Yesterday I attended a “senior series” talk about the effect that glaciers had on forming the landscape and soil composition of Lake County Illinois. How some lakes formed (huge chunks of ice breaking off and melting, thus forming round “kettle lakes”). Why the soil in various areas contains the materials it does, and why there are so many gravel/rock pits around here. It was really interesting.

The instructor showed this short video. It’s basic, but it covers much of what we discussed.

Now when I drive along an undulating road, I will recall that the rises are called “moraines,” and I will think about how they were formed thousands of years ago by a sheet of ice that scoured the land like a giant wire brush. The reason why no dinosaur bones have been found around here is because the glaciers crushed them all to powder.