CERTAIN PECULIAR ESKERS AND ESKER LAKES 

 OF NORTHEASTERN INDIANA 



Northeastern Indiana is traversed by a series of massive 

 moraines of late Wisconsin age, the joint product of the Erie 

 and Saginaw lobes of the Laurentide ice-sheet. The Erie ice 

 invaded the region from the south of east, the Saginaw ice from 

 the east of north. Thus the general directions of ice movement 

 in the two were at right angles to each other. The Saginaw 

 lobe was relatively feeble and withdrew from the region before 

 the Erie lobe. Along their line of contact there is much confu- 

 sion, but it is possible to correlate the moraines and to mark out 

 with considerable accuracy the limits of Erie and Saginaw drift. 1 

 The region abounds in unusual features. Half-filled valleys and 

 abnormal drainage lines, isolated knobs and morainic outliers, 

 clusters and chains of lakes, kettles, and kames conspire with 

 esker-like ridges to produce a type of topography and scenery 

 which seems artificial and almost bizarre. The southwestern 

 portion of Noble county presents forms which are, perhaps, best 

 described under the name of eskers. 2 



On the line between the townships of Noble and Washington 

 a system of ridges occupies about two square miles and sur- 

 rounds the basin of High Lake. The most prominent member 

 is a gravel ridge one mile long, extending east and west along 

 the south side of High Lake. It is highest and broadest at the 

 east end, where it surrounds and encloses an oval kettle whose 

 bottom is at lake level. The sides of the kettle rise to 25 and 

 35 feet at the lowest points, and to 70 and 85 feet at the high- 

 est points, which are at the ends of the oval. The westward 

 extension of the ridge has a height varying mostly between 50 



1 Eighteenth Report Indiana Geology, pp. 28, 84. 



2 The data for the maps, Figs. 1 and 2, were obtained with an aneroid and tape 

 line, township, section, and farm lines, and the surface of the principal lake in each 

 being used as bases. 



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