Scott: Lakes of Tippecanoe Basin 



5 



relations of all the animals in our lakes. This must be known 

 before any scientific program can be undertaken to increase the 

 productivity of particular fornix. 



The Lake Basins and Their Formation 



The lakes of northern Indiana are all due to the massive and 

 uneven deposits of the Wisconsin ice sheet. In the lake region 

 these vary from 100 feet to 300 feet in thickness. 



This ice sheet advanced into the northeast part of the State 

 in two well-defined lobes, the Huron-Erie and the Saginaw. 

 The moraines, which record the main outlines of the advance 

 and retieat of these two lobes, have been described in detail 

 by Leverett (1902), Dryer (1889, 1892, 1894), and by Leverett and 

 Taylor (1915). Between these two lobes the great Erie-Saginaw 

 interlobate moraine was deposited. To the irregularities of this 

 moraine practically all the lakes of Indiana are due. This moraine 

 and consequently the lake region of Indiana extends from the 

 northeast corner of the State in a southwesterly direction for 

 about 100 miles. Its average width is between 25 and 30 miles. 



Many of the glacial phenomena, such as the scouring of rock 

 basins and the damming of preglacial valleys, that are often 

 factors in the production of lakes, are wholly absent here. The 

 lakes are the result of irregular deposits so typical of interlobate 

 moraines. 



The lake basins of this region are either ''kettle holes", irregu- 

 larities in the ground moraine, channel lakes, or a combination 

 of these. Lingle, Yellow Creek, Beaver Dam, Eagle, and Center 

 lakes are probably all kettle holes. Eagle lake lacks the regularity 

 usually characteristic of a typical kettle hole, yet its depth makes 

 it probable that its origin was due at lea^t partially to this cause. 



A large part of Lingle lake was the result of irregularity in 

 the ground moraine, but the small circular depiession near the 

 north margin in which the maximum depth occurs is certainly 

 a kettle hole. 



Little Eagle (Chapman), Silver, Pike, and probably Ridinger's 

 lakes art3 due simply to irregularities in the ground moraine. 



The lakes of the Tippecanoe-Barbee district have the appear- 

 ance on the map of being channel lakes; and a field examination 

 at first suggests the same interpretation. But, wherever I have 

 seen the high ground near the lakes exposed, in gravel pits and 

 cuts, it is stratified, thus indicating waterlaid material. This 



