In addition to the major glacial features ( terminal moraines and outwash plains) there are several smaller glacial land features found on Long Island. Many large boulders, or “glacial erratics
What type of depositional feature is Long Island?
The moderately flat surface that extends southward from the Ronkonkoma and Harbor Hill moraines to the south-shore bays is called an outwash plain . It is mainly a depositional feature composed of and underlain by well sorted sand and gravel deposited by streams that were fed by glacial melt water.
What type of glacial feature is Long Island?
Long Island, as part of the Outer Lands region, is formed largely of four spines of glacial moraine , with a large, sandy outwash plain towards its barrier islands and the Atlantic Ocean.
How is Long Island evidence of glaciation?
The upper portion of Long Island’s geological layers were formed between the Upper Cretaceous Period (72 to 100 million years ago) and Pleistocene Epoch (. ... The change in gradient and topographic make up from north to south is evident of glacial movement, so the Long Island of today was shaped by glaciation.
What is one glacial feature in New York State?
One of the best places to experience New York’s glacial terrain is Long Island . The southern half of Long Island is a broad outwash plain created by the meltwaters of the receding glacier.
Is Long Island a glacier?
The slab was covered by a thick wedge of sandy sediment deposited over hundreds of millions of years by streams that ran to the coast from the eroding Appalachians. But what finally created Long Island was a glacier .
What type of island is Long Island?
ON Feb. 19, the United States Supreme Court decided by a 9-to-0 vote that Long Island legally is not an island. It is part of the mainland of New York and, therefore, a peninsula .
What features of Long Island are examples of glacial deposition?
In addition to the major glacial features (terminal moraines and outwash plains) there are several smaller glacial land features found on Long Island. Many large boulders, or “glacial erratics” , are found on Long Island as part of the moraine deposits.
How are glaciers formed on Long Island?
Then, about ten thousand years ago, the glacier receded , leaving behind deposits of sand, rock, and soil that gradually formed Long Island. The receding glacier carved out a huge depression, which soon filled with water, forming a sound.
What is the name of the glacial feature that makes up central Long Island and the South Fork?
There are many other features, and they all have a story. In the center of Long Island, there is a long, hilly ridge called a moraine . Hempstead Plains and most of the south shore is made up of flat, sloping stretches of land that are outwash plains. Lake Ronkonkoma and Lake Success are kettle lakes.
Is Long Island an island or peninsula?
Perhaps most importantly, Long Island (at least for now) is not an island at all! It changed from an island to a continuous part of a peninsula many times, usually persisting in one form or the other for a few decades. It is presently part of a peninsula and has been since the mid-1970s.
How did Long Island Sound form?
The Long Island Sound is an estuary, a semi-enclosed coastal body where fresh and salt water mix. Formed more than 22,000 years ago when ice sheets, possibly 2 miles high and spanning from Nova Scotia to Washington, sculpted the land . The ice tore a deep gouge in the land and formed Lake Connecticut.
Is Long Island in a borough?
Long Island is joined to the mainland specifically, to the Borough of the Bronx , which is one of the five boroughs of New York City by two bridges and it is also joined to Manhattan Island and Staten Island by several bridges and tunnels.
What glacial formation exists between Staten Island and Long Island?
New York City experienced similar issues, with a two-mile thick ice layer forming over two million years back, covering the area region encompassing much of the city and all of Manhattan, with the terminal moraine reaching the zone bisecting parts of Staten Island and Long Island, until warming and retreat 18,000 years ...
Are there glaciers in New York?
Glaciers in New York City – Alley Pond Park
The landscape itself, however, came into existence roughly 15,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene Epoch, when a passing glacier carved out the landscape of New York City. The land beneath this park formed during the last ice age, which began around 1.5 million years ago.
Where are glacial striations found in New York State?
Glacial striations, southern Central Park . New York City has some cool geology: Paleozoic metamorphics scraped by Pleistocene glaciers.
