Man and the Glacial PeriodWright, G. Frederick (George Frederick)
History
Man and the Glacial Period
Wright, G. Frederick (George Frederick)
Glacial epoch; Prehistoric peoples
"These deposits consist of rounded boulders of sandstone, with a large
amount of clay, quicksand, and other detrital matter. The country rock
in this region consists of the soft shales and limestones of the upper
coal-measures, and hence there are many 'low gaps' from the head of one
little stream to that of another, especially along the immediate region
of the river; and in every case the summits of these divides, where they
do not exceed an elevation of 1,050 feet above tide, are covered with
transported or terrace material; but where the summits go more than a
few feet above that level we find no transported material upon them, but
simply the decomposed country rock."
Other noteworthy terraces naturally attributable to the Cincinnati
ice-dam are to be found in the valley of the Kanawha, in West Virginia,
and one of special significance on the pass between the valleys of the
Ohio and Monongahela, west of Clarksburg, West Virginia. According to
Professor White, there is at this latter place "a broad, level summit,
having an elevation of 1,100 feet, in a gap about 300 feet below the
enclosing hills. This gap, or valley, is covered by a deposit of fine
clay. The cut through it is about thirty feet, and one can observe the
succession of clays of all kinds and of different colours, from yellow on
the surface down to the finest white potter's clay at the level of the
railway, where the cut reaches bed-rock, thus proving that the region has
been submerged."[CI]
[Footnote CI: Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, vol. i, p.
478.]
Another crucial case I have myself described at Bellevue, in the angle
of the Ohio and Alleghany Rivers, about five miles below Pittsburg,
where the gravel terrace is nearly 300 feet above the river, making it
about 1,000 feet above the sea. A significant circumstance connected
with this terrace is that not only does its height correspond with that
of the supposed obstruction at Cincinnati, but it contains many pebbles
of Canadian origin, which could not have got into the valley of the
Alleghany before the Glacial period, and could only have reached their
present position by being brought down the Alleghany River upon floating
ice, or by the ordinary movement of gravel along the margin of a river.
Thus this terrace, while corresponding closely with the elevation of
those on the Monongahela River, is directly connected with the Glacial
period, and furnishes a twofold argument for our theory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account