Fig. 41. -- The morainic or outwash plain bordering the terminal moraine. The figure is diagrammatic, but represents, in cross section, the normal relation as seen south of the quartzite range at the east edge of Sauk Prairie, north of the Baraboo river and at some points between the South range and the Baraboo.
A good example of an outwash plain occurs southwest of Baraboo, flanking the moraine on the west (Fig.41). Seen from the west, the moraine just north of the south quartzite range stands up as a conspicuous ridge twenty to forty feet above the morainic plain which abuts against it. Traced northward, the edge of the outwash plain, as it abuts againstthe moraine, becomes higher, and in Section 4, Township 11 N., Range 6 E., the moraine edge of the plain reaches the crest of the moraine (Fig.42). From this point north to the Baraboo river the moraine scarcely rises above the edge of the outwash beyond.
Fig. 42. -- The outwash plain is built up to the crest of the moraine. The figure is diagrammatic, but this relation is seen at the point markedW, PlateII.
North of the Baraboo river the moraine is again distinct and the overwash plain to the west well developed much of the way from the Baraboo to Kilbourn City. A portion of it is known as Webster's Prairie.
Locally, the outwash plains of this region have been much dissected by erosion since their deposition, and are now affected by many small valleys. In composition these plains are nearly everywhere gravel and sand, the coarser material being nearer the moraine. The loose material is in places covered by a layer of loam several feet deep, which greatly improves the character of the soil. This is especially true of Sauk Prairie, one of the richest agricultural tracts in the state.
When the waters issuing from the edge of the ice were sluggish, whether they were in valleys or not, the materials which they carried and deposited were fine instead of coarse, giving rise to deposits of silt, or clay, instead of sand or gravel.
At many points near the edge of the ice during its maximum stage of advance, there probably issued small quantities of water not in the form of well-defined streams, bearing small quantities of detritus. These small quantities of water, with their correspondingly small loads, were unable to develop considerable plains of stratified drift, but produced small patches instead. Such patches have received no special designation.
In the deposition of stratified drift beyond the edge of the ice, thelatter was concerned only in so far as its activity helped to supply the water with the necessary materials.
C. Deposits at and beyond the edge of the ice in standing water.—The waters which issued from the edge of the ice sometimes met a different fate. The ice in its advance often moved up river valleys. When at the time of its maximum extension, it filled the lower part of a valley, leaving the upper part free, drainage through the valley stood good chance of being blocked. Where this happened a marginal valley lake was formed. Such a lake was formed in the valley of the Baraboo when the edge of the ice lay where the moraine now is (PlateII). The waters which were held back by the ice dam, reinforced by the drainage from the ice itself, soon developed a lake above the point of obstruction. This extinct lake may be namedBaraboo lake. In this lake deposits of laminated clay were made. They are now exposed in the brick yards west of Baraboo, and in occasional gullies and road cuts in the flat bordering the river.
At the point markeds(PlateXXXVII) there was, in glacial times, a small lake having an origin somewhat different from that of Baraboo lake (see p.133). The former site of the lake is now marked by a notable flat. Excavations in the flat show that it is made up of stratified clay, silt, sand and gravel, to the depth of many feet,—locally more than sixty. These lacustrine deposits are well exposed in the road cuts near the northwest corner of the flat, and in washes at some other points. PlateXXXVIIIshows some of the silt and clay, the laminæ of which are much distorted.
Deltasmust have been formed where well-defined streams entered the lakes, andsubaqueous overwash plainswhere deltas became continuous by lateral growth. The accumulation of stratified drift along the ice-ward shores of such lakes must have been rapid, because of the abundant supply of detritus. These materials were probably shifted about more or less by waves and shore currents, and some of them may have been widely distributed. Out from the borders of such lakes, fine silts and clays must have been in process of deposition, at the same time that the coarse materials were being laid down nearer shore.
WISCONSIN GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. BULLETIN NO. V., PL. XXXVIII.
