The Glaciated Allegheny Plateau is that portion of the

Allegheny Plateau The Allegheny Plateau , in the United States, is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York (state), New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Oh ...

that lies within the area covered by the last

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate bet ...

. As a result, this area of the Allegheny Plateau has lower relief and gentler slopes than the relatively rugged

Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau The Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau is located in an arc around southeastern Ohio, West Virginia, into western Pennsylvania and a small portion of southwestern New York State. This area is a dissected plateau, characterized by sandstone, shale, and ...

. In general, the glaciated lies to the north and west of the unglaciated, and forms an arc in northeastern to southeastern

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 ...

lying between the glacial till plains and the Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau. The Glaciated Allegheny Plateau extends into a belt of southern New York State and the central

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

basin. A small area of the Allegheny Plateau was glaciated during the Wisconsin Stage, the late Illinoian Stage, and Pre-Illinoian B and G glaciations of the Pre-Illinoian Stage.Richmond, G.M. and D.S. Fullerton, 1986, ''Summation of Quaternary glaciations in the United States of America'', Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 5, pp. 183-196. This areaonly a few hundred square kilometers owing to the blockage the steep relief of the mountains provides at the edge of the

ice sheet In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at La ...

contains only old drift now buried by long periods of

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

development. The major cities on the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau are

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

and Youngstown.

References

External links

*Fleeger, G., nd
''Glacial geology of Pennsylvania''
Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. *Sevon, W.D., and D.D. Braun, 1997
''Glacial Deposits of Pennsylvania.'' PDF version, 660 KB
Map no. 59. Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. *Sevon, W.D. G.M. Fleeger, and V.C. Shepps, 1999
''Pennsylvania and the Ice Age. PDF version, 3.9 MB''
Educational Series no. 6. Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. *Shepps, V.C., G.W. White, J.B. Droste, and R.F. Sitler, 1959
Glacial ''Geology of Northwestern Pennsylvania.''
Bulletin no. G32. Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Note: having been published in 1959, this reference uses the now obsolete and abandoned classic, Nebraskan, Kansan, and so forth, Midwest glacial terminology.) {{coord, 41, N, 81, W, display=title * Allegheny Plateau, Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, Unglaciated