Identification of Erosion Surfaces in South-Central New York

Abstract

There has long been a question as to whether the accordance of hill summits in south-central New York is due to peneplanation. The results of the author's study of this problem tend to show that the region was peneplained and later uplifted and dissected. This erosion surface is correlated with the so-called Schooley peneplain in central Pennsylvania. Remnants of an older erosion surface, the Kittatinny, are demonstrated to exist on the highest hills and ridges in southern New York and in central and northern Pennsylvania. Erosion surfaces, younger than the Schooley, representing partial cycles of erosion are recognized and traced, by means of projected profiles, along the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg northward.