View source for Teays River

{{Short description|Pre-glacial river in North America}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
[[File:Teays River watershed;geo2.gif|thumb|320px|right|The Teays River network, which existed before disruption by glaciers during the [[Pleistocene]]. Reconstruction is based on the discovery of large buried valleys in [[West Virginia]], [[Ohio]], and [[Indiana]] and other evidence.]]

The '''Teays River''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|eɪ|z}}<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |first=Walter |last=Sullivan |title=A Great Lost River Gets Its Due |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/29/science/a-great-lost-river-gets-its-due.html?&pagewanted=all |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1983-11-29 |access-date=2009-05-19 |quote=[William G. Tight] called it the Teays (pronounced taze) River, for a village in West Virginia.}}</ref> (pronounced ''taze'') was a major preglacial river that drained much of the present [[Ohio River]] watershed, but took a more northerly downstream course. Traces of the Teays across northern [[Ohio]] and [[Indiana]] are represented by a network of river valleys. The largest still existing contributor to the former Teays River is the [[Kanawha River]] in [[West Virginia]], which is itself an extension of the [[New River (Kanawha River tributary)|New River]]. The name ''Teays'', from the much smaller [[Teays Valley, West Virginia|Teays Valley]] still extant above the surface, has been associated with the river and the remainder of its related [[buried valley]] since 1910.<ref name="Wright">The Glacial Boundary in Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois; George Frederick Weight; Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey No. 58; Washington, Government Printing Office; 1890; pp.&nbsp;86&ndash;88</ref> The more appropriate name would be the '''Ancestral Kanawha Valley'''.<ref name=Thornbury>Glacial Geology of Wabash County, Indiana:  William J. Wayne and William D. Thornbury; Indiana Department of Conservation, Geological Survey; Bulletin No. 5; Bloomington, Indiana; 1951</ref> The term Teays is used when discussing the buried portion of the ancestral Kanawha River.<ref name="Thornbury" /> The Teays was comparable in size to the Ohio River. The river's headwaters were near [[Blowing Rock, North Carolina]]; it then flowed through [[Virginia]], West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and [[Illinois]]. (Hansen, 1995).<ref name="ES767">Teays River; ES 767 Quaternary Geology, Fall 2011; Wesley C. Smith; Emporia State University, Earth Science Department: Webpage submitted on November 28, 2011</ref> The largest [[tributary]] to the Teays River was the Old Kentucky River (Teller 1991), which extended from southern Kentucky through Frankfort and subsequently flowed northeast, meeting other tributaries and eventually joining the Teays.<ref name="ES767" />

==Creation==
Scattered [[glacial erratic]]s in northeastern Kentucky and southern Ohio<ref>Leverett; 1929, pp.&nbsp;33&ndash;47</ref> are pre-[[Kansan glaciation]] in age. Only the [[Nebraskan glaciation]] is recognized as earlier than the Kansan; these have been designated as remnants of deposits left by the Nebraskan glacier.<ref>Thwaites, 1946, pl. 3</ref> The ice sheet overrode the preglacial Teays creating ponds or [[glacial lake]]s.  The back-up of water diverted the upper basin over the surrounding divides into the preglacial [[Ohio River]]. Thus the ''deep stage'' more likely is post-Nebraskan and pre-Kansan in age rather than preglacial. With the withdrawal of the Nebraskan glacier, which caused integration of the upper Kanawha (Teays) with the preglacial Ohio, a vastly shortened, unnamed descendant of the Teays apparently headed somewhere in west-central Ohio and cut the deep stage across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois during the long [[Aftonian]] interglacial stage, which followed.<ref name="Thornbury" />

