Finger Lakes
Finger Lakes | |
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Lake Ontario Basin | |
Primary outflows | Oswego River |
Basin countries | United States |
Settlements | Ithaca, Geneva, Canandaigua |
Part of a series on |
Regions of New York |
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The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south
The geological term
Name
The origin of the name Finger Lakes is uncertain.[4] Currently, the oldest known published use of finger lakes for this group of 11 lakes is in a United States Geological Survey paper by Thomas Chamberlin[5] that was published in 1883. This paper was later cited and Finger Lakes formally used as a proper name by R. S. Tarr[6] in a Geological Society of America paper published in 1893.[7] Older usage of Finger Lakes in either maps, papers, reports, or any other documents remains to be verified.[4]
Lakes
The eleven Finger Lakes, from west to east, are:
Name | Elevation | Area | Length | Maximum width | Maximum depth | Location | Settlements |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conesus Lake[8] | 818 feet (249 m) | 3,420 acres (1,380 ha) | 8 miles (13 km) | 1 mile (1.6 km) | 66 feet (20 m) | Livingston County: Conesus, Geneseo, Groveland, Livonia | Lakeville |
Hemlock Lake[9] | 905 feet (276 m) | 1,800 acres (730 ha) | 7 miles (11 km) | 0.5 miles (0.80 km) | 91 feet (28 m) | Livingston County: Conesus, Livonia, Springwater Ontario County: Canadice, Richmond |
|
Canadice Lake[10] | 1,096 feet (334 m) | 649 acres (263 ha) | 3 miles (4.8 km) | 0.3 miles (0.48 km) | 95 feet (29 m) | Ontario County: Canadice | |
Honeoye Lake[11] | 804 feet (245 m) | 1,772 acres (717 ha) | 4.5 miles (7.2 km) | 0.8 miles (1.3 km) | 30 feet (9.1 m) | Ontario County: Canadice, Richmond | Honeoye |
Canandaigua Lake[12] | 688 feet (210 m) | 10,558 acres (4,273 ha) | 15.5 miles (24.9 km) | 1.5 miles (2.4 km) | 276 feet (84 m) | Ontario County: Canandaigua, Gorham, South Bristol Yates County: Italy, Middlesex |
Canandaigua, Woodville |
Keuka Lake[13] | 715 feet (218 m) | 11,584 acres (4,688 ha) | 19.6 miles (31.5 km) | 1.9 miles (3.1 km) | 183 feet (56 m) | Steuben County: Pulteney, Urbana, Wayne Yates County: Barrington, Jerusalem, Milo |
Branchport, Hammondsport, Penn Yan |
Seneca Lake[14] | 445 feet (136 m) | 43,343 acres (17,540 ha) | 38 miles (61 km) | approx 3 miles (4.8 km) | 618 feet (188 m) | Dresden, Geneva, Watkins Glen | |
Cayuga Lake[15] | 381 feet (116 m) | 42,956 acres (17,384 ha) | 38 miles (61 km) | 3.5 miles (5.6 km) | 435 feet (133 m) | Aurora, Ithaca, Lansing | |
Owasco Lake[16] | 712 feet (217 m) | 6,665 acres (2,697 ha) | 11.1 miles (17.9 km) | 1.3 miles (2.1 km) | 177 feet (54 m) | Cayuga County: Fleming, Moravia, Niles, Owasco, Scipio, Venice | Auburn |
Skaneateles Lake[17] | 863 feet (263 m) | 8,960 acres (3,630 ha) | 16 miles (26 km) | 1.5 miles (2.4 km) | 300 feet (91 m) | Skaneateles, Spafford |
Skaneateles |
Otisco Lake[18] | 787 feet (240 m) | 1,877 acres (760 ha) | 5.4 miles (8.7 km) | 0.75 miles (1.21 km) | 76 feet (23 m) | Onondaga County: Marcellus, Spafford |
Cazenovia Lake to the east, although smaller, is sometimes called "the 12th Finger Lake",[19][20] because it is similar in shape and limnology. It is in Appalachian hill terrain, lying mostly in the historic village of Cazenovia, and is linked to other Finger Lakes by US 20 and NY 13. It may have been formed in the same manner as the Finger Lakes, as satellite photos show three valleys similar in character and spacing to the Finger Lakes east of Otisco Lake. The first is the Tully Valley, which includes a chain of six small lakes called the Tully Lakes[21] at the south end that could collectively be a "Finger Lake" that never formed because of a terminal moraine. The moraine caused the Tioughnioga River to flow south instead of north, the opposite of the Finger Lakes' waters. The next two valleys to the east contain Butternut Creek, which flows north, and the East Branch of the Tioughnioga River, which flows south. The next valley contains Limestone Creek, which flows north. Other lakes have also made the claim of being the 12th Finger Lake, including Silver and Onondaga lakes, although Onondaga, as a dimictic lake, has some significant limnological differences.
