730 GLACIAL FORMATIONS OF ERIE AND OHIO BASINS. 



opened for road ballast at many points. The gravel pits show clearly that 

 the gravel was washed up against the moraine from the southwest. Where 

 crossbedding occurs the dip is uniformly toward the moraine. The gravel 

 can not, therefore, be an outwash from the moraine. The form of the beach 

 is also in itself sufficient evidence that the graA^el is a shore deposit. In 

 the vicinity of the point where the beach crosses the crest of the moraine, 

 and for several miles eastward along the north face of the moraine, a cut 

 bank 10 to 15 feet high was found. This in places carries a gravel deposit 

 which is nearly or quite up to the level of the upper beach, but the base of 

 the bank is as low as the second beach. 



The course of the beach is south of east for several miles from the 

 point where it crosses the Defiance moraine. It then swings with the 

 moi'aine to a course north of east and leads through McComb and Van 

 Buren to Fostoria. The upper and second beaches were not clearly differ- 

 entiated in this part of the shore, though two ridges were observed in the 

 interval between McComb and Van Buren which appear to differ a few feet 

 in altitude. At Van Buren there is a cut bank 12 to 15 feet high, the base of 

 which seems to be near the level of the second beach and the top near the 

 level of the upper beach. Two ridges were also observed west of Fostoria, 

 the southern being near the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and 

 the northern along a wagon road about a half mile north. These differ 

 apparently less than 10 feet in altitude, and both lie near the level of the 

 upper beach, 775 to 780 feet above tide. 



From Fostoria the shore bears south of east through Bascom to Tiffin. 

 There are in places two ridges, differing at most onlj- a few feet in altitude. 

 Neither ridge is strong, the usual height being 3 to 5 feet. A cut bank of 

 similar height occurs along part of the shore. Tlie weakness of the ridge 

 in this part of its course seems largely due to the direction it takes,. It is 

 found that, in general, the weakest part oi this and other shores of the glacial 

 lakes in the Erie Basin are where the shore fronts toward the nortlieast. 



From Tiffin the shore takes a northeastward course into southeastern 

 Sandusk)' County, coming to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail- 

 way about 3 miles west of Bellevue, from which point it turns eastward into 

 Bellevue. This part of the shore is marked by a strong beach, as is usual 

 where the shore fronts toward the northwest. 



To the north and northeast of Bellevue there were small islands in the 