If the sequence of [[bedrock]] formations of northern Indiana were exposed, the extensive cliffs along the deep stage of the Teays and its tributaries would provide a clearer understanding of the [[stratigraphy]] of the area. The entire [[Silurian]] section below the Liston Creek [[limestone]]<ref>Indiana Division of Geology, 1949, pl. 2</ref> and a few feet of the upper [[Ordovician]] probably would be visible in the vicinity of [[La Fontaine, Indiana|La Fontaine]].<ref name="Thornbury" /> In Wabash County the part of the Teays Valley above the deep stage consists of broad [[Terrace (geology)|terraces]] at an altitude of about {{convert|600|ft|m}}. From this terrace level the bedrock rises gradually to {{convert|700|ft|m}} on the Lexington [[pene-plain]] surface. These terraces probably correspond in age to an erosional surface in the unglaciated areas known as the Parker [[strath]], which was the result an erosion cycle that ended before the Kansan phase of the [[pre-Illinoian]] glaciation.<ref>Fenneman, 1938, p. 443</ref> More recent correlation<ref>Thornbury, 1948, p. 1359</ref> places its age as pre-Nebraskan. The Parker strath probably represents an erosional level existent at the beginning of the [[Pleistocene]] before the rejuvenation associated with, and following, the Nebraskan glaciation. The general appearance and width of the [[strath terrace]] along the Teays Valley in Indiana indicates that it represents only a slight rejuvenation following the Lexington cycle.<ref name="Thornbury" />

In Virginia and West Virginia, the Teays River flowed in the valleys of the modern [[New River (Kanawha River tributary)|New River]] and [[Kanawha River]] (Hansen, 1995). The river then flowed west to [[Scioto County, Ohio]], and to [[Ross County, Ohio|Ross County]], Ohio, near [[Chillicothe, Ohio|Chillicothe]]. The valley then disappears under glacial sediments but can be tracked using water well yields and other means (Hansen, 1995). A total of seven [[till]]s have been identified within the Teays River Valley (Andrews, 2004). In portions of Ohio, the buried valley is up to {{convert|2|mi|km}} wide and lies beneath {{convert|500|ft|m}} of glacial sediments (Hansen, 1995).<ref name="ES767" />

==Course==
The Teays River was a north- and northwest-flowing river existing before the Pleistocene Ice Ages{{snd}}before 2.5 million years ago.<ref>Professional Paper 13, Plate xviii; Wm Tight; U.S. Geological Survey; Washington, 1903</ref> The river flowed through southwest [[West Virginia]], between [[Kentucky]] and Ohio, and northwest across Ohio (see illustration).<ref name=":0" />  The Teays then flowed under what is present-day [[Lafayette, Indiana]], and just north of [[Champaign, Illinois]], and likely was coincident with the lower present-day [[Illinois River]].

The Teays River was dissected and largely wiped away by advancing [[glacier]]s and their [[meltwater]]. These glaciers were the massive continental ice sheets that began to cover large parts of Ohio and other states downstream (west) of Ohio between 2.5 and 3 million years ago. Their presence caused lakes (such as [[Lake Tight]] and [[Lake Monongahela]]) to form along the Teays and associated rivers. Overflow of these lakes into nearby, lower valleys caused large floods and new rivers to form. These new rivers{{snd}}formed about 2 million years ago{{snd}}included the present-day Ohio and [[Scioto River|Scioto]] Rivers, which are associated with the most direct evidence of the Teays.

