Open AccessSurficial mapping and Quaternary stratigraphic studies in the western Abitibi greenstone belt, Timmins, Ontario
Author(s) -
R C Paulen,
M B McClenaghan
Publication year - 1997
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.4095/208645
Subject(s) - geology , silt , quaternary , glacial period , geomorphology , geochemistry , varve , younger dryas , glacier , paleontology , sediment
The Quaternary stratigraphy of the Timmins area is complex and consists of, from bottom to top: older tills and associated sediments; Matheson Till; glaciolacustrine sediments of the Barlow-Ojibway Formation; Cochrane Till; and related glaciolacustrine sedimentsof the North Driftwood Formation. Matheson Till was deposited during the Wisconsinan by ice flowing northwestward, westward, southward and finally southeastward. As the ice retreated, approximately 10 ka BP, the area was inundated by proglacial Lake Ojibway which deposited thick glaciolacustrinesediments. At about 8 ka BP, advancing ice surged southward into glacial Lake Ojibway, incorporating the glaciolacustrine sediments and depositing Cochrane Till. The southernmost limit of this last ice flow event cuts across the study area but is poorly defined because it left no terminal landforms.Massive silt to varved silt and clay were deposited on top of the Cochrane Till and is contemporaneous with the Connaught Sequence of the Barlow-Ojibway Formation south of the Cochrane limit.