A Reevaluation of the DeKalb Mounds of Northern Illinois

We re-examined the classic DeKalb Mounds of Northern Illinois in order to better understand their genesis, morphology, spatial distribution, and usefulness in reconstructing deglacial and postglacial environments. Flemal et al. (1973) interpreted the mounds to be relict pingos resulting from an intense periglacial environment during the late Wisconsin. Thousands of mounds occur in the study area. The mounds range in size from 20 m to more than 5 km in diameter and typically rise 1 to 8 m above the surrounding loess mantled till surface. These low relief mounds are composed of either a raised border surrounding a low center ("donuts") or are flat-topped ("pancakes"). Modern soil properties are strongly related to mound position and subtle sedimentologic and topographic changes. In some locations multiple mounds appear to be superimposed on one another. The typical mound stratigraphy includes subglacial diamicton at the base, less than 1 m of glaciofluvial sands and gravels or debris flow diamicton, 1 to 6 m of fossiliferous, rhythmically bedded lake sediment, 0.3 to 3 m of glaciofluvial sands and gravels or debris flow diamicton, all capped by approximately 1.2 m of loess. The lake sediment is rich in ostracodes and tundra plant remains. Smaller mounds are typically symmetrical while the larger mounds are more elliptical in shape with a long axis trending northeast to southwest. Many of the larger mounds appear to be aggregates of smaller lakes that coalesced as glacial ice stagnated. Our reinterpretation of the mounds is that there genesis is related to deglaciation and ice-stagnation and not to post glacial permafrost processes. We interpret all of the DeKalb Mounds to be ice-walled lakes and not pingos.