===West Virginia===
The Teays River was the main stream of a preglacial river system.  Its headwaters was near the eastern escarpment of the [[Blue Ridge Mountains|Blue Ridge]], at the edge of the [[Piedmont Plateau]] in [[North Carolina]] and [[Virginia]].<ref name="Thornbury" /><ref>Stout and Schaaf, 1931, pp.&nbsp;671&ndash;672</ref><ref>Stout, Ver Steeg and Lamb, Water in Ohio. Bulletin 44, Geol. Surv. Ohio, 1943, p. 51</ref><ref name=Steeg>The Teays River; Karl Ver Steeg: The Ohio Journal of Science; Vol. XLVI, November, 1946 No. 6; College of Wooster; Wooster, Ohio</ref> The New River, the southernmost headwater of the Teays River, arises in [[Watauga County, North Carolina]], in the Blue Ridge.  This area is northeast of [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]]. It flows northeasterly direction for some distance and after making a right-angled bend, it trends northward until it makes a 90° turn to the west and joins the [[Gauley River]].<ref name="Thornbury" />  Here, it takes a new name as the Kanawha River.  This continues to the northwest to [[Charleston, West Virginia|Charleston]]. As New River, it was joined by the [[Greenbrier River|Greenbrier]] and [[Bluestone River|Bluestone]] rivers. At Charleston, the Kanawha is joined by the [[Elk River (West Virginia)|Elk River]].<ref name="Thornbury" /> In its course, the Teays River cut across the folded [[Appalachians]]. The valley varies in width, from {{convert|0.75|to|1.25|mi|km}}, an average of {{convert|1|mi|km}}. A mile-wide valley can be observed without a stream {{convert|30|mi|km}} from [[St. Albans, West Virginia|St. Albans]] to [[Huntington, West Virginia|Huntington]]. No doubt, a large stream once occupied this abandoned valley. Approaching Huntington, the [[Guyandotte River]] joins the general path of the ancient river beginning at [[Barboursville, West Virginia|Barboursville]] and follows it north until the former river veers west over the south hills of Huntington and joins the Ohio River Valley heading west towards Kentucky. The Ohio River follows the Teays path until leaving the Ohio River in the north end of Catlettsburg where it veers away just south of Ashland to Wheelersburg.  The Ohio River has a [[River floor|floor]] of the original valley as shown by the silted flats south of Ashland and the terraces between Franklin Furnace and Wheelersburg.<ref name="Thornbury" /> At Wheelersburg, the Teays River flowed northward past [[Minford, Ohio|Minford]], [[Stockdale, Ohio|Stockdale]] and [[Beaver, Ohio|Beaver]], to [[Waverly, Ohio|Waverly]], through a high-level, broad, well-defined open valley.<ref name="Thornbury" />

===Ohio===
The Teays system in Ohio is known as the Parker Strath. The Teays River extended across Ohio in a northwesterly direction from Huntington, West Virginia. It splits away from the Ohio River near Sciotodale and Wheelersburg and goes north and west through Minford, Stockdale, and Beaver before merging with the Scioto River valley near Waverly and [[Piketon, Ohio|Piketon]].  This is clearly visible on aerial and [[satellite imagery]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Hansen |first=Michael C. |date=1995 |title=The Teays River |url=https://ohiodnr.gov/static/documents/geology/GF10_Hansen_1995.pdf |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=[[Ohio Department of Natural Resources]]}}</ref>  However, its floor exists as broad upland flats, near Omega and Higby.  The Scioto River has eroded and partially destroyed the Teays Valley from Waverly to Richmond Dale.  It then continues northward to [[Chillicothe, Ohio|Chillicothe]], where it disappears under a layering of [[Wisconsin glaciation|Wisconsin]] glacial [[Drift (geology)|drift]].<ref name="Thornbury" />  Surveying under the drift has revealed that it continues to the border of Indiana, near [[Grand Lake St. Marys State Park|Grand Lake St. Marys]].<ref name="Steeg"/>  From Chillicothe, the Teays Valley can be traced in a northwesterly direction past Andersonville, crossing the southwestern part of Pickaway County, past Atlanta. From there, it crosses the northeast corner of Fayette County near [[Pancoastburg, Ohio|Pancoastburg]] (former Waterloo), extending in a northwesterly direction past London in Madison County, to [[South Vienna, Ohio|South Vienna]] in Clark County.  Here the Teays was joined by the Groveport River, which drained central Ohio. From South Vienna, the Teays River continues in a westerly direction, to a point near Springfield, in Clark County, and thence northwestward past Boulusville and St. Paris in Champaign County, and Sidney, Anna and Botkins, in Shelby County, to the southeastern part of Washington Township in Auglaize County, where it was joined from the north by a tributary, Wapakoneta Creek. The Teays continued its course westward past the village of Mercer to Rockford.  Continuing west to the Ohio-Indiana state line in Mercer County.<ref name="Thornbury" />

===Indiana===
The Teays Valley enters Indiana in [[Jay County, Indiana|Jay County]] and trends west. It turns to the northwest {{convert|3|mi|km}} west of La Fontaine crossing [[Miami County, Indiana|Miami County]] south of the [[Wabash River]].<ref name="Thornbury" />  Reaching under [[Tippecanoe County, Indiana|Tippecanoe County]], it continues west through southern [[Benton County, Indiana|Benton County]] and into Illinois (Fidlar, 1948, pp.&nbsp;12–15).

