Evidence of a Long-Ago Pond

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and dynamic speaker. 

She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has authored three books about these adventures. 

To learn more about her work, or to engage her as a speaker, go to 

http://www.laketrek.com/great-lakes-speaker/

While hiking along Lake Michigan north of Empire, I saw an unusual sight: 

evidence of an ancient pond now entombed by sand.

Four feet up, a peat layer poked out of the dune.

Black peat layer 

Peat layer peaking out

This peat layer is evidence of a pond that was once here. Since it's near the lake, it's likely that it was slowly filled in with blowing sand.

Icicles formed off the peat layer

Currently, the western lobe of Glen Lake ("Little Glen Lake") is heading toward the same fate. How do we know? 

The deepest point in Little Glen Lake is 13-feet deep while the eastern lobe (farther away from Lake Michigan's blowing sand), Big Glen Lake, is much deeper. The deepest point in this lake is 
130 feet.

Perched Dunes

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and dynamic speaker. 

She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has authored three books about these adventures: 

A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach  [A Heartland Indie Bestseller]

A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk   [Winner of the Great Lakes Great Reads Award] 

A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure  [Long-listed for the Chautauqua Prize]

 

To learn more about her work, or to engage her as a speaker, go to http://www.laketrek.com/great-lakes-speaker/

Did you know that there are different types of sand dunes? Along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (stretching between Leland and Frankfort in NW lower Michigan), you'll find a unique type of dune called a 

PERCHED DUNE.

These dunes will be steeper than dunes formed only from sand because perched dunes have layers of stone mixed in with the sand which helps to stabilize the steeper face of the dune.

Rains wash out the sand revealing the stone layers

These mixed dunes were formed when the glaciers melted, dropping their loads of rocks and sand into huge piles. Often, a glacier would be melting at the same rate it was advancing, acting like a conveyer for the tons of sand and rocks carried within the mountain of ice. 

The glaciers were over a mile tall when they covered the Great Lakes Basin!

Stone layers at base of dune

 The stones within the dune have not been tumbled by the lake, so they have sharper edges.

Stones from within dune

 There are a lot of granite stones and boulders along Lake Michigan, but ALL of these stones were transported here by glaciers from the Canadian Shield.

Granite found along Lake Michigan

Enjoy a bit of video from along Lake Michigan, south of Leland, MI:

Perched Dunes

The hike is complete and I am hard at work on the manuscript for the book about my adventure.

I will be posting some of the videos that I shot while on the hike over the coming weeks. 

This one gives a good look at an exposed, perched dune. 

Take a look...