CompuServe Messages

Sorry Dean, But I can't help much. I don't have any geology texts handy that would specifically show where the southern extent of the ice was in the Midwest. The ending it would have to be much the same as elsewhere, and that was generally thought to be a little less than 10,000 years ago (I haven't kept up on any refinements of that.). If the ice extended south of where the loess hills are, then obviously these hills have to be younger than the last ice sheet, but they could well be S. of the ice sheet and have originated from its action, see below. We have the same thing in this area, primarily in E. Washington from just S. of Spokane south and to the southwest to Richland. The loess here is believed to have originated as the fine material that originated from the glacial outwash (with a lot of Cascade volcanic "ash" thrown in) then was blown back NE'ly by the winds. It doesn't take very strong winds. The loess hills are where the wheat of E. Washington is grown, and with all those fallow fields, any good windstorm (about 40 mph will do it) will pick it up and dump the stuff on me in N. Idaho. This is really a lot of fun, because when the storm gets here, it generally rains, so what we get is a "mud storm"! Lanny