Unique Geologic Features

Route 34, Cayuga Heights
Located in Tompkins County
Image courtesy of James Zambito

University Avenue - Cascadilla Creek, Ithaca City
Located in Tompkins County
Image courtesy of James Zambito

Ithaca Falls Park Fall Creek
Lincoln Street, Ithaca City, Tompkins County
Image Courtesy of Dr. James Zambito

Taughannock Falls State Park
Located in Tompkins County
Image courtesy of James Zambito

Niagara River Gorge / Power Plant Haul Road

Located in Niagara County

Image Courtesy of Jorg Maletz

The entrance of the Niagara River into the Whirlpool with the last indication of the Whirlpool Rapids.

Whirlpool State Park
Located in Niagara County
Image Courtesy of NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation

Limestone crowded by crinoid stem fragments and illustrations of other fossils that may be found. Brachiopods (left), trilobites (right), and corals (rugose coral on photo in center) are common.

Limestone Crowded by Crinoid Stem fragments and Illustrations of other Fossils.
Located in Niagara County
Image Courtesy of Jorg Maletz

Mouth of Eighteen Mile Creek at Lake Erie
Located in Erie County
Image courtesy of J Maletz

Buffalo Creek at Bullisi Road - Tichenor Limestone (left photo); lower part of the Moscow Formation (right photo)

Buffalo Creek at Bullisi Road
Located in Erie County
Image courtesy of Jorg Maletz

Fall Brook - Route 63 - Geneseo
Located in Livingston County
Image courtesy of Jorg Maletz

Buffalo Creek at Bullis Road
Located in Erie County
Image courtesy of Jorg Maletz

Features of geologic interest at the abandoned LeRoy Quarry

Le Roy Quarry
Located in Le Roy County
Image courtesy of Jorg Maletz
and Dr. J Bret Bennington

Ausable Chasm - Potsdam Sandstone
Located in Clinton County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Ausable Falls
Located in Clinton County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Whiteface Mountain - Rock Slide
Located in Essex County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Whiteface Mountain
Located in Essex County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Whiteface Moutain - Arrete Ridge
Located in Essex County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Bear Mountain Chattermarks
Located in Rockland County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Central Park NYC - Erratic and Grooves
Located in New York County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Central Park NYC - Erratic
Located in New York County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Central Park NYC - Glacial Channel
Located in New York County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Watkins Glenn - Burrows in Sandstone
Located in Schuyler County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Watkins Glenn Gorge - Upper Devonian Shale, Siltstone, and Sandstone
Located in Schuyler County
Image courtest of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Gorge eroded into Upper Devonian Shale, siltstone, and sandstone

Watkins Glenn State Park
Located in Schuyler County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Letchworth State Park - Genesee River in Gorge
Located in Wyoming County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Letchworth State Park - Letchworth Strata
Located in Wyoming County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Letchworth State Park - Letchworth Gorge
Located in Wyoming County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Letchworth State Park, Portage - Upper Falls
Located in Wyoming County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Letchworth State Park, Portage - Upper Falls
Located in Wyoming County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Letchworth State Park, Portage - Upper Falls, Genesee River
Located in Wyoming County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Fall Brook - Route 63 - Geneseo
Located in Livingston County
Image courtesy of Dr. J. Bret Bennington

Fall Brook - Route 63 - Geneseo - Hanging Valley
Located in Livingston County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Le Roy Quarry - Neid Road
Located in Le Roy County
Image courtesy of Dr. J. Bret Bennington

Trilobite fossil from Penn Dixie Paleontological and Outdoor Education Center
Located in Erie County
Image courtesy of Penn Dixie Education Center

Penn Dixie - Searching for Fossils
Located in Erie County
Image courtesy of Penn Dixie Paleontological and Outdoor Education Center

Brachiopod Fossil from Penn Dixie
Located in Erie County
Image courtesy of Penn Dixie Paleontological and Outdoor Education Center

Middle Granville - Stoddard Road - Deformed Graptolites
Located in Washington County
Image Courtesy of Jean Crespi

Lafarge Quarry
Located in Ulster County
Image Courtesy of William Kelly

Close-up of Oriskany surface showing brachiopods.

