662 GLACIAL FORMATIONS OF ERIE AND OHIO BASINS. 



finds a passage, while at Kingsville it affords a wider gap for Conneaut 

 Creek to turn north toward the lake. 



From Conneaut Creek to Elk Creek the moraine, though having a 

 well-defined crest, carries gentler swells than in the neighboring portions 

 to the west and the east. From Elk Creek eastward to its junction with 

 the Painesville moraine it presents a series of sharp knolls distributed over 

 the slopes and along the crest of a prominent basement ridge. Parts of 

 the ridge stand 60 to 80 feet above the sag on the south, which is drained 

 by Brandy Run. 



Along the south side of Walnut Creek from near Sterrettania up to 

 Kearsarge there is an intricate assemblage of knolls and sags withovit so 

 well defined a basement ridge as appears to the west, where the moraines 

 are more distinct. The largest knolls are 30 to 40 feet in height and are 

 rather sharp. A similar confused assemblage of knolls continues across the 

 interval between Walnut Creek and Mill Creek to the point of connection 

 with the Girard moraine at the bend of Mill Creek south of Erie. Walnut 

 Creek owes its deflection from the base of the escarpment westward to 

 Kearsarge to the presence of this morainic system between Kearsarge and 

 Mill Creek. Otherwise the headwater portion would have continued north- 

 ward to Mill Creek and thence through the midst of the city of Erie into 

 the lake, as may be seen by reference to Plate XVIII. 



In the range of sharp knolls which leads from Cross Station toward 

 Girard the highest points rise about 70 feet above the Maumee beach on 

 the north slope, but are seldom as much as 30 feet higher than the gravel 

 plain on the south or outer face. In places the knolls barely reach the 

 level of the gravel plain. 



In the western part of the Girard moraine there is a gently undu- 

 lating ridge with swells only 10 to 12 feet high, and a relief of 15 to 20 

 feet above the plain on its outer or south border. This weak phase con- 

 tinues to Walnut Creek Valley, at Swanville; but from Walnut Creek 

 eastward to Mill Creek, a distance of 9 miles, this moraine is about as 

 strong as and is similar in topography to the best developed parts of the 

 Painesville and Ashtabula moraines. It is fully a mile in average width 

 and consists of a well-defined basement ridge on whose crest and slopes 

 knolls 10 to 40 feet in height appear. The variations in the strength of 

 the Girard moraine are clearly brought out in PL XVIII. 



