Late Pleistocene features of Cheboygan and Emmet counties, Michigan

TitleLate Pleistocene features of Cheboygan and Emmet counties, Michigan
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1956
AuthorsSpurr SH, Zumberge JH
JournalAmerican Journal of Science
Volume254
Pagination96-109
KeywordsSHORELINES
Abstract

Detailed mapping of the surficial glacial and postglacial landscape features in Cheboygan and Emmet counties at the northern tip of the southern Michigan peninsula confirms that practically all the area was glaciated by Valders ice moving in from the northwest across the Lake Michigan basin. Only a thin and weak ice mass overrode the Emmet moraine with the result that the major ice advance was stabilized along a front just inland from the present shores of Lake Michigan and the advance sheet stagnated in situ over the two-county area. The present topography is largely the result of the distribution of meltwater channels, ice blocks, and outwash plains. These have been much modified by three succeeding lake strandlines, (1) the pre-Algonquin level here identified for the first time, and probably representing Toleston Lake, (2) the slightly higher Algonquin level, and (3) the Nipissing level. The wet-climate Algonquin level is separated in time by a long period coincident with Lake Chippewa before the occurrence of the dry-climate Nipissing level.