Lake Albany
Prehistoric proglacial lake / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Glacial Lake Albany was a prehistoric North American proglacial lake that formed during the end of the Wisconsinan glaciation.[1][2] It existed between 15,000 and 12,600 years ago[3] and was created when meltwater from a retreating glacier, along with water from rivers such as the Iromohawk, became ice dammed in the Hudson Valley.[1][4] Organic materials in Lake Albany deposits have been carbon dated to approximately 11,700 years ago.[5] The lake spanned approximately 160 miles (260 km) from present-day Poughkeepsie to Glens Falls.[1][3][6]
Lake Albany drained about 10,500 years ago through the Hudson River due to post-glacial rebound.[1][6][7] When the lake drained it exposed the sandy and gravelly glaciolacustrine deposits left by the glacier, along a broad plain just west of Schenectady, where the Mohawk emptied into the lake.[8] Dune and deltaic sands, containing lenses of silty sand, silt and clay,[9] compose the topsoil which now underlies the Albany Pine Bush.[10] Beneath the surficial deposits are lake-bottom silt and clay, which overlie till and shale bedrock.[9] A small rill caused by the lake's drainage created Patroon Creek, Sand Creek, Lisha Kill, Shaker Creek, Delphus Kill and the Salt Kill in the town of Colonie, New York.[11]