Seneca Stone Quarry - Fayette
Image courtesy of Richard W. Allmendinger
Located in Seneca County

Seneca Stone Quarry
Located in Seneca County
Image courtesy of Richard W. Allmendinger

Seneca Stone Quarry
Located in Seneca County
Image courtesy of Richard W. Allmendinger

Taughannock Park Road - Taughannock Falls State Park
Located in Tompkins County
Image Courtesy of William Kelly

Metagabbro Boudin in garnet-sillimanite mylonitic gneiss (khondalite) south of Whitehall, New York.

Whitehall Routes 4 and 22
Located in Washington County
Image courtesy of Glenn B. Stracher and Nancy Lindsley-Griffin

$Rondaxe Road - 1 cm wide rusty, breccia-filled fracture$

Rondaxe Road - Bald Mountain - Webb
Located in Herkimer County
Image courtesy of Robert Darling

Rondaxe Road - Rusty - Breccia-Filled "Void" Near Summit of Bald Mountain
Located in Herkimer County
Image courtesy of Robert Darling

Caanan Road - Middle Ordovician spheroidal weathering preserved in middle Proterozoic feldspathic gneiss located structurally below the Knox Unconformity

Cannan Road - East Martinsburg
Located in Lewis County
Image courtesy of Robert Darling

Caanan Road - Knox Unconformity in Stream Bed
Located in Lewis County
Image courtesy of Robert Darling

$Barnet Garnet Mine - Multiple solid inclusion containing albite (ab), fractured cristobalite (cr), and ilmenite (ilm) inside garnet from the Barton Mine$

Barnet Garnet Mine
Located in Warren County
Image courtesy of William Kelly
and Robert Darling

Polished chips of garnet from the Barton Garnet mine showing dark red color and gemstone qualities.

Barton Garnet Mine
Located in Warren County
Image courtesy of Robert Darling

John Boyd Thacher State Park - Manlius Formation
Located in Albany County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

John Boyd Thacher State Park in the fall with colored trees

John Boyd Thacher State Park
Located in Albany County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

John Boyd Thacher State Park - Helderberg Escarpment
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Petrified Sea Gardens - Stromatolites
Located in Saratoga County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Petrified Sea Gardens - Stromatolite detail
Located in Saratoga County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Petrified Sea Gardens
Located in Saratoga County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Lester Park - Saratoga - Large Stromatolite
Located in Saratoga County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Lester Park - Saratoga - Stromatolites
Located in Saratoga County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Lester Park - Saratoga - Small Stromatolites
Located in Saratoga County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Saratoga Springs State Park - Travertine
Located in Saratoga County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Saratoga Springs State Park - Travertine Closeup
Located in Saratoga County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Saratoga Springs State Park - Springs
Located in Saratoga County
Image Courtesy of Dr. J Bret Bennington

Skytop Lane Quarry - Plinthite-bearing melanic epipedon (aao) of the Argillic Oxisol

Skytop Lane Quarry - Sidney
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, and James Ebert

Skytop Lane Quarry - Channel-form silty sandstone (CFss) facies; An ephemeral wash channel incised into the paleosols of stable interfluves (argillic oxisol below DNAG card)

Skytop Lane Quarry - Sidney
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Skytop Lane Quarry - Argillic Oxisol showing A, B, and C horizons as well as the overlying marine deposits of the Trough Cross-Bedded facies

Skytop Lane Quarry - Sidney
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Sidney Mountain Quarry - Sand volcano found in association with intraformational conglomerate beds within Planar-Bedded Multistory Sandbody Facies

