8 BULLETIN 142, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The small detached area in the Traverse Bay region occupied by 

 soils of the Miami series ranges in elevation from about 600 feet to 

 approximately 900 feet above sea level. The elevations within small 

 areas vary more widely in this section than in any other part of the 

 more eastern development of the Miami soils. It is a territory of 

 undulating to hilly topography, with small areas of nearly level 

 land. The nearly level areas are chiefly occupied by soils of other 

 series. 



In general, the areas occupied by the soils of the Miami series in 

 southern Michigan may be characterized as rolling to ridged in the 

 more elevated portion as described, and as gently undulating plains 

 through the greater part of central Michigan from Howell to the 

 vicinity of Grand Rapids. The western and southwestern part of 

 the lower peninsula is occupied by broad, low ridges parallel with 

 the lake shore, with intervening extensive outwash valleys which do 

 not usually comprise large areas of Miami soils. 



The small sections of northwestern Indiana and northeastern 

 Illinois included within the region of mainly Miami soils consist 

 chiefly of broad, flat ridges whose highest elevations do not exceed 

 800 feet. The local variations in altitude are usually slight, and the 

 slopes are gentle, except in minor areas. 



In the portion of eastern Wisconsin which is largely occupied by 

 soils of the Miami series the topographic features differ materially 

 from those within the territory already described. The land along 

 the western shore of Lake Michigan from Racine to the mouth of 

 Green Bay has an altitude of about 600 feet, or an elevation of 20 

 to 40 feet above the level of the lake. From the shore of the lake it 

 rises rapidly toward the west, elevations of 900 feet or more being 

 attained along a line from the center of the Door Peninsula south- 

 westward to the vicinity of Beloit, Wis. In part this altitude is 

 caused by the elevation of the underlying rock floor; but the minor 

 differences in elevation and slope, and to some degree the absolute 

 altitude, are determined by the thickness of the superficial deposits 

 which cover this region. The central ridge is marked by choppy, 

 steeply sloping ridges with large and small intervening hollows and 

 plains, which give an appearance of rugosity in marked contrast with 

 the surface of the areas occupied by the soils of the Miami series in 

 Indiana and Ohio. The rolling topography typical of southeastern 

 Wisconsin is shown in Plate I, figure 1. Over a large part of the 

 section in southeastern Wisconsin immediately west and northwest 

 of the high central ridge there are long, rounded, nearly parallel hills 

 which, with the intervening hollows, give a fluted aspect to the 

 surface. 