DeRuyter Reservoir, sometimes called Tioughnioga Lake or DeRuyter Lake, a man-made Finger Lake southwest of Cazenovia Lake on Limestone Creek, is 8 miles from the northernmost point on the Finger Lakes Trail,[22] but was built as a feeder reservoir[23] for the Erie Canal. It is maintained by the New York State Canal Corporation.
Oneida Lake, to the northeast of Syracuse, is sometimes included as the "thumb", although it is shallow and somewhat different in character from the rest. As with Onondaga and Cazenovia Lakes, it drains into Lake Ontario via the Oswego River and then into the St. Lawrence River ultimately draining into the Atlantic Ocean. Chautauqua Lake, Findley Lake and Kinzua Lake to the west are not considered Finger Lakes; all three drain into the Allegheny River and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico, and in the case of Kinzua and Findley, as with DeRuyter to the east, the lakes are the artificial creation of dams.
Conesus, Hemlock, Canadice, Honeoye, and Otisco are considered the minor Finger Lakes.[24] Other, smaller lakes, including Silver, Waneta, and Lamoka lakes, dot this region. Silver Lake, west of Conesus Lake, would seem to qualify because it is in the Great Lakes watershed, but Waneta and Lamoka lakes, sometimes called the "fingernail" lakes,[25] are part of the Susquehanna River watershed, draining into a tributary of the Chemung River.
East of Oneida and Cazenovia Lakes are the
Quaternary geology
These glacial finger lakes originated as a series of northward-flowing streams. Around two million years ago, the area was glaciated by first of many continental glaciers of the Laurentide Ice Sheet moved southward from the Hudson Bay area. During the glacial maximums, subglacial meltwater and glacial ice widened, deepened, and accentuated the existing river valleys to form subglacial tunnel valleys.[26] Glacial debris, possibly terminal moraine left behind by the receding ice, acted as dams, allowing lakes to form. Despite the deep erosion of the valleys, the surrounding uplands show little evidence of glaciation, suggesting the ice was thin, or at least unable to cause much erosion at higher elevations. The deep cutting by glacial erosion left some tributaries hanging high above the lakes—both Seneca and Cayuga have tributaries hanging as much as 120 m (390 ft) above the valley floors.[2][26] Based upon sediments cores, seismic stratigraphy, and radiocarbon dates, the finger lakes became ice-free about 14,400 BP calendar. At this time scouring by ice and meltwater ceased and these lakes filled initially with proglacial lake rhythmites. The deposition of proglacial lake rhythmites occurred between 14,400 and 13,900 BP calendar. After the magins of the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated into the Ontario lowlands after 13,900 BP calendar, The accumulation, at first, of massive gray clays followed by dark gray to black, laminated, organic-rich muds, accumulated without interruption until present within the Finger Lakes.[2][27]
Detailed studies of
Finally, although sub-glacial scour during the Last Glacial Maximum removed the majority of pre-existing sediment down to the bedrock bottoms of the Finger Lakes, patches of interglacial deposits are likely preserved locally within or near hanging valleys on the margins of their valleys. For example, the principle site that has been well-studied is the Fembank exposure of interglacial deposits on the west margin of Cayuga. This deposit provides direct evidence that some version of Cayuga Lake and its bedrock valley existed prior to Last Glacial Maximum.[29][30]
Ecological concerns
Much of the Finger Lakes area lies upon the
Trash from New York City is also sent to landfills in the area.[33]
History
The Finger Lakes region is a central part of the
The Finger Lakes region contains sites of unknown cultural affiliation and age. The
During colonial times, many other tribes moved to the Finger Lakes region, seeking the protection of the Iroquois. For example, in 1753, remnants of several Virginia Siouan tribes, collectively called the Tutelo-Saponi, moved to the town of Coreorgonel at the south end of Cayuga Lake near present-day Ithaca and lived there until 1779, when their village was destroyed by the Sullivan Expedition.
