History of late glacial flow through the middle Mississippi and Illinois Valleys
Nearly the entire late glacial is represented by the sedimentologic, stratigraphic and geomorphic record. Sources and types of discharge and sediment varied considerably in response to style and timing of retreat and readvance of glacial lobes; drainage diversions; magnitude and timing of glacial lake discharges; and non-meltwater inputs. Sedimentology of backflood, slackwater, and tributary and main stem fluvial sediments associated with late Wisconsinan terraces, preserved in Mississippi tributary valley mouths, suggests that from before 16,000 until about 13,300 B.P., when the valleys were undergoing net aggradation during ice retreat, floods were of relatively small to moderate magnitude. Catastrophic flooding out of moraine--dammed lakes occurred down the Illinois Valley between about 16,000 and 15,500 B.P., and down the Mississippi Valley out of Lake Wisconsin around 15,000 B.P. Large-scale, but not necessarily catastrophic, paleochannels in the Illinois Valley were active at least intermittently between 15,500 and about 9,800 B.P. After about 12,200 B.P., the character of Mississippi River discharge changed greatly. Between 12,200 and about 9,500 B.P., multiple relatively large magnitude floods, some catastrophic, from Lake Agassiz, Des Moines lobe englacial or subglacial lakes, and other glacial lakes, passed through the valley causing downcutting, terrace formation, and locally extensive valley widening and left remnants of large-scale paleochannels and streamlined bars. Either catastrophic floods did not pass through the Illinois Valley after 13,300 B.P. or they were sharply attenuated by the time they reached the lower valley; the reverse sloping clayey surface of the Savanna Terrace and associated lacustrine deposits in the lower Illinois Valley show no depositional or erosional evidence suggestive of modification by catastrophic flooding.
- OSTI ID:
- 5589665
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921058--
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Vol. 24:7; ISSN GAAPBC; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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