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Home > Iowa Academy of Science > Journals & Newsletters > Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science > Volume 95 (1988) > Number 4

 

Document Type

Research

Keywords

alluvium, "Driftless Area", fluvial geomorphology, incised river valleys, Paleozoic Plateau, peneplains, Quaternary landscapes

Abstract

Previous workers have proposed a pre-Illinoian age for the deepest bedrock entrenchment of northeastern Iowa valleys. Lines of evidence used to support a pre-Illinoian age of entrenchment are: (1) deep bedrock-entrenchment interpreted to take "long" periods of time, (2) "valleys" filled with "red-weathered drift", which was interpreted as "old", (3) differences in cross-valley profiles supposedly related to glacial advances, (4) thick beds of gravel could only be deposited by outwash streams, and (5) glacially buried (drift-filled) bedrock valleys exist outside of the Paleozoic Plateau to the west and south. These inferences are questionable because: ( 1) erosion (entrenchment) rates are variable, (2a) "valleys" were interpreted as anything below the controversial peneplains or highest uplands, (2b) "red" oxidation colors can occur quickly in coarse-grained sediments, (2c) "drift" is an ambiguous term meaning till and/or outwash (stratified sediments), (3) crossvalley profiles are related to the erosional resistance of the bedrock, (4) gravels can be deposited by non-glacially derived waters, and (5) rivers of the Paleozic Plateau cut across (and are therefore younger than) the glacially buried valleys to the west. More recent evidence indicate that the river valleys of Iowa's Paleozoic Plateau may have been at least partially entrenched after the last local pre-Illinoian glaciers receded.

Publication Date

December 1988

Journal Title

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

95

Issue

4

First Page

109

Last Page

113

Copyright

© Copyright 1989 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.

Language

EN

File Format

application/pdf

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