“The Great Gully Group: a Time-Stratigraphic Framework for Late Quaternary Events in the Eastern Finger Lakes of New York State”
The Finger Lakes region of central New York has long been recognized as an iconic landscape most recently refined by the Ontario Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The earlier record of glacial events and the actual age of formation of the Finger Lakes has been studied less and thus are not well known. Detailed geologic field mapping by the New York State Geological Survey as part of an ongoing STATEMAP and Great Lakes Geological Mapping Coalition project has provided the resources to investigate and establish a detailed lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic record for deeply buried sediment packages within Great Gully, an expansive east-west oriented gorge on the eastern flanks of Cayuga Lake near the village of Union Springs in Cayuga County.
Identification of laterally continuous and distinct lithologic units observed from 16 exposures has allowed us to develop a comprehensive type section and confidently assign formal names at the formation and member level lithostratigraphic hierarchy. Newly collected continuous wire-line cores, 50 meters in depth, substantiate continuity and expand the stratigraphic and spatial range of preserved deposits.
Lithostratigraphic units are comprised of alternating packages of diamicton and fluvial\lacustrine facies. The fortuitous abundance of subtill organics provides a metric to establish a robust, internally consistent radiocarbon chronology and assess paleoenvironmental conditions. Strata older than the limits of radiocarbon are constrained by optically stimulated luminescence dating. Together the combined geochronology and lithostratigraphic information provide a unique basis for a chronostratigraphic record of glacial and non-glacial phases in the Finger Lakes spanning Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1-5 and possibly beyond.
Dr. Kozlowski’s research focus utilizes geologic mapping of surficial deposits, primarily glacial in origin to address, societal and land use issues. Specifically his work directing the geologic mapping program in the state museum has focused on understanding sediment – landform relationships to address geologic hazards such as landslides, water quality and resources, and aggregate resources, etc. In pursuit of this objective his long term goal is to develop a better understanding of three-dimensional geologic frameworks of glacial deposits that provide better understanding and resolution of glacial stratigraphy and glacial chronology in New York State.
Dr. Kozlowski is a native of Cortland, New York and graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1995. He received his MS (1999) in Hydrogeology and Ph.D. (2004) in Glacial Geology from Western Michigan University. From 2002 to 2006 he was an Assistant Professor of Geology at Susquehanna University. In 2006 he joined the NYSM/NYSGS as a glacial geologist and Senior Scientist. Dr. Kozlowski was the Director of the New York Geologic Mapping Program from 2006 to 2010. Between 2010 and 2013 he was the Acting Associate State Geologist and Director of NY Geological Mapping Program. Since August 2013 he has been the Chief Quaternary Geologist and Curator of Quaternary Landscape Materials at the NYSM and Director of the NY State Geological Mapping Program for the NYSGS.