Distorted laminae of silt and clay.See larger image
Good examples of deltas and subaqueous overwash plains do not appear to exist in the region, although conditions for their development seem to have been present. Thus in the lake which occupied the valley of the Baraboo, conditions would seem to have been ideal for the development of such features; that is, the overwash plains previously described should, theoretically, have been subaqueous overwash plains; but if this be their character, their distinctive marks have been destroyed by subsequent erosion.
During the maximum extension of an ice sheet, therefore, there was chance for the development, at its edge or beyond it, of the following types of stratified drift: (1) kames and kame belts, at the edge of the ice; (2) fluvial plains or valley trains, in virtual contact with the ice at their heads; (3) border plains or overwash plains, in virtual contact with the ice at their upper edges; (4) ill-defined patches of stratified drift, coarse or fine near the ice; (5) subaqueous overwash plains and deltas, formed either in the sea or lakes at or near the edge of the ice; (6) lacustrine and marine deposits of other sorts, the materials for which were furnished by the waters arising from the ice. So far as this region is concerned, all the deposits made in standing water were made in lakes.
During the retreat of any ice sheet, disregarding oscillations of its edge, its margin withdrew step by step from the position of extreme advance to its center. When the process of dissolution was complete, each portion of the territory once covered by the ice, had at some stage in the dissolution, found itself in a marginal position. At all stages in its retreat the waters issuing from the edge of the ice were working in the manner already outlined in the preceding paragraphs. Two points of difference only need be especially noted. In the first place the deposits made by waters issuing from the retreating ice were laid downon territory which the ice had occupied, and their subjacent stratum was often glacial drift. So far as this was the case, the stratified drift was super-morainic, not extra-morainic. In the second place the edge of the ice in retreat did not give rise to such sharply marked formations as the edge of the ice which was stationary. The processes which had given rise to valley trains, overwash plains, kames, etc., while the ice edge was stationary, were still in operation, but the line or zone of their activity (the edge of the ice) was continually retreating, so that the foregoing types, more or less dependent on a stationary edge, were rarely well developed. As the ice withdrew, therefore, it allowed to be spread over the surface it had earlier occupied, many incipient valley trains, overwash plains, and kames, and a multitude of ill-defined patches of stratified drift, thick and thin, coarse and fine. Wherever the ice halted in its retreat, these various types stood chance of better development.
Such deposits did not cover all the surface discovered by the ice in its retreat, since the issuing waters, thanks to their great mobility, concentrated their activities along those lines which favored their motion. Nevertheless the aggregate area of the deposits made by water outside the ice as it retreated, was great.
It is to be noted that it was not streams alone which were operative as the ice retreated. As its edge withdrew, lakes and ponds were continually being drained, as their outlets, hitherto choked by the ice, were opened, while others were coming into existence as the depressions in the surface just freed from ice, filled with water. Lacustrine deposits at the edge of the ice during its retreat were in all essential respects identical with those made in similar situations during its maximum extension.
Disregarding oscillations of the ice edge at these stages, the deposits made by extraglacial waters during the maximum extension of an ice sheet, and during its retreat, were always left at the surface, so far as the work of that ice sheet was concerned. The stratified drift laid down by extraglacial waters in these stages of the last ice sheet which affected any region of our continent still remain at the surface in much the condition in which they were deposited, except for the erosion theyhave since suffered. It is because of their position at the surface that the deposits referable to these stages of the last ice sheet of any given region have received most attention and are therefore most familiar.
During the advance of an ice sheet, if its edge forged steadily forward, the waters issuing from it, and flowing beyond, were effecting similar results. They were starting valley trains, overwash plains, kames, and small ill-defined patches of stratified drift which the ice did not allow them to complete before pushing over them, thus moving forward the zone of activity of extraglacial waters. Unlike the deposits made by the waters of the retreating ice, those made by the waters of the advancing stage were laid down on territory which had not been glaciated, or at least not by the ice sheet concerned in their deposition. If the ice halted in its advance, there was at such time and place opportunity for the better development of extraglacial stratified drift.
Lakes as well as streams were concerned in the making of stratified beds of drift, during the advance of the ice. Marginal lakes were obliterated by having their basins filled with the advancing ice, which displaced the water. But new ones were formed, on the whole, as rapidly as their predecessors became extinct, so that lacustrine deposits were being made at intervals along the margin of the advancing ice.
