GLACIAL LAKE CHRONOLOGY IN THE HUDSON LOWLANDS, NEW YORK

The ages of glacial lakes in the Hudson Lowlands have been based on morpho-stratigraphic relationships. We compiled one-hundred-and-eleven radiocarbon dates from the literature. They include bulk sediment, wood, bone, shell, plant macrofossil, and peat dates. The radiocarbon dates range in age from more than 13,000 ¹⁴C yr to the south to 10,000 ¹⁴C yr to the north. The dates were binned into 500-¹⁴C-year increments and plotted on a series of histograms representing the regional glacial lakes, Champlain Sea, and Lake Albany stages. The radiocarbon dates were compared with the morphostratigraphy of the Ontario, St. Lawrence, Hudson-, Champlain, and Connecticut lowlands. Lake Albany lasted from 12,500 to 12,000 ¹⁴C yr. The lower stages of Lake Albany: Quaker Springs and Coveville-Fort Ann lasted from 11,900 to 11,100 and 11,100 to 10,900 ¹⁴C yr respectively. Radiocarbon dates on tidal peat indicate tide water transgressed into the Hudson Highlands Gorge between 12,400 ¹⁴C yr and 12,500 ¹⁴C yr, thus the glacial deposits in the Hudson Highlands were scoured below sea level by 12,500 ¹⁴C yr and neither the Terminal Moraine nor the East River were the dam for Lake Albany.