===Illinois===
In Illinois, the valley is called the ''Mahomet'' (Horberg, 1945, pp.&nbsp;349–350).<ref name="Thornbury" /> It trends westerly across the state, into the bedrock valley of the [[Illinois River]].<ref name="Thornbury" /><ref name=Steeg/>

==Entrenched or deep stage==
The ''deep stage'' is used to describe the portion of the Teays Valley and other proglacial valleys carved into bedrock in the [[Great Lakes region]]. This includes the [[Ohio Valley]], near Madison, Indiana, before the Pleistocene;<ref>Malott, 1922, p. 137</ref> the Wabash Valley; and the Mississippi Valley. The floor of the Teays Valley in West Virginia is {{convert|200|ft|m}} above the entrenched Kanawha and Ohio Valley floors, and its bedrock floor is at least {{convert|15|ft|m}} above them. The deep stage apparently was cut mainly after the diversion of the upper Kanawha (Teays) drainage to the Ohio River (Stout, Ver Steeg, and Lamb, 1943, pp.&nbsp;78–79).<ref name="Thornbury" /> The lowest bedrock altitude obtained along the course of the Teays Valley across Wabash County was {{convert|410|ft|m}} above sea level in the vicinity of La Fontaine. The average gradient of the Mahomet Valley above Beardstown, Illinois, is about 7 inches per mile (11.1&nbsp;cm per kilometer).<ref>Horberg 1945, p. 359</ref>  The altitude of the valley floor where it occurs beneath the present floodplain of the Wabash River should be about {{convert|410|ft|m}}.<ref name="Thornbury" /> The profile of the Teays is a [[gorge]]-like valley entrenched within a broad, older valley. Steep walls {{convert|200|ft|m}} high can be recognized along the buried trench. The inner valley has been called the deep stage and is [[interglacial]] in age.<ref name="Thornbury" />

==Tributaries==
===Ohio valleys===
In the unglaciated area of southern Ohio, tributaries reflect the adjacent hills, which are considerably reduced: low gradients, broad valleys for the size of the modern streams, and [[Wiktionary:dendritic|dendritic]] patterns, all features of maturity. The largest of the tributaries in Ohio are the Marietta River, Hamden Creek, Albany River, Barlow Creek, Portsmouth River, Logan River, Bremen Creek, Putnam Creek, Cambridge River, Groveport River, Mechanicsburg Creek, and Wapakoneta Creek.<ref name="Thornbury" /> The Cincinnati River flows northeastward from the southwest corner of Ohio to [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]], to join the Teays River.<ref name="Thornbury" /> At the time a divide existed between the preglacial Teays and the [[Great Miami River|Miami watershed]]. Well records do not indicate a broad depression, which widens northward and is of sufficient size to have accommodated so large a stream as the Cincinnati River.

=== Preglacial Eel valley ===
The [[Eel River (Wabash River tributary)|Eel Valley]] in [[Wabash County, Indiana]], follows a preglacial tributary of the Teays (Horberg, 1945, p.&nbsp;357).<ref name="Thornbury" /> It too has a deep stage. At its junction with the Teays Valley it is just under {{convert|400|ft|m}} above sea level.  The tributary does not rise above {{convert|500|ft|m}} through its length in Wabash County.<ref name="Thornbury" />

===Illinois valleys===
A tributary from the north enters the Mahomet Valley near [[Paxton, Illinois|Paxton]], and important tributaries from the south, north of [[Danville, Illinois|Danville]], and in western [[Logan County, Illinois|Logan]] and [[Menard County, Illinois|Menard]] counties.<ref name="Thornbury" />

==Demise==
The Kanawha (Teays) was forced across a major divide when the return of the Laurentian ice sheet dammed the northward flow of the river. The diversion occurred during the Nebraskan or older pre-Illinoian glaciation. This is based on an analysis of the drift found in the valley from the Kansan or late pre-Illinoian age.<ref>Horberg, 1945, p. 353</ref><ref name="Thornbury" />

==Present-day remnants==
Visual remains of the Teays River today include large valleys containing only small streams (such as the mile-wide valley from [[Huntington, West Virginia|Huntington]] to [[St. Albans, West Virginia|St. Albans]] in West Virginia and the valley extending north from [[Wheelersburg, Ohio|Wheelersburg]] in Ohio). These valleys can be seen on aerial and satellite images. However, short segments of some such valleys are still occupied by the Ohio and Scioto Rivers. The Scioto flows through the valley in the opposite direction (south) to that taken by the Teays (north).

