2002 Natural Resources Management

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2. LANDSCAPE HISTORY AND SETTING The natural resources of Roseville include the soils, water, plants, animals and people that are within the City. The particular resource elements present in the city and their patterns in the landscape are the result of historical processes, including climate, hydrology, plant and animal migrations and interactions, and human decisions and activities. This section describes the role these interactions have played in determining the present day composition of natural communities and landscapes in Roseville. PRE - SETTLEMENT HISTORY AND MAJOR LANDSCAPE FEATURES Ancient features. The City of Roseville is located in withinl0 miles of downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. The history of the city's landscape begins around 500 million years ago, when much of Minnesota was covered by water, and the sedimentary rock layers that lie under the city were formed. The last series of glacial advances into the Twin Cities area started about 2 million years ago and is known as the Quaternary Period. Prior to this, the landscape in the Roseville area was much different from the way it is today. Then deep valleys with steep sides that were cut into bedrock characterized it. Broad, rolling plateaus separated these deep valleys. Deposits left by the series of glacial advances in the last 2 million years has buried this landscape. Glacial landscapes. The topography of Roseville was shaped by the last period of glaciation, which came to a close about 10,000 years ago, and was called the "Wisconsin Stage ". The glaciers sculpted the landscape, and left behind a variety of deposits, referred to as "drift ". The glacial deposits at the surface in Roseville are largely associated with the Grantsburg Sublobe of the Des Moines lobe glacier, although there are some isolated deposits of Superior Lobe origin. City of Roseville 8 Parks Natural Resource Management