204 PLEISTOCENE OF INDIANA AND MICHIGAN. 



CHARLOTTE MORAINIC SYSTEM OF THE SAGINAW LOBE. 



COURSE AND DISTRIBUTION. 



The Charlotte morainic system, which takes its name from the county seat of Eaton County, 

 differs from most morainic systems in having a rather vague outer border, the nearly plane till 

 tract on the south rising gradually, in the space of 1 to 2 miles or more, into a pronounced 

 moraine. A few morainic spurs and some eskers extend southward on to the plain. The 

 topography seems to be such as might result from a mere halt in the recession of the ice border. 

 The large number of eskers leading into it from the inner border plain, and especially those in 

 the midst of the moraine, seems to indicate that the ice was nearly stagnant, and the character 

 of the outwash and the ice-border drainage seem consistent with such an interpretation. 



This morainic system connects at the west with the Valparaiso morainic system of the Lake 

 Michigan lobe and is believed to be the full equivalent of that system, though it is less bulky. 

 The outermost ridge of the Charlotte system connects with a ridge of the Valparaiso system at 

 Dias Hill, about 12 miles south of Grand Rapids; a second and stronger ridge connects at the 

 bend of Grand River just north of Grand Rapids; and a third connects near Cedar Springs, 

 about 15 miles north of the same city. This recession of about 24 miles in the reentrant angle 

 between the Saginaw and Lake Michigan lobes is greater than that at any other place along the 

 line of the Charlotte morainic system, the ridges elsewhere being commonly combined into a 

 single belt 4 to S miles wide. 



The outer ridge leads from Dias Hill, in southern Kent County (see Grand Rapids topo- 

 graphic sheet) , southeastward across the northeast corner of Allegan County to Thornapple 

 River at Middlevhle, in Barry County. The outer edge of the second ridge follows the west side 

 of Thornapple River north from Middleville nearly to Grand River before it crosses the stream. 

 East of the Thornapple the two ridges combine into a single belt which lies along the north 

 side of Thornapple River from Middleville to Hastings. At Hastings the outer ridge crosses to 

 the south side of the river and follows its south bluff past Nashville and Vermontville for 18 

 miles. A few miles east of Vermontville the second ridge crosses the river, which has been 

 deflected to the south, and the two ridges again combine in a single belt that leads past Char- 

 lotte. A short distance east of Charlotte the belt breaks up, as shown on the Lansing topo- 

 graphic sheet, into two and in places three ridges, separated by narrow swampy depressions. 

 Beyond Grand River, however, just below Eaton Rapids, a single broad belt leads eastward 

 across the Mason, Fowlerville, and Howell quadrangles in southern Ingham and southwestern 

 Livingston counties to connect with the correlative morainic system of the Huron-Erie lobe in 

 the Howell and Milford quadrangles in the southeastern part of Livingston and southwestern 

 part of Oakland counties. The combined system of moraines and their included outwash aprons 

 form the conspicuous interlobate belt that leads northeastward across Oakland County into 

 southern Lapeer County. The Charlotte system becomes blended with the inner part of the 

 Kalamazoo morainic system in southeastern Ingham County and has no distinct development 

 farther to the east. 



A third prominent moraine that seems referable to this system separates from the other 

 moraines a few miles north of Hastings and leads northward through the southwestern part of 

 Ionia County to Grand River valley just above the mouth of Flat River. It turns westward 

 across Flat River hito Kent County and merges with the second moraine of the system. The 

 combined belt connects with a correlative morainic belt of the Lake Michigan lobe near Cedar 

 Springs in northern Kent County. A morainic spur extending from it north-northeast to Green- 

 ville may perhaps be considered a part of this third belt. So also may somewhat isolated 

 morainic strips farther north in western Montcalm County. It was probably in connection 

 with the development of the Charlotte morainic system of the Saginaw lobe and the Valparaiso 

 system of the Lake Michigan lobe that the strong interlobate moraine, which was discussed in 

 connection with the Kalamazoo morainic system and which covers much of Mecosta and 

 Osceola counties, was given its surface expression. 



