Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T02:07:49.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Reevaluation of the Timing and Causes of High Lake Phases in the Lake Michigan Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ardith K. Hansel  and
David M. Mickelson
Ardith K. Hansel
Affiliation:
Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, Illinois 61820 USA
David M. Mickelson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Radiocarbon age control on the type Glenwood, Calumet, and Toleston shoreline features and on the abandoned Chicago outlet at the south end of the Lake Michigan basin provides a basis for reevaluating the timing and causes of high lake phases in the basin. Radiocarbon dates suggest that Glenwood-level (195 m) shoreline features formed between 14,100 and 12,700 yr B.P. (Glenwood I and II phases), Calumet-level (189 m) between 12,700 and 11,000 yr B.P. (Calumet I and II phases), and Toleston-level (184.5 m) between 5000 and 4000 yr B.P. (Nipissing phase), and that the Chicago outlet was cut to its present level (180 m) on bedrock while the lake was at the Glenwood level. This new chronology is inconsistent with J H. Bretz' hypothesis ((1951) American Journal of Science 249 , 401–429) that the progressive lowering of lake level resulted from episodic down-cutting of the outlet. Instead, the changes in lake level appear to relate to changes in the amount of glacial meltwater and precipitation entering the basin. We hypothesize that the Glenwood phases correspond with times when discharge from the Huron and Erie basins also entered the Lake Michigan basin (Lake Border and early Port Huron glacial phases), the Calumet phases with times when drainage was from the Lake Michigan basin alone (late Port Huron and Two Rivers glacial phases), and the Nipissing phase with the postglacial middle Holocene transgression caused by differential uplift in the basin. Estimates of relative net inputs to the basin during the Glenwood, Calumet, and Nipissing lake phases are consistent with estimates of relative outputs (i.e., discharge through the Chicago outlet); the magnitude of relative differences in inputs and outputs between phases is sufficient to explain lake-level changes of 4.5 to 6 m.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , March 1988 , pp. 113 - 128
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1902 Alden, W.C., Description of the Chicago district, Illinois-Indiana. USGS Geology Atlas Folio. 81.Google Scholar
1920 Baker, F.C., The life of the Pleistocene or glacial period as recorded in the deposits laid down by the great ice sheets. Illinois University Bulletin. 17 14.Google Scholar
1926 Baker, F.C., Bowmanville low-water stage of glacial Lake Chicago. Science. 64 249.Google Scholar
1951 Bretz, J.H., The stages of Lake Chicago: Their causes and correlations. American Journal of Science. 249 401–429.Google Scholar
1955 Bretz, J.H., Geology of the Chicago region. Part II The Pleistocene. Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin. 65.Google Scholar
1959 Bretz, J.H., The double Calumet stage of Lake Chicago. Journal of Geology. 67 675–684.Google Scholar
1964 Bretz, J.H., Correlation of glacial lake stages in the Huron-Erie and Michigan basins. Journal of Geology. 72 618–627.Google Scholar
1963 Broecker, W.S., Farrand, W.R., Radiocarbon age of the Two Creeks forest bed, Wisconsin. Geological Society of American Bulletin. 74 795–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1985 Calkin, P.E., Feenstra, B.H., Evolution of the Erie-Basin Great Lakes. Karrow, P.F., Calkin, P.E., Quaternary Evolution of the Great Lakes. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper. 30 149–170.Google Scholar
1984 Clayton, Lee, Pleistocene geology of the Superior region, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Information Circular. 46.Google Scholar
1986 Cole, K.L., Hansel, A.K., Inundation of Two Creeks forest at south end of Lake Michigan. American Quaternary Association Program and Abstracts, Ninth Biennial Meeting. University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, 124.Google Scholar
1964 Dreimanis, A., Lake Warren and the Two Creeks interval. Journal of Geology. 72 247–250.Google Scholar
