Land Forms

Boyne Valley Land Forms

Click an image to enlarge

Every feature in Boyne Valley was in some manner shaped by water and/or ice. The process was very complex but geologists have provided some excellent illustrations to help define how the hills, valleys, lakes and streams in Charlevoix County were formed as the ice receded from the lower peninsula of Michigan.

About 14,000 years ago Charlevoix
County was still covered with ice
but the central part of Michigan
was becoming exposed.

About 5000 years later the entire lower peninsula was exposed, however the northern tip was covered with water including Lake Charlevoix and part of Boyne Valley.

After another 5000 years the ice
had receded from the Great Lakes
area. Part of the northern tip of
the lower peninsula was still
covered with water but the Boyne
Highlands were exposed as an
island.

(The maps above are from the Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District)

(The maps above are from the MDEQ office of Geological Survey, modified)

This map shows the detail of the glacial deposits that cover Charlevoix County. To view a map that shows all of the glacial deposits in Michigan, CLICK HERE
To learn about glacial terminology and view pictures of what Michigan may have looked like about 9000 years ago, CLICK HERE

This map shows the location of significant landmarks in Boyne Valley relative to the glacial deposits. Thunder Mountain and Cherry Hill are both features of a large end moraine. The coarse glacial till on both sides of Boyne Valley are probably lateral moraines. Boyne Mountain is located on the end of one of these.

An in depth description of the glacial processes that shaped northwestern Michigan, including Charlevoix County, is provided by the National Park Service at their Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore website.
To View CLICK HERE