BLANCHARD OR DEFIANCE MORAINE. 591 



low till swells 5 to 10 feet high, and with them sandy knolls and ridges, 

 some of which are 20 to 25 feet in height. This part of the moraine is 

 known to have been only partlj' submerged, for portions of it rise 20 to 30 

 feet above the level of the upper beach of Lake Maumee, yet the sand 

 has been deposited on the highest points. There has probably been some 

 transportation of the sand by wind after the withdrawal of the ice sheet, 

 but some of the sand knolls appear to have l^een formed like the till knolls 

 in connection with glaciation. This seems to be the case where knolls of 

 sand are isolated, and separated from other sand deposits by wide areas with 

 scarcely a trace of sand, as often occurs in that part of the moraine. 



Upon continuing north into Michigan a few miles the typical land-laid 

 moraine appears, with a sharply outlined crest and swell-and-sag topogra- 

 phy, similar to that found near Findlay, Ohio. The description of the 

 Michigan portion of the moraine will, however, be deferred to a later report. 



STRUCTURE OF THE DRIFT. 



The Defiance moraine, like the moraines which lie outside of it, is 

 composed very largely of till in which there is a liberal admixture of small 

 stones, but surface bowlders and large stones are comparatively rare. The 

 water-laid part seems to be a little more compact than the land-laid part, 

 but the contrast is not striking. The water-laid part carries remarkably 

 little surface sand, much of its surface being a black, mucky clay. The 

 little sand and gravel which occurs is mainly confined to the Belmore 

 beach and its immediate borders. 



As already noted, sand knolls are a conspicuous feature from near 

 Wauseon northward to the Michigan line. There are also a few in the 

 tract near Leipsic, Ohio, that connects the land-laid with the water-laid 

 part of the moraine. These are often composed of clear sand, but in some 

 cases a few pebbles are present. The sand is somewhat calcareous at 

 depths of several feet from the surface, but the surface portion seems to be 

 thoroughly leached. In the portion near Leipsic some interesting varia- 

 tions are displayed; in one knoll only a fine sand may be present, while its 

 neighbors are composed of clay, or a portion of a knoll may be composed 

 of sand and the remainder of clay, the whole being molded into a sym- 

 meti'ical knoll, like the different kinds of material in a kame. A few knolls 

 contain pockets of gravel, but coarse material is rather rare. These abrupt 



