Teays River

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Teays River network, blue lines are rivers, as it existed prior to disruption by glaciers. The reconstruction is based on a variety of evidence, including large buried valleys in northwest Ohio and Indiana.

The Teays River was an important pre-glacial river that drained much of the area now drained by the Ohio River, and more. Traces of the Teays across northern Ohio and Indiana are represented by a network of river valleys. These valleys were carved in the late Cenozoic and eventually led to the Mississippi River. The largest contributor to the Teays River was the Kanawha River, which is itself an extension of the New River.

The Teays River was a north- to northwest-flowing river prior to the Pleistocene (Ice Ages). The river was dissected and largely wiped away by advancing glaciers and meltwater from glaciers. The Teays flowed through southwest West Virginia, between Kentucky and Ohio, and northwest across Ohio (see image of former course and tributaries). Massive continental ice sheets 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 to form along the Teays and associated rivers. Overflow of these lakes into nearby, lower valley caused large floods and new rivers to form. These rivers include the Ohio and Scioto rivers, which are associated with the most direct evidence of the Teays River.

Visual remains of the Teays River include large valleys containing only small streams. The valleys can be seen on aerial and satellite images (see aerial perspective image in this page). However, short segments of the valleys are occupied by the Ohio and Scioto rivers. The Scioto River flows through the valley in the opposite direction (south) taken by the Teays River (north).

View looking roughly north of Scioto River valley (on left) and ancient segment of Teays River (on right) in southeast Ohio. The Scioto River flows out of the screen toward the viewer. The Teays River flowed in the opposite direction, which is into the screen. The patchwork appearance of the Teays River valley reflects the presence of many farms.

Appalachian Plateau near 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, OH. 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 to increase their valley depths.