May, 1912.] .4 Study of Buckeye Lake and Vicinity, . 517 



A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON A PHYSIOGRAPHIC STUDY 

 OF BUCKEYE LAKE AND VICINITY. 



Freda Detmers. 



For the past three years, beginning with the spring of 1909, I 

 have been engaged in a study of the plant geography of Buckeye 

 Lake. An understanding of the physiography and of the physio- 

 graphic history of any region is essential to a comprehension of 

 the development of the flora of that region; therefore as the 

 physiographic study is so closely correlated with the botanical, the 

 two were carried on at the same time. 



A careful inspection of the topography, and an examination of 

 the literature on the physiography of Buckeye Lake and its 

 vicinity soon developed three topics of especial interest. These 

 w^ere: I, the existence or nonexistence of Lake Licking, a post or 

 interglacial lake occupying the plains to the south and southwest 

 of Newark, including Buckeye Lake; II, the physiographic history 

 of Buckeye Lake and III, the location and extent of the Newark 

 river valley, a preglacial valley, from Newark westward to the 

 Franklin county line. 



These three problems are discussed in this paper in the same 

 order as presented above. 



I. The existence or nonexistence of Lake Licking, a large 

 post glacial lake south and southwest of Newark. 



In the report on the geological survey of Licking county, by 

 M. C. Read,^ the statement is made that to the south and south- 

 west of Newark a lake of considerable size covered the surface 

 "in the latter part of the glacial epoch." The statement gives 

 opportunity for a very wide interpretation as to the possible or 

 probable age of this lake and it makes no reference at all to its 

 longevity. As the region in question is covered by the Illinoian, 

 the early and the late Wisconsin drift-sheets,^'^ the lake may 

 have been post glacial, that is: formed by the recession of the Late 

 Wisconsin ice, or interglacial and formed by the advance or retreat 

 of the Early Wisconsin or retreat of the Illinoian and still fall 

 within the "latter part " of the entire glacial epoch. 



In another paragraph of the same report Mr. Read* says: 

 "The larger channels are now filled with water- washed pebbles 

 resting ordinarily upon the old rocky bed, but in places upon the 

 remains of the original drift clay, by a succession of terraces and 

 corresponding water plains. South and southwest of Newark 

 these water plains expand covering a large area." From this 



1. Read M. C. Geology of Licking County. O. Geol. Survey 3: 348-361, 1878. 



2. Leverett, Frank. Mon. 41: U. S. G. S. 



3. Chamberlain, T. C, and Salisbury, R. D. Geology. Earth History. 2: 3: 1906. 



4. Read M. C. Geology of Licking County, O. Geol. Survey 3: 1878. 



