GLACIAL AND GLACIAL LAKE FEATURES IN THE VICINITY 



OF KALAMAZOO. 



FRANK LEVERETT. 



(Abstract.) 



•The Kalamazoo Valley was covered by the icesheet down to the time of 

 the Battle Creek moraine, and there was direct drainage southward to the St. 

 Joseph River and thence past South Bend to the Kankakee River which drains 

 to the Gulf of Mexico. The Lake Michigan ice-lobe then shrank back to the 

 position of the Kalamazoo moraine and a lake developed in front of it imme- 

 diately east of Kalamazoo which drained southward past Austin and Gourd- 

 neck lakes and the village of Vicksburg to Portage River and thence to the 

 St. Joseph River at Three Rivers. It is proposed to call this Lake Kalamazoo 

 because of its close relation to the site of the city. It stood at an altitude of 

 about 870 feet, or 100 feet above the business portion of the city. It was, 

 however, very shallow to the south of the valley and its bed carries only a 

 small amount of lake silt. It was this lake that determined the abrupt 

 eastern limit of the outwash plain of the Kalamazoo moraine in the district 

 just south of Kalamazoo. « 



After forming the Kalamazoo moraine the ice-border made a stand imme- 

 diately west of the moraine and caused ponding of water in the vicinity of 

 Alamo at an altitude about 50 feet lower than that of Lake Kalamazoo, and 

 this found southward discharge along the inner or west border of the Kala- 

 mazoo moraine to the St. Joseph River at Niles and thence southward to the 

 Kankakee at South Bend. It is proposed to call this Lake Alamo. 



With the recession of the ice-border to the position of the Valparaiso 

 moraine the waters in front of the Lake Michigan ice-lobe became ponded in 

 the vicinity of the Kalamazoo River at a level about 50 feet lower than Lake 

 Alamo, or an altitude of 765 feet to 770 feet. A long lake was formed that 

 extended from Gun Lake southward to Decatur where it opened into Dowagiac 

 River, and this in turn entered another lake opposite Dowagiac which extended 

 to the Kankakee River at South Bend. This ponded condition is known as 

 Lake Dowagiac and has already been figured in Monograph LIII of the U. S. 

 Geological Survey. This lake had well-defined shore lines on a considerable 

 part of its border and evidently persisted for a period of some centuries at 

 least. 



When the Lake Michigan lobe was forming the system of moraines known 

 as the Lake Border morainic system, which lies just outside the border of 

 Lake Michigan, the Kalamazoo waters were ponded below Allegan to a height 



21st Mich. Acad. Sci. Rept., 1919. 



