Name: ______________________________________________

Physical Geology - Glaciers

1. The figure below represents the many “moraines” that cover the Great
Lakes region. Explain in your own words why glacial moraines are
"unsorted".

2. Using the above figure notice the shorelines of the Great Lakes the shape of the depression which contains the
lake.  What similarity exists between the shape of the moraines on the map and the shape of the shorelines of the
Great Lakes?

3. Which lobe or lobes of the Wisconsinan Ice Sheet resulted in the moraine west of Detroit (Fort Wayne and
Defiance)?

4. Evidence suggests continental glaciers completely covered the entire Great Lakes region several times,
scratching and gouging across many kinds of bedrock as they moved.  Would glaciers tend to move over more or
less resistant bedrock (pick one and explain)?
5. Find the moraine ridges left by the Lake Erie ice lobe, which are now West-Southwest (WSW) of the western
tip of Lake Erie   Label each moraine with a number indicating the order in which they formed (1 = oldest, or first
formed)
6. The diagrams below illustrate how a continental glacier would move into an area which previously had been
shaped by stream erosion. A major factor in glacial erosion is the weight of the overlying ice pushing down on the
rocks which are frozen into the base of the glacier.  The greater the weight, the more effective the erosion. Study
the third (far right) diagram. Would you expect faster erosion in the former valley bottoms or on the former hill
tops?  Explain.

Using the topographic map provided by your instructor (Holy Cross, Colorado), answer the following questions:

7. What is the scale of this map?

8. What is the contour interval on the map?
9. What is the latitude and longitude of the left top corner of the map?

10. What glacial erosional features are located at the following locations on the map? Pick from the following list:
tarn, horn, arête, cirque
Bowl of Tears (NW corner):
Ptarmigan Hill (top right corner)
Chicago Ridge (right center edge):
Circular structure around Hagerman Lake (bottom left corner)

Using the topographic map provided by your instructor (Whitewater, Wisconsin), answer the following questions:

11. Notice the large feature running northeast/southwest in the lower part of the map (generally shaded green).
What is this feature and how is it formed?

12. The elevation around the city of Whitewater is about feet. How high is the moraine above the city?
feet.
13. Notice the small elongated features in the northwest corner of the map. What are there features called and what
do they indicate about the direction that the ice sheet that covered this area came from?

14. What type of glacial sediment would be expected on the north side of the moraine (circle one) sorted or
unsorted? Why do you say that?

15. What about the sediment on the south side of the moraine?
16. What is the latitude and longitude of the top left corner of the map?

17. Where generally on the map would the “outwash plain” be located?
Quaternary Geology of Southern Michigan Map Worksheet

18. What features are shown in dark green on the map?

19. What sediments are found in areas shaded blue?
20. Leelanau County (northwest) is dominated by what glacial landform and what is the symbol for this feature?

21. Wayne, Monroe, and Macomb counties are dominated by what type of glacial sediment?
22. What interesting features are found in Alpena County (northeast) and how do they form?

23. What type of moraine is the one that runs through Ann Arbor and up to Birmingham in Oakland County? (circle
one: end moraine, medial moraine, lateral moraine.
24. Notice the sediment shown in pink on the map – would you expect that to be glacial till or stratified drift? Why?

25. Describe the following sedimentary facies (see “Facies-Age Diagram” on bottom-left of map) with the sediment
composition that they consist of:
Eolian
Lacustrine
Organic
Alluvial
Glacial
Ice Contact
26. Notice the system for categorizing different types of glacial till in the lower left of the map. What kind of till has
25% clay, 60% sand and 15% silt?
27. Notice the lacustrine deposits in the area around Saginaw. If this used to be a lakebed, what process has caused this
area to rise up above the level of Saginaw bay?
28. Where can you find Exposed Bedrock Surfaces in Lower Michigan (trick question)?

Symbols for some glacial features:

Kettle Esker Drumlin

Model #4 Alpine Glaciation Possible location answers: Ice cap, Crevasses, Lateral
Zoom in to the center of the map and look at the mountains. moraine, End moraine, Cirque, Hanging valley, Tarn,
Granite intrusion, Pater noster lakes, Horn
29. What feature is shown at #70?
30. What circular feature is located just below the mountain?
31. Notice a sequence of lakes going down the valley from the mountain – what are these called?

32. Notice the white ridges just to east and south of the mountain – what are these features?

Possible location answers: Glacial lake, Drumlin, Kettle lake,

Model #6 – Continental Glaciation Meander, Sinkhole, End moraine, Kame, Kettle, Limestone, Esker

33. What is the large raised area in the top half of the model?
34. Notice the circular hills that are part of the large structure in the top half of the model. What are these
small hills called?
35. Notice the group of elongated hills on the right side of the large structure. What are these called?

36. Little depressions sprinkled throughout the large raised area are called
Great Lakes Video

37. What percentage of the world’s fresh water is held in the Great Lakes?
38. What percentage of the US population get’s their water from the lakes?
39. What lays hundreds of feet below Lakes Huron and Michigan?
40. What does the vast salt deposit indicate about what used to be over this area?

41. Where on Earth’s surface is the Great Lakes region believed to have been during the formation of the limestone reef
described in the film?
42. Which rock is more resistant to weathering (circle one) limestone or dolostone? What element makes the difference?

43. How did the limestone get converted to dolostone?

44. What separates the Lakes fresh water from the vast salt deposits below?

45. What feature forms the border of Lakes Michigan and Huron?
46. The water from what four lakes flows over Niagara Falls?

47. What was the name of the important geological figure who first studied Niagara Falls?

48. Why are the Falls moving slowly upstream?

49. How fast are the Falls moving upstream?

50. How old are the Falls by current estimates?
51. What strange elongated features indicate the presence of glaciers in North America?
52. What types of evidence indicates the presence of large glaciers?

53. What is represented in the layered rocks described by geologist John Menzies?

54. Evidence suggests huge sheets of ice up to a mile thick advanced and retreated at least
times over this region.
55. What pre-glacial features pre-disposed the location of the current Great Lakes?
56. What two lakes are not explained by early river basins?
57. Which is the deepest of the Great Lakes?
58. What did the geologists find at the bottom of Lake Superior?

59. What rock type was found at the bottom and how is that formed?

60. It’s believed that a valley formed the bottom of Lake Superior.
61. Why did glaciers gouge so far deep in the original volcanic valley?

62. It’s proposed that Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence were formed in what way?

63. The name of one huge pre-glacial lake that formed beaches is Lake .
64. How did the lakes empty?

65. How long ago did the last of the ice sheets leave this region?
66. Why do scientists think that the Great Lakes may empty in the not so distant future?

67. Is the area around the Great Lakes rising or falling? Why is that?
68. How long until Niagara Falls reaches Lake Erie?
69. How far would the lake levels fall upstream from Lake Erie?
70. In your own words, describe how the Great Lakes formed IN DETAIL WITH COMPLETE SENTENCES.