Iroquois towns in the Finger Lakes region included the Seneca town of
As one of the most powerful Indian nations during colonial times, the Iroquois were able to prevent European colonization of the Finger Lakes region for nearly two centuries after first contact, often playing the French off against the British interests in savvy demonstrations of political competence. The renowned ingenuity and adaptability of the Iroquois people were key tools of resistance against hostile European powers rapidly spreading throughout North America, eager to dominate and increasingly brutal toward native Americans in the Finger Lakes and beyond.
By the late 18th century, with the French governmental influence gone from Canada, Iroquois power had weakened relative to the steady growth in European-Americans' populations, and internal strife eroded the political unity of the
Roughly the western half of the Finger Lakes region comprised the
Notable places
The Finger Lakes region, together with the
The region was active in reform and utopian movements. Many of its
On the northern end of the Finger Lakes are also
Conesus remains the home of the oldest producer of pure grape sacramental wine in the Western hemisphere.
Notable among the historic buildings of the region (most linked below) is the
Three
The Seward House in Auburn, a
Implemented in August, 2010, the Hemlock-Canadice State Forest covers 6,684 acres (27.05 km2) that encompass the two western Finger Lakes, Hemlock and Canadice. These lakes have provided drinking water for the City of Rochester for more than 100 years. To protect water quality, the city acquired much of the property around the lakes. Over the decades, the land reforested, but a few traces of its past, such as stone walls or cottage foundations, remain. Today these two lakes, with their steep, forested, largely-undeveloped shorelines and deep, clear water, provide visitors a glimpse of the Finger Lakes of the past. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) manages this State Forest for compatible public access for recreation, including fishing, hunting, nature study, boating and hiking. Activities in Hemlock-Canadice State Forest are subject the DEC's Rules and Regulations for the Use of State Lands, 6 NYCRR Part 190, as well as any other applicable state statutes, rules and regulations. These are sensitive areas because they protect public drinking water.
The 584-mile (939.9 km)
Hemlock Lake is home to the state's oldest nesting bald eagle site, dating back to the early 1960s. The nesting bald eagles of Hemlock Lake have fostered a resurgence of bald eagles throughout New York State. Hemlock Lake, originally known as "O-Neh-Da" which is Seneca for "Lake of Hemlock Trees", is home to the nation's oldest sacramental winery, founded by Bishop McQuaid in 1872. Today, O-Neh-Da Vineyard continues to make premium natural pure grape wine for churches and foodies alike.
Wine
The Finger Lakes region is New York's largest
The main grape varieties grown are Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot noir, Cabernet Franc, Vidal blanc, Seyval blanc and many Vitis labrusca (American native) varieties or cultivars.
With the passage of the Farm Winery Act in 1976, numerous wineries are now open to visitors. Wineries are a growth industry of the region, contributing through their production and by attracting visitors. The Finger Lakes American Viticulture Area (AVA) includes two of America's oldest wineries, O-Neh-Da Vineyard (1872) on Hemlock Lake and The Pleasant Valley Wine Company (1860) on Keuka Lake.
Craft beer
Aside from wine, the Finger Lakes' craft beer industry has grown significantly in recent years. In 2018 the region was home to the second-highest number of breweries in New York after the Hudson Valley.[36]
Educational institutions
The area is also known for higher-education learning. The largest is
Nearby the Finger Lakes is
Museums
The Finger Lakes region is home to several museums. These include the
The
References
- ^ Bryce, S.A., Griffith, G.E., Omernik, J.M., Edinger, G., Indrick, S., Vargas, O., and Carlson, D., 2010, Ecoregions of New York: Reston, Virginia, U.S. Geological Survey, map scale 1:1,250,000.
- ^ ISBN 9780813723112
- ^ a b Kozlowski, A. L., and Graham, B. L., eds., 2014, Glacial geology of Cayuga County of the Eastern Finger Lakes–lakes, lore and landforms: Guidebook for the 77th Annual Reunion of the Northeastern Friends of the Pleistocene Meeting, Auburn, New York, 140 p.
