pennsyvania Lake Drainage at HSIE

[E.P. Grondine]

From Elton Jones (last year)

For the record of lakes which drained around 12.9kybp, Ancient Lake Siota, in eastern Pennsylvania (Near Wind Gap, Pa), was a rather large inpoundment(1-3km high ice dam) which breached..12.9kybp( as radio-carbon dated by debris from the outwash bars).

This breach changed the entire drainage pattern in the Broadheads Creek Valley such that instead of flowing into the Delaware River via Delaware Water Gap, PA, it now feeds into the Lehigh River near Palmerton, Pa. This was/is covered in an obscure 60′s publication titled Geological Field Trips of Eastern Pennsylvania (or words to that effect). The area is populated by many moraines, kames and eratics– generally along the line of Interstate 80.

The terminal moraine for Lake Siota is crossed by State Route 33 vic Cherry Valley. Just north of that crossing to the east, lies perched atop a quarry, a large pile of glacial cobbles. This is but a small but powerful insight as to the size of the natural dam that stretched across the valley.

I have found sub-surface chalk specimens in the large well sorted sand pits near there. Yet there are no chalk deposits anywhere along the projected flow of the lobe of the ice sheet.

EPG - Note: The south shore of this ancient lake needs to be field walked.
Uniface, I seem to remember that you live in that area.
This makes site number three that I have to field walk.

[uniface]

Fascinating stuff, E.P. Thank You once again !!!

That's going to take a while to integrate into my picture of "then-there."

I live maybe 150 miles from there. If you're ever in the central part of the state and need a place to crash & a meal or three, PM me.