Kettle Moraine
- This article is about the geographic region. For the school, see Kettle Moraine High School.
Kettle Moraine is a large moraine in the state of Wisconsin stretching from Walworth County in the south to Kewaunee County in the north. It has also been referred to as the Kettle Range and, in geological texts, as the Kettle Interlobate Moraine.
The moraine was created when the Green Bay Lobe of the glacier, on the west, collided with the Lake Michigan Lobe of the glacier, on the east, depositing sediment. The western glacier formed the Bay of Green Bay, Lake Winnebago and the Horicon Marsh while the eastern one formed Lake Michigan. 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 subsequently melted. This process left depressions ranging from small ponds to large lakes and enclosed valleys. Elkhart Lake, Geneva Lake, Big Cedar Lake are among the larger kettles now filled by lakes.
Parts of the area have been protected in the Kettle Moraine State Forest.
External links
- Summary of the geological history of Kettle Moraine from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
- "Northern Kettle Interlobate Moraine", from Geology of Ice Age National Scientific Reserve of Wisconsin by Robert F. Black