- ^ a b Brewster, M., 2016a. How The Finger Lakes Was Named: Part 1. Exploring Upstate.
- ^ Chamberlin, T.C., 1882, Preliminary paper on the terminal moraine of the second glacial epoch: Third Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, pp.291–402.
- ^ Tarr, R.S., 1893. Lake Cayuga a rock basin. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 5(1), pp.339-356.
- ^ Brewster, M., 2016b. How The Finger Lakes Was Named: Part 2. Exploring Upstate.
- ^ "Conesus Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Hemlock Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Canadice Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Honeoye Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Canandaigua Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Keuka Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Seneca Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Cayuga Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Owasco Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Skaneateles Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "Otisco Lake Facts". www.dec.ny.gov. Albany, New York: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
- ^ "What's in a Name? – the legend behind the 11 Finger Lakes". 31 December 2015.
- ^ "What Are the Finger Lakes?". 25 April 2017.
- ^ "Finger Lakes, New York | Lakes | Tully | Tourist Information".
- ^ "Finger Lakes Trail | New York State's Premier Footpath Trail System". Archived from the original on 2021-11-05. Retrieved 2021-11-05.
- ^ "Feeder reservoir". 28 March 2017.
- ^ "What Are The Finger Lakes?". WorldAtlas. 2021-11-27. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
- ^ "What's in a Name? – the legend behind the 11 Finger Lakes". 31 December 2015.
- ^ a b Mullins, H.T. and Hinchey, E.J., 1989. Erosion and infill of New York Finger Lakes: Implications for Laurentide ice sheet deglaciation. Geology, 17(7), pp.622-625.
- ^ Ellis, K.G., Mullins, H.T. and Patterson, W.P., 2004. Deglacial to middle Holocene (16,600 to 6000 calendar years BP) climate change in the northeastern United States inferred from multi-proxy stable isotope data, Seneca Lake, New York. Journal of Paleolimnology, 31(3), pp.343-361.
- ^ Kozlowski, A.L., Bird, B., Mahan, Shannon, F., Robert, Teal, C., and Leone, J., 2018, Glacial Lake Nanette–a middle Wisconsin (MIS 4 – 3) proglacial lake in the Cayuga Basin, in Thorleifson, L. H., ed., Geologic Mapping Forum 2018 abstracts: Minnesota Geological Survey Open-File Report, 18-1, p. 41.
- ^ Knuepfer, P.L.K., Hensler, S.M., 2000. A5: Proglacial Lakes, Southern Cayuga and Seneca Valleys. In Guide Book to Field Trips [of The] 72nd Annual Meeting New York Geological Association. September 29 - October 1, 2000. pp. 75-90.
- ^ Karrow, P.F., Bloom, A.L., Haas, J.N., Heiss, A.G., McAndrews, J.H., Miller, B.B., Morgan, A.V. and Seymour, K.L., 2009. The Fernbank interglacial site near Ithaca, New York, USA. Quaternary Research, 72(1), pp.132-142.
- ^ Wilber, T. "How fracking got stopped in NY". Poughkeepsie Journal.
- ^ Kaplan, Thomas (17 December 2014). "Citing Health Risks, Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York State". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02.
- ^ "Investigation: NYC dumping more garbage than ever in Finger Lakes area". Democrat & Chronicle. 6 July 2018.
- OCLC 8805286
- ^ "Alstom awarded $1.8 billion Metra contract, hundreds of new jobs coming to Hornell". My Twin Tiers. Jan 13, 2021. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ Cazentre, Don (2018-02-14). "Beer boom: New York state says it now has record number of breweries". newyorkupstate.com. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
- ^ Falls, Mailing Address: 136 Fall Street Seneca; Us, NY 13148 Phone:568-0024 Contact. "Women's Rights National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov.
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Sources
- Thompson, John H., ed. Geography of New York State (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1977)
- Engeln, O. D., von. The Finger Lakes Region: Its Origin and Nature (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1961, 1988)
- Finger Lakes Tourism Statistics
- Bloomfield, Jay A., ed. Lakes of New York State: Volume I: Ecology of the Finger Lakes (New York, NY: Academic Press, 1978)