History of late glacial runoff from the southern Laurentide ice sheet in Indiana
- Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States)
- Indiana Geological Survey, Bloomington, IN (United States)
The history of late glacial runoff from the southern Laurentide ice sheet in Indiana is one of long periods of normal'' meltwater flow punctuated by extreme flows. Meltwater flow down the Wabash began about 26 ka when ice of the Lake Michigan lobe entered the headwaters of its northern and western tributaries. This flow was augmented by meltwater from the Huron-Erie lobe which entered the basin about 24 ka, and there ensued a period when normal meltwater flow and outwash sedimentation prevailed through successive advances from these two sources. This ended about 17 ka ( ) when two extreme flow events occurred. The first involved a subglacial breakout of stored water in a stagnating sheet of Erie-Huron lobe ice and the second occurred when a proglacial lake stored behind a Huron-Erie Lobe recessional moraine in northeastern Indiana drained catastrophically into the Wabash. A second period of normal flow and sedimentation followed as successive episodes of advance and active backwasting of Huron-Erie lobe ice left a series of recessional moraines in northeastern Indiana. Lake Maumee (of ancestral Lake Erie) formed behind the last of these, and the final extreme flow down the Wabash occurred about 14 ka ( ) when this moraine was breached. During the final stages of glaciation in Indiana, very large volumes of meltwater were supplied to the Illinois river system through the Kankakee sluiceway by both the Lake Michigan lobe and the Saginaw lobe. For the most part, these were not extreme flows, but catastrophic subglacial outburst(s) of water from the Lake Michigan lobe did occur about 13 ka ( ) along the Valparaiso Moraine. Most of this meltwater was directed down the Kankakee sluiceway and into the Illinois River, but some may have flowed around the east end of the iroquois Moraine and into the Wabash River.
- OSTI ID:
- 5807592
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921058-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 24:7; Conference: 1992 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Cincinnati, OH (United States), 26-29 Oct 1992; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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History of late glacial flow through the middle Mississippi and Illinois Valleys
Late Wisconsin evolution of the Maumee lacustrine basin in northeastern Indiana
Related Subjects
GLACIERS
RUNOFF
INDIANA
WATERSHEDS
DRAINAGE
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
ICE
LAKE ERIE
LAKE HURON
LAKE MICHIGAN
MELTING
MORAINES
SEDIMENTATION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GREAT LAKES
LAKES
MASS TRANSFER
NORTH AMERICA
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
580000* - Geosciences