St. Thomas Moraine
Appearance
The St. Thomas Moraine is an east-west glacial moraine considered one of the Horseshoe Moraines.[1] It formed at the time of Lake Maumee II filled part of the basin of what is now Lake Erie. Other portions of the basin were filled by a lobe of the Laurentian icesheet, known as the Erie Lobe. The moraine is approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) long, and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) wide, running parallel to the shore of Lake Erie, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) inshore.[2][3]
References
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Aleksis Dreimanis (November 1995). "Landforms and structures of the waterlain west end of St. Thomas moraine, SW OntarioCanada". Geomorphology: 185–196. Archived from the original on 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
The western part of St. Thomas moraine was deposited by the Erie lobe terminating in Lake Maumee II during the Bruce stadial of the late Wisconsinan.
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Anne Marie Megens (2015). "Development of Sand-Bedded Rivers in Glaciated Southern Ontario" (PDF). University of Toronto. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-12-16. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
The Mount Elgin Ridges are made up of several prominent moraines accounting for its name (Dillon and Golder, 2004). These include the Ingersoll, Westminster, St. Thomas, Sparta, and Tillsonburg moraines. These ridges are primarily made up of several Port Stanley Till layers, reaching a maximum elevation of 298 m at the crest near Mount Elgin, ON (Barnett, 1982). The Mount Elgin Ridges are known for their sandy nature (Dillon and Golder, 2004), whole valley bottoms are characterized by glaciolacustrine silts and sands (LERSPC, 2014).
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"Kettle Creek Watershed Characterization Report: Draft" (PDF). Lake Erie Source Protection Region Technical Team. January 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
The St. Thomas Moraine was built by a submerged ice front. At St. Thomas a gap occurs in the ridge so the name for the moraine is not particularly apt. However, it is the strongest moraine of the series, varying in width of up to five kilometres between London and Tillsonburg and is prominent as far as Wallacetown (Barnes, 1967).