Evidence for Wisconsinan Glaciations in the Verrill Canyon Area, Scotian Slope

1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Mosher ◽  
David J. W. Piper ◽  
Gustavs V. Vilks ◽  
A. E. Aksu ◽  
Gordon B. Fader
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Continental Slope ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Outer Shelf ◽  
Scotian Shelf ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Oxygen Isotopic ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Seismic Reflection Profiles ◽  
Water Depths

AbstractA composite thickness of about 25 m of sediment has been cored from the Verrill Canyon on the Scotian Slope. It is interpreted that the majority of this sequence was deposited in a glaciomarine environment during oxygen isotopic stage 2 and the top of stage 3. These sediments, as seen in high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, are well stratified, become thicker upslope, are laterally variable in thickness, and pass upslope into possible outer shelf tills. Three wedge-shaped units of incoherent reflections interfinger with the parallel reflections and terminate in water depths greater than 700 m. These wedge-shaped units are interpreted as slumped diamict and outwash deposits. The age of the uppermost wedge-shaped unit is 26,000–21,000 yr based on extrapolation of radiocarbon dates. This unit documents a late Wisconsinan glacier readvance on the outer Scotian Shelf. The underlying wedge-shaped unit, estimated to be 70,000 yrs old, extends further west along the continental slope, and may represent a more extensive early Wisconsinan ice advance. A third wedge-shaped unit, inferred to have formed during isotopic stage 6, is possibly a remnant of the first glaciation in the study area.

Unconformities on the Scotian Shelf

1974 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis H. King ◽  
Brian MacLean ◽  
Gordon B. Fader
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Scotian Shelf ◽  
Early Tertiary ◽  
Late Tertiary ◽  
Glacial Processes ◽  
Well Data ◽  
Seismic Reflection Profiles ◽  
Cut And Fill

Four erosional unconformities have been recognized within the Mesozoic-Cenozoic succession on the Scotian Shelf, on the basis of data from high resolution seismic reflection profiles. Older unconformities are known from well data and others may be revealed by detailed biostratigraphic studies.The oldest of the four unconformities discussed in this paper is of Early Cretaceous age and appears to mark, with discordance, the boundary between Jurassic and Cretaceous strata on the western part of the shelf. A second angular unconformity, of Late Cretaceous age, has been recognized on the central part of the shelf where the basal part of the Banquereau Formation (Tertiary and uppermost Cretaceous) oversteps the zero-edge of the Wyandot Formation (Upper Cretaceous) and lies upon truncated beds of the Dawson Canyon Formation (Upper Cretaceous). Cut-and-fill relationships characterize a third unconformity developed during Early Tertiary time. A fourth unconformity was developed in Late Tertiary – Pleistocene time by fluvial processes and later by glacial processes. Although in many areas the latest unconformity appears to be the most conspicuous one on the shelf, its configuration closely follows the geomorphic expression developed during the previous period of erosion. The regional extent of the Cretaceous unconformities is not known, and they might only occur near basin margins and on structural and basement highs.

The Origin and Distribution of Subbottom Sediments in Southern Lake Champlain

1980 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. P. Freeman-Lynde ◽  
D. R. Hutchinson ◽  
D. W. Folger ◽  
B. H. Wiley ◽  
M. J. Hewett
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Water Level ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Lake Champlain ◽  
Alluvial Deposits ◽  
Proglacial Lake ◽  
Seismic Reflection Profiles ◽  
Water Depths

AbstractThree units, correlatable with recent Lake Champlain, late-glacial marine Champlain Sea, and proglacial Lake Vermont sediments, have been identified from about 200 km of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles and eight piston cores collected in southern Lake Champlain. Lake Vermont deposits are nonfossiliferous and range from thin to absent nearshore and on bedrock highs to more than 126 m thick near Split Rock Point. Champlain Sea sediments contain marine foraminifers and ostracodes and are fairly uniform in thickness (20–30 m). Recent Lake Champlain sediments range in thickness from 0 to 25 m. Average sedimentation rates for Lake Vermont are considerably higher (4–8 cm/yr) than those for the Champlain Sea (0.8–1.2 cm/yr) and Lake Champlain (0.14–0.15 cm/yr). Bedrock, till, and deltaic and alluvial deposits were also identified on the acoustic records but were not sampled. An unconformity separating Champlain Sea deposits from Lake Champlain deposits is associated with numerous benches at water depths of 20–30 m. These benches, the alluvial deposits, and the onset of deltaic deposition are probably associated with a low water level stillstand at the close of the Champlain Sea episode.

Probable Late Wisconsinan ice margin on the upper continental slope off St. Pierre Bank, eastern Canada

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 853-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Bonifay ◽  
David J. W. Piper
Keyword(s):  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Continental Slope ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Acoustic Facies ◽  
Seismic Reflection Profiles ◽  
Basal Shear

Seismic reflection profiles from the continental slope off St. Pierre Bank show a distinctive acoustic facies characterized by incoherent reflections (unit E) overlain by 5–20 m of stratified sediments (units D–A). Cores from unit E include poorly sorted silty diamict, locally overconsolidated and including in places some foraminifera. Stratified sediments also occur in places in this facies.The overlying sediments of units D–A, except for the topmost metre of unit A, have a foraminiferal fauna dominated by Elphidium excavatum forma clavata and Cassidulina reniforme, which has been interpreted elsewhere as indicating ice-margin sedimentation. The sediments contain turbidites and rare ice-rafted detritus, and are bioturbated. Accelerometer mass spectrometer radiocarbon dating of shells from the stratified sediments yielded dates between 3.3 and 11.8 ka. Facies E, the top of which has an extrapolated age of 11.5–12.0 ka, is interpreted as slumped morainal diamict and proglacial sediment resulting from a late Wisconsinan ice surge through Halibut Channel. Low basal shear stresses in this thin ice surge left little record in the mud-accumulating basins of the continental shelf.

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