Glacial dispersal trains in North America

• Published in: Journal of Maps
• Main Authors: Don I. Cummings, Hazen A. J. Russell
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018
• Subjects: Till dispersal trains; boulder trains; sediment provenance; mineral exploration; drift prosecting; Laurentide ice sheet; Maps; G3180-9980; Arctic; Canada; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2018.1478752; https://doaj.org/article/515bd984d66d49a0bd7e5640ff9fd27a

A map depicting glacial dispersal trains in North America has been compiled from published sources. It covers the Canadian Shield, the Arctic Islands, the Cordillera and Appalachian mountains, and Phanerozoic sedimentary basins south of the Shield. In total, 140 trains are portrayed, including those emanating from major mineral-deposit types (e.g. gold, base metal, diamondiferous kimberlite, etc.). The map took 10 years of on-and-off work to generate, and it culls data from over 150 years of work by government, industry, and academia. It provides a new tool to help companies find ore deposits in Canada: the trains are generally a better predictor of dispersal distance and direction than striations and streamlined landforms, the data typically depicted on surficial-geology maps, including the Glacial Map of Canada. It also gives new insight into sedimentation patterns and processes beneath ice sheets, a sedimentary environment that, because of its inaccessibility, remains poorly understood and controversial.