Early Lake Erie was a prehistoric

proglacial lake In geology, a proglacial lake is a lake formed either by the damming action of a moraine during the retreat of a melting glacier, a glacial ice dam, or by meltwater trapped against an ice sheet due to isostatic depression of the crust around th ...

that existed at the end of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

approximately 13,000 years ago. The early Erie fed waters to

Glacial Lake Iroquois Glacial Lake Iroquois was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed at the end of the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago. The lake was essentially an enlargement of the present Lake Ontario that formed because the St. Lawrence River down ...

. The ancient lake was similar in size to the current lake during glacial retreat, but for some period the eastern half of the lake was covered with ice. Early-period Lake Erie was made up of smaller lakes (Lakes Warren, Wayne, Maumee and Lundy) with lower depths. Much of the ancient lake bed is now northern

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

Early (low) Stage

12,000 years

before present Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Beca ...

(YBP) the Laurentian ice sheet had melted to the east, creating an outlet for the Lake Erie basin at the

Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff ove ...

. Simultaneously, the ice sheet had opened a drainage between Lake Algonquin and

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

thorough the Kirkfield Outlet. This ended the outflow from Lake Algonquin into the Lake Erie Basin.

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

history of Lake Erie began with a flood of water over the Niagara Escarpment. The flood created a channel in the moraines and bedrock lower water level in the Erie basin. The

Niagara River The Niagara River () is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York in the United States (on the east). There are diffe ...

Outlet, was over lower than the present level of Lake Erie creating a non-glacial lake, called Early Lake Erie. At this stage water elevation was above sea level. The lake consisted of two lobes, one in the eastern basin and a smaller lake in the central basin.Research overview: Holocene development of Lake Erie; Charles E. Herdendorf; The Ohio Journal of Science, v112, n2 (2013), pgs 24-36

Discharge from Lake Algonquin

Early Lake Erie - 01 Early Stage (Herendorf)

About 10,400 YBP the ice sheet advanced southward, blocking the Kirkfield Outlet. Once again, the Lake Erie basin received water from Lake Algonquin, through the Port Huron Outlet and the new St. Clair River- Lake St. Clair-

Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively referred to as Detro ...

system. The additional water created a marshy swamp in the western basin, then it created a river system through the Pelee Passage. The shallow central basin overflowed the Norfolk Moraine creating the Pennsylvania Channel into the eastern basin. The deeper eastern basin overflowed Niagara Escarpment by the

for a brief time. There is still a division of ideas about whether Early Lake Erie overflowed the Niagara River at this time or remained without an overflow.

Second low stage

By 10,300 YBP the North Bay Outlet opened between Lake Algonquin and the St. Lawrence River. The level of Lake Algonquin dropped, ending the outflow through the Port Huron outlet. For several thousand years Early Lake Erie did not receive water from the upper basins. This low water stage lasted for 5,000 years. The lake lost over 90 percent of its inflow, becoming stagnant. The lake became eutrophic, acerbated by lower precipitation and increased evaporation. A closed or endorheic lake basin was created Bathymetric data compiled by National Geographic Data Center in 1998 located a former shoreline submerged below Lake Erie.Holcombe et al. 2003 The Buffalo Ridge shoreline in the eastern basin is below the current river outlet. The central basin was separate from the eastern basin, but with isostatic rebound in the eastern end, the water topped the Norfolk Moraine, creating one lake with a deep channel called the Pennsylvania Channel. An alternative may have been a significant inflow of water from the south shore tributaries, raising the water level, while deepening the Pennsylvania Channel, until a single lake was created.

