The Geography of the Region about Devil's Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin: With Some Notes on Its Surface GeologySalisbury, Rollin D.
Science
The Geography of the Region about Devil's Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin: With Some Notes on Its Surface Geology
Salisbury, Rollin D.
Physical geography; Wisconsin -- Description and travel
In general the till of any locality is made up largely of material
derived from the formations close at hand. This fact seems to afford
sufficient warrant for the conclusion that a considerable amount of
deposition must have gone on beneath the ice during its movement, even
back from its margin. To take a concrete illustration, it would seem
that the drift of southeastern Wisconsin should have had a larger
contribution than it has of material derived from Canadian territory, if
material once taken up by the ice was all or chiefly carried down to its
thinned edge before deposition. The fact that so little of the drift
came from these distant sources would seem to prove that a large part of
the material moved by the ice, is moved a relatively short distance
only. The ice must be conceived of as continually depositing parts of
its load, and parts which it has carried but a short distance, as it
takes up new material from the territory newly invaded.
In keeping with the character of till in general, that about Devil's
lake was derived largely from the sandstone, limestone and quartzite of
the immediate vicinity, while a much smaller part of it came from more
distant sources. This is especially noticeable in the fine material,
which is made up mostly of the comminuted products of the local rock.
_Topography._--The topography of the ground moraine is in general the
topography already described in considering the modification of
preglacial topography effected by ice deposition. As left by the ice,
its surface was undulating. The undulations did not take the form of
hills and ridges with intervening valleys, but of swells and depressions
standing in no orderly relationship to one another. Undrained
depressions are found in the ground moraine, but they are, as a rule,
broader and shallower than the "kettles" common to terminal moraines.
It is in the broad, shallow depressions of the ground moraine that many
of the lakes and more of the marshes of southeastern Wisconsin are
located.
The rolling, undulating topography characteristic of ground moraines is
well shown about the City of Baraboo and between that point and the
lake, and at many less easily designated points about Merrimac.
In thickness the ground moraine reaches at least 160 feet, though its
average is much less--too little to obliterate the greater topographic
features of the rock beneath. It is, however, responsible for many of
the details of the surface.
_Terminal Moraines._
The marginal portion of the ice sheet was more heavily loaded--certainly
more heavily loaded relative to its thickness--than any other. Toward
its margin the thinned ice was constantly losing its transportive power,
and at its edge this power was altogether gone. Since the ice was
continually bringing drift down to this position and leaving it there,
the rate of drift accumulation must have been greater, on the average,
beneath the edge of the ice than elsewhere.
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