Talk:Moraine

 

Wisconsin moraine section

Moraines of today's glaciers are small compared to moraines of much larger glaciers of the Ice Age. Wisconsin's moraines, up to 300' high, and related glacial features, are considered among the most impressive in North America. Some of these moraines have been cut by roads and railroads (one now converted to the Ice Age Scenic and Glacial Drumlin Trails), allowing easy access to moraine and drumlin cross-sections. These ancient moraines are used today for a wide variety of recreational activities. Moraine stone has been washed clean by glacial rivers, so is well suited to be used as construction material.[4]

The citation is OK for some of the facts in this paragraph (like the 300 foot height of the moraine), but it doesn't seem to confirm the sentence to which it's actually appended. Actually, I find that sentence nearly nonsensical. Why would being washed clean by glacial rivers make moraine stone well suited as a construction material? And in any case moraine stone by definition hasn't been washed by rivers at all--it's unsorted material that has simply been released by the melting of the ice. Water-sorted glacial deposits such as eskers are useful as sources of sand and gravel for construction purposes, but they aren't moraines. I'd recommend appending the citation to the second sentence of the paragraph, and deleting the final sentence altogether. OK? 206.208.105.129 (talk) 13:08, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Section cut - belongs in geography or glacial landscapes of Wisconsin and a bit out of place in this general article. Vsmith (talk) 13:38, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

That seems reasonable to me, though if the Wisconsin moraines are especially notable (are they the highest on earth?) it might be worth keeping a sentence about them somewhere in this article. 206.208.105.129 (talk) 18:48, 4 November 2010 (UTC)