Bedrock topography of southeast Iowa

The bedrock in Iowa is covered nearly everywhere by unconsolidated deposits of glacial drift and alluvium, which range in thickness from less than 1 foot to more than 400 feet, and from less than 1 foot to about 60 feet, respectively. The configuration of the bedrock surface is the result of a complex system of ancient drainage courses which were developed during a long period of preglacial erosion and during shorter, but more intesne periods of interglacial erosion.