Evidence for upper Great Lakes waters in the Erie Basin until 10. 5 ka
- Geological Survey Canada, Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)
Modern recession at Niagara Falls suggests that Erie basin flow alone produces a narrower gorge with recession reduced by an order of magnitude. Gorge interpretations relate dimensions to stages of Great Lakes evolution. A published date of 9.8 ka, for upper river shells at Whirlpool State Park favors an interpretation implying 3.5 kilometers of gorge were cut in the period 12.5 ka to 10.5 ka at a rate of 1.75 m/a, a value consistent with the pre-twentieth century rate of 1.37--1.52 m/a. Erie basin discharge alone would be insufficient to excavate the length of gorge seen. Stratigraphic studies of offshore sediments in lake Erie north-east of Long Point based on seismic profiles and core samples show evidence of lake level change. Following decline of the post-Whittlesey (< 13 ka) southwestward-draining proglacial lakes in the Erie basin and the establishment of Lake Iroquois at about 12.5 ka water levels fell to a control on the Niagara Peninsula. Glacial meltwater continued to pass through the Erie basin until 10.5 ka. Negative shifts in delta O-18 suggest increased meltwater flow through the Erie basin and increased lake level between 11 ka and 10.5 ka. An erosional unconformity, lag sediments, and a distinct former shoreface suggest that lake level subsequently fell in the Long Point area of eastern Lake Erie to about 30m below present by about 10.5 ka when meltwater runoff from the upper Great Lakes by-passed Erie basin. Both the lake cores and the gorge recession are consistent with a computational model of flow out to the Erie basin. According to the model great Lakes outflow, augmented by inflow from Lake Agassiz between 11 to 10.5 ka, would yield shorelines at the height attributed to Lake Tonawanda (180--182m), the immediate source of the Niagara River.
- OSTI ID:
- 5589574
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921058--
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Journal Name: Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States) Vol. 24:7; ISSN GAAPBC; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Stable isotope (O and C) and pollen trends in eastern Lake Erie, evidence for a locally-induced climatic reversal of Younger Dryas age in the Great Lakes basin
Late Wisconsin evolution of the Maumee lacustrine basin in northeastern Indiana