Glacial Lake Tight

Lake Tight, named for geologist William G. Tight, was a glacial lake located in what is present-day Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, during the Ice Age.

History

Lake Tight's origins date to nearly 2 million years before the modern era. As the Ice Age began to cool the Earth, and large glaciers began to creep south from modern-day Canada, many landforms and features were changed or destroyed, including the Teays River.

The Teays had been a river for several million years, flowing north out of the Appalachian Mountains in what is now North Carolina. The river's path travelled through modern-day West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, finally emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, which at the time extended to southern Illinois. The glaciers of the Ice Age soon began to block the Teays, effectively damming the river and forming Lake Tight, near what is now Chillicothe, Ohio.

Little is currently known about the lake; in geologic terms, the lake's lifespan was short; the lake formed at some point during the Ice Age, lasting until nearly 6,500 years ago. At its greatest size, the lake was approximately 900 feet deep, and 7,000 square miles in size (nearly two-thirds the size of Lake Erie). When the lake finally overflowed, it created new drainage channels and rivers flowing south, in the opposite direction of the Teays River.

ee also

*Teays River

External links

* [http://www.ohiodnr.com/parks/explore/magazine/sprsum04/teaysriver.htm Ohio's Ancient Nile]