540 J. E. TODD — PLEISTOCENE PROBLEMS IN MISSOURI. 



Weston he reports these strata to be 230 feet above the Missouri or 1,030 

 feet above the sea. It seems a pretty clear case of an ancient rapid made 

 when the Missouri river was cutting down from the level of stratum 

 " 150." Scattered through the cobble layer are occasional bowlders of 

 granite, red quartzite and greenstone, while the same are more abundant 

 on the upper surface. The loess at Weston rests directly upon the cobble- 

 stone layer and rises 40 to 50 feet above it, while not far away, as near 

 latan, the loess, according to Broadhead's report, rises to 335 feet above 

 the Missouri. 



This same ridge, about 12 miles northeast of Weston at Camden 

 Point, on the Platte river, exhibits probably the same stratum at an 

 altitude of 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. It is not unlikely that 

 a similar deposit may be found in that vicinity. No bowldery stratum 

 occurs on the Kansas side of the Missouri. 



Relation of present Topography to the Pleistocene Formations. 



Several facts under this head have already been mentioned. These 

 need not be repeated, and only a few of the more important need be 

 added. The whole Pleistocene region presents in portions, more remote 

 from streams or in localities protected from wash or erosion, patches of a 

 very level and even surface, which we may call flats. This feature seems 

 to be characteristic of the recently formed Pleistocene areas as distinct 

 from the older formations in their vicinity. The feature appears to 

 abound about Lathrop and Cameron and farther northwest, about Mary- 

 ville, but it is much more extensive in the eastern portion of the state. 

 It is well shown between Macon and Palmyra and between Moberly and 

 Bowling Green ; also along the Wabash line between Higby and War- 

 renton. Even along lines which descend from this plain the edge is 

 quite distinctly marked. It appears also well developed on the margin 

 of the Pleistocene at a number of points, marking quite distinctly the 

 outline of these formations as contrasted with the high and less even 

 surface of the older deposits. This is seen along the east side of a ridge 

 running many miles southwest of Lexington ; also near Hughesville, 

 north of Sedalia, and near Prairie Home, in the eastern part of Cooper 

 county. This relation appears still more distinctly near Edgewood and 

 McCunes, in Pike county. Similar areas also appear in Warren and 

 Montgomery counties. We have spoken of this region as a plain and 

 have referred to its great erosion and formation of extensive terraces 

 occupying wide areas within it. A further qualification must now be 

 added to the general statement by calling attention to a certain deforma- 

 tion. Its surface rises 50 to 75 feet as it approaches tlie margin in 

 eastern Boone county, and also in the vicinity of Bowling Green, Pike 



