The Valparaiso moraine is a terminal moraine formed from the Lake Michigan lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet that spreads across Illinois to Michigan, ranging from 700 to 800 feet above sea level on average, with some hills topping 950 feet (Hartke, 1975). Although the whole segment is termed the “Valparaiso moraine,” it is more accurately the accumulation of several different moraines formed on top of each other, and the whole section has varying compositions and features. This suggests it wasn’t made in a single retreat, but rather a repeated advance and retreat of the glacier. There are two main till layers, which are primarily silt-clay loam and are separated by a discontinuous layer of sand and gravel outwash. On the western side of the
