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Des Moines Lobe

Ecoregion in IA, MN

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This ecoregion extends from southern Minnesota into north-central Iowa. It was covered with the Des Moines Lobe of the Wisconsin glaciation (last of the Pleistocene glacial periods) and the topography is level to gently rolling. Along the northwestern border the land rises to meet the coteau complex of Ecoregion 46 and then covers the continuation of the higher elevation land to the south of the coteau proper and east of the Loess Prairies (47a). The northern two-thirds of the ecoregion is bisected by the Minnesota River, from northwest to southeast, and its floodplain that is trenched into the glacial till along much of its length before the river turns northeast at Mankato. Much of the eastern border is formed by moraines from both the Des Moines Lobe glaciation and earlier stages of glaciation. The largest part of the ecoregion is in till plain and ground moraine. A large part of the ecoregion is covered with wet prairie Aquolls, with moist prairie Udolls in several areas in the western part of the region, and a small area of wet, clayey Aquerts in former Glacial Lake Minnesota south of Mankato. There are many lakes in the southern part of the ecoregion. This ecoregion, formerly in tallgrass prairie, is the heart of corn and soybeans agriculture in Minnesota. North of the Minnesota River, from east of the Chippewa River to the town of Winthrop there have been sugar beets mixed in with corn and soybeans. About 75% of this ecoregion was corn and soybeans in 2013.

— EPA

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