The Park Ridge Moraine Laura L Sanders GEOGRAPHIC

The Park Ridge Moraine Laura L. Sanders

GEOGRAPHIC AND TOPOGRAPHIC SETTING • Approximately 24 miles long (N-S) • Approximately 4. 5 miles wide (E-W) • Elevation: o 620 -640 ft at Des Plaines River (western border of moraine) o 650 -700 ft on top of the moraine o 575 -670 ft at Chicago River (eastern border of moraine) • Extends from North Avenue near Narragansett Ave. (the Village of Oak Park, IL) to just north of the Village of Mettawa, IL

THE PARK RIDGE MORAINE: • Moraine: Long, narrow, linear hill, often arcshaped • Composed of till deposited by a glacier. • Park Ridge Moraine: About 30 ft higher than surrounding land • Creates a divide between Chicago River and Des Plaines River watersheds. • Deposited approximately 19, 000 years ago (Barnhardt, 2011)

Geologic Setting Park Ridge Moraine Sediments: Mostly gray clayey till (Willman and Lineback, 1970)

Park Ridge Moraine: An end moraine, part of the Lake Border Morainic System, in the Wheaton Morainal Country. (Chrzastowski, 2005)

The Lake Border Morainic System: • A series of glacial ridges that parallel the lakeshore. • Major rivers flow in the valleys between the ridges. Park Ridge Moraine (Chrzastowski, 2005)

How Does a Moraine Form? (Illinois State Geological Survey, 2016)

Park Ridge Moraine (Chicago Botanic Garden, 2016)

Des Plaines River along Irving Park Road

Riis Park, Fullerton Ave. , Chicago. Near the southern tip of the moraine.

Touhy Avenue in Park Ridge, IL (looking eastward). Note uphill slope.

REFERENCES Barnhardt, Michael L. , 2011. Surficial Geology of Highland Park Quadrangle, Lake and Cook Counties, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey: STATEMAP Highland Park. SG. Chicago Botanic Garden, 2016. My Chicago Botanic Garden. Accessed on December 2, 2016 at URL: http: //my. chicagobotanic. org/tag/moraine/ Chrzastowski, Michael J. , 2005. Chicagoland: Geology and the Making of a Metropolis. Illinois State Geological Survey, Open File Series OFS 2005 -9. 64 p. Google Earth, 2016. Accessed on December 2, 2016 at URL: http: //earth. google. com. Illinois State Geological Survey, 2016. End Moraines: the End of the Glacial Ride. Accessed on December 2, 2016 at URL: http: //www. isgs. illinois. edu/outreach/geology-resources/end-moraines-endglacial-ride. Willman, H. B. and Lineback, Jerry A. , 1970. Surficial Geology of the Chicago Region. Illinois State Geological Survey, Urbana, IL, Circular No. 460, Plate I.