1972 Dreimanis, A., Karrow, P.F., Glacial history of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region: The classification of the Wisconsin(an) Stage and its correlatives. 24th International Geological Congress. Report Section 12. 5–15.Google Scholar
1970 Eschman, D.F., Farrand, W.R., Glacial history of the Glacial Grand Valley. Guide Book for Field Trips, North-Central Section. Geological Society of America Meeting. Michigan Basin Geological Society, East Lansing, Michigan, 131–157.Google Scholar
1985 Eschman, D.F., Karrow, P.F., Huron basin glacial lakes: A review. Karrow, P.F., Calkin, P.E., Quaternary Evolution of the Great Lakes. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper. 30 79–93.Google Scholar
1973 Evenson, E.B., Late Pleistocene shorelines and stratigraphic relations in the Lake Michigan basin. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 84 2281–2298.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1973 Evenson, E.B., Eschman, D.F., Farrand, W.R., The “Valders” Problem, Lake Michigan Basin. Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene, 22nd Annual Field Conference Guidebook. Ann Arbor, MI.Google Scholar
1976 Evenson, E.B., Farrand, W.R., Eschman, D.F., Mickelson, D.M., Maher, L.J., Greatlakean: A replacement for Valderan Substage in the Lake Michigan basin. Quaternary Research. 6 411–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1969 Farrand, W.R., Zahner, Robert, Benninghoff, W.S., Cary-Port Huron Interstade: Evidence from a buried bryophyte bed, Cheboygan County, Michigan. Geological Society of America Special Paper. 123 249–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1980 Fullerton, D.S., Preliminary Correlation of Post-Erie Interstadial Events (16,000–10,000 Radiocarbon Years Before Present), Central and Eastern Great Lakes Region, and Hudson, Champlain, and St. Lawrence Lowlands, United States and Canada. USGS Professional Paper. 1089.Google Scholar
1908 Goldthwait, J.W., A reconstruction of water planes of the extinct glacial lakes in the Lake Michigan basin. Journal of Geology. 16 459–476.Google Scholar
1976 Gutschick, R.C., Gonsiewski, J., Coastal Geology of Mt. Baldy Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore South End of Lake Michigan. Guidebook for Fieldtrips, North-Central Section, Geological Society of America Meeting. Western Michigan University Kalamazoo40–90.Google Scholar
1986a Hansel, A.K., Johnson, W.H., Late Quaternary record of the Chicago outlet area. Hansel, A.K., Johnson, W.H., Quaternary Records of Northeastern Illinois and Northwestern Indiana. American Quaternary Association Field Guide, Ninth Biennial Meeting. University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, 61–72.Google Scholar
1986b Hansel, A.K., Johnson, W.H., New evidence for age of downcutting of the Chicago Outlet. Geological Society of American Abstracts with Programs. 18 4 291.Google Scholar
1985a Hansel, A.K., Larsen, C.E., Schneider, A.F., High lake phases in the Lake Michigan Basin. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 17 292.Google Scholar
1985b Hansel, A.K., Mickelson, D.M., Schneider, A.F., Larsen, C.E., Late Wisconsinan and Holocene history of the Lake Michigan basin. Karrow, P.F., Calkin, P.E., Quaternary Evolution of the Great Lakes. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper. 30 39–53.Google Scholar
1958 Hough, J.L., Geology of the Great Lakes. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.Google Scholar
1963 Hough, J.L., The Prehistoric Great Lakes of North America. American Scientist. 51 84–109.Google Scholar
1966 Hough, J.L., Correlation of glacial lake stages in the Huron-Erie and Michigan basins. Journal of Geology. 74 62–77.Google Scholar
1975 Karrow, P.F., Anderson, T.W., Clarke, A.H., Delorme, L.D., Screenivasa, M.R., Stratigraphy, paleontology, and age of Lake Algonquin sediments in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Quaternary Research. 9 116–118.Google Scholar
1961 Karrow, P.F., Clark, J.R., Terasmae, J., The age of Lake Iroquois and Lake Ontario. Journal of Geology. 69 659–667.Google Scholar
1974 Larsen, C.E., Late Holocene lake levels in southern Lake Michigan. Collinson, C., Coastal Geology, Sedimentology, and Management: Chicago and the Nearshore. Illinois State Geological Survey Guidebook Series. 12 39–49.Google Scholar
