The Kansan Glaciation in Southeastern Indiana

Author Institution: Earlham College, Richmond, IndianaBuried Kansan drift and Yarmouth soil beneath Illinoian drift are described from three locations south of the Wisconsin drift border in southeastern Indiana. The occurrence in Kansan drift of bright red, clayey, non-calcareous, limestone-derived soil inclusions, and abundant residual chert cobbles from the local Silurian Laurel Limestone suggest that the Kansan ice may have been the first to reach this area. The scattered upland erratics in northern Kentucky, therefore, seem more certainly to be Kansan in age, as suggested originally by Leverett. The Townsend Farm section provides a basis for geologic-climate subdivisions of the Kansan Stage in southeastern Indiana, named as follows: Kansan Stage Columbia Stade Garrison Creek Interstade Alpine Stade The slightly greater depth of leaching of the Yarmouth soil in the Townsend Farm section as compared to depths in similar buried Sangamon soils in southeastern Indiana suggests that the Yarmouth interglacial interval was slightly longer than the Sangamon interglacial interval in this area