Sidney Mountain Bluestone Quarry
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Sidney Mountain Quarry - Runzel marks and Arenciolites burrows within Planar-Bedded Multistory Sandbody Facies

Sidney Mountain Quarry - Runzel Marks - Arenciolites Burrows
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Sidney Mountain Quarry - Straight-crested, asymmetrical ripples with rounded to flat, planed-off crests indicative of tidal reworking within Planar-Bedded Multistory Sandbody Facies

Sidney Mountain Bluestone Quarry
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Sidney Center Outcrops - Upper-flow-regime sand flat deposits of Planar-Bedded Multistory Sandbody Facies

Sidney Center Outcrops - Sheetz Quarry - Unadilla
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Sidney Center Outcrops - Tidal rhythmites recorded as repetitive couplets of laminae of different well-sorted grain sizes of tidal origin within Tidally-Dominated Trough-Cross-Bedded Facies.

Sidney Center Outcrops
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Sidney Center Outcrops - Delicate in loco plant stems preserved as a carbonized impression on an intraformational conglomerate bed within Planar-Bedded Multistory Sandbody Facies

Sidney Center Outcrops
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Closeup of flat heterolithic bedding within Heterolithic-Bedded Facies

Sheetz Quarry - Unadilla
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Upper-flow-regime sand flat deposits are dominant at Sheetz Quarry

Pine Hill Road - Sidney
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, and James Ebert

Sheetz Quarry - Sparse marine fauna consisting of the rhynchenellid Cupularostrum within Planar-Bedded Multistory Sandbody Facies

Sheetz Quarry - Unadilla
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Thick-thin alternations are observed in couplet bundle thicknesses on trough foresets

Sheetz Quarry - Unadilla
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, and James Ebert

Pine Hill Road - Tidal rhythmite couplets consisting of fine sand alternating with very fine sand and silty mud drapes

Pine Hill Road - Tidal Rhythmites
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Pine Hill Road - Representative wooded outcrop of the Tidally-Dominated Trough-Cross-Bedded Facies consisting of sigmoidal trough cross-beds intercalated with planar beds and tidal rhythmite couplets

Pine Hill Road - Sidney
Located in Delaware County
Image courtesy of Dan Bishuk, Jon Hairabedian, James Ebert

Whitehall - Death Rock
Located in Washington County
Image courtesy of Glenn B. Stracher

Chimney Bluffs State Park - Close-up showing glacial till

Chimney Bluffs State Park
Located in Wayne County
Image courtesy of Laurie VanVleet, Ithaca City School District

Chimney Bluffs State Park - Eroded remains of drumlins on the shore of Lake Ontario

Chimney Bluffs State Park - Eroded remains of drumlins.
Located in Wayne County
Image courtesy of Laurie VanVleet, Ithaca City School District

Chimney Bluffs - eroded remains of drumlins on the shore of Lake Ontario

Chimney Bluffs - Drumlins on the shore of Lake Ontario
Located in Wayne County
Image courtesy of Laurie VanVleet, Ithaca City School District

Mine Lot Falls at John Boyd Thacher State Park

Mine Lot Falls - John Boyd Thacher State Park - Route 157
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Loren G. Dobert

Wiscoy Falls - Climbing ripples (also festoon ripples) in the Wiscoy Formation

Wiscoy Falls - Wiscoy Formation
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Wiscoy Falls - Smaller Cascade
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Wiscoy Falls - Dunkirk-Wiscoy contact as-well-as the Frasnian/Famennian boundary

Wiscoy Falls - The Frasnian / Famennian boundary
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Little John Road / County Route 17 at White Creek - Transgressive lag with large quartz clasts, shell/crinoid fragments, and large red silt clasts

Little John Road/Route 17 at White Creek
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Little John Road / County Route 17 at White Creek - Uppermost shoreface sequence

Little John Road - Uppermost Shoreface Sequence
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Little John Road/ County Route 17 at White Creek - Olistostrome displaying chaotic bedding

