550 GLACIAL FORMATIONS OF ERIE AND OHIO BASINS. 



TOPOGEAPHT. 



In general it may be said that the narrowest portions of the moraine 

 are also the most prominent. In Ohio and throughout the greater part of 

 the portion south of the old lake outlet, the moraine is crowded into a space 

 about 1 mile in width, and consequently presents a definite ridge. North 

 froTu the outlet it is spread over a width of 3 or 4 miles, and is correspond- 

 ingly inconspicuous, though it contains morainic features of characteristic 

 type. 



In the Ohio portion of the moraine as far east as the uplands east of 

 the Scioto Basin, there is little variety in feature. The moraine is most 

 conspicuous by its relief, standing as it does 20 to 40 feet or more above 

 the outer border plain. Its surface carries only low swells, seldom 20 feet 

 and usually but 5 to 10 feet in height. In places the crest lies within 

 one-fourth mile, but usually it is about one-half mile distant from the outer 

 border. The inner slo]3e is longer than the outer, as is the case in nearly 

 all the moraines of the smooth ridge type in Ohio and Indiana. 



On the uplands west of the Cuyahoga the morainic features are well 

 displayed. The district is hilly, but the borders of the morainic belt are 

 easily recognized. In the districts to the north and to the south the valleys 

 have only occasional drift knolls, while the slopes of the ridges are nearly 

 free from them, but within the morainic belt the valleys are filled with 

 these knolls, while the slopes and crests of the ridges are dotted by them, 

 there being scarcely a 40-acre field on which there are not one or more 

 knolls to be seen. On its outer (southern) border a nearly continuous 

 sheet of di-ift 20 feet or more in thickness is present, into which an abrupt 

 rise is made from the outer border district. This sheet of drift is dotted 

 by drift knolls 5 to 50 feet in height. The most conspicuous ones noted 

 are north of Smith Roads, where they are associated in groups whose 

 height ranges from 20 to 50 feet, but the general height of these knolls is 

 10 to 15 feet and their area 2 to 5 acres. South of Smith Roads the drift 

 shows a tendency to aggregation in ridges trending ENE. to WSW., the 

 general trend of the moraine being nearly east to west. West of the 

 meridian of Sharon the ridges trend NNE. to SSW., near the outer border 

 of the complex morainic belt, while neai- the inner border, in the vicinity of 

 Remsons Corners, they trend nearly north and south. The tendency to 