Deposits made in advance of a growing ice sheet, by waters issuing from it, were subsequently overridden by the ice, to the limit of its advance, and in the process, suffered destruction, modification, or burial, in whole or in part, so that now they rarely appear at the surface.
Before their issuance from beneath the ice, subglacial waters were not idle. Their activity was sometimes erosive, and at such times stratified deposits were not made. But where the sub-glacial streams found themselves overloaded, as seems frequently to have been the case, they made deposits along their lines of flow. Where such waters were not confined to definite channels, their deposits probably took on the form of irregular patches of silt, sand, or gravel; but where depositing streams were confined to definite channels, their deposits were correspondingly concentrated.
When subglacial streams were confined to definite channels, the same may have been constant in position, or may have shifted more or less from side to side. Where the latter happened there was a tendency to the development of a belt or strip of stratified drift having a width equal to the extent of the lateral migrations of the under-ice stream. Where the channel of the subglacial stream remained fixed in position, the deposition was more concentrated, and the bed was built up. If the stream held its course for a long period of time, the measure of building may have been considerable. In so far as these channel deposits were made near the edge of the ice, during the time of its maximum extension or retreat, they were likely to remain undisturbed during its melting. The aggraded channels then came to stand out as ridges. These ridges of gravel and sand are known asosarsoreskers. It is not to be inferred that eskers never originated in other ways, but it seems clear that this is one method, and probably the principal one, by which they came into existence. Eskers early attracted attention, partly because they are relatively rare, and partly because they are often rather striking topographic features. The essential conditions, therefore, for their formations, so far as they are the product of subglacial drainage, are (1) the confining of the subglacial streams to definite channels; and (2) a sufficient supply of detritus. One eskeronly has been found in the region under consideration. It is located at the point markedj, PlateII, seven and one-half miles northeast of Merrimac and one and one-half miles south of Alloa (g, PlateII). The esker is fully a quarter of a mile long, about thirty feet high, and four rods wide at its base.
Subglacial deposits of stratified drift were sometimes made on unstratified drift (till) already deposited by the ice before the location of the stream, and sometimes on the rock surfaces on which no covering of glacier drift had been spread.
It is to be kept in mind that subglacial drainage was operative during the advance of an ice sheet, during its maximum extension, and during its retreat, and that during all these stages it was effecting its appropriate results. It will be readily seen, however, that all deposits made by subglacial waters, were subject to modification or destruction or burial, through the agency of the ice, and that those made during the advance of the ice were less likely to escape than those made during its maximum extension or retreat.
When it is remembered that extraglacial and subglacial waters were active at all stages of an ice sheet's history, giving rise, or tending to give rise to all the phases of stratified drift enumerated above; when it is remembered that the ice of several epochs affected much of the drift-covered country; and when it is remembered further that the edge of the ice both during advance and retreat was subject to oscillation, and that each advance was likely to bury the stratified drift last deposited, beneath unstratified, it will be seen that the stratified drift and the unstratified had abundant opportunity to be associated in all relationships and in all degrees of intimacy, and that the relations of the one class of drift to the other may come to be very complex.
As a result of edge oscillation, it is evident that stratified drift may alternate with unstratified many times in a formation of driftdeposited during a single ice epoch, and that two beds of till, separated by a bed of stratified drift, do not necessarily represent two distinct glacial epochs. The extent of individual beds of stratified drift, either beneath the till or inter-bedded with it, may not be great, though their aggregate area and their aggregate volume is very considerable. It is to be borne in mind that the ice, in many places, doubtless destroyed all the stratified drift deposited in advance on the territory which it occupied later, and that in others it may have left only patches of once extensive sheets. This may help to explain why it so frequently happens that a section of drift at one point shows many layers of stratified drift, while another section close by, of equal depth, and in similar relationships, shows no stratified material whatsoever.
Such deposits as were made by superglacial streams during the advance of the ice must likewise have been delivered on the land surface, but would have been subsequently destroyed or buried, becoming in the latter case, submorainic. This would be likely to be the fate of all such superglacial gravels as reached the edge of the ice up to the time of its maximum advance.
