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Quaternary features beneath Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada: drumlins, tunnel channels, and records of proglacial to postglacial closed and overflowing lakes

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Abstract

Lake Simcoe is a large lake 45 km across and in places over 30 m deep, located between Lake Huron and Lake Ontario, in the glaciated terrain of southern Ontario, Canada. Seismostratigraphic analysis of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, together with lakebed sediment sampling and pollen study, revealed distinctive sequences in the sediments beneath Lake Simcoe, Ontario. A surface unit (Blue Sequence) of soft Holocene mud (low-amplitude surface reflection, discontinuous parallel internal reflections) lies in the deeper basins of the lake. The underlying unit (Green Sequence) is characterized by high-amplitude parallel internal reflections; basal sediments of this sequence consist of clay rhythmites with dropstones. The Green Sequence was deposited by lacustrine sedimentation in proglacial Lake Algonquin; sedimentation persisted until the basin was isolated from other glacial lakes at about 10 14C ka at the Penetang post-Algonquin phase. Subsequent erosion of the uppermost portion of the Green Sequence is attributed to wave action in a low-level early Holocene lake, possibly closed hydrologically and coeval with closed lowstands in the Huron and Georgian Bay basins. Two sequences with high-amplitude surface reflections and chaotic internal reflections (Purple and Red Sequences) lie below the Green Sequence. Northeast-southwest trending ridges, tens of metres in height, on the Red Sequence (the lowermost of these two units) are interpreted to be drumlins. An erosion surface descends into narrow valleys 50–80 m deep beneath the lake in bays to the west and south of the main lake basin. These depressions are interpreted as subglacial tunnel channels cut by rapid flows of meltwater. The sediments of Purple Sequence are interpreted as channel-fill sediments rapidly deposited during waning stages of the meltwater drainage. The Red Sequence is correlated with the Newmarket Till of the last glacial maximum identified beneath the Oak Ridges Moraine to the south.

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Acknowledgements

Successful geophysical surveys and coring operations in Lake Simcoe were a result of cooperation between the Terrain Sciences Division (TSD) of the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario and the Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic) (GSCA) in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. We thank Jim Hunter, Susan Pullan, Ron Good, Robert Burns, Marten Douma and Bill Shilts (TSD) and Keith Manchester, Mike Gorveatt, Bosko Loncarevic, Brian Nichols and Tony Atkinson (GSCA) for stimulating discussions about lakes, for mobilization of survey equipment and for assistance onboard ship. Paul White and Steve Grant assisted with the geophysical surveys. Michael Emms, John Easton (Dixon Hydrogeology Limited, Barrie, Ontario), Marten Douma and Ron Good assisted with the coring operations. We thank Phil O’Regan, Gary Grant, Scott Hayward and Sheila Hynes (GSCA) for assistance with preparing illustrations. Adam MacDonald and Kate Jarrett (GSCA) assisted with core processing and descriptions. We thank L. Harvey Thorleifson, David R. Sharpe, Gordon Cameron and Brian MacLean for their insightful reviews of this manuscript. The work was completed under the auspices of the Climate Change Program of Natural Resources Canada as Earth Sciences Sector Contribution Number 20060376.

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  1. Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic), Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Natural Resources Canada, Box 1006, Dartmouth, NS, Canada, B2Y 4A2

    Brian J. Todd & C. F. Michael Lewis

  2. 25 Dexter Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K2H 5W3

    Thane W. Anderson

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  1. Brian J. Todd
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Correspondence to Brian J. Todd.

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Todd, B.J., Lewis, C.F.M. & Anderson, T.W. Quaternary features beneath Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada: drumlins, tunnel channels, and records of proglacial to postglacial closed and overflowing lakes. J Paleolimnol 39, 361–380 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9111-4

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