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Colgan
A Brief Geologic
History of the Ravines
The Ravines
ravine (ra-vine) A small valley, usually carved by running water; esp.
the narrow excavated valley of a mountain stream. Etymology: French,
mountain torrent. (p. 419, AGI Dictionary of Geological Terms, Bates
and Jackson, 1984).
The ravines are a natural laboratory for students and faculty at Grand
Valley. Each semester, the Department of Geology introduces hundreds
of students to the geosciences via the ravines, and each year geology students conduct innovative research projects and ask new questions about
the ravines. Here, I summarize the geologic history of the ravines, how
humans have impacted the ravines, and what is still not known about the
natural history of the ravines.
The ravines formed by the episodic erosion of small streams over the
last 15,000 years. Water flowing off the upland, upon which Grand Valley
State University is built, drains eastward into the Grand River Valley via
the ravines. This broad, gently sloping, upland was formed during the Ice
Age by a glacier lobe depositing sediment in a large glacial lake. Following this glaciation, the Grand River began eroding its valley through this
landscape. The ravines probably began forming at about the same time,
and by about 6,000 years ago they had grown to roughly their present
dimensions. During the last 6,000 years the ravines have grown during
brief episodes of erosion alternating with long periods of stability.
Patrick M.
Colgan is Associate
Professor of Geology
at Grand Valley
State University.
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iver
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Gra
end
GVSU Campus
moraine
Patrick M. Colgan
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fine sand that is being transported by a current across the bed of a river
or by waves along the shoreline. Climbing ripples form as layers of sand
rapidly build up on top of one another as the ripples migrate down current. In this case, there is so much sand being deposited that the ripples
climb on top of one another.
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Figure 3. Upper
image is of ripple
cross laminations
preserved in sand
layers in a ravine
along the southern
boundary of GVSU
campus. These cross
laminations indicate
that flow was from
left to right. The lower
image shows climbing
ripples preserved in
another layer of sand
at the same site. Flow
direction is also from
left to right (both
images were taken by
Sarah Nagorsen, 2008).
Patrick M. Colgan
A Glacier Surge
As the Lake Michigan lobe wasted back into southern Canada it would
periodically surge forward as melt water built up under the glacier. This
occurs in many modern glaciers when they melt rapidly. Melt water on
the surface of the glacier flows down through cracks (crevasses) and holes
(called moulins) in the ice. When water reaches the glaciers bed it can
cause the ice to float. This water greatly reduces the friction near the
bed of the glacier, and may cause the ice to surge forward. This has been
observed in modern glaciers in Iceland, Greenland, and Alaska, among
many other places.
During a surge, the edge of the ice may advance several miles in up to
a few years. It is likely that the Lake Michigan lobe experienced surges
similar to those observed in modern glaciers. As the edge of the ice
advanced into Glacial Lake Chicago it would bull-doze up sediment in
front of the ice and deposit till along under its margin. Because there are
numerous ridges of till called end moraines in West Michigan and around
all the Great Lakes, it is likely that the lobes of the ice sheet surged many
times between 18,000 and 13,000 years ago. The upland ridge upon which
Grand Valley sits is one of these end moraine ridges that probably formed
as ice surged into Glacial Lake Chicago.
Following a glacier surge the ice would waste back, and icebergs would
calve into the lake. Melt water would drain through the ice and discharge
from tunnels under the ice. Sediment would be deposited in the lake
around the margin of the ice, and glacial till would be deposited under
and in front of the ice.
The dense, boulder-rich glacial till that underlies most of the campus
and overlies the glacial lake sand and clay was the last sediment deposited
in the area. The till contains a plethora of different rock types some from
as far away as James Bay in Ontario and Labrador. Most of the larger
rocks in the till are local bedrock of sandstone, shale, and limestone. Still
there are many exotic boulders of granite, basalt, and gneiss. Many of these
large boulders can be seen used as landscape boulders and in retaining
walls all over campus.
The glacial till is very hard and resistant to erosion. It forms a hard
cap-rock over the softer glacial lake sediments below. As long as the till
is not eroded, the upland landscape is stable. Once erosion in the ravines
cuts through the till and reaches the soft lake sediments below, then erosion proceeds very rapidly and deep ravines are the end product. This can
be seen in the ravine just to the east of the Ravine Apartments. Where
the till is still present the stream has not cut down as much as where the
till has been removed and erosion then proceeds rapidly.
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After glacier ice disappeared from West Michigan, by about 15,000 years
ago, the landscape would have been a cold, windswept, and dusty place.
