396 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



LAKE ABEAM, BEREA, OHIO 



W. N. Speckman, Elmhuest College 



Among the geological formations of the Berea, Ohio, 

 Quadrangle, left at the close of the Glacial Period, is a 

 depression just northeast of the village of Berea in Cuya- 

 hoga County, which is filled with water and surrounded 

 by muck lands. It is found at the top and near the mid- 

 dle of the old bed of the Rocky River and is drained by 

 Abram Creek into the present Rocky River. 



When the glacier passed over this region the old chan- 

 nel of the river was filled up, with the exception of the 

 places occupied by Lake Abram and other water-holes 

 or depressions in the quadrangle known as Duck Pond, 

 etc. A large disk of ice was probably left in the present 

 location of Lake Abram which interfered with the filling- 

 up process and, when melted, formed the original lake. 

 On the recession of Lake Erie, which was compara- 

 tively shallow in this vicinity, currents of water formed 

 the sand ridges, found in this locality, out of the debris 

 left by the glacier. In the water, bars were composed of 

 the sand, gravel, stones and other material which now 

 compose the ridges. 



The muck land about Lake Abram is at least 25 to 30 

 feet deep. A fence board 16 feet long has been pushed 

 down into it in some places without reaching the bottom. 

 The muck runs out from the center to a shallow edge. The 

 pond is gradually filling up with clay, etc., washed in by 

 the intakes, from fields now plowed. Formerly the water 

 was clear. When the bottom of the Lake is touched, it 

 is found to be of pebbly boulder clay, and on the ledge 

 in places underlying the muck is the original shore-line of 

 the original lake. It consisted of a pond of clear 

 water with a shore of white pebbles and sand. Next to 

 the bottom are great quantities of marl, greenish in color 

 and made from the shells of freshwater snails, clams, etc. 

 There is a marl bed under the whole country in the vicin- 

 ity of Lake Abram. Years ago the Lake was three 

 fourths of a mile in diameter and from two to three miles 

 in circumference, being irregular in outline ; now it is less 

 than a mile around it. 