1985a Larsen, C.E., Lake level, uplift, and outlet incision, the Nipissing and Algoma Great Lakes. Karrow, P.F., Calkin, P.E., Quaternary History of the Great Lakes. Association of Canada Special Paper. 30 63–77.Google Scholar
1985b Larsen, C.E., A stratigraphic study of beach features on the southwestern shore of southern Lake Michigan: New evidence of Holocene lake level fluctuations. Illinois State Geological Survey Environmental Geology Notes. 112.Google Scholar
1987 Larsen, C.E., Geological history of glacial Lake Algonquin and the Upper Great Lakes. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 1801.Google Scholar
1897 Leverett, F., The Pleistocene features and deposits of the Chicago area. Chicago Academy of Science Bulletin. 2.Google Scholar
1915 Leverett, F., Taylor, F.B., The Pleistocene of Indiana and Michigan and the History of the Great Lakes. USGS Monograph. 53.Google Scholar
1960 MacClintock, P., Terasmae, J., Glacial history of Covey Hill. Journal of Geology. 68 232–241.Google Scholar
1984 Mickelson, D.M., Clayton, L., Baker, R.W., Mode, W.N., Schneider, A.F., Pleistocene Stratigraphic Units of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, Madison.Google Scholar
1985 Mickelson, D.M., Hansel, A.K., Monkmeyer, P.L., Clayton, L., Were high stages of Lake Chicago caused by fluctuations of discharge. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 17 15 318.Google Scholar
1985 Muller, E.H., Prest, V.K., Glacial lakes in the Ontario Basin. Karrow, P.F., Calkin, P.E., Quaternary History of the Great Lakes. Association of Canada Special Paper. 30 213–229.Google Scholar
1960 Rubin, M., Alexander, C., USGS Radiocarbon Dates V. Radiocarbon. 2 129–185.Google Scholar
1955 Rubin, M., Suess, H.E., USGS Radiocarbon Dates II. Science. 121 481–488.Google Scholar
1970 Schneider, A.F., Keller, S.J., Geologic map of the 1° × 2° Chicago Quadrangle, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, showing bedrock and unconsolidated deposits. Indiana Geological Survey Regional Geologic Map. 4-BBloomington.Google Scholar
1983 Schneider, A.F., Need, E.A., Lithologic and stratigraphic evidence for a late mid-Woodfordian proglacial lake in the Lake Michigan basin. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 15 680.Google Scholar
1970 Schneider, A.F., Reshkin, M., Age and correlation of the Glenwood stage of glacial Lake Chicago. Geological Society of American Abstracts with Programs. 2 404.Google Scholar
1982 Schneider, A.F., Reshkin, M., Identification of the Twocreekan Substage in Indiana. Indiana Academy of Science Proceedings. 91 347.Google Scholar
1979 Schneider, A.F., Sander, P., Larsen, C.E., A late Quaternary buried forest bed in southeastern Wisconsin. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. 11 5 256.Google Scholar
1987 Thompson, T.A., Sedimentology, Internal Architecture, and Depositional History of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Park. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Indiana University.Google Scholar
1985 Totten, S.M., Chronology and nature of the Pleistocene beaches and wavecut cliffs and terraces, northeastern Ohio. Karrow, P.F., Calkin, P.E., Quaternary History of the Great Lakes. Association of Canada Special Paper. 30 171–184.Google Scholar
1987 Webb, T. III, Bartlein, P.J., Kutzbach, J.E., Climatic change in eastern North America during the past 18,000 years: Comparisons of pollen data with model results. Ruddiman, W.F., Wright, H.E. Jr., North America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Deglaciation. Geological Society of America, The Geology of North America. K-3 .Google Scholar
1971 Willman, H.B., Summary of the geology of the Chicago area. Illinois Geological Survey Circular. 460.Google Scholar
1970 Willman, H.B., Frye, J.C., Pleistocene Stratigraphy of Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey Bulletin. 94.Google Scholar
1962 Winkler, E.M., Radiocarbon ages of postglacial lake clays near Michigan City, Indiana. Science. 137 528–529.Google Scholar
1918 Wright, G.F., Explanation of the abandoned beaches about the south end of Lake Michigan. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 29 235–244.Google Scholar