Kettle Moraine is a large

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

in the state of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It stretches from Walworth County in the south to

Kewaunee County Kewaunee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,563. Its county seat is Kewaunee. The county was created in 1852 and organized in 1859. Its Menominee name is ''Kewāneh'', an arch ...

in the north. It has also been referred to as the ''Kettle Range'' and, in geological texts, as the ''Kettle Interlobate Moraine''.

Background

The moraine was created when the Green Bay Lobe of the

Laurentide Ice Sheet The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years a ...

, on the west, collided with the

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

Lobe of that glacier, on the east, depositing sediment. The western lobe formed Green Bay,

Lake Winnebago Lake Winnebago ( mez, Wenepekōw Nepēhsæh, oj, Wiinibiigoo-zaaga'igan, one, kanyataláheleˀ) is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At 137,700 acres it is the largest lake entir ...

and the

Horicon Marsh Horicon Marsh is a marsh located in northern Dodge and southern Fond du Lac counties of Wisconsin. It is the site of both a national and a state wildlife refuge. The silted-up glacial lake is the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the United St ...

. The major part of the Kettle Moraine area is considered interlobate moraine, though other types of moraine features, and other glacial features are common. The moraine is dotted with kettles caused by buried glacial ice that calved off the terminus of a receding glacier and got entirely or partly buried in glacial sediment and subsequently melted. This process left depressions ranging from small ponds to large lakes and enclosed valleys. Water-filled kettles range in depth from . The

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

of this area is widely varied between the lakes and kettles and the hills of glacial deposits, which can rise up to from the lakes. The largest include Holy Hill, Pulford Peak and Lapham Peak. Elkhart Lake,

Geneva Lake Geneva Lake (Potawatomi language, Potawatomi: ''Kishwauketoe'' 'Clear Water') is a body of freshwater in Walworth County, Wisconsin, Walworth County in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. On its shores are the city of Lake G ...

, and Little Cedar Lake are among the larger kettles now filled by lakes.

Kame A kame, or ''knob'', is a glacial landform, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the g ...

s are also found in the kettle moraine area, and are mounds of compressed glacial till. Parts of the area have been protected in the

Kettle Moraine State Forest The Kettle Moraine State Forest is a state forest in southeastern Wisconsin. The chief feature of the reserve is the Kettle Moraine, a highly glaciated area. The area contains very hilly terrain and glacial landforms, such as kettles, kames a ...

Recreation

Outdoor recreation opportunities include hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, horseback riding, and snowmobiling. Fourteen trailheads are dispersed throughout the Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest and 17 in the Southern Unit.

References

External links

Summary of the geological history of Kettle Moraine, northern unit, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
from
Geology of Ice Age National Scientific Reserve of Wisconsin
' by Robert F. Black
Kettle Moraine Geological Society
{{coord, 43, 35, N, 88, 11, W, type:landmark_region:US-WI_dim:300000, display=title Geology of Wisconsin Landforms of Walworth County, Wisconsin Landforms of Waukesha County, Wisconsin Landforms of Washington County, Wisconsin Landforms of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin Landforms of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin Landforms of Kewaunee County, Wisconsin Moraines of the United States