Abstract
THE history of the Great Lakes practically begins with the melting of the Pleistocene ice-sheet. They may have existed before the invasion of the ice, but if so their drainage system is unknown. The ice came from the north and northeast, and, spreading over the whole Laurentian basin, invaded the drainage districts of the Mississippi, Ohio, Susquehanna and Hudson. During its wandering there was a long period when the waters were ponded between the ice front and the uplands south of the Laurentian basin, forming a series of glacial lakes whose outlets were southward through various low passes. A great stream from the Erie basin crossed the divide at Fort Wayne to the Wabash river. A river of the magnitude of the Niagara afterwards flowed from the Michigan basin across the divide at Chicago to the Illinois river; and still later the chief outlet was from the Ontario basin across the divide at Rome to the Mohawk valley.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Modification of the Great Lakes by Earth Movement. Nature 57, 211–213 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/057211a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/057211a0