Lake Passaic was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed in northern New Jersey in the United States at the end of the last ice age approximately 19,000-14,000 years ago. The lake was formed of waters released by the retreating Wisconsin Glacier, which had pushed large quantities of earth and rock ahead of its advance, blocking the previous natural drainage of the ancestral Passaic River through a gap in the central Watchung Mountains. The lake persisted for several thousand years as melting ice and eroding moraine dams slowly drained the former lake basin. The effect of the lake’s creation permanently altered the course of the Passaic River, forcing it to take a circuitous route through the northern Watchung Mountains before spilling out into the lower piedmont.
Today, the former lake basin is called Passaic Meadows and includes the Great Swamp, Black Meadows, Troy Meadows, Hatfield Swamp, Lee Meadows, Little Piece Meadows, Great Piece Meadows, Glenhurst Meadows, and Bog and Vly Meadows. These remnants of the ancient lake provide prime wetland habitat to a variety of plants and animals while at the same time offering recreational and outdoor opportunities to residents of northern New Jersey.
Read more about Lake Passaic: Discovery, Geology, Lake Stages
Famous quotes containing the word lake:
“They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humility; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountain-head.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)