The Power of Ice

The Power of Ice. . , Did you know that all of Michigan was completely covered with ice 20,000 years ago? The glacial ice in our region was as much as one mile thick! As its enormous weight scraped across the ground, the glacier easily collected boulders, stone, gravel, silt and sand. Eventually, the glacial ice began to melt, sometimes unevenly, creating lobes or "fingers" of outstretching ice. The land of Park Lyndon was caught in a valley between two lobes of ice. Park Lyndon is part of an interlobate region that runs diagonally from Lake Orion in Oakland County to the Irish Hills area of Jackson County., As more melting occurred, giant blocks of ice fell from the glacial lobes into the valley between them. Picture a spilled ice cube tray. Some of the "ice cubes" were one-quarter mile in size! Boulders, course sand and gravel were deposited on and between the blocks. When the ice melted, a knob and kettle landscape was formed. The knobs, or high areas, are made of glacial deposits. The kettles, or low areas, are where the blocks once stood. This knob and kettle terrain is not found in the eastern parts of Washtenaw County. , A River Runs Through It , The ridge that you are walking on is called an esker. A meandering stream of meltwater carrying sand, gravel and stones of various sizes once flowed here under, within or on top of the glacier. When the ice melted, sand, gravel and stone deposits formed this ridge that winds like a river channel.