| Chittenango Falls | |
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Chittenango Falls is preserved in a state park, on the road north from Cazenovia. It's a special place because its deep gorge is a refuge for plant species that normally occur much farther north.
The lip of the falls is a hard rock unit, the Edgecliff Member of the Onondaga Formation, of lower Middle Devonian age. Below is a gap in the section representing some 10 million years. Perhaps the sea withdrew and rocks from that period were eroded away. See a stratigraphic section of the falls, plus lots of field-trip photos, on this page by Prof. Meg Harris of Onondaga Community College. On the geologic map below, you can see how the gorge has cut a notch southward into the Onondaga limestone (dark green), exposing the Silurian strata beneath (pink). I took the road north, then west at Chittenango halfway to East Syracuse where the next photos were taken.
(c) Copyright 2002 Andrew Alden, licensed to About.com, Inc.
Part of the New York geologic map
