Landscape Regions of NYS
New York State…
• Has a wide variety of landscape regions
What is responsible for shaping the
landscape of NYS in recent times?
• The present landscape of northeastern
NYS was created by mountain building
processes and eroded by glaciation.
• Each landscape region is classified by
the type of underlying bedrock.
A tour of NYS Landscapes…
Glacial Sediments
North Shore, Long Island
Large glacial erratic in Smithtown Bay, Long Island
Loess
Glacial till
Glacial deposits exposed in beach cliff at Caumsett State Park
Central Park
Large erratic on roche moutonee bedrock. Also note glacial grooves.
Hudson Highlands
Bear Mountain Bridge
Hudson Highlands - View from Bear Mountain
Shawangunk Ridge
Shawangunk Ridge, Appalachian Fold Belt, New York
Silurian conglomerate
unconformity
Ordovician
shales
Waterfall over Shawangunk conglomerate on Peters Kill.
Catskill Mountains
Oneonta Formation sandstone overlying red floodplain
shales, Catskill Mts. “The Rip Van Winkle Trail”.
Slide Mountain – tallest peak
in the Catskills (4180ft)
Saratoga Springs
Adirondack High Peaks
View of high peaks region from top of Whiteface Mt
Sharp arete ridges and glacial cirque on Whiteface Mt. (4865 ft.)
Mt. Marcy: Highest Peak in NYS (5344 ft.)
44°06'45" N
73°55'24" W
Tug Hill Plateau
Salmon River Falls, Tug Hill
Plateau
Pixley Falls State Park
Niagara Falls / Niagara Gorge
Ontario power station, Niagara Gorge
American Falls
Horseshoe Falls
Letchworth Gorge
Genesee River, Letchworth gorge
Salt pile, salt mine, near Geneseo, NY.
Watkins Glen
Taughannock Falls
With a 215 foot plunge, this waterfall
stands three stories taller than Niagara
Falls.
These are the
highest falls in
NYS
Mucrospirifer brachiopods and Phacops
rana trilobites).
Crinoid columnals