Late Wisconsinan glacial landsystems on Atlantic Canadian shelves: New evidence from multibeam and single-beam sonar data
Multibeam sonar surveys in the past decade, augmented by single-beam data from the OLEX charting system, reveal landsystems on Atlantic Canadian shelves that are diagnostic of Late Wisconsinan ice-sheet dynamics. Four landsystems are described. (1) The Bay of Fundy landsystem comprises two contrasti...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.469.7989 http://www.mun.ca/geog/people/faculty/tbell/Shaw_et_al_Boreas_2009_comp.pdf |
| Summary: | Multibeam sonar surveys in the past decade, augmented by single-beam data from the OLEX charting system, reveal landsystems on Atlantic Canadian shelves that are diagnostic of Late Wisconsinan ice-sheet dynamics. Four landsystems are described. (1) The Bay of Fundy landsystem comprises two contrasting sets of bedforms, and is interpreted as evidence of topographically controlled fast-flowing ice adjacent to slower-moving ice. (2) The Ger-man Bank landsystem off southwest Nova Scotia is comprised of glacially fluted terrain overprinted by De Geer moraines and arcuate recessional moraines. We infer that a flow of grounded glacial ice out of the Bay of Fundy was followed by steady retreat, punctuated by at least one major re-advance. (3) The Placentia Bay landsystem consists of a convergent field of streamlined landforms with superimposed De Geer moraines, overprinted in one area by flutings. We infer that this landsystem was formed in the onset zone of fast-flowing ice, and that over-printing was due to a re-advance of ice from offshore. (4) The south coast of Newfoundland landsystem, which includes arcuate, fjord-mouth moraines and a coast-parallel, fluted moraine, indicates strong topographic control on a retreating marine ice margin as it reached a fjord coastline. These submarine glacial landsystems are not inconsistent with a conceptual model showing Late Wisconsinan ice advance to shelf edges, rapid calving retreat along deepwater channels and slower retreat of ice margins grounded in shallow water. The re-advances docu-mented two of the study areas have parallels in the Last British Ice Sheet, confirming that the reorganization of |
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