Defiance Moraine

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The Defiance Moraine was deposited about 14,800 [1] years ago during the late Wisconsin glaciation and spans the northern portion of the state of Ohio from Defiance, Ohio in the west to near Pymatuning Reservoir in the east. [2]

Near Defiance, Ohio inundation by Lake Maumee significantly reduced the relief of the moraine. [3]

The moraine is a noteworthy landform in several counties across the state in addition to Defiance County, including Putnam, Hancock, Seneca, Lorain, Medina, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Trumbull and Ashtabula. [4]

The moraine passes just south of the village of Alvada, Ohio in Seneca, County. The crest of the moraine is 850 to 860 feet above sea level and varies from two to five miles in width with an asymmetrical form, rising abruptly from the till plain on the south and descending gradually to the north so the boundary is indistinct. [5]

The Defiance Moraine is the source of the Black River between New London and Lodi. [6]

The moraine nearly encircles Geauga County on the west, north, and east flanks in a belt that is 1 to 2 miles wide with 10 to 30 feet of relief. [7] [8]

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The Fort Wayne Moraine is considered contemporary to the last stages of the Valparaiso Moraine. Centered on Fort Wayne, Indiana, the northern leg of the moraine is mostly overlaid by the younger Wabash Moraine angling northeastward through Williams County, Ohio. It only becomes identifiable in Lenawee County, Michigan south and northeast of Adrian before ending in the intermingling of moraines around Ann Arbor. The south and eastern leg of the moraine follows the northern bank of the St. Marys River into the State of Ohio. At the north bend of the St. Marys River, the moraine arcs northeastward through Lima, continuing in a northward arc to reach north of U.S. 30 in Hancock County to pass through Upper Sandusky, again bending to the north to end 15 miles (24 km) to 20 miles (32 km) to the northeast.

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The Erie Plain is a lacustrine plain that borders Lake Erie in North America. From Buffalo, New York, to Cleveland, Ohio, it is quite narrow, but broadens considerably from Cleveland around Lake Erie to Southern Ontario, where it forms most of the Ontario peninsula. The Erie Plain was used in the United States as a natural gateway to the North American interior, and in both the United States and Canada the plain is heavily populated and provides very fertile agricultural land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portage Escarpment</span>

The Portage Escarpment is a major landform in the U.S. states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York which marks the boundary between the Till Plains to the north and west and the Appalachian Plateau to the east and south. The escarpment is the defining geological feature of New York's Finger Lakes region. Its proximity to Lake Erie creates a narrow but easily traveled route between upstate New York and the Midwest. Extensive industrial and residential development occurred along this route.

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Big Creek is a 15.6-mile-long (25.1 km) tributary of the Grand River and flows through Lake and Geauga counties in Ohio. It rises in glacial till near Chardon, Ohio, and cuts through the Defiance Moraine on its way north and exposes rock formations from the Paleozoic Era, including the fossiliferous Chagrin Shale. It joins the Grand River in Painesville Township in Helen Hazen Wyman Park.

References

  1. "Encyclopedia of Cleveland History:GEOLOGY & NATURAL RESOURCES". Case Western Reserve University.
  2. Bier, James A. (1967). "Landforms of Ohio" (PDF). Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey. Archived from the original on January 13, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. Brockman, C. Scott. "Physiographic Regions of Ohio" (PDF). Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
  4. "Glacial Map of Ohio" (PDF). Ohio Department of Natural Resources. 2005.
  5. SHAFFER,PAUL R. "THE PLEISTOCENE GEOLOGY OF THE FOSTORIA QUADRANGLE" (PDF).
  6. NEWBERRY, J. S. "History of Five River Valleys" (PDF).
  7. Totten,Stanley M. "GLACIAL GEOLOGY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO". Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey.
  8. ODNR. "Ohio Geology Interactive Map".