Streams descending from the surface of the ice into crevasses also must have carried down sand and gravel where such materials existed on the ice. These deposits may have been made on the rock which underlies the drift, or they may have been made on stratified or unstratified drift already deposited. In either case they were liable to be covered by till, thus reaching an inter-till or sub-till position.
Englacial streams probably do little depositing, but it is altogether conceivable that they might accumulate such trivial pockets of sand and gravel as are found not infrequently in the midst of till. The inter-till position would be the result of subsequent burial after the stratified material reached a resting place.
Complexity of relations.—From the foregoing it becomes clear that there are diverse ways by which stratified drift, arising in connection with an ice sheet, may come to be interbedded with till, when duerecognition is made of all the halts and oscillations to which the edge of a continental glacier may have been subject during both its advance and retreat.
In general the conditions and relations which theoretically should prevail are those which are actually found.
On the basis of position stratified drift deposits may be classified as follows:
1.Extraglacial deposits, made by the waters of any glacial epoch if they flowed and deposited beyond the farthest limit of the ice.
2.Supermorainic deposits, made chiefly during the final retreat of the ice from the locality where they occur, but sometimes by extraglacial streams or lakes of a much later time. Locally too, stratified deposits of an early stage of a glacial epoch, lying on till, may have failed to be buried by the subsequent passage of the ice over them, and so remain at the surface. In origin, supermorainic deposits were for the most part extraglacial (including marginal), so far as the ice sheet calling them into existence was concerned. Less commonly they were subglacial, and failed to be covered, and less commonly still superglacial.
3.The submorainic (basal) depositswere made chiefly by extraglacial waters in advance of the first ice which affected the region where they occur. They were subsequently overridden by the ice and buried by its deposits. Submorainic deposits, however, may have arisen in other ways. Subglacial waters may have made deposits of stratified drift on surfaces which had been covered by ice, but not by till, and such deposits may have been subsequently buried. The retreat of an ice sheet may have left rock surfaces free from till covering, on which the marginal waters of the ice may have made deposits of stratified drift. These may have been subsequently covered by till during a re-advance of the ice in the same epoch or in a succeeding one. Still again, the till left by one icesheet may have been exposed to erosion to such an extent as to have been completely worn away before the next ice advance, so that stratified deposits connected with a second or later advance may have been made on a driftless surface, and subsequently buried.
4.Intermorainic stratified driftmay have originated at the outset in all the ways in which supermorainic drift may originate. It may have become intermorainic by being buried in any one of the various ways in which the stratified drift may become submorainic.
As the continental ice sheet invaded a region, the valleys were filled and drainage was thereby seriously disturbed. Different streams were affected in different ways. Where the entire basin of a stream was covered by ice, the streams of that basin were, for the time being, obliterated. Where the valley of a stream was partially filled with ice, the valley depression was only partially obliterated, and the remaining portion became the scene of various activities. Where the ice covered the lower course of a stream but not the upper, the ice blocked the drainage, giving rise to a lake. Where the ice covered the upper course of a stream, but not its lower, the lower portion was flooded, and though the river held its position, it assumed a new phase of activity. Streams issuing from the ice usually carry great quantities of gravel and sand, and make deposits along their lower courses. Long continued glacial drainage usually results in a large measure of aggradation. This was true of the streams of the glacial period.
Where a stream flowed parallel or approximately parallel to the edge of the advancing ice it was sometimes shifted in the direction in which the ice was moving, keeping parallel to the front of the ice. All of theseclasses of changes took place in this region.
