Anomalous Buried Organic Deposits

Low-altitude organic deposits in Michigan: Evidence for pre-Woodfordian Great Lakes and paleosurfaces

RICHARD L. RIECK1 and HAROLD A. WINTERS2
1 Department of Geology and Department of Geography, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois 61455
2 Department of Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824
GSA Bulletin; August 1982; v. 93; no. 8; p. 726-734; DOI: 10.1130/0016-7606(1982)93<726:LODIME>2.0.CO;2
© 1982 Geological Society of America

Reports of 136 glacially buried organic deposits below 200 m in altitude and other related data provide a basis for identifying relicts of several low-level Pleistocene paleosurfaces in southern Michigan. The carbonaceous material is concentrated in five areas and probably represents low places on pre-Woodfordian landscapes with local base levels far lower than the present topography. These findings have implications regarding adjacent ancestral Great Lakes that existed sometime prior to final glaciation of the peninsula.



TREND SURFACE ANALYSIS OF GLACIALLY BURIED PLEISTOCENE ORGANIC DEPOSITS IN CENTRAL MICHIGAN

Authors: Bruce L. Rhoads a; Richard L. Rieck b; Harold A. Winters c
Affiliations: a BRUCE L. RHOADS, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, received his M.A. from Michigan State University and his B.A. from Shippensburg State University in Pennsylvania..
b RICHARD L. RIECK is an Associate Professor in the Geography and Geology Departments at Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455. His research emphasis is in Pleistocene studies..
c HAROLD A. WINTERS, Professor of Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, has major interests in glacial geomorphology..
DOI: 10.1111/j.0033-0124.1984.00064.x
Published in: The Professional Geographer, Volume 36, Issue 1 February 1984 , pages 64 - 73


Abstract
Trend surfaces were determined and compared for the bedrock surface, two characteristics of the present topography, and 42 water well log reports of glacially buried carbonaceous horizons within drift from an area in central Michigan. Data almost certainly indicate that the glacially buried Pleistocene organic deposits represent two or more pre-Woodfordian paleosurfaces. Trend surface analysis of buried organic horizons may be useful for recognizing paleosurfaces and separating drift sheets in other areas with limited subsurface data.