New York
The Finger Lakes in western New York State are aptly named relics from the last ice age—a set of eleven long, glacially carved lakes running parallel to each other, like the fingers on a polydactyl hand. The lakes—from west to east, Conesus, Hemlock, Canadice, Honeoye, Canandaigua, Keuka, Seneca, Cayuga, Owasco, Skaneateles, and Otisco—can be seen just south of Lake Ontario from an aerial viewpoint.
These elongated lakes began as north-flowing rivers. Then, around 2 million years ago, massive glaciers began moving southward from the Hudson Bay area, engulfing the region in ice. As the glaciers moved south, they followed existing river valleys, carving them much deeper. Glaciation peaked around 20,000 years ago, when all of New York state was under ice, before the glaciers started retreating around 19,000 years ago, finally disappearing from this area around 11,500 years ago.
Today the Finger Lakes are among the deepest lakes in North America. The largest, Seneca Lake, is thirty-eight miles long with a maximum depth over 600 feet—so deep, it sits in bedrock below sea level. The Finger Lakes are fed mainly by underground springs, which replenish the lakes at incredible rates: 328,000 gallons flow into Seneca per minute. The constant influx circulates the water and keeps it from freezing over, even in the harshest winters. These large bodies of water create a milder surrounding microclimate, and the region is famous for its wineries; several dozen line lakeshores along three Finger Lakes wine trails.
During the last ice age, glacial ice covered much of Canada and New England, dipping in a curve south of the Great Lakes region and helping form the Finger Lakes.
The geology of the Finger Lakes has recently led to local ecological concerns. The region sits atop the Marcellus and Utica Shales, both of which harbor significant reserves of natural gas. These rocks were laid down 400 million years ago, during the Devonian Period, when the area was covered by a warm, shallow sea. Such layers are rich in natural gas, thanks to the marine fossils that decomposed here. However, gas is extracted through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves injecting highly pressured fluids deep underground to liberate the natural gas. Fracking’s large footprint and potential for contaminating groundwater aquifers—such as the many underground springs that feed the Finger Lakes—make it highly controversial. Several local anti-fracking organizations are working to keep the practice out of the Finger Lakes region.
Look for eleven elongated lakes oriented north and south on some flights to Rochester, Syracuse, or Albany, New York.
