Letter to Taylor from Leverett, November 4, 1917

Item — Box: 2, Folder: 10

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Series:

The correspondence series includes approximately 1100 letters written between 1892-1939. The majority of the collection are letters between Frank Leverett and Frank Bursley Taylor; they discuss their field work, Monograph 53, other publications and various related problems. There is also other correspondence with other geologists, including T.C. Chamberlin, Grove K. Gilbert, J.W. Goldthwait, H.L. Fairchild, et alia. There is extensive correspondence with the U.S. Geological Survey, the Geological Survey of Canada, and the Michigan Geological Survey. The primary subject of this series is the surficial glacial geology of the midwestern U.S. and Canada. Leverett & Taylor's work was essential for understanding how the Great Lakes were formed as the Pleistocene glaciers advanced and retreated from the midwestern states. The letters describe the 30 year process of gathering data, mapping the data and constructing the picture of glacial processes during the last Ice Age.

Dates

Creation: November 4, 1917

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

The material is stored offsite in Remote Storage. Please contact Special Collections 3 working days in advance if you wish to use it.

Extent

From the Collection: 1 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

General

I have come to different view about the Lakes Warren & Wayne as expressed in our Monograph. It now seems to me that Warren started when the outlet was at a height to leave a beach near the 680' contour and the outlet head was as far W as Fuller & Essex Tp in Perrinton map. The outlet gradually deepened and its head extended E. When the outlet cut down to 665', its head was in Sec. 36 Fulton Tp. The shore followed the ENE trend of the base of the bank up to Ashley, forming the bar in Elba Tp. The outlet continued deepening until its bed was at 660' and its head in Elba Tp. There I think the sand was shaped into shore lines at 660-665', but I can not determine whether the sand was brought in or had been left by Lake Wayne. The main point is that these sharply defined ridges are not Wayne or they would have been washed down in the rise to Lake Warren. They may be the closing phase of Lake Warren just before the Saginaw Outlet was opened and the Lake was down to Grassmere level. When Lake Wayne formed its beaches the divide in the line of the Grand River outlet was 20' higher than Lake Wayne, and it was Lake Warren that cut it down from 680 to 660'. Warren should show some faint shore features lower than its highest beach here as it does elsewhere in the Elsie and Perrinton Quads. We may find them if we search for them, especially if aided by good topographic maps. There is a faint shore line above the highest Warren at 690', which may be the 2nd Lake Saginaw, which shows as a bank in Fulton Tp. and may cause bulges in the stream crossings further on. I calculate that the Arkona and 1st Saginaw beaches were uplifted before Warren stage, and also before the 2nd Saginaw beach at 690' was formed. Elevation data for Fulton Tp and N side of Elsie & Perrinton Quads follow. Rate of rise of 1st Saginaw and both Arkona beaches rise about 20 inches/mile in NNE direction. I shall be interested in your opinion on this.