Upper Wisconsinan Till Recovered on the Continental Shelf Southeast of New England

Basal till was identified in two sediment cores collected about 69 kilometers southeast of Nantucket Island on the east and west sides of Great South Channel. These are the first samples of till collected on the outer continental shelf off the northeastern United States. The carbon-14 age of the tot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Bothner, Michael H., Spiker, Elliott C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1980
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.210.4468.423
https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.210.4468.423
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Summary:Basal till was identified in two sediment cores collected about 69 kilometers southeast of Nantucket Island on the east and west sides of Great South Channel. These are the first samples of till collected on the outer continental shelf off the northeastern United States. The carbon-14 age of the total organic carbon in the tills provides a "no older than" age of about 20,000 years before present and suggests that the tills were deposited during the late Wisconsinan glaciation. This conclusion is in support of the hypothesis of an extensive Laurentide ice sheet that extended to the northern side of Georges Bank.