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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 11, 2003 - The East End's glacial roots The Suffolk Times • September 11, ?003 �� � e as n . s acl a ro o s ,� , ���� � ��� .� ��� l� , , p, �� �';µ�p, � ��` ���� �.. ,:� a, ����� ..� ,� . �' � � . ,,, „ , ,, _ . ,�,�'� �� �r� - '�g, '�"'�* ,,,;� ,�_'��,�r..... .,..... �.«w. ..�.,.,r+4. �...� iN ..:.�..._ u...,_ .. _. . „ + .,.. �, t . ' . .,.:�.. . ,. . .M � � � � , '�r * '. ,., �w.� 'v` ,x' ry�ry, � � , � _ I � I� � p . � �� ��,�� �a�,, �::� ; �. "� .�.. .. ,... ,,.. .,�,;y,�!►� .� ,, -r�s. :. „w,;w � � . ..�,��, ,� � � � �.� � ,.„�:, `�K�,�i�ci�"�S�«Q. - ,»„��;,.:, �,,, _ This painting by local artist Diane Alec Smith shows the great boulders, rocks and debris that settledyon�our North Fork when the great glaciers melted years and years ago. Ti it;woiz��� is t�u��or interesting There were many glaciers that peopfe.One we heard of recently shaped our world.The last one that made a rock garden out of discarded visited us was called the Wisconsin rocks from farmers' hedgerows.The glacier.That was over 10,000 years ones he prizes most are the rocks with ago.It's hard to imagine the size and scars or scrapes from plows and discs magnitude of that great mass of ice that had worked the land.These rocks that slowly moved out of the north. were most likely part of the debris the Like a great conveyor belt,it brought glacier left here years ago.It reminded along the debris of boulders,rocks me of the time and soil that eventually created Long when I was in Island.We had a firsthand view of the F�(;V$ Connecticut and power of a glacier working when we �� saw scars and visited Alaska aboard a ship that scrapes on the sailed into the bay where a glacier NATU RE bedrock that had was"calving."We saw then the awe- by Paul surfaced along some powcr of a glacier as large Stoutenburg'h the edge of the chunks of it broke off and fell into the Sound.It water. showed me the If the climate hadn't changed and direction and the power of the glaciers become warmer,we would not have that had created our island. It's ironic had our Long Island.But it did and that we also received a letter just this the warming trend started to melt the week from a reader telling of his glacier.As it melted,the glacier kept obsc;rvation of the power of the crccping southward.Here we have glaciers in our area. this hu�c mass ol�icc moving slowly soulhward with all its dcbris and thc warm weather melting the front of it, so much so that it appeared to stand still.The collection of sand,rocks and gravel piled up�in various heights all along the front of the glaci�r.This col- lection of debris is called a moraine. There were two of them that created our island,the Ronkonkoma moraine that left its tailings on the south shore Traces of evidence of this lower water kettleholes most familiar in <�ur�irca and the Harbor Hill moraine that cre- are Marratooka Lakc,the one oppo- �ated the north shore. level can still be found in many places here on the North Fork.For instance, site Mattituck High School,and When these great glaciers were at when I was diving off of Duck Pond in Laurel Lake,a little farther west and thcir peak,so much water was in the off the Main Road.Both are perfect form of ice that the world sea level Cutchogue years ago,I found tree stumps offshore in the water even at examples of kettleholes. was several hundred feet lower than We also have to mention the pine today and our oceanfront was miles the lowest of tides.I found the same barrens,the area in the center of Long offshore.Proof of this is that fisher- Yhing around the edges of Plum Island and Shelter Island,where there were Island called the outwash plain men with their draggers today occa- between the two moraines,for under- sionally pull up tree stumps and tree stumps in the water,showing that neath thi's area is Long Island's most mastodon tusks,showin that our at one time the sea level was much g treasured resource,its future water shore at one time was man ,man lower than it is today. Y Y In the natural warld nothi�ig stands supply.Actually,some of the water in miles farther south than it is now. sti1L Sometimes our beaches are erod- tf�� deeper parts are from melted Those of you who have walked our �d hy storms and the sand and gravel ��acial water that has been there for ocean beaches on the south side know are moved to an entirely new location, thousands of years. It's pure,it's all too well there are no rocks or Beaches literally move up and down. unpolluted and it's there now safe stones as far as you can see.This is the from man's activities that would sure- result of the outwash from the laciers Man tries to correct these natural g occurrences but his efforts last only a ly in time destroy its quality. as they melted.The meltwater carried You will hear more and more in the the light material to the south,leavin short time,for we know the sea is � slowly rising.We probably will not see future about water supply problems the heavier material to the north, it,but future generations will as our on our Nortll Fork,for it is very]imit- which we are all familiar with along ed. Remember,the Sound is on the our rocky Sound shore. Waterfront areas change. We have very few fresh north and the bay on the T'he change of sea level was not south,and in between our steady but was marked or driven b �'ater areas on Long In the natural y Island,but there are some precious fresh water lies.I fluctuations in the weather and the worid nothing know how vulnerable our melting and freezing in an array of cli- interesting local lakes that should be mentioned stands still. water supply can be,for mate changes we can't even imagine. ycars ago there was a pes- here.They were created by glaciers and are called ticide called Temik that kettleholes.These were forme w�en �'as usec in good faith by our farmers great chunks of ice from the glaciers �>n thcir land.As it turned out,it pol- were driven into the ground or buried �uted our drinking water.I had to by debris and then left to melt. have a filter put in our cellar,as many Through the passing of time lakes others did,to purify our water before were created. we could drink it. There are smaller and larger kettle- We wandered off the subject of holes throughout the island,some glaciers and how our island was with water and some without,formed formed,but as you can see everything by thcsc great chunks ol�icc.The two �s connected,each activity having an effect on the other.We can only hope that those running the show take time to do their homework.We need to look at the big picture and see how the pieces fit together,then try in our humble way to make a better world rather than destroy it. In closing I'd like to quote some words of wisdom from a friend, farmer,teacher and conservationist, Harold Evans of Riverhead: "Our thinking must progress to the point where we can accept the limita- tions set by our environmcnt."