Lake Albany

{{Short description|Prehistoric proglacial lake}}

{{Infobox body of water

| name = Lake Albany

| image = Glacial Lakes Albany, Champlain, Hitchcock, Winsooski, & Merrimack.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Proglacial and prehistoric lakes of New England during the end of the Wisconsin Glacial Epoch of the Pleistocene Era

| location = between Poughkeepsie, New York at its northern-most tip to near Glenn Falls, New York at its southern-most end

| coordinates = {{coord|42.7183|N|73.8644|W|region:ZZ_type:waterbody|display =inline,title}}

| type = Proglacial lake

| inflow = Lake Vermont

| outflow = Hudson River

| basin_countries = United States

| length = {{convert|160|mi}}

| pushpin_map = USA New York#United States

| mapframe = yes

| website =

| reference = Coordinates approximated using details in International Oaks{{cite web |title=The Albany Pine Bush: a Local Oak Hotspot in Upstate New York {{!}} International Oak Society |url=https://www.internationaloaksociety.org/content/albany-pine-bush-local-oak-hotspot-upstate-new-york |website=www.internationaloaksociety.org |access-date=21 April 2025}}

}}

Glacial Lake Albany was a prehistoric North American proglacial lake that formed during the end of the Wisconsinan glaciation.{{cite web |title=Origins of the Albany Pine Bush |url=http://www.albanypinebush.org/preserve_information/natural_cultural_history/natural_cultural_history.htm |publisher=Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission |access-date=21 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060824090458/http://www.albanypinebush.org/preserve_information/natural_cultural_history/natural_cultural_history.htm |archive-date=24 August 2006 |date=2005 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |title=Catastrophic Flooding from Ancient Lake May Have Triggered Cold Period |url=http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=9779&tid=3622&cid=2078 |publisher=Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |access-date=21 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305195458/http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=9779&tid=3622&cid=2078 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |date=20 December 2004 |url-status=dead}} It existed between 15,000 and 12,600 years ago 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.{{cite web |title=How did this land form? |url=http://www.esf.edu/rwls/research/karnerblue/module7.pdf |publisher=State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry |access-date=21 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612200452/http://www.esf.edu/rwls/research/karnerblue/module7.pdf |archive-date=12 June 2010 |date=August 2001 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |last1=De Simone |first1=David J. |last2=Wall |first2=Gary R. |last3=Miller |first3=Norton G. |last4=Rayburn |first4=John A. |last5=Kozlowski |first5=Andrew L. |title=Glacial Geology of the Northern Hudson through Southern Champlain Lowlands |url=http://www.geology.um.maine.edu/friends/pdf/NEFOP2008.pdf |publisher=University of Maine |access-date=21 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719121025/http://www.geology.um.maine.edu/friends/pdf/NEFOP2008.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2011 |date=May–June 2008 |url-status=dead}}

Organic materials in Lake Albany deposits have been carbon dated to approximately 11,700 years ago.{{cite web |title=Late Quaternary History of Northeastern New York and Adjacent Vermont and Quebec |url=http://www.geology.um.maine.edu/friends/pdf/2007Guide.pdf |publisher=Northeast Friends Of The Pleistocene |access-date=21 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719121106/http://www.geology.um.maine.edu/friends/pdf/2007Guide.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2011 |date=June 2007 |url-status=dead}}The lake spanned approximately {{Convert|160|mi|km}} from present-day Poughkeepsie to Glens Falls.{{cite web |title=Geological History of the New York Area |url=http://www.skidmore.edu/sssg4/environment/geology.htm |publisher=Skidmore College |access-date=21 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040926130755/http://www.skidmore.edu/sssg4/environment/geology.htm |archive-date=26 September 2004 |date=2004 |url-status=dead}}

Lake Albany drained about 10,500 years ago through the Hudson River due to post-glacial rebound.{{Cite web

|url = http://www.albany.edu/geosciences/sunyageo.html |title = State University of New York at Albany - Edward Durrell Stone's architecture, atmospheric science, and the geology under it |access-date = 2010-10-17 |publisher = University at Albany, SUNY |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100615111718/http://www.albany.edu/geosciences/sunyageo.html |archive-date = 2010-06-15 |url-status = dead}} 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.{{Cite web |url = http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/nysgs/research/surficial/index.html |title = Surficial Geology: Sand Dunes |access-date = 2010-10-17 |publisher = New York State Geological Survey |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101019163358/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/nysgs/research/surficial/index.html |archive-date = 2010-10-19 |url-status = dead }} Dune and deltaic sands, containing lenses of silty sand, silt and clay,{{Cite journal |url = http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/bgas/publications/GWMR_1993/ |title = Application of Electromagnetic Logging to Contamination Investigations in Glacial San-and-Gravel Aquifers |pages = 130–131 |first1 = John H. |last1 = Williams |first2 = Wayne W. |last2 = Lapham |first3 = Thomas H. |last3 = Barringer |publisher = USGS |year = 1993 |journal = Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation |volume = 13 |issue = 3 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-6592.1993.tb00082.x|bibcode = 1993GMRed..13c.129W }} compose the topsoil which now underlies the Albany Pine Bush.{{Cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fZgFzfOo_xAC&q=glacial+lake+albany&pg=PT73 |title = Whispers in the Pines: a Naturalist in the Northeast |page = 29 |last = Burger |first = Joanna |isbn = 978-0-8135-3794-8 |year = 2006 |access-date = 2010-10-17 |publisher = Rutgers University Press}} Beneath the surficial deposits are lake-bottom silt and clay, which overlie till and shale bedrock. 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.{{Cite web |url = http://www.colonie.org/pedd/compplan/Appendix%205-5-05.pdf |title = Town of Colonie: A Draft Comprehensive Plan |date = May 2005 |access-date = 2010-10-20 |publisher = Town of Colonie |page = 23 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100922231022/http://colonie.org/pedd/compplan/Appendix%205-5-05.pdf |archive-date = 2010-09-22 |url-status = dead}}