ALBANY, NY.- During the week of June 28, New York State Museum geologists will collect sediment cores in the Esopus Valley and its tributary valleys to conduct research relating to climate change, as well as to assist in improving the quality of New York City’s water supply. The research project, funded by the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, will involve mapping the location and thickness of clay deposits in the Esopus Creek watershed. The clay was deposited in large lakes dammed by glacial ice during the most recent retreat of the continental ice sheet from New York State between 20,000 and 12,000 years ago. During their existence, the glacial lake basins accumulated thick deposits of layered silt and clay that record information about climate change. Geologists hope to extract paleo-climate data from the recovered sediments to help determine the timing of the lakes’ existence and the ice retreat. The