Wisconsin lake.—Reference has already been made to certain lakes which existed in the region when the ice was there. The largest of these lakes was that which resulted from the blocking of the Wisconsin river. The ice crossed its present course at Kilbourn City, and its edge lay to the west of the river from that point to Prairie du Sac (see PlateI). The waters from the area now draining into the Wisconsin must either have found an avenue of escape beneath the ice, or have accumulated in a lake west of the edge of the ice. There is reason to believe that the latter was what happened, and that a great lake covered much of the low land west of the Wisconsin river above and below Kilbourn City. The extensive gravel beds on the north flank of the quartzite bluff at Necedah, and the water-worn pebbles of local origin on the slope of Petenwell peak (PlateXXXII), as well as the gravels at other points, are presumably the work of that lake. The waters in this lake, as in that in the Baraboo valley, probably rose until the lowest point in the rim of the basin was reached, and there they had their outlet. The position of this outlet has not been definitely determined, but it has been thought to be over the divide of the Black river.[8]It is possible, so far as now known, that this lake was connected with that of the Baraboo valley. Until topographic maps of this region are made, the connections will not be easily determined.
Even after the ice had retreated past the Wisconsin, opening up the present line of drainage, the lakes did not disappear at once, for the ice had left considerable deposits of drift in the Wisconsin valley. Thus atf, PlatesIIandXXXVII, and perhaps at other points, the Wisconsin has made cuts of considerable depth in the drift. Were these cuts filled, as they must have been when the ice melted, the drainage would be ponded, the waters standing at the level of the dam. This drift obstruction atfwould therefore have prolonged the historyof the lake which had come into existence when the ice blocked the drainage of the Wisconsin. As the drift of the valley was removed the level of the lake sank and finally disappeared.
Baraboo lake.—Another lake which existed in this region when the ice was here, occupied the valley of the Baraboo and its tributaries when the ice blocked the valley at Baraboo. This lake occupied not only the valley of the Baraboo, but extended up the lower course of every tributary, presumably rising until it found the lowest point in the rim of the drainage basin. The location of this point, and therefore the height of the lake when at its maximum, are not certainly known, though meager data on this point have been collected. At a point three miles southeast of Ablemans on the surface of a sandstone slope, water-worn gravel occurs, the pebbles of which were derived from the local rock. On the slope below the gravel, the surface is covered with loam which has a suggestion of stratification, while above it, the soil and subsoil appear to be the product of local rock decomposition. This water-worn gravel of local origin on a steep slope facing the valley, probably represents the work of the waves of this lake, perhaps when it stood at its maximum height. This gravel is about 125 feet (aneroid measurement) above the Baraboo river to the north.
Further evidence of a shore line has been found at the point markedt, PlateII. At this place water-worn gravel of the local rock occurs in much the same relationship as that already mentioned, and at the same elevation above the Baraboo river. At a point two and one-half miles southwest of Ablemans there is local water-worn gravel, with which is mingled glacial material (pieces of porphyry and diabase) which could have reached this point only by being carried thither by floating ice from the glacier. The level of this mixed local and glacial material is (according to aneroid measurement) approximately the same as that of the other localities.
When the ice melted, an outlet was openedviathe Lower narrows, and the water of the lake drained off to the Wisconsin by this route. Hadthe ice left no drift, the lake would have been promptly drained when the ice melted; but the lake did not entirely disappear immediately after the ice retreated, for the drift which the ice left obstructed drainage to the east. The moraine, however, was not so high as the outlet of the lake while the ice was on, so that, as the ice retreated, the water flowed over the moraine to the east, and drew down the level of the lake to the level of the lowest point in the moraine. The postglacial cut through the moraine is about ninety feet deep.
Besides being obstructed where crossed by the terminal moraine, the valley of the Baraboo was clogged to a less extent by drift deposits between the moraine and the Lower narrows. At one or two places near the City of Baraboo, such obstructions, now removed, appear to have existed. Just above the Lower narrows (c, PlateXXXVII) there is positive evidence that the valley was choked with drift. Here in subsequent time, the river has cut through the drift-filling of the preglacial valley, developing a passage about twenty rods wide and thirty-five feet deep. If this passage were filled with drift, reproducing the surface left by the ice, the broad valley above it would be flooded, producing a shallow lake.
The retreat of the ice therefore left two well defined drift dams in the valley, one low one just above the Lower narrows, and a higher one, the moraine dam, just west of Baraboo. Disregarding the influence of the ice, and considering the Baraboo valley only, these two dams would have given rise to two lakes, the upper one behind the higher dam being deeper and broader, and covering a much larger area; the lower one behind the lower dam, being both small and shallow.
