Landforms of the Northern Plains - Fine Art Print Map
Landforms of the Northern Plains are overwhelmingly a lesson in the
impact of ice. Repeated glacial advances and retreats have alternated
for nearly 3 million years. The most recent (“Wisconsin”) glacial period
advance ended only 10-15,000 years ago, leaving the enormous morainal
deposits across the Saskatchewan-Manitoba and U.S. borders, and forming
or reshaping the Great Lakes.
The region was smoothed by ice melt
outwash channels flowing south when ice blocked the present northward
drainage into Hudson Bay. Ice melt reversed the southerly flow course of
the Red River, whose headwaters now flow north from as far Lake
Traverse in the NE corner of South Dakota. An earlier advance pushed the
course of the Missouri south and west, well beyond the edge of the most
recent ice limit.
The Northern Plains regional map includes all of the Dakotas and
Minnesota, along with large portions of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and
Ontario, much of Wisconsin, and parts of Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and
Montana
.
Dimensions: All map dimesnsions are approximate