Middle Stage

Early Lake Erie - 02 Middle (Herdendorf)

About 10,000 YBP the water levels began to level off. At 7,500 YBP the elevation was . It continued to rise, by slowing for the next 2,000 years. This period has been called the "Middle Lake Erie". This would be below the current lake level. An alternative level at has been proposed through radiocarbon dates. It is believed that decreased precipitation and increased evaporation of set the changes created by the isostatic uplift.) This Xerothermic or Hypsithermal Interval existed for approximately 5,000 years (10,300 to 5,300 YBP). As the uplift continued, the North Bay Outlet rose, and the upper basin entered the stage of

Lake Nipissing Lake Nipissing (; french: lac Nipissing, oj, Gichi-nibiinsing-zaaga’igan) is a lake in the Canadian province of Ontario. It has a surface area of , a mean elevation of above sea level, and is located between the Ottawa River and Georgian Bay ...

. This was 5,400 YBP. Lake Erie remained isolated, but continued to rise. The Middle Stage ended around 5,300 YBP when drainage from Lake Nipissing was again diverted through the Port Huron outlet. The increase in water, the growing humidity in the climate, and increased water levels created a large delta in western basin at the mouth of the ancestral

. The remaining depositional features in Lake Erie (i.e. the Buffalo Ridge, Norfolk Moraine, Conneaut Bank, and Presque Isle Bank) were flooded. These underwater obstacles altered water circulation patterns, forming new surface features, including Long Point, Ontario, and Presque Isle, Pennsylvania. The Lake St. Clair delta was formed during this time, (5,000-3,600 YBP). The lacustrine clays under the delta have been radiocarbon dated at 7,300 YBP. Thus the delta began during Lake Nipissing time

Highstand

Shoreline features indicate Lake Erie rose to a highstand, above its present level about 4,700 YPB. The Niagara River Outlet eroded to its current level about 3,500 YBP.

Transition to modern Lake Erie

When Lake Erie reached its present level 3,500 YPB, the southern tributary river that had created incised channels through the lacustrine sediment and glacial till during the low-water stages was flooded. This created the drowned estuarine river mouths common along the western shore.Brant and Herdendorf 1972; Herdendorf 1990b These drowned shores became the source of beach sand, forming the massive sand spits at Long Point and Presque Isle, and creating new spits at Point Pelee, Ontario, and Cedar Point, Ohio. At the same time barrier beaches were formed across the mouths of most of the estuarine tributaries.

References

*Brant RA, Herdendorf CE. 1972. Delineation of Great Lakes estuaries. Pages 710–718, in Proceedings 15the Conference on Great Lakes Research. International Association for Great Lakes Research. *Calkin PE, Feenstra BH. 1985. Evolution of the Erie-basin Great Lakes. Pages 149–170, in Karrow PF, Calkin PE, eds. Quaternary Evolution of the Great Lakes. St. John's (Newfoundland): Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 30. *Herdendorf CE. 1990b. Great Lakes estuaries. Estuaries 13:493-503. *Herdendorf CE, Braidech LL. 1972. Physical characteristics of the reef area of western Lake Erie. *Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological Survey Report of Investigation 82. 90 *pp. *Herdendorf CE, Bailey ML. 1989. Evidence for an early delta of the Detroit River in western Lake Erie. Ohio Journal of Science 89:16-22. *Holcombe TL, Taylor LA, Reid DF, Warren JS, Vincent PA, Herdendorf CE. 2003. Revised Lake Erie postglacial lake level history based on new detailed bathymetry. Journal of Great Lakes Research *29:681-704. *Kaszycki CA. 1985. History of glacial Lake Algonquin in the Haliburton Region, South Central Ontario. Pages 109–123, in Karrow PF, Calkin PE, eds.Quaternary Evolution of the Great Lakes. St. John's (Newfoundland): Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 30. *Larsen CE. 1987. Geological history of glacial Lake Algonquin and the Upper Great Lakes. US Geological Survey Bulletin 1801. 36 pp. *Lewis CFM, Cameron GDM, Anderson TW, Heil CW Jr, Gareau PL. 2012. Lake levels in the Erie Basin of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Journal of Paleolimnology 47:493-511. *Sears PB. 1942. Xerothermic theory. Botanical Review 8:708-736.

External sources

Lake Erie Landscapes
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