The depositional history of an esker near Ottawa, Canada

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Author: Cheel, R. J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1982
• Subjects: glacier*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e82-123; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e82-123

The 10 km long Stittsville Ridge, trending parallel to the last direction of ice advance into the Ottawa area, is here classified as an esker. The sediments of the ridge are interpreted as subaqueous outwash deposited from a subglacial or englacial meltwater conduit emptying into an inlet in the late Wisconsin glacier front. The ridge formed by the coalescence of subaqueous outwash fans as the ice retreated northward. Sedimentological variation along the ridge is attributed to a change in the morphology of the inlet as the ice front retreated, from an initially narrow, symmetrical shape to a broader and increasingly asymmetrical form.