Up to the time that the ice retreated past the Lower narrows, the waters of the upper and lower lakes were united, held up to a common level by the ice which blocked this pass. After the ice retreated past the Lower narrows, the level of the Baraboo lake did not sink promptly, for not until the ice had retreated past the site of the Wisconsin was the present drainage established. Meantime the waters of the Baraboo lake joinedthose of Wisconsin lake (p.129) through the Lower narrows. If the lakes had been before connected at some point farther west, this connection through the narrows would not have changed the level of either. If they were not before connected, and if the Wisconsin lake was lower than the Baraboo, this connection would have drawn down the level of the latter.
Since the drainage from the Baraboo went to the Wisconsin, the Baraboo lake was not at first lowered below the level of the highest obstruction in the valley of the Wisconsin even after the ice had retreated beyond that stream. As the drift obstructions of the Wisconsin valley were lowered, the levels of all the lakes above were correspondingly brought down. When the level of the waters in these lakes was brought down to the level of the moraine dam above Baraboo, the one Baraboo lake of earlier times became two. The level of the upper of these two lakes was determined by the moraine above Baraboo, that of the lower by the highest obstruction below the moraine in either the Baraboo or Wisconsin valley. The drift obstructions in the Baraboo valley were probably removed about as fast as those in the Wisconsin, and since the obstructions were of drift, and the streams strong, the removal of the dams was probably rapid. Both the upper and lower Baraboo lakes, as well as the Wisconsin, had probably been reduced to small proportions, if not been completely drained, before the glacial period was at an end.
Devil's lake in glacial times.—While the ice edge was stationary in its position of maximum advance, its position on the north side of the main quartzite range was just north of Devil's lake (PlateXXXVII). The high ridge of drift a few rods north of the shore is a well defined moraine, and is here more clearly marked than farther east or west, because it stands between lower lands on either side, instead of being banked against the quartzite ridge. North of the lake it rises about 75 feet above the water. When the ice edge lay in this position on the north side of the range, its front between the East bluff and the Devil's nose lay a half mile or so from the south end of the lake. In this position also there is a well defined moraine.
While the ice was at its maximum stand, it rose above these moraine ridges at either end of the lake. Between the ice at these two points there was then a notable basin, comparable to that of the present lake except that the barriers to the north and southeast were higher than now. The melting of the ice supplied abundant water, and the lake rose above its present level. The height which it attained is not known, but it is known to have risen at least 90 feet above its present level. This is indicated by the presence of a few drift bowlders on the West bluff of the lake at this height. They represent the work of a berg or bergs which at some stage floated out into the lake with bowlders attached. Bowlders dropped by bergs might be dropped at any level lower than the highest stand of the lake.
Other lakes.—Another glacial lake on the East quartzite bluff has already (p.120) been referred to. Like the Devil's lake in glacial time, its basin was an enclosure between the ice on the one hand, and the quartzite ridge on the other. The location of this lake is shown on PlateXXXVII(s). Here the edge of the ice, as shown by the position of the moraine, was affected by a re-entrant curve, the two ends of which rested against the quartzite ridge. Between the ice on the one hand and the quartzite ridge on the other, a small lake was formed. Its position is marked by a notable flat.
With the exception of the north side, and a narrow opening at the northwest corner, the flat is surrounded by high lands. When the ice occupied the region, its edge held the position shown by the line marking the limit of its advance, and constituted an ice barrier to the north.[9]The area of the flat was, therefore, almost shut in, the only outlet being a narrow one att, PlateXXXVII. If the filling of stratified drift which underlies the flat were removed, the bottom of the area would be much lower than at present, and much lower than the outlet att. It is therefore evident that when the ice had taken its position along the north side of the flat, an enclosed basin must haveexisted, properly situated for receiving and holding water. Since this lake had but a short life and became extinct before the ice retreated, its history is here given.