There was permafrost or permanently frozen ground at this time. Recently,
relict features indicating permafrost have been found on landscapes older
than 15,000 in Wisconsin and in eastern Michigan. It is likely that at this
time tundra vegetation would have been present (dwarf willow and birch,
and many different kinds of sedges). Animals such as mammoth and musk
ox were present in the Great Lakes region at this time. The lack of vegetation at least initially, would have led to dust and sand being blown up
out of the river valleys and deposited on top of the glacial sediments. This
wind blown silt is called loess. In areas to the south of Michigan along the
Missouri and Mississippi Rivers the loess piled up in layers up to 150 feet
thick. To the west of our campus on the flat lake bed of the former Glacial
Lake Chicago, sand dunes would have migrated across the barren surface.
Now most of those dunes are stable under woodland vegetation.
Between 10,000 and 13,000 years before present, the climate rapidly
warmed enough so that trees and grasses could begin to take a foothold in
Michigan. As forests and other vegetation spread, the landscape would have
supported ice age animals such as the Mastodon. Pollen records from bogs
and lakes in Michigan show the spread of spruce and pine between 13,000
and 10,000 years ago. By 10,000 years ago the climate was probably the
same or perhaps even a little warmer than todays climate. Oak, maple, and
hickory began to invade Michigan by this time. Native American peoples
populated this landscape and took advantage of its many resources.
Patrick M. Colgan
time the eastern outlets of the Great Lakes would rebound and with this
land rising, the lakes would rise in level, just as the water level of a bath
tub will rise if you raise the drain. Even today, the outlet of Lake Superior
at Sault St. Marie is rebounding at a rate of about 20 cm of elevation per
century. This rise in the outlet causes the lake level of Lake Superior to
slowly rise over time. During the low Chippewa Lake level the rivers in
West Michigan responded to the low lake level by cutting deeply down
into their channels. The ravines would have been forced to cut down in
their channels as well.
Another piece of evidence for the depth of the ravines by 6,000 years
before present is in ancient wood found buried in the Little Mac Ravine
near it confluence with the Grand River. In the fall semester of 2006, geology students drilled and collected two sediment cores near the mouth of
the Little Mac Ravine, approximately 10 feet deep. Near the bottom of one
core fossil wood of a log about a half a foot in diameter was penetrated by
the core. The wood was sent to a radiocarbon dating lab in Florida and the
returned age was 5,720 to 5,920 calendar years old (one sigma uncertainty,
Beta-223048). Since the valley had to be there before the sediment and
wood could fill the valley, this indicates that the ravines had eroded to a
depth greater than their present depth before approximately 6,000 years
before present.
Figure 4. Students in an environmental geology class taking a core in the Little Mac Ravine in the fall of 2007.
A buried log found in a core like this was radiocarbon dated as approximately 5,800 years old. This suggests
that the ravines were present and as deep as they are today before approximately 6,000 years ago. Photo by
Patrick M. Colgan.
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The Little Mac Ravine is filled with at least 15 feet of sediment where it
meets with the Grand River based on the cores mentioned above. Most
of this sediment probably filled the valley as the Grand River responded
to the rise in Lake Chippewa Lake Levels after 9,000 years ago. By 6,000
years before present the lake reached a high lake level known as Lake
Nipissing. Lake Nipissing was between 20 and 30 feet higher than the
present lake level. Much of the Grand River Valley was probably flooded
at this time. Some of the ravines would have been flooded or at least have
been wetlands at this time. Clay, silt, and sand, along with logs and organic
material were deposited in the ravines at this time. As mentioned before,
fossil wood of approximately 5,800 years before present, suggests that
some of the sediment in the valley is at least that old.
Equilibrium
As the ravines became heavily wooded during the last 10,000 years, they
would have experienced long periods of stability (or equilibrium). As
long as vegetation held sediments in place erosion would be held at bay.
Events such as droughts and fires would have led to instability and brief
periods of erosion. During this time, soils formed on the upland and on
the ravine slopes below.
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Patrick M. Colgan
bottoms as heavily wooded. Today many of the ravine bottoms are filled
with dead trees and large open meadows. Many of the trees appear to have
died because sediment buried them and killed them as the soils became
waterlogged. In the small stream in Little Mac ravine tree stumps can be
seen buried by three to five feet of sediment. Logs buried in the sediment
are also found. This suggests that since the campus was built sediment
moved down off the upland into the ravines filling them in places with
three to five feet of sand, silt, and clay. This has had a dramatic effect on
the ecology of the ravines.
Today, uncontrolled erosion is occurring in many of the ravines, threatening the stability and beauty of these natural features. Most of the threat
is because of runoff from parking areas and buildings. Storm water from
structures and parking lots is focused on the ravines so that today during
heavy rains the ravines truly are mountain torrents. Studies of the change
in the ravines during the past ten to fifty years have been carried out by
Geology Professors John Weber, Patricia Videtich and numerous past geology students. Ongoing studies by Professor Peter Wampler and students
have begun to measure and quantify changes in storm water runoff. Prof.
Wampler estimates that since the campus was built that peak runoff in
the Little Mac Ravine has increased by more than 200 percent.