[[Image:Appalachian Plateau SE OH.jpg|thumb|320px|right|Appalachian Plateau near [[Athens, Ohio|Athens]] in southeast Ohio. The plateau was characterized by low, rolling hills and slow-moving rivers until glaciers disturbed regional streams. The distant ridge is actually a flat upland surface beneath [[Albany, Ohio|Albany]]. A shallow [[paleovalley]], now filled with proglacial lake sediments, underlies the flat surface. The paleovalley once fed the Teays River and contains river and lake sediments. The valley was abandoned after the [[Ohio River]] was formed and surrounding streams cut downward, increasing their valley depths.]]

The Teays River was dissected and largely wiped away by advancing glaciers and their meltwater. These glaciers were the massive continental ice sheets that began to cover large parts of Ohio and other states downstream (west) of Ohio between 2.5 and 3 million years ago. Their presence caused lakes such as Lake Tight and Lake Monongahela to form along the Teays and associated rivers. Overflow of these lakes into nearby, lower valleys caused large floods and new rivers to form. These new rivers{{snd}}formed about 2 million years ago{{snd}}included the present-day Ohio and Scioto Rivers, which are associated with the most direct evidence of the Teays.

The present Ohio-Mississippi river system contains some distinctive [[Relict (biology)|relict]] fish populations descended from [[Jurassic Period]] fishes of the Teays, such as the primitive [[bowfin]] (''Amia calva'') and various [[gar]]s (''[[Lepisosteus]]'' spp).

==Discovery==
The Teays River was discovered and named for the village of [[Teays, West Virginia]], by geologist [[William G. Tight]] (1865–1910).<ref>[http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=0iQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=184 Wright, G. Frederick (1894), "The Cincinnati Ice Dam"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002063756/http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=0iQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=184 |date=October 2, 2012 }}, ''[[The Popular Science Monthly]]'', June issue, pp. 184–198.</ref> The small community of Teays is in the [[Dry valley|riverless]] Teays Valley that used to be the bottom of the Teays River.<ref name="NYT" />

In 1886, geologist [[Gerard Fowke]] recognized that the gorge west of Chillicothe, Ohio, was larger than [[Paint Creek (Scioto River tributary)|Paint Creek]] would have created. He claimed that a large river would have had to exist to create the wide and deep valley. Conventional [[geologist]]s did not support his claim.<ref name="times">A Great Lost River Gets Its Due; Walter Sullivan; Science, The New York Times; November 29, 1983</ref> In 1903 William G. Tight, a professor at [[Denison University]] in [[Granville, Ohio]], saw the same type of valley and small stream running from [[Charleston, West Virginia|Charleston]] to the Ohio River. It had only a minor water course beyond [[St. Albans, West Virginia]].  Here, the [[Kanawha River]] turns north. Professor Tight sought in vain to persuade the geological community that this valley once carried a mighty river that continued across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois through a valley now deeply buried under glacial deposits. He called it the Teays River, for a village in [[West Virginia]].<ref name=times/>

==Namesakes==
[[Teays Valley, West Virginia]], and Ashville, Ohio's [[Teays Valley Local School District]] are named after the former river.

==See also==
*[[Lake Tight]]
*[[Lake Monongahela]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.nps.gov/neri/index.htm NPS.gov: ''Geology of the New River'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060908094904/http://tapestry.usgs.gov/features/41teaysriver.html USGS: Teays River]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131111004605/http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0490_54.html Mercer County Ground-Water Resources, via Ohio State University]

{{Pleistocene Lakes and Seas}}

[[Category:Former rivers]]