Hostname: page-component-6d856f89d9-jhxnr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T06:38:24.618Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Upper Wisconsinan Submarine End Moraines off Cape Ann, Massachusetts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R.N. Oldale*
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543

Abstract

Seismic profiles across the southwest end of Jeffreys Ledge, a bathymetric high north of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, reveal two end moraines. The moraines overlie upper Wisconsinan glacialmarine silty clay and are composed mostly of subaqueous ice-contact deposits and outwash. They were formed below sea level in water depths of as much as 120 m during fluctuations of a calving ice front. The moraines are late Wisconsinan in age and were formed after the Cambridge readvance, about 14,000 yr B.P., and before the Kennebunk readvance, about 13,000 yr B.P. They represent fluctuations of the ice front during overall retreat of Laurentide ice from the Gulf of Maine and New England.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, B.J. (1979). The deglaciation of Norway 15,000-10,000 B.P Boreas 8, 7987 Google Scholar
Bloom, A.L. (1960). Late Pleistocene Changes in Sea Level in Southwestern Maine Maine Geological Survey Augusta, Maine Google Scholar
Bloom, A.L. (1963). Late-Pleistocene fluctuations of sea-level and postglacial crustal rebound in coastal Maine American Journal of Science 261, 862879 Google Scholar
Borns, H.W. Jr. (1973). Late Wisconsin fluctuations of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in southern and eastern New England Black, R.F. Goldthwait, R.P. Willman, H.B. The Wisconsinan Stage. Geological Society of America Memoir. 136, 3745 Google Scholar
Chute, N.E. (1959). Glacial geology of the Mystic Lakes-Fresh Pond area, Massachusetts U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1061F Google Scholar
Fader, G.B. King, L.H. MacLean, B. (1977). Surficial geology of the eastern Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy Geological Survey of Canada Paper 76 Google Scholar
Fillon, R.H. Harmes, R.A. (1982). Northern Labrador Shelf glacial chronology and depositional environments Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 19, 162192 Google Scholar
Holtedahl, H. Sellevoll, M. (1972). Notes on the influence of glaciation on the Norwegian Continental Shelf bordering on the Norwegian sea Dahl, E. Stromberg, J.-O. Tanberg, O.G. The Norwegian Sea Region Its Hydrography, Glacial and Biological History Swedish National Science Research Council and Royal Academy of Sciences Sweden 3138 Google Scholar
Katz, F.J. Keith, A. (1918). The Newington Moraine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 108Google Scholar
Kaye, C.A. Barghoorn, E.S. (1964). Late Quaternary sea-level change and crustal rise at Boston, Massachusetts, with notes on the autocompaction of peat Geological Society of America Bulletin 75, 6380 Google Scholar
King, L.H. MacLean, B. Drapeau, G. (1972). The Scotian Shelf submarine end-moraine complex 24th International Geological Congress 8, 237249 Google Scholar
Landmesser, C.W. Johnson, T.C. Wald, R.J. (1982). Seismic reflection study of recessional moraine beneath Lake Superior and their relationship to regional deglaciation Quaternary Research 17, 173190 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMillan, N.J. (1973). Surficial geology of Labrador and Baffin Island shelves Hood, P.J. Earth Science Symposium on Offshore Eastern Canada. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 71.451468 Google Scholar
Oldale, R.N. Uchupi, E. Prada, K.E. (1973). Sedimentary Framework of the Western Gulf of Maine and the Southwestern Massachusetts Offshore Area U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 757Google Scholar
Oldale, R.N. Wommach, L.E. Whitney, A.B. (1983). Evidence for a postglacial low relative sea-level stand in the drowned delta of the Merrimack River, western Gulf of Maine Quarternary Research 19, 325336 Google Scholar
Rust, B.R. Romanelli, R. (1975). Late Quaternary subaqueous outwash deposits near Ottawa, Canada Joplin, A.V. MacDonald, B.C. Glaciofluvial and Glaciolacustrine Sedimentation. Spec. Pub. 23. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Tulsa 177192 Google Scholar
Rokoengen, K. Bugget, T. Løfaldli, M. (1979). Quaternary geology and deglaciation of the continental shelf off Troms, North Norway Boreas 8, 217227 Google Scholar
Schafer, J.P. Hartshorn, J.H. (1965). The Quaternary of New England Wright, H.E. Jr. Frey, D.G. The Quaternary of the United States Princeton Univ. Press Princeton, N.J 113128 Google Scholar
Schlee, J. Folger, D.W. O'Hara, C.J. (1973). Bottom Sediments on the Continental Shelf off the Northeastern United States—Cape Cod to Cape Ann, Massachusetts U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations, map I-746, Scale 1:125,000Google Scholar
Shearer, J.M. (1973). Bedrock and surficial geology of the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence as interpreted from continuous seismic profiles Hood, P.J. Earth Science Symposium on Offshore Eastern Canada. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 71-23.285303 Google Scholar
Smith, G.W. (1981). Kennebunk glacial advance: A reappraisal Geology 9, 250253 Google Scholar
Smith, G.W. (1982). End moraines and the pattern of last ice retreat from central and south coastal Maine Larson, G.J. Stone, B.D. Late Wisconsinan Glaciation of New England Kendall/Hunt Dubuque, Iowa 195209 Google Scholar
Smith, G. W. (in press). Chronology of late Wisconsinan deglaciation of coastal Maine. In “Late Wisconsinan Deglaciation of Northern New England and Adjacent Canada” ( Borns, H. W. Thompson, W. B. and LaSalle, P. Eds.). Geological Society of America Special Paper 197.Google Scholar
Stone, B.D. Peper, J.D. (1982). Topographic control of the deglaciation of eastern Massachusetts Larson, G.J. Stone, B.D. Late Wisconsinan Glaciation in New England Kendall/Hunt Dubuque, Iowa 145166 Google Scholar
Thompson, W.B. (1982). Recession of the late Wisconsinan ice sheet in coastal Maine Larson, G.J. Stone, B.D. Late Wisconsinan Glaciation of New England Kendall/Hunt Dubuque, Iowa 211228 Google Scholar
Thompson, W.B. Smith, G.W. (1983). Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Augusta and Waldoboro areas, Maine Maine Geological Survey Bulletin 27, Google Scholar
Tucholke, B.E. Hollister, C.D. (1973). Late Wisconsin glaciation of the southwestern Gulf of Maine: New evidence from the marine environment Geological Society of America Bulletin 84, 32793296 Google Scholar
Vorren, T.O. Edvardsen, M. Hald, M. Thomsen, E. (1983). Deglaciation of the Continental Shelf off Troms, North Norway Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse 380, 173187 Google Scholar