Knowledge Bank

A review of the literature suggests that nonglacial surficial processes may be inferred from sites in Ohio of early through middle Wisconsinan age. These sites are not distributed uniformly and are identified by having post-Illinoian positions and nonfinite radiocarbon ages (that is, greater than 34,000 years). Organic deposits and paleosols of this age are comparatively common in the lowlands of southwestern Ohio, and the period is known to have experienced both warm and cool climates because some deposits contain oak, ash, and beech fossils, whereas others yield spruce. However, comparatively little evidence of this age has been found on the northwestern edge of the Allegheny Plateau in northeastern Ohio.