Facies and stratigraphical analyses of glacial and interglacial sediments at Morgan Bluffs, Banks Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Stratigraphical exposures of both glacial and non‐glacial sediments at M organ B luffs, a >6‐km long exposure on the east coast of B anks I sland, comprise a discontinuous archive of Quaternary environmental change. A detailed facies analysis of the sediments and a new stratigraphical framework i...
Published in: | Boreas |
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Main Authors: | , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2014
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bor.12069 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fbor.12069 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/bor.12069 |
Summary: | Stratigraphical exposures of both glacial and non‐glacial sediments at M organ B luffs, a >6‐km long exposure on the east coast of B anks I sland, comprise a discontinuous archive of Quaternary environmental change. A detailed facies analysis of the sediments and a new stratigraphical framework is incompatible with the many climatostratigraphical units proposed previously. Instead, three distinct intervals of sedimentation are recognized. The first records the progradation of a delta, followed by fluvial aggradation of a braided river valley perhaps ∼1 Ma. The second documents glacigenic sedimentation, including fluctuations of a tidewater glacier margin, in a marine basin more than 0.78 Ma. The third records till deposition by the NW L aurentide I ce S heet during the L ate W isconsinan, followed by the progradation of a deglacial, ice‐contact delta into an ice‐dammed lake ∼12.8 cal. ka BP . The revised stratigraphical framework adds important new terrestrial observations to a sparse and fragmentary data set of Quaternary environmental change in the C anadian A rctic. This study challenges former references and correlations to the previously proposed climatostratigraphical framework and nomenclature. |
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