The lake was formed on the western side of the Watchung Mountains by a blockage of the Passaic River from a moraine left by the retreat of the glacier. The river had previously passed through the Watchungs near present-day Summit. After the raising of the lake's level, the river found a new temporary course to the sea near present-day Bernardsville. Eventually the river formed its present course, a circuitous detour around the north end of the Watchungs through present-day Paterson. The outflow of the lake as it drained formed the gorge of the Great Falls of the Passaic River in Paterson.
The remnants of the lake bed are found in several swamps along the course of the Passaic in central New Jersey, most notably the Great Swamp south of Morristown in northwestern Somerset County.
With the Short Hills gap closed by ice, the water before the glacier filled the basin to a depth of approximately 160 to 200 feet until a new outlet was reached at Moggy Hollow.
As the glacier retreated, it plugged the pre-glacial outlet at Short Hills with drift, and Moggy Hollow remained the outlet of the lake.
The elevation of this lake at the outset was about 320 feet above sea level, but as the outlet was slowly cut down to its present level of 221 feet, the lake was drained.
GlacialLakePassaic was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed in northern New Jersey in the United States at the end of the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago.
The lake was formed on the western side of the Watchung Mountains by a blockage of the Passaic River from a moraine left by the retreat of the glacier.
The remnants of the GlacialLakePassaiclake bed are found in several swamps along the course of the Passaic River in northern New Jersey, most notably the Great Swamp south of Morristown in northwestern Somerset County and extreme southern Morris County.
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