GLACIAL WATERS IN THE LAKE ERIE BASIN 5 1 



[see pi. 1 8] pursuing a direct course and presenting a bold lakeward 

 slope. The 800 foot contour of the topographic sheet should lie 

 along the face of this conspicuous ridge. 



From Westfieldto West Portland church, 3^ miles, the highway is 

 a direct line and lies on the lower Warren beaches. As seen from 

 the road the beach is a broad, undulating ridge with a steep frontal 

 or lakeward slope, facing the smooth plain of the ancient lake 

 bottom. For 2 miles from Westfield the superior Warren is not 

 prominent but represented by low, parallel bars somewhat higher 

 than the highway. Gradually, however, the higher Warren 

 strengthens and toward the West Portland comers it becomes a 

 heavy gravel ridge about 38 feet higher than the lower Warren. 

 This is an interesting locality for the study of these water levels. 

 At the forks of the road the highway leading to Portland and Broc- 

 ton rises quickly from the lower to the higher Warren ridge. The 

 brick church stands on the upper Warren ridge, which beyond this 

 point is a gravel plain nearly a mile wide, extending landward to 

 the Whittlesey beach. Along the road the surface of the plain is 

 a series of smooth ridges or swells, specially toward Portland and 

 along the edge of the plain, the latter forming a steep cliff 35 to 40 

 feet high, and about ^ mile from the highway. The lower Warren 

 ridge lies below the cliff, which seems to have been eroded by the 

 later Warren waves, as shown in plate 19. This broad gravel plain 

 is the delta built in the Whittlesey and lowering waters from the 

 detritus brought down by the glacial drainage channel south of 

 Portland [see p. 21]. The large vertical interval between the 

 Warren bars contrasts strongly with most other localities. On the 

 north and south Townline road west of the brick church the lower 

 Warren is about 25 feet under the upper Warren, and the Whit- 

 tlesey is toward 50 feet higher. At the brick church the Whittlesey 

 lies 40 to 45 feet over the upper Warren, which is 38 feet over the 

 lower Warren, represented here by a single bar below the abrupt 

 cliff. 



On first sight the large interval between the Warren bars suggests 

 two lake levels about 40 feet apart. But this relation is not con- 

 firmed at other localities. The relation here is exceptional and the 

 product of special local conditions. The isolated lower bar may 

 be regarded as inferior Warren, either an offshore construction or 

 else built in the falling waters. It is comparable to the inferior 

 bars often found on heavy deltas. 



In the section of the West Portland comers and brick church the 

 Whittlesey beach is a cliff for about i^ miles, but eastward it be- 



