Peat moss from the Ice Age lakes and swamps (IM-07)
Long-vanished glaciers left northern Indiana dotted with lakes and large areas of low, hummocky, poorly drained land. In the cool postglacial climate, mosses, reeds, and many other kinds of aquatic plants flourished in these lakes, ponds, and swamps. Each year the remains of these plants accumulated in the lake bottoms and in the brackish waters of swampy areas. Eventually, many of the smaller ponds and lakes were completely filled with organic debris, which when compacted over many years formed peat.

Thousands of acres of shallow lakebeds and swamplands have been drained during the past hundred years, thus leaving rich muck soils which form some of our most valuable agricultural land. Peat moss is mined and processed for sale in several northern Indiaa counties, but it is a little appreciated and poorly exploited Hoosier mineral resource.

Our Hoosier State Beneath Us: Industrial Minerals