At first the lake had no outlet and the water rose to the level of the lowest point (t) in the rim of the basin, and thence overflowed to the west. Meanwhile the sediments borne in by the glacial drainage were being deposited in the lake in the form of a subaqueous overwash plain, the coarser parts being left near the shore, while the finer were carried further out. Continued drainage from the ice continued to bring sediment into the lake, and the subaqueous overwash plain extended its delta-like front farther and farther into the lake, until its basin was completely filled. With the filling of the basin the lake became extinct. The later drainage from the ice followed the line of the outlet, the level of which corresponds with the level of the filled lake basin. This little extinct lake is of interest as an example of a glacial lake which became extinct by having its basin filled during glacial times, by sediments washed out from the ice.
Near the northwest corner of this flat, an exposure in the sediments of the old lake bed shows the curiously contorted layers of sand, silt, and clay represented in PlateXXXVIII. The layers shown in the figure are but a few feet below the level of the flat which marks the site of the lake. It will be seen that the contorted layers are between two series of horizontal ones. The material throughout the section is made up of fine-grained sands and clays, well assorted. That these particular layers should have been so much disturbed, while those below and above remained horizontal, is strange enough. The grounding of an iceberg on the surface before the overlying layers were deposited, the action of lake ice, or the effect of expansion and contraction due to freezing and thawing, may have been responsible for the singular phenomenon. Contorted laminæ are rather characteristic of the deposits of stratified drift.
As has already been indicated (p.101), the irregular deposition of glacial drift gave rise to many depressions without outlets in which surface waters collected after the ice had disappeared, forming ponds or lakes. So abundant are lakes and ponds and marshes in recently glaciated regions and so rare elsewhere, that they constitute one of the more easily recognized characteristics of a glaciated region.
After the ice had melted, the mantle of drift which it left was sometimes so disposed as to completely obliterate preglacial valleys. More commonly it filled preglacial valleys at certain points only. In still other cases a valley was not filled completely at any point, though partially at many. In this last case, the partial fillings at various points constituted dams above which drainage was ponded, making lakes. If the dams were not high enough to throw the drainage out of the valley, the lakes would have their outlets over them. The drift dam being unconsolidated would be quickly cut down by the out-flowing water, and the lake level lowered. When the dam was removed or cut to its base, the lake disappeared and drainage followed its preglacial course.
In case the valley was completely filled, or completely filled at points, the case was very different. The drainage on the drift surface was established with reference to the topography which obtained when the ice departed, and not with reference to the preglacial valleys. Wherever the preglacial valleys were completely filled, the postglacial drainage followed lines which were altogether independent of them. When preglacial valleys were filled by the drift in spots only, the postglacial streams followed them where they were not filled, only to leave them where the blocking occurred. In the former case the present drainage is through valleys which are preglacial in some places, and postglacial in others.
Thus the drainage changes effected by the drift after the ice was gone, concerned both lakes and rivers. In this region there are several illustrations of these changes.
Lakes.—The lake basins of drift-covered regions are of various types. Some of them are altogether in drift, some partly in drift and partly in rock, and some wholly in rock. Basins in the drift were likely to be developed whenever heavy deposits surrounded thin ones. They are especially common in the depressions of terminal moraines.
Another class of lake basins occurs in valleys, the basins being partly rock and partly drift. If a thick deposit of drift be made at one point in a valley, while above there is little or none, the thick deposit will form a dam, above which waters may accumulate, forming a pond or lake. Again, a ridge of drift may be deposited in the form of a curve with its ends against a rock-ridge, thus giving rise to a basin.
In the course of time, the lakes and ponds in the depressions made or occasioned by the drift will be destroyed by drainage. Remembering how valleys develop (p.46) it is readily understood that the heads of the valleys will sooner or later find the lakes, and drain them if their bottoms be not too low.
Drainage is hostile to lakes in another way. Every stream which flows into a lake brings in more or less sediment. In the standing water this sediment is deposited, thus tending to fill the lake basin. Both by filling their basins and by lowering their outlets, rivers tend to the destruction of lakes, and given time enough, they will accomplish this result. In view of this double hostility of streams, it is not too much to say that "rivers are the mortal enemies of lakes."
The destruction of lakes by streams is commonly a gradual process, and so it comes about that the abundance and the condition of the undrained areas in a drift-covered region is in some sense an index of the length of time, reckoned in terms of erosion, which has elapsed since the drift was deposited.