Route 17 at White Creek - Olistostrome
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Sixtown Creek - Ball-and-pillow structures along the western end of creek

Sixtown Creek by Creek Road - Higgins
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Sixtown Creek - Close-up of Thrust Showing Drag Folds, Fault Breccia, and Fault Gouge
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Sixtown Creek - Southeast directed, northeast-striking thrust fault

Sixtown Creek - Thrust Fault
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Rushford (Caneadea) Dam Park - Rushford formation in cliffs along Rushford Lake

Rushford (Caneadea) Dam Park
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Rushford (Caneadea) Dam Park - Rushford Formation
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Wiscoy Creek contact between underlying South Wales Formation and overlying Mills-Mills

Wiscoy Creek
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Wiscoy Creek Cascade at Mills-Mills Formation
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Wiscoy Creek at Mills-Mills - Hume Formation

Wiscoy Creek - Mills-Mills - Hume Formation
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Caneadea Gorge Overlook
Located in Allegany County
Image courtesy of Gerald Smith

Ausable Chasm
Located in Clinton County
Image courtesy of NYS Museum

Napanee Limestone Route 12 D
Located in Lewis County
Image courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University

Buttermilk Falls State Park
Located in Cayuga County
Image courtesy of Bridge and Tunnel Club

Chittenango Falls State Park
Located in Madison County
Image courtesy of Sue Damanski

Cohoes Falls
Located in Saratoga County
Image courtesy of City of Cohoes

New Baltimore - Flute Marks
Located in Greene County
Image courtesy of Wendy Franklin

Clarksville Cave
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Wendy Franklin

Clarksville Cave with Wendy Franklin for scale
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Wendy Franklin

Joralemon Park - Coeymans - Drag Fold
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Wendy Franklin

Joralemon Town Park - Coeymans - Thrust Fault
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Wendy Franklin

Joralemon Park Town Park - Coeymans - Small Cave
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Wendy Franklin

Normanskill Gorge
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Wendy Franklin

Old Plank Road - Roadcut - Coxsackie
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Wendy Franklin

Troy Frontal Melange Zone - Rt. 151
Located in Rensselaer County
Image courtesy of Wendy Franklin

Barton Garnet Mine - Gore Mountain
Located in Warren County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Kimberlite Dike - Syracuse
Located in Onondaga County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Howe Cave Quarry - Cobleskill
Located in Schoharie County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Howe Caverns
Located in Schoharie County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Kaaterskill Falls
Located in Greene County
Image courtesy of USGS

Kings Falls - Deer River - Copenhagen
Located in Lewis County
Image courtesy of Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University

Knox Cave - Knox
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Inside Knox Cave
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Limestone Rise - Albany
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Manorkill Falls
Located in Schoharie County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

McFail's Cave Nature Preserve - Carlisle
Located in Schoharie County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Inside McFail's Cave
Located in Schoharie County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Aerial View of Montauk Point
Located in Suffolk County
Image courtesy of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Montauk Point - Beach
Located in Suffolk County
Image by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Montour Falls - Chequaga Falls - Shequaga Falls
Located in Schuyler County
Image courtesy of the Montour Falls Fire Department

Niagara Falls
Located in Niagara County
Image courtesy of City of Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls State Park
Located in Niagara County
Image courtesy of City of Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls State Park
Located in Niagara County
Image courtesy of City of Niagara Falls

Whirlpool State Park - Niagara Falls
Located in Niagara County
Image courtesy of John Rozell

Onesquethaw Cave
Located in Albany County
Image courtesy of Northeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc.

Starks Knob
Located in Saratoga County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

A geologists pick lying against a geologic formation at Taughannock Falls

Taughannock Falls - Park Road - Ulysses
Located in Tompkins County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Taughannock Falls State Park
Located in Tompkins County
Image courtesy of William Kelly

Williams Road - Kimberlitic Dike - Town of Marcellus
Located in Onondaga County
Image courtesy of William Kelly