Warren County IN Archives History - Books .....Surface Geology 1883
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 9, 2007, 3:56 pm

Book Title: Counties Of Warren, Benton, Jasper And Newton, Indiana

SURFACE GEOLOGY.

    "The surface deposits of this county comprise two members of the Quaternary,
or more recent of the geological formation, viz.: Aluvium, new or ancient, and
the Bowlder drift. The alluvial bottoms owe their origin to causes now in
action. They are formed of sedimentary sands and clays, torn away and
transported by streams at high water stage, and thrown upon the flood plain by
overflow. The soil is sandy, largely intermixed with decayed leaves and other
vegetable matter, and is in effect a rich garden mold.

   "At an elevation of sixty to ninety feet near the channel of the river, are
found wide areas of the more ancient alluvial formation, as the Mouod Prairie,
in the southern portion of the county, and the "Barrens" south of Williamsport
and southwest of Independence. The soil of this formation is generally a warm,
black loam, but sometimes sand or colder clays predominate. It is underlaid by
gravel, sand or the rounded fragments of sandstone; and from the wide range of
the deposit, extending miles on either side of the river, and from the great
depth and uniformity of the material, we may date back the age of these terraces
to the time when they served as flood plains of the Wabash, then a mighty river
miles in width, which poured, in a broad channel vexed with numerous islands of
conglomerate sand rock, the surplus waters of Lake Erie to the sea.

   "Still higher, reaching up to the most elevated point in the county, and full
200 feet above the bed of the Wabash River, are found the oldest alluvium
terraces and banks of modified drift gravels and sand, as at Walnut Grove, in
Prairie Township. These signalize the infancy of the river when, an
insignificant and currentless stream with uncertain course, the Wabash,
traversing all the region for thirty to forty miles on either side, sometimes
flowing around through Illinois, sought by the line of least resistance the
easiest pathway to the mouth of the valley of the continent.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

PART II.
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Geology and Settlement

========================

COUNTIES OF 
Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton,
INDIANA

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL
ILLUSTRATED.

CHICAGO: F. A. BATTEY & CO., PUBLISHERS.
1883.


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