. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. Geology. L. E. HICKS—AN OLD LAKE BOTTOM. 27 All of the elements of composition are curves. The horizontal planes and sharp angles of water-sculpture are conspicuously absent. The hills are low domes, the basins have the same form inverted. There may, indeed, be a level space at the bot- tom, but that is a secondary modification. The sloping sides of the lagoons are grass- covered and wash but little, yet enough is carried down to make notable accumu- lations when reinforced by the remains of a luxuriant vegetation induced by the rich soil and ab
. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. Geology. L. E. HICKS—AN OLD LAKE BOTTOM. 27 All of the elements of composition are curves. The horizontal planes and sharp angles of water-sculpture are conspicuously absent. The hills are low domes, the basins have the same form inverted. There may, indeed, be a level space at the bot- tom, but that is a secondary modification. The sloping sides of the lagoons are grass- covered and wash but little, yet enough is carried down to make notable accumu- lations when reinforced by the remains of a luxuriant vegetation induced by the rich soil and abundant moisture. As much as twenty feet of soil has been observed in some of these lagoons. Here we see the natural reservoirs for the storm waters of the plains. In some of them water remains throughout the year ; in almost all it is easily reached by digging. Figure 2.—Stereogram of a portion of the surface of Caster county, Nebraska. Scale, horizontal 8 inches = 1 mile, vertical 1 inch = 600 feet. A cistern is often dug in the bottom of a lagoon, and, being covered to prevent evap- oration, it preserves the collected storm waters for household use. Still more fre- quently a supply for animals is obtained by simply deepening the basin with plow and scraper. The economic value of these natural storage basins has brought them into general notice, and accounts for the fact that they have a popular name. This name, "lagoon," is closely restricted to the depressions on the rolling surface of th • high, grass-covered table-lands. I have never heard it applied to the numerous closed basins among the sand hills or the " kettle holes " of the drift. Lagoons occur over a wide region east of the Kocky Mountains, where the rivers have not invaded and modified the old lake bottom. They are more numerous in. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of thes
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