In this region there were few lakes which lasted long after the ice disappeared. The basins of the Baraboo and Wisconsin lakes (p.129) were partly of ice, and so soon as the ice disappeared, the basins were so nearly destroyed, and the drift dams that remained so easily eroded, that the lakes had but a brief history,—a history that was glacial, rather than postglacial.
The history of the little lake on the East quartzite bluff (p.133) as already pointed out, came to an end while the ice was still present.
The beds of at least two other extinct ponds or small lakes above the level of the Baraboo are known. These are atvandw, PlateXXXVII. They owed their origin to depressions in the drift, but the outflowing waters have lowered their outlets sufficiently to bring them to the condition of marshes. Both were small in area and neither was deep.
Existing lakes.—Relatively few lakes now remain in this immediate region, though they are common in most of the country covered by the ice sheet which overspread this region. Devil's lake only is well known. The lake which stood in this position while the ice was on, has already been referred to (p.132). After the ice had melted away, the drift which it had deposited still left an enclosure suitable for holding water. The history of this basin calls for special mention.
At the north end of the lake, and again in the capacious valley leading east from its south end, there are massive terminal moraines. Followed southward, this valley though blocked by the moraine a half mile below the lake, leads off towards the Wisconsin river, and is probably the course of a large preglacial stream. Beyond the moraine, this valley is occupied by a small tributary to the Wisconsin which heads at the moraine. To the north of the lake, the head of a tributary of the Baraboo comes within eighty rods of the lake, but again the terminal moraine intervenes. From data derived from wells it is known that the drift both at the north and south ends of the lake extends many feet below the level of its water, and at the north end, the base of the drift is known to be at least fifty feet below the level of the bottom of the lake. The draining of Devil's lake to the Baraboo river is therefore prevented only by the drift dam at its northern end. It is nearly certain also, that, were the moraine dam at the south end of the lake removed, all the water would flow out to the Wisconsin, though the data for the demonstration of this conclusion are not to be had, as already stated (p.132).
There can be no doubt that the gorge between the East and West bluffs was originally the work of a pre-Cambrian stream, though the depth of the pre-Cambrian valley may not have been so great as that of the present. Later, the valley, so far as then excavated, was filled with the Cambrian (Potsdam) sandstone, and re-excavated in post-Cambrian and preglacial time. Devil's lake then occupies an unfilled portion of an old river valley, isolated by great morainic dams from its surface continuations on either hand. Between the dams, water has accumulated and formed the lake.
In almost every region covered by the ice, the streams which established themselves after its departure follow more or less anomalous courses. This region is no exception. Illustrations of changes which the deposition of the drift effected have already been given in one connection or another in this report.
Skillett creek.—An illustration of the sort of change which drift effects is furnished by Skillett creek, a small stream tributary to the Baraboo, southwest of the city of that name. For some distance from its head (atob, Fig.43) its course is through a capacious preglacial valley. The lower part of this valley was filled with the water-laid drift of the overwash plain. On reaching the overwash plain the creek therefore shifted its course so as to follow the border of that plain, and along this route, irrespective of material, it has cut a new channel to the Baraboo. The postglacial portion of the valley (btoc) is everywhere narrow, and especially so where cut in sandstone.
The course and relations of this stream suggest the following explanation: Before the ice came into the region, Skillett creek probably flowed in a general northeasterly direction to the Baraboo, through a valley comparable in size to the preglacial part of the present valley. As the ice advanced, the lower part of this valley was occupied by it, and the creek was compelled to seek a new course. The only course open to it was to the north, just west of the advancing ice, and, shifting westward as fast as the ice advanced, it abandonedaltogether its former lower course. Drainage from the ice then carried out and deposited beyond the same, great quantities of gravel and sand, making the overwash plain. This forced the stream still farther west, until it finally reached its present position across a sandstone ridge or plain, much higher than its former course. Into this sandstone it has since cut a notable gorge, a good illustration of a postglacial valley. The series of changes shown by this creek is illustrative of the changes undergone by streams in similar situations and relations all along the margin of the ice.