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A Proposed Diachronic Revision of Late Quaternary Time-Stratigraphic Classification in the Eastern and Northern Great Lakes Area

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Paul F. Karrow ,
Aleksis Dreimanis  and
Peter J. Barnett
Paul F. Karrow
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences and Quaternary Sciences Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada, E-mail: pfkarrow@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca
Aleksis Dreimanis
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7
Peter J. Barnett
Affiliation:
Ontario Geological Survey, 933 Ramsay Lake Road, Sudbury, Ontario, P3E 5B6, Canada
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Abstract

A succession of stratigraphic codes (1933, 1961, 1983) has guided attempts to refine classifications and naming of stratigraphic units for Quaternary deposits of the Great Lakes region. The most recent classifications for the late Quaternary of the Lake Michigan lobe (1968) and the eastern Great Lakes (1972) have been widely used, but later work has created the need for revision. An attempt has been made to integrate the two previous classifications following the diachronic system of the 1983 Code of Stratigraphic Nomenclature. A new nomenclature for the higher, more broadly recognized units was presented in 1997. We here present the diachronic nomenclature for finer subdivisions recognized in the eastern and northern Great Lakes. Following the interglacial Sangamon Episode, the three parts of the Wisconsin Episode are further subdivided as follows: the Ontario Subepisode (former Early Wisconsinan) comprises the Greenwood, Willowvale, and Guildwood phases; the Elgin Subepisode (former Middle Wisconsinan) comprises the Port Talbot, Brimley, and Farmdale phases; and the Michigan Subepisode (former Late Wisconsinan) consists of Nissouri, Erie, Port Bruce, Mackinaw, Port Huron, Two Creeks, Onaway, Gribben, Marquette, Abitibi, and Driftwood phases. Succeeding interglacial time to the present is the Hudson Episode.

Keywords

Quaternarydiachronic unitsstratigraphyGreat Lakes regionOntario
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 54 , Issue 1 , July 2000 , pp. 1 - 12
Copyright
University of Washington

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