Some of the most dramatic erosion is occurring in the ravine behind
the Ravine Apartments. Observations made by the author and others in
the Geology department indicate down cutting of the stream near its head
by as much as 10 to 15 feet. This has led to landslides along the sides of
the ravines and the toppling of trees some of which are more than seven
decades old. This clearly shows that the stability of the ravines has been
upset by recent human impacts. This could lead to the ravine in this area
becoming an unsightly mess of toppled and dying trees. Along the southern
campus boundary, runoff down an old access road and from an adjoining
farm property resulted in massive head ward erosion in a ravine tributary
between 2003 and 2007. This led to sedimentation in the ravine below
and its effects on the ecology of this ravine. This will probably lead to a
similar die off of trees in the ravine bottom similar to what happened in
Little Mac Ravine. Since the author arrived here in fall 2003, the erosion
only seems to be getting worse and with each record rainfall new and
irreparable damage to the ravines is occurring.
Professor Peter Wamplers work with the storm water committee has
made a good start at developing solutions to the problem of ravine erosion and sedimentation. His research group has recognized that a major
solution to the problem can only come from controlling and reducing the
amount of runoff directed to the ravines. Increasing infiltration in parking
areas, building rain gardens, and retention ponds can and hopefully will
improve the situation. If runoff is reduced, the ravines have a good chance
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Figure 5. Photograph of active erosion of a small tributary to a ravine near the southern boundary of
GVSU campus. Most of the erosion seen in the image occurred between 2003 and 2006 (Photo by Sarah
Nagorsen).
of reaching a new equilibrium with human land use changes. Other measures such as planting new trees in the valley bottoms, stabilizing eroding
slopes, and protecting eroding trails are other urgently needed steps that
need to be taken.
One change that could accelerate ravine erosion in the future are the
effects of global climate changes on precipitation in this region. Most
of us have heard of global warming and are familiar with its effects in
the polar regions and on glaciers, but one little known effect has been
a overall increase in rainfall in some areas as well as extended drought
in other regions. The Great Lakes region has seen only minimal temperature changes during the 20th century due to climate change, but the
future could bring larger changes in rain and snow fall totals. Larger and
more frequent rainfall events have been observed in some regions of the
world due to human induced climate change. If we were to receive more
extreme or more frequent rainfall events because of climate change this
could make our ravines more susceptible to erosion and disequilibrium.
Warmer winters could also produce rainfall when in the past we would
Patrick M. Colgan
have received snow. Warmer and or wetter climates could lead to invasions
by new or non-native insect pests and or new tree species changing the
makeup of our woodlands in the ravines.
Alternative Futures
The future of the ravines like all stream valleys is of continued erosion and
eventually the denudation of the upland landscape. In tens of thousands of
years the ravines will certainly succeed in eroding most of the flat upland
topography upon which the campus is built. At this time the now smooth
upland will be reduced to a dissected complex of deep valleys and steep
ridges. Under natural conditions this would occur episodically and trees
and other vegetation would have time to adjust as erosion continued.
In the near term, most important to humans, the ravines face two
alternative futures. They could reach a new equilibrium with the changing climate and the newly imposed human impacts and become a stable
well-managed forest that can be used as a natural laboratory for all. This
future will require some careful, thoughtful management by all of the University community. Alternatively, the ravines could become an unsightly,
chaotic zone of unstable and eroding slopes with toppled, dying trees,
and a dense underbrush of non-native and invasive species. The choice
is up to the university community and those who manage the university
property. Hopefully, patient management by Grand Valley will choose the
former instead of the latter. We probably need to stop taking the ravines
for granted, assuming that they will always be a beautiful natural resource,
and start managing them with a purpose.
More Questions
The geological and environmental history of the ravines remains poorly
understood in many ways. Future student projects will hopefully shed light
on these questions. How deeply were the ravines eroded at the end of the
Ice Age? Cores taken from Little Mac Ravine have not penetrated the
deepest parts of the filled ravines. The deepest cores go down more than
15 feet and the bottom has not been reached. What is the oldest sediment
preserved in the ravines? So far the oldest radiocarbon age on fossil wood is
approximately 5,800 years old, but sediment twice that age could be found
in the ravines if our understanding of their formation is correct. How was
this sediment deposited? Was it deposited in a lake that backed up into
the Grand River Valley, or was it deposited in small streams eroding, and
then filling the ravines? Other questions pertain to the building of the
upland itself into which the ravines are cut. How big and how deep was
the lake into which glacial lake sediments were deposited? When and
exactly how were these sediments formed?
In summary, the ravines are a wonderful laboratory for our students,
where all of the long geological history of West Michigan is laid out for
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those interested enough to inquire and learn about it. The ravines are
also a natural resource that currently needs some help and management
in order to retain their beauty and uniqueness.
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