Welcome to Polk City Cemetery which resideds on a glacial kame. A kame is a geomorphological feature, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression of a retreating glacier, and then is deposited on the land surface when the glacier melts. Kames are referred to as kame and kettle topography which is common in the Des Moines lobe landform of Iowa. The Des Moines lobe runs from Des Moines, IA north into Minnesota. It was formed by the most recent glacial activity in Iowa which was an expansion of the Wisconsinan glacier 10,500 to 30,000 years ago durring the last ice age, Many of central and north-central Iowa cemeteries were place on kames or the similar feature, eskers.
To recieve credit for the EarthCache please email or message the answers to us. Also, encouraged but not required, please inlcude a picture of yourself at the location. As always, do not visit cemeteries after dark.
#1) Describe the topography of the cemetery. What sticks out the most about the landscape of the whole cemetery?
#2) Why do you think this, and many other cemeteries in Iowa, were placed on these landforms?