Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of

 

Date of this Version

5-1900

Citation

The Journal of Geology, Vol. 8, No. 4 (May - Jun., 1900), pp. 309-312

Comments

Paper read before the Nebraska Academy of Science, December 2, 1899.

Abstract

NEBRASKA is so close upon the western as well as the southern limit of the drift that evidences of glacial action which might be commonplace elsewhere are rare and interesting here. The mere fact that glacial grooves and striae have been found seems worthy therefore of mention. Glacial drift, readily recognizable as such, does not extend far west of the 97th meridian, and in but one place in the state, on the Dakota-Nebraska boundary, does it reach the 98th meridian. East of the 97th meridian it is distinct and unmistakable, and it may be offered as a safe statement that probably in no other state is the glacial drift so generally recognized as such by the mass of the people. This is due to.the presence of numerous bright red and purple bowlders of Sioux quartzite. They are unmistakable, and it is generally known that they have been transported from the region of Sioux Falls in South Dakota, and scattered along the eastern border of Nebraska, and south into Kansas. Bowlders of Sioux quartzite twenty feet in diameter are to be found as far south as the Nebraska-Kansas line. A heavy mantel of drift, overlaid by a hundred feet or so of loess, so effectually conceals the rocks that exposures are rare, and striations and similar evidence of glacial action, which may be common enough in fact, are not seen. The first were found by the author in 1894 on a slab of Carboniferous limestone in the old Reed quarry one mile northeast of Weeping Water.

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